Sinhalese Ves muhuna means mask. Ves means character and muhuna means face. Traditionally, masks essential in Sri Lankan rituals belong to the Sinhala Pahatharata Sampradāya (Low Country) Tradition. The other two main dance traditions of Sri Lanka are Sabaragamu Sampradāya and Udarata Sampradāya (Kandyan Tradition).

 

Pahatharata shanthikarma (curative rituals) dances incorporating masks include Gam Madu, Devol Madu, Garā Madu, Yakun Thovil, Sooniyam Shanthikarmaya, Sanni Yakuma, Rata Yakuma, Mahasohon Samayama and Kōlam Madu. These healing rituals are often commonly referred to as Yaktovil or Yaknetum, but Yaktovil is only one category and therefore it is more appropriate to collectively identify these rituals as Shanthikarma.

 

In simple terms the masks used in the healing rituals are collectively called Yaka/Yaksha (plural: Yakku or Yakshayo) and the masks are called Yaksha Muhunu in Sinhalese. A Yaksha mask can play either a key role in the main ritual as in the Sanni Yakuma and Kōlam, or a supporting role in the closing act within a ritual/festival as in the Garā natuma. However, when closely examining Yaksha characters represented by the masks, the name Yaksha can embody several meanings. Sanni masks personify ailment characters and Pali masks symbolize the ritual tools contributing towards healing the ailments. Mahasohon Yaksha in the Mahasohon samayama is regarded as an ancestral human with super strength who became reincarnated with a bear-head to become a Yaksha. Kōlam masks represented social and political characters from the society, otherworldly characters and mythical characters. Multiple definitions in historic Buddhist texts are a testimony to the complexity of Yaksha. 

 

Early anthropologists identified that a single description would not define the numerous Yakhsa categories. Early colonial writings retained authentic names to some degree. However, most academic and non-academic colonial period texts translated names into English replacing Yaksha with ‘demon’ and Yaktovil with ‘demon worship’. I believe that the colonial translations of Yaksha as ‘demon’ and Yaktovil as ‘demon worship’ distorted their meanings. Because ritual masks are tangible forms of Yaksha, I also believe that the translations altered meanings of traditional Sinhala masks that the Sinhalese had nurtured for centuries.

 

This Mask Exhibition was curated for my Final Presentation of the MA in Festive Arts programme at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. I displayed the traditional meanings of Sinhala masks and a selection of colonial texts that altered the traditional meanings in this single website. I invite you to zoom closer and appreciate the individual identities behind the masks. I also invite you to read the colonial texts and rethink the role of the colonial canon in controlling our perceptions that may be different from actual values. Your participation and comments are valuable to generate a public discussion that can hopefully reposition the colonial canon and redefine perceptions of our Yaksha. If you have material that can be included in the gallery, let me know. I look forward to updating and improving the mask exhibition with your input.

Thank you.