Wedding of Kannaki and Kovalam
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Wedding of Kannaki and Kovalam |
According to Rajavaliya, the Pattini cult was brought to Sri Lanka from South India by king Gajabahu alias Gajaba Gamani (112-134 AD), along with the insignia of the goddess and her sacred 'salamba' (anklet), when he returned from his expedition, bringing back the 24,000 Sinhala captives taken to India by a band of Cholan usurpers. In India, the king was received with great pomp and ceremony by the Cholan king Senguttuvan, who not only agreed to release the captives but also to recompense with 24,000 Cholans to be brought to the island. But this story is not mentioned in the Mahavamsa.
While staying in India, king Gajabahu had come to know that a woman named Kannaki had become deified as goddess Pattini for her chastity and how people venerated her with faith and devotion. The king was also able to witness the consecration ceremony of a new Hindu temple built in her honour, and he was so impressed over the ceremonial worship of the gently goddess, and having heard of her miraculous powers, decided to bring the divine cult to Sri Lanka. It is said that the first devale dedicated to her "was built at a place called Vattapalli near Mullaitivu" (Ethnology Vol.I).
Some people believing that the sacred anklet of the goddess has miraculous power of curing infectious diseases, such as smallpox, chickenpox, whooping cough, measles, mumps etc., give more preferential treatment to it than the insignia of the goddess. People also believe that she appears in seven manifestations, namely Uramala, Karamala, Gini, Devol, Saman, Ayragana and Siddha, and to ward off malevolent influences, offerings are made to seven 'kiri-ammas' or breast-feeding mothers, but as we often see, the women selected for the purpose are haggard-looking old women whose breasts have gone dry years ago.
