An Overview on the Representations of God Saman in Ancient Sri Lanka

This research will integrate into the areas of Social Archeology and Historical Archeology. Of the 85 statues and cave temples we explored, 26 were represented by the god Saman in the perfume chamber, and on 12 occasions the perfume chamber was positioned in front of the Buddha statue facing both (Table 1) in both statues and paintings. The god Saman is thus depicted in the perfume chamber. In addition, a system of temples dedicated to God Saman came to our attention in the Western Province, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces (Gamalath and Kekulawala, 2020: 507-536). It is important to note that Saman’s early Theravada Buddhism underwent a gradual evolution after the 15th century. We have pointed out that the Mahayana religion was influenced by Hinduism. This research focuses on the number of hands, handprints, objects, body color, and data on elephants and their comparable differences related to the identity of the god Saman. This research has shown that there is a great variety of Saman deities, especially those made between the 18th and 20th centuries AD. It is also worth noting how the Hindu influences during the reign of the Nayakkar dynasty kings highlight these differences. In the end, the Hindu- inspired representation of Saman is enough to conclude that the Vedic deity is Yama (Paranavitana, 1957). The myth that Samandeviyan was the god Yama, built by Paranavithana, is deeply reconsidered here. The connection between the god Saman and King Rawana is hypothetically shown by the depictions that culminate in the early indigenous Yaksha tribal identity of that god. The closest example is the painting Saman Deva, published by Davy in 1821.