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100024107 MINORU RATNAYAKE DDD30015 Visual Narrative and Integrated Media Nick Mau Semester 2 2016 Swinburne University of Technology School of Design Bachelor of Design (Communication Design)
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YAKA THE ORIGIN OF SRI LANKAN EXORCISMS
CONTENTS
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1 8 D E M O N S ’ R I T UAL
L AN D S CAP E
T H E V I S UAL N AR R AT I V E
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P O RTRAI T
STI L L L I F E
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18 Demons’ RITUAL
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18 Demons’ Ritual of Sri Lanka 18 Demons’ Ritual (‘18 Sanni Yakuma’, Sanni means disease and Yakuma means demon ritual) is a traditional ritual of Sri Lankan exorcism. This ritual has eighteen different types of dances for each demon. Each demon afflicts humans in specific ways of spreading diseases. The purpose of the ritual is to address the demon who caused the specific disease and exorcise it. According to historians, these beliefs of demons, illnesses and rituals have prehistoric roots. It was believed that, those 18 demons in the ritual appeared in the time period of Lord Buddha. The origin story of the 18 Demons is as follows. The king of ‘Licchavis’ of ‘Vaishali’ left the city to fight a great war, leaving behind his queen in the royal palace. He had no idea that she was pregnant. When the king returned to the city from the war, he saw that the queen was in a state of pregnancy and about to give birth to a child. However, an evil handmaid of the palace lied to the king about this baby. She convinced the king that the child is not his and the minister for defense was responsible for the queen’s pregnancy and that he stayed in the city during the great war to safeguard the city. The king assumed that the queen committed adultery and made a quick decision out of furious anger, and ordered the queen to be bound to a tree and halved.
But as the queen was about to be executed, she gave birth to the child. The infant grew up feeding on the remains of her mother’s corpse unbeknownst to the king. He turned into an unholy creature and was known as ‘Kola’. Several years later, He vowed to take revenge on his father. He roamed throughout the wilderness in hiding and collected different types of deadly poisons from far ends of the jungle and concocted eighteen different deadly potions which created eighteen different demons. He released these demons into the city and ordered them to “capture humans and cause illness and spread disease through phlegm, bile and wind!” Lord Buddha sensing great death and destruction appeared at the city and ordered the king’s demon son and his followers to stop. ‘Kola’ however, refused to obey Lord Buddha’s order, and tried to justify his actions based on the cruelty which was forced upon him many years ago. But, great was the power of Buddha. He defeated them and ordered Kola and his people to clean the city and wash away all the diseases. Yet, in his mind, Kola’s revenge was just and he had no remorse. Understanding the great cruelty caused upon the demon, Buddha felt empathetic towards him. He gave Kola and his demons the ability to afflict and spread disease but on the condition that that they must heal these afflictions and leave when the tribute is paid. 11
‘Naga Raskha’ is one of these eighteen demons. It causes nightmares specifically with Cobras. It wears a cobra hood on top of the head and three other cobras emerge from around the eyes and four more from the mouth and two cobras from the nostrils. Two more from each ear - piece. The mask has lots of colors and patterns to it. It possesses a long tongue to sense its enemies and sharp teeth to eat the enemies. Some legends say that this demon transforms into poisonous cobras and capture its enemies and enslaves them.
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‘Naga Raskha’
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Sri Lanka has a rich tradition of masked dancing and an immense variety of intricately carved and brightly painted masks. These demon masks are made out of a soft, light wood called ‘Kadura’ with the hollow inside so that the dancer can put the mask on his face. The demon masks (raksha masks) are often worn by an exorcist, a shaman or a dancer. The main intention of wearing this mask is to transform the wearer into a supernatural character in specific Sri Lankan rituals and dramas. Colours of the masks plays a major role in this ritual. There are certain color schemes for each mask. Normally, the color represents the characteristics of the demon they believed it looked like. And, mostly, these masks has the same physical face structure with narrow, long and pointy face, 14
sharp teeth protruding tongues and bulging eyes. The Raksha Masks are a tribute to Demons which is a race that used to rule Sri Lanka. Legends say that these rakshas (demons) could assume 24 different forms. Few examples of these forms are ‘Naga Raksha’ (Demon of Cobra), ‘Gurulu Raksha’ (Demon of Bird) and ‘Maru Raksha’ (Demon of Death). Certain types of masks represent different meanings. Religious meanings, rituals, secular, exorcist etc. The masks also have different uses like healing and spiritual uses. The Devil Dance ritual, a midnight ceremony. Crowds milling, bodies covered with sweat from the hot tropical hot nights
in Sri Lanka. Burning torches everywhere. A patient who is affected with some kind of diseases seated on a low seat. The rhythm of beating drums gives a spooky atmosphere around the place. Suddenly the demon enters to the ritual, rhythms of drums changes, the demon starts dancing towards the patient. Finally, the patient meets his tormentor! Among all the dancing rituals, the devil dance mainly focused on healing. Sri Lankans believed that diseases are caused by the nature or supernatural forces. For the natural causes traditional Ayurvedic and medical solutions were made. But for supernatural cases or when the other systems fail, people turned to the shaman/exorcist for aid through rituals such as
Demon dances. Furthermore, Sri Lankan people has performed this dance to help failing crops, prevent drought and provide protection for troubled pregnancies. The Demon Dance rituals and the masks represent an obliterating, fading culture of Sri Lanka. With the rapid development of the modern world, people have forgotten about the past. With very few people left to uphold the traditions, only a few of these authentic demon masks now remain in Sri Lanka. These rituals and masks represent a story of an earlier generation of human beings in Sri Lanka. It used to be a way of curing people, just like doctors and medicine in the modern day. I think, it is a responsibility to preserve this culture and tradition, to past on our heritage to the next generations. 15
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PORTRAIT PROCESS WORK
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FINAL IMAGE 01
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FINAL IMAGE 02
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LANDSCAPE PROCESS WORK
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STILL LIFE PROCESS WORK
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F I N A L I M AG E 0 1
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F I N A L I M AG E 0 2
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T H E V I S UA L NA R R AT I V E A P L AY B A S E D ON THE STORY OF T HE 18 D EM ON S
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POSTER
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TICKET
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SET DESIGN
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100024107 MINORU RATNAYAKE DDD30015 Visual Narrative and Integrated Media Nick Mau Semester 2 2016 Swinburne University of Technology School of Design Bachelor of Design (Communication Design)
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