Misconceptions about Demons & Witchcraft in Sri Lanka | An Explainer

Sri Lanka is strange. For one, three persistent sub-religions are practiced by most Sri Lankans, although they may not be aware of it. These are Demonism, Capuism, and Grahaism. Anthropologists have widely documented all three. Europeans recorded these religions under the terms of Witchcraft and Demonology. I don't blame them. How could they possibly understand? Even modern Sri Lankans are unaware of why or how these three sub-religions have become so deeply embedded in the culture.

Chapters:

• An overview of historical relations between Sinhala and Tamil people, contributing to the growth of these sub-religions.
• Colonial misinterpretations & how sub-religions persist alongside Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.
• Demonology as a means of maintaining wellness.
• Capuism to broker a relationship with vengeful deities.
• Grahaism, to neutralize planetary influence.

For more on this episode, https://www.dmdealwis.com/009-misconceptions-of-sri-lankan-demon-worship/

This episode focuses on Maha Kola Sanni Yaksha, often described as the chief of the eighteen disease demons in Sri Lankan folklore. Drawing on an 1866 journal entry from the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, we explore accounts of his origin and how he and his Yaksha retinue came to be associated with specific illnesses.

We look at how the Sanni Yakuma ritual serves as both a cultural performance and a form of healing, blending satire, community, and sensory immersion. What happens when illness is anthropomorphized? And how do ritual, belief, and medicine intersect?

Topics in this episode:

• Origin stories for the Maha Kola Sanni Yaksha
• The 18 Sanni Yaksha and their disease associations
• Changes in the yaksha list over time
• The Sanni Yakuma ritual as a healing practice
• How Christian colonialism confused our perception of “demon” and “spirit”

If the podcast resonates with you, consider following the show and sharing it with others who are interested in folklore, history, and belief systems that are shaped outside the Western canon.

For more about this podcast and its narrator, visit https://dmdealwis.com/about/.

Show notes can be found here: https://www.dmdealwis.com/008-the-yaksha-maha-kola-sanni/

What do you do when half a dozen monkeys steal all of the hats you sell? Here is the story of the hat seller. This is a Sri Lankan story often told to young children at bedtime. The moral of the story is to keep your cool and observe the situation before taking the time to outsmart your adversary.

To find out more about me and why this podcast at https://www.dmdealwis.com/.

Intro and exit music clip is from Cinder and Smoke by Music for Makers.

This episode is a reading of The Consecrating of Vijaya from Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa, the second-earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. This version talks about how his people wished him to declare himself King. He rejects his then-wife in favour of a royal wife from the subcontinent.

The first version of this story can be found in Myths & Samsara, Episode 2 | Vijaya's Story | Reading of Book IX of the Dipavamsa. The first part of this version of the story can be found as Episode 5 | The Coming of Vijaya | Reading of Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa.

This version was translated into English by Wilhelm Geiger, PhD, with assistance from Mabel Haynes Bode. Comissioned by the Pali Text Society in 1912 and titled The Mahavamsa or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon. The digitized copy can be found online.

The Dipavamsa is the earliest attempt to write a Chronicle of the Sāsana and the Kings of Sri Lanka, from earliest times up to the 5th c. A.D (1000 years after the events). The Mahavamsa is believed to have been recorded between 1000 and 1250 A.D (1500 years after the events).

This is an English reading. The language is cumbersome. My bias is to suspect both the translator of Western bias and the priesthood authors of the Mahavamsa of bias towards the reigning monarchs of the time, who wished their rule to be mandated by the existing Buddhist chronicles and their 'long-standing' relationship with the Indian mainland.

To find out more about me and why this podcast, visit https://www.dmdealwis.com/006-the-consecrating-of-vijaya/

This episode is a reading of The Coming of Vijaya from Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa, the second-earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. This is the second version of the story of Prince Vijaya—his banishment and journey from the Indian subcontinent and his arrival to the Island of Lanka.

The first version can be found in Myths & Samsara, Episode 2 | Vijaya's Story | Reading of Book IX of the Dipavamsa.

This version was translated into English by Wilhelm Geiger, PhD, with assistance from Mabel Haynes Bode. Comissioned by the Pali Text Society in 1912 and titled The Mahavamsa or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon. The digitized copy can be found online.

The Dipavamsa is the earliest attempt to write a Chronicle of the Sāsana and the Kings of Sri Lanka, from earliest times up to the 5th c. A.D (1000 years after the events). The Mahavamsa is believed to have been recorded between 1000 and 1250 A.D (1500 years after the events).

This is an English reading. The language is cumbersome. My bias is to suspect both the translator of Western bias and the priesthood authors of the Mahavamsa of bias towards the reigning monarchs of the time, who wished their rule to be mandated by the existing Buddhist chronicles and their 'long-standing' relationship with the Indian mainland.

To find out more about me and why this podcast, visit https://www.dmdealwis.com/.

What’s with the masks? In this episode, we talk about their deeper meaning—how they’re used across cultures to signal fear, power, and identity, and how that symbolism carries into the story. In the world of the book, masks aren’t just props. They mark social roles, spiritual status, and lineage, shaping how characters are seen—and how they see themselves.

We also get into the larger structure behind the story: rebirth, karma, and the slow progression of characters over time. Their choices matter, across lifetimes. Patterns repeat. Some characters rise. Some fall. But all of them change.

There’s a thread about meditation too—not the modern kind, but what happens when you live without distraction. That quiet shapes the characters’ mental and emotional development, grounding their arcs across generations.

This episode is for anyone who’s into layered character work, mythology that builds over time, and stories that aren’t afraid to go deep.

This episode isn’t about religion. It’s about how stories are shaped by culture, how people interpret them, and how those interpretations keep evolving.

How does storytelling explore questions about belief, memory, and moral complexity without fixating on an answer? Drawing from Buddhist cosmology, Hindu mythology, and oral traditions of South Asia, characters' mental and spiritual states affect their setting and consequences and can lead to predestined results.

We focus on the journey of Nara Simha, an immortal being who moves from a sterile immortal plane to the human realm, which is full of sensory and emotional intensity.

Can we imagine how karma works over lifetimes? How characters carry the consequences for their choices, and how people are remembered—sometimes worshipped—after death.

Gods and supernatural beings in mythology are allowed to be flawed. How does that carry through to storytelling?

We also discuss how real-world systems and social dynamics can shape fantasy worlds in subtle and direct ways.

Special thanks to our host and co-producer, Lisa G. For an audio-visual experience, check out the Myths & Samsara Podcast on YouTube. D.M. De Alwis is an author of Historical Fantasy, find out more at www.dmdealwis.com.

This episode is a reading of Vijaya's Story from Book IX of the Dipavamsa, the earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. It tells the story of Prince Vijaya—his banishment and journey from the Indian subcontinent and his arrival to the Island of Lanka.

This reading is from the text found here: An Ancient Buddhist Historical Record edited and translated by Hermann Oldenberg and available online through the efforts of Buddhist monk, Ānandajoti Bhikkhu in 2018. This edition is based on a reprint of the 1879 edition made by the Pali Text Society in 2000. https://ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Texts-and-Translations/Dipavamsa/09-Vijaya.htm

The Dipavamsa is the earliest attempt to write a Chronicle of the Sāsana and the Kings of Sri Lanka, from earliest times up to the 5th c. A.D.

This reading gives both Pali and English versions. Please excuse mistakes introduced in my reading of the Pali text.

To find out more about me and why this podcast, visit https://www.dmdealwis.com/002-vijayas-story/.