Legends Of Mermaids In Sri Lanka - Story Of Suvannamaccha, The Golden Mermaid

Tales of Mermaids are found in folklore across the world. Similarly, there are tales of encountering mermaids in Sri Lanka as well. In the Ramayana period, while going to Sri Lanka, Hanuman encountered Ravana's daughter Suvannamaccha or Suvarnamatsya who was a mermaid. She was very beautiful to look at and has been called the golden mermaid, which means her body used to shine like gold. Suvannamaccha; literally means "golden fish. Goldfish are worshiped in Thailand and Cambodia in much the same way as dragons are in China. When a bridge was being built up to Lanka, Ravana assigned the task of thwarting the attempt to build the bridge to Suvarnamachha. She tries to thwart Hanuman's attempt but eventually falls in love with him instead.

According to legend, Hanuman and his army were collecting and throwing stones into the ocean to make a foundation for the causeway, but on the contrary, the stones were continuously disappearing. When Hanuman tried to find out the cause, he marched into the waves and saw that the underwater people were taking the stones somewhere. Hanuman follows them and sees that a lovely mermaid was supervising them, so he challenges her. But seeing Hanuman, that golden mermaid falls in love with him. Hanuman explains everything and brings her to the bottom of the ocean and asks about her identity? She tells him about being the daughter of Ravana. Hanuman revealed to her the reason behind the construction of this bridge and also tells what evil deed Ravana had done. Immediately after she understands the whole scenario and returns all the stones. Thus, the bridge was built.

Read:-Ningyo - A Fish-like Creature In Japanese folklore

In addition, there have been many claims of mermaids near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean since ancient times. It is said that in earlier times when sailors visit the ocean, they encountered these creatures. In Sri Lankan folklore, a mermaid is described as such being that was half fish and half woman, who used to sing melodious songs to entice men. And as someone comes under her spell, she would drown them in water and take them away. But as time progressed, the stories of people encountering them decreased, but from time to time some stories still keep coming to the fore. Many times people even claimed to have seen such mermaids who visited the beach in the evening and returned to the water after a while.