Pattini, the most venerated goddess in Lanka

by Stanley E. Abeynayake

Goddess Pattini is the most venerated and worshipped goddess in Sri Lanka for centuries. Buddhists and Hindus, both whole-heartedly pay obeisance to her seeking her assistance and protection regarding vicissitudes of life especially pestilence, sickness, pains of child birth and so on.

Buddhists believe that she aspires for manhood in the future and intends to be a Buddha after aeons. Till then she is supposed to be a celestial being goddess, very helpful to her dedicated pious devotees. During the Esala Festival in August she commands a lot of respect and is being worshipped in Pattini Devales right round the country. There are several such devales in urban areas and suburbs.

Birth

Goddess Pattini is referred to in some Buddhist and Hindu prose and verse works as being born in South India - Tamil Nadu - most probably in either the ancient Chola or Pandyan Kingdom.

The Tamil Hindu text Seelappadikaram states details of her birth, life, chastity and ultimately elevation to the status of a goddess.

In her final birth on earth she is said to have been born in a miraculous mango fruit. Previous to that legends mention her birth from a flower called Demata, tears of a cobra, dew drops, shawl, lightning and flames. Accordingly in her last life she was born in a huge mango that grew in such a fruit tree in her orchard of a Pandyan King of yore.

The King was harsh on his subjects and despotic in his rule. He was so ferocious to his countrymen, goddess Pattini was born as a wonderful mango to crush his domineering power.

Enormous mango

The King was amazed to see an enormous mango of the size of a big water pot kalaya hanging down from one of the mango trees in the royal orchard. He ordered the people to pluck it by shooting with an arrow from a bow. Several archers made many an attempt. All those who endeavoured in that attempt very miserably failed.

God Sakra, the Chief God of heavens, it is asserted in books and legends came disguised as an old man walking unsteadily with age carrying with him arrows and a bow. The King and his retinue of followers ridiculed him for his arrival to undertake that stupendous task and as to his capacity to aim an arrow at that unusual mango fruit. Finally after entrities to the King he was given the permission to do so. He shot an arrow like an experienced youthful strong archer and plucked it.

In that process the milk or white liquid of the fruit fell on an eye of the King and it made him blind in one eye. With the result, the one-eyed king's vanity of pride vanquished and thereafter became a righteous benevolent-ruler.

Surprise

A person who picked up the fallen unusual mango, took it home and kept it safely. After a few days he found, the mango separated into two parts. Lo and behold! a pretty baby girl born out of it was found. He was afraid to keep her in his own house.

So, after sometime he placed the baby in a specially decorated basket, put it in a sailing vessel and let it go down adrift in the river Kaveri presently in the Tamil Nadu.

It smoothly floated down and a rich man who happened to be bathing in the river spotted the vessel or boat. To his utter amazement he saw the pretty baby. So, he took her with loving kindness and adopted her as his daughter. She was named Kannagi. In the course of time, she grew up to be an attractive maiden. Her foster father gave the lovely girl in marriage to a young well-to-do youth Palanga Gurunnanse.

Devotion

She proved to be a loving, devoted spouse to his newly wedded husband, Palanga. He was a happy-go-lucky extravagant husband. At the beginning of their married life, the bliss of conjugal happiness was lavishly bestowed on each other. They indulged in frolic and sports. The couple was fond of plucking flowers in sprawling garden with sticks. However, Palanga became enamoured in the tangled complexities of a clandestine love affair with a harlot by the name of Madhavi.

Both of them tasted the forbidden fruit, so to say.Till the Kannagi and Palanga led a life of gaiety and fidelity Palanga's illicit affair with Madhavi played havoc with the former's lawful marriage. yet, due to Kannagi's purity and devotion to her husband, she tolerated all that nonsense on the part of her unfaithful husband.

Anklet

One day Palanga came in distress and accosted his wife who was never estranged towards him. He begged of her for money. The motive was to obtain money from her and squander same with her mistress Madhavi. Being so attached to Palanga Kannagi presented her golden anklet for him to sell it and obtain the requisite money.

Her ungrateful, unfaithful husband left for the principal city Madhura Pura (Madurai) to sell it. By this time the King's Queen has lost her own golden anklet and the King had raised hue and cry to catch the thief. In the meantime Palanga took his wife's ankle to a goldsmith to sell it. The scheming, shrewd craftsman in order to carry favour with the King falsely implicated Palanga as the thief of the Queen's ornamental anklet. The enraged King without making a proper investigation of the matter adjudged Palanga to be the thief and got him killed for the purported theft of the golden anklet.

Trek

Innocent Kannagi brimming with her immeasurable asset of character chastity or purity expected of a dutiful wife dreamt that Palanga was in a quandary - a terrible plight. Her dream revealed that her husband has gone for a six. She set out early in the morning with her domestic aid Kali and determined to find out the whereabouts of her husband.

When going through a road along a paddy field, a fierce she demon living near a resting retreat Ambalama for travellers came up to them to devour both the team-mate travellers. The servant girl, Kali became panicky and began to cry out for her dear life.

Then pious Kannagi by her sheer miraculous, powers, calmed down that monstrous spirit. She also warned her not to harm human beings, but to awful-offerings made by them to appease supernatural begins.

Then they came to a river. The ferryman held them up in contempt and refused to take them across the river to the other side in his canoe. So, helpless, Kannagi took out her golden ring and just drew a line in the water. By divine power due to her amassed merits in previous births, the river water splashed into two sides thereby making a scanty footpath for them to cross over to the other landside.

At the same time Kannagi cursed the haughty and indifferent ferryman, his wife and children and also his kith and kin. As a result of it they all became victims of infectious diseases small-box, chicken pox, mums and measles - Ammawarunge-leda (mother goddess maladies). The flabbergasted ferryman, thotiya fell down at her feet and begged of her-Kannagi - for pardon. Very sympathetic that she was, she accordingly blessed them and they all were fully cured. Then they met some shepherds who passed nasty remarks at those lonely females. They ignored that nuisance as well.

When proceeding towards the city, they met the two children of the king-sons returning after their classes in the temple or kovil school. Kannagi spoke to them kindly offered them some sweets that she had carried on the journey and asked for the whereabouts of her husband Palanga. They told all about him and said how that person suspected as the thief of their mothers’ golden anklet was killed and buried. Cursed, annoyed and sorrowful She became furious no sooner than she got that very pathetic news of the tragedy. In a rage she rushed to the Kings’ palace in anguish and abused the cruel king of taking an unwarranted a hasty decision to kill an innocent man merely on the hearsay evidence of a cunning selfish goldsmith.

In consequence of which the irate king lost his temper instantaneously. He retorted and threatened to cut her breasts and make her eat them. Further he called her the thief's wife to add insult to injury.

By the super - human powers of her virtuous life of pristine purify, she pulled out and plucked her two breasts and flung them at the King. Then the whole palace and the city was ablaze. The fire was raging and destroying every thing on earth. The whole city of Madurai was getting ruined by the fire of curse.

Later on with her heart of gold she pitied the innocent people, young and old including the animals and birds were perishing and put an end to the fire as if it were by magical powers. She also did not fail to make alive her errant dead husband.

There is a legend that she went to a forest in Kerala then known as chena country and lived the rest of her life in deep meditation. After her final sojourn on, earth after seven re-births, she is said to have been born in heaven as a Goddess Pattini.

The consensus among Buddhists and Hindus is that being the Goddess of chastity she is ever ready to come to the rescue of her faithful devotees.

Gajaba

The legend asserts that King Gajaba (114-136 AD) who ruled Anuradhapura made an invasion of the Chola-Pandya Kingdom. That military expedition was in retaliation of a Chola-Pandya invasion during the regime of his father King Tissa also known as Wankanasa Tissa. The invaders took away 12,000 Sinhalese citizens to work as slaves in Tamil Nadu. King Gajabahu or Gajaba in turn crossed over to that kingdom with his army chief Neela or Neela Maha Yodhaya and as ransom brought back to Sri Lanka 12,000 Cholans and Pandyans and also the 12,000 Sinhalese forcibly taken over there. He settled down the Tamils in Aluthkuru Korale and Paranakuru Korale of the Gampaha district and also in Harispattuwa, Kandy district.

It is also to the credit of King Gajaba that he brought with him the golden anklet and other sacred belongings of Goddess Pattini and introduced that cult in our country. Worship to her became the most popular single honour for the Buddhists believe her as a future Buddha to be.

Nawagamuwa Pattini Devale

According to legend, Goddess Pattini arrived in Nawagamuwa in a sailing vessel along the Kelani River landed at a spot close to the present Devale and lived there. The formsot Pattini Devala in Sri Lanka is the Nawagamuwa Siddha Pattini Devale. It is located by the side of the Low-Level Avissawella-Ratnapura Road in between the towns of Kaduwela and Hanwella. Closeby is the Kaduwela Rankadu Devale dedicated to God Kataragama and Goddess Pattini.The original royal patron of both those devala was the warrior King Rajasingha I of Seetawaka.

He also founded the historic Pattini Devala in Medagoda, Amithirigala, Ruwanwella of the Kegalle district. For the Nawagamuwa Devala he got down poosaris - pandarams from Tamil Nadu. At first they adopted the Sinhalese name Kalu Kapuge. During the Portuguese time they adopted the surname Dias and during the British period they rose into the highest prominence by the name of Dias Bandaranayake.

There are also two well-known legends associated with the Nawagamuwa Devale. The first relates as to how by the divine power of Goddess Pattini, a ripe jak fruit bore out of a door frame made of jak wood in the devale. One day a hungry beggar happened to see it. He ate half the ripe jak offered merits to that goddess.

The Kapurala - the officiating priest poosari pandaram having noticed the incident cursed the beggar who ate that fruit merely to satisfy his dire need-hunger. The Goddess got into a fury, over it and saw to it the that the generation of ‘Kapuralas’ perished and came to an end.

The second legend is how just before the Portuguese vandalism of temples and devales spread to the Nawagamuwa area in the Hewagama Korale, by the divine power of the Goddess, ornaments of her were carried on the back of a crocodile Heli Kimbul Wahane along the Kelani River to Medagoda Pattini Devale for safe keeping. It is in the upper reaches of that river passing Seetawaka.