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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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Perahera time and crowd behaviour Poya Meditation by Sumana Saparamadu It is perahera time in Kandy. The finale of the pageant, the Maha
Perahera, will be on the night of the full-moon, Saturday, July 31. It was
reported recently that Kandy would be 'an Today, be it a perahera, a devala festival or the pilgrim season - a Adam's Peak or Kataragama and Anuradhapura - the focus is on the environment and its pollution, by pilgrims, devotees and sightseers, rather than on crowd behaviour. Has crowd behaviour improved so much as not to call for any adverse comments, or has the garbage problem expanded to such proportions as to overshadow the crowd problem? The following comments on peraheras and pilgrims by officers and others during the British regime make not only interesting reading, but also give food for thought. There was no polythene or plastic problem then or even until about 30 years ago, when pilgrims and picnickers brought their food wrapped in banana leaves which were bio-degradable, and their own reed mats to sit on or lie down. Pomp and parade This comment is by Dr. John Davy, army surgeon and physician who attended on Governor Brownrigg: "The perahera was observed with the greatest pomp and parade...The king took an active part in it and during the five days that the Randoely-beyma lasted, regularly joined the evening procession in his golden chariot drawn by eight horses. According to the natives, this part of the perahera was extremely magnificent, the chiefs vying with each other in splendour of dress and in the multitude of their attendants, and every party concerned and the king in particular, using the utmost exertions to make the spectacle as brilliant and imposing as possible." Davy was describing what he saw or heard from the locals before the 1818 rebellion. What Sir Emmersion Tennent saw 25 or 30 years later was very different. "The great annual procession of the perahera with its torchlights, its solemn music and caparisoned elephants, is spiritless and unimpressive, if contrasted with occasions within living memory, when it was hallowed by the divine presence of a king." What Dr. Davy says about crowd behaviour is very significant, and worth repeating: "The manner in which the Singhalese behaved themselves during these festivals is worthy of notice - In 1817 I was present at the perahera from its beginning to its end, and the conduct of the people throughout was decorous, and highly creditable to them:- during the whole time, though there were several thousand people assembled, I saw no scene of riot or disturbance and no instance of drunkenness, the most modest might have looked on, without having occasion to blush, and the most refined might come away without having had their feelings shocked, which I understand, is much more than can be said of the public exhibitions on the continent of India, that are generally indecent and licentious beyond description. John Davy - An Account of the Interior of Ceylon. Poson pilgrims L. Liesching, Assistant Government Agent of Nuwara Kalaviya (1869-1873) said the same thing of Poson pilgrims to Anuradhapura. He noted in his diary: "There is annually a gathering from all parts of the island at Anuradhapura to visit what are called sacred places. I suppose about 20,000 people come here, remain for a few days and then leave. "These 20,000 people come and go annually without a single policeman being here, and as the Magistrate of the district, I can only say that anything to surpass their decorum and sobriety of conduct, it is impossible to conceive. Such a thing as a row is unheard of. That does not look like a people among whom crime of a heinous nature is indigenous!" And this from John still, that lover of Lanka and intrepid traveller who roamed our jungles and climbed our mountains. "Among the pilgrims I have seen people of half a dozen races, with as many languages, and at least four distinct religions besides many sects, and I can testify to their reverence, for the east understands religion whereas we of the West have made of it a form of warfare. There was no policeman there, and no one in authority at all, so far as I could learn, but the place was holy ground and the tolerance of the pilgrims seemed a thing that might well have been studied by Western ecclesiastics with honour and amazement, perhaps even in shame. I mentioned this tolerance once to a bishop and was told it was a sign of weakness of faith, persecution, I suppose, is a sign of strength." Jungle Tide |
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environmental-friendly city
during the Esala Perahera.' A fine of Rs. 50 would be imposed on anybody
found throwing garbage into the Kandy Lake or littering streets with
polythene bags and plastic boxes and bottles.
