Up a rocky and steep climb, a right twist and suddenly there before our very eyes is a page from the misty past………..a rocky cavernous area dotted with huge trees, the gloom of early morn being dispelled only by the flickering flames of tiny clay lamps, with bare-bodied men and women clad in strange clothes moving about silently.
We are spectators at the Embulgama Raja Maha Viharaya off the Low-Level Road at Ranala who cannot cross into an area clearly demarcated by a white string drawn as a boundary with ancient swords as the stakes.
The scene being enacted catches us in a time warp – a time long before the British, taking us to the beginning of civilization in Sri Lanka, when the Yaksha tribe reigned.
Many, many centuries later, it is a “graduation” ceremony from student to teacher, a first believed to be held in public, since British times.
Rituals over, with firstly a piritha being chanted and then other incantations to Pattini for she is the patroness of this ancient martial arts and also Ravana who is said to have used these techniques in his battle against Rama, two men and women in their prime show off their skills.
These four are proponents of angan pora, who have been under the rigorous training and spiritual guidance of Gurunnanse Mahantharachchige Ajantha Perera, 27, for a long time before being bestowed the honour of the title of ‘Pannikki Rala’. Ajantha is also the Muhandiram or Principal of the angan maduwa at Koratota, Kaduwela where young golayas (disciples) train.
There are 21 adaw (segments) which a good golaya will have to master, says Ajantha, explaining that this fighting technique includes angan (unarmed combat), ilangan (use of 21 different types of weapons), and maya angan (mental power) which includes yantra-mantra and the gupta shastraya. “Through gupta shastraya, we create images of two people fighting when in reality there is only one,” says Ajantha, adding that this scares off the opponents.
Hearing about this martial art through word-of-mouth, I was keen to train in angan pora, says Jayamali, 30, a mother of a nine-year-old boy, who is fascinated by the proceedings. “Every aspect, the meditation, the technique etc., helps us in our daily life,” she says.
Practised long before karate and kung-fu made an appearance, angan pora had not only vanquished the Portuguese at Seethawaka and been responsible for the 1562 debacle faced by these colonialists on the Mulleriyawa wela where 1,600 of them succumbed, it had also been used against the Dutch and the British.
Experiencing the might of angan pora during the 1818 uprising spearheaded by Keppitipola, the British had prohibited this form of martial arts in 1827, banning the use of its weaponry which includes sword, kirichchiya (dagger), spear, keteriya (axe), kala kiringgiya (knuckle-duster), dunna (bow and arrow) and rita and mugura (long and short cane). This was the time it went underground, with proponents keeping the art within families and passing the techniques from father to son or daughter.
For, 24-year-old Amila who is studying to be an ayurvedic physician, the search for the authentic angan pora took a long time, before he came under the guidance and tutelage of the Gurunnanse.
Now along with Jayamali, Sanjula and Akila, Amila joins the ranks of the ‘Pannikki Ralas’ to propagate the true doctrine of angan pora, under Muhandiram Ajantha who is fighting hard to keep it from getting tainted by newer martial arts such as cheena adi or namaskaraya from Malayalam Malayadi. |
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