Sokari of Sri Lanka

 

Those who have lived in or have visited Sri Lanka might have had the good fortune of witnessing various age-old ritualistic pageant or “ritual dramas” conducted with great solemnity and ceremony by the village folk. Of these ritualistic and dramatic spectacles Devil Dancing and Kolam which are performed mainly by masked dancers, are two of the traditional Sinhala dances which have survived to this date in the Western littoral strip of the island.

Sokari is the name of a woman. She is of Indian origin. She is barren. Sokari comes to Sri Lanka for the purpose of praying to God Kataragama for the born of a child. The story of Sokari and her husband Guru Hamy is the Sokari narrative.Yet another variety of rural theatre called Sokari which is ascribed to the cult of Goddess Pattini is still performed on rare occasions mostly in the mountainous areas of the country.