Kohomba Kankariya which is the most elaborate of the Kandyan rituals, according to legend, had been performed to cure King Panduwas who had been afflicted with a mysterious ailment.
God-King Sakra to whom Buddha is supposed to have entrusted the guardianship of Lanka, when informed by Gods regarding Panduwas’s condition, had decided to intervene and sent Mala Raja to Sri Lanka to cure him of the ailment.
In the course of time, Kohomba Kankariya had developed to be a healing ritual made use of to cure not only human beings afflicted with mysterious illnesses but even to protect the villagers’ livestock in times of epidemic.
In the olden days it had been held over a number of days, the minimum being around three days.
The Kankariya was later scaled down to affordable financial limits as staging the complete ritual is a costly exercise. However when natural calamities bring misery to an area causing general dislocation of village life, all the inhabitants of the village come together; and make their individual contributions in cash, kind or labour to organise the Kankariya.
