CultureTV's video: Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Dewalaya Muruthan Poojawa

Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Dewalaya Kataragama as known secret city wolrd wide.there are many different customs doing annually. Kataragama temple (රුහුණු කතරගම දේවාලය, கதிர்காமம் முருகன் கோயில், lit. 'Ruhuṇu Kataragama Dēvālaya', 'Katirkāmam Murugan Kōvil') in Kataragama, Sri Lanka, is a temple complex dedicated to Buddhist guardian deity Kataragama deviyo and Hindu War God Murugan. It is one of the few religious sites in Sri Lanka that is venerated by the Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and the Vedda people. For most of the past millennia, it was a jungle shrine very difficult to access; today it is accessible by an all-weather road. The shrines and the nearby Kiri Vehera are managed by Buddhists, the shrines dedicated to Teyvāṉai and Shiva are managed by Hindus and the mosque by Muslims. The shrine has for centuries attracted Tamil Hindus from Sri Lanka and South India who undertook an arduous pilgrimage on foot. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the site has risen dramatically among Sinhalese Buddhists who today constitute majority of the visitors. The medieval phase of the history of the shrine began with the arrival of Kalyanagiri Swamy from North India sometimes during the 16th or 17th century. He identified the very spot of the shrines and their mythic associations with characters and events as expounded in Kanda Puranam. Following his re-establishment of the forest shrine, it again became a place of pilgrimage for Indian and Sri Lankan Hindus. The shrine also attracted local Sinhala Buddhist devotees. The caretakers of the shrines were people of the forest who were of indigenous Vedda or mixed Vedda and Sinhalese lineages. The shrines popularity increased with the veneration of the place by the kings of the Kingdom of Kandy, the last indigenous kingdom before colonial occupation of the island. When Indian indentured workers were brought in after the British occupation in 1815, they too began to participate in the pilgrimage in droves,[18] thus the popularity of the shrine increased amongst all sections of the people. The cult of Kataragama deviyo has become the most popular amongst the Sinhalese people. A number of legends and myths are associated with the deity and the location, differing by religion, ethnic affiliation and time. These legends are changing with the deity's burgeoning popularity with Buddhists, as the Buddhist ritual specialists and clergy try to accommodate the deity within Buddhist ideals of nontheism. With the change in devotees, the mode of worship and festivals has changed from that of Hindu orientation to one that accommodates Buddhist rituals and theology. It is difficult to reconstruct the factual history of the place and the reason for its popularity amongst Sri Lankans and Indians based on legends and available archeological and literary evidence alone, although the place seems to have a venerable history. The lack of clear historic records and resultant legends and myths fuel the conflict between Buddhists and Hindus as to the ownership and the mode of worship at Kataragama. The priests of the temple are known as Kapuralas and are believed to be descended from Vedda people. Veddas, too, have a claim on the temple, a nearby mountain peak and locality through a number of legends. There is a mosque and a few tombs of Muslim pious men buried nearby. The temple complex is also connected to other similar temples in Eastern Province dedicated to Murugan which are along the path of pilgrimage from Jaffna in the north to Kataragama in the south of the island; Arunagirinathar traversed this pilgrimage route in the 15th century.[6] The vicinity of the temple complex is used for secretive practices of sorcery and cursing peculiar to Sri Lanka. The entire temple complex was declared a holy place by the government of Sri Lanka in the 1950s; since then political leaders have contributed for its maintenance and upkeep. ඓතිහාසික රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලයේ ඉතිහාසය ඉතා දුරාතීතයට දිවේ. පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක නොවුවද සාම්ප‍්‍රදායික හා කාල්පනික මතයන් මීට ඉවහල් වේ. බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ දිවමන් කළ හෙළයේ කාචරගාම නම් එවකට නාමකරණය වූ කතරගම “කිහිරි” නම් වෘක්ෂ විශේෂයකින් සැදි කිහිරි වනයෙහි කිහිරි ගස් සෙවණක අසුන් පණවා දීමෙන් එහි වැඩ හිදිමින් බුදුන් පිරිසට දහම් දෙසූ හයි කියැවෙන අතර එකී කිහිරි ගහ පිහිටි භූමියෙහි කිරිවෙහෙර ඉදිකරනා ලදි. එතුමා බුදුරදුන්ගෙන් දහම් අසා එදිනම සෝවාන් මාර්ග ඵල ලබා අවසන මහසෙන් දෙවියන් නමින් මිනිසුන්ගේ ජන වන්දනයට පාත‍්‍රව කතරගම ජනිතව ඇති බවත්, එකී මහාසේන දෙවියෝ කතරගම දෙවියන් නමින් එදා මෙදා තුර අදහනු ලබන බවත් එක් පුරා කතාවකි. හින්දු දේව පුරාණයට අනුව ශිව-පාර්වති දේව මාපියන්ට පුතුව, ගණේශ දෙවියන්ට සෝවුරුව ශුද්ධාත්ම ජනනයක් ලත් ස්කන්ධ දෙවියන් කාචරගාමයට පැමිණ වර්තමාන සෙල්ලකතරගම වනාශ‍්‍රිතව හමු වූ “වල්ලි” නම් වැදි සම්බවයක් ඇති යුවතිය හා සහසම්බන්ධව විසූ බවත්, තේවානි අම්මා නම් සිය ඉන්දියානු ප‍්‍රියඹද තම වල්ලභයාණන් පසුපස පැමිණ මෙහිම නතර වූ බවත් තවත් පුරාවෘත්තයේ පවතී.