The concept of Paththini derives from two Tamil historic poetries – Silappadikaram and Manimekhalya – written by two different renowned Tamil poets centuries ago. Professor Gananath Obeyesekere’s book ‘ The Cult of the Goddess Pattini’ published by the University of California in 1984 discusses the influence of Paththini on the Sri Lankan – especially the Sinhala – society at various levels. For the common Sinhalaya, Paththini is a Sinhala Buddhist Goddess that makes her divine intervention to all important or risky stages of his/her life. His latest movie ‘Paththini’ is an extension of this book where he argues that the concept of Goddess Paththini has been derived from South India with a Buddhist background.

Prof Ariyaratna, of course, came under heavy criticism from those nationalistic quarters after publishing this book a decade ago – as they were not prepared for any academic or other argument that challenges their mythical belief on the ownership of Buddhism. This was not a comfortable story for Sinhala nationalists. He, with proof, argues that Arahat Mahinda spent a considerable period of time in South India spreading the word of The Buddha before sailing to Sri Lanka.

The book argues that Buddhism is not a sole heritage of the Sinhalayas in Sri Lanka but the Dravidians in South India, too, contributed to its well-being. I started reading the well-researched book ‘Demala Bauddhaya’ by Senior Professor Sunil Ariyaratne where he elaborates on the influence of Buddhism among Tamils specifically in South India. Anyone from any sector of society who joined the Saasana would become a member of a common community – Sangha not Sinhala Buddhist Sangha, as it is depicted in the present context. Four birds of different colours flew in from four different directions to him and turned into a single colour at his feet. One classic example was the dream of Siddhartha the day before his enlightenment. The wealth of knowledge of the monks on pure Theravada Buddhism enriched the deliberations where they sighted the doctrine of The Buddha in the universality of ownership of his noble teachings. Along with a few Sri Lankan monks who are pursuing their higher studies in Myanmar, the discussion was on the mythical ownership claimed by the Sinhala community on Buddhism. It was almost midnight when we paused our discussion on the issue of ‘hereditary rights of Sinhala community of Buddhism’ at the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University in Yangoon two weeks ago.

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