The iconic Mannar Madhu shrine.
This year’s annual feast drew 500,000 pilgrims from across island nation in the heart of one-time conflict zone
By S Rubatheesan
Resting under a shady tree, Dinesh Thirchelvan wonders how he gathered the courage to walk for four days to Maatha’s (Mother in Tamil) shrine, as Sri Lankans refer to the Our Lady of Madhu in the remote jungle of Mannar district.
“I decided on the pilgrimage following a vow I made to Maatha, and finally, I made it here,” he told UCA News, hours after reaching the shrine in northern Sri Lanka on Aug.14.
Thirchelvan left his hometown of Maruthankerni, Kilinochchi, on Aug. 10, accompanied by his wife, Vasuki. She wasn’t planning to join him initially.
But after a sudden thought, she changed her mind and decided to join him on the pilgrimage to the holiest Catholic shrine on the island nation.
Vasuki recalled a fellow villager saying that “not everyone can reach Maatha even if they wish — they need an invitation from her.”
“Something in my intuition told me to join this pilgrimage, so I did,” she told UCA News.
This is the first time the middle-aged couple, parents of three children, had set out on the 160-kilometer-long pilgrimage on foot, cutting across the dense Northern forest region.
Four days later, and a day before the annual feast on Aug. 15, which is the culmination of a weeklong annual feast, they reached the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church along with thousands of other pilgrims from various parts of the island nation.
Many refer to her as the "Atputha Maatha" (Magical Mother), because she fulfils their wishes and removes hardships, if they are fortunate enough to receive her blessings.
For Thirchelvan, the simple act of walking with fellow pilgrims proved to be a “truly new spiritual experience.”
“This journey has been made meaningful by the random kindness of strangers, who served us food and provided shelter without any expectation,” he said.
The fellow pilgrims took turns to nurse his joint pain with ointment and homemade medicines at the end of each day, ensuring he could continue the journey.
“I never knew them before, but they were very kind to us in every way,” Thirchelvan said, while admitting that at one point he felt exhausted and seriously considered quitting.
“I thought, let me do this next year. But Maatha gave me the strength to reach her,” he said.
With a limited cellphone network and a lack of basic facilities in the forest region, the pilgrims have to ensure they stick to the narrow path covered by bushes on both sides.
The route passes via the tough Kokkavil-Mulankavil-Neddankulam path, and the Paampan Pitty crossing in the forest region of Vanni to reach the shrine in Madhu.
The historical jungle building, 220 kilometers north of Colombo, is in an area previously controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers.
The pilgrimage by mainly Catholics was disrupted during the decades-long civil war from 1983 to 2009, when the Vanni forest region became the hiding ground for LTTE cadres.
Along with the local people, the Maatha too was displaced. The 400-year-old statue was moved to the nearby Thevanpitty area to protect it.
This statue of the Virgin Mary was originally brought here for safekeeping during the Dutch persecution in the 17th century, and was consecrated in 1944, near the end of World War II.
It has continued to draw many worshipers from all over the country, even though the church was repeatedly targeted during wartime.
In one such instance on Nov. 20, 1999, at least 44 war-displaced people were killed and some 60 were maimed by heavy shelling.
During the 1990s, at least 15,000 war-displaced people took refuge near the shrine, setting up temporary camps around the church building.
According to historical records, the shrine was originally erected by 20 Christian families who escaped to the Mannar forest area during the Dutch persecution in 1670.
These families set up a simple shrine, and this is where the Our Lady of Madhu stands today, according to the records.
This year, at least 500,000 pilgrims from across the island took part in the annual feast held on Aug. 15.
Led by Bishop Anthonypillai Gnanapragasam of Mannar, the bilingual services were held both in Sinhala and Tamil by the respective clergy.
Father Ruban Mariyampillai, former editor of Paathukaavalan, a Jaffna-based Tamil Catholic weekly, said the Madhu shrine combines the spirit of both Sinhala and Tamil-speaking communities on the island.
“Regardless of their religious and ethnic identities, the shrine has brought the divided communities a bit closer, especially after the civil war,” he told UCA News.
The statue of Maatha, which was last moved to Thevanpitty at the height of the civil war in April 2008, was brought to its original place in August 2009, following the end of the war, he noted.
Pope Francis visited Madhu in 2015 and met victims of the 25-year civil war while he was there.
He urged Tamils and Sinhalese to use Madhu as a place to forgive each other.
Over the years, the pilgrimage route has evolved with several other shrines coming up along the way where devotees used to take a brief rest, similar to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.
Mariyambillai said that at the shrine of St Anthony’s, located en route to Madhu, devotees leave written prayers on a nearby tree.
Even Hindus — Northern province is a Hindu-majority one — take part in the annual pilgrimage.
“They believe Maatha resembles the Hindu goddess Kannagi, who is considered a guardian who protects the faithful,” the priest said.
Nilanthan, a writer and political analyst based in Jaffna, said the shrine is a connecting thread for all religious communities, particularly for the Tamil community, which experienced religious tensions in post post-war years.
“Once she was displaced from her original place [in 1670 during Dutch persecution], Maatha never returned but stayed in the densely forested Vanni area — similar to a section of the Tamil community who are yet to resettle in their own lands,” he said. (Courtesy- UCAN)
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