Daha ata sanniya:

Employing devils to cure people

On December 30, a 'Daha Ata Sanniya' festival organised to bless the country was held at Oruwala, Athurugiriya. Daha ata sanniya or devil dancing ceremonies were rather common in our island during the good old days, but have become quite rare events today. So, this festival held at Athurugiriya was watched and enjoyed by a lot of people.

Today, we will enlighten you on the traditional ritual of Daha ata sanniya or Sanniyakuma. These ceremonies were organised to 'cure' and bless people who were afflicted with various diseases, were affected by the evil eye or faced numerous accidents. It is a psychological treatment applied for 18 diseases and was widely prevalent in the low country.

The unique feature of this dramatic event is that the dancers all perform wearing masks. Mahakola Sanni Yaka, who holds pride of place in this ritual, has 18 other associate devils. They are Bhootha Sanniya, Amukku Sanniya, Kora Sanniya, Pith Sanniya, Naga Sanniya, Bihiri Sanniya, Golu Sanniya, Seethala Sanniya, Vatha Sanniya, Tamil Sanniya, Deva Sanniya, Kana Sanniya, Gulma Sanniya, Vedi Sanniya, Bheetha Sanniya, Murthu Sanniya, Jala Sanniya and Kola Sanniya.

There is an interesting story about the origin of the Daha ata sanniya ritual. In ancient India, there lived a king called Sankapala. His wife was named Asupala. The king had to leave the country to take part in a war. The queen was pregnant at the time, but the king didn't know about it. When the king left, he placed the queen under the care of a widow.

One day, the queen got a craving to eat ripe mangoes, but it was very difficult to find them because mangoes were not in season. However, the king's men managed to find a mango with extreme difficulty. When the queen was enjoying the fruit, her maid also asked for a piece, but was refused. Thus, a seed of hatred against the queen was planted in the maid's mind.

When the victorious king returned from the war, the maid ran to him and told him that the queen was expecting a child from the chief minister. The enraged king immediately ordered that the queen be hung from a tree and cut into two pieces. Even though his instructions were carried out to the letter and the queen was killed, because of the power held by the unborn baby, the two severed parts of the queen's body rejoined and the baby grew and was born at the right time.

When the prince was 16 years of age, he suddenly remembered what had happened to his mother. Seeking revenge, he went into the forest, collected a variety of medicines, ground them and formed 18 tablets. From those tablets, he created 18 devils to keep him company. Then, he went into his father's kingdom and started destroying the city.

This resulted in three fears being planted in the minds of the people: fear of demons, fear of famine and fear of diseases. When the city was going through this devastation, the Lichchavi kings who ruled the area, invited the Buddha to visit the city.

The Buddha arrived, chanted the Rathana Suthra, sprinkled holy water and removed the fears from the minds of the people. Thereafter, it was believed that the 18 devils led by the Sanni Yaka inflicted diseases among people and lived off the offerings (poojas) that came their way.

See this page next week to know how the ritual is performed...

Janani Amarasekara