Natha Deviyo is one of the four great guardian gods of Sri Lankan Buddhism — a deity of the highest rank, widely identified with the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Lokeśvara, “Lord of the World”), the embodiment of infinite compassion, and held by many to be the bodhisattva destined to become Maitreya, the future Buddha. Senior among the island’s protective deities, Natha is a being far advanced upon the path to Buddhahood, a compassionate guardian who watches over the island, its people, and the Dharma itself.
The Lord of the World
Natha (from Nātha, “Lord” or “Protector,” a contraction of Lokeśvara-Nātha) entered Sri Lankan Buddhism from the Mahāyāna traditions that flourished on the island in the first millennium, when the cult of the great bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara — the supreme figure of compassion, who hears the cries of all beings — took root. As the Theravada tradition became dominant, this bodhisattva-deity was preserved as Natha Deviyo, a guardian god of the highest dignity, his Mahāyāna origin remembered in his identification with the all-compassionate Lord of the World.
The Bodhisattva Who Will Be Buddha
A widespread belief holds that Natha is none other than the bodhisattva who will be reborn as Maitreya (Sinhala: Maitri), the Buddha of the future age, who will appear when the teaching of the present Buddha has faded, to renew the Dharma for the world. This identification gives Natha a unique standing among the guardian deities: he is not merely a powerful god but a being on the very threshold of Buddhahood, the next Buddha-to-come, worthy of the deepest reverence. His chief historical shrine stood at Kandy, beside the Temple of the Tooth, marking his place at the heart of the island’s Buddhist devotion.
The Compassionate Guardian
As one of the Sathara Varan Deviyo — the Four Guardian Gods who protect Sri Lanka and its Buddhism — Natha holds, in many reckonings, the senior place, his compassionate nature setting him above the fiercer guardian deities. Devotees invoke him for protection, for spiritual progress, and for the welfare of the island and the faith. In the Buddhist understanding, such gods are themselves beings within the round of rebirth, who have earned their exalted state by merit and who support the Dharma — and Natha, as bodhisattva and future Buddha, is the supreme example of the deity advanced upon the path to liberation.
Legacy
Natha Deviyo endures as one of the most revered guardian gods of Sri Lankan Buddhism — the compassionate bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in Sinhala guise, the future Buddha Maitreya, senior of the Four Guardian Gods. In him the Buddhist tradition of the island preserved the great Mahāyāna ideal of compassion and the hope of the Buddha-to-come, woven into the protective divine order that watches over Lanka. As the Lord of the World and the next Buddha, Natha remains a deity of singular dignity and reverence.