The Temples of the Interfaces a Study of the Relation Between Buddhism and Hinduism at the Munnesvaram Temples, Sri Lanka
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The Temples of the Interfaces A Study of the Relation between Buddhism and Hinduism at the Munnesvaram Temples, Sri Lanka. by Rohan Neil Bastin A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D. University College, The University of London. June 1991 ProQuest Number: 10609845 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10609845 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The two important temples at Munnesvaram, on the west coast of Sri Lanka, are Hindu and are run by Tamil priests. Their patronage is largely Sinhalese Buddhist. They are the context for an examination of the relations between Hinduism and Buddhism in modern Sri Lanka in a period of violent ethnic tension between Tamils and Sinhalese. The thesis falls in two parts. The first deals with the history of the temples in the colonial and post-colonial eras, the history of religious difference, and with a social analysis of the two groups of priests and of the worshippers. This establishes grounds for a consideration of current anthropological debates on hierarchy and on historicity. The second extends the consideration through a detailed analysis of temple design, ritual and worship. The growing popularity of Munnesvaram as a centre for sorcery, where female Hindu deities predominate, is analysed in the context of ethnic hostility, in order to interpret the changing nature of Munnesvaram's religious significance in a labile social environment. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 Contents 3 List of Maps, Tables and Diagrams 6 Preface 7 Chapter One, Introduction. 13 The Setting 15 Hinduism & Buddhism, An History of Interaction 20 Hierarchy 24 Hierarchy & Power 27 Thesis Outline 30 Chapter Two, Myths of Munnesvaram. 39 Rama at Munnesvaram 39 Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe 44 Conclusion 48 Chapter Three, An Historical Background to Chilaw and Munnesvaram. 54 Pre-Portuguese 55 Portuguese 58 Dutch 61 British 67 The Development of the Coconut Plantation Economy 69 Post 1948 Independence 77 Catholicism and Ethnic Tension in Chilaw 80 Conclusion 83 Chapter Four, Revivalism in the British Period 86 Hindu Revivalism 87 Buddhist Revivalism 99 "Protestant Buddhism"? 106 Munnesvaram & Revivalism 109 Animal Sacrifice 112 Conclusion 114 Chapter Five, The Munnesvaram Priests, Brahmin & Non- Brahmin 116 The Munnesvaram Temple Brahmin Priests 118 The 1873 Case 127 4 Page The 1925 Case 135 The Bathrakali Temple Priests 144 Chapter Six, The Structure of Temple Patronage 155 The Munnesvarampattuva Villagers 157 Pattuva Membership and Personal Identity 158 The Pattuva in the Galactic Polity 161 Fluid Caste Identity 165 The Tamil Response 169 Sinhalese Responses 172 The Adi Festival and the Pseudo-Trust 175 Munnesvaram & Kataragama 178 The Outsider Patrons 180 Tamil Hindu Outsiders 186 Conclusion 192 Chapter Seven, The Hindu Temple & Munnesvaram Temple 194 Sacred Ground 196 Purusa, Sacrifice & the Temple 199 Exclusive Areas in the Temple 208 Stone Images 211 The Lingatbavar 217 Metal Images & Processions 222 Puja at Munnesvaram & the Meaning of Puja 224 Puja & the Death of a Priest 238 Conclusion 239 Chapter Eight, A Closer Examination of the Temples 244 Munnesvaram Temple Design 245 The Sanctum 246 The Addition of Shrines 259 The Bathrakali Temple 253 Puja, Archchanam & Sinhalese Participation 259 Archchanam at the Bathrakali Temple 265 Interpretation 267 Conclusion: The Temple & Power 271 Chapter Nine, The Presence of ^akti 277 £akti at Munnesvaram 278 The Ambal - Kali Relation 284 Santhanam Kappu - Cooling the Goddess 286 Ambal & Kali in Hierarchy 287 The £akti Aesthetic and the Goddess Pattini 289 Male/Female and the Hindu Hierarchy of £akti 291 Mistress & Servant: The Buddhist Pattini/Kali Relation 296 5 Page Chapter Ten, Sarada Navaratri 300 Navaratri at Munnesvaram Temple 300 108 Sanqu Apisekem 302 Yantram Puja * 307 Hdma Sacrifice 311 Vijaya Thasami: Fighting the Buffalo Demon 313 Interpretation: Navaratri as the Formation of Kali's £akti 317 Navaratri at the Bathrakali Temple 320 Other Celebrations of Navaratri 323 Conclusion 330 Chapter Eleven, Sorcery & Astrology 332 Trance & Sorcery 333 Sorcery and its Symbolism 339 Sorcery at Munnesvaram Temple _ _ 346 Example of a Navakiraga ?anthi Puja 350 Sorcery & Trade 355 The Growth in Kali's Popularity 362 Conclusion 376 Chapter Twelve, Conclusion - The Adi Festival 378 The Village Guardian 382 Winslow on Aiyanayake 383 Dumont on Aiyanar 385 The Maradankulam Aiyanar Festival 388 First Stage 389 Second Stage 394 Munnesvaram Festival 400 The Flag-Raising 400 Processions 402 The Use of Regalia 403 Chariots 406 The Festival as Bazaar 407 The Special Rites 409 Firewalking & the Nayanar Procession 411 The Madam Festivals 414 The Hunting Festival as the Birth of Pattini 415 The Bathrakali Festival 419 The Tirtham 420 Conclusion 426 Notes 435 Bibliography 476 6 LIST OF MAPS, TABLES & DIAGRAMS Page Chapter One Table 1, The Munnesvaram Patronage 13 Map 1, Sri Lanka, Showing Research Area 16 Map 2, Munnesvaram, Showing the Location of the Temples 17 Chapter Three Table 1, Population Growth in Chilaw 1871 - 1921 75 Table 2, Coconut Labour Force, 1953 78 Chapter Five Table 1, The Munnesvaram Priests 119 Table 2, List of Bathrakali Temple Owners from the late 18th century. 145 Chapter Six Table 1, The Temple Patronage 181 Table 2, Sample of Bathrakali Temple Patrons 182 Map 1, National Distribution of Temple Patrons 183 Table 3, Munnesvaram Sarada Navaratri Sponsors, 1985 187 Table 4, Bathrakali Temple Navaratri Sponsors, 1985 189 Table 5, Bathrakali Temple Adi Festival Sponsors, 1985 189 Chapter Seven Diagram 1, The Aesthetic of Piling-Down 213 Table 1, Munnesvaram Nityapuja 224 Diagram 2, The Munnesvaram Temple Groundplan & Guide to the Shrines 227 Table 2, Special Days in Waxing Paksa 230 Diagram 3, Lamp-Waving and the Movement Around the Temple 237 Chapter Eight Diagram 1, Developments in the Munnesvaram Building 251 Chapter Nine Table 1, Ambal/Bathrakali Contrasts 295 Chapter Ten Diagram 1, 108 Sanqu Api^ekem 304 Diagram 2, Vijaya Thasami 314 Chapter Twelve Diagram 1, The Maradankulam Aiyanar Temple 390 Diagram 2, Munnesvaram Village & the Procession Route 404 Table 1, Munnesvaram Festival Special Events 410 PREFACE The following is a study of a Tamil Hindu temple complex on the west coast of Sri Lanka that is patronised predominantly by Sinhalese Buddhists. To the Western outsider, it may seem quite incongruous that Buddhists attend Hindu temples and more especially that Sinhalese Buddhists would attend a Tamil Hindu temple when these two ethnic groups have been violently opposed to each other, particularly in the last decade. The contemporary situation in Sri Lanka has certain parallels with Northern Ireland and Cyprus: two opposed ethnic groups struggling to cohabit under a government that defers to one group more than the other, with occupying armies from interested outsider countries exerting their influence. Yet the tensions between Catholic and Protestant Irish, or Christian and Muslim Cypriot, at the level of actual religious practice are revealed most clearly as exclusive. In Sri Lanka, particularly at the Munnesvaram temples, Sinhalese Buddhists patronise Tamil Hindu run temples. Moreover, their attendance has been growing as the 1980's proceeded and the climate of unrest worsened. The following study focuses on the religious dimensions of the unrest in the context of the Munnesvaram temples, a group of five temples near the port town of Chilaw, eighty kilometres north of Colombo. It is a study of religious change, of the relationship between contemporary Sinhalese Buddhism and Tamil Hinduism as this relationship manifests as the religious significance of the Munnesvaram temples. I concentrate on history, the discursive fields with which history is interpreted, and on religious practice as the expression, often oblique, refracted and obscure, of these interpretations. As with many anthropologists, my thesis is not at all what I set out to do. In 1983, interested in a possible study of Romanesque architecture and iconography in relation to the nature of symbols, but weary of twenty years of Christianity, I approached Bruce Kapferer with the idea of studying Hindu temples. My ruminations over which part of India I would go to were cut short by Bruce's enthusiastic endorsement which included, almost as a fait accompli, the idea that I would conduct research in Sri Lanka. He even suggested the Munnesvaram temple, but as soon as I learnt that the area was heavily populated by Roman Catholics, and anxious to have some say in my research, I stated that I would work in the Eastern Province, eventually choosing to go to the town of Batticaloa. I arrived in Batticaloa District in July 1984 and moved into the Batticaloa University College for the next nine months. I extend my gratitude to the staff and students of that time, especially the Director, Professor Tawney Rajaratnam, for their friendship and hospitality under what proved to be trying circumstances for all of us. As the site for the