Kandyan Dance

Kandyan dance is the name given to the dance forms of the Kandy area in Sri Lanka's central hills. The Department of Fine Arts at the University of Peradeniya, which documents the tradition, says that according to legend the dance began in a ritual called the Kohomba Kankariya.

Sri Lanka's Department of Posts describes three main regional dance traditions: upcountry, low country and Sabaragamuwa. The Central Province tourism department explains that each has its own drum. Kandyan dancing uses the geta bera, low country dancing the yak bera, and Sabaragamuwa dancing the davula. The geta bera is beaten with the hands and has a body that tapers towards both ends. The same department records that the main costume of Kandyan dance is known as ves.

Peradeniya describes the Kohomba Kankariya as the main ritual, or shanthi karma, of the Kandyan tradition. It is held to invoke the blessings of a group of deities, among them the god Kohomba. It is tied to the farming year: after the paddy harvest, the first portion is set aside and offered to the gods in thanks.

Preparation begins about three months ahead, when a branch of a jack tree is planted at the chosen site at an auspicious time. Villagers collect coconuts, fruit and decorations and build the hall, or maduwa, a few days before the event. The chief dancer is called the yakdessa. The programme runs through an invocation known as the Maha Yathikawa, drum pieces, sung verses, dances and short comic and dramatic scenes. The university notes that the ritual once lasted about seven days and is now limited to one.

The origin story told with the ritual begins with Prince Vijaya and Kuveni, daughter of the Yakkha king. When Vijaya set her aside she cursed him and his line. His successor, King Panduwasdeva, fell ill under the curse. In the story the god Rahu took the form of a wild boar and drew the King of Malaya, said to have been born from a water lily, across to Sri Lanka to perform the ritual. Malaya then entrusted its future performance to a local prince, Kohomba.

Peradeniya points out that this part of the story is not found in written records until the 15th century. It adds that some records place the ritual's origin in the Kotte period, with King Parakramabahu VI as its first patron. A study by a lecturer at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts notes older carvings of the udekki, an hourglass drum now used in Kandyan dance, on stone pillars at Medirigiriya dated to the 7th century AD.

The ves costume, which Peradeniya calls the Wes Anduma, is said by the university to consist of 64 parts and is believed to have belonged to the god Kohomba. Its pieces include a headdress topped by seven silver spokes, large mango-shaped silver ear plates, a beaded chest cover, a pleated white cloth worn from waist to ankle and anklets filled with bells.

The geta bera is the main instrument. Six to eight of these drums are played together in the Kohomba Kankariya, which the university calls a special feature of the performance. The Central Province tourism department describes several dances shown today. The Gajaga Wannama, danced in ves, follows the walk of the elephant that carries the casket of the Sacred Tooth Relic in procession. The Pantheru dance is performed with an instrument called the pantheruwa, and another dance shows the movements of the peacock.

Kandyan dance and drumming remain part of the Esala Perahera, the procession in Kandy that honours the Tooth Relic. The Central Province tourism department records that the festival opens with a ceremonial drum beating, the magul bera, at the Dalada Maligawa and at the four devalas. It also notes that the peacock dance has a place in the Kataragama Devala's procession.

Peradeniya lists villages whose dancing schools are linked with the Kohomba Kankariya, among them Amunugama, Rangama, Gadaladeniya and Nittawela near Kandy, and others in the Kurunegala and Kegalle areas. It describes the tradition as male dominated. The university has also recorded the crafts that support the dance, from the silver ornaments and stitched pieces of the costume to the shaping of drum bodies and the fitting of drum skins. The udekki study adds that the bodies of these small drums came to be coloured with lac in red, green, yellow and black.