The ceremony consists of a series of brisk dances by the exorcist, and his men, at times masked, in the presence of the patient to the accompaniment of a chant (kavi) giving the life history of the devil, with a whirling of the blazing torches. This lasts from evening till dawn when the exorcist lies on his back and calls on the devil to cure the patient (yâdinna); incantations follow (mantra), and the sacrifices are offered. For the Riri Yakâ a cock which had been placed under the altar or tied to the foot of the patient is killed and thrown into the jungle; for the Kalu Yakâ an earthen pot which had been placed on the altar is broken; for the Sanni Yakâ the offerings are conveyed in a large bag to a stream or river and thrown into the water; for the Maha Sohona the exorcist feigns himself dead to deceive the devil and is carried with mock lamentations to a burial ground.
The spirits of poverty—Garâ Yakku—are twelve in number viz., (1) Molan Garavva; (2) Dala Râkshayâ, (3) Yama Râkshayâ; (4) Pûranikâ; (5) Ratnakûtayâ; (6) Nîla Giri; (7) Nanda Giri; (8) Chandra Kâvâ; (9) Mârakâ; (10) Asuraya; (11) Nâtagiri; (12) Pelmadullâ. They haunt every nook and corner of a house, destroy crops, make trees barren, new houses inauspicious, send pests of flies and insects, reduce families to abject poverty, and are propitiated by a dance called Garâ Yakuma. A shed (maduva) is put up for it and round it is a narrow altar, with a platform in front (wesatte). On the altar are placed four kinds of flowers, betel leaves, some cotton, a spindle, a cotton cleaner, a shuttle, a comb, a little hair, a looking glass, a bundle of gurulla leaves, two burning torches and a few cents. Men of the Oli caste dressed in white and red and at times masked dance from evening till morning within the shed and on the platform. Late at night an oblation is made in leaf-cups of seven different vegetables cooked in one utensil, boiled rice, cakes and plantains. At day break the dancers stretch themselves on the ground and receive nine pecuniary offerings; they then rise up and conclude the ceremony by striking the roof of the shed with a rice pounder.
The tutelary deities are of three grades viz., (1) Gods; (2) Godlings and (3) Divine Mothers. The Gods are Maha Deviyô; Natha Deviyô; Saman Deviyô; Kateragama Deviyô; and the Goddess Pattini.
Maha Deviyô is identified with Vishnu, and is the guardian deity of the island, and is a candidate for the Buddhahood; a miniature weapon in gold or silver is placed at his shrine as a votive offering.
Natha Deviyô is the future Maitri Buddha and is now biding his time in the Tusita heaven; Kandyan sovereigns at their coronation girt their swords and adopted their kingly title before his shrine.
Saman Deviyô is the deified half brother of Rama, who conquered Ceylon in prehistoric times, and is the guardian spirit of Adam’s Peak; pilgrims while climbing the sacred hill to worship Buddha’s foot-print, call on him to aid their ascent. A miniature elephant in gold or silver is the usual votive offering to him.
Kateragama Deviyô is the most popular of the gods; a prehistoric deity, to whom a miniature peacock in gold or silver is the customary, votive offering. He is said to be the six faced and twelve handed god Kandaswamy who on his homeward return to Kailâsa after defeating the Asuras halted at Kataragama in South Ceylon; here he met his consort Valli Ammâ whom he wooed in the guise of a mendicant; when his advances were scornfully rejected, his brother assuming the head of a man and the body of an elephant appeared on the scene and the terrified maiden rushed into her suitor’s arms for safety; the god then revealed himself and she became his bride. The god Ayiyanâr invoked in the forests of Ceylon is said to be his half brother.
Pattini is the goddess of chastity.
The three eyed Pândi Raja of Madura had subjugated the gods and was getting them to dig a pond near his royal city when, at Sakraya’s request, Pattini who resided in Avaragiri Parvata became conceived in a mango fruit. After it was severed from the tree by an arrow of Sakraya, it remain suspended in the air and on Pândi Râja looking up to observe the wonder, a drop of juice fell on the third eye in the middle of his forehead by which he lost his power and the gods were liberated. Pattini was found inside the mango as an infant of exquisite beauty sucking her thumb. When she grew up she performed wonders and ultimately disappeared within a Kohomba tree (margosa). An armlet or a miniature mango fruit in gold or silver is placed at her devala as a votive offering.
These deities are worshipped in separate devâla which are in charge of Kapurâlas who have to bathe daily and anoint themselves with lime juice, avoid drinking spirits and eating flesh, eggs, turtle or eel and keep away from houses where a birth or death has taken place. A dewala consists of two rooms, one being the sanctum for the insignia of the god—a spear, bill hook or arrow—and the other being the ante room for the musicians; attached to the devala is the multengê (kitchen). On Wednesdays and Saturdays the doors of the dewala are opened; the Multengê Kapurâla cooks the food for the deity; the Tevâva Kapuralâ offers it at the shrine on a plantain leaf enclosed with areka-flower-strips, and purified with saffron water, sandal paste and incense. Before and after the meal is offered, drums are beaten in the ante room. In return for offerings made by votaries the Anumetirâla invokes the god to give relief from any ailment, a plentiful harvest, thriving cattle, success in litigation, and children to sterile mothers. Punishment to a faithless wife, curses on a forsworn enemy and vengeance on a thief are invoked by getting the Kapurâla to break a pûnâ kale—a pot with mystic designs,—or to throw into the sea or a river a charmed mixture of powdered condiments. Once a year, when the agricultural season begins, between July and August, the in-signia of the gods are carried on elephants in procession through the streets accompanied by musicians, dancers, temple tenants and custodians of the shrine. The festival begins on a new moon day and lasts till the full moon when the procession proceeds to a neighbouring river or stream where the Kapurâla cuts the water with a sword and removes a potful of it and keeps it in the dewala till it is emptied into the same stream the following year and another potful taken.