Thread by @Amaliniii

Scenes from the Maadan Badhrakali Puja, last night at #Gotagogama/Galle Face.

With thanks to everyone who translated and explained the parts of the ceremony as it went on. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

The rituals came to #LKA with Indian labourers brought by British colonisers & are continued by their descendants, the Malaiyaha Tamil community.

The deities are village guardians, who were worshipped before formal Hinduism began & they can speak to in their own languages. #lka

The Vikki Parai Isai group from Ingiriya heating the drums to tune them before the ritual. Parai drums are played by oppressed castes & is a key part of Malaiyaha Tamil culture, along with dances such as the kooththu, all of which their ancestors brought from India. #lka.

"I've been practicing this since I was 7, it was passed down from my father & grandfather. Always in our small village temples though, not like this. Now the whole country is watching & expecting something powerful- we see our people suffer, so are we." #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

The deities depicted were Madasamy, Kali and Badhrakali. Madasamy will intercede between the people and the two other deities, asking questions about where the country is headed. There is food, drink, fire & blades made ready for him to make the spiritual journey. #lka #SriLanka

Madasamy, depicted here, is a god solely for a village/few villages. The next village could have an entirely different deity. These guardians are believed to sit atop the hills (malai) & watch over the people that live in the estates and villages below. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

Madasamy drunk from a bottle of arrack, ate some thosai and smoked a beedi while communicating with the gods. They told him that the situation in #LKA would get worse before it got better, and that something good was on the horizon. #SriLanka

Kali and Madasamy stand on swords, under their feet a lime has been sliced on the blade to help them take the first step up. In the last shot, he is asking the ritual attendants for his beedi. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

This pot of water had been boiling for hours. They dip the kohomba/veppam leaves into it and bathe the water onto their bodies. It is all part of the ritual, the trance that makes one able to communicate with gods. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

Madasamy says he has been told by the gods that the end of the Rajapaksa family in #SriLanka will come about in one month's time. The crowd is elated. #lka #SriLanka #GoHomeRajapaksas

Another layer for the spiritual magic - for years @SP_Ekneligoda has carried out pujas to Kali to seek justice for Prageeth and punish the Rajapaksas. #lka #SriLanka

"Parai was played at funerals & characterised oppressed caste groups relegated to playing it. Today the parai has become a symbol of resistance in anti-caste struggles & is played in protest marches/events as part of a culture of resistence by Dalits" - from a friend. #lka

Recommend listening to this teach-out by Balachandran Gowthaman on Malaiyaha Tamils in #LKA - their history and the present moment. Speech in Tamil and Sinhala. #SriLanka #GoHomeGota

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