Few Raksha masks grin, and the Gara Raksha does. A green face with round, bulging eyes breaks into a wide red smile full of white teeth, while a long pink-and-white ribbon runs from each corner of the mouth and curls across two huge round ear discs. Three cobras rise from the top of the head.
The detail. Each ear disc is painted as a many-petalled flower in orange and yellow around a green centre, edged in black and finished with a small green-and-red scroll at the top. The centre cobra is orange and yellow with a white banded belly, flanked by two grey cobras patterned with fine scales, and the face itself is covered in small carved and painted detail in green and yellow.
Construction. The face is carved as a hollow shell of light wood, with the cobras and the flat ear discs cut separately and fixed on. The back is left unpainted apart from a yellow edge around each disc.
The Gara demon. In the ritual traditions of Sri Lanka's southern coast the Gara demon is associated with misfortune, and a masked ceremony, the Gara Yakuma, has long been performed to send it on its way. This mask belongs to the wider family of Raksha masks carved around Ambalangoda; our page on the Gara Raksha mask covers its folklore in more depth.
Sizes. From 15 cm (6 in) to 60 cm (24 in) tall. Every mask is carved and painted by hand, so expect small differences in colour and line from the photographs. A flat Gara Raksha fridge magnet is also available.
