Gara Yaka Dance | Ancient Depanama Sri Ganegoda Dewalaya at Pannipitiya

Ancient Depanama Sri Ganegoda Dewalaya at Pannipitiya 2019

Gara Yaka Dance (Sri Lanka Demon Mask Dance) ඓතිහාසික ගණේගොඩ දේවාලය - "ගරා යකා" ශාන්තිකර්මය

Masks had also been used in the performance of funeral and fertility rites even during the prehistoric era all over the world. Gradually, masks became an indispensable item in pageants and functions of cultural and religious significance. Usually the mask dancer gets a weird appearance due to the mask he wears in tune with the lengthy ritual he intends to perform. In addition the costumes and the masks vary from ritual to ritual. Masks also vary from culture to culture and they are used in exorcism to chase away evil spirits whom the villagers believed as the root cause of diseases and numerous other afflictions. were staunch believers of age-old mythology and mystic powers of masks and mask dancing originated as a healing ritual in Sri Lanka. Mask Dancer plays the role of the exorcist in curing the patients believed to be suffering from numerous diseases due to the evil spirits. Mask Dancers wear different masks in accordance with the rituals they perform. devil dance mask - "gara yaka" . one of the few benevolent demons. mainly black with 3 cobras coming from top of head. colorful flower on each side. mouth red with curving fangs. eyes bulge with colorful eyelids-red, yellow, green, white.
"Raksha Masks" (Demon Masks) are carved having all the weird and bizarre features intricately embedded in them by the craftsmen at Ambalangoda. Traits of mythology relevant to diverse cultures could also be traced in every form of masks. Naga Raksha mask as the name suggests is made up of numerous cobra hoods and depicts all the features of a demon having a ferocious face and a wide mouth with a set of sharp flesh eating teeth and a blood thirsty protruding tongue. Gurulu Raksha mask, Maura Raksha Mask (Peacock Demon) and Ginidel Raksha mask depict the flame of fire. The Gara Raksha mask is used in ritual dancing to dispel the evil influence believed to have been caused by evil mouth and evil eyes still commonly believed by the majority of the people in the country. Gara Yaka (Gara Demon) was originally considered as a demon but later on due to its meritorious acts, it was allowed to join the pantheon of gods.

Gara Mask is used in Kolam Drama performances as well. In the pantheon of super natural beings, Yakkas or Demons belonged to the lowest strata and it was attributed to their anti-social and nefarious behaviour patterns during their former birth. Even in modern Sri Lanka majority of the people have become very superstitious for unknown reasons including the politicians who strongly believe on evil spirits and take part in traditional rituals.

A cultural tribute to guardian deities (Carved to heal)
The beautifully decorated Dewala premises, devotees clad in white with flower offerings and the two playful baby elephants were all blissful sights. The cultural pageant, diverse and vivacious in all aspects was about to unfold. Then there were us, awaiting to explore, to witness what would become a memory that will always be fondly cherished. The Dolos Gara Netuma—a cultural dance featuring the 12 phases of the Gara Yaka (a mythical creature in Sri Lankan folklore) marked the finale of the Narthana Pooja. The Gara Yaka Dance is performed symbolizing the purification of the premises from was-dos (evil spirits).

15 වන ශත වර්ෂය හෙවත් ," කෝට්ටේ රාජධානි" යුගය දක්වා ඈත ඉතිහාසයකට උරුම කම් කියන දෙපානම "ඓතිහාසික ශ්‍රී ගණේගොඩ දේවාලයේ ආරම්භය ඊටත් පෙර යුගය දක්වා දිවයයි. ඒ පිළිබඳව නිශ්චිත සාක්ශී නොමැති මුත් දේවාල භූමියේ දැනටත් ශේෂව පවතින ගල් කණු නිහඩවම තම අභිමානය කියාපායි. 6 වන පරාක්‍රමබාහු රාජ්ය සමයේ පටන් රාජ්ය අනුග්‍රහය නොඅඩුව ලබමින්, දේවාලයට අයත් ගම් "7" ක බැතිමතුනේ නොමසුරු දායකත්වය තුලින් වර්තමාන තත්වය දක්වා දෙපානම ඓතිහාසික ශ්රී ගණේගොඩ දේවාලය දියුණුවට පත් වී තිබේ.
ගරා වෙස් පෑම ඇස්වහ, කටවහ, හෝවහ ආදී කසල දොස් දුරු කිරිම ගරාවෙස් පෑමෙන් අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. වචන මාරුකර කිවිම දෙපිට නැපෙන වචන මෙන්ම අසභ්‍ය වචනද කරා යකා සහ ගුරුන් අතර හුවමාරු කරගනී. ගරායක් නැටුම යනු ගම්මඩුව අවසානයේදී ඊට සහභාගීවූ හා සහය දැක්වූ සියළු දෙනා සඳහා ආශිර්වාද කොට පැවැත්වෙන එක්තරා ශාන්තිකර්මයකි.ගිනිමඩු මංගල්‍යයෙන් පසු දින වස් දොස් දුරු කරවීමට ගරායක් නැටුම පැවැත්වේ. විලක්කු සිටුවීම ගරා වෙස් පෑමෙන් අනතුරුව විලක්කු දල්වා ආතුරයින්ට සෙත් පතා වස් දොස්පහ කරයි.

GARA DEVIL SRI LANKAN TRADITIONAL DANCE VIDEO

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