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| Sunday, 12 October 2003 |
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Wild boar Sel lipi by Gotabhaya Swasthi Shree! Thus says His Sacred Majesty, the gracious Great King, glorious Chakravarthi, King of the Kings of Maya, Pihiti and Ruhuna, Mahoora of the Vanniala-aeththo and ruler of all lands from Yapapatuna to Sampanthota: Truly, the sufferings of the sick are manifold. Not only must they wait seemingly endlessly before being examined by a physician, but they also find that they cannot be cured unless they go through a pooja ceremony known as the 'chaen-nal' (which requires a votive offering of a hundred or more kahapanas). Furthermore, they often find that there are no medicines available at these temples of healing and must perforce purchase them for many a kahapana from outside. Apart from these travails, the patients often experience great suffering when the physicians or their assistants decide to go through the rituals of a certain thoyil ceremony. This may be either the lesser thoyil known as 'working to vinaya' or the greater ceremony of 'hitting' or 'striking'; in the former, the participants dress in sacred white and move meditatively within the hospitals, while in the latter they do the same ritual dance outside. During the course of these thoyils, the participants are forbidden to have any dealings whatever with sick people, so the patients at the temples of healing must remain unattended. So when the boorish behaviour of the healers is complemented by external attacks by their wild quadruped counterparts, the patients could be forgiven for thinking that their pots overflow, not with milk but with misery. For it has come to the notice of the Maha Vasala that several wild shukra poathakas have run amok in the main house of physicians in Ampara. The beasts apparently made their entry into the hall where the patients awaiting treatment sit. Terrified invalids had run hither and thither as the wild boar rampaged through the house of healing. The beasts had then broken into a nearby shop and escaped after leaving one person injured. However, sometimes the evident truth might be just a maya, an illusion. The visitation by the boars to Ampara might in fact herald in a new era in the shilpa-shaasthra of healing. Many years ago, the King of Nepalaya came to this dhammadweepa in order to hunt wild animals. The noble lord Sakra came down to Earth as a wild deer, which was hunted down and slain by the aforesaid monarch. The people were filled with revulsion at this act and the korales in the audience hall declared that, henceforth, no more wild animals might be hunted within these blessed shores. Could it not be that the incident with the boars might similarly be a signal from the devas? The incident took place in Ampara, the fiefdom of Dayaa Rathana manthri, who heads the angshaya that deals with the health and hygiene of the people. It took place in a house of healing, which are administered by the lekams of this same angshaya. The visitation, moreover, was by wild boar, beasts of the race of the Varaha incarnation of Upulvan Vishnu. It is evident, therefore, that these were Yakkas in the guise of Varaha that have been sent by Vessamuni on the orders of the blue-skinned protector of this island, in order to remind Dayaa Rathana manthri of the problems faced by the sick. The suffering populace today is filled with fear and revulsion at the treatment they receive at these halls of infirmary. Will their voice be heard in the audience halls as when the deer was slain by the Royal hunter? Swasthi Shree! This rock edict is made on this day of Ravi of the month of wap of the Year of the Saka Era 1930. |
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