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opinions of the few notwithstanding, that the Lanka of Ravana lies submerged in
the sea, Ceylon is full of reminiscence which unmistakably link scenes and
stories with king Ravana and his days, scenes places all over the central
uplands of Ceylon amid the gorgeous setting of the thickly wooded hills &
the glorious valleys below. Intimately associated as these are with Ravana and
his deeds and with stories if Sita in her sojourn in Lanka, they leaved no
doubt in the mind of the student of folk culture that king Ravana’s Lanka is
essentially the Ceylon today.
Ravana
Ella Cave
Among
such scenes & sights, is the Ravana Ella cave, traditions relating to the
cave are rife all over the highlands of the district of Bandarawela. Mystery
surrounds the cave, “where elephants go to die” as the folk say. The cave, hard
and arduous to reach, may well have been a secret stronghold that it is
supposed to have been in the legendary days, with a rest house in the Ella
pass, up the zig-zag paths of which one climbs until the rocky walls of the
pass gradually close in and Ravana’s cave comes to view amidst towering
mountainous primeval geologic formations.
About
a mile away, is the Ravana Ella or Ravana’s waterfall with a drop of 90 feet
following in to the valley below. With the heavy rains that fall during six
months of the year, much of the cave floor is damp. Advancing inside, the roof
of the cave closes in. and crown of the head grazes the roof of the cave. The
tradition of the secret passage stands discredited, recent explorations of the
cave showing no way out. Whether a secret passage existed or not, Sita Eliya
holds the key to the story of the days of king Ravana more than indeed any
place in Ceylon.
Siat
Eliya – The Plains of Sita
Redolent
of stories of Sita’s life Ceylon in is Sita Eliya (the plain of sita) a
charmingly undulating plain, fringed with thickly wooded hill ranges,
picturesque waterfalls and silvery rivulets rushing downhill sides, dotted with
rhododendron bushes tipped with clusters of crimson flowers. Beyond are the
steep mountain ramparts with the thickly wooded tops, the haunts of the leopard
and the sambhur. A vast amphitheatre of hills and deals, if the classic Trikuta
Mount of Ramayanaya is anywhere in Ceylon, it is here, the glorious
city and palace of king Ravana with its fortress, its lovely groves and
terraced Gardens, a true reflection of which may be seen today in the nearby
Hakgala Gardens with its charming wooded glades cleverly reclaimed &
fashioned by the hands of man. A situation commanding as it does the natural
approaches to the valleys on all the four sides- the Kotmale to the North East,
Uva to the South East, Dambulla to the West & Uda Pussellave valley to the
East, no more favorable site could have been chosen by the Rakshasa king for
his fortified mountain capital.
Note
worthy for the many features which find a true reflection today, is the
reference in the Ramayanaya to the “little bells suspended from trees”
which made music in the breeze” an appliance the various forms of which may be
found distributed all over the hill county of Ceylon today. The simplest of
such tree top appliances is the “ Bambraya” as it is popularly called, meaning,
a “top” working as it does on the technology of a top turning on a pivot, a
single noduled hollow reed within which turns a short upright stem from which
branch two thin flat wooden blades set oblique on either side. This appliance
is tied to the top branches of trees standing out as a conspicuous feature of
the landscape as the blades turn in the wind, a whirring sound is heard. Slow
at first, the sounds gains in intensity as the blowing grows strong.
In
additional feature is a small reed whistle attached on either side of the
blades. As it blows, the wind automatically works the whistles producing the
characteristic whistling note in conjunction with the whirl and the whir of the
turning blades. Rarely too, a tiny bell is tied to the Bambaraya as in a
specimen collected in a Kandyan village.
These
humble appliances serve the purpose today of denoting the direction of the wind
as also of a device for scaring away crows and birds from vegetable and grains
plots. That the early beginning of such appliances, collectively belonging to
the class if Aeolian musical instruments may be traced to the days of king
Ravana, is a conclusion we may justifiably draw from the references in the Ramayana.
