Kandyan dance

Traditional dance masters believe that originally the king of a place referred to as "Malaya Rata", and his two brothers performed the first Kohomba kankariya.

The dance waned in popularity as the support for the dancers from the Kandyan kings ended during the British period.

The elaborate Ves costume, particularly the headgear, is considered sacred and is believed to belong to the deity Kohomba.

Only toward the end of the 19th century were Ves dancers first invited to perform outside the precincts of the Kankariya Temple at the annual Kandy Perahera festival.

Today the elaborately costumed Ves dancer epitomizes Kandyan dance, which highlights Sri Lanka's culture.

This is a graceful dance, also performed in Maha Visnu (Vishnu) and Kataragama Devales temples on ceremonial occasions.

Its name comes from the Udekki, a small lacquered hand drum in the shape of an hourglass, about 7.5 inches (18 cm) high, believed to have been given to people by the gods.

Weeramunda Kankariya and Kande Deviyan Pidima (the evening ritual for the god of the mountain) could be identified as the ceremonial dances rooted in folk beliefs of Kandyan Dewa (people) Originally a vannam (or wannam) was a kind of recitation.

Ancient Sinhala texts refer to a considerable number of vannam that were only sung; later they were adapted to solo dances, each expressing a dominant idea.

History reveals that the Kandyan king Sri Weeraparakrama Narendrasinghe gave considerable encouragement to dance and music.

It is said that the kavi (poetry sung to music) for the eighteen principal vannam were composed by an old sage named Ganithalankara, with the help of a Buddhist priest from the Kandy temple.

Males only perform at the Ves mangalaya but females have a separate ceremony called Kala Eli mangalya.

In some ways, his popularity also helped to reduce the caste barriers surrounding the dance and made it more palatable to an urban, contemporary audience.

From about the 1920s, artists such as George Keyt, Harold Peiris, Lionel Wendt and John de Silva also helped to popularise the dance form with their support of contemporary masters such as Amunugama Suramba, Ukkuwa, Gunaya, Punchi Gura and Sri Jayana.