 have had courage until the last moment of their life.
|The Great Kataragama Shrine today. (Compare this with the 194-year old picture at the top.)|
Due to the risk of breaking out epidemics the colonial government decided to limit the number of individuals entering the holy city of Kataragama during the Esala festival. Pilgrims needed to obtain a permit from the Government Agent of the particular area they lived. Those days, the Government Agent of Uva or Hambantota had to inspect the conditions at Kataragama at every pilgrimage season. They had to inspect whether the devotees observe what was called as the ‘Camping Rules’. First of the rules was to stay in the camp during the night; second was not to jump into the river from the bridge; and the third was to strictly use toilets and nowhere else for calls of nature. Toilets were actually pits dug in the ground, probably covered around with woven coconut leaf. Soil dug from the pit was kept close to it with a few coconut shells to cover-up the excreta in the pit. Pions were employed to show those toilets to people, and to make sure they do not use any other place for this requirement. Prisoners were brought there to keep the area clean. A medical officer too was stationed at the pilgrimage site to give free medical aid to anybody in need. Big containers of drinking water were set up along the roadside for the use of pilgrims. Such primary measures of hygiene were started to be taken in 1871 and 1872. With them the death rate of Kataragama pilgrims by cholera was gradually minimized.
Assistant Government Agent of Hambantota, Mr. E. A. King writes in 1870 that Kataragama reminds him of a small unpopulated and ruined village in Ireland. He says that there were a lot of huts spread out by the side of the main road, and those nobody was living were rented out to Chetti, Muslim, Malay, Sinhalese and Tamil sellers who come there in the festival season to open their stalls. Brass items such as cups and saucers, trays, plates, lamps and bells of superb craftsmanship were for sale there at cheap rates. Kandyan pilgrims who came to Kataragama spent their money mostly to buy domestic equipment like pots and pans, cotton clothing, and rice that was sold at 18 to 19 cents per measure (Seruva). Venison, deer-hyde, salt and honey were abundant for sale at Kataragama during the festival season those days. Salt was among the top of the bestsellers.
There had been incidents that Kataragama Esala Perahera was carried out without a tusker to carry the sacred icon of the God. The records made by the government officers say that in 1872, the Basnayaka Nilame requested a tusker from the government, and while having one at Buttala the government had rejected his request. This proves that in 1872 there was no tusker for Kataragama Maha Devale. In the years 1897, 1907, and 1908 also there had not been a tusker in Esala Perahera. In 1907, the tusker who was ready to carry the God’s statue in the Esala Perahera suddenly died of starvation a month before. For all those Esala parades without a proper elephant, the kapuralas had prepared a fake elephant using big barrels fixed to a cart, and covered with black clothes and decorated to look like an elephant. The casket with the God’s icon was kept on it and the relevant Kapurala was riding the fake elephant while someone was pulling it!
Kataragama pilgrimage permit system was stopped in 1925 with the development of medical and other infrastructure facilities in Kataragama.