Raksha Masks

A raksha mask shows a demon face with fangs, bulging eyes and flared nostrils. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which holds a twentieth-century example, records that such masks were used to perform raksha dances in kolam, a traditional folk play performed in the west and south-west of Sri Lanka.

Kolam is a masked drama of the coastal lowlands. A 2014 paper in the Journal of Social Review of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka describes its usual features: the performers wear masks, the low-country drum is played, and men take all the parts. A long opening sequence introduces a set of stock characters, and one or two stories follow. A University of Sri Jayewardenepura study notes that the word kolam means mockery and that a performance begins around 7 pm and ends at dawn.

The museum sets out the legend behind the masks. Sri Lanka was once ruled by a race called the Rakshasas, whose king was Ravana of the Ramayana. Rakshasas could take various forms, one of them the cobra. There were said to be 24 forms, but only a few appear in kolam. The museum's mask is a naga raksha, or cobra mask, identified by a headdress carved as three cobras and painted in yellow, black, green and red.

The South Eastern University paper lists the naga raksha (cobra demon) and the gurulu raksha (a mythical bird demon) among the major kolam masks. They appear beside human figures such as the crier and his wife, a village chief, a policeman and a king and queen. The number of characters differs between manuscripts: the paper counts 51 in a copy held by the British Museum and 18 or 19 in two others.

The masks were traditionally carved from the wood of the kaduru tree. The Victoria and Albert Museum describes the wood as soft, light and easy to carve. After drying, it is smoked to protect it from insects. The carver then shapes the mask with chisels and mallets. A light yellow undercoat is applied before the mask is painted in set colours that mark the features of each character.

A 2018 bulletin of Sri Lanka's Department of Posts gives similar details for the masks of a related low-country tradition, the Daha-ata Sanniya. It says these are generally made of kaduru wood and painted in blue, green, yellow, brown, black and ash. Masks that cover the whole face are known as keta muhunu. Hair, moustaches and beards were once made from natural materials such as hana fibre, kitul fibre and coconut fibre, and are now made from artificial fibres.

Raksha masks belong to kolam drama. The sanni masks belong to a ritual. The Department of Posts describes the Daha-ata Sanniya as a ritual of the low-country dance tradition in which masked dancers represent eighteen sanni demons, led by a chief figure. It records three local schools, Bentara, Matara and Raigama, with differences in their style of dance, costume and dialogue.

Each mask has marks that identify its character. The bulletin notes a serpent hood on one, a design of flames on another and a mouth slanted to one side on others. On 8 August 2018 the Philatelic Bureau issued 18 stamps showing these masks. The South Eastern University paper observes that kolam drew on this ritual tradition: several of the drum rhythms played for kolam characters are the same as those played in the sanni ritual.

Ambalangoda, in Galle District, is the place most often named for this craft. The South Eastern University paper calls it the main centre of mask drama in the 1960s and follows one family line of kolam artists there back to the beginning of the 1800s. An earlier record comes from Galle, where a kolam text found at Talapitiya was the basis of a study by John Callaway, cited as 1829.

The Export Development Board's 2012 report on the craft sector lists masks among the craft products with a known cluster, at Ambalangoda in Galle District. Sri Lanka Tourism notes that the Galle National Museum, opened to the public by the Department of National Museums on 31 March 1986, displays a collection of traditional masks used in various rituals. The Sri Jayewardenepura study adds that kolam is still performed and that its scenes now take up current village events.