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Emerging after the rains
The katina pinkama is the most eagerly awaited ritual in the calendar of events in a temple. It marks the end of the vassana period when the monks spend the rainy season indoors following a practice started during the Buddha's time.

By D.C. Ranatunga
Thirty-one days after the passing away of the Ven. Madihe Pannasiha Maha Nayaka Thera, unprecedented crowds turned up at the Sri Vajiranana Dharmayatanaya in Maharagama for the annual katina pinkama last Sunday. For over 45 years Madihe Maha Nayaka Thera had presided over the ceremony. This year, there was only an enlarged colour photograph looking down on the thousands of devotees who filled the hall.

Ven. Weligama Gnanaratana, the newly appointed Maha Nayaka Thera of the Amarapura Nikaya's Dhammarakshita Nikaya, a brother monk of Madihe Maha Nayaka Thera, took his place. Both had received ordination under Ven. Pelene Vajiranana Maha Nayaka Thera. Sitting next to him was Ampitiye Rahula Maha Thera, who has taken over as adhipati of the Dharmayatanaya.

The katina pinkama is the most eagerly awaited ritual in the calendar of events in a temple. It marks the end of the vassana period when the monks spend the rainy season indoors following a practice started during Buddha's time. There were three distinct seasons in India - vassana (rainy), hemanta (winter) and gimhana (hot). The vassana season was from mid-July to mid-November.

Ven. Narada Maha Thera in ‘The Buddha and His Teachings’ describes the vassana thus: "During the vassana period, due to torrential rains, rivers and streams are flooded, roads are inundated, communications are interrupted, and people as a rule are confined to their homes and live on what provisions they have collected during the previous seasons. During this time the ascetics find it difficult to engage in their preaching tours, wandering from place to place.

Accordingly all ascetics including the disciples of the Buddha would suspend their itinerant activities and live in retirement. As a rule the Buddha and his disciples were invited to spend their rainy seasons either in a monastery or in a secluded park. Sometimes, however, they used to retire to forests. During these rainy seasons people flocked to the Buddha to hear the Dhamma and thus availed themselves of his presence in their vicinity to their best advantage."

Following tradition, vas is observed by monks who have received upasampada (higher ordination) in all temples to this day (during the three-month period from the Esala full moon poya to the Vap full moon poya). The dayakas take extra care to look after the monks by providing their needs since the monks are generally confined to the temples. This is again because in the early days they could not go on pindapata - the alms rounds - due to rain. If a monk left the temple during this period, he had to be back within seven days.

After the vas ends, devotees get ready for the katina pinkama, which is planned between the Bak Poya and the Il Poya . The katina pinkama is now arranged during the weekends for the convenience of devotees who look forward to this annual event. The katina cheevaraya - robe offered during the katina pinkama - takes pride of place in the ceremony since such a robe can only be offered once a year, only at this pinkama after vas. The cloth is obtained through a collection made among the community rather than an individual, in order to enable mass participation in this meritorious deed.

The robe is offered to the Maha Sangha - the community of monks - and not to an individual monk, and it is the group of monks in the temple who decide as to the recipient of the robe after the pinkama. The offering of the robe takes place early morning, in the temple, after it is brought to the temple in a procession before dawn. For convenience, the robe is now stitched. Earlier, those who follow tradition would stitch and dye it in the temple after it is offered, with the help of the monks who would advise how exactly it should be stitched.

It is also customary for an elderly, respected upasaka in the village to be the organizer of the katina pinkama. A procession would be arranged to start from his residence where the others would gather. Though earlier it was a simple procession with a few drummers leading the way, today in most places it has become an elaborate affair with troupes of drummers, dancers and circus performers, as well as a large number of flag carriers participating.

As the devotees chant “sadhu, sadhu”, the katina robe is taken in procession under a canopy with as many devotees as possible taking turns to carry it on their head as it is considered a rare opportunity which brings merit.

Meanwhile, the temple bana maduwa is filled with devotees who bring numerous articles for use in the temple during the coming months. These are kept under the kap ruka - a tree erected in a corner of the hall. The offerings would cover the daily needs of the monks as well as items used to keep the temple premises neat and tidy.

As the procession approaches the temple premises, these devotees would join in and carry the robe on their heads. Inside the premises, the chief upasaka would carry the robe followed by monks who would take their places in the bana maduwa for the ceremony. The chief monk would administer pansil and after a short sermon explaining the significance of the occasion, get the devotees to recite a stanza offering the robe to the sangha.

The robe is then formally handed over and the monks retire to the poya ge in the seema malaka, where the laity is not admitted, for a ritual where they would discuss who is the most suitable to receive the robe and hand it over. The particular monk is expected to wear the robe and deliver the katina anusasana - sermon extolling the virtues of taking part in a katina pinkama.

The ceremony thus ends with the devotees being highly satisfied that they had looked after the monks during the vassana period at the end of which they had offered the katina robe thereby gaining merit that would help them in their future journey through samsara.

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