Goddess Pattini, from Vattapalai Kannaki Amman Kovil
|
|
Goddess Pattini, from Vattapalai Kannaki Amman Kovil |
The Pattini cult really came into prominence during the Sitawaka period (1530-1592), when prince Tikiri Bandara ascended the throne as Rajasinha I in 1582, having poisoned his father, the King Mayadunne of Sitawaka. When bhikkus told the apostate king that, according to Buddhism, there could be no escape from patricidal sin, he, on the advice of his Hindu ally Arittakivendu Perumal (an adherent of the non-brahminical Saiva sect), not only embraced Hinduism in order to save himself from the mortal sin, but also extended royal support for the triumph of Hinduism over Buddhism.
The king having patronized the Pattini cult and the goddess as the perfect embodiment of sexual purity, built a devale dedicated to her, by the bank of the Kelani river at Nawagamuwa near Kaduwela, on the Colombo-Avissawella highway, which remains to this day as the principle devale built in her honour. The late Dr. Senarath Paranavitana, Archaeological Commissioner, has expressed the view that "according to carvings found on the stone pillars near the devale, it can be accepted with certainty that it was built during the Portuguese period" (1505-1658). In the old days there was no Buddhist vihara within the precincts of the devale. The one which we now see was the work of Ven. Katuwawala Sumanatissa thera, who built it for Buddhists to pay their homage to Buddha, before worshipping the goddess, in keeping with the Buddhist practice of giving preference to the Buddha above the gods.
To add insult to injury, when the Nayakkar princes from Malabar in South India, ascended the throne of the Kandyan kingdom, and ruled for 76 years (1739-1815), they gave the Pattini cult a prominent place among other gods worshipped by the Buddhists. The result was that god Saman, the tutelary deity of Sri Pada, who was one of the gods among the four guardians of the island, up to the Senkadagala period (1480-1706), lost his guardianship with the substitution of goddess Pattini in his place.
