Anthropos: Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

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Zeitschrift

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistenter Identifier:: BV043334262

Titel:: Anthropos

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711886

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711886

Persistenter Identifier:: 1513768301723

Titel:: Anthropos, 92.1997,1/3

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1997

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 92, 1997, Heft 1-3

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Zeitschriftenartikel

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Where Valli Meets Murukan. "Landscape" Symbolism in Kataragama

Sonstige Person:: Link, Hilde K.

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Anthropos 92.1997: 91-100 Where Vajji Meets Murukan “Landscape” Symbolism in Kataragama Hilde K. Link Abstract. - Kataragama is a pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka at which several places of worship are used by Hindus, Buddhists, and Moslems alike. Indigenous myths tell the love story of a girl from the jungle, Vajji, and Lord Murukan who comes from mount Kailasa; the heroine and the hero meet on a hill at Kataragama. The myths follow the concept of love or “gram mar” of love in Old Tamil literature, which claims timelessness hy using symbols through which poetry strives for permanent relevance. In this article I try to apply the concept of love in Old Tamil (namely Cahkam) literature to the site of Kataragama a nd discuss what knowledge can be drawn from this concept and where it fails. [Sri Lanka, Kataragama, myths, symbolism, Old Tamil Cahkam literature] Hilde K. Link, Dr. (1986); since 1986 teaching at the Institut für Völkerkunde und Afrikanistik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Uni- v ersität, München, since 1993 hon. Professor at the Pondicher ry University, Pondicherry; field research in South India on sacred theatre, time- and space-concepts, and on mathematical calculations concerning temple architecture. Kataragama is a pilgrimage site in southeastern Sri Lanka, situated in the jungle, on the same degree of longitude as Mount Kailasa. Within the area of Kataragama are several places of worship used by Hindus, Buddhists and Moslems alike, although Christians also undertake pilgrimages to these sites. Wirz (1954: 29) describes the so-called tuain site in detail and provides a plan, though this is not exact as regards the temple layout. Hausherr also gives detailed descriptions and plans of the main area (1978: 237 ff.). Stories of Valli and Murukan: Stories of Love The authors who have dealt with Kataragama 1 devote their attention especially to the main site, which amongst other things contains a temple to Skanda with a Yantra plate, a temple to Valli, a Buddhist temple, and a mosque. Away from the stream of visitors and pilgrims, Katagarama has two other parts, hardly noticed in the literature, Sella Kataragama and the hill of veti-itti-kanta. In January 1993, the 62-year-old priest of this hill told me the following story: Narada, the messenger of the gods, went from Mount Kailasa to veti-itti-kanta Hill. On this hill he met a young Vedda girl named Valli, who was waiting for her lover. This lover was none other than Lord Murukan himself. After Narada learnt this, he told Murukan, who immediately set off to meet the girl. When the handsome young god met Vajji, the girl from the wood, for the first time, she ran away. After another futile attempt by Murukan to approach the girl, Ganesa rushed to help him. Being a wild elephant, he broke menacingly through the jungle thicket. Vajji was so frightened that she fled into Murukan’s arms and held on to him tightly. Murukan wanted to take Vajli to Mount Kailasa with him, but the Vedda did not want to give the girl away and began shooting at him. He quickly turned into a vehkai tree, which started to bleed. Valli turned into the hill on which the tree had struck its roots. We find a similar tale in Wirz (1954: 6 f.), in which Murukan, whom Wirz calls Skanda, appears as an old man who, after meeting Valli, turns into the handsome young god. Pfaffenberger briefly mentions the myth concerning the origin of the site. Skanda (or Murukan) comes to Sri Lanka to hunt and meets there a lovely young woman, Valli. They fall in love, which angers Skanda’s first wife, Devasena. Nonetheless, Skanda remains with Valli in Kataragama (1979: 254). According to Zvelebil (1981 b: 40), the myth of Murukan and Valli is an indigenous or au tochthonous Dravidian myth. Zvelebil’s statement constitutes a challenge to the anthropologist to examine to what extent and in what ways the myth of Murukan and Valli and its structural form are reflected conceptually in the place where the lovers first met, namely Kataragama. Does the mythical model inhere in the layout of the site? Can the myth of Murukan and Valji say anything about the concept of the world (Weltbild) as expressed in Kataragama in the arrangement of sacred space? 1 For example, Wirz 1954; Pfaffenberger 1979; LaFleur 1979.

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