The Four Devale Peraheras

Gods Who Serve the Buddha

Behind the Maligawa Perahera walk four more processions, one from each of the devales (shrines to the gods) that stand beside the Temple of the Tooth: the Natha Devale, the Vishnu Devale, the Kataragama Devale and the Pattini Devale. Each is dedicated to a deity of the island's old pantheon, who is conceived in Buddhist belief as a devotee and protector of the Buddha. In the Esala Perahera the gods walk behind the Buddha's relic, in the same fixed order every night: Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama, Pattini.

How the Order Came About

For a long time the processions of the gods and the procession of the relic were held separately, and the gods' shrines were given pride of place. The Siamese monk Upali Thera was invited to Kandy in 1753 to perform higher ordinations at the Malwatte Vihara, together with the Sri Lankan monk Weliwita Saranankara Thera. The latter asked the Kandyan king Kirti Sri Rajasinha to combine the Tooth Relic procession with the four devale processions, with the relic first. The order set at that time is the one still followed.

What Each Procession Contains

Every devale perahera is a small pageant of its own, with its own chief lay custodian, the Basnayake Nilame, who walks in elaborate costume of a Kandyan nobleman. A devale procession includes:

• Flag bearers and canopy bearers, marking the district and office of each shrine.
• Drummers and musicians, playing in the Kandyan tradition.
• Spearmen and the Ran Ayudha, the golden weapons that are the insignia of the deity, carried on elephants.
• Dancers in the Kandyan styles.
• Their own elephants, though without the whip-crackers and the Peramune Rala of the Maligawa section.

On the Randoli nights, the palanquins of the devale queens, the consorts of the gods, join, which gives that phase its name.

The Four Gods

• Natha, the god of the Natha Devale, the first of the four to walk behind the relic.
• Vishnu, regarded as a patron deity of Sri Lanka.
• Kataragama (Skanda Kumara), the war god, whose great shrine stands in the south of the island.
• Pattini, the only goddess of the four. A history of Sri Pada records that her cult entered Kandyan royal worship under the Nayakkar dynasty from South India.

Where to See It

The devale peraheras follow the Maligawa section on every night, in the order Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and Pattini.

Visitor Tips

Because the devale processions are unhurried, the later parts of the procession are a good time to watch from a less crowded spot. Visiting the four devales in the Maligawa precincts by day is a good way to see the insignia and the shrines up close.