NEIJH

Exorcism and Changing Religious Beliefs in Pul Eliya: A Longitudinal Anthropological Analysis of Ritual Transformation in Post-Colonial Rural Sri Lanka

Niwantha, H. P.1, Rathnayaka, H. A. A. L.2, Madawawa, M. W. G. S. S.3

  1. 1 Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
  2. 2 Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
  3. 3 Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
Published
23 October 2026
ISSN
3051-4835
DOI
https://doi.org/10.68283/neijh.v1.i1.a01

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive anthropological investigation of the changing patterns of exorcism beliefs and ritual practices in Pul Eliya village, North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Revisiting the landmark ethnographic site established by E.R. Leach (1961), the study employs a qualitative research design grounded in ethnographic methodology encompassing in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation to examine six decades of religious transformation. Drawing on thematic analysis of interview transcripts with three key informants, namely an elderly female villager (P1), a traditional healing practitioner (P2), and an elderly female community elder (P3), the analysis of three key-informant interviews identifies six dominant analytical themes: (1) the persistence and reconfiguration of therapeutic pluralism; (2) the contested and pragmatic negotiation of ritual efficacy; (3) the structural decline of large-scale exorcism ceremonies (thovil/bali); (4) intergenerational epistemological rupture; (5) the cosmological continuity of deity veneration within agricultural and life-cycle ritual; and (6) the feminization of ritual participation and domestic religious authority. The findings demonstrate that ritual transformation in Pul Eliya is characterized not by straightforward secularization or cultural erosion, but by selective preservation, private retreat, and strategic reframing within Buddhist modernist cosmological frameworks. These results contribute substantively to theoretical debates on medical pluralism, Buddhist modernism, the anthropology of South Asian ritual change, and the gendered dimensions of religious practice in post-colonial contexts.

Keywords

  • Exorcism
  • Thovil
  • Pul Eliya
  • Sri Religious Change
  • Medical Pluralism

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How to cite

Niwantha, H. P., Rathnayaka, H. A. A. L. and Madawawa, M. W. G. S. S. (2026) ‘Exorcism and Changing Religious Beliefs in Pul Eliya: A Longitudinal Anthropological Analysis of Ritual Transformation in Post-Colonial Rural Sri Lanka’, Nile - Eurasian International Journal of Humanities, 1(1), pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/10.68283/neijh.v1.i1.a12