In Lankan Buddhism, Gods are subordinate to the Buddha

Buddhism, which is the predominant religion in Sri Lanka, is atheistic. The Buddha was against the worship of Gods and deities, and had exhorted his followers to seek salvation through self-control and right conduct, without taking recourse to the worship of Gods and deities to achieve it.

But despite this injunction, theism has been a major part of Sri Lankan Buddhism for a large part of its long history. Deity worship is so strong now that most Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka have shrines for Hindu Gods like Ganesha, Vishnu, Murugan, and indigenous Gods like Sakra, Saman, Natha and Upulvan. There are also popular shrines for lesser divinities like Pitiye Deviyo and Panam Bandara.

Buddhists flock to these shrines after paying obeisance to the Buddha, because, unlike the Buddha, the Gods dispense favours and boons. They accept material offerings, unlike the Buddha who accepts only flowers.

However, there is a vital difference between Hindu theism and Sri Lankan Buddhist theism. While in Hindu theism, the Gods are supreme (at least in their particular spheres) in Sri Lankan Buddhist theism, Gods and deities (including powerful ones of Hindu origin like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) are subordinate to the Buddha.

The deities have temporal power, but no spiritual attributes, which only the Buddha, the Dhamma (the Buddhist doctrine) and the Sangha (the order of monks) have. But the deities are part of Buddhism in so far as they function as the accredited guardians of the Buddha, Buddhism and the island of Sri Lanka.

The fascinating position and role of deities in Sri Lankan Buddhism, their origins, and their links with Southern India, were explained in the Third Vesak Commemoration Lecture organised by the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai recently. The speaker was Prof KNO. Dharmadasa, the Editor-in-Chief of the Sinhala Encyclopaedia and former Professor of Sinhala at the University of Peradeniya.

Early Buddhism in Sri Lanka was not theistic, Prof Dharmadasa maintains. The Attakatha commentaries of this early period had nothing on deity worship. It is believed that the Buddhists at that time were very puritanical, believing only in venerating the "Triple Gem", which comprised the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha.

It is in the 7th century AD that one hears of deity worship. The famous Buddhist chronicle, Mahawamsa, mentions King Dappula of the Ruhuna region in South Sri Lanka, worshiping a local deity called Upulvan, although he was a devout Buddhist. The 7th century AD also saw the worship of the Hindu God of War, Skanda, known among the Tamils as Murugan. The Mahawamsa gives a detailed description of King Manavamma worshiping Skanda. By the 12th.century AD, deity worship had come to stay in Sri Lanka and was becoming a salient feature of Buddhism in the island, Prof Dharmadasa observes.

According to EW Adikaram (Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon, 1952), deity worship was introduced to Buddhists Sri Lanka in the second phase of South Indian incursions. In the first phase, which includes the incursion of the Tamil prince, Ellara, in the 2nd century BC, the Sri Lankan Buddhists were very antagonistic to the religion the invaders/immigrants brought. It was dubbed "false."

The antagonism seems to have existed even in the 4th century AD, when King Mahesena is believed to have destroyed Devales or Hindu shrines in Trincomalee and other places.

Deity worship in Sri Lanka seems to have had something to do with the status of Hinduism in neighbouring South India. According to some scholars, when Hinduism was gaining ascendancy in South India from the 6th century AD on, deity worship began to appear in Sri Lanka in a noticeable way.

But according to Prof Dharmadasa, Buddhism did not die in South India in the 6th century AD. There were flourishing Buddhist monasteries in the Chola and Pandya areas of Tamil Nadu, right up to the 11th and 12th centuries. The real decline of Buddhism and the resurgence of Hinduism started there only from then on. And interestingly, it is only after the 12th century that deity worship got a real boost in Sri Lanka.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th, centuries saw significant migration from South India. Not surprisingly, this period also witnessed an increase in the worship of deities. Conquerors from what is now Kerala, established themselves in the North Western and North Central parts of Sri Lanka. Sea faring and trading people from South India settled down in the Western coast from Kalpitiya to Galle. They indulged in trade in the interior of the island too.

There was another wave of migration from South India in the 17th and 18th centuries. From the 17th.century onwards till early 19th.century, the Kings of Kandy took brides from South India. Since the women remained Hindus, facilities had to be given to them to worship their Gods. The syncretism in the religion of the royalty led to syncretism in the religion of the hoi polloi. Land was given to South Indian kinsmen of the royals, which meant that they entered the agricultural economy and the village sector in the Kandy area.

The traders, seafarers and farmers from South India introduced to the local population their idols and religious beliefs, including Black Magic and sorcery. A host of Devis or Goddesses appeared on the scene in the 17th and 18th.centuries, whose worship tended to eclipse the worship of the Buddha at the folk level.

Apart from the absorption of Hindu Gods, there was also a process of adoption of indigenous Sri Lankan Gods and the deification of outstanding local personages.

Popular indigenous Gods like Saman and Upulvan were adopted by Buddhism. Some historical personages who had made a deep impression on society had also been deified and ascribed divine powers. Some of these like Panam Deviyo, Minimaru Bandara, and Pitiye Bandara (incidentally, all Tamils from India) had a very violent and sacrilegious past. Panam Deviyo, for example, had actually killed Buddhist monks and subdued the people through "blood curdling" violence. But subsequently, they all did good works, winning the admiration of the very same people they tormented. Hence their deification.

When Panam Bandara, the son of the Tamil conqueror Elara, became a deity, his help could be sought in times of pestilence. And Pitiye Bandara became a farmers' God after he cut a canal opening areas for cultivation in Kandy.

The pre-Buddhist deities, Hindu Gods and deified historical personages were "Buddhicised" as Prof. Dharmadasa would call the process. In Buddicisation, the God is believed to have done an act, which acknowledged the superiority of the Buddha. The case of the indigenous God Saman is illustrative.

In 13th century AD, the Buddhist King, Parakramabahu II (1236-70) constructed a shrine in a place called Sri Pada for God Saman. According to the Mahawamsa, Saman invited the Buddha to place his footprint on the rock summit of the Sri Pada. Though Saman was a God himself, he wanted the Buddha, admittedly a superior being, to render the Sri Pada fit for worship.

The Vedic God Vishnu became the protector of the Buddha Sasana (dispensation), and Skanda became a Bodhisatva or a Buddha-to-be. Pattini, a Tamil deity, along with Vishnu and Skanda, were made the guardians of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, the holiest of holy Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka. Ayyanaar, a village guardian in Tamil Nadu, had been made an attendant of the Buddha.

While there was no denial of the deities' extraordinary powers, they were made the worshippers of the Buddha. In the 12th century poem "Sasa da vata", which describes one of Buddha's sermons, it was said that a whole array of Gods, including Maha Brahma, Varuna, Yama, Vibhishana, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Balabhadra, Ganesha and Skanda, were in attendance, worshipping the Buddha.

"The Maha Brahma, who is able to turn the whole world to ashes merely by raising one finger, is like a firefly in the presence of the sun, in Buddha's presence," the poem says.

In the 11th century, the Cholas from Tamil Nadu ruled the Polonnaruwa kingdom in North Central Sri Lanka, the epicentre of Sri Lankan Buddhism at that time. Their 53-year rule had resulted in the worship of Hindu deities.

According to Prof Dharmadasa, the period from the 11th to the 15th centuries was a difficult one for Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist purists saw the Hindu influence from South India as a grave threat to Buddhist identity. First they first cautioned against too much dependence on the deities and then ridiculed them.

Bhikkhu Dharmasena exhorted people to avoid getting too close to Vishnu or Ishwara. There was sharp criticism of Hindu Gods in poems written in this period. Leading the attack was the monk-poet Vidagama Maithreya, who authored the Budugunaalamkaraya (the Beauteous virtues of the Buddha) in the 15th century.

On Shiva worship the critic says: " That a man should make offerings to him who puts on the dress of a dancer, and dances in this fashion every day! From this could any lasting good come to the world?"

The worship of the Shiva lingam (phallus) is dismissed with utter contempt. " Such folk take the lingam as an emblem - disgusting to some and inflaming lust in others. That people should make offerings to this! From this how could a blessing arise?" the poet asks.

And the Ramayana is derided thus: " Rama, who could not get across a sea which a monkey hopped over, is believed to have built a bridge to get himself there. Could a God's power be so small in this world?"

But deity worship had entrenched itself so deeply in the Sri Lankan Buddhist psyche that even Vidagama Maithreya acknowledged the worldly power of the deities, Prof Dharamadasa points out.

But apparently, something like a division of labour was worked out to see that the deities did not clash with the Buddha and Buddhism. While the Buddha and Buddhism were put on a higher spiritual and moral plane, the various deities were seen as repositories of temporal or worldly power, which could be useful to the people in day-to-day life. If not for this distinction, ogres like Pitiye Bandara would not have been deified.

However, the worship of Gods and deities has always been viewed with displeasure by Buddhist purists right down history. The most recent movement against deity worship was spearheaded by the popular preacher, Ven Gangodawila Soma Thero, who died in 2003. According to Prof Dharmadasa, Ven Soma Thero has had a "powerful impact" on Buddhist society in Sri Lanka.

"However, the worship of Gods and deities has always been viewed with displeasure by Buddhist purists right down history. The most recent movement against deity worship was spearheaded by the popular preacher, Ven Gangodawila Soma Thero, who died in 2003. According to Prof Dharmadasa, Ven Soma Thero has had a "powerful impact" on Buddhist society in Sri Lanka."

International Association for Religious Freedom

Sri Lanka: Violence against Christians Escalates

Various media organisations report a rise in anti-Christian sentiment in Sri Lanka, with an estimated 91 attacks on Christians and churches in 2003 and over 40 incidents in the first two months of 2004. Several churches in some neighbourhoods have had to be provided with armed protection as there have been increasing attacks on places of worship. Among the incidents, a Roman Catholic church was set on fire near the capital of Colombo in mid-January. Many of the attacks are being carried out by mobs of militant Buddhist monks, who claim that Christian groups are trying to convert Buddhists by exploiting their poverty. Anger has mostly been directed toward evangelical churches, which make up a minority of the Christian community. Sri Lanka's population is approximately 70% Buddhist, 15% Hindu, 7.5% Muslim and 7.5% Christian.

Some of the recent violence arose over the natural death in December of a popular Buddhist monk (Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thero) who preached against conversions to Christianity. His funeral drew thousands of mourners. As part of the response to his death, Buddhist priests are pushing for new anti-conversion legislation and staged a large demonstration in the capital in late January. Since then, a group of Buddhist & Hindu organisations have prepared a draft bill which would severely curtail 'unethical conversions.' At a press conference in mid-February, the Buddhist-Hindu committee said that their proposed bill would prohibit all actions impairing freedom of religion of any person by coercion or allurement and 'proselytising' would become a punishable offence. Christians in Sri Lanka fear that such legislation would simply legitimise attacks on them. The appeal for anti-conversion legislation in Sri Lanka has reportedly been developing over the past year and is modelled on legislation that has been introduced in five states in neighbouring India.

Some believe that Sinhala nationalist parties are using the issue to generate political support from the Buddhist community. The government, however, is reportedly quite concerned about these developments and is setting up all-religions peace committees at provincial and district levels. These committees are to be comprised of representatives of all religions and are meant to help defuse current religious tensions. (Sources: One World, Reuters, AFP, Sri Lanka Daily Mirror, Worldwide Religion News, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

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