Wind instruments have been an integral part of Sri Lankan culture for as long as historical records have existed. No dedicated records of an organized wind instrument industry exist prior to the Polonnaruwa Era, however various sources record their presence and usage well before that. These records also provide evidence that several wind instruments such as Conch Shells, the Horanewa & Kombuwa existed in Sri Lanka prior to the arrival, and eventual widespread influence of Indian culture and instruments. The period of the Anuradhapura Kingdom was very important in the investigation of the use of wind instruments in Sri Lanka. Literary sources, various objective sources, archeological sources etc. refer to the evolution of the usage of wind instruments from notable individual instances to an organized industry which eventually led to the development of musical traditions and genres still present today. This article attempts to track the development of Sri Lanka’s wind instrument industry and musical traditions and genres that rely on wind instruments through several important periods of Sri Lanka’s history.
Before the Anuradhapura Kingdom era (before 437 BC)
Folklore as well as the Ramayana written by Indian sage Valmiki describe advanced civilization in Sri Lanka well before the Anuradhapura period. According to the Ramayana, King Ravana, who reigned in Sri Lanka, was skilled in various arts. The Sanskrit poem “Shiva Thanad Stotra” for example is said to be a work of King Ravana. Legend has it that Ishvara (or Shiva is known as “The Destroyer” within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu) himself taught all the dances he knew to King Ravana after hearing the singing of that poem. The blowing of a shell at the beginning of the Shiva Thandava Stotra can be considered evidence that there was Panchaturya (the word for a combination of five types of musical instruments in Sri Lanka) in Sri Lanka at that time.
It is mentioned in the Deepavansa that after the Buddha visited Sri Lanka for the first time (6th century BC – 9 months after attaining enlightenment) and chased away the demons to Giri island, People celebrated with dances. On that point too we can come to a conclusion that there was Panchaturya music. The Vamsakathaa (or Wanshakathaaprovides some indication that there was music in Sri Lanka even when Prince Vijaya came to Sri Lanka. On the day Vijaya came to Sri Lanka (543 BC), while sleeping with Kuveniya, he heard music and asked Kuveniya, (Pali: තුරිය සද්දං ච සුත්වා ගීතරාවං ච) It is shown that she said “the sound of music from the wedding ceremony of the Mahakala who is the king of a town called Sirisawatthu and Polamitta”.
However, no specific archeological sources have been found to confirm the existence of or provide greater detail about this music. Those musical instruments or methods may have died out due to the Indian cultural influence that came through the royal dynasties of Vijaya, Paduvas Dev and Sri Vikrama Rajasingha as well as other things such as Dumindagamanaya and South Indian invasions.
Anuradhapura era (437 BC – 1017 AD)
We can see written and archaeological sources about wind instruments in Sri Lanka from the Anuradhapura period. The Mahavamsa mentions that the Panchaturya played for the pujas of planting the southern branch of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi sent by Emperor Ashoka (Pali: නත්තෘ පංචාංගික චරිවං කාස – ආතතං විතතං ආතත විතතා නාම – ශුෂිරය ඝනිත්ති පංච විධෝ – [Mahavansa Teekawa]). The 18 groups of 18 arts (Atalos Bodhi Avatheva Kula) traveling with Sanghamitta Thero also performed the Heavisi Pooja for this occasion. This the first solid source of the use of wind instruments in Sri Lanka. Other sources include
i) Conch shells and Flutes mentioned when describing King DutuGemunu’s journey to the place where Ruwanwelisaya was built – (Sinhala: සොළොස් දහසක් නාටක ස්ත්‍රීන් පිරිවරා සක්දෙව් රජුමෙන් තමන්ගේ ශ්‍රී සම්පත්තියෙන් බොහෝ දෙනා සතුටු කරමින් ගැටබෙර, පණාබෙර, එකැස්බෙර, මිහිඟු බෙර, දද්දර, පටහ, ලොහොබෙර,තලප්පර, විරන්දම්, උඩැක්කි, තම්මැට, රණරඟ ඝොෂා, සමුද්‍ර ඝොෂා, ඩෞර සිත්නම් යන මෙකී භෙරී ජාතීන් ද රන් සක්, රිදී සක්, ජය සක්, රුවන් සක්, රන් සින්නම්, රිදී සින්නම්, රුවන් සින්නම්, රන් දාරා, රිදී දාරා, දළහන්, ලෝහන්, ගවරහන්, විජයෝධ්වනි, ඔත්තු තන්තිරි, පටසරි මෙකී කාහළ ජාතීන් ද නකුල වීණා, භෟංග වීණා, ක්ෂුද්‍ර වීණා, ආලවත්ති, වඕගි, වස්දඬු, මේ ආදී නාදයෙන් ද යුගන්ධර පර්වත සමීපයෙහි සාගර නාදයක් මෙන් මහත් වූ යශශ්‍රීන් මහත් වූ පෙරහරින් පස්වරු දාගැබ බදිනා ස්ථානයට නික්මුණේය” [Thupawanshaya] )
ii) The description of King Dutugemunu’s participation in the enshrining ceremony of relics in Ruwanweli Chaitya accompanied by various musics – This has not specifically said as “Pancha Thurya” but described in the Mahavansha teeka which is written about 100 years later. (Sinhala: “ථත්ථ පා වාගීකා තූරියා, නාම ආතනං, චිත්තං ආනත්, චිත්ත, සුසිරං ඝනත්ති පංචම්විධො..” [Mahavanshaya – Chapter 29 – stanza 25])
iii) Phussadeva who was one of King Dutugemunu’s ten great giants, was born as the son of Uppala in a village called Gavitha near Sithulpawwa (aka Chiththlapabbatha) temple. He is also known as Umma-Phussadewa because of his great skill to play conch shell when he was a teenager. He had also blown a conch shell when Suranimala (also one of ten great giants) killed Dighajanthu (main giant of King Elara) in the final battle. [Mahavanshaya – Chapter 23 – stanza 82 to 89]
Few other sources which have not directly mentioned wind instruments but have mentioned “Panchathurya” are :
i) After King Pandukabhaya established the kingdom of Anuradhapura, the king made statues of Chittaraja and Kalavela deities (the deceased yakshas who had protected his mother since he was a fetus) and placed them on high seats equal to the throne and celebrated them with beautiful festivals involving dancing and singing.(Sinhala: “ද ජේසිඡඡකාලෙතු චිත්තරාජෙන සොසත, සමාසනේ නිසිදිත්වා දිබ්බ මානුසනාටංක” [Mahavanshaya – Chapter 10 – stanza 07])
ii) Mention of a group of musicians called “Talavachara” which was maintained by King Devanampiyatissa during his wars and state administration.
iii) On the occasion of bringing Jaya Sri Maha Bodhiya to Sri Lanka by Sanghamitta thero, gods and people sang, danced & cheered while playing musical instruments. (Deepavansaya 1997:156).
iv) King Kavantissa was accompanied to the chaithya (Seruvila sthupa) building site by dancing women who had Panchathurya in their hands and were dressed in various kinds of clothes, colors & ornaments & have done the Poojas. (Sinhala: “කාවන්තිස්ස රජතුමා ”මිණි කොඩොල් රසන්දම් වළලූ ආදී නානාවිධ විචිත්‍රාලංකාරයෙන් සැරසුණා වූ එසේ ම නානාවිධ වස්ත්‍රයන්ගෙන් ප්‍රතිමණ්ඩිත වූ පංචාංගික තූර්යය ගත් අත් ඇති දිව්‍යප්සරාවන් සමාන වූ නාටක ස්ත්‍රීන් පිරිවරන ලදුව මහජනයා සමඟ චෛත්යස්ථානයට ගොස් …” [Dhatuvanshaya 1961:82]).
v) in the era of King Bhathikabhaya, poojas with dances and panchaturya music were held every year in honor of the Maha thupa (Mahavanshaya).
vi) First classification of Panchaturya in Vansaththappakasiniya
vii) Paintings of female figures blowing Kombu and flutes (paintings from Thelapatta and Vessanthara Jataka stories) in the second vihara in the path courtyard of the Mulkirigala Vihara and on the pillar heads of Lovamahapaya, Mihintale Kantaka Chaitya and Kelani Vihara, carvings of dwarves playing conch shell and flutes.
with the cultural influence of the South Indian invasions ( Sena and Guttika, the Pancha Dravidians and the Six Dravidians), including their music and musical instruments have began to spread in Sri Lanka.
Polonnaru era (1055-1236)
After the kingdom of Anuradhapura came under Chola (South Indian) rule, they made Vijaya Rajapura (aka Polonnaruwa) their capital. Although kings (like Agbo VII and Sena I) reigned in Polonnaruwa previously, the Polonnaru era is considered to have begun with King Vijayabahu I who ended the Chola rule. There was a significant cultural change due to South Indian influence too as Hindu traditions were adopted by the country at this time with the support of the king.
The state patronage for music is clear from these facts in Chulavanshaya.
i) As shown in the 132/133 stanzas of chapter 66, there had been a music corps maintained by King Maha Parakramabahu for war purposes & it was called as Sinhala Gandabba. They have practiced musical dances etc and worked as spies too.
ii) About Saraswati Mandapam which is important as Sri Lankan royal court music in stanzas 82/86 of Chapter 73.
iii) The skillfulness of the Rupawathi (king’s queen) in music & dance according to stanzas 141/142 of chapter 73.
It is mentioned in the chronicles that during the Esala Perahara festival held during the reign of King Parakramabahu, the people had marched in the procession with dancing, singing & playing harps, flutes, mridangas & etc.
Since the worship of Gods such as Shiva, Ganadevi, Kataragama (Karthik), and Parvati has been done with state support, it can be concluded that conch shells, nadaswaram (or Horanewa) were played during the Polonnaru period. Chulavanshaya states that King Parakramabahu kept veena, flute and drum players around a stage near Tooth Relic. By stating that Shell players, Panchathurya players & etc. were paid by the state in the “Ranmali Se” inscription erected during the reign of Queen Kalyanavati, who reigned AD 1202-1208, Wind instrument playing is clearly stated as a state-paid profession.
From the Dambadeni period to the Kotte period (1220-1597)
In the face of the Chola invasions, king Vijayabahu III moved the kingdom from Polonnaruwa to Dambadeniya in AD 1246.
i) Taking the Tamil word Karikala, which means an expert in music, and applying “Kalikala” as an adjective to the Parakramabahu II.
ii) The same principles and musical instruments are found in books like Kavsilumina and Saddharmalankaraya which are found only in ancient cultural books related to Indian music.
iii) Its mentioned in the camp customs showing the daily routine of the king to have held music and dance shifts four times a day for the king
With the above, it is clear that the music of the Dambadeni era was well supported by the state. Because there were separate bands called “Vijjatuns” for Dalada Pooja and Royal Council affairs, it is clear that wind instrument playing as a profession also existed in the Dambadeni era.
After the Dambadeni kingdom, it is difficult to find sources on wind instruments & music till the Kotte kingdom.
It might be because of the political instability at that time. But it can be concluded that music also existed at a certain level compared to the literary development which is shown through works of art such as Sandesha Kavya and Guttila Kavya written during the reign of King Parakramabahu VI.
And due to the Portuguese influence, other western and African music styles such as Manha, Kaffrinha, Baila have taken root in Sri Lanka during this period. There is a belief that western musical instruments such as trumpet and trombone started to be used in Sri Lanka at this time.
Konappu Bandara, Dona Katarina & Dharmapala, were baptized as Don Philip, Don Catherine, Don Juan, and received education from the Portuguese. Then Prince Don Juan became the king as the Wimaladharmasuriya I and Don Catherine became his queen as Kusumasana Devi, so it can be concluded that the western culture spread with the influence and the support of the state.
Kandy era (1591 – 1815)
Apart from Wimaladharmasuriya I and Senerath, the wives of the other kings of the Kandy dynasty were South Indian Tamil queens. Also King Sri Veera Parakrama Narendrasingha was the last Sinhalese king who was very fond of music and entertainment and all those who followed were South Indian Nayakkar clans.
Due to this, South Indian musical instruments such as mridangam, chenda, thavil, nadaswaram and styles such as melam and natakam have become popular in Sri Lanka. We can mention this as a turning point in the Molam or papara music of Sri Lanka as well as the cultural impact caused by the Dutch and English invasions at the same time.
i) Use of south Indian wind instruments like Nadaswaram for Carnatic music in the Kavikara Maduwa (poet’s shed)
ii) use of Western instruments such as trombone and trumpet, which are believed to have been used in the Thamboru-Purampettukara section.
iii) use of Horanewa in the Sinharakkara section
are evidence of the use of wind instruments in the Kandy period. (Kavikara Maduwa, Thamboru-Purampettukara & Sinharakkara sections are some of the music and dance institutions of the Royal Palace.)
Panchathurya is used for the Kap Situveema (planting of a ceremonial Kapa branch) which is the first ritual of Esala Perahera and is considered to have started during the Kandy era. In 1829, Sir Edward Barnes had ordered the use of a large number of musical instruments for the Dalada Perahera held at the end of the Kandy era. On this point one can conclude that by this time, wind music in Sri Lanka had evolved and developed much, compared to previous periods. ****
Even though we don’t have evidence, the wind music related to cultural, funeral & other religious rituals too had been developed in all these periods – especially with the Horanewa & Hakgediya. An example for this is, since the year 2006, in the newly added Horane section (separate act) in ceremonial processions, Jaya Mangala Gatha, Gajaga Vannama etc., melodies are played. However, players nowadays do not simply stick to the traditional tunes, but perform current popular songs as well, in their acts.
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