Myths & Samsara

After a hiatus to publish The Pawn of Samsara duology, D.M. De Alwis returns to the mic to pull back the curtain on the cosmology of his fictional universe. How does Buddhist philosophy shape a fantasy world? In this episode, we explore the "One Rule" that governs every being in this multiverse—from the lowest human to the highest deity—and how the law of Karma-Vipaka (Action and Consequence) repl...

Misconceptions about Demons & Witchcraft in Sri Lanka | An Explainer Sri Lanka is strange. For one, three persistent sub-religions are practiced by most Sri Lankans, although they may not be aware of it. These are Demonism, Capuism, and Grahaism. Anthropologists have widely documented all three. Europeans recorded these religions under the terms of Witchcraft and Demonology. I don't blame them...

This episode focuses on Maha Kola Sanni Yaksha, often described as the chief of the eighteen disease demons in Sri Lankan folklore. Drawing on an 1866 journal entry from the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, we explore accounts of his origin and how he and his Yaksha retinue came to be associated with specific illnesses. We look at how the Sanni Yakuma ritual serves as both a cultural pe...

What do you do when half a dozen monkeys steal all of the hats you sell? Here is the story of the hat seller. This is a Sri Lankan story often told to young children at bedtime. The moral of the story is to keep your cool and observe the situation before taking the time to outsmart your adversary. To find out more about me and why this podcast at https://www.dmdealwis.com/ . Intro and exit music c...

This episode is a reading of The Consecrating of Vijaya from Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa, the second-earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. This version talks about how his people wished him to declare himself King. He rejects his then-wife in favour of a royal wife from the subcontinent. The first version of this story can be found in Myths & Samsara, Episode 2 | Vijaya's Story | Reading of Book IX...

This episode is a reading of The Coming of Vijaya from Chapter VI of the Mahavamsa, the second-earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. This is the second version of the story of Prince Vijaya—his banishment and journey from the Indian subcontinent and his arrival to the Island of Lanka. The first version can be found in Myths & Samsara, Episode 2 | Vijaya's Story | Reading of Book IX of the Dipavamsa...

What’s with the masks? In this episode, we talk about their deeper meaning—how they’re used across cultures to signal fear, power, and identity, and how that symbolism carries into the story. In the world of the book, masks aren’t just props. They mark social roles, spiritual status, and lineage, shaping how characters are seen—and how they see themselves. We also get into the larger structure beh...

This episode isn’t about religion. It’s about how stories are shaped by culture, how people interpret them, and how those interpretations keep evolving. How does storytelling explore questions about belief, memory, and moral complexity without fixating on an answer? Drawing from Buddhist cosmology, Hindu mythology, and oral traditions of South Asia, characters' mental and spiritual states affect t...

This episode is a reading of Vijaya's Story from Book IX of the Dipavamsa, the earliest chronicle of Sri Lanka. It tells the story of Prince Vijaya—his banishment and journey from the Indian subcontinent and his arrival to the Island of Lanka. This reading is from the text found here: An Ancient Buddhist Historical Record edited and translated by Hermann Oldenberg and available online through the...

Welcome to Episode 1 of Myths & Samsara! In this episode, Eunah asks DM about the audience and the age group she writes for. The conversation shifts to how she writes animal characters and their place in a hierarchy shaped by Buddhist Cosmology. We explore this for human-animal relationships & storytelling. Topics in this episode: Audience Hierarchy of animals vs humans in Buddhist cosmolo...

An introduction to Myths and Samsara.