The Kandy Esala Perahera is not a parade. It is an ordered procession, walked in a specific sequence by specific figures, each of whom represents a historical role in the custody of the Tooth Relic. To read the Perahera well, one needs to know who is walking in what order, and why.
What follows is a reading of the procession from its head — the first sound the spectator hears — to its tail, the Diyawadana Nilame.
The Whip-Crackers
At the head of every Perahera walk the Kasakaara — men cracking long, heavy whips. This is the first sound of the procession, heard some distance before the drums. The whip-crack is functional as well as symbolic: it clears the road of stray animals and settles a crowd into silence. In Sinhala custom, a sound must announce a sacred event before its object arrives. The whip-cracker is that announcement.
The Flag-Bearers
Behind the Kasakaara come the flag-bearers — the Kodikaara — carrying the flags of the provinces of the old Sinhalese kingdom, and the flags of the Maligawa. Each flag is borne by a man walking in step with the procession, to the beat of the hewisi drums that follow. The older flags are woven in red, gold, and black; the newer in the national colours of Sri Lanka.
The Peramune Rala
The Peramune Rala — the ‘herald’ — walks beside his tusker near the head of the procession. He bears a palm-leaf ola manuscript recording the authority under which the Perahera is walked. The document is largely ceremonial now; but the Peramune Rala’s role, and the fact that he walks at the head of the procession, is among the oldest continuous offices in the ceremony.
The Hewisi Drummers
Then the drums. The Hewisi ensemble is the rhythmic spine of the Perahera — geta bera (the Kandyan drum), davul bera (the wide barrel drum), and horanewa (the double-reed). The drummers walk in rows, each row keeping to its own cadence, and together they produce the undulating, insistent beat by which the Perahera is most remembered.
The hewisi is not accompaniment. It is the ceremony’s pace-maker. The elephants walk at its tempo; the dancers time their figures to it; the casket is carried along at its measure. To stand still in a Kandy street during the Perahera is to feel the rhythm of hewisi travel through the ground.
The Dancers
Behind the drummers, the Kandyan dancers. There are several schools represented — each with its own signature figure. Among the most senior are:
- Ves dancers — the principal Kandyan form, dressed in silver headgear (ves thattuwa), white ceremonial cloth, beaded collars. The Ves dancer is regarded as the most solemn of the dancers — his dress is consecrated; his figures are liturgical.
- Naiyandi dancers — dressed in red cloth and turbans, performing quicker, more athletic figures.
- Udekki dancers — carrying the udekki, a small hourglass drum, which they play while dancing.
- Pantheru dancers — carrying the pantheru, a small tambourine, in quick figures associated with martial occasions.
- Fire-dancers and chamara fan-bearers — the more visually dramatic figures, often remembered most clearly by first-time spectators.
The Tuskers
The tuskers — caparisoned elephants — are the most readily recognisable element of the Perahera. They are dressed in heavy embroidered cloths of red, gold, and saffron, often with small electric lamps sewn into the trim. Their tusks are painted with gold leaf. The tuskers walk in lines of four or five abreast, with their mahouts at their side; during the Randoli Peraheras there may be more than a hundred of them in the procession.
The most senior tusker — the Maligawa Tusker — walks near the end of the procession, bearing the Karanduva. The current holder of this office is Indi Raja, who succeeded Nadungamuwa Raja after the latter’s death in March 2022. Indi Raja, donated to the Maligawa in 1989 (a gift of the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi), entered Perahera duty at the age of eighteen and now, at forty-five, leads a stable of nine tuskers and three bull elephants attached to the Temple — among them Sinha Raja, Thai Raja, Jana Raja, Migara, Kaveri Raja, Mayan Raja, Burma Raja, and Pulasthi Raja.
Before Nadungamuwa Raja — the great tusker from Giradurukotte who bore the casket from 2012 to 2022 — the office was held for decades by Raja, the Maligawa Tusker who carried the Karanduva at the final Randoli Perahera for thirty-seven consecutive years until his death in 1988. Raja was declared a national treasure of Sri Lanka by President J. R. Jayewardene; his preserved body is on display in a dedicated chamber within the Temple of the Tooth.
The Maligawa Tusker is selected for temperament as much as for size: the animal must walk slowly, without distraction, for more than two hours, along a route lined with tens of thousands of spectators. It is a demanding office, and it is held for years at a time.
The Maligawa Perahera — the casket
Behind the Maligawa Tusker follows the central column of the procession — the Maligawa Perahera — the direct retinue of the Tooth Relic. The Karanduva sits on the tusker’s back beneath an embroidered canopy of red and gold. The temple’s own dancers, drummers, and chamara-bearers walk with it. This is the centre of the ceremony; by convention, spectators stand for it.
The Devala Peraheras
After the Maligawa Perahera, each of the four Devala Peraheras follows in order. The Devalas are the shrines of the four guardian deities of Sri Lanka:
- Natha Devala — Natha, the bodhisattva of the future Buddha. First among the Devalas.
- Vishnu Devala — Vishnu, guardian of the island.
- Kataragama Devala — Kataragama, the god of war.
- Pattini Devala — Pattini, the goddess of healing and of women.
Each Devala’s procession walks behind its own Kapurala — the chief priest of that Devala — and includes its own tuskers, dancers, and drummers. During the Randoli Peraheras, each Devala’s procession also includes the Randoli palanquin — the palanquin of the queen-consort of that deity.
The Nilames — the officers
At the tail of the procession walk the civil officers. The Basnayake Nilames of the four Devalas walk with their respective Devala processions; the Diyawadana Nilame walks at the very tail of the Maligawa Perahera, as the custodian of the entire ceremony. All are dressed in the formal Kandyan full-dress — elaborate embroidered jackets, long cloths, swords at the hip — the public ceremonial dress of the last court of Kandy.
The Diyawadana Nilame’s place at the end of the procession is the final word. Everything ahead has been walked under his authority. The Perahera closes with him.
How many walk
It is difficult to give an exact figure. The procession varies from year to year. By custodians’ estimate, however, a typical Maha Randoli involves:
- ~100 caparisoned tuskers
- ~200 Kandyan dancers, across all schools
- ~100 hewisi drummers
- ~40 flag-bearers
- ~50 whip-crackers and fire-performers
- ~250 officers, Kapuralas, attendants, and retinue
- The combined civil and temple administration of the four Devalas and the Maligawa
On a single night, roughly seven hundred people walk the Perahera, accompanied by a hundred elephants, in front of an audience that now, with livestream, approaches the tens of millions.
