Once upon a time there lived a farmer and his wife. In Sinhala they ae known as gamarala and gama mahage.
One day the gama mahage became very sick, and however much she was treated and given various medicines gama mahage did not get well.
At last, everyone said the only thing left to do was to have a thovil ceremony. Now, a thovil ceremony is done to cure sicknesses caused by devils or evil spirits. Everyone believed that the gama mahage’s illness was caused by these evil ones. That is why they suggested that a thovil ceremony should be done.
These ceremonies to drive away evil spirits or devils and cure a sick person is done outside the house and usually a shed or maduwa is constructed for this purpose. The sick person or the arthuraya as he/she is called in Sinhala is brought to this place and the thovile is danced generally throughout the night.
There were people who were specialist in conducting these thovil ceremonies in and around the place where the gama rala lived and he asked them to come and perform the ceremony for his wife. Wednesdays and Saturdays are said to be good for this kind of ceremony.
On the day of the ceremony the people performing the ceremony or the thovil came to gama rala’s home and they dressed themselves in colourful costumes with masks and prepared to perform the thovile. Gama mahage was brought to the shed that was built in the garden and her head was covered with a white cloth as was the tradition.
The kattadiyas or the performers of the thovile began their chanting, drumming and dancing to drive away the evil spirits who were making poor gama mahage very sick. Ohers carried around burning incense in incense burners.
All of a sudden it started to rain cats and dogs drenching everyone at the thovil ceremony. But they continued with their thovil. It rained through the night and as dawn came it looked as if gama rala’s house would get flooded. Now, people started to talk about how to escape from the flood. All of a sudden one man had a bright idea.
He said that the farmer in the next village had a chena (a slash and burn cultivated land) and that there was a labu gediya (a gourd) the size of an elephant in it. He said that if they could get it and get inside it they would be safe.
This idea was enthusiastically accepted and some people braved the rain and went and brought the enormous labu gediya to the gama rala’s house. They quickly cut a door in it and everyone went inside the labu gediya and closed the door. They carried on with the thovil.
The labu gediya gently swayed atop the flood waters and was carried out to sea. It floated on the waves for some time. One day, a humongous fish saw it and swallowed the labu gediya whole. After a while, the fish was caught by a group of fishermen who marveled at its enormous size. With difficulty they took the enormous fish and presented it to their king. He knowing that labu would make a tasty curry asked the Royal chefs to cook the fruit.
With difficulty the royal chefs cut open the fish and was amazed to see the labu gediya. They cut it open and could not believe their eyes when all the people performing the thovile came out still dancing and drumming and performing the thovil ceremony. They quickly informed the King who too shared their amazement.
This is how the labu gediye thovilaya ended. However, the good news is that by this time the gama mahage was completely cured!
Source: Folklore Retold by a staff writer
