Mahasona, the great graveyard demon
Sinhala folk yakku · deity · Sinhala folk yakku traditional religion; continuing · deity
Mahasona is the pre-eminent demon (yaka) of the lowland Sinhala-Buddhist village pantheon, his name meaning 'the great demon of the cemetery.' In the standard origin legend he was once the giant Jaya Sena, who, after being decapitated in a duel with the warrior Gotaimbara, was restored to life with the head of a bear and became lord of the cremation grounds. He is held to strike travellers who pass burial-grounds at unlucky hours, leaving the mark of his hand on the shoulder and visiting fever and wasting upon his victims. The cure is the great exorcism known as the Mahasohon Samayama, in which masked dancers impersonate the demon through the night until, appeased with offerings of meat and blood, he releases the patient by dawn.
Domains
- graveyards and cremation grounds
- affliction and disease
Powers
- to strike a person down by crushing the shoulder
- to inflict illness on the living by his malign look
Epithets
- මහ සොහොන් යකා (Maha Sohon Yaka)
Relations
- rival: Riri Yaka, the blood demon