Devol Maduwa ritual

E936493

The Devol Maduwa ritual is a traditional Sri Lankan exorcistic and healing ceremony, especially prominent in the Low Country, that invokes the deity Devol to protect communities from misfortune and disease.

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf exorcistic ceremony
healing ceremony
ritual
traditional Sri Lankan ritual
aimsAt ensuring communal well-being
restoring health of afflicted persons
warding off evil spirits
associatedRegion Sri Lankan Low Country NERFINISHED
associatedWith Low Country Sinhalese communities NERFINISHED
countryOfOrigin Sri Lanka NERFINISHED
culturalContext Low Country dance tradition
Sinhalese culture
hasFunction expression of local religious identity
ritualized conflict resolution
social cohesion
hasGenre Low Country healing ritual
hasLanguage Sinhala NERFINISHED
hasMainDeity Devol deity
hasPurpose exorcism
healing
protection from disease
protection from misfortune
hasTemporalAspect performed overnight in many cases
hasTransmission oral tradition
invokes Devol deity
performedAt Devol devales NERFINISHED
village shrines
performedBy Low Country dancers NERFINISHED
exorcist-priests
ritual specialists
performedFor entire communities
individual patients
relatedRitual Bali ritual
Sanni Yakuma NERFINISHED
religiousTradition Sinhala Buddhist folk religion
Sri Lankan folk religion
threatenedBy decline of traditional ritual specialists
modernization
usesElement altars
chanting
costumes
dance
drumming
masks
offerings
usesMusic traditional Low Country drum ensembles
usesPerformanceMode improvised dialogue and recitation

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Low Country dance notableElement Devol Maduwa ritual