05/04/2015
Hi - on the way to Gal Oya (see previous email) I stayed for a couple of nights at Arugam Bay. During the season it’s full of Australian surfing dudes, they’ve held the world surfing championships here before now; but at this time of year it’s very quiet with just a few ageing hippies in sarongs wandering around drinking arrack and smoking dope (I haven’t quite got there yet) Accommodation is pretty rough, mostly huts on the beach, but Stardust Hotel is a cut above the rest with four walls and a roof - at a price. But acres of sand, a vast sky, lovely weather and mostly fishermen bringing in amazingly fresh prawns.
The object of the exercise was to re-visit Kumana (also known as North Yala) National Park; having come across a little shrine by a river, on my last visit, where - it transpires - Smiley prayed to the Lord Buddha for a car. Now he’s got not only a car but also a people-carrier (as well as a shed-load of debt) he wanted to come back to say thank you…
Quite a performance as it turned out: bouncing through the park in a jeep for hours, not without it’s excitement when a VERY angry elephant came charging out of the jungle and headed straight for us. But the scenery is very beautiful, lots of lagoons and massive odd-shaped boulders, gorgeous birds (see the painted stork, below) and we reached the shrine eventually.
That was also quite a performance, putting oil and wicks in hollowed-out shells, lighting incense burners, nearly roasting / asphyxiating inside the tiny hut, then being expected to carry a flaming coconut before dashing it to pieces on a rock. Waiting monkeys very appreciative.
It turns out that the shrine which is called Kebiliththa Podi Devalaya has a big brother Kebiliththa Maha Devalaya nearby. Also known as the Siyambalawa (tamarind) Devalaya the area is very sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus, and devotees of the God Katharagama. According to the website “It is here that the God met his future wife by a tamarind tree, and here that he resides and meditates. Accordingly, one is highly advised not to visit for fun and that it is a strictly religious journey. For at least seven days beforehand, only vegetarian food is to be consumed, and no alcohol. People who disobey face many obstacles on the way home”
Smiley had kept off the meat and booze for a couple of days but I didn’t do so well - so maybe that’s why my coconut only shattered on the third attempt, and our jeep didn’t get back to Arugam Bay until two hours after dark ###
