The temple is festooned with decorations, and plantain trees stand upright at the entrance. Inside, a steady drumbeat reverberates through the air interspersed by the tinkling of a bell and murmur of voices. The poosari (priest) is chanting near the inner sanctum and the worshippers wait as a group of young men bring the idol of Ammal reverently to mount it onto a chariot with a small canopy. The chariot is shaped on both ends like the prow of a boat.

“Today is the kappal chadangu (boat ritual),” someone said by way of explanation from the crowd of verti-clad men and colourfully dressed women watching the event. The faces of some wore the look of intense, almost palpable piety, while others seemed to watch with less engagement. Children danced and played by themselves, seemingly oblivious to the mystery and sanctity of the ritual as well as their surroundings.

Just then two men, naked except for a bright yellow verti wrapped high around their loins to enable maximum movement, darted in. They wore thick bronze bangles and carried a sheaf of margosa leaves. Their greying hair was yellow with tumeric, while the same substance was used to mark yellow stripes on their arms and chest. Their eyes were turned upwards in a trance.

But what was most intriguing about these men was that their slight but supple bodies were visibly shaking, making the muscles tremble and twitch. One of them gestured urgently and pointed to his head and somebody emptied a vessel of water on it. The man then went off at a trot, still shaking, to join the retinue that was forming around the chariot.

“They are possessed by the spirit of Ammal. The water was to cool his body,” a bystander said very reverentially.

The months between May and July is ritual time in Batticaloa with many of its temples celebrating their traditional ties to local deities, who are still worshipped despite attempts at assimilation by Brahmin orthodoxy for centuries.

The temple rituals that propitiate deities such as Kali, Vairavar, Veerapaththiran, Narasingar, Kaathavarayan, Singanadar and others at these annual festivals are intimately tied with the function of protecting people of the area from mishap. Their protective function is twofold: they keep the local community secure from intruding enemies, and free of disease and illness. The area they are invoked to protect indicates the local nature of their power. The above ritual took place at the Sri Maha Muttumariyamman temple, which protects the residents of Tamaraikerni, in Batticaloa town, who live within half a square mile radius of the temple.

While the boat ritual was on, the procession stopped at four points, which marked the four corners of the territory Ammal was invoked to protect. A ritual sacrifice is made to the spirits guarding the four points. “A flame is lit and a coconut is broken at each point to commemorate the sacrifice symbolically,” said Sakthi K. Kumaradasan, chief priest of the Sri Maha Muttumariyamman temple.

“Throughout the many years of conflict Ammal protected us. She never allowed any harm to take place at Tamaraikerni. That is why we worship her,” says Jothirajah Karunenthira, the temple’s assistant priest.

The role of the five-day ritual that concludes on full moon night of the month of June is to invoke the power of Ammal to banish and destroy evil lurking within the community and its environs. It cleanses people of disease and blesses homes. At the end of the ritual, the malefic spirits causing disease and suffering, which are subdued by the power of Ammal, are destroyed in the sea.

The symbolism in the rituals is pregnant with meaning. Though it is difficult to estimate how many devotees are able understand the social significance of the ritual, quite a few offered explanations for them as did the chief priest. A brief account follows:

On the first day of the ritual, the preliminary task of invoking the goddess Ambal (Ammal) is undertaken. The door of the moolasthanam (sanctum sanctorum) is opened and the goddess is invoked. But this can only be done after propitiating the spirits that guard her. Then mantras are chanted to give Ammal life so that she can set about the task of destroying evil. On the second day of the ritual, Ammal undertakes penance and is rewarded by Lord Siva with a chain of 16 pearls (muthahai) , each symbolising a deadly disease. Lord Siva then commands Ammal to return to earth and cast the pearls on those who are evil and have transgressed divine commandments.

On the third day, Ammal undertakes the task of identifying evildoers. She does this by traversing the 14 worlds and throwing the deadly pearls at the sinners. Her journey is symbolised in the ritual by taking her idol in a procession along the streets. On the fourth day is the aforementioned boat ritual when, according to legend, Ammal undertakes a journey similar to that of the previous day, only this time sailing the seven seas. The journey is symbolically re-enacted by taking the idol in a chariot that resembles a boat.

While the boat ritual goes on, the women participate in a ceremony known as madipichchai, where they collect rice from homes in the neighbourhood. Those who want to be cured of illness or want a boon from Ammal, give a handful of rice. On the evening of the fourth day the nellukuththu chadangu (husking ritual) is undertaken. The women husk the rice in the temple courtyard. A girl (traditionally a virgin) then takes the vessel of rice in a ceremonial procession as an offering to the deity. “At that point she assumes the form of the Ammal,” said Karunenthira.

On the fifth and final day the vinayagapanai chadangu is performed, which symbolises the gathering of devilish or evil spirits, and sacrificing them to Ammal. This is followed in the evening by a very important ceremony known as the chakkaraiamuthu chadangu (ritual to feed syrup and honey). First, the rice collected at the madipichchai is cooked into milk-rice and served to the congregation; but more important, all the children in the community are gathered and the priest performs a ceremony after which they are given consecrated honey. “This is based on the assumption that the Ammal takes the form of children in all their innocence. Satisfying the children with honey is equated to satisfying Ammal,” said Karunenthira.

The chakkaraiamuthu chadangu has also another significance: it indicates the approach of the closing ceremonies. “The Ammal, who was energised over the past four days is ‘cooled’ by this ritual before returning into the moolesthanam, where she will remain till the next year,” said Kumaradasan.

The final ceremonies take place close to midnight by the sea. Ammal who was invoked by the rituals has captured and confined the evil, malefic and demonic spirits that pervaded the neighbourhood. They have to be destroyed in the sea. A procession leaves bearing the kumbams (pots that symbolise Ammal and said to have magnetic power to attract and contain malefic spirits). A final pooja is done on the beach after which contents of the kumbams are thrown into the ocean.

On the way home, Kumaradasan draws a line across the road at important junctions, breaks a coconut and lights a flame saying, “It is done to ensure that stray spirits should not return with the devotees.”

The cynosure of all eyes during the rituals at the Mariamman temple were, no doubt, the people possessed by the spirit of Ammal. From the time they got into a trance and performed the various socially beneficial acts, till the end of the each ritual, which could last many hours, they took centre stage. “They are people without any extraordinary significance till they become possessed by the spirit. Then they are a medium through which the particular god or goddess works. After which they return to their human state,” said Karunenthira.

The medium which is in a trance cannot explain the process. Patricia Lawrence in her work Grief in the Body: Work of Oracles in Eastern Sri Lanka in the anthology ‘Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited’ (Ed. Michael Roberts) says, “The moment of commingling of the oracle’s body and the presence of the Amman is referred to as uruvarutal (assuming form)… Oracles say they cannot remember what transpires during possession experiences. They explain when the hot energy of sakti, travelling upward through their trembling bodies reaches their throats, they lose the ability to speak in their individual human voices.” (What she calls oracles are termed mediums in this article)

“I only remember about 10% of what happens when I am in trance after I get out of it,” said S. Thanikasalam, one of the mediums. He is originally from Badualla and is now resident at Pullumalai, Batticaloa.

“Possession and going into trances are well known phenomena, where attention is restricted,” say Dr. M. Ganesan, consultant psychiatrist at the Batticaloa hospital. “But it is difficult to say what lies beyond that – to verify whether there is actually the presence of the spirit in the mediums.”

Important functions of the mediums are to defend households from enemies, heal the sick and protect the community from disease and illness, and act as an oracle of divine revelation. But these functions are not done in private with the individuals concerned, but in the presence of the community.

The rituals at Sri Maha Narasinghe Vairavar Swami aalayam on Boundary Road, Batticaloa, are to propitiate Vairavar, another deity believed to have immense powers. In the past there were animal sacrifices, which are now banned by law. The power of the mediums in this temple is well known throughout Batticaloa and many ‘hopeless’ cases are referred here. During the rituals between eight and 10 mediums are active. Their gestures are of controlled violence, their faces fierce and their trances powerful and intense.

A typical scene is by the Kali shrine on the side of the main structure of the Vairavar temple. A child has been brought with an incurable disease that is believed to be so because a spirit possesses him. Around the shrine, in full public view, the junior poosaris chant mantras to the beat of drums, invoking the goddess to find out identity of the spirit that possesses the child. The medium, trembling and in a trance, places his hand on the child’s head, anoints him with tumeric, wipes him with sheaves of margosa leaves, while the priest hopes the spirit in the child will identify itself.

Interestingly, the mediums are not totally impervious to what is happening around them. They do not talk but utter monosyllables. During the healing ritual, the medium whispers instructions into the priest’s ear. It is said different deities speak in different tongues through the medium, but the language in which the medium actually speaks to the priest cannot be heard. As the ritual continues the medium places betel leaves on the child’s head to find out the identity of the spirit. Suddenly the child begins to tremble as the medium does, but identifying the spirit is difficult.

“The spirits are very cunning. They never reveal their identity because they fear Kali will destroy them,” someone in the crowd said.

After trying to find out whether the child was possessed by a benevolent spirit, the medium went on to see whether if it was a demonic one. The bystanders later said it transpired the spirit was indeed demonic. The exorcism was to take place the next morning but this writer was unable to witness it.

“The communal nature of the healing process is very significant. There is stigma attached to certain illnesses in Sri Lanka. But by the cleansing ritual being conducted in the open, the disease and the patient find acceptance in society,” said Ganesan.

Divine revelation (vaaku sollurathu) , is when the medium becomes an oracle. When in a trance, mediums are credited with the ability to have psychic vision. Lawrence’s essay referred to above, speaks of the vital function played by oracles in counselling the sufferers whose loved ones had disappeared in Batticaloa during operations by the security forces.

“War created conditions that did not permit open grieving. But when the deity speaks through the medium, certain ‘unmentionable’ matters come out. It makes such revelations acceptable. This also helps the grieving process,” said Ganesan.

He said that during traumatic times of the war, unscrupulous persons used to tell grieving relatives about having met the disappeared or detained, in different army camps, police cells or prisons. Using this they demanded money on the pretext they would use it to give food or clothes to the detained person.

“If people could be fooled by other human beings, surely the deity’s words uttered through the medium appears much more truthful? When it speaks through the oracle it gives hope to the distressed, which is very important to relieve trauma. It also gives the grievers something to do such as giving a chicken or a goat to the temple,” Ganesan said.Karunenthira interpretation is slightly different. “Whether the words are right or wrong, the oracle can tell you something on which you can act. And if you believe in something wholeheartedly and act with earnestness, you can make it happen,” he stressed.

An oracle was working in one of the shrines of the Vairavar temple during this year’s rituals. In the presence of the throng, the priests, and tom-tom beaters, the person consulted the medium under a tarpaulin of cloth, which is ostensibly to ensure secrecy. But the medium’s answer is at least known to one person – the priest who interprets the oracular utterances. The bystanders could hear much of it too.

Ganesan is sceptical. “The oracle’s revelations are not to be taken too seriously. We should not forget that in small societies everyone knows each other and information of illnesses leaks out and reaches the ears of the mediums as much as other gossip,” he said.But he says that the public nature of the oracles is culturally appropriate to the informal social structures in Batticaloa. “It is important the treatment should be culturally sensitive. Private counselling in the east for instance is not necessarily successful with everyone,” Ganesan said.

Modernisation and westernisation has not only brought scepticism about the powers of the deities speaking through mediums, but also a degree of social stigma about those who allow themselves to be possessed by the spirit. Though there was a rich tradition in Batticaloa of women being mediums and oracles, it is now gradually diminishing, even though it continues among the poorer classes.

The importance of community values and strengthening them has stood the people of Batticaloa good stead during the years of death, displacement and deprivation. It is instructive to see how the temple tries at least to integrate people belonging to the neighbourhood into a whole and make them all, in a sense, stakeholders in a community.

“Everyone should feel they are part of the community. That is why even though only seven children are needed for the chakkaraiamuthu chadangu, we allow all the children to take part. We do not want anybody to feel excluded,” Karunenthira said.