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| Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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More on the cult of the cobra by Eugene M. de Silva In the Sunday Observer of September 20, Mr. Godwin Witane wrote an interesting article about "The growth of the cobra cult in Sri Lanka." There were a few errors in his article and I have written this article to correct those errors and to add some more facts of interest. The Yakkas and Nagas were the first inhabitants of Sri Lanka but they did not come from India. They had their origin in Sri Lanka. Withana writes that the Buddha made his second visit to Sri Lanka and that during that visit quelled the rivalry of Mahodara and Chulodara, two naga chieftains. The two kings were not brothers but according to what I have read they were uncle and nephew. Their names were Chulodara and Mahodara meaning Big Stomach and Small Stomach because from ancient times a person's greatness lay in his ability to eat! Later the names became Bada or Banda and still later the name changed to Bandara. Still we have the names Punchi Bandara, Madduma Bandara and Loku Bandara. Although it is believed that Buddha visited Sri Lanka three times, he did not come in the way we would have travelled, by foot by water or by air. I cannot forget how the Professor of English Dr. E. F. C. Ludowyke was criticized for stating that there is no ancient record whatsoever which states that the Buddha came to Sri Lanka even once. Transcendentalism Leaving aside religion let me state that Buddha is a "Yuga Purushaya" meaning "The Man of an Era". There is only one person for an Era. Perhaps such a person has all his genes arranged in the only correct way. Now, no scientist knows what the correct way is! So, such a person is called the Buddha. It is because there is nothing that he does not feel or know. Wherever he is, he feels and sees when something disastrous to living beings is about to take place. He uses his unbounding knowledge and ability to stop the disaster from taking place. To do the needful the Buddha goes to the place where the disaster is about to take place. Buddha goes to that place through "transcendentalism". The Buddha is not subject to limitations. If you have read Kant's or Schelling's philosophy you would have understood a little what it means, although it is not exactly that. People of the cult of Nagas knew how to transform themselves into any form human or animal. King Dutugemunu died when he was stung on his head by a Naga who had transformed himself into a cobra and lay in waiting in a coconut pandal. Transformation There had been various instances where Nagas had transformed themselves into normal human beings and lived in that form till death. At death they revert automatically into their original form and remain as dead cobras. Witane had described how a Naga who lived like a Buddhist monk was transformed into a dead cobra at death. The ancient Nagas were great irrigation engineers and it is they who originally built our great water storage tanks the "wewas". Later our Sinhala kings repaired and expanded those tanks and even built fresh tanks on the old models. Similar water tanks which were great assets in paddy cultivation are not seen in any other country. I submit that the first foreigners to come to Sri Lanka and settle down were not Vijaya and followers but the ancient Egyptians who left the land of their birth - Egypt, and travelled eastwards. Perhaps, when they built the pyramids their land was covered with lush vegetation. This is seen from the drawings in the caves in Egypt where the plants and domesticated animals are seen painting on their walls. No one can draw anything - plant, or animal or anything at that which the painters had never seen before. How Egypt became a desert no one knows! The fact that the migrating Egyptians came to Sri Lanka can be surmised from the following fact. The great pyramids were built at a certain angle to the star: Orion. Our earliest stupas are also built at the same angle to the star - Orion. It was Mr. McNamara the American who said that the earliest stupas in Sri Lanka have been built long before the days mentioned in the history of Sri Lanka. The American said this after seeing them for the first time. Sometime back a German pilot flying over China had seen pyramids in a jungle there. he had photographed them and later when he requested permission to visit them it was not granted. The vegetation is said to be growing all over the pyramids. Obviously the Egyptians had left Sri Lanka and gone further East and built the pyramids in China. What happened to the Egyptians is anybody's guess. Guardians In certain places of mid-central Sri Lanka archaeologists have come across 'guard stones' or "mura gal". They bear the figures of a man or the head of a cobra. They are said to be the guardians of treasure buried nearby. It is said that anyone trying to unearth the treasure will be destroyed. It will be given only to the rightful heirs who will come to claim the treasure. Godwin Witane had correctly explained this. Although "kobo nayas" have not been seen in Sri Lanka, in a certain part of Africa all inlets to a house is fully covered or closed with strong wire-netting. An Englishman who felt very warm at night in a fully-covered house removed a covering over a window despite the other inmates protesting. When the lamp was blown off something falling in front of the Englishman was heard. On flashing a torch at it, it was seen to be a lean, short, winged-snake. The inmates of the house killed it immediately. The above story is related in support of the view that there are flying snakes and that they have become extinct in Sri Lanka. In writing about snake charmers who are gypsies I must state that the gypsies have a common origin. Even in some European countries there are gypsies. Some of them are called Magyars. All gypsies travel from place to place and live on the money they earn by reading palms, getting the cobras to dance and getting the monkeys to perform acrobatics. It must be stated that snakes are deaf. They appear to dance when they move from side to side when they see the moving knee of the gypsy. |
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