COLOMBO – Efforts to safeguard Tovil, a traditional Sri Lankan healing ritual rich in dance, drumming, chanting, and mystical masks, have entered a new era through the application of digital preservation technologies. A 2026 scientific study conducted by Thirima Dura Suresh Gayan Priyangana from Nanjing University of the Arts examined the ethical, technical, and practical opportunities and challenges of documenting this living intangible cultural heritage. This research offers essential insights by proposing a community-centered digital strategy that preserves cultural meanings and traditional transmission without commodifying sacred ritual knowledge.
Modernization, shifting lifestyles, and declining interest among younger generations pose significant threats to the intergenerational transmission of Tovil in Sri Lanka. Traditionally, Tovil knowledge is embodied and transmitted orally through long-term master-apprentice relationships within local communities. As senior practitioners decrease and traditional learning opportunities diminish, digital documentation offers a vital mechanism to record intricate dance movements, drumming patterns, and mask craftsmanship before these living expressions face extinction.
To explore these preservation dynamics, the author employed a qualitative exploratory research design, gathering primary data through semi-structured interviews with 30 purposively selected participants. The research sample comprised traditional Tovil practitioners, drummers, dancers, cultural knowledge holders, heritage researchers, and representatives from Sri Lankan cultural institutions. Empirical findings were corroborated by extensive documentary analysis of UNESCO frameworks and heritage literature.
The research findings demonstrate that audiovisual recording, 3D scanning, photogrammetry, and motion capture technologies can create comprehensive digital repositories for education, research, and future learning. Digital tools successfully capture intricate spatial body movements and physical details of ritual masks that text descriptions cannot fully convey. However, the study reveals that digital records alone cannot replicate the spiritual atmosphere, community bonds, and social interactions that define Tovil as a living cultural practice.
The investigation highlighted critical challenges, including the risk of decontextualizing sacred practices, unresolved intellectual property rights, unauthorized commercial exploitation, and unequal digital technology access among rural practitioners. Digital archives risk creating a static representation of a living tradition if disconnected from ongoing physical performance. Consequently, sustainable safeguarding requires integrating digital repositories as supplementary educational tools while maintaining traditional practice-based apprenticeships and active community participation.
These findings carry significant implications for cultural policymakers, heritage institutions, and digital archivists worldwide. The study emphasizes that digital preservation frameworks must respect community ownership and give ritual specialists authority over public access to sensitive cultural knowledge. Combining digital documentation with institutional support for traditional practitioners ensures that technology serves to sustain, rather than supplant, living intangible cultural heritage.
This study was authored by Thirima Dura Suresh Gayan Priyangana from the School of International Education, Nanjing University of the Arts, China.
Author Profile:
Thirima Dura Suresh Gayan Priyangana (Nanjing University of the Arts)
Research Source:
Article Title: Digital Preservation of Sri Lanka's Tovil Ritual Performance as Living Intangible Cultural Heritage: Challenges and Strategies in the Digital Age
Journal: East Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (EAJMR), Vol. 5, No. 9, 2026, pp. 3743-3756
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/eajmr.v5i9.319
Journal Link: https://journaleajmr.my.id/index.php/eajmr
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