Interior of Hindu Temple
ඒ අතරේ පූජනීය යාත්‍රාව මේ පුංචි ජලාශය ඇතුළේ වට දෙක තුනක්ම රවුම් ගැහුවා. ඉන් හැම චාරිකා වාරයකම ගොඩට විත් දෙවියන් උදෙසා පුද පූජාවන් දෙනු ලැබුවා. සීනුව නැවතත් නද දුන්නා. භක්තිමත් නිශ්ශබ්දතාවයක් මොහොතකට මතු වූවා. ඉන්පසු ගුප්ත සංගීතය රාව නගමින් චාරිකාව යළි ඇරඹුණා.
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| Pond of a Hindu temple (Nallur?) in Ceylon (ca. 1880) |
භක්ති ගීතිකාව හා දේව පූජාව
මේ චාරිකාවන් මඟින් පිළිඹිබු කෙරෙන ආධ්‍යාත්මික කාරණාව ගැන කිසිම අදහසක් මට ඇත්තේ නැහැ. අද කාලේ කවුරුවත් ඒ ගැන දන්නවා ඇතියි කියලා කියන්න බැහැ. මම හිතන විදිහට කිසිම සැකයක් නැහැ මේ නාටකේ යම් කිසි සත්‍ය සිද්ධියක් සිහිපත් කරන්නට මුල් කාලයේ යෙදුණ දෙයක්. නැතහොත් යම්කිසි ධර්මයක් සංකේතවත් කරන්නට විය යුතුයි.
සෑම චාරිකා වාරයකම ස්තෝත්‍ර ගැයුනා. පළමු චාරිකාවේදි බ්‍රහ්මණ පූජකවරයා වසර 3000කට පෙර ලියන ලද වේද පාඨ කිහිපයක් ශබ්ද නගා කියනු ලැබුවා. වසර 3000කට පෙර කාලය වෙත ඔරලෝසුව කැරකෙව්වා යන්නට නොපෑහෙන කිසිවක් මට මේ මුළු දර්ශනයෙන්ම අහුවුණේ නැහැ. එනමුත් වර්තමාන හින්දු වත්-පිළිවෙත් එතරම්ම කාලයක් පැරණි නැහැ. දෙවන චාරිකාවේදි දමිළ ස්තෝත්‍රයක් ගායනා කරන්නට යෙදුණා. ඒ, කෝවිලේදි මේ කාර්‍යය සඳහාම පුහුණු කරවනු ලැබූ ගැටවරයන් විසින්. තෙවන චාරිකාවේදි අන්තරා කොටස් වලදී බළලුන් කෑගසන සද්දෙට නද දෙන නළා සහ හක්ගෙඩි සහිත තවත් දමිළ ස්තෝත්‍රයක් ගායනා කෙරුණා. මගේ මඟ පෙන්වන්නා මාව කෝවිල ඇතුළ පෙන්වන්නට එක්ක ගෙන ගිය හන්දා අනෙකුත් චාරිකාවන් ගැන විස්තරයක් බලාගන්නට බැරි වුණා.
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| Hindu Temple, Colombo, photograhped by CA & Co. |
දෙවොලෙහි අභ්‍යන්තරය
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| Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil (Murugan Kovil) or Cundaswamys Temple c.1909 photographed by Skeen & Co. [Image Curtsey: http://lankapura.com] |
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| Nallur Kovil Jaffna after construction of Gopuram |
ශිව ලිංගය හා ලිංග වන්දනය
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| Hindu Chetty Temple, Sea Street, Colmbo, Ceylon |
“ආදම්ගේ ශිඛරය මතින් එලිෆන්ටා ගුහා වෙත – ලක්දිව සහ ඉන්දියාවේ රූප සටහන්” : එඩ්වඩ් කාපෙන්ටර්
සත්වන පරිච්ඡේදය : හින්දු දෙවොලක රාත්‍රී උත්සවයක්.
From Adam’s Peak To Elephanta : Sketches in Ceylon and India by Edward Carpenter
CHAPTER VII: A NIGHT-FESTIVAL IN A HINDU TEMPLE.
Meanwhile the gyrating raft had completed two or three voyages round the little piece of water. Each time it returned to the shore fresh offerings were made to the god, the bell was rung again, a moment of hushed adoration followed, and then with fresh strains of mystic music a new start for the deep took place. What the inner signification of these voyages might be I had not and have not the faintest idea ; it is possible even that no one present knew. At the same time I do not doubt that the drama was originally instituted in order to commemorate some actual event or to symbolise some doctrine. On each voyage a hymn was sung or recited. On the first voyage the Brahman priest declaimed a hymn from the Vedas—a hymn that may have been written 3,000 years ago—nor was there anything in the whole scene which appeared to me discordant with the notion that the clock had been put back 3,000 years (though of course the actual new departure in the Brahmanical rites which we call Hinduism does not date back anything like so far as that). On the second voyage a Tamil hymn was sung by one of the youths trained in the temples for this purpose ; and on the third voyage another Tamil hymn, with interludes of the most ecstatic caterwauling from chanks and bagpipes ! The remainder of the voyages I did not witness, as my conductor now took me to visit the interior of the temple.
That is, as far as it was permissible to penetrate. For the Brahman priests who regulate these things, with far-sighted policy make it one of their most stringent rules that the laity shall not have access beyond a short distance into the temple, and heathen like myself are of course confined to the mere forecourts. Thus the people feel more awe and sanctity with regard to the holy place itself and the priests who fearlessly tread within than they do with regard to anything else connected with their religion.
Having passed the porch, we found ourselves in a kind of entrance hall with one or two rows of columns supporting a flat wooden roof—the walls adorned with the usual rude paintings of various events in Siva's earthly career. On the right was a kind of shrine with a dancing figure of the god in relief— the perpetual dance of creation ; but unlike some of the larger temples, in which there is often most elaborate and costly stonework, everything here was of the plainest, and there was hardly anything In the way of sculpture to be seen. Out of this forecourt opened a succession of chambers into which one might not enter ; but the dwindling lights placed in each served to show distance after distance. In the extreme chamber farthest removed from the door, by which alone daylight enters—the rest of the interior being illumined night and day with artificial lights—Is placed, surrounded by lamps, the most sacred object, the lingam.
This of course was too far off to be discerned—and Indeed it is, except on occasions, kept covered—but it appears that Instead of being a rude image of the male organ (such as is frequently seen In the outer courts of these temples), the thing Is a certain white stone, blue-veined and of an egg-shape, which is mysteriously fished up—if the gods so will it—from the depths of the river Nerbudda, and only thence. It Stands in the temple in the hollow of another oval-shaped object which represents the female yoni; and the two together, embleming Siva and Sakti, stand for the sexual energy which pervades creation.
Thus the worship of sex is found to lie at the root of the present Hinduism, as it does at the root of nearly all the primitive religions of the world. Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that such worship is a mere deification of material functions. Whenever it may have been that the Vedic prophets descending from Northern lands into India first discovered within themselves that capacity of spiritual ecstasy which has made them even down to today one of the greatest religious forces in the world, it is certain that they found (as indeed many of the mediaeval Christian seers at a later time also found) that this ecstasy had a certain similarity to the sexual rapture. In their hands therefore the rude, phallic worships, which their predecessors had with true instinct celebrated, came to have a new meaning ; and sex itself, the most important of earthly functions, came to derive an even greater importance from its relation to the one supreme and heavenly fact, that of the soul's union with God.
ලක්දිව ගමන් සටහන් පිටු අංක: 49
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