Kajaragrama

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Kajaragrama (काजरग्राम) was an ancient village located on the banks of the Menik Ganga in Sri Lanka where a Bodhi Tree was planted and Mahinda and Samghamitta went thither with their following and the king also with his following. Its present name is Kataragama located in the Monaragala District of Uva province, Sri Lanka.

Variants

Location

The town has the Kataragama temple, a shrine dedicated to Skanda Kumara also known as Kataragama deviyo. 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.

History

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]

The first reference to this village by this name is in the 6th century AD Pali chroncile Mahavamsa, referring to the place as Kājaragāma.[3] It is mentioned in Mahavamsa that the nobles of Kajaragama were among those took part in the festival of the Bodhi Tree when it was brought over by Sangamitta Theri.[4] Some scholars derive Kataragama from Karthikeya Grama, literally meaning Village of Kartikeya, which was shortened in Pali as Kājaragāma and later evolved to Kataragama.[5][6] However according to some scholars, the derivation of Kataragama from Karthikeya Grama shows neither phonetic similarity nor linguistic authority.[7]...."The village, which was below the hill and on the banks of the Menik Ganga, was, in Sinhalese times, called Kataragama, the Pali form of which was Kajaragama. Its derivation from Kartigeya grama, as some scholars have attempted to derive it, has neither phonetic similarity nor linguistic authority"

The literal Sinhalese meaning of Kataragama is the "village in the desert", due to its location in a dry area, stemmed from the words Katara meaning Desert and gama meaning village.[8]

According to a folk etymology, the Tamil name Kathirkāmam is said to be evolved from the combination of two words Kathir (meaning glory of light) and kāmam (Love), which according to the legend is "where the light of Murugan mingled with the love of Valli".[9]

The aboriginal Vedda community used to refer to this deity as O' Vedda or Oya Vedda, meaning "river hunter".[10] The Sri Lankan Moors visiting this place pay homage to a Muslim saint known as al-Khidir, who according to them gave his name to the Islamic shrine at this place, and therefore attributing to the place etymology.[11]

During the historic period, the general area was characterized by small reservoirs for water conservation and associated paddy cultivation. Kataragama village is first mentioned in the historical annals known as Mahavamsa written in the 5th century CE. It mentions a town named Kajjaragama from which important dignitaries came to receive the sacred Bo sapling sent from Ashoka’s Mauryan Empire in 288 BCE.

It functioned as the capital of number of kings of the Ruhuna kingdom. It provided refuge to many kings from the north when the north was invaded by South Indian kingdoms. It is believed that the area was abandoned around the 13th century.[12]

Based on archeological evidence found, it is believed that the Kiri Vehera was either renovated to build during the first century BCE. There are number of others inscriptions and ruins. By the 16th century the Kataragamadevio shrine at Kataragama had become synonymous with Skanda-Kumara who was a guardian deity of Sinhala Buddhism.[13] The town was popular as a place of pilgrimage for Hindus from India and Sri Lanka by the 15th century. The popularity of the deity at the Kataragama temple was recorded by the Pali chronicles of Thailand such as Jinkalmali in the 16th century. There are Buddhist and Hindu legends that attribute supernatural events to the locality. Scholars such as Paul Younger and Heinz Bechert speculate that rituals practiced by the native priests of Kataragama temple betray Vedda ideals of propitiation. Hence they believe the area was of Vedda veneration that was taken over by the Buddhist and Hindus in the medieval period.[14]

In Mahavansha

Mahavansa/Chapter 19 mentions about 'The Coming of the Bodhi Tree'. ....The great thera Mahinda and the bhikkhuni Samghamitta went thither with their following and the king also with his following. The nobles of Kajaragama and the nobles of Candanagama and the Brahman Tivakka and the people too who dwelt in the island came thither also by the power of the gods, (with minds) eagerly set upon a festival of the great Bodhi-tree......Of the eight Bodhi-saplings one was planted at the landing place Jambukola on the spot where the great Bodhi-tree had stood, after leaving the ship, one in the village of the Brahman Tivakka, one moreover in the Thuparama, one in the Issarasamanarama, one in the Court of the First thüpa, one in the arama of the Cetiya-mountain, one in Kajaragama and one in Candanagama. But the other thirty-two Bodhi-saplings which sprang from four (later) fruits (were planted) in a circle, at a distance of a yojana, here and there in the vihäras.

काजरग्राम

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[15] ने लेख किया है ...काजरग्राम (AS, p.162) (लंका): (देखें महावंश 19,54,61) दक्षिण लंका में मैनक गंगा के तट पर वर्तमान कतरग्राम. संघमित्रा द्वारा लंका में बोधिवृक्ष की एक शाखा (महाबोधि) लाई जाने पर इस ग्राम के क्षेत्रीय तथा ब्राह्मण अन्य लोगों के साथ उसे देखने के लिए आए थे. बोधि वृक्ष की उस शाखा के एक अंकुर को इस ग्राम में लगाया गया था.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Amarasekara, Janani (13 January 2008). "Blessed Kataragama". Sunday Observer.
  2. ↑ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kacaragama
  3. ↑ Gombrich, Richard Francis; Gombrich, Richard; Obeyesekere, Gananath (1988). Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 437. ISBN 9788120807020.
  4. ↑ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kacaragama
  5. ↑ Arunachalam, Sir Ponnambalam (1937). Studies and Translations, Philosophical and Religious. Department of Hindu Affairs, Ministry of Regional Development. p. 110.
  6. ↑ Wirz, Paul (1966). Kataragama: The Holiest Place in Ceylon. University of California: Lake House Investments. p. 7.
  7. ↑ Rasanayagam, Mudaliyar C. (1984). Ancient Jaffna. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 60.
  8. ↑ Clough, B. (December 1997). Sinhalese English Dictionary. Asian Educational Services. p. 101. ISBN 9788120601055; Raj, Selva J.; Harman, William P. (February 2012). Dealing with Deities: The Ritual Vow in South Asia. New York: SUNY Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780791482001. Chandani Kirinde and Ravi Shankar (October 2, 2016). "Thirsty for water and justice". The Sunday Times.
  9. ↑ Gombrich, Richard Francis; Gombrich, Richard; Obeyesekere, Gananath (1988). Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 307. ISBN 9788120807020.
  10. ↑ Ancient Ceylon. Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka. 1971. p. 158.
  11. ↑ Jazeel, Tariq (2013). Sacred Modernity: Nature, Environment and the Postcolonial Geographies of Sri Lankan Nationhood. Oxford University Press. p. 84. ISBN 9781846318863.
  12. ↑ Jayaratne, D.K. (May 5, 2009). "Rescue Archeology of Ruhuna, Veheralgala project". Peradeniya University.
  13. ↑ Pathmanathan, S (September 1999). "The guardian deities of Sri Lanka: Skanda-Murgan and Kataragama". The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies. Institute of Asian Studies.
  14. ↑ Bechert, Heinz (1970). "Skandakumara and Kataragama: An Aspect of the Relation of Hinduism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka". Proceedings of the Third International Tamil Conference Seminar. Paris: International Association of Tamil Research.
  15. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.162
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