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#KATARAGAMA

Kataragama (Sinhala: කතරගම, romanized: Kataragama , Tamil: கதிர்காமம், romanized: Katirkrāmam) is a pilgrimage town sacred to Buddhist, Hindu and indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. People from South India also go there to worship. The town has the Kataragama temple, a shrine dedicated to Skanda Kumara also known as Kataragama deviyo. Kataragama is located in the Monaragala District of Uva province, Sri Lanka. It is 228 km ESE of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Although Kataragama was a small village in medieval times, today it is a fast-developing township surrounded by jungle in the southeastern region of Sri Lanka.

The ancient Kiri Vehera Buddhist stupa, which is believed to be built by the regional king Mahasena in the 6th century BC is also a major attraction in Kataragama area.[1] The town has a venerable history dating back to the last centuries BCE. It was the seat of government of many Sinhalese kings during the days of Rohana kingdom.[2] Since the 1950s the city has undergone many improvements with successive governments investing in public transportation, medical facilities, and business development and hotel services. It adjoins the popular Yala National Park.


#Kataragama Esala Perahera

The main event that is held to pay homage to Kataragama deviyo is the annual Esala Festival held at Kataragama in July or August. The traditional rituals of the annual Kataragama Esala festival starts with traditional Kap Sitaweema ceremony that take place at an auspicious time after the conclusion of Poson Poya day. Kap situweema is the installation of a sanctified log known as kapa at the premises of the temple. Devotees after having a bath in Menik Ganga (a river flowing near to the Kataragama temple) dressed in clean white clothes, walk across to the temple bearing offerings of flowers and fruit to the god, expect to obtain blessings to begin the Esala festival.[16]

Kataragama Esala Perehera is the most spectacular event of the annual Esala festival, which is held in the nights of festive season. A procession (perehera) with traditional dancers, kawadi dancers, drummers, fire walkers, elephants and many other religious rituals, it is known as one of the most elegant historical cultural pageants in Sri Lanka.[17] The fire-walking ceremonies for which the Kataragama festival is famous, take place in the main temple yard after the procession. The area is prepared with wood being burned beforehand and the devotees who take part in fire-walking, after having cleansed themselves and visited the main temple (maha devale) for divine blessings, tread the red-hot embers floored on the ground to show their great reverence to the god.[6]

The water-cutting ceremony that brings the festival to an official end is held in the Menik Ganga, the morning after the final procession take place on the full moon night. The final rite is the Diya Kapeema, where Kapurala (official of the temple) cut water of the river with a sword to ceremonially end the annual festival. Thereafter the devotees plunges into the shallow waters of Manik Ganga for purification, before departing to their everyday lives.


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