Kandy's Bahirawakanda steeped in legend
by Stanley E. Abeynayake
Kandy or Mahanuwara is very much in the news during the Kandy Esala
Perahera. It is universally accepted as the most significant
religious-cum-cultural pageant with unsurpassed grandeur in the whole of
Asia. Bahirawakanda is a hill almost in the heart of the historic Kandy
town steeped in legend as the venue of virgin sacrifice at the time the
Nayakkar Telangu dynasty of the highland kingdom of Sri Lanka to
propitiate the fierce demon Bahirawa, supposed to haunt the ground and
guardian of treasure troves said to be hidden in safe nooks and corners
specially, rocks, rivers, water pools, temples, statues and dagobas.
The first legend concerning the founding of the city of Kandy under
the pristine name of ‘Senkadagalapura’ according to the chronicle of
historical themes pertaining to the Sinhalese kings speaks of a hermit
by the name of Senkada. It says that he lived in a secluded place at the
nearby Udawatte kelle behind the Sri Dalada Maligawa – the Temple of the
Sacred Tooth Relic, Long before the city became the royal seat of the
Sinhala Kingdom.
One morning the hermit spotted a wonderful event. A hare chased after
a fox and the latter ran helter skelter for its dear life. The incident
was unusual. Normally a fox happens to chase after a hare for its
mouth-watering delicacy of a meal. Senkada thought that the identical
spot ought to be a place of victory rather invincible ground –
‘Jayabhoomi'. He promptly named it after him as Senkadagala Pura which
in course of time came to be known as Senkadagala Nuwara. Later it came
to be called Mahanuwara in Kanda Udarata. Due to a mispronunciation of
the Sinhala word ‘Kanda’ which means mountain, the colonial successive
invaders to the kingdom, sinhala – the Portuguese, Dutch and British,
pronounced it as Kandy.
So, now that the historic Royal city is known as Kandy in English
whilst the Sinhala word is Mahanuwara, the great city.
Another legend is linked with the construction of the Kandy Lake by
the last Nayakkar King Sri Wickrema Rajasinha whose ancestors hailed
from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, one time in the Chola – Pandya territories of
South India. The King on hearing that a tortoise with a whitish shell
was on a spot in a paddy field close to his palace consulted his
astrologer who told him that it was an auspicious sign of prosperity.
He, therefore, got the nearby paddy field converted to a lovely lake
- “Kiri Muhuda” which means ‘milk sea'. With the surrounding picturesque
scenery it adorns the city of Kandy.
The other legend refers to a ritual of virgin sacrifice at
Bahirawakanda. A king of the Nayakkar dynasty, it is said was married to
a queen who turned out to be barren. In order to overcome the
misfortune, his sooth-sayers advised him to sacrifice a virgin at an
altar set up at Bahirawakanda on behalf of the blood-thirsty demon
Bahirawa.
As suggested it was arranged and carried out as a human sacrifice of
a beautiful maiden to overcome the unfortunate state of barrenness of
the queen. After fulfilling the vow for a sacrificial ritual, the queen
it seemed, got conceived and gave birth to a baby. After the performance
of each ritual, annually, the queen delivered babies.
When the king and the queen had had enough children, they put an end
to virgin sacrifice. Then, the legend says that the devil Bahirawa got
annoyed and began a period of calamity and qualms in the Sinhala
kingdom.
Weligala Menike
The king's courtiers went in all directions in search of pretty
village damsels for the annual Bahirawakanda ordeal. Those who proceeded
to Galagedara in the Thumpane arrived in a village. There they spotted a
beautiful maiden, Weligala Menike, returning home after a bath from the
well wearing her bathing cloth. The moment the king's men saw her their
vigilant eagle eyes fell on her enchanting physical features and
contours. They informed her parents that they wanted to take their
daughter to be produced before the king as one of the selectees. They
said, it was her fate. She and her parents were helpless.
The following morning Weligala Menike and other girls were given
baths with scented water, nicely dressed in gorgeous garments, a
delicious royal breakfast was served on them. They were ordered to
parade before the king who majestically made his presence for the final
selection of the most beautiful maiden. She was thus, finally destined
as the “billa” (human blood offering) for the beastly demon Bahirawa.
The choice was Weligala Menike.
Gajanayake Nilame
There was a gallant young man Gajanayake Nilame attached to the
elephant branch of the royal service. He was present in the precincts of
the “billa” selection site. The brave Nilame (official) was eagerly
watching the unfortunate fate of Weligala Menike. He felt sorry for her.
Having fallen in love with her at first sight, he was determined to save
her by hook or by crook and marry her. He made up his mind to be active
and brisk in the name of his first love.
The procession taking Menike lavishly garlanded proceeded accompanied
by Kadyan drummers, conch-shell blowers, whip-cracker dashers, charmers
to officiate at the ceremony to dedicate the maiden to the demon,
“Kapuralas” or officiating priests for gods and goddesses and other
processionists. After the procession wended its way to the top of the
hill, the helpless beauty was tied to the stake set up for that purpose
just opposite the decorated altar to Bahirawa. The charmers and
Kapuralas recited incantations to the demon to arrive and suck her blood
and devour the vital parts including her heart, liver, entrails and what
not.
The pretty girl was believed to be alive only till the arrival of the
monstrous demon, killed her by his weird magical powers and satisfied
his blood-thirsty desires to the full.The innocent girl was shivering in
the cold breeze blowing from the lofty Kandyan mountains.
Lover's gallantry Gajanayake Nilame surreptitiously approached the
girl of his first love and accosted her “Menike” in a soft voice. She
was chanting Buddhist prayers of the Triple Gem invoking protection
through fear.When she heard Gajanayake Nilame whispering the word
“Menike” she got excited and was flabbergasted thinking that demon had
reached her. The thought that her end was inevitable was uppermost in
her sub-conscious.
Lo and behold! It was Gajanayake Nilame, that handsome young man who
was present at the palace when the king chose her as the “billa”. No
time was wasted or spared. Nilame cut the strings with which she was
tied to the stake. Instantaneously he saved the girl from her doom. Both
Nilame and Manike, the true lovers hurried up from the hill and city and
trekked up to the Mahaweli river bank. Ultimately, what would have been
a tragedy ended up happily as a melodrama-sensational dramatic piece
with crude appeals, emotions and usually happy ending. The unique
Bahirawakanda virgin sacrifice legend is suggestive of a melodrama that
took place during the Nayakkar dynasty of the Kandyan kingdom.
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