The Namunukula Peak, with its nine apexes often hidden in the clouds, rises majestically, a sheer 6,679 feet and towers over the eastern rim of the mountain chain ringing the hill country of Sri Lanka from Passara in the east to Samanola or Adam's Peak in the west.

"This magnificent wall, stretching from the curious nine-pointed peak of Namunukula to the proud summit of Adam's Peak, 7,360 feet, at its western end, possibly formed by a tremendous earth-rupture, forms the most imposing sight in the whole of Ceylon," states Elsie Cook in Ceylon - Its Geography, its resources and its people, still the favourite textbook of Sri Lanka's geography.

By B. H. Hemapriya
Ministry of Mahaweli Development

A Mahaweli vista
Namunukula tilts gently westward, towards Samanola. A folk-belief asserts that the crown of this majestic peak is bent in respectful obeisance towards the hallowed summit of Samanola where the footprint of the Buddha is etched in stone. The northern foothills of Namunukula and the adjacent Lunugala ridge are cut up in sharply incised declivities and valleys. These features set out the drainage pattern of the Loggal Oya, Badulu Oya and the Uma Oya, parallel mountain streams which hurtle down to flow northwards to swell the Mahaweli in its picturesque middle course.

Tucked away in nooks and crannies in the valley bottoms of these parallel rivers are villages of remarkable antiquity where time seems to stand still.

Time indeed stood still in the villages around Uva-Udagama in the Loggal Oya valley until the compelling tattoo of village drummers passed the tomtom message around that the elders have decided that the ritual contest of ang-keli will be enacted as a pooja from Sept. 9 to Sept. 23 to appease the Goddess Pattini for the well-being of the villages around.

The ang-keli pooja or the enactment of the 15-day ritual hook-tugging contest in which all the able-bodied men of the surrounding villages participate enthusiastically is in fact an ancient martial art. From very ancient times traditional society participated in combative sports, not merely for amusement, but in order to foster disregard for pain and death, and to inculcate the valour and pugnacity essential for the survival of a race.

Tomtom beaters
The announcement that the 15-day ang-keliya will commence on September 9 has served to galvanise the villages, shattering their idyllic serenity and set them astir with preparatory activity for the contest. The dates of the contest have been made known, and each of the villages know against whom they are pitted.

The focus shifts immediately to the Udagama Ampitiya which dates back to the time when the warrior-king Rajasingha II (1635-87) was king of Sri Lanka. A stone inscription at the foot of the old Pattini devale at Udagama testifies to the fact that the Lindamulla Pattini devale's Kapurala is a direct descendant of the Kapurala who officiated at angkeliyas at this ampitiya during the reign of King Rajasingha II. This alone is a remarkable continuity.

It is this family which provides a Kapurala to the Udagama Pattini devale too.

Villagers have now set up makeshift stalls and boutiques around the Udagama ampitiya to serve the visitors who will throng Udagama during the fifteen-day festival. All through the duration of the ang-keliya the young participants could be seen showing off their strength and skills. But everybody takes care to be on their best behaviour as the Goddess Pattini is believed to preside over the ampitiya during the ang-keliya. The wrath of the Goddess and her retribution are said to be legendary.

Goddess Pattini according to folk belief presides over agricultural fertility, rain, infectious diseases and motherhood. The rites and rituals enacted to appease her range from magico-religious Gammadu, post-havest folk-drama of Sokari, ritual games like pora-pol and ang-keli. Devales to supplicate Pattini exist all over the country but the adherence to this goddess as a cult, is particularly relevant to the hill country.

Two historical views
There is a widely held belief that Pattini worship was introduced to Sri Lanka by King Gajabahu AD 113. This is disputed by Professor Gananath Obeysekere who argues that Pattini worship was popularised in Sri Lanka by traders and merchants with business interests in S. India. Royal patronage was conferred on Pattini worship by the Kotte king, Parakramabahu VI (1411-66).

Whatever its historicity, the fact remains that the Pattini cult was so compelling during the Kandyan period that the Goddess was elevated to the rank of a guardian deity of Sri Lanka. Pattini insignia are ceremonially carried in the Esala Pageant in Kandy and a temple of the Goddess sits prominently, right opposite the Dalada Maligawa in the hill capital. The Pattini devales are prominent temples in Hanguranketa and Badulla.

Quaint customs
Quaint customs are rigidly observed in the run up to the actual commencement of the ang-keliya. One of the very first requirements is for all participants to be clean in mind and body. The foremost families in villages around the Pattini Devale who give leadership to the communal effort to hold the ang-keliya are held in high regard as they have officiated as kankanamas from ancient times.

The kankanamas for the present angkeliya are the Hennayakes. In 1990 too they performed this responsible function. It's a prestigious role yet very onerous. The leaders of the seven villages around the Pattini Devale solidarise with the Hennayakes to lighten their tasks in the best traditions of rural Sri Lanka's co-operative spirit of attan and kaiya in terms of which every family rallies round the other in times of need.

The Hennayakes, with other village elders have to draw up the calendar of events for the ang-keliya. Orthodox Buddhist observances precede the Pattini rituals. One of the first tasks is to request the Pattini kapurala in the famed Lindamulla Pattini devale to beseech the Goddess to grace the ang-keliya in Udagama.

Lindamulla Connection
An elaborate perahera conducts the symbolic insignia of the Goddess from Lindamulla Pattini devale in Badulla to Uva Udagama. It is also the practice to bring a victorious anga from an earlier ang-keliya in the procession from Lindamulla to be installed in the Pattini devale at Udagama. The insignia personify the Goddess. A similar perahera at the conclusion of the ang-keliya conducts the Goddess back to Lindamulla.

In a colourful sequence of events the various village teams arrive at the Udagama ampitiya in peraheras carrying aloft their ang, shouting their slogans of victory and showing off their new ang and those tested out and victorious in earlier contests. Each team is met by the Kankanama's party and led in procession to the Buddhist temple for worship and blessings and then to the Pattini devale where vows are made to ensure that there will not be any transgressions of the rules governing in the ang-keliya. It is customary for the reception team from Udagama to meet the visiting teams with an ang tested out as a victorious one, in a previous ang-keliya.

Pitting of Hooks
When the ang-keliya proper starts the pitting of hooks for the tug and for threading them with thongs of "waramadu" laced with lianas and raw hide are tasks for experts.

First the ang are matched for size. After two hooks are threaded and clasped, the tuggers line-up opposite the angaha for the tug. The angaha also known as the "valigaha" is generally a mature milla trunk stuck upside down and loosely immersed in a pit lined with rock. The angaha is associated with Goddess Pattini. The tug rope are passed through two holes bored at the top of the angaha.

Udupila Yatipila
In the contest the goddess' team is known as the 'Yatipila'. The 'Udupila' side is associated with the consort of the goddess. Every villager knows to which pila he belongs.

The clasped hooks are threaded through "waramadu" thongs and raw-hide, specially prepared for resilience by Hulawali craftsmen. The raw-hide thong is passed through two rings of lianas one passed over the angaha and the other passed over the peras gaha.

The peras gaha behind the angaha is firmly buried in the ground and is short. The tugging begins after it is established that the hooks are secure and will hold. All participants, both Udupila and Yatipila, tug at lianas attached to the loosely stuck angaha. They pull in unison, together, from the same side to cheers and encouraging ritual songs.

The tugging causes great tension at the nexus where the hooks are clasped.

Cheer leaders, temple music pile on the tugging effort until a hook snaps with a thunderous clap, amidst cheers.

The side which suffers the broken hook is teased and mocked. Sometimes the gestural abuse gets out of hand and tempers are frayed.

Women and girls are not welcome at the ringside and watch the tugging from a fair distance.

The victorious hooks are heaped upright to allow for dancing round them at end of each tug.

All hooks brought for the contest are matched and put to the tug. All participants in the contest, dance till dusk, each day of the contest.