bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama

Kataragama must definitely rank as one of the most important locations of convergence of spiritual thought, nter-religious understanding and the oneness of humanity. Early in the morning, at the 4.30 am prayers, the devotees congregate at the premises, and within the same sanctum, there are Sinhalese Hindu priests and Buddhist monks. Outside the sanctum, in adjacent temples within the same compound, there are Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu priests, Hindu monks from India, Sinhalese Muslim priests and Tamil Hindu priests from India.

Its an amazing confluence. There is an elephant that keeps going around inside the campus, amidst hundreds of devotees thronging the pathways. The elephant goes to each place, the Kataragama temple, the Ganesha temple, the Buddhist temple, the Bodhi tree, the Siddi Sunni Muslim temple and other temples adjacent. At each of these temples, the elephant offers prayers and receives blessings from the priests.

At dusk hours, the hundreds of pilgrims crowd around the elephant excitedly, and keep taking photographs incessantly. The flashlights keep going off endlessly at very close range, and yet, the sacred elephant does not get startled.

There are pilgrims of all religions, and yet there is silence, sanctity and serenity. They are all happy. Long queues have patient devotees lined up. There are no VIP queues or shorter queues on payment basis. Amazing.

The most fascinating aspect of the sanctum sanctorum at the Kataragama Devale (= Temple) is that the iconic human-like deity is not established in stone or other forms. The story is that Kartikeya came to a closure on his journey away from Kailasa, after moving through the Indian Subcontinent and reaching Kataragama. He is supposed to have established himself at Kataragama and very soon the place began to be recognised as the Dakshina Kailasa.

Shiva followed Kartikeya, as he had done so, to all his locations earlier. Upon arrival at Kataragama, Shiva is thought to have settled at Wedahitykanda, a hill-top location, the highest in a complex of seven hills overlooking the river, countryside and the southern coast line of Sri Lanka. Kartikeya also had his presence at Wedahitykanda, at a hillside enclave, on a ridge just below Shiva's location. To this day, as you would visit the hill-top temples, you would visit the Kartikeya swami temple first, and later climb to the peak, to the higher ridge, and seek blessings from Maheshwara at the temple. Its an amazingly beautiful location.

It is said that at this location, Kartikeya and Shiva merged into one formless spirit, both being actually deities without human-like form, and converged into one singular aspect. Wedahitykanda and Kataragama are thought to be astral and cosmic gateways that our knowledge systems cannot comprehend. It is through these cosmic gateways that the unified aspect of Shiva and Kartikeya traveled back to Kailasa.

Kataragama seemed like an impossible dream, considering the situation in Sri Lanka during the previous several years. The country is much more peaceful now and seems to be settling down and becoming increasingly productive. There are only so many finite aspects of an island nation that are crucial and essential for its well-being. The first, of course, is water, mainly freshwater for drinking, agriculture and irrigation purposes. The second - would be the need to be careful with the nation's finances and not have to spend it up on fighting each other inside the island. The third important fulcrum would be to ensure human oneness, in spite of all the strife.

These three aspects are the common issues that are paramount to Kataragama, I guess. It is at the fringe of the forests at Yala, and inside a crescent of Wedahitykanda (Yala National Park), Lunugamvehera National Park and Uda Walawe National Park. The river, also known locally as Menik Ganga, flows southwards to Kataragama from Weheragala reservoir near Galge, at the common edge of Yala National Park and Lunugamvehera National Park.

It would have been so much more relevant for one to focus on the catchments and watersheds at Weheragala. But, this was Kataragama, and the southern abode of Kartikeya, and it was not the land of Shiva, in his aspect of Gangadhaara. I am sure that there would be an amazing understanding of Shiva and Kartikeya and Ganesha at Kataragama. It is also in the mystery of Sella Kataragama that one may find answers, and also at Wedahitykanda. What are the secrets of Kataragama, Wedahitykanda and Sella Kataragama?

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Muneeswaram

Muneeswaram temple is in a better condition than the Tondeswaram Pancha-Ishwaram temple. The location is in a small hamlet beyond the Negombo creeks, north of Colombo, east of Chilaw. Most webpages, references, and maps seem to indicate the Muneeswaram temple at Puttalam. This is not correct. Chilaw is almost mid-distance between Negombo and Puttalam. The temple is only about 10 kms east of Chilaw on a very easy approachable road. There are other temples around the Muneeswaram temple. There seems to be mention of four Ganesha temples in a quadrant as four vertices to the Muneeswaram temple.

The sthala-purana (= ancient story of the location) refers to the times of the Ramayana, of Ravana establishing the pre-ancient Shiva lingam, and of Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sugreeva and Vibheeshana conducting prayers at the location and offering abhishekham (= dedicated prayers with offerings to be poured on the Shiva lingam).

The Shiva lingam within the temple sanctum is ancient but was established by rulers in Sri Lanka or from Tamil Nadu during the anno domini years before colonisation by European rulers. There are many fascinating stories about the temple and its struggle for survival during the colonial years of the Portuguese. The local community managed to protect the temple through several years of passive and persistent resistance. many devotees lost their lives in the repeated attacks by the Portuguese.

Today, the temple is venerated and worshipped by hindus, buddhists and muslims. Prayers are mostly offered by buddhist devotees and the temple is a paramount example of the convergence of religions. 

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Tondeswaram

Tondeswaram is one of the Pancha-Ishwaram temples of Sri Lanka. It is said that the Shiva Lingam at each of the Pancha Ishwaram temples were established by Ravana himself. A devotee of Shiva, beyond parallel in his times, Ravana was said to have sought protection to the island-nation with the blessings of Shiva, and thus, the five temples are found on the coast at various locations.

The Shiva Lingams that are said to have been established by Ravana are unique and different in form and shape. They are columnar and tall, almost in human size. The lingams at Tondeswaram and Muneeswaram are different in form from each other. Unfortunately, at both the locations, the lingams thought to be established by Ravana are not the sthala-lingams for prayers and ceremonies.

Tondeswaram has many unfortunate turns in its history. The Shiva temple, known to be a symbol of pride of the local community and seafaring traders from India and South East Asia, was destroyed repeatedly by the Portuguese rulers during their years of colonial presence in Sri Lanka. The plinth and the pre-ancient columns of the Shiva temple and Kartikeya temple at Tondeswaram are visible and exist in the premises. Today, there is a Vishnu temple on the earlier plinth of the Shiva temple. The Shiva Lingam, a pre-ancient one, thought and accepted by the local community as the sthala-lingam that could have been in the earlier Shiva temple is now located in the lawns of a Buddhist museum and temple complex and maintained decently and venerated and worshipped. 

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama, Tondeswaram, Muneeswaram

There are so many countless layers of events, stories and places within this bharatayatra. I cease to be amazed now. I am no longer surprised by the miracles. They happen, all the time. I do not question them anymore, and I have stopped speaking about them. One has to just desire an aspect of the journey to occur, and it begins to happen.

In June 2011, on Facebook, came a sudden request for friendship from 'Masterwalkers Travels', a Travel Agency in Sri Lanka. Without much thought or query, but only with acceptance, I agreed to the 'invite'. Instantly came the message from Lasanthi Gunasekara of Masterwalkers Travels, inviting me to visit Sri Lanka and travel on any itinerary, either their pre-set tour, or one that I would design. This was what I was waiting for. I needed a good contact group in Sri Lanka, who would be ready to improvise, and agree with me about the itinerary that I would like to develop.

I asked them if they could design an itinerary that would focus entirely on Kataragama without any visit to Colombo, Kandy or Anuradhapura as most tourists would like to do. I must say, in appreciation of Masterwalkers Travels, and Lasanthi Gunasekara, that they never hesitated or questioned or hassled me with options to visit other locations. The agreement was immediate, and there was no ridicule. They did not question as to why an Indian would travel within Sri Lanka, and would not want to be a tourist or shopper or beach-hound, but would just like to go to visit one temple at Kataragama. But, I guess, it was the magic of Kataragama, and the spiritual strength of that place that made it all happen.

Lasanthi Gunasekara and the team at Masterwalkers Travels maintained a hectic routine of communication, working with me on the itinerary. I kept changing details, adding requirements, asking for information and troubling them enormously. They did not know me, and I did not know them. Nobody introduced us to each other. The e-handshake just happened, with the blessings of Facebook, on one fine day in June 2011.

Another development happened during this communication. I was reading up on Kataragama, the temples, the deity, the pilgrimage and the knowledge systems that abound. There are fantastic websites, with hundreds or thousands of pages, and hundreds of links about Skanda-Murugan-Kartikeya and Kataragama at http://murugan.org/research and at http://www.kataragama.org These websites provide splendid guidance and are doing tremendous service.

I had wanted to search for information of locations mentioned in the Ramayana, and especially of locations that would refer to Shiva, Ravana and Rama. Similar to the Jyotirlinga Shiva temples or the Vaishnava Divya Desams in India, the "Pancha-Ishwara" (= five Shiva) temples in Sri Lanka are the oldest, most pre-eminent locations of spiritual thought and aspects of worship to Shiva.

Two locations were crucial to the journey to Kataragama. Tondeswaram, near Matara, which was the southernmost, and Muneeswaram, at Chilaw, south of Puttalam, on the western coast, north of Colombo, seemed like locations that I would be able to visit and add value to the bharatayatra.