In the latter there is a Buddhist shrine in the court yard, so that the Blessed One may countenance the worship, much as the Pitakas represent him as patronizing and instructing the deities of ancient Magadha, but the structure and observances of the temple itself are not Buddhist.  The chief spirit worshipped at Ratnapura and in most of these temples is Maha Saman, the god of Adam’s Peak.  He is sometimes identified with Lakshmana, the brother of Rama, and sometimes with Indra.

About a quarter of the population are Tamils professing Hinduism.  Hindu temples of the ordinary Dravidian type are especially frequent in the northern districts, but they are found in most parts and at Kandy two may be seen close to the shrine of the Tooth.[115] Buddhists feel no scruple in frequenting them and the images of Hindu deities are habitually introduced into Buddhist temples.  These often contain a hall, at the end of which are one or more sitting figures of the Buddha, on the right hand side a recumbent figure of him, but on the left a row of four statues representing Mahabrahma, Vishnu, Karttikeya and Mahasaman.  Of these Vishnu generally receives marked attention, shown by the number of prayers written on slips of paper which are attached to his hand.  Nor is this worship found merely as a survival in the older temples.  The four figures appear in the newest edifices and the image of Vishnu never fails to attract votaries.  Yet though a rigid Buddhist may regard such devotion as dangerous, it is not treasonable, for Vishnu is regarded not as a competitor but as a very reverent admirer of the Buddha and anxious to befriend good Buddhists.

Even more insidious is the pageantry which since the days of King Tissa has been the outward sign of religion.  It may be justified as being merely an edifying method of venerating the memory of a great man but when images and relics are treated with profound reverence or carried in solemn procession it is hard for the ignorant, especially if they are accustomed to the ceremonial of Hindu temples, not to think that these symbols are divine.  This ornate ritualism is not authorized in any known canonical text, but it is thoroughly Indian.  Asoka records in his inscriptions the institution of religious processions and Hsuan Chuang relates how King Harsha organized a festival during which an image of the Buddha was carried on an elephant while the monarch and his ally the king of Assam, dressed as Indra and Brahma respectively, waited on it like servants.[116] Such festivities were congenial to the Sinhalese, as is attested by the long series of descriptions which fill the Mahavamsa down to the very last book, by what Fa-Hsien saw about 412 and by the Perahera festival celebrated to-day.

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