Abstract:
Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka has always coexisted with various forms of
other religious practices oriented to deities, planets, astrology and demons
(yakku), and some of these often figure in the Hindu tradition as well. However,
the Buddhist doctrine in its canonical form stands apart from the culturallyspecific
forms of popular religious practices. Beliefs in gods and other
supernatural powers and rituals are, in theory, inappropriate to be considered as
part of Buddhism. But many anthropologists and sociologists who have spent
extended periods of time in Theravada Buddhist societies have shown that
Buddhists do believe in various types of supernatural powers and the magical
efficacy of rituals which are outside the Buddhist doctrine. According to
Obeyesekere (1962) astrology, gods and demon belief in 'Sinhala Buddhism' are
guided by basic Buddhist principles such as karma, rebirth, suffering etc. So in
that sense the practice of deity worship cannot be described as totally un-
Buddhistic, yet at the same time it does not fall into the category of folk
religious practices like bali and tovil adopted by popular Buddhism (see De
Silva 2000, 2006). In Sri Lanka. there are four deities regarded as the guardians
of the Buddha-sasana in the island: Vishnu, Saman, Kataragama, Natha and
Pattini. Although Vishnu and Kataragama (Skanda) are originally Hindu gods,
the Buddhists have taken them over as Buddhist deities, referring to them also
by the localized designation, Uppalavanna and Kataragama. The role of
Kataragama, Vi1inI1U,Natha and Pattini worship in the contemporary Sri Lankan
society has been well researched by several scholars (e.g., Obeyesekere 1984;
Holt 1991,2005; Gunasekara 2007) but the position of god Saman in the similar
context has not been adequately investigated. Hence this paper explores the rise
of the popularity of god Saman and his worship in contemporary Sri Lanka.
