Rannamaari

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Rannamaari (Dhivehi: ރަންނަމާރި) (Ranna lit. almighty and Maari meant sea in old Divehi. Collectively means the almighty of the sea "God of the sea") is a mythical story taught in the Maldives which explains how the Maldivian people converted their faith from Buddhism to Islam. According to the story, Rannamaari, a sea demon haunted the people of the Maldives and he had to be served with a virgin girl once every month for him not harm the people.

[edit] The Myth

Rannamaari, the notorious sea demon haunted the people of the Maldives since time began. Every month, a virgin had to be sacrificed for the demon, or the people were to face his wrath. A girl was chosen from the inhabitants by the king or his advisories and she would be kept alone on the first night of the month in an isolated temple at the eastern seafront in Malé. At dawn, the girl's family would return to the temple to find the dead body of the girl.

One day, a Moroccan visitor heard the story and claimed that he can exorcise the demon. He decided to take the place of the girl in the temple on the month that followed. When the demon appeared, he started to recite verses from the Qur'an and the Rannamaari vanished forever. After this day, he called upon the Maldivians to accept the faith of Islam and to give up on Buddhism.

[edit] Modern Interpretation of the Myth

This story is taught in Maldivian schools to explain the country's conversion to Islam. Children grow up believing the story to be factual, but often begin to doubt it later on. The origins of the story have not been uncovered, and the actual process by which once-devout Buddhists came to follow Islam remains obscure.

The most popular interpretation today claims that the "demon" was in fact the priest of that temple, who had invented the story of the demon to exploit people's trust and gain access to young virgin girls. This priest then raped and murdered every girl brought to the temple. The role of the Morrocan (in some versions a Persian or North African Arab) was to uncover this secret; the priest, caught out, accepted the call to change his faith as did everyone else in the country, including the king.

Although a scandal may have caused the islanders to lose faith in Buddhism and take up Islam, questions remain as to how this priest convinced the islanders of the existence of Rannamaari in the first place, and whether it was one man's project pursued only during his time as priest, or, as the legend says, carried on through many generations.