Sinhalese folklore notes : Ceylon

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Jtljaca, New gods

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

THE GIFT OF

HENRY W. SAGE

1891

na Cornell University
" Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023641198

SINHALESE

FOLKLORE -

NOTES

CEYLON

BY

ARTHUR A. PERERA,
Advocate, Ceylon,

Bombay:

PRINTED AT THE BRITISH INDIA PRESS, MAZGAON
"1917

SINHALESE

FOLKLORE -

NOTES

CEYLON

BY

ARTHUR A. PER ERA,
Advocate, Ceylon.

Bombay:

PRINTED AT THE BRITISH INDIA PRESS, MAZGAOX

1917

INTRODUCTORY NOTE,

The Sinhalese beliefs, customs and stories In the present collection Mere
contributed by the writer to the Indian Antiquary fourteen years ago in a
sejfies o£ articles under the title of " Glimpses of Sinhalese Social Life ";
t\ej are now offered, amplified and rearranged, to the student of folklore
in Ceylon, as a basis for further research. The writer has adopted the
echeme of classification in the Folklore Society's Hand Book of Folklore,

ARTHUR A. PERERA,

Wrstwood, Kandy,
10th February, 1917.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Belief and Practice.

AFTER

PAGE 3

1.

The Earth and the Sky

1

2.

The Vegetable World

4

3.

The Animal World

6

4.

Human Beings

ii

5.

Things made by man

13

6.

The Soul and another Life

14

7.

Superhuman Beings

15

8.

Omens and Divination

21

9.

The Magic Art

23

10.

Disease and Leech-craft . . . . . . : .

Customs.

25

11.

Social and Political Institutions

26

12.

Rites of Individual Life

32

13.

Occupations and Industries

36

14.

Festivals ..

40

15.

Games, Sports and Pastimes

43

Stories, Songs and Sayings.

J 6. Stories

17. Songs and Ballads ..

18. Proverbs, Riddles and Local Sayings

Appendix.
(jrlossarv of Sinhalese Folk terma from the Service Tenure Register (1872).

47
51
54

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARTH AND THE SKY.

Various beliefs are held by the peasantry
about the hills, rocks, boulders and crags
scattered about the island.

Samanala Kanda ( Adam'sPeak) which con-
tains the sacred foot print of the Buddha
was in prehistoric times sacred to the god
Saman who still presides over the moun-
tain. Pilgrims to the Peak invoke his aid
in song for a safe journey ; and when they
reach the top, cover the foot print with
four yards of white cloth, pay obeisance to
it, recite the articles of the Buddhist Faith,
and make a silver offering at the shrine of
the Saman Deviyo, which is close by.
When worship is over the pilgrims greet
each other and sound a bell ringing as many
peals as they have visited the Peak.

No lizard is heard chirping within the
shadow of Hunasgiriya Peak in Pata Dum-
bara for when the Buddha, on his aerial
visit to Ceylon, wished to alight on this
mountain a lizard chirped and he passed on
to Adam's Peak.

Ritigal Kanda (Sanskrit Arishta) in the
Nuvara Kalaviya district, S.E. of Anuradha-
pura and Rummas Kanda (modern Buona
Vista) in the Galle district are associated
with the Hanuman tradition. It was from
Ritigal Kanda that Hanuman jumped across
to India to carry the joyful message that
he had discovered Sita in Ceylon, and when
Lakshman was wounded and a medicinal
herb was required for his cure, Hanuman

was sent to the Himalayas to fetch it ; on
the way the name and nature of the plant
dropped from his memory ; whereupon h9
snapped a portion of the Himalayas and
brought it twisted in his tail and asked
Rama to seek for the herb himself. Buona
Vista is that portion of the mountain and
valuable medicinal herbs are still to be
found there.

Ravana Kotte, — the stronghold of Ravana
(king of the Rakshas) — was off Kirinda in
the Hambantota District and is now sub-
merged. The Great Basses are what is left
of this city ; the golden twilight seen there
of an evening is the reflection of the brazen
roofs of the submerged city.

Dehi Kanda opposite the Dambulla rock
caves in the Matale district is the petrified
husk of the rice eaten by the giants who
made the caves.

Near Sinigama in Wellaboda pattu of the
Galle district is shewn a crag as the petrified
craft in which Weragoda Deviyo came to
Ceylon from South India.

When a severe drought visited the island,
an elephant, a tortoise, a beetle, an eel,
a, goat and a she elephant went in search
of water to the tank Weneru Veva. near
Kurunegala. A woman who saw this kept
a lump of salt before the foremost of them,
the elephant ; while he was licking it she
raised a screen of leaves to conceal the tank
from the intruders' view and began to-
pray ; and the gods answered by petrify-

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

ing the animals, the screen and the lump of
salt, all of which are still visible round
Kurunegala.

" Panduvasa, the seventh king of Ceylon,
was visited by the tiger disease, a com-
plicated malady of cough, asthma, fever and
diabetes in consequence of Wijeya, the first
king, having killed his old benefactor and
discarded mistress, Kuveni, when, in the
shape of a tiger, she endeavoured to revenge
her slighted charms. The gods taking pity
on Panduvasa, consulted by what means he
might be restored to health, and found that
it could not be effected without the aid
of one not born of a woman. The difficulty
was to find such a person. Rahu being
sent on the service, discovered Malaya Raja,
king of Malva Desa, the son of Vishnu,
sprung from a flower. Rahu changing
himself into an immense boar, laid waste the
royal gardens to the great consternation of
the gardeners, who fled to the palace and
told what was passing. The king, who was
a keen sportsman, hastened to the spot
with his huntsmen, whom he ordered to drive
the boar towards him. The boar, when
pressed, at one bound flew over the head of
the king, who shot an arrow through him
in passing, but without effect, the animal
continuing his flight. The king, irritated,
instantly gave pursuit with his attendants
in the direction the beast had taken, and
landed in Ceylon at Uratota (Hog ferry) near
Jaffna ; the boar alighted near Attapitiya.
A piece of sweet potato that he brought
from the garden in his mouth and which
he here dropt was immediately changed,
it is said into a rock, that still preserves its
original form, and is still called Batalagala
or sweet potato rock. The king came up
with the beast on the hill Hantana near
Kandy, instantly attacked him sword in
hand, and with the first blow inflicted a

deep gash. On receiving this wound, the
boar became transformed into a rock which
is now called Uragala, is very like a hog,
and is said to retain the mark of the wound.
The king, whilst surprised and unable to
comprehend the meaning of the marvels
he had just witnessed, received a visit from
Sakra, Vishnu and other gods who explained
the mystery that perplexed him, and the
object in view in drawing him to Ceylon —
he alone, not being born of woman, having
it in his power to break the charm under
which Panduvasa laboured. Malaya Raj&
complying with the wishes of the gods,
ordered the Kohomba Yakku danee to be
performed which, it is said, drove the sickness
out of the king into a rock to the northward
of Kandy, which is still called the rock of
the Tiger sickness," 1

" The spirit of Kuveni is still supposed to
haunt the country and inflict misfortune on
the race of the conqueror by whom she was
betrayed. Kuvenigala is a bare mountain
of rock on which are two stones, one
slightly resembling a human figure in a
standing attitude, the other looking like a
seat. It is on this that traditions assert,
the Yakinni sometimes appears and casts
the withering glance of malignant power
over the fair fields and fertile Valley of
Asgiriya — a sequestered and most romantic
spot in the Matale District. "2

Rocks with mystic marks indicate the
spot where treasures are concealed and
lights are seen at night in such places.

When the owner of a treasure wanted to
keep it safe, it is said that he dug two holes
in some lonely jungle and at night proceeded
to the spot with a servant carrying the
treasure ; after the treasure was deposited
in one hole, the master cut his servant's
throat and buried him in the other to make
him a guardian of his treasure in the form
of a snake or demon.

1 An account of the Interior of Ceylon (1821) Page 119 Davy.
* Eleven Years in Ceylon (18*1), Vol. II, p. 81 Forbes.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

The earth goddess (Mihi Ket) supports the
world on one of her thumbs and when weary
shifts it on to the other causing an earth-
quake.

The four cardinal points are presided over
by four guardian deities (Hataravaran
Deviyo).

Sea waves are three in number which
follow each other in regular succession. The
first and the largest is the brother who fell
in love with his sister and who, to conquer
his unholy passion, committed suicide by
jumping into the sea. The next is
his mother who jumped after her son, and
the last and the smallest ie the daughter
herself.

The sky in the olden times was very close
to the earth and the stars served as lamps
to the people ; a woman who was sweeping
her compound was so much troubled by the
clouds touching her back when she stooped
to sweep that she gave the sky a blow with
her ikle broom saying 'get away' (pala).
The sky in shame immediately flew out of
the reach of man.

The rainbow is the god Sakra's b6w
(Devidunne) and portends fair weather ;
when any calamity is approaching Budures
(Buddha's rays) appear in the sky— " a
luminous phenomenon consisting of horizontal
bands of light which cross the sky while the
sun is in the ascendant. " The twilight seen
on hill tops is the sunshine in which the
female Rakshis dry their paddy.

Lightning strikes the graves of cruel
men ; thunder induces conception in female
crocodiles and bursts open the peahen's
eggs.

Children sing out to the moon " Handa-
hamy apatat bat kande ran tetiyak diyo." —
(Mr. Moon do give us a golden plate in which
to eat our rice).

When the new moon is first' observed it is
lucky to immediately after look on rice,
milk or kiss a kind and well to do relative.

The spots in the moon represent a hare
to signify to the world the self-sacrifice of
Buddha in a previous existence.

In each year the twelve days (Sankranti)
on which the sun moves from one sign of the
zodiac to another, are considered unlucky.
There are twenty seven constellations (neket)
which reach the zenith at midnight on
particular days in particular months ; and
their position is ascertained from an astrolo-
ger before any work of importance is begun.

The sun, moon, and Bahu were three
sons of a widowed mother whom they left
at home one day to attend a wedding.
When they returned she inquired what they
had brought with them ; the eldest angrily
replied that he had brought nothing, the
second threw at her the torch which had
lighted them on the way, but the third
asked for his mother's rice pot and put into
it a few grains of rice, which he had brought
concealed under his nails and which mira-
culously rilled the vessel. The mother's
blessing made the youngest son the pleasant
and cool moon, while her curses made the
second the burning sun and the eldest the
demon Rahu who tries to destroy his bro-
thers by swallowing them and causing an
Eclipse,

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

THE VEGETABLE WORLD.

Trees which grow to a large size like the
Nuga (ficus aliissima), Bo (ficus religiosa),
Erabadu {erythrina indica) Divul (feroma
elephantum) are the abodes of spirits and
villagers erect leafy altars under them where
they light lamps, offer flowers and burn
n cense. Before a wood-cutter fells a large
tree he visits to it three or four days pre-
viously and asks the spirit residing there to
take its abode elsewhere ; otherwise evil will
befall him.

On the Way to Adam's Peak there are to
be found sacred orchards where a person
may enter and eat any quantity of fruit
but will not be able to find his way out if he
tries to bring any with him.

The Bo tree is sacred to Buddha and is
never cut down; its leaves shiver in re-
membrance of the great enlightenment
which took place under it. His three
predecessors in the Buddha hood — Kassapa,
Konagama, Kakusanda — attained enlighten-
ment under the nuga, dimbul and the sirisa.

The margosa tree is sacred to Pattiniand
the telambu tree to Navaratna Walli. Each
lunar asterism is associated with a particular
tree.

Homage is paid to an overlord by present-
ing him with a roll of 40 betel leaves with the
stalk ends towards the receiver. Before the
betel is chewed, its apex and a piece of the
petiole of the base are broken off as a cobra
brought the leaf from the lower world hold-
ing both ends in its mouth. It is also
considered beneath one's dignity to eat the
base of the petiole.

The flowering of a tala tree (corypha
umbraculifera) is inauspicious to the village.
A cocoanut only falls on a person who has
incurred divine displeasure ; it is lucky to
own a cocoanut tree with a double stem.

A king cocoanut tree near the house brings
bad luck to the owner's sons. When a
person dies or a child is born a cocoanut
blossom is hung over him.

The person who plants an arekanut tree
becomes subject to nervousness. The woman
who chews the scarred slice of an arekanut
becomes a widow. If a married woman eats
a plantain which is attached to another, she
gets twins.

An astrologer once told a king that a
particular day and hour were so auspicious
that anything planted then would become a
useful tree. The king directed the astro-
loger's head to be severed and planted and
this grew into the crooked cocoanut tree.
Pleased with the result he got his own head
severed and planted and it grew into the
straight areka tree.

Red flowers (rat malj are sacred to
malignant spirits and white flowers (sudu
maiy to beneficient spirits. Turmeric water
is used for charming and sticks from bitter
plants are used as magic wands. The Naga
darana root ( martynia diandra ) protects a
man from snake bite.

It is auspicious to have growing near
houses the following : — na (ironwood), palu
(mimusops hexandra) munamal (mimusops
elengi), sapu (champak) delum (pomegranate)
kohoinba (margosa) areka, cocoanut, jal-

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

5

myra, jak, shoeflower, idda (virightia
zeylanica) sadikka (nutmeg) and midi (vitis
vinifera) while the following are inauspi-
cious: — imbul (cotton), ruk (myristica turs-
fieldia), mango, beli (aegle marmelos), ehela
(cassia fistula) tamarind, satin wood, ratkibiri
(accacia catechu) etteriya (murraya exotica)
and penala (soap berry plant.)

Persons taken for execution were formerly
made to wear wadamal (hibiscus).

The dumella (Trichosanthes cucumerina)
and the kekiri (zhenaria umbellata) are
rendered bitter, if named before eating.
Alocasia yams (habarale) cause a rasping
sensation in the throat when they are named
within the eater's hearing.

When a person is hurt by a nettle
cassia leaves are rubbed on the injured
place with the words "tora kola visa neta
kahambaliya visa eta." (Cassia leaves are
stingless but prickly is the nettle). Cassia
indicates the fertility of the soil; where
diyataliya (mexitixia tetrandra) and kumbuk
(terminalia tomentosa) flourish a copious
supply of water can be obtained.

The bark of the bo tree and of the Bombu
(symplocos spicata) prevent the contagion of
sore eyes when tied on the arms.

In the beginning the only food used by man
was an edible fungus like boiled milk which
grew spontaneously upon the earth. As
man fell from his primitive simplicity this
substance disappeared and rice without the
husk took its place. But when man became
depraved the rice developed a covering and
ceased to grow spontaneously forcing men
to work.

A poor widow had a daughter who
married a rich man. One day she went to
her daughter's and asked for a little rice to
eat. Though the pot of rice was on the fire,
the daughter said she had none to give and
the mother went away. The daughter found

the rice in the pot had turned into blood
and she threw it away. The god Sakraya in
revenge reduced the daughter to beggary
and the mother and daughter on the god's
advice dug where the pot of rice had been
emptied and found the batala yam (bata
rice and le-blood). Thereafter the batala
(Edulis batatas) became the food of the poor.

That the jak fruit may be eaten by the
people, the god Sakraya came to earth as a
Brahmin, plucked a fruit and asked a woman
to cook it without tasting. The smell was
so tempting that she stealthily ate a little
of it and was called a thievish woman (hera,

thief ; and liya woman.) The fruit is conse-
quently called heraliya.

A king once directed a jeweller to work
in gold a design similar to the club moss ; the
goldsmith found this so hard that he went
mad and the moss is called the jeweller's
curse (badal vanassa).

The butterfly orchid inflames one's
passion and is called the " yam that killed
the younger sister " (naga meru ale) as a
sister once accidentally tasted it and made
amorous gestures to her brother who killed
her.

If a person approaches the mythical
Damba tree without a charm he will be killed.
The celestial Kapruka gives everything one
wishes for. The unknown Visakumbha is
an antidote for poison and is eaten by the
mungoose after its fight with the cobra.
Kusa grass (sevendra) exists both on earth
and in heaven.

The imaginary Kalu nika twig floats against
the current, cuts in two the strongest metal;
when eaten rejuvenates the old ; and to
obtain it the young of the etikukula (jungle
fowl) should be tied by a metal chain when
the parents will fetch the twig to release
their young.

SINHALESE. FOLKLORE NOTES,

CHAPTER III.

THE ANIMAL WORLD.

The presence of bats in a house indicates
that it will be soon deserted. Medicinal
virtues are ascribed to the flesh of monkeys.
To look at a slender loris (una hapuluva)
brings ill luck and its eyes are used for a love
potion. The lion's fat corrodes any vessel
except one of gold; its" roar which makes
one deaf is raised three times — first when
it starts from its den, next when it is well
on its way, and last when it springs on its
victim. It kills elephants but eats only their
brain. The unicorn (Jcangavena) has a horn
on its forehead with which it pierces the
rocks that impede its progress.

If a dog howls or scratches away the earth
before a house it presages illness or death ;
if it walks on the roof, the house will be
deserted, if it sleeps under a bed it is a sign
of the occupant's speedy death.

A bear throws sand on the eyes of its
victim before pouncing on him, and it
does not attack persons carrying rockbine
(Galpahura).

When a person is bitten by a mouse, the
wound is burnt with a heated piece of gold.
A mouse after drinking toddy boasts that it
can break up the cat into seven pieces. A
kick from a wild rat (valmiyd) produces
paralysis.

The porcupine (ittfvd) shoots its quills to
keep off its antagonists and hunts the
pengolin (kefyllevd) out of its home and
occupies it himself.

A cheetah likes the warmth of a blaze and
comes near the cultivator's watch fire in the
field, calls him by name and devours him ;
it frequents where peacocks abound ; it does
not eat the victim that falls with the right
side uppermost. Small pox patients are
carried away by this animal which is attracted
by the offensive smell they emanate ; when
the cheetah gets a sore mouth by eating the
wild herb mimanadandu, it swallows lumps
of clay to allay its hunger ; its skin and
claws are used as amulets; the female
cheetah gives birth only once and has
no subsequent intercourse with her mate
owing to the severe travail ; the cheetah was
taught by the cat to climb up a tree but
not to climb down ; in revenge it always
kills its tutor but is reverent enough not to
make a meal of the body which it places
on an elevated spot and worships. One
in a thousand cheetahs has the jaya-revula
(lucky side whiskers) which never fails to
bring good fortune if worn as an amulet.

The cheetah, the lizard and the crocodile
were three brothers, herdsmen, skilled in
necromancy ; as the animals they were look-
ing after refused to yield milk, the eldest
transformed himself into a cheetah, and the
evil nature of the beast asserting itself he
began to destroy the -flock and attack the
brothers ; the youngest took refuge on a
tree transforming himself into a lizard and
the other who had the magical books turned

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

himself into a crocodile and jumped into a
river ; these three have ever since lived in
friendship and a person who escapes the
crocodile is killed if a lizard urinates on him
when sleeping ; a crocodile's victim can free
himself by tickling its stomach and trying to
take away the books concealed there.

A cat becomes excited by eating the root
of the acolypha indica (kuppaminiya) and
its bite makes one lean ; its caterwauling
is unlucky. The grey mungoose bites as
an antidote a plant not identified called
visakumbha before and after its fight with the
cobra ; when it finds difficulty in fighting
the cobra, it retires to the jungle and brings
on its back the king of the tribe, a white
animal, by whom or in whose presence the
cobra is easily killed.

The hare gives birth to its young on full
moon days, one of them has a crescent on
its forehead and dies the first day it sees the
moon or invariably becomes a prey to the
rat snake.

When a tooth drops, its owner throws it on
to the roof saying squirrel, dear squirrel, take
this tooth and give me a dainty one in return
(leno len6 me data aran venin datak diyo).

Goblins are afraid of cattle with crumpled
horns ; a stick of the leea sambucina (burulla)
is not used to drive cattle as it makes them
lean ; the saliva from the mouth of a tired
bull is rubbed on its body to relieve its
fatigue, and bezoar stones (gorochana) found
in cattle are prescribed for small pox. In
the olden time the ox had no horns but had
teeth in both its jaws, while the horse had
horns but had no teeth in its upper jaw ; each
coveted the other's possessions and effected
an exchange ; the ox taking the horns and
giving the horse its upper row of teeth; cart
bulls are driven with the words 'jah,' 'pita/
'mak,' 'hov'.— move, to the right, to the
left, halt.

Wild buffaloes are susceptible to charms.

Deer's musk prolongs » dying man's life.

An elephant shakes a palm leaf before eat-
ing it as bloodsuckers may be lurking there
to creep inside its trunk. A dead elephant
is never found for when death approaches
the elephant goes to a secluded spot and
lays itself down to die. Children who are
made to pass under an elephant's body
become strong and are free from illness.

When the keeper says ' hari hari,' the ele-
phant moves ; ' ho ho ' it stops, 'dhana' it
kneels ; ' hinda', it lies down; 'daka', it gets
up ; 'bila' it lifts the fore foot ; ' hayi,' it lifts
its trunk and trumpets.

A shower during sunshine denotes the
jackal's wedding day ; a jackal always joins
the cry of its friends, otherwise its hair will
drop off one by one; a jackal's horn {narianga)
is very rare and it gives the possessor every-
thing he wishes for and when buried in a
threshing floor increases the crop, a, hundred
fold. The jackals assisted by the denizens
of the woods once waged war against the
wild fowls (weHkuhilo) who called to their
aid a party of men one of whom seized the
king of the jackals and dashed him on a rock
and broke his jaw ; as the king received the
blow he raised the cry, apoi mage hakka
(Oh my jaw), which could still be heard in
the jackal's howl. The wild fowls are still
the enemies of the jackals. The jackals and
the crabs have also a feud between them ; a
jackal once deceived a crocodile on the
promise of getting the latter a wife and got
himself ferried across the river for several
days till he had consumed the carcase of the
elephant on the other bank. A crab under-
took to assist the crocodile to take revenge,
invited the jackal to'a feast and suggested
to him to go to the riverside for a drink of
water. The jackal consented but on seeing
his enemy lying in wait killed the crab for
his treachery.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

Dark plumaged birds like the owl, the
magpie robin and the black bird bring ill
luck and are chased away from the vicinity
of houses. The cry of the night heron (kana-
koka) as it flies over a house presages illness
and that of the devil bird (ulama) death.
The devil-bird was in a previous birth a
wife whose fidelity her husband suspected
and in revenge killed their child, made a
curry of its flesh and gave it to the mother ;
as she was eating she found the finger of the
infant and in grief she fled into the forest,
killed herself, and was born the devil bird.

Crows are divided into two castes which
do not mate, the hooded crows and the
jungle crows ; they faint three times at
night through hunger and their insatiate
appetite can only be temporarily appeased
by making them swallow rags dipped in
ghee ; they hatch their eggs in time to take
their young to the Ehela festival held in
honour of the godlings during July and
August. A crow seldom dies a natural death,
and once in a hundred years a feather drops.
As no one eats its flesh it sorrowfully cries
katka (I eat every body). The king crow
was once a barber and it now pecks its
dishonest debtor, the crow.

The presence of sparrows in a house indi-
cates that a male child will be born and
when they play in the sand that there will
be rain. Once upon a time a house, where
a pair of sparrows had built their nest caught
lire ; the hen sparrow flew away but the
male bird tried to save their young and
scorched his throat ; this scar can still be
seen on the cock sparrow.

A house will be temporarily abandoned if
a spotted dove (alukobeyiya) flies through
it ; this bird was once a woman who put out
to dry some mi flowers (bassia longifolia)
and asked her little son to watch them ;
when they were parched they got stuck to
the ground and could not be seen; the
mother thought the child had been negligent

and killed him in anger ; a shower of rain
which fell just then showed to her the lost
herbs and in remorse she killed herself and
was born the spotted dove, who still
laments. " I got back my mi flowers but not
my son, Oh my child, my child " (mimal
latin daru no latin pubbaru pute pu pu).

Parrots are proverbially ungrateful ; sun-
birds boast after a copious draught of toddy
that they can overthrow Maha Meru with
their tiny beaks.

The great difficulty of the horn-bill (ken-
detta) to drink water is due to its refusal to
give water to a thirsty person- in a previous
existence. The common babbler hops as he
was once a fettered prisoner. The red tailed
fly catcher was a fire thief, and the white
tailed one a cloth thief.

A white cock brings luck and prevents
a garden from being destroyed by black
beetles. When a hen has hatched the shells
are not thrown away but threaded together
and kept in a loft over the fireplace till
the chickens can look after of themselves.
Ceylon jungle fowls become blind by eating
strobilanthes seed when they may be
knocked down with a stick.

The cuckoo searches for its young, ejected
from the crow's nest, crying koho (where)
and its cry at night portends dry weather.

The plover (kirald) sleeps with her legs in
the air to prevent the sky falling down and
crushing her young ; her eggs, when eaten,
induce watchfulness.

Peacocks dance in the morning to pay
obeisance to the Sun God, and they are not
kept as pets in houses as the girls will not
find suitors. Peahens conceive at the noise
of thunder and hence their love for rain.
Some say that the peacock once fell in love
with the swan king's daughter and when
going to solicit her hand borrowed the pitta's
beautiful tail which he refused to return after
winning his bride ; the peahen pecks at the

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

9

male bird's train during the mating season,
angry at the deception practised on her
while the pitta goes about crying "avichchi"
(I shall complain when the Maitri Buddun
comes- ) Others say that the peacock stole
the garments while pitta, was bathing.

The cry of the pitta (avichchya) presages
rain ; and it is thought to be a sorrow
stricken prince mourning for his beautiful
bride Ayitta and hence his cry.

Leeches are engaged in measuring the
ground. Snails were persons who in a pre-
vious birth used to spit at others ; their slime
when rubbed, on one's body makes one
strong. Worms*attack flowers in November
and are influenced by charms.

Retribution visits one who ruthlessly
destroys the clay nest of the mason wasp
(kumbala); a ran kumbala builds a nest with
lime when a boy is to be born in the house
and a metikumbala with clay when a girl.

Winged termites issue in swarms in the
rainy season and prognosticate a large catch
of fish. Spiders were fishermen in a pre-
vious existence and the mantis religiosa
(dara kettiyd) a fire-wood thief.

Bugs infest a house when misfortune is
impending and crickets (reheyyo) stridulate
till they burst.

It is lucky to have ants carrying their eggs
about a house, but it is unlucky for the head
of the house when large black ants enter it.

When a person is in a bad temper
it is sarcastically said that a large sized red
ant has broken wind on him.

The small red myriapod (kanveyd) causes
death by entering the ear.

Every new born child has a louse on its
head which is not killed but thrown away
or put on another's head.

As the finger is taken round the bimura
( a burrowing insect, ) it dances to the
couplet " bim iira bim ura tot natapiya ,
mat nattanan." (Bimura bimura, you better
dance and I too shall dance.)

Butterflies go on a pilgrimage from Novem-
ber to February to Adam's Peak against
which they dash themselves and die in
sacrifice.

Centipedes run away when their name is
mentioned ; they are as much affected as the
man they bite.

The black beetle is the messenger of death
to find out how many persons there are in a
house ; if it comes down on three taps from
an ikle broom its intentions are evil ; it is
seldom killed, but wrapt in a piece of white
cloth and thrown away or kept in a corner.

The presence of fire flies in a house indicate
that it will be broken into or deserted ; if
one alights on a person, some loss will
ensue ; if it is picked up, anything then
wished for will be fulfilled ; the fireflies had
refused to give light to one in need of it in a
previous existence ; their bite requires '' the
mud of the deep sea and the stars of the sky
for a cure "--a cryptic way of saying " salt
from the sea and gum from the eye."

A crocodile makes lumps of clay to while
away the time ; it throws up its prey as it
carries it away and catches it with its mouth ;
its female becomes pregnant at the sound of
thunder without any cohabitation ; at certain
times of the year the crocodile's mouth is
shut fast ; whenever its mouth opens, its
eyes close.

The flesh of the iguana is nutritious and
never disagrees. The kabaragoya is requisi-
tioned to make a deadly and leprosy-beget-
ting poison which is injected into the veins
of a betel leaf and" given to an enemy to
chew ; three of these reptiles are tied to the
three stones in a fireplace facing each other
with a fourth suspended over them ; a pot
is placed in the centre into which they pour
out their venom as they get heated.

10

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

The blood-sucker indicates by the upward
motion of its head that girls should be un-
earthed, and by the downward motion that
its inveterate tormentors the boys should be
buried. Chameleons embody the spirits of
women who have died in parturition.

The cry of frogs is a sign that rain is
impending and the fluid they eject is
poisonous ; if frogs that infest a house be
removed to any distance, they always come
back ; a person becomes lean if a tree-frog
jumps on him.

A python swallows a deer whole and then
goes between the trunks of two trees grow-
ing near each other to crush the bones of
its prey ; its oil cures any bad cat or
wound.

Venomous reptiles are hung up after they
are killed or are burnt.

The cobra is held sacred and rarely
killed ; when caught it is enclosed in a mat
bag with some boiled rice and floated on a
river or stream ; a person killing a cobra
dies or suffers some misfortune within seven
days. Some cobras have a gem in their
throats which they keep out to entice in-
sects ; they kill themselves if this be taken
from them which can be done by getting on
to a tree and throwing cowdung over the
gem. Cobras are fond of sandal wood and
the sweet smelling flowers of the screw pine,
and are attracted by music. Their bite
is fatal on Sundays. Martynia diandra
(ndgadarana) protects a man from the bite
of the cobra.

There are seven varieties of vipers ; of
these the bite of the nidi polanga causes a

deep sleep, and of the le polanga a discharge
of blood. When her skin is distended with
offspring, the female viper expires and
the young make their escape out of the
decomposing body. ^

Cobras and vipers keep up an ancient
feud ; during a certain hot season a child
was playing inside a vessel full of water and
a thirsty cobra drank of it without hurting
the child ; a thirsty viper met the cobra and
was told where water was to be found on
the viper's promise that it will not injure
the child ; as the viper was drinking the
water, the child playfully struck it and the
viper bit him to death ; the cobra who had
followed the viper killed it for breaking its
promise.

The green whip snake (ehetulla) attacks
the eyes of those who approach it and the
shadow of the brown whip snake (hena
kandaya) makes one lame or paralytic.

A rat snake seldom bites, but if it does,
the wound ends fatally only if cowdung is
trampled on.

The aharakukka. {Iropidonoms stolichus)
lives in groups of seven and when one is
killed the others come in search of it.

A mapila (dipsas forstenii) reaches its
victim on the floor by several of them
linking together and hanging from the roof.

The legendary kobo snake loses a joint of
its tail every time it expends its poison
till one joint is left, when it assumes wings
and the head of a toad ; with the last bit©
both the victim and the snake die.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER IV.

HUMAN

It is considered unlucky to lie down when
the sun is setting ; to sleep with the head
towards the west or with the hands between
the thighs ; to clasp one's hands across the
head or to eat with the head resting on a
hand ; to strike the plate with the fingers
after taking a meal ; to give to another's
hand worthless things like chunam or char-
coal without keeping them on something,
and for a female to have a hairy person.

It is thought auspicious to eat facing east-
wards, to gaze at the full moon and then at
the face of a kind relative or a wealthy friend;
to have a girl as the eldest in the family ;
to have a cavity between the upper front
teeth : and if a male to have a hairy body.

If a person yawns loud the crop of seven
of his fields will be destroyed ; a child's yawn
indicates that it is becoming capable of
taking a larger quantity of food.

If a person bathes on a Friday it is bad
for his sons, if on a Tuesday for himself ; if he
laughs immoderately he will soon have an
occasion to cry ; if he allows another'? leg
to be taken over him he will be stunted in
his growth ; if he passes under another's arm
he will cause the latter to get a boil under the
armpit, which can be averted by his return-
ing the same way.

BEINGS.

If a person eats standing, or tramples a jak
fruit with one foot only he will get elephan-
tiasis ; if he eats walking about he will have
to beg his bread ; if he gazes at the moon and
finds its reflection round his own shadow his
end is near.

If the second toe of a female be longer than
the big toe she will master her husband ; if
the left eye of a male throbs, it portends
grief, the right pleasure — of a female it is
the reverse.

If the eyebrows of a woman meet she will
outlive her .husband ; if of a man he will be
a widower ; if a male eats burnt rice his
beard will grow on one side only ; if the
tongue frequently touches where a tooth has
fallen the new tooth will come out projecting,
if an eye tooth be extracted it will cause
blindness.

A sneeze from the right nostril signifies
that good is being spoken of the person,
from the left ill ; when an infant sneezes a
stander by says " ayi-bovan" (long life to
you).

If a child cuts its upper front teeth first,
it portends evil to its parents ; a child sucks
its toe when it has drunk seven pots of milk.

An infant whimpers in its sleep when
spirits say that its father is dead as it had
never seen bim, but smiles when they say
its mother is dead as it knows she has nursed
it only a little while before. Mothers hush
crying children by calling on the kidnapping
goblin Billa, or Gurubaliya.

12

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

A person who dangles his legs when seated
digs his mother's grave. As one with a hairy
whorl on his back will meet with a watery
death, he avoids seas and rivers.

Everyone's future is stamped on his head ;
flowers on the nails signify illness and the
itching sensation in one's palm that he will
get money.

It is bad to raise one's forefinger as he
takes his handful of rice to his mouth as he
thereby chides the rice.

No one takes his meal in the presence of
a stranger without giving him a share as
it will disagree with him. If any envious
person speaks of the number of children in
another's family or praises them the party
affected spits out loud to counteract the evil.

Two people who are the first born of par-
ents are never allowed to marry as their child-
ren rarely live. The dead body of a first
male child of parents who are themselves the
first born of their parents is regarded as
having magical powers and sorcerors try to
obtain it ; if this be done the mother will
not bear any more children ; to prevent this
it is buried near the house. When a mother's
pregnancy desires are not satisfied the child's
ears fester.

Pollution caused by a death lasts three
months, by child birth one month, by a maid
attaining puberty fourteen days, and by the
monthly turn of a woman till she bathes.

Every person has in a more or less degree
on certain days an evil eye and a male-
volent mouth ; to avoid the evil eye black
pots with chunam marks and hideous figures
are placed before houses; childern are marked
between the eyes with a black streak,
chanks are tied round the forehead of cattle,
branches of fruit are concealed with a cover-
ing made of palm leaves and festive pro-
cessions are preceded by mummeries. Seri-
ous consequences befall a person who recites
ironically laudatory verses written by a
person with a malevolent mouth. Assump-
tion of high, office and marriage ceremonies
are fraught with ill to the persons cencerned
owing to the evil eye and malevolent
mouth.

The kalawa (principle of life,) in man rises
with the new moon from the left toe and
travels during the lunar month up to the head
and down again to the right foot. Any injury
however slight to the spot where it resides
causes death. Its movements are reversed
in a woman, in whom it travels up from the
right toe and comes down on the left side.
The course it takes is (1) big toe of foot ; (2)
sole of foot ; (3) calf ; (4) knee cap ; (5) lingam-
(6) side of stomach; (7) pap; (8) armpit;
(9) side of neck ; (10) side of throat ; (11) side
of Up ; (12) side of cheek ; (13) eye ; (14) side
of head ; (15) other side of head ; (16) eye ;
(17) side of cheek ; and so on till the big toe
, of the other foot is reached.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER V.

THINGS MADE BY MAN.

Houses are not built with a frontage
towards the South-EastJfor fear of destruc-
tion by fire as it is known as the fire quarter
(ginikona).

A lucky position of the constellations
(neket) is ascertained before the first pillar
of a house is erected, before a door frame of
a new house is set or a new house is tiled,
before a new house is entered or a fire
kindled or furniture taken in or before a
tree is planted or a well dug.

When several deaths take place in a
dwelling house, it is deserted. Whole vil-
lages are sometimes deserted in case of an
epidemic.

The fire that is first kindled in a new house
is arranged in the main room and over it
is placed a new pot full of milk resting on
three stones or three green sticks placed like
a tripod. As the milk begins to boil, pound-
ed rice is put into it.

The goddess of fortune is said to leave a
dwelling house which is not swept and kept
clean.

As a newly married couple crosses the
threshold a husked cocoanut is cut in two, i

To avoid the evil eye black pots with
white chunam marks and hideous figures are
placed before houses and in orchards.

When a child is born, if it be a boy a pestle
is thrown from one side of the hut to the
other, if a girl an ikle broom.

All the personal belongings of a dead man
are given away in charity. Paddy is not
pounded in a house where a person has died
as the spirit will be attracted by the noise.

When the daily supply of rice is being given
out, if the winnowing fan or the measure
drops, it denotes that extra mouths will have
to be fed. If a person talks while the grain ,
is being put into the pot, it will not be
well boiled.

In the field things are not called by their
proper names, no sad news is broken and a
shade over the head is not permitted.

In drawing toddy from the kitul tree,
(caryota urens) a knife which has already
been used is preferred to another.

If a grave be dug and then closed up to
dig a second, or if a coffin be too large for the
corpse ,or if the burial be on a IMday there
will soon be another death in the family.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES:

CHAPTER VI.

THE SOUL AND

When a person dies everything is done to
prevent the disembodied spirit being attract-
ed to its old home or disturbed. Even
paddy is not pounded in the house as the
sound may attract it.

The day after burial the dead man's be-
longings are given away in charity and an
almsgiving of kenda (rice gruel) to priests
or beggars takes place. A little of the kenda
in a gotuwa (leaf cup) is kept on a tree or at
a meeting of roads and if a crow or any other
bird eats it, it is a sign that the deceased is
happy ; otherwise it indicates that it has
become a perturbed spirit. Seven days after,
there is an almsgiving of rice when a gotuwa
of rice is similarly made use of for a further
sign. Three months after is the last alms-
giving which is done on a large scale ; rela-
tives are invited for a feast and all signs of
sorrow are banished from that day.

The object of this last almsgiving is to
make the desembodied spirit cease to long
for the things he has left behind and if this
be not done the spirit of the dead person
approaches the boundary fence of the garden ;
if the omission be not made good after six
months it takes its stand near the well;

ANOTHER LIFE.

when nine months have elapsed it comes
near the doorway, tnd after twelve months
it enters the house and makes its presence
felt by emitting offensive smells and con-
taminating food as a Peretayd or by destroy-
ing the pots and plates of the house and
pelting stones as a gevalayd or by appari-
tions as an avatdre or by creating strange
sounds as a holmana ; it is afraid of iron'
and lime and when over boisterous a kat-
tadiya rids it from the house by nailing it to
a tree, or enclosing it in a small receptacle
and throwing it into the sea where it
is so confined till some one unwittingly
sets it free when it recommences its tricks
with double force. A woman who dies in
parturition and is buried with the child
becomes a bodirima ; she is short and fat,
rolls like a cask, kills men whenever she
can ; if a lamp and some betel leaves be kept
where she haunts she will be seen heating
a leaf and warming her side ; the women
chase her away with threats of beating her •
with an ikle broom ; if shot at she turns into
a chameleon (yak katussa). If a person
dreams of a dead relative he gives food to a
beggar the next morning.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES,

CHAPTER VII.

SUPERHUMAN BEINGS.

The three sources of superhuman influence
from which the Singhalese peasantry expect
good or ill are (1) the spirits of disease and
poverty ; (2) tutelary spirits of various grades
and (3) the planetary spirits.

There are several important spirits of
disease such as Maha Sohona, Riri Yaka,
Kalu Kumara Yaka, Sanni Yaka.

Maha Sohona is 122 feet high, has the
head of a bear with a pike in his left hand
and in his right an elephant, whose blood he
squeezes out to drink ; he inflicts cholera and
dysentery and presides over graveyards and
where three roads meet and rides on a pig.
In ancient times two giants Jayasena and
Gotimbara met in single combat ; the latter
knocked off the head of Jayasena when the
god Senasura tore off the head of a bear and
placed it on Jayasena's body who rose up
alive as the demon Maha Sohona.

Riri Yaka has a monkey face, carries in
one hand a cock and a club in the ether with
a corpse in his mouth, is present at every
death bed, haunts fields and causes fever
flux of blood and loss of appetite, and has a
crown of fire on his head. He came into the
world from the womb of his mother by tear-
ing himself through her heart.

Kalu Kumara Yaka is a young devil of
a dark complexion who is seen embracing a
woman; he prevents conception, delays
childbirth and causes puerperal madness.
He was a Buddhist arhat with the super-
natural power of going through the air.
In one of his aerial travels, he saw a beauti-
ful princess and falling in love with her lost
at once his superhuman powers and dropped
down dead and became the demon Kalu
Kumara Yaka.

Sanni Yaka has cobras twisting round
his body with a pot of fire near him, holds
a rosary in his hand, causes different forms
of coma, rides on a horse or lion, has 18
incarnations and forms a trinity with Oddi
Yaka, and Huniam Yaka. He was the son
of a queen put to death by her husband
who suspected she was unfaithful to his
bed. As the queen who was pregnant was
being executed, she said that if the charge
was false the child in her womb will become
a demon and destroy the King and his city.
Her corpse gave birth to the Sanni Yaka
who inflicted a mortal disease on his father
and depopulated the country.

When any of these demons has afflicted a
person the prescribed form of exorcism is a
devil dance. In the patient's garden, a
space of about 30 square feet is marked out
{atamagala) and bounded with lemon sticks.
Within the enclosure, raised about 3 feet
from, the ground, is erected an altar (samema)
for the offerings (pidenitatu). The shape of
the altar depends on the afflicting demon —
triangular for Riri Yaka, rectangular for
Sanni Yaka, semicircular for Kalu Kumara
Yaka and square for Maha Sohona.

The offerings consist of boiled rice, a
roasted egg, seven kinds of curries, five kinds
of roasted seed, nine kinds of flowers, betel
leaves, fried grain, powdered resin and a
thread spun by a virgin. There are the
usual torn torn beaters ; and the exorcist
and his assistants are dressed in white and
red jackets, with crown shaped head orna-
ments, and bell attached leglets and armlets,
and carrying torches and incense pans.

The ceremony consists of a series of
brisk dances by the exorcist, and his
men, at times masked, in the presence

16

SINGHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

of the patient to the accompaniment of a
chant (kavi) giving the life history of the
devil, with a whirling of the blazing torches.
This lasts from evening till dawn when the
exorcist lies on his back and calls on the
devil to cure the patient {yadinna) ; incan-
tations follow {mantra), and the sacrifices
are offered. For the Riri Yaka, a cock
which had been placed under the altar or
tied to the foot of the patient is killed and
thrown into the jungle ; for the Kalu Yaka
an earthern pot which had been placed on
the altar is broken ; for the Sanni Yaka
the offerings are conveyed in a large bag
to a stream or river and thrown into the
water; for the Maha Sohona the exorcist
feigns himself dead to deceive the devil
and is carried with mock lamentations to a
burial ground.

The spirits of poverty — Gara, Yakku — are
twelve in number viz., (1) Molan Garavva ;
(2) Dala Rakshaya, (3) Yama Rakshaya ;
(4) Puranika ; (5) Ratnakfitaya, ; (6) Mia Giri ;
(7) Nanda Giri ; (8) Chandra Kava ; (9) Maraka;
(10) Asuraya ; (11) Natagiri ; (12) PelmaduM.
They haunt every nook and corner of a house,
destroy crops, make trees barren, new houses
inauspicious, send pests of flies and insects,
reduce families to abject poverty, and are
propitiated by a dance called Gara Yakuma.
A shed (maduva) is put up for it and round
it is a narrow altar, with a platform in front
(wesatte). On the altar are placed four
kinps of flowers, betel leaves, some cotton,
a spindle, a cotton cleaner, a shuttle, a comb,
a little hair, a looking glass, a bundle of
gurulla leaves, two burning torches and a few
cents. Men of the Oli caste dressed in white
and red and at times masked dance from
evening till morning within the shed and on
the platform- Late at night an oblation is
made in leaf -cups of seven different vegetables
cooked in one utensil, boiled rice, cakes
and plantains. At day break the dancers
stretch themselves on the ground and receive
nine pecuniary offerings ; they then rise up

and conclude the ceremony by striking the
roof of the shed with a rice pounder.

The tutelary deities are of three grades viz.,
(1) Gods ; (2) Godlings and (3) Divine Mothers.
The Gods are Maha Deviyo ; Natha Deviyo ;
Saman Deviyo ; Kateragama Deviyo ; and
the Goddess Pattini.

Maha Deviyo is identified with Vishnu, and
is the guardian deity of the island, and is a
candidate for the Buddahood ; a miniature
weapon in gold or silver is placed at his
shrine as a votive offering.

Natha Deviyo is the future Maitri Buddha
and is now biding his time in the Tusita
heaven ; Kandyan sovereigns at their coro-
nation girt their swords and adopted their
kingly title before his shrine.

Saman Deviyo is the deified half brother
of Rama, who conquered Ceylon in prehis-
toric times, and is the guardian spirit of
Adam's Peak ; pilgrims while climbing the
sacred hill to worship Buddha's foot-print,
call on him to aid their ascent. A miniature
elephant in gold or silver is the usual votive
offering to him.

Kateragama Deviyo is the most popular
of the gods ; a prehistoric deity, to whom a
miniature peacock in gold or silver is the
customary votive offering. He is said to be
the six faced and twelve handed god Kanda-
swamy who on his homeward return to
Kailasa after defeating the Asuras halted at
Kataragama in South Ceylon ; here he met
his consort Valli Amma whom he wooed in
the guise of a mendicant ; when his advances
were scornfully rejected, his brother assuming
the head of a man and the body of an elephant
appeared on the scene and the terrified
maiden rushed into her suitor's arms for
safety ; the god then revealed himself and she
became his bride. The god Ayiyanar invok-
ed in the forests of Ceylon is said to be his
half brother.

Pattini is the goddess of chastity.

The three eyed Pandi Raja of
Madura had subjugated the gods

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

17

and was getting them to dig a pond near his
royal city when, at Sakraya's request,
Pattini who resided in Avaragiri Parvata
became conceived in a mango fruit. After
it was severed from the tree by an arrow of
Sakraya, it remain suspended in the air
and on Pandi Raja looking up to observe
the wonder, a drop of juice fell on the third
eye in the middle of his forehead by which
he lost his power and the gods were liberated.
Pattini was found inside the mango as an
.infant of exquisite beauty sucking her
thumb when she grew up she performed
wonders and ultimately disappeared within
a Kohomba tree (margosa). An armlet or a
miniature mango fruit in gold or silver is
placed at her devala as a votive offering.

These deities are worshipped in separate
devala which are in charge of Kapuralas
who have to bathe daily and anoint themsel-
ves with lime juice, avoid drinking spirits and
eating flesh, eggs, turtle or eel and keep
away from houses where a birth or death
has taken place. A dewala consists of two
rooms, one being the sanctum for the insig-
nia of the god — a spear, bill hook or arrow —
and the other being the ante room for the
musicians ; attached to the devala is the
multenge (kitchen). On Wednesdays and
Saturdays the doors of the dewala are open-
ed ; the Multenge Kapurala cooks the food
for the deity ; the Tevava Kapurala offers
it at the shrine on a plantain leaf enclosed
with areka-flower-strips, and purified with
saffron water, sandal paste and incense.
Before and after the meal is offered, drums
are beaten in the ante room. In return for
offerings made by votaries the Anum.etirala
invokes the god to give relief from any
ailment, a plentiful harvest, thriving cattle,
success in litigation, and children to sterile
mothers. Punishment to a faithless wife,
curses on a forsworn enemy and vengeance
on a thief are invoked by getting the Kapu-
rala to break a puna kale — a pot with
mystic designs, — or to throw into the sea

or a river a charmed mixture of powdered con-
diments. Once a year, when the agricultural
season begins, between July and August, the
in-signia of the gods are carried on elephants
in procession through the streets accompa-
nied by musicians, dancers, temple tenants
and custodians of the shrine. The festival
begin? on a new moon day and lasts till the full
moon when the procession proceeds to a
neighbouring river or stream where the Ka-
purala cuts the water with a sword and re-
moves a potful of it and keeps it in the de-
wala till it is emptied into the same stream
the following year and another potful taken.

The well-known godlings are (1) Wahala
Bandara Deviyo alias Devata. Bandara;
(2) Wiramunda Deviyo ; (3) Wanniya Ban-
dara ; (4) Kirti Bandara ; (5) Menik Bandara ;
(6) Mangala Deviyo ; (7) Kum.ara Deviyo ; (£J
Irugal Bandara ; (9) Kalu Vedda alias Kalu
Bandara, (10) Gange Bandara ; (11) Deyol
Deviyo ; (12) Ilandari Deviyo ; (13) Sundara
Bandara ; (14) Monaravila Alut Deviyo ; (15)
Gale Deviyo ; (16) Ayiyanar Deviyo.

The godlings are local ; those which are
worshipped in one country district are not
sometimes known in another. Their insignia
together with a few peacock feathers are
sometimes kept in small detached buildings
called kovil with representations of the
godlings rudely drawn on the walls. A
priest called a Yakdessa is in charge of a
kovil and when people fall ill " they send for
the Yakdessa to their house, and give him
a red cock chicken, which he takes up in his
hand, and holds an arrow with it, and
dedicates it to the god, by telling him,
that if he restore the party to his health, that
cock is given to him, and shall be dressed
and sacrificed to him in his kovil. They then
let the cock go among the rest of the poultry,
and keep it afterwards, it may be, a year or
two ; and then they carry it to the temple, or
the priest comes for it : for sometimes he will
go round about, and fetch a great many cocka
together that have been dedicated, telling

18

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

the owners that he must make a sacrifice to
the god ; though, it may be, when he hath
them, he will go to some other place and con-
vert them into money for his own use, as I
myself can witness ; we could buy three of
them for four-pence half penny. When the
people are minded to inquire any thing of
their gods, the priests take up some of the
arm.s'and instruments of the gods, that are
in the temples upon his shoulder ; and then he
either feigns himself to be mad, or really is
so, which the people call pissuvetichchi ; and
then the spirit of the gods is in him, and what-
soever he pronounceth is looked upon as
spoken by God himself, and the people will
speak to him as if it were the very person
of God."*

Gale Deviyo or Gal§ Bandara, also called
Malala Bandaira is the god of the rock and is
propitiated in parts of the Eastern Province,
Uva and the Kurunegalle district, to avert
sickness, bad luck and drought. " In these dis-
tricts, in all cases, the dance, which is a very
important part of the proceedings, and in-
dispensable in the complete ceremony, takes
place on a high projecting crag near the top
of a prominent hill or on the summit of the
hill, if it is a single bare rock. On this wild
and often extremely dangerous platform, on
some hills a mere pinnacle usually hundreds
of feet above the plain below, the Anumeti-
rala performs his strange dance, like that of
all so called devil dancers. He chants no
song in honour of the ancient deity but pos-
tures in silence with bent knees and waving
arms, holding up the bill hooks — the god
himself for the time being. When he begins
to feel exhausted the performer brings the
dance to an end, but sometimes his excite-
ment makes it necessary for his assistant to
seize him and forcibly compel him to stop.
He then descends from his dizzy post, assist-
ed by his henchmen, and returns to the devala
with the torn toms and the crowd." 4

The spirits of the forest, invoked by pil-
grims and hunters are Wanniya, Bandara,
Mangala Deviyo, Uandari Deviyd and Kalu
Bandara alias Kalu Vedda. Kaluwedda is a
demon supposed to possess power over the
animal race. "When a person, more commonly
a public hunter, shoots an animal, whether
small or large, he, without uttering a single
word, takes on the spot three drops of
blood from the wound, and smearing
them on three leaves makes them into
the shape of a cup, and offers them-
on the branches of a tree, clapping his
hands, and expressing words to this effect,
"Friend Kaluwedda, give ear to my
words : come upon the branches, and re-
ceive the offering I give to thee ! " The effect
of this superstition is supposed to be, that
the hunter will seldom or never miss his
game. 5 "

Manik Bandara is the spirit of gem pits
and Gange Bandara is the spirit of streams
and rivers.

" The malignant spirit called Gange Ban-
dara, Oya Bandara, Oya Yakka, etc. is pro-
perly an object of terror, not of worship ; and
under very many different appellations the
identity is easily perceived : he is the repre-
sentative or personification of those severe
fevers, to which, from some occult causes,
the banks of all Ceylon rivers are peculiarly
liable. The manner of making offerings to
the Gange Bandara is by forming a minia-
ture double canoe, ornamented with cocoa-
nut leaves so as to form a canopy : under
this are placed betel, rice, flowers, and such
like articles of small value to the donor, as
he flatters himself may be acceptable to the
fiend, and induce him to spare those who
acknowledge his power. After performing
certain ceremonies, this propitiatory float
is launched upon the nearest river, in a sickly
season. I have seen many of these delicate

s An Historical Relation of Ceylon 1681 Page 75 (Knox) * Ancient Ceylon (1909) pp, 191, 196 (Parker)
e The Friend (Old Series Vol. IV. (1840-1841) p. 189. (David de Silva.)

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

19

arks whirling down the streams, or aground
on the sand banks and fords of the Amban-
ganga (Matale East)." 8

Ayiyannar Deviyo is the god of tanks and
he is propitiated under a tree by the bund of
a tank, by throwing up in the air boiled milk
in a hot state. Sundara Bandara extends his
protection to those who invoke him before
sleeping.

Wirarnunda Deviyo is a spirit of agricul-
ture and rice cakes made of the new paddy
is offered to the godling on a platform on
which are placed husked cocoanuts, flowers,
plantains, a lighted lamp, a pestle and a
mortar. Gopalla is a pastoral godling who
torments cattle at night and afflicts them
, with murrain. Devol Deviyo is a South
Indian deity who came to Ceylon in spite of
the attempts to stop him by Pattini who
placed blazing fires in his way. Masked
dances of a special kind involving walking
over fire take place in his honour. Kirti
Bandara, and Monaravila Alut Deviyo are two
lately deified chieftains, the former lived in
the reign of king Kirti Siri (1747-1780), the
latter is Keppitipola who was beheaded by
the British in 1818.

Wahala Bandara Deviyo alias Devata
Bandara is a minister of Vishnu and is in-
voked when demon — possessed patients
cannot be cured by the ordinary devil dance.
At his devala in Alut Nuwera, 11 miles from
Kandy, the Kapurala beats the patient with
canes till the devil is exorcised. With him is
associated Malwatte BandUra, another
minister of Vishnu.

The peace of the home is impersonated
in seven divine mothers who are said
to be manifestations of the goddess
Pattini. Their names vary according to
the different localities. They are known
in some places as : — (1) Miriyabedde Kiri
Amma or Bedde Mehelli; (2) Pudraaraga
Kiri Amma (3) Unapana Kiri Amma; (4)

Kosgama Kiri Amma ; (5) Bala Kiri Amma ;
(6) Bovalagedere Kiri Amma; (7) Indigolleve
Kiri Amma.

Navaratna Valli is the patroness of the
Rodiyas and is said to have been born from
the Telambu tree. Henakanda Biso Ban-
dara was born of a wood apple and is invoked
as the wife of Devata Bandara.

A thank offering is made to the divine
mothers when children are fretful, when a
family recovers from chicken pox or some
kindred disease, when a mother has had an
easy confinement. Seven married women
are invited to represent them and are offered
a meal of rice, rice cakes, milk, fruits and
vegetables ; before eating they purify them-
selves with turmeric water and margosa
leaves ; a lamp with seven wicks in honour
of the seven divine mothers are kept where
they are served ; after the repast they seve-
rally blow out a wick by clapping their hands
and take away what is left of the repast.
Before a house is newly occupied the seven
divine mothers are invoked by ceremoniously
boiling rice in milk ; a fire is made in the
main room and over it is kept a new pot
full of milk resting on three green sticks
placed like a tripod. As the milk begins
to boil pounded rice is put into it. The
person superintending the cooking wears a
white cloth over his mouth. Seven married
women are first served with the cooked milk
—rice on plantain leaves, and afterwards
the others present.

The mystery of the jungle is impersonated
in the Bedde Mehelli.

After a successful harvest or to avert an
epidemic from the village a ceremonial dance
(gammadu) for which the peasantry sub-
scribe takes place for seven days in honour of
the gods, godlings and divine mothers. A
temporary building, open on all sides, and
decorated with flowers and fruits is erected
on the village green, and a branch of the Jak

« Eleven years in Ceylon (1841)

Vol. II page 104 (Major Forbes.).

20

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

tree is cut ceremonially by the celebrant
and carried into the building and placed
on the east side as a dedicatory post with a
little boiled rice, a cocoanut flower, two
cocoanuts and a lamp. Altars are erected
for the various deities and on these the cele-
brant places with music, chant and dance
their respective insignia, all present making
obeisance. Water mixed with saffron is
sprinkled on the floor, resin is burnt and a
series of dances and mimetic representations
of the life history of the deities take place
every night. On the last day there is a
ceremonial boiling of rice in milk and a
general feast.

Planetary spirits influence the life of a per-
son according to their position in the heavens
at the time of his birth, and an astrologer
for a handful of betel and a small fee will
draw a diagram of 12 squares, indicating the
twelve signs of the Zodiac and from the po-
sition of the 9 planets in the different squares
will recommend the afflicted person a plane-
tary ceremony of a particular form to counter-
act the malignant influence. Represent-
ations (bali) of the nine planetary spirits, of
the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the 27 lunar as-
terisms, the 8 cardinal points, the 7 intervals
•of time, and the 14 age periods are made of
clay and are placed erect on a large plat-
form of split bamboo measuring about 12
square feet — the arrangement varying ac-
cording to the advice of the astrologer ; —
and on the floor is drawn an eight-sided or
twelve-sided figure where the celebrant dances
and chants propitiatory verses in honour of the
planets. The afflicted person sits the whole
time during the music, dance and chanting
before the images holding in his right hand
a lime connected by a thread with the chief
idol, and near him are 2 cocoanut flower^
boiled rice, a hopper, 7 vegetable curries,
limes, cajunuts, betel, raw rice, white
sandalwood and hiressa leaves. At
intervals a stander — by throws portions
of an areka flower into a koraha

of water with cries of 'ayibovan' (long
life).

The Sun (Ira) rides on a horse entwined
with cotton leaves (imbul) with an emblem of
good luck (Sirivasa) in hand and propi-
tiated by the Santi Mangala Baliya ; sacred
to him is the ruby (manikya).

Mercury (Budahu) rides on an ox with a
chank in hand, entwined with margosa leaves
(Kohomba) and propitiated by the Sarva
Rupa Baliya ; the emerald (nila) is sacred
to this planet.

Mars (Angaharuva) rides on a peacock with
an elephant goad (unlmsa) in hand, entwined
with gamboge leaves (Jcolon) and propi-
tiated by the Kali Murta Baliya ; the coral
(pravala) is sacred to this planet.

Rahu rides on an ass with a fish in hand
entwined with screw pine leaves (vetakeyiya)
and is propitiated by the Asura Giri Baliya ;
the zircon (gomada) is sacred to Rahu.

Kehetu rides on a swan with a rosary in
hand, entwined with plantain leaves (heMl)
and is propitiated by the Krishna Raksha
Baliya ; the chrysoberyl (vaidurya) is sacred
to Kehetu.

Saturn (SenasurS.) rides on a crow ; with a
fan in hand entwined with banyan leaves
(nuga) and is propitiated by the Dasa Krodha
Baliya ; the sapphire (indranila) is sacred
to this planet.

Venus (Sikura) rides on a buffalo with a
whisk (chamara) in hand, entwined with
karanda leaves {gaUdv/pa arborea) and is
propitiated by the Giri Mangala Baliya;
the diamond (vajra) is sacred to this planet.

Jupiter (Brahaspati) rides on a lion with
a pot of flowers in hand, entwined with bo
leaves and is propitiated by the Abhaya
Kalyana Baliya; the topaz {pusparaga) is
sacred to Jupiter.

The moon rides on an elephant with a
ribbon in hand entwined with wood apple
leaves (diiml) and propitiated by the Soma
Mangala Baliya ; pearls (mittu) are sacred
to the moon.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER VIII.

OMENS AND DIVINATION.

One will not start on a journey, if lie
meets as he gets out a beggar, a Buddhist
priest, a person carrying firewood or his
implements of labour, if a lizard chirps, a
dog sneezes or flaps his ears. Nor will he
turn back after once setting out ; if he has
forgotten anything it is sent after him, he
never returns for it. That the object of
his journey may be prosperous he starts
with the right foot foremost at an aus-
picious moment, generally at dawn, when
the cock crows ; his hopes are at their
highest if he sees on the way a milch cow,
cattle, a pregnant woman or a person
carrying a pitcher full of water, flowers or
fruits.

Thieves will not get out when there is
the handa madala (ring round the moon)
as they will be arrested.

The day's luck or ill-luck depends on
what one sees the first thing in the morning ;
if anything unlucky be done on a Monday,
it will continue the whole week.

If a crow caws near one's house in the
morning, it forebodes sickness or death, at
noon pleasure or the arrival of a friend, and
in the evening profit ; if it drops its excre-
ment on the head, shoulders or on the back
of a person it signifies happiness but on the
knee or in step a speedy death.

A lizard warns by its chirp ; if it chirps
from the East pleasant news can be
expected, from the South news of sickness
or death, from the North profit and from the
West the arrival of a friend. If a lizard
or a skink (hikeneUd) falls on tj^ right
side of a person, he will gain riches, if on
the left he will meet with ill luck.

A snake doctor finds out what kind of
reptile had bitten a person by a queer
method ; if the person who comes to fetch
him touches his breast with the right hand
it is a viper ; if the head it is a mapila ; if
the stomach a frog ; if the right shoulder
with the left hand a karavala, (bungarus
coerulus) ; if he be excited a skink ; and if
the messenger be a weeping female carry-
ing a child it is a cobra.

Something similar to crystal gazing is
attempted by means of a betel leaf smear-
ed with a magical oil ; a female deity
(Anjanan Devi) appears on the leaf and
reveals what the gazer seeks.

A professional fortune teller (guru) when
a client comes to consult him, measures the
client's shadow, divides it into three equal
parts and after some calculations informs
him whether a lost article will be found, a
sick person will recover or any enterprise
will fail or succeed.

22

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

Dreams that prognosticate a good future
are kept secret, but bad ones are published.
When a bad dream is dreamt it is advis-
able to go to a lime tree early in the morn-
ing, mention the dream and ask the tree
to take to itself all the bad effects. Dreams
at the first watch of the night will be
accomplished in a year, at the second watch
in eight months, at the third watch in five
months, and at the dawn of day in ten days.

If a person dreams of riding on a bull or
an elephant, ascending the summit of a
mountain, entering a palace, or smearing
himself with excrement he will obtain an
increase of wealth.

If a person dreams that his right hand
was bitten by a white serpent he will obtain
riches at the end of ten days.

If a prison dreams of a crane, a domestic
fowl, an eagle or crows, he will get an
indulgent wife.

If a person dreams of the sun or moon,
he will be restored from sickness.

If the teeth of an individual in his dream
fall out or shake his wealth will be ruined
or he will lose a child or parent but if his
hands be chained or bound together he will
have a son or obtain a favour.

If a female clothed in black embraces a
man in his dream it foretells death.

If a person dreams of an extensive field
ripe for the sickle, he will obtain rice paddy
within ten days.

If a person dreams of an owl, a beast in
rut or being burnt he will lose his habita-
tion.

If a person dreams of nymphs danc-
ing, laughing, running or clapping their
hands, he will have to leave his native
land.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER IX.

THE MAGIC ART.

Words of Power called Mantra are com-
mitted to memory and used for various
purposes. Jugglers utter them to raise a
magic veil over the eyes of the spectators,
and sorcerers to detect thefts, to induce
love, to remove spells to cure possession
and to inflict disease or death.
• Mantra are uttered to keep away
animals. Elephants are frightened by " Om
sri jata hare bhavatu arahan situ." A dog
takes to its heels when the following is
muttered thrice over the hand and stretched
towards it " Om namo budunge pavade bat
kapu balla kikki kukka nam to situ. Om
buddha namas saka situ."

As a preventive against harmful influences,
a thread spun by a virgin, and rubbed with
turmeric is charmed over charcoal and resin-
smoke and tied round one's arm waist or
neck, having as many knots as the number
of the times the charm has been repeated.

Amulets (yantra) made of five kinds of
metal (gold, silver, copper, brass, iron) are
similarly worn for avoiding evil and these
are either pentacle shaped, crescent shaped
or cylindrical enclosing a charmed ola leaf,
charmed oil or charmed pills.

To win a girl's affections the lover has
only to rub a charmed vegetable paste over
his face and show himself to the girl, or
give her to eat a charmed preparation of
peacock's liver, honey and herbs or make
her chew a charmed betel leaf, or sprinkle

on her some charmed oil, or wear a charmed
thread taken from her dress.

To detect a theft, a cocoanut is charmed,
attached to a stick and placed where a thief
has made his escape, and while the operator
holds it he is led along to the thief's house.
Persons suspected of theft are made to
stand with bared backs round an as|j plan-
tain tree and as it is struck with a charmed
creeper, the culprit gets an ashy streak on
his back. They are also asked to touch a
charmed fowl in turn and the fowl begins to
crow as soon as the thief touches its body.
The names of the suspected persons are
sometimes written on slips of paper and
placed on the ground with a cowrie shell
opposite each slip, and as soon as the
mantra is uttered the shell opposite the
thief's name begins to move.

Charmed branches are hung up by hunters
and wayfarers near dangerous spots. If
charmed slaked lime be secretly rubbed on
the lintel of a man's house before he starts
out shooting, he will not kill any bird, and
if rubbed on the threshold he will not kill
any f ourfooted animal.

A person under the influence of a charm
is taken to a banyan tree with his hair wrap-
ped round the head of a cock ; the hair is cut
off with a mantra, the bird nailed to the tree
and the patient cured.

The charm known as Pilli is used to inflict
immediate death ; the sorcerer procures a
dead body of a child, animal, bird, reptile

24

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

or insect and goes at dawn, noon or mid-
night to a lonely spot where three roads
meet or to a grave yard and lying on his
back utters a mantra ; the dead body be-
comes animated and it is given the name of
the intended victim with directions to inflict
on him a fatal wound : to stab, strangle,
bite or sting him.

The charm called Angama causes the
victim to throw up blood and it affects
within seven hours ; the sorcerer takes
some article that the intended victim had
worn or touched, goes to a lonely spot,
charms it and touches the victim, or fans
him with it or stretches it towards him, or
keeps it in the hand and looks at his face
or blows so that the breath may light on
him or leaves it in some accessible place
that it may be picked up by him.

The* charm known as the Huniama is
frequently practised and it takes effect
within intervals varying from a day to
several years ; the sorcerer makes an image
to represent the intended victim ; nails made
of five kinds of metal are fixed at each joint,

and the victim's name written on a leaf, or
a lock of his hair, or a nail paring, or a
thread from his dress inserted in its body ;
the image is charmed and buried where the
victim has to pass and if he does so, he falls
ill with swelling, with stiffness of joints,
with a burning sensation in his body or
with paralysis.

A Klli or Angama charm can be warded
off if the victim himself be a sorcerer when
by a counter charm he can direct the opera-
tor himself to be killed or injured.

A Huniama charm can be nullified by get-
ting a sorcerer either to cut some charmed
lime fruits which have come in contact
with the patient or to slit with an areka-
nut cutter a charmed coil of creepers placed
round the patient's neck, shoulders and
anklets or to keep a charmed pumpkin
gourd on the sorcerer's chest while lying on
his back and making the patient cut it in
two with a bill hook, the parts being thrown
into the sea or a stream ; or to break up a
charmed waxen figure and throw the pieces
into boiling oil.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES,

CHAPTER X.

DISEASE AND LEECHCRAFT.

Serious maladies are inflicted by spirits or
induced by the vitiation of the triple force
(vata, pita, sema) which pervades the human
body. In the former case they are cured
by devil dances and in the latter by drugs.
There are, however, numerous minor com-
plaints where folk-remedies are employed.

A cure for boils is to procure without
speaking from a smithy water in which the
red hot iron has been cooled and apply it to
the affected parts.

For whooping cough is given gruel made
of seven grains of rice collected in a
chunam receptacle (killote) without uttering
a word from seven houses on a Sunday
morning.

To cure a sprain a mother who has had
twins is asked to trample the injured place,
without informing any one else, every
evening for a couple of days.

A touch with a cat's tail removes a sty,
and a toothache is cured by biting a balsam
plant (kudalu) uprooted with the right
hand, the face averted.

When one is hurt by a nettle, cassia
leaves (tora) are rubbed on the injured place
with the words " tora kola visa neta
kahambiliyava visa, etc." (Cassia leaves are
stingless but prickly is the nettle).

A firefly's bite requires " the mud of the
sea and the stars of the sky " to effect a
eure — a cryptic way of saying salt and the
gum of the eye. i

111 effects of the evil mouth and evil eye
are dispelled by various means : — either a
packet made of some sand trodden by the

offender is taken three times round the head
and thrown into a pot of live coals ; or a
receptacle containing cocoanut shell ashes,
burnt incense, and a few clouds of earth
from a neighbouring garden is buried in
the compound.

Patients suffering with small pox or a
kindred disease are kept in a separate hut,
cloth dyed in turmeric and margosa leaves
are used in the room ; and after recovery
and infusion of margosa leaves is rubbed on
their heads before they are bathed.

A string of coral shows by the fading of
its colour that the wearer is ill ; to prevent
pimples and eruptions a chank is rubbed on
the face, when washing it.

When there is a difficult child-birth the
cupboards and the doors in the house are
unlocked. For infantile convulsions, a piece
of the navel cord is tied round the child's
body.

If one has warts on his body, stones
equal in number to them are tied to a piece
of rag and thrown where three roads meet ;
the person who picks up the packet and
unties it gets the warts and the other
becomes free of them.

When a person gets a hiccough, he gets
rid of it by holding up his breath and
repeating seven times "ikkayi mayi Galu-
giya, ikka, hitala man ava " (Hiccough and
I went to Galle ; he stayed back and I
returned).

Extreme exhaustion will ensue if the
perspiration from one's body is scraped off ;
the cure is to swallow the collected sweat.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES,

CHAPTER XI.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.

A village community occupy a well defined
settlement (wasama) within which are the
hamlets (gan), and in each, hamlet live a few
families who have their separate homesteads
(mulgedera) with proprietary interests in the
arable land and communal rights in the
forest, waste and pasture land. A group of
such settlements comprise a country district
(rata, korale, pattu).

There are two types of village settlements,
in one there are the free peasant proprietors
cultivating their private holdings without
any interference, and in the other the people
occupy the lands subject to an overlord, and
paying him rent in service, food or money or
in all three.

All communities whether free or servile
had, in ancient times to perform rajakariya
for 15 to 30 days a year ; in time of War to
guard the passes and serve as soldiers, and
ordinarily to construct or repair canals,
tanks, bridges and roads. These public
duties were exacted from all males who could
throw a stone over their huts ; the military
services were, in later times, claimed only
from a special class of the king's tenants.

The people had also to contribute to the
Revenue three times a year, at the New Year
festival, (April)at the aluteal festival (January)
and the maha or katti festival (November) in
arrack, oil, paddy, honey, wax, cloth, iron,
elephant's tusks, tobaooo, and money collected
by the headmen from the various country
districts. The quantity of paddy(kathhal) sup-
plied by each family depended on the size of
the private holding ; but no contribution Was
levied on the lands of persons slain in War or

on lands dedicated to priests. When a man
of property died, 5 measures of paddy, a bull,
a cow with calf, and a male and female
buffalo Were collected as death dues (marral.)
The people are divided into various castes
and there is reason to believe that these had
a tribal basis. The lower castes formed
tribes of a prehistoric Dravidian race (the
Rakshas of tradition) who drove into the
interior the still earlier Australoid Veddahs
(the Yakkhas of tradition). The higher
castes of North Indian origin followed, and
frequent intercourse with the Dekkan in
later historical times led to the introduction
of new colonists who now form the artisan
castes.

A caste consists of a group of clans, and
each clan claims descent from a common
ancestor and calls itself either after his name,
or the office he held, or if a settler, the village
from which he came. The clan name was
dropped when a person became a chief and a
surname which became hereditary assumed.
The clan name Was however, not forgotten
as the ancestral status of the family was
ascertained from it. The early converts to
Christianity during the Portuguese ascen-
dancy in Ceylon adopted European sur-
names which their descendants still use.

The various castes can be divided socially
into five groups. The first comprising the
numerically predominating Rateetto who
cultivate fields, herd cattle and serve as
headmen.

The second group consists of the Naides
who work as smiths, carpenters, toddy draw-
ers, elephant keepers, potters, pack bullock

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

27

drivers, tailors, cinnamon peelers, fish
curers and the like .

The Rateetto and the Naide groups wear
alike, and the second group are given to eat
by the first group on a rice table of metal or
plaited palm leaf about a foot high, water
to drink in a pot and a block of Wood as a
seat ; they have the right to leave behind the
remains of their meals.

The third group are the Dureyas who
work as labourers besides attending to their
special caste duties — a kande dureya makes
molasses, a batgam dureya carries palanquins,
a hunu dureya burns coral rock in circular
pits to make lime for building ; a valli dureya
weaves cloth and a panna dureya brings fod-
der for elephants and cattle.

The fourth group consists of professional
dancers, barbers and washers. Of the profes-
sional dancers, the Neketto dance and beat
drums at all public functions and at devil
and planetary ceremonies, while the in-
ferior Oli do so only at the Gara Yakum
dance. The washers are of different grades ;
Radav wash for the Rate Etto, Hinnevo
for the Naides, Paliyo for the Dureyas,
barbers and Neketto, and Gangavo for the Oh.

The Dureyas and the group below them
were not allowed to Wear a cloth that reached
below their knees and their women except
the Radav females Were not entitled to
throw a cloth over , their shoulders.

The Dureyas Were given to eat on the
ground on a plaited palm leaf ; Water to
drink was poured on to their hands and they
had to take away the remains of their meal.
The fourth group had to take away with
them the food offered.

The fifth group consists of the outcastes ;
the Kinnaru and the Rodi who contest bet-
ween themselves the pride of place. The
Kinnaru are fibre mat Weavers who were
forbidden to grow their hair beyond their
necks, and their females from wearing above
their waist anything more than a narrow

strip of cloth to cover their breasts. The
Rodi are hideworkers and professional
beggars ; the females Were prohibited from
using any covering above their waists.

A guest of equal social status is received
at the entrance by the host and is led inside
by the hand ; on a wedding day the bride-
groom's feet are washed by the bride's
younger brother before he enters the house
Kissing is the usual form of salutation
among females and near relatives and among

friends the salutation is by bringing the
palms together.

When inferiors meet a superior they bend
very low with the palms joined in front
of the face or prostrate themselves on the
ground ; when they offer a present it is placed
on a bundle 40 of betel leaves and handed
with the stalks towards the receiver.

A guest always sends in advance a box of
eatables as a present ; when the repast is
ready for him he is supplied with Water to
Wash his face, feet and mouth ; and the host
serves him with rice and curry, skins the plan-
tains for him, and makes his chew of betel.
The males always eat first and the females
afterwards ; and they drink water by pour-
ing it into their mouths from a spouted vessel
(kotale).

At the guest's departure, the host accom-
panies him some distance — at least as far as
the end of the garden. When a person of
distinction, a Buddhist priest or a chief
visits a house, the rooms are lined and the
seats are spread with white cloth.

An inferior never sits in the presence of a
superior, and whenever they meet, the
former removes the shade over his head, gets
out of the way and makes a very low
obeisance.

Seven generations of recognised family des-
cent is the test of respectability, and each
ancestor has a name of his own : appa,
aita, mutta, natta panatta, kitta, kirikitta
(father, grand father, great grand father, etc.)

28

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

The system of kinship amongst the Sin-
halese is of the classificatary kind where
the kin of the same generation are grouped
under one general term.

The next of kin to a father or mother and
brother or sister are the fathers' brothers
and the mothers' sisters, and the mothers'
brothers and the fathers' sisters ; of these
the first pair has a parental rank and is
called father (appa) or mother (amma) quali-
fied by the words big, intermediate or little,
according as he or she is older or younger
than the speaker's parents ; their children
are brothers (sahodarya) and sisters (saho-
dari) to the speaker and fathers and mothers
to the speaker's children.

The second pair becomes uncle (mama)
and aunt (nenda) to the speaker qualified
as before ; their children are male cousins
(massina) and female cousins (nena) to the
speaker, and uncles and aunts to the speak-
er's children.

Those who are related as brothers and
sisters rarely marry, and a husband's rela-
tions of the parental class are to his wife,
uncles, aunts and cousins of the other class
and vice versa.

These terms are also used as expressions
of friendship or endowment and also to
denote other forms of kinship. The term
' father ' is applied to a mother's sister's
husband, or a step father ; ' mother ' to a
father's brother's wife or a step mother;
' uncle ' to a father's sister's husband or a
father-in-law. ' Aunt ' to a mother's brother's
wife or mother-in-law. ' Brother ' to a
wife's or husband's brother-in-law or a
maternal cousin's husband ; ' Sister ' to a
wife's or husband's sister-in-law or a mater-
nal cousin's wife, " male cousin " to a
brother-in-law or a paternal cousin's hus-
band ; " female cousin " to a sister-in-law
or a paternal cousin's wife.

The terms son, daughter, nephew, niece,
grandson, grand daughter, great grandson
and great grand daughter include many

kinsfolk of the same generation. A son
is one's own son, or the son of a brother
(male speaking), or the son of a sister (female
speaking) ; a daughter is one's own daughter,
the daughter of a brother (m. s.) or the
daughter of a sister (F. s.) ; a nephew is a
son-in-law, the son of a sister (m. s.) or the
son of a brother (p. s.) ; a niece is a daughter-
in-law, the daughter of a sister (m. s.) or the
daughter of a brother (v. s.); a grandson and
grand daughter are a ' sons ' or ' daughters '
or a ' nephew ' or ' nieces ' children, and their
sons and daughters are great grand sons and
great grand daughters.

Land disputes and the petty offences of
a village were settled by the elders in an
assembly held at the ambalama or under a
tree. The serious difficulties were referred
by them in case of a freehold community to
the district chief, and in the case of a subject
community to the overlord. A manorial
overlord Was invariably the chief of the
district as well.

The paternal ancestral holding of a field,
garden and chena devolves on all the sons,
but not on sons who Were ordained as Bud-
dhist Priests before the father's demise, nor
on daughters who have married and left for
their husbands' homes.

A daughter, however, who lived with her
husband at her father's house has all the
rights and privileges of a son, but the hus-
band has no claim whatsoever to his wife's
property, and such a husband is advised to
have constantly with him a walking stick,
a talipot shade and a torch, as he may be
ordered by his wife to quit her house at
any time and in any state of the weather.

A daughter who lives in her husband's
home can claim a share in the mother's
property only if the father has left an estate
for the sons to inherit ; she has, however, a
full right with her brothers to any inheri-
tance collaterally derived.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

29

She will not forfeit her share in her father's
inheritance if she returns to her father's
house, or if she leaves a child in her father's
house to be brought up or if she keeps up a
close connection with her father's house.

After her husband's death she has a life
interest on his acquired property, and a right
to maintenance from his inherited property.
Failing issue, she is the heir to a husband's
acquired property, but the husband's inheri-
ted property goes to the source from whence
it came.

A child who has been ungrateful to his
parents or has brought disgrace on the
family is disinherited ; in olden times the
father in the presence of witnesses declared
his child disinherited, struck a hatchet
against a tree or rock and gave his next
heir an ola mentioning the fact of
disherision.

There is no prescribed form for the adop-
tion of a child who gets all the rights of a
natural child, but it is necessary that he is
of the same caste as the adopted father,
«,nd that he is publicly acknowledged as son
and heir.

Illegitimate children share equally with
the legitimate their fathers' acquired pro-
perty, but not his inherited property which
goes exclusively to the legitimate children.

Polyandry was a well established insti-
tution in Ceylon ; the associated husbands
are invariably brothers or cousins. Poly-
andry was practised to prevent a sub-divi-
sion of the ancestral property and also
owing to the exigencies of the rajakaxiya
(feudal service); when the brothers on a farm
were called out for their fifteen days' labour,
custom allowed one of them to be left behind
as a companion to the female at home.

Divorces are obtained by mutual consent ;
a husband forcibly removing the switch of
hair off bis wife's head was considered a

sufficient reason for a separation. If a
woman left her husband without his consent
it was thought illegal for her to marry till
the husband married again.

Contracts were made orally or in writing
in the presence of witnesses, sanctioned b\
the imprecation that the one who broke
faith will be born a dog, a crow or in one of
the hells, and the contract was expected to
last till the sun and moon endure. Repre-
sentations of a dog, a crow, sun and moon
are to be found on stones commemorating a
royal gift. If a man contracts by giving a
stone in the king's name it is binding and
actionable.

A creditor forced the payment of his debt
by going to the debtor's house and threaten-
ing to poison himself with the leaves of
the niyangala. (gloriosa superba) or by
threatening to jump down a steep place or
to hang himself ; on which event the debtor
would be forced to pay to the authorities a
ransom for the loss of the creditor's life.

The creditor at times sent a servant to
the debtor's house to live there and make
constant demands till payment was made ;
and at times tethered an unserviceable bull,
cow or buffalo in the debtor's garden, who
was obliged to maintain it, be responsible
for its trespass on other gardens, and to give
•another head of cattle, if it died or was lost
in his keeping.

When a man died indebted, it was custo-
mary for a relative to tie round his neck a
piece of rag with a coin attached and beg
about the country till the requisite sum was
collected.

When a debt remained in the debtor's
hands for two years it doubled itself and
no further interest could be charged. A
creditor had the right to seize, on a permit
from a chief, the debtor's chattels and cattle
or make the debtor and his children slaves.
A wife, however, could only be seized if she
was a creditor and came with her husband to

30

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

borrow the money, and the creditor could sell
the debtor's children only after the debtor's
death. A man could pawn or sell himself or
his children. Children born to a bond woman
by a free man were slaves, while children
born to a free woman by a bond man were
free. If seed paddy is borrowed, it is repaid
with 50 percent, interest at the harvest ; if the
harvest fails, it is repaid at the next successful
harvest, but no further interest is charged.

If cattle be borrowed for ploughing, the
owner of the cattle is given at the harvest
paddy equal to the amount sown on the
field ploughed.

The King alone inquired into murder,
treason, sacrilege, conspiracy and rebel-
lion ; he alone had the right to order capital
punishment or the dismemberment of limbs ;
his attention wa3 drawn to a miscarriage of
justice by the representation of a courtier,
by the aggrieved persons taking refuge in
a sanctuary like the Dalada Maligava, by pros-
trating in front of the King's palace and
attracting his attention by making their
children cry, or by ascending a tree near the
palace and proclaiming their grievances.

The petitioners were sometimes beaten
and put in chains for troubling the King.

For capital offences, as murder and trea-
son, the nobility was decapitated with the
sword ; the lower classes were paraded
through the streets with a chaplet of shoe
flowers on their heads, bones of oxen
round their necks, and their bodies whitened
with lime, and then impaled, quartered and
hanged on trees, or pierced with spear
while prostrate on the ground, or trampled
on by elephants and torn with their tusks.
Whole families sometimes suffered for the
offences of individuals.

Outcaste criminals like the Rodiyas were
shot from a distance as it was pollution to
touch them. Female offenders were made
to pound their children and then drowned.

The punishments for robbing the trea-
sury, for killing cattle, for removing a
sequestration, and for striking a priest or
chief consisted of cutting off the offender's
hair, pulling off his flesh with iron pincers
dismembering his limbs and parading him
through the streets with the hands about
the neck.

Corporal punishment was summarily in-
flicted with whips or rods while the offender
was bound to a tree or was held down with
his face to the ground ; he Was then paraded
through the streets with his hands tied
behind him, preceded by a torn torn beater
and made to declare his offence.

Prisoners Were sent away to malarial dis-
tricts or kept in chains or stocks in the
common jail or in the custody of a chief,
or quartered in villages. The inhabitants
had to supply the prisoners with victuals,
the families doing so by turns, or the prison-
ers went about with a keeper begging or
they procured the expenses by selling their
handiwork in way-side shops built near
the prison. The prisoners had to sweep the
streets and Were deprived of their head-
dress which they could resume only when
they Were discharged.

Thieves had to restore the stolen property
or pay a sevenfold fine (Wandia) ; till the
fine was paid, the culprit was placed under
restraint (velekma) : a circle was drawn
round him on the ground, and he was
not allowed to step beyond it, and had to
stay there deprived of his head covering
exposed to the sun, sometimes holding a
heavy stone on his shoulder, sometimes
having a sprig of thorns drawn between
his naked legs.

A whole village was fined if there was a
suicide of a sound person, if a corpse was
found unburied or unburnt, or if there was
an undetected murder. In case of the breach
of any sumptuary law, the inhabitants of

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

31

the offender's village were tabooed and
their neighbours prohibited from dealing
or eating with them.

Oaths were either mere asseverations
on one's eyes or on one's mother or
imprecations by touching the ground or by
throwing up handful of sand or by raising
the hand towards the sun, or by touching a
pebble, or appeals to the insignia of some
deity, or to the Buddhist scriptures or to
Buddha's mandorla. The forsworn person was
punished in this world itself except in
the last mentioned two instances when the
perjurer would suffer in his next birth.

There were five forms of ordeal, resorted
to in land disputes and the villagers were
summoned to the place of trial by messen-
gers showing them a cloth tied with 3 knots.

The ordeal of hot oil required the adver-
saries to put their middle ringers in boiling
oil and water mixed with cow dung ; if

both parties got burnt the land in dispute
was equally divided ; otherwise the uninjured
party got the whole. land.

The other four modes consisted of the
disputants partaking of some rice boiled
from the paddy of the field in dispute, break-
ing an earthen vessel and eating of a cocoa-
nut that was placed on the portion of the
land in question, removing rushes laid along
the boundary line in dispute, or striking each
other with the mud of the disputed field ;
and the claim was decided against the
person to whom some misfortune fell within
7 to 14 days.

There were two other forms which had
fallen into disuse even in ancient times
owing to the severity of tbe tests viz. carrying
a red hot iron in hand seven paces without!
being burnt, and picking some coins out of a
vessel containing a cobia without being
bitten,

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER XII.

RITES OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE.

When a mother is pregnant she avoids
looking at deformed persons, or ugly images
and pictures, fearing the impression she gets
from them may influence the appearance
of her offspring ; during this delicate period
she generally pounds rice with a pestle, as
the exertion is supposed to assist delivery,
and for the same purpose a few hours before
the birth of the child all the cupboards in the
house are unlocked. For her to cling to,
when the pains of child-birth are unbearable,
a rope tied to the roof hangs by the mat or
bedside.

The water that the child is washed in after
birth is poured on to the foot of a young tree,
and the latter is remembered and pointed out
to commemorate the event ; a little while
after the infant is ushered into the world
a rite takes place, when a drop of human
milk obtained from some one other then the
mother mixed with a little gold is given to
the babe (rankiri kata ganava), and the
little child's ability to learn and pronounce
well is assured.

When the sex of the child is known, if it
be a boy a pestle is thrown from one side of
the house to the other ; if a girl, an ikle
broom ; those who are not in the room pre-
tend to find out whether it is a she or a he
by its first cry, believing it is louder in the
case of the former than of the latter. The
cries of the babe are drowned by those of

the nurse, lest the spirits of the forest
become aware of its presence and inflict
injury on it.

At the birth of the first born cocoanut
shells are pounded in a mortar.

The mother is never kept alone in the
room, a light is kept burning in, it night and
day, and the oil of the margosa is much used
in the room for protection ; care is taken
that the navel cord is not buried and a little
of it is given to the mother with betel if she
fall severely ill. Visitors to the lying-in-
room give presents to the midwife when the
child is handed to them, especially if it is
the first-born one.

A month after birth, the babe, nicely
dressed and with tiny garlands of acorns
calamus (wadakaha) and allium sativum
(sudu lunu) tied round its Wrists and lamp-
black applied under the eye-brows, is for the
first time brought out to see the light of day
(dottavadanava) ; and it is made to look at
a lamp placed in the centre of a mat or table,
with cakes (kevum) made of rice-flour,
jaggery, and cocoanut oil, plantains, rice
boiled with cocoanut milk (kiribat), and
other eatables placed around it. The mid-
wife then hands round the little child to the
relatives and gets some presents for herself.

The rite of eating rice (indul kataganava
or bat kavanava) is gone through when the
child is seven months old ; the same eatables

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

33

are spread on a plantain-leaf with different
kinds of coins, and the child placed among
them ; what it first touches is carefully
observed, and if it be kiribat it is considered
very auspicious. The father or grandfather
places a few grains of rice in the child's
mouth, and the name that is used at home
(bat nama) is given on that day. The
astrologer, who has already cast the infant's
horoscope and has informed the parents of
its future, is consulted for a lucky day and
hour for the performance of the above
observances.

The children are allowed to run in complete
nudity till about five years and their heads
are fully shaved when young ; a little of
the hair first cut is carefully preserved.
From an early age a boy is sent every morn-
ing to the pansala, where the village priest
keeps his little school, till a certain course
of reading is completed and he is old enough
to assist the father in the fields. The first
day he is taught the alphabet a rite is cele-
brated (at pot tiyanava), when a platform is
erected, and on it- are placed sandal-wood,
a light, resin, kiribat, kevum, and other
forms of rice cakes as an offering to Ganesa,
the god of wisdom, and the remover of all
obstacles and difficulties. At a lucky hour
the pupil washes the feet of his future guru,
offers him betel, worships him, and receives
the book, which he has to learn, at his hands,
and, as the first letters of the alphabet are
repeated by him after his master, a husked
cocoanut is cut in two as an invocation to
Ganesa. A girl is less favoured and has to
depend for her literary education on her
mother or an elder sister ; more attention,
however, is paid to teach her the domestic
requirements of cooking, weaving and
knitting, which will make her a good wife.

On the attainment of the years of puberty
by a girl she is confined to a room, no male
being allowed to see her or be seen by her.
After two weeks she is taken out With her

face covered and bathed at the back of the
house by the female inmates, except little
girls and widows, with the assistance of the
family laundress, who takes all the jewellry
on the maiden's person. Near the bathing-
place are kept branches of any milk-bearing
tree, usually of the jak tree. On her return
from her purification, her head and face, still
covered, she goes three times round a mat
having on it kiribat, plantains, seven kinds
of curries, rice, cocoanuts, and, in the centre,
a lamp with seven lighted wicks ; and as she
does she pounds with a pestle some paddy
scattered round the provisions. Next, 6he
removes the covering, throws it on to the
dhSbi (washerwoman) and, after making
obeisance to the lamp and, putting out its
wicks by clapping her hands, presents the
laundress with money placed on a betel leal.
She is then greeted by her relatives, who are
usually invited to a ieast, and is presented
by them with valuable trinkets. Everything
that Was made use of for the ceremony is
given to the washerwoman. In some cases,
till the period of purification is over, the
maiden is kept in a separate hut which is
afterwards burnt down. Girls who have
arrived at the age of puberty are not allowed
to remain alone, as devils may possess them
and drive them mad ; and till three months
have elapsed no fried food of any sort is
given to them.

The ' shaving of the beard ' is the rite the
young man has to go through, it is performed
at a lucky hour and usually takes place a
few days before marriage ; the barber here
plays the important part the laundress did
in the other. The shavings are put into a
cup, and the person operated on, as well as
his relatives who have been invited, put
money into it ; this is taken by the barber ;
and the former are thrown on to a roof that
they may not be trampled upon.

Marriages are arranged between two fami-
lies by a relative or a trusted servant of one
of them, who, if successful, is handsomely

34

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

rewarded by both parties. The chances of
success depend on the state of the horos-
copes of the two intended partners, their
respectability which forms a very important
factor in the match, the dowry which used
to consist of agricultural implements, a few
head of cattle, and domestic requisites, to-
gether with a small sum of money to set the
couple going, and, if connected, the distance
of relationship. Two, sisters' or brothers'
children are rarely allowed to marry, but the
solicitation of a mother's brother's or father's
sister's son is always preferred to that of
any other.

A few days before the marriage, the two
families, in their respective hamlets, send a
messenger from house to house to ask, by
presenting betel, the fellow-villagers of their
own caste for a breakfast ; and the guests
bring with them presents in money. Only
few, however, are invited to the Wedding ;
and the party of the bridegroom, consisting
of two groomsmen, an attendant carrying a
talipot shade over him, musicians, pingo-
bearers, relatives and friends, 'arrives in the
evening at the bride's village and halts at a
distance from her house. A messenger is
then sent in advance with a few pingo-loads
of plantains, and with betel-leaves equal in
number to the guests, to inform of their
arrival ; and when permission is received to
proceed, generally by the fixing of a jingal,
they advance, and are received with all
marks of honour ; white cloth is spread all the
way by the washerwoman, and at the en-
trance a younger brother of the bride washes
the bridegroom's feet and receives a ring as
a present. A sum of money is paid to the
dhobi (washerwoman) as a recompense for
her services. They are then entertained with
music, food and betel till the small hours of
the morning, when the marriage ceremony
commences. The bride and bridegroom are
raised by two of their maternal uncles on to
a dais covered with white cloth, and having
on it a heap of raw rice, cocoanuts, betel

leaves and coins. A white jacket and a
cloth to Wear are presented by the bridegroom
to the bride ; betel and balls of boiled rice are
exchanged ; their thumbs are tied together
by a thread, and, while water is poured on
their hands from a spouted vessel by the
bride's father, certain benedictory verses are
recited. Last of all, a web of white cloth is
presented by the bridegroom to the bride's
mother ; and it is divided among her rela-
tives.

In connection with this presentation it is
said that if the mother-in-law be dead, the
web should be left in a thicket hard by to
appease her spirit.

On the day after the wedding the married
couple return to their future home with
great rejoicing, and on their entering the
house a husked cocoanut is cut in two on
the threshold,

The tokens of virginity are observed by
the bridegroom's mother, and the visit of the
parents and relatives of the bride a few
days after completes the round of ceremonies.

There is a peculiar custom fast dis-
appearing, and almost totally extinct,
called Kula KanavS, that is, making one
respectable by eating with him. If a mem-
ber of a family makes a mesalliance he is
cast out of his clan, and should he want
his children and himself to be recognized
and taken back by the relatives, the latter
are induced to attend and partake of a feast
given by him at his house. The ' making
up ' takes place when very many years have
elapsed, and only if the wife who Was the
cause of the breach is dead. The difference
due to marriage with another caste or
nationality is never healed up.

Even in the presence of death, ceremonies
are not wanting; if the dying patient is
known to have been fond of his earthly
belongings, and seems to delay in quitting
this life, a few pieces of his furniture are
washed and a little drop of the water given to

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

35

him. A lamp is kept burning near the
corpse, the body is washed before burial
and a piece of cotton or a betel-leaf is put
into its mouth. All the time the body is in
the house nothing is cooked, and the inmates
eat the food supplied by their neighbours
(adukku).

No one of the same village is told of the
death, but all are expected to attend the
funeral; the outlying villages, however, are
informed by a relative who goes from house
to house conveying the sad news.

The visitors are given seats covered with
white cloth ; and the betel for them to chew
are offered with the backs of the leaves up-
wards as an indication of sorrow. Some
times only the relatives come, while friends
leave betel at a distance from the house
and go away fearing pollution. It may be
observed that, according to the Sinhalese
belief, pollution is caused by the attaining
of puberty by a maiden which lasts fourteen
days ; by the monthly flow of a woman
which lasts till she bathes ; by child-birth
which lasts one month ; and by death which
lasts three months.

Friends and relatives salute the body with
their hands clasped in the attitude of prayer,
and only the members of the family kiss it.
The route along which the funeral proceeds
is previously strewn with white s.and, and
the coffin is oarried by the closest relatives,
with the cloth to be given to the priests for
celebrating the service thrown on it, over
white foot-cloth spread by the dhobi, and
preceded by the tom-tom beaters with muf-
fled drums. Lights are carried by the coffin
and a shade is held over the head of it.

The service commences with the intoning
of the three Refugees of Buddhism and the
Five Vows of abstinence by one of the priests,
and they are repeated after by those present,

all squatting on the ground. The cloth,
referred to, is then given to be touched by
the bystanders in order to partake of the
merits of the almsgiving ; one end of it is
placed on the coffin, and the other is held by
the priests. They recite three times the Pali
verse that all organic and inorganic matter
are impermanent, that their nature is to be
born and die, and that cessation of existence
is happiness ; and while water is poured
from a spouted vessel into a cup or basin,
they chant the lines that the fruits of charity
reach the departed even as swollen rivers fill
the ocean and the rain-water that falls on
hill-tops descends to the plain. A short ex
tempore speech by a priest on the virtues of
the deceased completes the service.

If it be a burial, the grave is by the road-
side of the garden with a thatched covering
over it. Two lights are lit at the head and
the foot of the mound, the bier in which the
coffin was carried is placed over it, and a
young tree planted to mark its site.

In a cremation, the coffin is first carried
with music three times round the pyre, and
the latter is set fire to by the sons or nephews
with their faces turned away from it. Those
assembled leave when the pyre is half burnt ;
and, on the following day, or a few days after,
the ashes are collected and buried in the
garden of the deceased, over which a column
is erected, or they are thrown into the nearest
stream.

The party bathe before returning to the
house, and are supplied by the dhobi with
newly-washed clothes ; during their absence
the house is well cleansed and purified by
the sprinkling of water mixed with cow-
dung ; and the visitors before leaving
partake of a meal either brought from some
neighbour's or cooked after the body had
been removed.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER XIII.

OGGUPATIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

Iii the olden time, people were occupied
according to their caste, but now they pursue
any vocation they choose, carefully avoid-
ing the inauspicious hours.

One man works at his field or goes hunting
and honey gathering ; a second fishes at the
village stream with a rod made of the midrib
of the kitul leaf ; a third slings his basket of
garden produce at the ends of a kitul shaft
and carries them on his shoulders to towns
or village fairs ; a fourth climbs the palm
trees with his ankles encircled by a ring of
cocoanut leaf and picks the fruit with his
hand ; a fifth taps for toddy the blossoms of
several cocoanut trees by coupling their
crowns with stout ropes to walk upon and
the straight boughs with smaller ropes to
support himself ; a sixth brings for sale from
the county straw and firewood in single or
double bullock carts and a seventh trans-
ports cocoanuts, salt, and dried fish to cen-
tres of trade by pack bullocks or in flat
bottomed boats.

The women either make molasses from the
unfermented toddy ; or plait mats of dyed
rushes in mazy patterns ; or earn a pittance
by selling on a small stand by the roadside
the requisites for a chew of betel ; or hawk
about fruits and vegetables in baskets carried
on their heads ; or keep for sale, on a plat-
form in the verandah, sweetmeats and other
eatables protected from the crows which
infest the place by a net ; or make coir by
beating out the fibre from soaked cocoanut
husks ; or attend to their domestic duties
with a child astride their hips ; or seated
lull their infant child to sleep on their
outstretched legs.

Various ceremonies are performed in the
sylvan occupations of hunting and honey
gathering.

"Hunting parties of the Kandian Sinha-
lese of the North Central Province perform
a ceremony which is very similar to that
of the Wanniyas 7 and Veddahs, 8 when
about to leave their village on one of their
expeditions in the forest. Under a large
shady tree they prepare a maessa, or small
covered shrine, which is raised about three
feet off the ground, and is open only in
front ; it is supported on four sticks set in the
ground. In this they offer the following arti-
cles if available, or as many as possible of
them : — one hundred betel leaves, one hund-
red arekanuts, limes, oranges, pine apples,
sugar cane, a head of plantains, a cocoanut,
two quarts of rice boiled specially at the
site of the offering, and silver and gold. Also
the flowers of the arekanut tree, the cocoa-
nut, and ratmal tree. All are purified by
lustration and incense, as usual, and dedi-
cated. They then light a small lamp at the
front of the offering, and remain there watch-
ing it until it expires, differing in this respect
from the practice of the Wanniyas, who must
never See the light go out. Before the light
expires they perform obeisance towards
the offering, and utter aloud the following
prayer for the favour and protection of the
forest deities, which must also be repeated
every morning during the expedition, after
their millet cake, gini-piiva, has been eaten,
before starting for the day's hunting : —

This is for the favour of the God Ayiyanar ;
for the favour of the Kiri Amma, for the
favour of the Kataragama God (Skanda)

Taprobanian (1887) vol, 2 p. 17 (Nevilla);

» The Veddas (1911) p. 252 (Seligmann).

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

37

for the favour of Kalu Devata ; for the
favour of Kambili Unnaehae ; for the favour
of Uandari Devata Unnaehae ; for the favour
of Kadavara Devata Unnsehse ; for the
favour of Gale Bandara ; for the favour
of the Hat Rajjuruvo. We are going to your
jungle (uyana) ; we do not want to meet
with even a single kind of [dangerous] wild
animals. We do not want to meet with the
tall one (elephant), the jungle watcher
(bear), the animal with the head causing
fear (snake), the leopard. You must blunt
the thorns. We must meet with the horn
bearer (sambar deer), the deer (axis), the
ore full of oil (pig), the noosed one (iguana),
the storehouse (beehive). We must meet
about three pingo (carrying-stick) loads of
honey. By the favour of the Gods. We
ask only for the sake of our bodily
livelihood. 9 "

The jungle attached to a village was the
game preserve of its inhabitants ; game laws
were concerned with the boundaries of the
village jungle, and with rights of ownership
of the game itself. One half of the game
killed by a stranger belonged to the village,
and the headman of the village was entitled
to a leg and four or five pounds of flesh of
every wild animal killed by the villagers.

For regulating the time and manner of
fishing in sea, old communal rules have been
legalised and are now in force. Fishing
with large nets (madel) begins about 1st
October and ends by May 31st in each
year ; the number of boats and nets to be
used in each inlet is limited ; the boats and
nets are registered and every registered
.boat and net is used in the waraya (inlets)
by rotation in order of register ; the turn of
each net and boat begins at sunrise and ends
at sunrise of the next day ; the headman
who supervises these is called the mannandi-
rale. Whenever koralebabbu, b611o, ehela-

muruvo and such other fish come into the
waraya, so long as these swarm in the inlet
they should be caught by rod and line and
nothing else ; when they are leaving the in-
let, the headman in consultation with at.
least six fishermen appoint a date from which
boru del or visi del may be used ; on no ac-
count are mahadel allowed to be used. 1

Each of the boats with its nets belongs
to several co-owners and " on a day's fish-
ing the produce is drawn ashore, is divided
in a sufficient number of lots, each estimated
to be worth the same assigned value, and
these lots are so distributed that 1-50 goes
to the owner of the land on which the fish
are brought to shore, \ to those engaged in
the labour, 1-5 for the assistance of extra
nets etc., rendered by third parties in the
process of landing and securing the fish, which
together equal 47-100 and the remaining
53-100 go to the owners of the boat and net
according to their shares therein." 11 .

Owners of cattle have brand marks to dis-
tinguish the cattle of their caste and class from
those of others ; individual ownership is
indicated by branding in addition the initial
letters of the owner's name.

Herdsmen who tend cattle for others are
entitled in the case of the bulls and the he
buffaloes they tend to their labour, in the
case of cows and she buffaloes to every second
third and fifth calf born, and in the case of
calves to a half share interest in the young
animals themselves.

" At the first milking of a cow there
is a ceremony called kiri ettirima. The
cow is milked 3 different mornings suc-
cessively, when the milk is boiled, and
poured into three different vessels, till
the whole is coagulated. On the fourth
day, butter from each vessel is preserved
in a clean bason, to form the principal
part of the ceremony at a convenient time.

9 Ancient Ceylon (1909) p. 169. (Parker).

n The Aryan village in India and

io Govt. Gazette No. 6442 of 19th Mayl911
Ceylon (1882) p. 205 (Phear).

38

SINHALESE FOLKLOVE NOTES

From that day the milk may be used, but
with particular care never to throw the least
milk, or any water that might have washed
the milk basons, out of doors. When the
convenient time has arrived a bunch of
plantains is prepared, cakes are baked, three
pots of rice are boiled, a vegetable curry,
and a condiment are prepared by an indi-
vidual who must manifest all cleanness on
the occasion, even to the putting a hand-
kerchief before his mouth to present the
saliva from falling into the ingredients.
All these preparations are brought to an
apartment swept and garnished for the pur-
pose where the kapuva cleanly clothed enters
and burns sandarac powder, muttering in-
cantations with the intent of removing all
evil supposed to rest upon the family, and
of bringing down a blessing upon them and
their cattle.

Next the kapuva takes 7 leaves of the
plantain tree and lays 5 of them in order on
the table, canopied, and spread with white
cloth, in honour of the gods Wiramunda
deviyo, Kosgama deviyo, Pasgama deviyo,
Combihamy, and Weddihamy ; and the
other 2 are put on piece of mat on the
ground in honour of the washer and the torn
torn beater supposed to have attended
these supernatural beings. Over all these
leaves the boiled rice from one of the pots
is divided, then from the second and third.
He afterwards does the same with the curry,
and the condiment, cakes, plantains etc.,
prepared for the performance. He then
pretends to repeat the same process by way

of deception making a motion, and sound-
ing the ladle on the brim of the pots, as if
rice and other ingredients were apportioned
the second time etc., to satisfy the gods and
the two attendants.

The kapuva next takes a little of every
ingredient from all the leaves, both on the
table and on the ground, into a cup (made of
leaves), and supporting it over his head
marches out from the apartment, closing
its door ; and he conveys it either to the fold
of the cattle, or to some elevated place
where he dedicates and offers it to the many
thousands of the demons and their attend-
ants who are supposed to have accom-
panied the above particular gods, praying
them, by means of incantations, to accept
the offering he has brought before them.
From hence he returns to the door of the
apartment he had closed, and knocking at
it, as if to announce his entrance, he opens
it and mutters a few more incantations,
praying the gods to allow them, (including
himself and the members of the family) to
partake of the remnants that have been
offered in their honour. After these cere-
monies are performed, the kapuva, with all
the rest, partakes of everything that was
prepared, and the owner of the cow may
from this day dispose of the milk according
to his own pleasure." 12 .

Rural rites differing in details in different
localities are. observed by the Singhalese
peasantry in their agricultural pursuits."

David de Silva (Ambalangeda).

i* The Friend (old series) Vol. IV (1840-1841) p. 211.
w Vide: —

The friend (old series) (1840-1841) Vol. IV p. 189 (David de Silva).
J R AS (Ceylon) (1848-1849) Vol. II No. 4 p. 31 (R. E. Lewis).

Vol. VI No. 21 p. 46 (levers).

Vol. VIII No. 26 p. 44 (Bell).

Vol. VIII No. 29 p. 331 (J. P. Lewis).

Vol. XI No. 39 p. 17 (Bell).

Vol. XVIII No. 56 p. 413 (Comaraswamy).

Vol. XVII p, 366 (Lemesurier).

(1880)

(1883)

(1884)

(1889)

(1905)
.(Great Britain) (1885)
Taprobanian (1885) Vol. I p. 94 (Neville).
Orientalist (1887) Vol. Ill p. 99 (Bell).
Spolia Zeylanica (1908) (Parson).
North Central Province Manual (1899) p. 181 (levers).
The Book of Ceylon (1908) p. 382 (Cave), '

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

39

In all places a lucky day for ploughing is
fixed in consultation with an astrologer.
It is considered unfortunate to bigin -work
on the 1st or 2nd day of the month, and after
the work is begun it must be desisted from
on unluckcy days such as the 7th, 8th, 9th,
13th, 14th and 21st.

Sowing is also commenced at a lucky day
and hour pronounced by the astrologer to,
be the most favourable. In a corner of the
field, on a mound of mud where are placed a
ginger or a habarala plant (arum maculatum),
a cocoanut or an areka flower and some saf-
fron, is sown a handful of the first seed
and dedicated to the gods; and after that
the entire field is sown.

To drive away insects from the growing
rice, charm — lamps are lighted at the four
corners of the field or a worm is enclosed
in a charmed orange and buried there or a
fly or grub is fumigated with charmed resin
smoke and bidden to depart or a cultivator
sounds a charmed bell metal plate with a
kaduru stick crying to the flies " yan yanta "
(please go).

When the reaping time comes the portion
of rice dedicated to the gods is first reaped
by some person who is not a member of the
proprietor's family. It is kept apart on
an elevated place till the reaping of the rest
of the field is done when it is cooked and
ceremonially offered to the kapurala.

The threshing is done on a floor specially
prepared ; when the crop is ripe a small pit
is made in the centre of the threshing floor
in which are placed a margosa plant, and a
oonch shell containing a piece of the tolabu
plant (crinum asiaticum) and of the hiressa
(vitis cissus quadrangularis), a piece of
metal, charcoal and a small grain sheaf.
Besting on these is an ellipsoidal luck stone

(arakgala), round which are traced with ashes
three concentric circles bisected by lines and
in the segments are drawn representations
of a broom, a scraper, a flail, a measure,
agricultural inplements and Buddha's foot
print.

At the lucky hour the cultivator walks three
times round the inner circles of thetheshing
floor with a sheaf on his head, bowing to the
centre stone at east, north, west and south
and casts down the sheaf on the centre stone
prostrating himself. The rest of the sheaves
are then brought in and the threshing begins.

The harvest is brought down on a full
moon day and some of the new paddy is
husked, pounded, boiled with milk and
offered to the gods in a devala or on a tempo-
rary altar under a tree by the 'field, and
followed by a general feasting.

Persons cultivating their fields with their
own cattle, implements, seed paddy and the
like receive the whole produce less the pay-
ments of the watchers (waraveri) and the
perquisites of the headman.

When the fields are given out to be culti
vated for a share of the produce, if the field
owner supplies the cultivator with the cattle,
implements of labour, and seed paddy the
produce is divided equally by the owner
and the cultivator ; if the field owner
supplies nothing he only gets \ of the pro-
duce.

When an allotment of field is owned by
several co-owners, it is cultivated alternately
on a complicated system called tattoimaru. 1 *

There is a jargon used in Ceylon by hun-
ters and pilgrims travelling in forests.* 5 by
the outcaste rodiyas who go about begging
and thieving ; 16 and by cultivators while
working in their fields. 17 This jargon
has many words used by the Veddahs.is

h Vide glosary in the appendix.
is For hunter's jargon vide Taprobanian Vol. 2 p. 19.
M „ Bodi „ „ Vol. 2 p. 90.

m cultivator's „ „ Vol. I p. 107/

Veddi dialect „

Vol I p. 29

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTEK XIV.

FESTIVALS.

The entering of the sun into Aries is cele-
brated as the new year's day ; the ephemeris of
the year is drawn up by the village astrologer
and the necessary information for the obser-
vance of the festive rites is obtained by
presenting him with sweetmeats and a
bundle of forty betel leaves.

As the sun is moving into the sign
Aries all cease from work And either visit
temples or indulge in games till a lucky
moment arrives when every family welcomes
the new year with the strains of the
rabana. Special kinds of sweetmeats and
curries are cooked and eaten, cloth of the
colour recommended by the astrologer
are worn, calls exchanged, the headman
visited with pingo-loads of presents, and a
commencement made of the usual daily work.
At an appointed hour, the people anoint
themselves with an infusion of oil, kokun
leaves {swietenia febrifugia), kalanduru
yams (Cyprus rotundus) and nelli fruits
(Phylanthus emblica) and an elder of the
family rubs a little of it on the two
temples, on the crown of the head, and on
the nape of the neck of each . member,
saying : —

Kalu kaputan sudu venaturu ■
Ehela kanu liyalana turu
Gerandianta an enaturu
Ekasiya vissata desiya vissak
Maha Brahma Rajaya atinya
Ayibovan ayibovan ayibovan.
" This (anointing) is done by the hand of
Maha Brahma ; long life to you, long life

to you, long life to you ! may you, instead of
the ordinary period of life, viz., 120 years,
live far 220 years ; till rat-snakes obtain
horns, till posts of the Ehela tree (Cassia
fistula) put on young shoots, and till black
crows put on a plumage white."

While being annointed the person faces a
particular direction, having over his head
leaves sacred to the ruling planet of the day,
and at his feet those sacred to the regent of
the previous day. For each of the days of
the week, beginning with Sunday, belong
respectively the cotton tree (imbul) the wood-
apple (diwul), the Cochin gamboge (kollan),
the margosa (kohomba), the holy fig-tree (bo)
Galidupa arborea (karanda) and the banyan
(nuga).

This rite is followed by the wearing of new
clothes, after a bath in an infusion of screw-
pine (wetake) Suffa acutangula (wetakolu),
Evolvulus alsinoides (Vishnu-kranti), Aristo-
lochia indica (sapsanda), Crinum zeylanicum
(godamanel), roots of citron (nasnaran-
mul), root of Aegle marmelos (belimul), stalk
of lotus, (nelum dandu), Plectranthus zeylani-
cus (iriveriya), Cissompelos convolvulus
(getaveni-vel) Heterepogon hirtus (itana) and
bezoar stone (gorochana).

This festival is also observed at the Bud-
dhist temples when milk is boiled at their
entrances and sprinkled on the floor.

The birthday of the Founder of Buddhism
is celebrated on the full-moon day of May
(wesak). Streets are lined with bamboo

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

41

arches, which are decorated with the young
leaves of the cocoanut-palm; tall supertruct-
ures (toran) gaily adorned with ferns and
young king cocoanuts bridge highways at
intervals ; lines of flags of various devices
and shapes are drawn from tree to tree ;
booths are erected at every crossing where
hospitality is freely dispensed to passers-by ;
and at every rich house the poor are
fed and alms given to Buddhist priests.
Processions wend their way from one
temple to another with quaintly-shaped
pennons and banners, and in the intervals
of music cries of sadhu, sadhu, are raised by
the pilgrims.

The Kandy Perahera Mangalaya, begins
at a lucky hour on the first day after the
new moon. " A jack-tree, the stem of which
is three spans in circumference, is selected
beforehand for each of the four dewala — the
Kataragama, Natha, Saman, and Pattini ;
and the spot where it stands is decorated
and perfumed with sandalwood, frankincense,
and burnt resin, and a lighted lamp with
nine wicks is placed at the foot of the tree.
At the lucky hour a procession of elephants,
tom-tom beaters and dancers proceed to
the spot, the tree is cut down by one of the
tenants (the wattorurala) with an axe, and
it is trimmed, and its end is pointed by ano-
other with an adze. It is then carried away
in procession and placed in a small hole
"in a square of slab rock, buried in the
ground or raised platform in the small room
at the back of the dewala. It is then
covered with a white" cloth. During the
five following days, the procession is
augmented by as many elephants,
attendants, dancers, tom-tom beaters and
flags as possible ; and it makes the circuit
of the temples at stated periods. The
processions of the several temples are then
joined by one from the Dalada Maligava
(the temple of the Sacred Tooth of Buddha),

and together they march round the main
streets of Kandy at fixed hours during the
five days next ensuing. On the sixth day,
and for five days more, four palanquins —
one for each dewala are added to the pro-
cession, containing the arms and dresses of
the gods ; and on the last day the bowl of
water (presently to be explained) of the
previous year, and the poles cut down on
the first day of the ceremony. On the
night of the fifteenth and last day, the Per-
ahera is enlarged to the fullest limits which
the means of the several temples will permit,
and at a fixed hour, after its usual round,
it starts for a ford in the river near Kandy,
about three miles distant from the temple
of the Sacred Tooth. The procession from
the Maligava, however, stops at a place called
the Adahana Maluwa, and there awaits the
return of the others. The ford is reached
towards dawn, and here the procession
waits until the lucky hour (generally about
5 a. M.) approaches. A few minutes before
its arrival the chiefs of the four temples,
accompanied by a band of attendants, walk
down in Indian file under a canopy of linen
and over cloth spread on the ground to the
waterside. They enter a boat and are
punted up the river close to the bank for
some thirty yards. Then at a given signal
(i. e., at the advent of the lucky hour) the
four jack poles are thrown into the river by
the men on shore, while each of the four
chiefs, with an ornamental silver sword,
cuts a circle in thewater ; at the same time
one attendant takes up a bowl of water from
the circle, and another throws away last
year's supply. The boat then returns to
the shore, the procession goes back to
Kandy, the bowls of water are placed
reverently in the several dewala, to remain
there until the following year ; and the
Perahera is at an end." 19

J. B. A. 8. (C. B.) 1881 Vol. VII p. 33.

42

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

During the time of the kings, it was on
this occasion that the provincial governors
gave an account of their stewardship to their
over-lord and had their appointments re-
newed by him.

When the rainy months of August, Septem-
ber and October are over and the Buddhist
monks return to their monasteries from their
vas retreats, is held the Festival of Lights
(Kartika Mangalya). The Buddhist templet
are illuminated on the full moon day of
November by small oil-lamps placed in niches
of the walls specially made for them ; in
the olden times all the buildings were
bathed in a blaze of light, the Royal Palace
the best of all, with the oil presented to the
king by his subjects. This festival is now
confined to Kandy.

The Alut Sal Mangalya, the festival of
New Rice, is now celebrated to any appreci-
able extent only in the Kandian Provinces,
the last subdued districts of the island. In
the villages the harvest is brought home by
pingo-bearers on the full-moon day of Janu-
ary with rural jest and laughter, and port-
ions of it are given to the Buddhist priest,
the barber and the dhobi of the village ;
next the new paddy is husked, and kiribat
dressed out of it.

In the capital, in the time of the kingdom,
this festival lasted for four days ; "on the
first evening the officers of the royal stores
and of the temples proceeded in state from
the square before the palace to the crown

villages from which the first paddy was to
be brought. Here the ears of paddy and
the new rice were packed up for the temples
the palace and the royal stores by the
Gabadanilames and their officers. The ears
of paddy carefully put into new earthen-
ware pots and the grain into clean bags, were
attached to pingos. Those for the Maligava
(where the Sacred Tooth was kept) were
conveyed on an elephant for the temples
by men marching under canopies of white
cloth ; and those for the palace and royal
stores by the people of the Toyal villages of
respectable caste, well dressed ; and with
apiece of white muslin over their mouths to
guard against impurity. This procession,
starting on the evening of the next day
(full-moon day) from the different farms
under a salute of jingals and attended by
flags, tom-tom beaters, etc., was met on the
way by the 2nd Adigar and a large number
of chiefs at some distance from the city.
From thence all went to the great square to
wait for the propitious hour, at the arrival
of which, announced by a discharge of
jingals, the procession entered the Maligava
where the distribution for the different
temples was made. At the same fortunate
hour the chiefs and the people brought home
their new rice. On the next morning the
king or governor received his portion con-
sisting of the new rice and a selection of all
the various vegetable productions of the
country, which were tasted at a lucky hour." 20

»> Illustrated Supplement to the Examiner (1875) Vol. I p. 8.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER XV.

GAMES, SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

On f eBtive days itinerant songmen amuse
the village folk at open places and greens ;
they keep time to a dance by skilfully whirling
metal-plates or small tambourines on their
fingers or pointed stakes, by striking to-
gether sticks, by tossing earthen pots up in
the air and catching them and they eulogize
the hamlet and its people in extempore
couplets with the refrain, " tana tanamda
tanena, tana, tamda, tanena, tana tanamda,
tana tanamda, tana tanamda, tanena."

The people also enjoy themselves on the
merry-go-round (katuru onchillava)— a large
revolving wheel on a tall wooden super-
structure with seats attached ; at theatrical
representations called kolan netum, rukada
netum, and nadagam ; at games of skill and
at divers forms of outdoor games.

Kolan netuma is a series of mimetic dances
of a ludicrous character by actors dressed
like animals and demons, wearing masks
and sometimes perched on high stilts.

The rukada netuma is a marionette show of
the ordinary incidents of village life— usually
of the adventures of a married couple, a heva-
rala (a militia guard) and his wife Kadirago-
da lamaylt ; the former goes to the wars and
returns with his eyes and ears off only to be
beaten by his wife who soon after falls ill
with labour pains, and devil dancers are
requisitioned to relieve her ; Pinnagoda rala
is the clown of the show.

The nadagama is a dramatic play and for
its performance a circular stage is erected
with an umbrella-shaped tent over it ;
round it sits the audience, who, though
admitted free, willingly contribute something
into the collection-box brought by the
clown (konangiya) at the end of the play.
Before the dtama begins, each of the actors,
in tinselled costume, walks round the stage
singing a song appropriate to his character.
The piece represented is based on a popular
tale or an historical event.

Games of skill and chance are played on
boards made for that purpose.* 1

In Olinda Keliya a board having seven
holes a side is used ; only two can take part
in the game, and each in turn places olinda
seeds {abrua precatorius) in the holes and the
object of the opponent is to capture^ the
other's seeds according to certain rules.' 32

In Pancha Keliya dice and six cowries are
used ; the latter are taken into the player's
hand and dropped, and the shells which fall
on the reverse side are counted and the dice
moved an equal number of places on the
board and the game continues till all the
dice reach the other end of the board.

In Deeyan Keliya sixteen dice represent-
ing cows and four dice representing
tigers are placed on a board and the cows
have to get from one side to the' other

21 J. R. A. S. (C. B.) vol. V. No. 18 p. 17 ( Ludovioi.)
« Ancient Ceylon (1909) p. 587 (Parker.)

44

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

without being intercepted and captured
by the tigers.

Some of the outdoor games played by
adults are of the ordinary kind, and others
of a semi-religious significance.

The ordinary outdoor games are Buhu
Keliya, Pandu Keliya, Lunu Keliya, Mutte,
Halmele and Tattu penille.

In Buhu Keliya there are several players
who place their balls, (made of any bulbous
root hardened and boiled till it becomes like
rubber), round a pole firmly fixed to the
ground ; to this pole is attached a string
about 5 feet long held by a player whose
endeavour is to prevent the others getting
possession of the balls without being touched.
The person touched takes the place of the
guarding player and when all the balls are
taken away the last guard is pelted with
them till he finds safety in a spot previously
agreed upon.

In Pandu Keliya the players form into two
sides, taking their stand 100 yards apart with
a dividing line between ; the leader of one
party throws a ball up and as it comes down
beats it with his open palm and sends the
ball over the fine to the opposing side. If the
other party fails to beat or kick it back, they
must take their stand where the ball fell and
the leader of their party throws the ball to
the other side in the same way. This goes on
till one party crosses the boundary fine and
drives the other party back.

In Lunu Keliya there are two sets of players
occupying the two sides of a central goal
(lunu) about 30 or 40 yards from it ; a player
from one side has to start from the goal,
touch a player of the other side and regain the
goal holding up his breath ; if he fails he goes
out and this goes on till the side which has
the greatest number of successful runners
at the end is declared the winner.

In Mutte (rounders) a post is erected as
a goal, and one of the players stands by it
and has a preliminary conversation with the
others : —

Q. — Kikkiyo.
A.— Muddare.

Q. — Dehikatuvada batukatuvada — Is it a
lime-thorn or a brinjal-thorn ?
A . — Batukatuva — Brinj al- thorn.

Q. — Man endada umba enavada — should
I come or would you come ?

A. — Umbamavaren — you had better come.

As soon as the last word is uttered, the
questioner gives chase, and the others dodge
him and try to reach the post without being
touched ; the one who is first touched
becomes the pursuer.

In Halmele there is no saving post, but
the area that the players have to run about
is circumscribed ; the pursuer hops on one
leg and is relieved by the person who first
leaves the circle or is first touched.

Before starting he cries out — Halmele
A. — Kanakabare.

Q. — Enda honde ? (May I come ?).
A. — Bohama hondayi (All right).

In Tattu penilla also called Mahason's
leap, a figure in the shape of H is drawn ;
a player guards each line and the others
have to jump across them and return with-
out being touched ; it is optional to leap
over the middle line and is only attempted
by the best players, as the demon Mahason
himself is supposed to guard it.

The outdoor games with a semi-religious
significance are Polkeliya, Dodankeliya and
ankeliya.

In Pol Keliya the villagers divide themsel-
ves into two factions called yatipila and
udupila and the leaders of the two parties
take a fixed number of husked cocoanuts
and place themselves at a distance of 30 feet
and one bowls a nut at his adversary who
meets it with another in his hand. This goes
on till the receiver's nut is broken when he
begins to bowl. The side which exhausts
the nuts of the other party is declared the
winner.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

45

Dodan Keliya is a game similar to the
Pol Keliya the oranges taking the place of
the cocoanuts.

In An Keliya a trunk of a tree is buried at
the centre of an open space of ground ; a
few yards off is placed the log of a cocoanut
tree about 20 feet high in a deep hole large
enough for it to move backwards and for-
wards and to the top of it thick ropes are
fastened. The villagers divide themselves
into two parties as in Pol Keliya, and bring
two forked antlers which they hook together
and tying one to the foot of the trunk and
the other to that of the log pull away with
all their might till one of them breaks.

In all these semi-religious games the win-
ning party goes in procession round the vil-
lage and the defeated side has to undergo a
lot of abuse and insult intended to remove
the bad effects of the defeat.

Children in addition to their swings, tops,
bamboo pop — guns, cut water, bows and
arrows, water squirts, cat's cradles and bull
roarers have their own special games.

They play at hide and seek, the person
hiding giving a loud ' hoo ' call that the
others may start the search ; or one of them
gets to an elevated place and tauntingly
cries out " the king is above and the scaven-
ger below " and the others try to drag him
down.

Several children hold their hands together
forming a line and one of them representing
a hare comes running from a distance and
tries to. break through without being caught;
or one of them jsecomes a cheetah and the
rest form a lime of goats holding on to each
other's back. The cheetah addresses the
foremost goat saying " eluvan kannayi
man ave. (I have come to eat the goats)
and tries to snatch away one of the players
at the backj who avoids his clutches singing
" elubeti kapiya sundire " (go and eat
the tasty goat dung) ; if one is caught
he has to hold on to the back of the

cheetah and the game continues till all are
snatched away.

When the children are indoors they amuse
themselves in various ways.

They hold the backs of each other's
hands with their thumb and fore-finger,
move them up and down singing " kaputu
kak kak kak, goraka den den den, amutu
vav vav vav, dorakada gahe puvak puvak,
batapandure bulat bulat, usi kaputa usi,"
and let go each other's hold at the
end of the jingle, which means that
" crows swinging on a gamboge-tree (goraka)
take to their wings when chased away
(usi, usi), and there are nuts in the areca-
tree by the house and betel-creepers in the
bamboo-grove." They also close their fists
and keep them one over the other, pretending
to form a cocoanut-tree ; the eldest
takes hold of each hand in turn, asks its
owner, "achchiye achchiye honda pol
gediyak tiyanava, kadannada ? " (grandmot-
her, grandmother, there is a good cocoanut,
shall I pluck it) ; and, when answered,
" Oh, certainly " (bohoma hondayi), brings
it down. A mimetic performance of husking
the nuts, breaking them, throwing out the
water, scraping the pulp and cooking some
eatable follows this.

They twist the fingers of the left hand,
clasp them with the right, leaving only the
finger-tips visible and get each other to pick
out the middle finger.

They take stones or seeds into their hands
and try to guess the number, or they take
them in one hand, throw them up, catch
them on the back of the hand, and try to
take them back to the palm.

They keep several seeds of stones in front
of them f throw one up and try to catch it
after picking up as many seeds or stones as
possible from the ground.

They hold the fingers of their baby bro-
thers saying " this says he is hungry, this says
what is to be done, this says let us eat, this
says who will pay, this says though I am

46

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

the smallest I will pay " and then tickle
them saying " han kutu."

They keep their hands one over the other*
the palm downwards, and the leader strokes
each hand saying, " Aturu muturu, demita
muturu Rajakapuru hetiya aluta gena
manamali hal atak gerala, hiyala getat
bedala pahala getat bedala, us us daramiti
peliyayi, miti miti daramiti peliyayi, kukala
kapala dara pille, kikili kapala veta mulle,
sangan palla," (Aturu muturu demita
muturu ; the new bride that the merchant,
Rajakapuru, brought, having taken a handful
of rice, cleansed it and divided it to the upper
and lower house ; a row of tall faggots ; a row
of short faggots ; the cock that is killed is on
the threshold ; the hen that is killed is near the
fenee ; sangan palla); one hand is next kept
on the owner's forehead and the other at the
stomach and the following dialogue ensues : —

Q. — Nalale jnonavada — What is on the
forehead 3

A. — Le — Blood.

Q. — Elwaturen heduvada — Did you wash
it in cold water ?

A.— Ov— Yes.

Q. — Giyada — Did it come off ?

A.— Ne-No.

Q. — Kiren heduvada — Did you wash it
in milk?

A.— Ov— Yes.

Q. — Giyada, — Did it come off I

A.—Ov— Yes.

(The hand on the forehead is now taken
down).

Q. — Badeinne mokada— What is at you
stomach ?

A. — Lamaya — A child.

Q. — Eyi andanne— why is it crying ?

A. — Kiri batuyi netuva — For want of
milk and rice.

Q. — K6 man dunna kiri batuyi — Where is
the milk and rice I gave ?

A.— Ballayi belali keva— The dog and
the cat ate it.

Q. — K6 ballayi belali — Where is the dog
and the cat ?

A.— Linde vetuna— They fell into the
well.

Q- — K6 linda— Where is the well ?

A. — Goda keruva — It was filled up.

Q.—K6 goda — Where is the spot ?

A.— Andiya, pela hittewa— There andiy&
plants were planted.

Q.~-Ko andiya pela — Where are the
andiya plants ?

A. — Deva — They were burnt.

Q- — K6 alu — Where are the ashes ?

A. — Tampala, vattata issa — They were
thrown into the tampala (Nothosocruva
brachiata) garden.

Then the leader pinches the other's cheek
and jerks his head backward and forward
singing " Tampala kapu hossa genen (give
me the jaw that ate the tampala).

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES.

CHAPTER XVI.

STOBIES.

Story telling is the intellectual effort of
people who have little used or have not ac-
quired the art of writing. A story is told
for amusement by mothers to their
children, or by one adult to another,
while guarding their fields at night in their
watch hut or before lying down to sleep after
their night meal. At each pause during the
narrafion, the listener has to say " hum "
as an encouragement to the narrator that he
is listening ; and every tale begins with the
phrase " eka mathaka rata " (in a country
that one recalls to mind) and ends with the
statement that the heroes of the Story set-
tled down in their country and the narrator
returned home.

Stories are roughly classified as (1) myths,
(2) legends and (3) folk tales.

(1) "The myth," says "Gomme," is the
recognisable explanation of some natural
phenomenon, some forgotten or unknown
object of human origin, or some event of
lasting influence."

The crow and the king crow were uncle
and nephew in the olden time ; they once
laid a wager as to who could fly the highest,
each carrying a weight with him, and the
winner was to have the privilege of knocking
the loser on the head; the crow selected
some cotton as the lightest material, while
his nephew carried a bag of salt as the clouds
looked rainy. On their way up, rain fell and
made the crow's weight heavier and impeded

his flight while it diminished the king crow's
burden who won the victory and still knocks
the crow on his head.

The water fowl once went to his uncle's-
and got a load of arekanuts to sell ; he en-
gaged some geese to carry them to the water-
side and hired a wood pecker's boat to ferry
them over ; the boat capsized and sank and
the cargo was lost, the geese deformed their
necks by carrying the heavy bags, the wood
pecker is in search of wood to make another
boat and the waterfowl still complains of
the arekanuts he had lost.

(2) A legend is a narrative of things which
are believed to have happened about a
historical personage, locality or event.

A cycle of legend has clustered round king
Dutugemunu who rolled back the Tamil in-
vasion of Ceylon in the 4th Century B. C,
and he is to the Singhalese peasantry what
king Arthur has been to the Celts. The old
chronicles, based on the folklore of an earlier
period, place his traditional exploits in Magam
Pattu, Uva and Kotmale. His mother was
Vihare Devi ; she was set afloat in a golden
casket by her father Kelani Tissa to appease
the gods of the sea, who, incensed by a sacri-
lege act of his, were submerging his princi-
pality of Kelaniya ; the princess drifted to the
country of Hambantota and its ruler Ka-
vantissa rescued her and made her his queen.
The coast on which she landed is still re-
membered as DurSva and has the ruins of a

48

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

vihare built to commemorate her miracu-
lous escape.

Dutugemunu was her eldest son and when
she was pregnant she longed to give as alms
to the Buddhist priesthood a honey comb
as large as an ox, to bathe in the water which
had washed the sword with which a Tamil
warrior had been killed, and to wear unf aded
waterlilies brought from the marshes of
Anuradapura. The town of Negombo sup-
plied the first and the warrior Velusumana
procured tbe other two. Astrologers were
consulted as to the meaning of these longings
and they predicted, to quote the words of the
old chronicler " the queen's son destroying
the Damilas, and reducing the country
under one sovereignty, will make the religion
of the land shine forth again."

When Dutugemunu was a lad, he was
banished from his father's court for dis-
obedience and he passed his youth among
the peasantry of Kotmale till his father's
death made him the ruler of Ruhuna.

Dutugemunu had a band of ten favourite
warriors, all of whom have independent
legends attached to their names ; along with
them, riding on his favourite elephant Sedol,
he performed wonders in 28 pitched battles.

He died at an advanced age, disappointed
in his only son Sali, who gave up the throne
for a low caste beauty. The peasantry still
awaits the re-birth of Dutugemunu as the
chief disciple of the future Maitri Buddha.

(3) A folk tale is a story told mainly for
amusement, deals with ideas and episodes of
primitive life and includes elfin tales, beast
tales, noodle tales, cumulative tales and
apologues.

Elfin tales deal with the magical powers
and the cannibalistic nature of the Rakshas.

A Gamarala's wife, while expecting a baby,
weaves a mat bag to collect the kekira
melons when the season is on. The Gamarala
goes out every day, enjoys the kekira him-
self without informing his wife that the me-

lons are ripe. The wife discovers that the
kekira is ripe from a seed on the Gamarala's
beard. Both go out to collect the kekira
melons and fill the mat bag, when the wife
gives birth to a girl. They decide to carry
the bag of kekira home and throw the child
into the woods as it is a girl. A male and
female cranes see this and carry the child to
a cave. The cranes get a parrot, a dog and
a cat to be companions of the girl who all
grow up together and the girl is called 'sister'
by the pets. The cranes leave the girl to
dive for some pearls to adorn her and before
departing advise her not to leave the cave as
there is a cannibalistic Rakshi in the woods ;
they also ask her to manure the plantain
tree with ash, to water the murunga tree and
to feed her pets especially the cat. The cat
gets a less allowance of food than usual and
in anger puts out the fire by urinating on it.
The girl goes out to fetch fire and copies to
the Rakshi's cave and meets her daughter, who
tries to keep the girl till her mother comes by
promising to give her fire, if she would bring
water from the well, break firewood and
pound two pots of amu seed. The girl does
all this work before the Rakshi arrives and
the daughter gives her live coals in a cocoa-
nut shell with a hole in it, so that the ashes
dropped all along her way. On the Rakshi's
return she is told of the girls' departure and
she follows up the ash track and reaches the
cave. The Rakshi. sings out to the girl that
the crane father and crane mother have come
with the pearls and to open the door. The
dog and the cat warn her from the outside
and the Rakshi kills them and goes away
leaving her thumb nails fixed to the lintel
and her toe nails to the threshold. The
cranes return and on the parrot's advice the
girl opens the door and comes out but gets
fixed by the nails and swoons away. The
cranes think she is dead, but on removal of
the nails the girl recovers. They dress up the
girl beautifully, cover her with a scab cov-
ered cloth, tell her that she is too grown up

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

49

to live with them and bid her farewell. The
girl travels through the woods, becomes tired
and meets the Rakshi ; she asks the Rakshi
to eat her up but the Rakshi contemptuously
passes her by saying " I do not want to eat
a scab covered girl ; I am going to eat a
beautiful princess." The girl arrives at a
king's palace and is employed as a help mate
to the cook. She used to remove her scab
covered cloth only when she went out to
bathe, and a man on a kitul tree tapping for
toddy saw her beauty and informed the king
who forced her with threats to remove her
scab covering and married her.

In beast tales the actors are animals who
speak and act like human beings.

A hare and a jackal sweep a house-com-
pound ; they find two pumpkin seeds and
plant them ; the jackal waters his creeper
with urine and the hare waters his from the
well ; th_e jackal's creeper dies ; the hare gene-
rously agrees to share the pumpkin with his
friend ; the jackal proposes a ruse to ob-
tain the other requisites for their meal ; the
hare lays himself on the road as if dead ;
pingo bearers pass carrying firewood, cocoa-
nuts, rice, pots; as each pingo carrier passes,
the jackal cries out " keep that pingo down
and take away the dead hare ; as they do
so the hare scampers away and the jackal
runs away with the pingos ; the jackal places
the food on the fire and asks the hare to
fetch stalkless kenda leaves, the hare goes in
search and the jackal cooks and eats the
whole meal leaving a few grains of rice for the
hare ; the jackal places a cocoanut husk un-
der his tail to act as a stopper for his over-
filled stomach ; the hare returns without the
leaves and shares the remnants of the meal
with the jackal; at the jackal's request the
hare strokes the jackal's back and removes
the cocoanut husk and is besmeared with
excretion ; the hare runs to a meadow, rolls on
the grass and returns quite clean; the jackal
asks him how he became so and the hare
replies that the dhoby has washed him ;

the j ackal runs to the riverside and asks the
dhoby to make him also clean ; the dhoby
takes him by his hind legs and thwacks him
on the washing stone till he dies, saying
" this is the jackal who ate my fowls."

The noodle tales describe the blunders of
fools and foolish husbands.

Twelve men went one day to cut fence
sticks and they made twelve bundles. One
of them inquired whether there were twelve
men to carry the bundles. They agreed to
count and only found eleven men. As they
thought that one man was short, they went
in search of him to the jungle. They met
a fellow villager to whom they mentioned
their loss. He arranged the bundles in one
line, and the men in another and said
" now you are alright ; let each one take
a bundle of sticks and go home " which
they did as no one was missing.

The people of Rayigam Korale threw stones
at the moon one moonlight night to frighten
it off as they thought it was coming too near
and there was a danger of its burning their
crops ; they also cut down a kitul tree to get
its pith and to prevent its falling down, one
of them supported it on his shoulder and got
killed.

The country folks of Tumpane tried to
carry off a well because they saw a bee's nest
reflected in the water ; the men of Maggona
did the same but ran away on seeing their
shadows in the well.

The Moravak Korale boatmen mistook a
bend in the river for the sea, left their cargo
there and returned home ; and the Pasdum
Korale folk spread mats for elephants to
walk upon.

In cumulative tales there is a repetition
of the incidents till the end when the whole
story is recapitulated.

A bird laid two eggs which got enclosed
between two large stones. The bird asked a
mason to split open the stones ; the mason
refused and the bird, asked a wild boar to
destroy the mason's paddy crop. The wild

50

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

boar refused and the bird asked a hunter
to shoot the wild boar. The hunter refused
and the bird asked the elephant to kill the
hunter as the hunter will not shoot the wild
boar and the wild boar will not destroy the
mason's paddy, and the mason will not split
open the stones. The bird asked a blood-
sucker to creep into the elephant's trunk, but
the bloodsucker declined. The bird then
asked a wild-fowl to peck at the bloodsucker
as the bloodsucker would not creep up the
elephant's trunk, as the elephant would not
kill the hunter ; as the hunter would not
shoot the wild boar, as the wild boar would
not destroy the paddy crop of the mason
who would not split the stones which enclosed
the birds' eggs. The wild-fowl refused and
the bird asked a jackal to eat the wild-fowl.
The jackal began to eat the fowl, the fowl
began to peck at the bloodsucker, the blood-
sucker began to creep up the elephants' trunk;

the elephant began to attack the hunter ; the

hunter began to shoot at the wild boar ; the

boar began to eat the mason's paddy ; the
mason began to split the stones, and the bird

gained access to her two eggs.

Apologues are narratives with a purpose,
they point a moral and are serious in tone.

The moral "be upright to the upright ;
be kind to the kind, and dishonest to the
deceitful " is illustrated by the following
tale. A certain man having accidentally
found a golden pumpkin gave it to a friend
for safe keeping. When the owner asked
for it back his friend gave him a brass one ;
and he went away apparently satisfied.
Sometime after the friend entrusted the
owner of the pumpkin with one of his sons,
but when the father demanded the son back,
he produced a large ape. Complaint was made
to the king who ordered each men to restore
what each had received from the other.

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER XVII.

SONGS AND BALLARD S.

The ordinary folk songs of the country are
called sivupada and can be heard sung in a
drawn out melody by the peasants labouring
on their fields or watching their crops at
night, by the bullock drivers as they go with
their heavy laden c%rts; by the elephant keep-
ers engaged in seeking fodder, by the boat
men busy at their oars, by the women
nursing their infants, by the children as they
swing under the shady trees, and by the pil-
grims on their way to some distant shrine.

For rhythmic noise women and girls sit
round a large tambourine placed on the
ground and play on it notes representing
jingle sounds like the following : —
Vatta katat katat ta
Kumbura katat katat ta
Vatta katat kumbura katat katat

katat katat ta.
Attaka ratumal, attaka sudumal
Elimal dolimal, renkitul mal
Rajjen tarikita rajjen ta.
Oxen are encouraged to labour in the
threshing floor by songs ™

On, leader-ox, O ox-king, on,
In strength the grain tread out.
On, great one, yoked behind the king,
In strength the grain tread out.
This is not our threshing floor,
The Moon-god's floor it is.
This is not our threshing floor
The Sun-god's floor it is.

This is not our threshing floor,
God Ganesha's floor it is.

" On, leader ox, etc."
As high as Adam's Sacred Peak,
t Heap the grain, heap it up ;
As high as Mecca's holy shrine,
Heap the grain, heap it up ;
From highest and from lowest fields,
Bring the grain and heap it up ;
High as our greatest relic shrine,
heap it up, heap it up

" On, leader ox. etc."
The cart drivers still sing of a brave Sin-
ghalese chieftain who fell on the battle field:—
Pun sanda sema payala rata medde
Ran kendi sema pirala, pita medde
Mara senaga vatakaragana Yama yudde
Levke metindu ada taniyama vele medde
(Like full orb'd moon his glory shone,
his radiance filled the world
His loosen'd hair knot falling free in

smoothest threads of gold.
Mara's host beset him— no thought was

there to yield ;
To-day Lord Levke's body still holds the
lonely fields 1 )
The elephant keepers strike up and rustic
song to the accompaniment of a bamboo
whistle.

Etun tamayi api balamuva bolanne
Kitul tamayi api kotaninda denne
Rate gamevat kitulak nedenne

23 From Revd. Moscrop's translation of the song of the Thresher in the " Children of Ceylon ", p. 63.
M From Mr. Bell's translation in the Archaeological Survey of Kegalle, p. 44.

52

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

Etun nisarnayi api divi nassine.

(It is elephants that we must look after,

fellows.
From where can we get kitul for them.
No village or district supplies us with
kitul.

It is owing to elephants that we lose our

lives. )
The following are specimens of a river song,
a sea song and a tank song.

Male male oya namala nela, varen
Atta bindeyi paya burulen tlyii varen
Mahavili ganga diyayanava, bala varen
Sudukeredi oruvapedana varen.
(Brother, brother pluck that na flower and

come.
The branch will break, step on it lightly

and come.
See how Mahavili ganga's waters flow

and come.

Raising shouts of thanks row your boat
and come).

Tan tan tan tala mediriya

Tin tin tin ti la mediriya,

Ape dele miilu

Goda edapan Yalu

Velle pur a, malu.

(Tan tan tan tala mediriya

Tin tin tin ti la mediriya

There is fish in our nets

Pull it to the shore, friends

The shore is full of fish. )

" Sora bora veve sonda sonda olu

nelum eti.
Eva nelannata sonda sonda liyo eti
Kalu karala sudu karala uya deti
Olu sale bat kannata malu neti.
(The Sora bora tank has fine white lotus

flowers

To pluck them there are very handsome
women

After cleaning and preparing, the blos-
soms will be cooked

But alas there are no meat curries to
eat with the lotus rice).

Pilgrims on their way to Adam's Peak sing
the following first verse and as they return
the second.

1. Devindu balen api vandinda
Saman devindu vandavanda
Muni siripa api vandinda

Ape Budun api vandinda.

(To worship our Buddha, to worship His
footprint, may god Saman help us, may his
might support us).

2. Devindu balen api vendo
Saman devindu vendevo

Munisiripa api vendo
Ape budun api vendo.
(We have worshipped our Buddha ;
We have worshipped his foot print ;
The god Samen helped us ;
His might supported us).

A mother amuses her children by pointing
out the moon and asking them to sing out
Handa hamy apatat bat kanda rantetiyak
diyo diyo (Mr. Moon, do give us a golden dish
to eat our rice in); or she makes them clap
their hands singing appuddi pudi puvaththa,
kevum dekak devaththa (clap, clap, clap
away with two rice cakes in your hands); or
she tickles them with the finger rhyme kande
duvayi, hakuru geneyi, tot kayi, matat deyi,
hankutu kutu. (Run to the hills, bring mo-
lasses, You will eat, you will give me, hankutu
kutu) ; or sl.e swings them to the jingle
" Onchilli chilli chille male, Vella digata nelii
kele;" or she rocks them to sleep with the
following lullabies: —

Umbe amma kirata giya,

Kiri muttiya gange giya,

Ganga vatakara kokku giya

Kokku evith kiri bivva

Umba nadan babo

(Your mother went to fetch milk

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

53

The milk pot went down the river

Tala kola pettiya gange duvannan.

The cranes surrounded the river

(The monkeys are engaged in cutting up

The cranes came and drank the milk

a mango

You better not cry, my baby.)

Their mates are engaged in washing the

Baloli loli baloliye

rice

Bala bilindu baloliye

Their young ones are engaged in singing

Kiyamjn gi neleviliye

songs.

Sethapemi mage suratheliye

The palm leaf box is drifting in the river.)

(Darling darling little one

The following is a specimen of a love song.

Darling little tender one

" Galaknan peleyi mata vedunu

Sleeping songs do I sing

gindare

Sleep away my fond little one.)
Radagedere kosatte
Eka gediyayi palagatte
Eka kanta lunu nette

Vilaknan pireyi net kandulu enasere
Malak vat pudami numba namata rubare
Tikakkat nedda matatibunu adare.

Numba nadan doyi doyiye.

(The jak tree at the washer's house

Bore only one fruit

There is no salt to eat with it

You better not cry, but sleep, sleep)

(If I were a stone my passion's heat
would have split me.

If I were a pond my weeping tears would
have filled me.

my darling, I shall offer a flower to

Vanduro indagana ambe liyannan

your memory.

Vendiri indagana hal garannan

Is there nothing left of your old love

Petiyo indagana sindu kiyannan

for me).

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

CHAPTER XVIII.

PROVERBS, RIDDLES AND LOCAL SAYINGS.

A proverbial saying is said to state a fact or
express a thought in vivid metaphor while
a riddle to describe a person or thing in
obscure metaphor calculated as a test of
intellectual ability in the person attempting
to solve it.

Proverbial sayings are divided, according
to their form into direct statements and
metaphorical statements.

The following are examples of direct
statements: —

The quarrel between the husband and the
wife lasts only till the pot of rice is cooked.

A lie is short lived.

One individual can ruin a whole community.

What is the use of relations who do not
help you when your door is broken.

Poverty is lighter than cotton.

Metaphorical statements are more numerous
and are best considered according- to the
matter involved such as honesty, thrift, folly,
knavery, natural disposition, ingratitude,
luck, hypocrisy ; and the following are some
typical examples : — i

When the king takes the wife to whom is
the poor man to complain.

You may escape from the god Saman
Deviyo but you cannot escape his servant
Amangalla.

There is certain to be a hailstorm when
the unlucky man gets his head shaved.

The teeth of the dog that barks at the
lucky man will fall out.

On a lucky day you can catch fish with
twine ; but on an unlucky day the fish will
break even chains of iron.

The water in an unfilled pot makes a noise.

You call a kabaragoya a talagoya when
you want to eat it.

It is like wearing a crupper to cure dy-
sentry.

Like the man who got the roasted jak
seeds out of the fire by the help of a cat.

Like the man who would not wash his
body to spite the river.

Like the man who flogged the elk skin at
home to avenge himself on the deer that
trespassed in his field.

Like the villagers who tied up the mortars
in the village in the belief that the elephant
tracks in the fields were caused by the mor-
tars wandering about at night.

Though a dog barks at a hill will it grow
less,

It is like licking your finger on seeing a
beehive on a tree.

It is not possible to make a charcoal white
by washing it in milk.

The cobra will bite you whether you call
it cobra or Mr. Cobra.

Riddles are either in prose or verse.

As examples of prose riddles the following
may be mentioned: —

SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES

55

What is it that cries on this bank, but drops
its dung on the other (megoda andalayi
egoda betilayi) — A gun.

What is the tree by the door that has
20 branches and 20 bark strips ; twenty
knocks on the head of the person who fails
to solve it. (dorakadagahe atuvissayi potu
vissayi neteruvot toku vissayi) — 10 fingers
and 10 toes.

What is it that is done without inter-
mission (nohita karana vede) — the twinkling
of the eye.

The following are examples of verse riddles.
The Eye—
"Ihala gobe pansiyayak pancha nada

karana
Pahala gobe pansiyayak pancha nada

karana
Emeda devi ruva eti lamayek inda kelina
Metiin pade teruvot Buduvenava."
(On the upper shoot there are 500 songsters
On the lower shoot there are 500 songsters
Between them is an infant of divine
beauty.

If one can solve this he will become a
Buddha).

The Cobra,

Vel vel diga eti
Mai mal ruva eti
RAja vansa eti
Kevot pana neti.

(Long like a creeper
Beautiful like a flower
Of royal caste
With a deadly bite).

The Pine Apple.

Katuvanen ketuvanen kole seti
Ratu nulen getuvaveni male seti
Tun masa giya kalata kukulek s eti
Metun pade teru aya ratak vati
(The leaf is beautifully enchased
The flower is worked with red thread
And this becomes like a chicken in three

months
The one who can solve this deserves

a country.)

APPENDIX.

GLOSSARY OF SINHALESE FOLK TERMS APPEARING IN THE SERVICE

TENURE REGISTER (1872.)

A

ABARANA : Insignia of a Deviyo ; vessels of gold and silver, etc., in a Dewala.

ADAPPAYA : Headman amongst the Moors ; a term of respect used in addressing an elder.

ADHAHANA-MALUWA : A place of cremation ; especially the place where the bodies of the kings of
Kandy were burnt and where their ashes were buried.

ADIKAPvAMA : An officer of the Kataragama Dewala next in rank to the Basnayake Nilame.

ADIPALLA OR WARUPALLA : The lower layers of the stacked paddy on the threshing floor
allowed to the watcher as a perquisite.

ADUKKU : Cooked provisions given to headmen or persons of rank.

ADUKKU-WALANKADA ; A pingo of earthenware vessels for cooking or carrying food for head-
men, etc.

AGAS : First-fruits ; ears of paddy cut as alut-sal, i.e, for the thanksgiving at the harvest home.

AHARA-PUJAWA : The daily offering of food in a Vihare ; before noon the mid-day meal is carried
to the Vihare, and placed in front of the image of Buddha ; it is then removed to the refectory or pansala,
where it is consumed by the priests or by the servitors.

AHAS-KAMBE : The tight-rope (literally air-rope) used for rope-dancing which is a service of cer-
tain tenants of the Badulla Do wale.

AKYALA . Contribution of rice or paddy on the occasion of a procession at a Dewala ; first fruits
offered for protection of the crop by the Deviyo.

ALATTIBEMA : A ceremony performed at the door of the sanctuary in a Dewale ; the waving to
and fro of an oil lamp by females, who repeat the while in an undertone the word ayu-bowa, long life (lit.
may your years increase).

ALGA-RAJAKARIYA : Service at the loom.

ALAGU : A mark to assist the memory in calculation (Clough) ; a tally, e. g. in counting cocoanuts
one is generally put aside out of each 100 ; those thus put aside are called alagu.

ALIANDURA : The morning music at a temple. ,

ALLASA : A present, a bribe, a. fee paid on obtaining a maruwena-panguwa.

ALUT-AWRUDU-MANGALYAYA : Festival of the Sinhalese new year ; it falls in the early part of

April.

ALUT-SAL-MANGALYAYA : The festival of the first fruits ; the harvest home.

ALWALA-REDDA : A cloth fresh from the loom.

AMARAGE OR AMBARAGE : Covered walk or passage between a Dewala and the Wahalkada

or porch.

AMUNA : A dam or anicut across a stream ; a measure of dry grain equal to about i\ bushels, some-
times 5 bushels.

ANAMESTRAYA ; A shed in which to keep lights during festivals. In some temples these sheds
are built permanently all round the widiya or outer court ; in others they were mere temporary structures
to protect the lights from wind and rain.

ANDE : Ground share given to a proprietor.

ANDU-GIRAKETTA : An arecanut-cutter of the shape of a pair of pincers ; it forms the penuma
or annual offering of the blacksmiths to their lord.

ANKELIYA : The ceremony of pulling horns or forked sticks to propitiate Pattini-deviyo in times of
epidemics ; according to ancient legends, it was a pastime at which the Deviyo and her husband Palanga
took sides. They are said to have emulated each other in picking flowers with the forked sticks the hus-
band standing at the top and the wife at the foot of a tree. The ankeliya as its name imports partakes
more of the nature of a village sport than of a religious ceremony. There are two sides engaged, called the

ii APPENDIX

uda and yati-pil. It is conducted in a central spot in the midst of a group of villages set apart for the
partiuclar purpose, called anpitiya, and commenced on a lucky day after the usual invocation by the
Kapurala, who brings with him to the spot the Halan a kind of bracelet the insignia of the Deviyo. The
two Pil select each its own horn or forked stick ; the horns or sticks are then entwined — one is tied to a
stake or tree, and the other is tied to a rope, which is pulled by the two parties till one or other of the
horns or sticks breaks. The Pila which owns the broken horn is considered to have lost, and has to under-
go the jeers and derision of the winning party. If the Yatipila which is patronized by the Deviyo (Pattini)
wins, it is regarded as a good omen for the removal or subsidence of the epidemic. The ceremony closes
with a triumphal procession to the nearest Dewale. A family belongs hereditarily to one or the other of
the two Pil.

ANPITIYA : The spot or place where the above ceremony is performed.

ANUMETIRALA ; A respectful term for a Kapurala, one through whom the pleasure of the Deviyo
is known.

ANUNAYAKA UNNANSE : A priest next in rank to a Maha-Nayaka or chief priest, the sub -prior
of a monastery.

APPALLAYA : The earthen ware vessel natter than an atale, q. v.

APvALU: Gall-nuts.

ARAMUDALA : Treasury, or the contents of a treasury; the reserve fund.

ARANGUWA : An ornamental arch decorated with flowers or tender leaves of the cocoanut tree.

ARA-SALAWA OR BOJANASALAWA . Refectory.

ARRIKALA : One-eighth portion.

ASANA-REDI : Coverings of an asanaya ; altar cloth.

ASANAYA ; Throne, altar, seat of honor.

ATALE : A small earthenware -pot usually used in bathing.

ATPANDAMA : A light carried in the hand, formed generally of a brass cup at the end of a stick
about two feet long. The cup is filled with tow and oil.

ATAPATTU-WASAMA : The messenger class. A holding held by the atapattu people. The service
due from this class is the carrying of messages, keeping guard over treasure or a temple or chief's house,
and carrying in procession state umbrellas, swords of office etc., watching threshing floors and accompany-
ing the proprietor on journeys.

ATAPATTU MOHOTTALA : Writer over the messenger class.

ATAWAKA : The eighth day before and after the full moon. The first is called Pura-atavaka and
the second Ava-atavaka.

ATTANAYAKARALA : Custodian ; storekeeper ; overseer corresponding in rank to Wannakurala,
q. v.

ATUGE : A temporary shed or outhouse for a privy.

ATUPANDALAYA : A temporary shed or booth made of leaves and branches.

ATUWA: Granary.

AWALIYA : The same as Hunduwa or Perawa, which is one-fourth of a seer.

AWATEWAKIRBVxA ; Ministration ; Daily service at a Dewala.

AWATTA . An ornamental talipot used as an umbrella.

AWULPAT : Sweetmeats taken at the end of a meal.

AWRUDU-PANTIYA : New year festival, a term in use in 'the Kurunegala District.

AWRUDU-WATTORUWA : A chit given by the astrologer shewing the hour when the new year
commences, and its prognostics.

AYUBOWA : " Live for years", a word used by way of chorus to recitals at Bali ceremonies.

B

BADAHELA-PANGUWA : The tenement of land held by a potter. His service consists of supply-
ing a proprietor with all the requisite earthenware for his house and bath, and his lodgings on journeys
for his muttettuwa, for cooking, and for soaking seed paddy, for festivals, Yak and Bali ceremonies, wed-
dings, etc. The supplying of tiles and bricks and keeping the roof of tiled houses waterproof, giving penuia

APPENDIX

walan to tenants for the penumkat, and making clay lamps, and kalas for temples. The potter also
makes a present of chatties as his penum to proprietor and petty officers. When the quantity of bricks
and tiles to be supplied is large, the proprietor finds the kiln, shed, clay and firewood. Kumbala is another
name by which a potter is known.

BADAL-PANGUWA : The holding held by smiths, called likewise Nawan-panguwa. Under the
general term are included Achari (blacksmiths) Lokuruwo (braziers) and Badallu (silver or gold smiths)
The blacksmith supplies nails for roofing houses, hinges, locks, and keys for doors, all kitchen utensils,
agricultural implements, and tools for felling and converting timber. His penuma consists of areeanut
cutters, chunam boxes, ear and tooth picks, at the forge he is given the services of a tenant to blow the
bellows, and when employed out of his house he is given his food. The Lokuruwa mends all brass and
copper-vessels of a temple, and generally takes part in the service of the other smiths. The silver and
goldsmiths work for the proprietor in their special craft when wanted, and in temples mend and polish all
the sacred vessels, do engraving and carving work, decorate the Rate (car of the deviyo) and remain on
guard there during the Perahera, attend at the Kaphitawima, and supply the silver rim for the Ehala-gaha.
The goldsmiths present penum of silver rings, carved betel boxes, ornamental arrow-heads, etc. The
smith tenant also attends and assists at the smelting of iron. In consideration of the value of the service
of a smith, he generally holds a large extent of fertile land.

BAGE : A division ; a term used in Sabaragamuwa for a number of villages of » Dewala in charge of
a Vidane.

BAKMASA : The first month of the Sinhalese year (April-May).

BALIBAT NETIMA : A devil-dance performed for five days after the close of the Perahera by a class
of persons superior to the ordinary yakdesso (devil dancers) and called Balibat Gammehela, supposed to
be descendants of emigrants from the Coast.

BALI-EDURO : The persons who make the clay images for, and dance at, a Bali-maduwa which is a
ceremony performed to propitiate the planets. The performance of Bali ceremonies is one of the principal
services of tenants of the tom-tom beater caste.

BALI-EMBIMA . The making of images for a Bali ceremony.

BALI-ERIMA : The performance of the above ceremony. Note the peculiar expression Bali ari-
nawa not Karanawa.

BALI-KATIRA : Sticks or supports against which the images at a Bali ceremony are placed.

BALI-TIYANNO : Same as Bali-eduro.

BAMBA-NETIMA : In the processions at a Diya-kepima there is carried a wickerwork frame made
to represent a giant (some say Brahma) ; a man walks inside' this frame and carries it along exactly in
the same way as " Jack-in-the green." The service of carrying it in procession is called Bambanetima.

BAMBARA-PENI : Honey of one of the large bees. A pingo of this honey is given to the proprietor
of the lands in which it is collected.

BANA-MADUWA : A large temporary shed put up for reading Bana during Waskalaya, q. v.

BANA-SALAWA : A permanent edifice attached to a wihare for reading Bana.

BANDARA; Belonging to the palace. It is now used of any proprietor, whether lay or clerical,
e. g., Bandara-atuwa means the proprietor's granary.

BANKALA WIYANA : A decorated cloth or curtain, so called, it is supposed, from being imported

from Bengal.

BARAKOLAN : Large masks representing Kataragama Deviyo, used in dancing at the Dewala Pere-

hara.

BARAPEN : Remuneration given to copysts. Hire given for important services, as the building of

wihares, making of images, etc.

BASNAYAKE NILAME : The lay chief or principal officer of a Dewale.
BATAKOLA : The leaves of a small species of bamboo used for thatching buildings.
BATGOTUWA : Boiled rice served out or wrapped up in a leaf. Boiled rice offered up at a Yak

or Bali ceremony.

BATTANARALA : The Kapurala who offers the multen (food offering).
BATWADANARALA : The same as Battanarala,

IV APPENDIX

BATWALANDA : Earthenware vessel for boiling rice in. It is as large as a common pot but with
a wider mouth.

BATWALAN-HAKURU : Large cakes of jaggery of the shape of a " Batwalanda " generally made
in Sabaragamuwa.

BATWEDA : Work not done for hire, but for which the workmen receive food.

BATWI : Paddy given by the proprietor as sustenance to a cultivator in lieu of food given during
work.

BEMMA : A Wall, * bank, a bund.

BEHET-DIYA : A lotion made of lime juice and other acids mixed with perfumes for use at the Nanu-
mura mangalyaya, when the priest washes the sacred reflection of the head of Buddha in a mirror held in
front of the image for the purpose.

BETMERALA : The officer in charge of a number of villages belonging to a temple, corresponding
to a Vidane, q.v.

BIN-ANDE : Ground share ; Ground rent.

BINARAMASA : The sixth month of the Sinhalese year (September — October).

BINNEGUNWI : Paddy given as sustenance during ploughing time.

BISOKAPA : See Ehelagaha. It is a term in use in the Kabulumulle Pattini Dewale in Hatara
Korale.

BISSA i A term in use in the Kegalle District for a granary round in shape, and of wickerwork daubed
with mud.

BINTARAM-OTU : Tax or payment in kind, being a quantity of paddy, equal to the full extent sown,
as distinguished from half and other proportionate parts of the sowing extent levied from unfertile fields.
Thus in an amuna of land the bintaram-otu is one amuna paddy.

BODHIMALUWA : The Court round a bo-tree, called also Bomeda.

BOJANA-SALAWA : The same as arasalava.

BOLPEN : Water used at a temple for purposes of purification.

BULAT-ATA : A roll of betel consisting of 40 leaves forming the common pemtma to a proprietor at
the annual festival corresponding to the old English rent day. It is a mark of submission and respect,
and is therefore greatly valued.

BULAT-HXJRULLA : A fee given to » chief or proprietor placed on a roll of betel. The fee given
annually for a Maruvena panguwa.

BULU : One of the three myrobalans (Clough).

CHAMARAYA : A fly-flapper, a yak's tail fixed to a silver or other handle, used to keep flies off
the insignia of a deviyo or persons of distinction.

D

DADAKUDAMAS : A compound word for meat and fish.

DAGOBE OR DAGEBA : Lit. Relic chamber. A Buddhist mound or stupa of earth or brick some-
times faced with stone, containing generally a chamber in which is preserved a casket of relics.

DALUMURE : A turn to supply betel for a temple or proprietor.

DALUJ1URA-PANGUWA : The holding of tenants, whose special service is that of supplying weekly
or fortnightly, and at the festivals, a certain quantity of betel leaves for the " dalumura-tewawa " imme-
diately after the multen or " ahara-pujawa " and for the consumption by the officers or priests on duty
This service was one of great importance at the Court of the King, who had plantations of betel in differ-
ent parts of the country, with a staff of officers, gardeners, and carriers. At present the tenants of this class
in Xinda villages supply betel to the proprietor for consumption at his house and on journeys. In some
service villages the betel is to be accompanied with a quantity of arecanuts.

DALUPATHKARAYA : A sub-tenant ; a garden tenant ; one who has asweddumised land belonging
tc a mulpangukaraya. In some Districts the dalupathkaraya is called pelkaraya.

APPENDIX V

DAMBU : Tow ; rags for lights. The supplying of dambu at festivals in a temple or for a Bali
ceremony at a chief's house forms one of the principal services of a dhobi.

DAN-AD UKKUWA: Food given by a tenant of a vihare land to the incumbent as distinguished from
" dan " given to any priest for the sake of merit.

DANDUMADUWA : A timber-shed ; a timber room. Every temple establishment has an open
long shed for timber and building materials etc., and its upkeep forms one of the duties of the tenants.

DANE : Food given to priests for merit ; alms : charity.

DANGE : Kitchen of a Panaale.

DANKADA : Pingo of food given to a priest.

DARADIYARA : Fuel and water the supplying of which forms the service of the Uliyakkarawasam
tenants.

DASILIKAMA : An assistant to a Lekama or writer. The term is peculiar to Sabaragamuwa.

DAWULA : The common drum.

DAWULKARAYA : A tenant of the tom-tom beater caste, playing on a dawula at the daily service
of a Vihare or a Dewale, and at the festivals.

DAWUL-PANGUWA: The tenement held by tenants of the tom-tom beater caste. In temples their
service comes under the kind called the Pita-kattale (out-door-service). At the daily tewawa, at festivals,
at pinkam, and on journeys of the incumbent, they beat the hewisi (tom-toms). On their turn of duty
in a temple, they have to watch the temple and its property, to sweep and clean the premises, to gather
flowers for offerings, and to fetch bolpen (water for temple use) . The services of a Hewisikaraya are re.
quired by a lay proprietor only occasionally for weddings, funerals, yak and bali ceremonies, and on state
occasions. This class of persons is employed in weaving cloth, and their penuma consists of a taduppu
cloth or lensuwa. In all respects the services of the Diwulkarayo resemble those of the Tammattankarayo,
a portion of the same caste, but who beat the Tammattama instead of the Dawula.

DEHAT-ATA : A roll of betel leaves given to a priest. A respectful term for a quid of betel.

DEHET-GOTUWA : Betel wrapped up in the leaf of some tree.

DEKUMA : A presant given to a chief or incumbent of a temple by a tenant when he makes his ap-
pearance annually or oftener, and consists of either money, or sweetmeats, or cloth, or arecanut-cutters,
etc., according to the tenants trade or profession or according to his caste.

DELIPIHIYA : A razor. One of the " atapirikara " or eight priestly requisites viz., three robes
an almsbowl, a needle case, a razor, a girdle, and a filter.

DEPOYA : The poya at full moon.

DEW ALA YA : A temple dedicated to some Hindu Deviyo or local divinity. The four principal
dewala are those dedicated to Vishnu, Kataragama, Nata and Pattini Deviyo. There are others belonging
to tutelary deities, such as the Ma,ha Saman Dawalaya in Sabaragamuwa belonging to Saman Dewiyo
the tutelary deviyo of Siripade, Alutunwara Dawale in the Kegalle District to Dedimundi-dewata-ban-
dara, prime minister of Vishnu etc.

DEWA-MANDIRAYA : Term in Sabaragamuwa for the " Maligawa " or sanctuary of a Dewale.

DEWA-RUPAYA : The image of a Deviyo.

DEWOL OR DEWOL-YAKUN : Foreign devils said to have come from beyond the seas and who
according to tradition landed at the seaside village called Dewundare near Matara and proceeded thence
to Sinigama near Hikkaduwa. Pilgrims resort to either place and perform there the vows made by them
in times of sickness and distress.

DIGGE : The porch of a Dewalaya. It is a building forming the ante-chamber to the Maligawa or
sanctuary where the daily hewisi is performed and to which alone worshippers have access. It is a long
hall, as its name signifies, and it ia there that the dance of the women at festivals, called Digge-netima,
takes place.

DISSAWA : The ruler of a Province.

DIWA-NILAME : Principal lay officer of the Dalada-maligawa. The term is supposed to have had
its origin from the highest dignitary in the kingdom holding amongst other functions the office of watering
the Srimahabodinvahanse or sacred Bo-tree in Anuradhapura.

DIWEL : Hire or remuneration for service.

VI APPENDIX

DIYAGE : A bath room. The putting up of temporary sheds, or the upkeep of permanent structures
as well as supplying water, forms part of the menial services of the Uliamwasam tenants .

DIYA-KACHCHIYA : Coarse cloth bathing dress which it is the duty of the dhobi to supply at the
bath. It is also called Diyaredi or Diyapiruwata.

DIYAKEPUMA : The ceremony of cutting water with golden swords by the Kapurala of the Dewale
at the customary ford or pond at the close of the Perehera in July or August.

DIYATOTA : The ford or ferry where the above ceremony is performed.

DOLAWA: A palanquin.

DOTALU-MAL : The flowers of the dotalu-tree, a small species of the arecanut-tree used in deco-
rations.

DUMMALA -. Powdered resin used at a yak or bali ceremony to give brilliancy to the light.

DUNITKARAWASAMA : The military class. Literally, archers. The lands forming the holding
of the Dunukarawasam tenants. Their chief services at present are the carrying of letters and messages,
keeping guard at the Walauwe (house) of the proprietor, watching the threshing floor, fetching buffaloer
for work and accompanying the proprietor on journeys of state bearing the mura awudaya (lance).

DUNUMALE-PENUMA : The penuma (present) given in the mouth of Nawan (February) by ten.
ants to the high priest of the Sripadastane (Adam's Peak) so called after an incumbent of that name.

DURUTUMASE : The tenth month of the Sinhalese year (January-February).

D.UREYA . A headman of the Wahumpura Badde or Paduwa caste. Also a general name for a
palanquin bearer.

DURAWASAMA : The office of Dureya or headman of the Durayi. The tenement of land held by
their class. Their services resemble those of the Ganwasama the difference being that instead of cooked they
give uncooked provisions, and vegetables or raw provisions instead of sweet-meats for the penuma to the
landlord.

EBITTAYA : A Boy. A priest's servant.

ED AND A : A plank or trunk thrown across a stream. A log bridge.

EHELA-GAHA : A post or tree set up at a Dewale at a lucky hour in the month of Ehela as a preli-
minary to the Perahera. Compare the English May- pole.

EHELA-PEREHARA : Vide Perahera.

ELAWALUKADA : A pingo of vegetables, which is the penuma given to proprietors by the tenants
of the lower castes.

ELWI : A kind of paddy grown on all hill sides under dry cultivation.

EMBETTAYA : A barber.

EMBULKETTA : A kitchen knife. It is the penuma given by blacksmith tenants.

ETIRILLA : Cloth spread on chairs or other seats out of respect to a guest or headman. (Clough)
It is the service of a dhobi tenant.

ETULKATTALAYA : The inner room or sanctuary of a Dewale, called also the Maligawa and Dewa-
mandiraya. The term is also applied to all the officers having duties in the sanctuary, such as Kapurala,
Batwadanarala, Wattorurala, etc.

a

GAHONT : Ornam9ntal covers made of cloth to throw over penuma.

GALBEMMA . Stone-wall. Rampart.

GAL-LADDA : A smith. A stonemason.

GAL-ORUWA : A stone trough for water, called also Katharama.

GAMANMURE : A turn of attendance at festivals, which in the of ease tenants living in remote
villages is frequently commuted for a fee. Hence the term.

GAMARALA : The headman of a village, generally an hereditary office in the family of the principal
tenant.

GAMMADUWA-DA : The day of an almsgiving at a Dewale to conciliate the Deviyo in times of
sickness.

APPENDIX. vii

GAMMIBIS: Peppercorn.

GANWASAMA : Sometimes written Gammagama. The tenement held by a Ganwasama, the supe-
rior class of tenants in a village. Their panguwa supplies the proprietor with persons eligible for appoint-
ment to the subordinate offices in a village such as Vidane, Lekama, and Kankanama. The Ganwasama
people are often of the same social standing as the proprietor and sometimes are related to him. They
are generally the wealthiest people in the village and hold the most fertile lands. Consequently they
have to make heavy contributions in the shape of adukku and pehidum to the proprietor and his
retinue on his periodical visits, to his officers coming on duty and to his messengers dispatched
with orders to tenants. They also have to give the Mahakat monthly, the Penumkat at festivals,
and Dankat during Was, and to feed the workmen in the Muttettuwa and officers superintending the
work. In the same manner as the Uliyam-wasama has to provide all the ordinary labour in » village
so the Ganwasama has to provide all that is required for strangers visiting the village and generally
to discharge the duties of hospitality for which the Kandyan villages are celebrated. This entails upon
the Ganwasama the necessity of setting apart a place called the Idange for lodging strangers.
The whole charge of the Muttettu work devolves on the Ganwasama which also has to superintend
and assist in building work at the proprietor's house attend at his house on festive and
other occasions in times of sickness and at funerals bringing penumkat and provisions. A Ganwasama
tenant has to accompany the proprietor on his journeys on public occasions, and to guard
his house in his absence. A woman of the panguwa has likewise to wait on the lady of the house and to
accompany her on journeys. The Ganwasama takes the lead in the annual presentation of the tenants
before the proprietor. In temple villages, in addition to the above services performed to the lay chief,
the Ganwasama has to superintend and take part in the preparations for, and celebration of, the festivals.

GANGATAYA . The leg of an animal killed in the chase given to the proprietor of the land. Some-
times more than one leg is given.

GANLADDA : An owner of land. Sometimes applied to small proprietors, and sometimes to prop-
rietors of inferior castes, e. g., the proprietors of the village Kotaketana (smiths and wood-carvers) are

always so styled.

GANMURE : Watching at a temple, or the period of service there taken in turns by villages.

GANNTLE : The service field in a village held by the Gammahe or the village headman for the time
being. Field held by a small proprietor and cultivated for him by his tenants.

GANPANDURA : Tribute for land. Ground rent.

GAN-PAYINDAKARAYA : A messenger under an inferior headman.

PARA-YAKUMA : A devil dance performed in some districts at the close of important undertakings
such as construction of buildings at the close of the Perehera for the elephants, etc.

GEBARALA : A storekeeper whose duty it is to measure the paddy, rice, oil etc., received into and
issued out of a temple gabadawa (store).

GEWATU-PANAMA : Payment for gardens. Garden rent, as the name implies, originally a fanam.

GIKIYANA-PANGUWA : Tenement held by tenants whose service consists in singing at Dewale
" Kenmura " days and on festivals, and in the performance of the Digge-netima, which latter is a ser-
vice performed by women. The songs generally relate to the exploits of the Dewiyo. The men sing
Ind play on cymbals, drums, etc., and the women dance. The ordinary tom-tom-beater is not allowed

to play for dancera o£ this claSS ' Whi ° h iS supposed *° b6 ° f Ta,mil ° ri§i11-

GILANPASA : The evening meal of Buddhists priests restricted to drinkables, as tea, coffee, etc. ■

solid food is prohibited after noon-day.

GODA-OTU : Literally, tax on high lands. Tax on chenas.

GODAPADDA : A messenger under a headman of the low-castes. The term is in use in the Matal«

13 GORAKA : The fruit of the gamboge tree dried. It imparts to food a delicate acid, and is chiefly

used in seasoning fish.

GOYIGANAWA : Smoothing the bed of a field, being the last process preparatory to sowing.

GURULETTUWA : A goglet.

•VIU APPENDIX

H

HAKDURE : A service of blowing the couch-shell or horn in the daily service of a Dewalaya.

HAK-:^DIYA: A chank. A conch-shell.

HAKf ALIHA : The carrying of the conch-shell and shield in procession which forms one of the
services of the tenants of temple villages.

HAKURTJ-ESSA . A cake of jaggery. Half a "mula" (packet).

HAKURUKETAYA : A ball of jaggery. It is of no definite size.

HAKURUMULA : A packet of two cakes of jaggery.

HAKURUPATTAYA ; Balls of jaggery wrapped up in the sheath of the branch of an arecanut tree.

HALUPAINDAYA . Officer in charge of the sacred vestments of a Dewale.

HAJMBA : Paddy belonging to a temple of the king.

HAMBA-ATUWA : The granary belonging to a temple or the king.

HAMUDA-WALE-MTJRAYA : The mura by tenants of Pidawiligam under the Dalada Maligawa.

HAXGEDIYA : A head-smith.

HANGALA : The piru-wataya (lent-cloth) given by dhobies to Kapuwo and Yakdesso.

HAXNALIYA : A tailor ; large Dewala and Wihara establishments have tenants to sew and stitch
the sacred vestments, curtains, flags, etc., and to assist in decorating the car.

HARASKADAYA : A cross stick in an arch, supplied by tenants for decorations at festivals.

HATMALUWA ; A curry made of seven kinds of vegetables and offered with rice at a Bali ceremony

HATTIYA : A hat shaped talipot carried on journeys by female attendants of ladies, answering
the double purpose of a hat and an umbrella.

HAYA-PEHINDUMA : Provisions given to a temple or person of rank, consisting of six neli (seru)
of rice and condiments in proportion.

HELAYA : A piece of cloth of twelve cubits.

HELIYA : A large round vessel with a wide mouth for boiling rice, paddy, etc.

HEMA-KADA : Food offering in a Dewala similar to the Ahara-pujawa at a Vihare. It is carried
by the proper Kapurala, called Kattiyana-rala, pingo -fashion, and delivered at the door of the sanctuary
to the officiating Kapurala.

HENDA-DURE : The evening hewisi (music) at a Dewale.

HENDUWA : Elephant-goad.

HEPPUWA : A box, a basket. The term is in use in the Kegalle District in connection with a pen-
uma of sweetmeats called Kevili-heppuwa just as in other Districts it is called Kevili-pettiya.

HEWAMUDALA : Payment in lieu of the services of a tenant of the Hewasam or military class.

HEWAWASAMA : The tenement held by the Hewawasama. The military class. Their services at
present are those of the Atapattuwasama and consist in carrying messages and letters etc., accompanying
the proprietor on journeys, carrying his umbrella or talipotand keeping guard at halting places attending
to the service of betel, guarding the proprietor's house, watching threshing floors, attending at funerals
and setting fire to the pyre. They present a penuma of sweetmeats and receive as funeral perquisities a-
suit of clothes. Persons of their wasama, as those of the Ganwasama, are chosen for subordinate offices.

HEVENPEDURA : A mat made of a kind of rush.

HEWISI-MANDAPPAYA : The court where the Hewisi (music) is performed in « Vihare correspond
ng to the Digge in a Dewale.

HILDANE : The early morning meal of Buddhist priests, generally -of rice-gruel.

HILEKAN: Registers of fields.

HIMILA : Money given by a proprietor as hire for buffaloes employed in ploughing and threshing crops.

HIRAMANAYA : A cocoanut scraper. It is an article of penuma with blacksmith tenants.

HIROHI-NETIMA : Called also Niroginetima. It is a dance at the procession returning from the
Diyakepima of the Saragune Dewale in the Badulla District.

HITIMURAYA : The turn for being on guard at a temple or a chief's house. It consists generally
of fifteen days at a time, nights included. The tenant both on entering upon and on leaving his muraya,
appears before the incumbent or chief with the penuma of a roll of betel, and when on mure has the charge
of the place and its property, clears and sweeps the premises, attends to ordinary repairs, fetches flowers
in temples and goes on messages. He receives food from the temple.

APPENDIX ix

HIWEL : Coulters, the providing of which forma one of the services of a blacksmith tenant.

HIWEL-ANDE : Cultivators' share of the produce of a field being half of the crop after deducting
the various payments called " Waraweri " which are (1) Bittara-wi (seed-padi), as much as had been sown
and half as much as interest (2) Deyyanne-wi, 4 or 5 laha of paddy set apart for the Dewiyo, or boiled
into rice and distributed in alms to the poor ; (3) Adipalla, the lower layers of the stacked paddy (4)Peldora,
the ears of corn round the watchhut which together with Adipalla are the watcher's perquisities (5) Yakune-
wi, paddy set apart for » devil ceremony. Besides the above, " Akyala " (first-fruits) is offered to the
Deviyo for special protection to the crop from vermin, flies, etc.

HULAWALIYA : The headman of the Rodi. The Rodi tenants are very few in number and are
found in but very few villages. They supply prepared leather for drums and ropes of hide halters, thongs
and cords for cattle and bury carcases of dead animals found on the estate to which they belong.

I

IDANGE OR IDAMA : The principal building where visitors of rank are lodged in a village.

IDINNA : Called also Usna. A smith's forge.

ILLATTATTUWA : A betel-tray. The penuma given by a tenant engaged in carpentary or by a
carver in wood.

ILMASA -. The eighth month of the Sinhalese year (Nov. Dec.)

IRATTUWA : A word of Tamil extraction and applied to a kind of native cloth originally made
by the Mahabadde people and at present by the tom-tom beater caste.

IRILENSUWA : A striped handkerchief given as a penuma by tenants of the tom-tom beater caste.

ISSARA ; The individual share or strip of land in a range of fields cultivated by the share -holders
in common.

ITIPANDAMA : A wax candle -

ITIWADALA : A lump of wax. In the honey-producing jungle districts as Nuwarakalawiya, Matale
North etc., honey and itiwadal are dues to which a proprietor is entitled.

JAMMAKKARAYA -. A low-caste man. This is the sense in which the word is at present used
in the Kandyan country but is proper meaning is a man of caste — of good birth.

KADA : A load divided into two portions of equal weight and tied to the two ends of a pole, which
is balanced on the shoulder, called in Ceylon a '* pingo " and in India a " bhangy."

KADAKETTA : a razor.

KADAPAIYA : A long bag or purse called also Olonguwa.

KADA-RAJAKARIYA ; A pingo -load of village supplies given to the king by the Ganwasam. The
Uamarala had to deliver it in person in Kandy. The chiefs, lands exempted from tax for loyalty to. the
British Government were not relieved of the pingo duty. (See proclamation of 21st November 1818,

Clause 22).

KAHADIYARA : Sprinkling water used by a Kapurala in ceremonies.

KAHAMIRIS : Saffron and chillies.

KA'HATAPOTU : Bark of the saffron tree used in dyeing priests' robes.

KALAGEDIYA OR KALAYA : A pot, the ordinary vessel used by water-carriers.

KALALA : Carpets, or mats made of a kind of fibre (Sanseviera Zeylanica.)

KALANCHIYA : A Tamil word for an earthenware spitting pot.

KALA-PANDAMA OR KILA-PANDAMA : A branched torch with generally three lights some-
times, six see ATPANDAMA.

KALAS : Earthenware lamps with stands for decorations.

KAMMALA : A forge. A smithy.

KAMMALKASI : Payment in lieu of service at the smithy.

KAMATA : A threshing-floor.

KANGAN : Black cloth given to attendants at funerals.

KANHENDA: An ear-pick.

X APPENDIX

KANKANAMA : An overseer.

KANKARIYA : A devil ceremony.

KANUWA : A post.

KAPHITUNDAWASA : The day on which a pole is set up in a Dewale for the Perehera, see Ehelagaha.

KAPURALA : A dewala-priest. The Office is hereditary.

KARANDA : A tree, the twigs of which are in general use amongst Buddhist priests by way of tooth
brushes. The village of Tittawelgoda has to supply annually 2000 of these tooth-brushes to the Dambulla
monastery.

KARANDU-HTTNU : Chunam to offer with betel at the sanctuary.

KARAKGEDIYA : A portable wicker basket for catching fish open at both ends and conical in
shape used in shallow streams.

KARA W ALA : Dried fish, the usual penuma of Moor tenants.

KARIYA KARANARALA : Officer second in rank to the Diwa Nilame in the Dalada Maligawa.
The office is restricted to a few families and the appointment is in the hands of the Diwa Nilame, who
receives a large fee for it at the yearly nomination. As the Diwa Nilame's deputy, the Kariyakaranarala
attends to all the. business matters of the Maligawa and is entitled to valuable dues from subordinate head-
men on appointment.

KASAPEN : Young cocoanuts generally given as penuma.

KATARAMA . Same as Galoruwa.

KATBULATHURULU : Penuma consisting of pingoes and money with betel.

KATGAHA : Sometimes called Kajjagaha. The same as Ehelagaha q.v.

KATHAL : The pingo -loads of rice due to the king by way of the Crown dues on all lands cultivated
with paddy, except those belonging to the Duggenewili people or class from which the King's domestic
■ervants were taken.

KATMUDALA : Money payment in lieu of the above.

KATTIYANAMTJRAYA : The turn for the tenant of a kapu family to perform the service of
carrying from the multenge (Dewale kitchen) to the Maligawa (the sanctuary) the multen-kada or daily
food offering.

K ATUKITUL : Wild prick ly kitul the flowers of which are used in decorations.

KATUPELALI : Rough screens made of branches as substitutes for walls in temporary buildings.

KATU-PIHIYA : A small knife of the size of a penknife with a stylus to it.

KAWANI : A kind of cloth.

KATTIYA ; A general term for a festival, but in particular applied to the festival of lights in Nov.-
Dec. called Kattimangalaya.

KEDAGAN : A palanquin fitted up (with sticks) for the occasion to take the insignia of a Deviyo
in procession.

KEHELMUWA : Flower of the plantain.

KEKULHAL : Rice pounded from native paddy.

KEKUNA-TEL : Common lamp oil extracted from the nuts of the Kekuna tree ; the oil is largely
used in illuminations at festivals and given as garden dues by tenants.

KEMBERA : The beating of tom-toms on Kenmura days.

KENDIYA-WEDAMAWIMA : The carrying in procession of the Rankendiya or sacred-vessel contain-
ing water after the Diyakepima.

KENMURA : Wednesdays and Saturdays on which are held the regular services of a Dewale.

KERAWALA : Half of a pingo. Half of a panguwa.

KETIUDALU : Bill-hooks and hoes. Agricultural implements supplied by the proprietor for work
in the Muttettu fields. He supplies the iron and the smith tenant makes the necessary implements, as-
sisted by the nilawasam tenants who contribute the charcoal.

KEVILI-HELIYA : A chatty of sweetmeats given as penuma.

KEVILI-KADA : A pingo of sweetmeats given as penuma by high caste tenants.

KEVILI-KIRIBAT : Sweetmeats and rice boiled in milk.

KEVILI-HEPPUWA . See heppuwa.

KEVILI-TATTUWA : See heppuwa.

KEWUN : Cakes, sweetmeats.

APPENDIX Xl

KEWUN-KESELKAN : Sweetmeats and ripe plantains.

KILLOTAYA ; A ehunam-box given as a penuma by smith tenants.

KINISSA : A ladle, a common eoooanut spoon.

KIRI-AHARA OR KIRIBAT : Rice boiled in milk and served on festive occasions.

KIRIMETI : Pipe-clay. The supplying and preparation of clay for the Badaheleya (potter) when
making bricks and tiles for a proprietor forms one of the duties of every tenant of a temple village, and of
the tenants of the Nila or TJliyam pangu in a chief's village.

KIRIUTURANA-MANGtALYAYA : The ceremony of boiling milk at a Dewale generally at the
Sinhalese new year and after a Diyakepima.

KITUL-ANDA-MURE : The half share of the toddy of all kitul trees tapped, which is the due
of the proprietor. The trees are tapped by Wahumpura tenants by who are also called Hakuro, and the
toddy is converted into the syrup from which hakuru (jaggery) is made.

KITUL-PENI-MUDIY A : A small quantity of kitul syrup carried in a leaf and served out to tenants
in mura.

KODI : Flags.

KOLALANU : Cords for tying sheaves.

KOLAN : Masks worn in dancing in Dewala festivals.

KOLMURA : A rehearsal at the Nata Dewala by the Uliyakkarayo before the Perehera starts.

KOMBUWA : A bugle, a horn. It is blown at the Tewawa or service at a Dewale. There are specie,
tenants for this service.

KORAHA : A large wide-mouthed chatty used as a basin.

KONA : The year's end. The Sinhalese new year (April).

KOTAHALU - The cloth worn by a young female arriving at puberty, which is the perquisite of the
family dhobi, with other presents given at the festivities held on the occ occasion.

KOTALE : An earthenware vessel with a spout given as a penuma by the potter to petty officers.

KOTTALBADDE VIDANE : The headman of smith villages.

KOVAYA : An earthenware crucible. A socket for candles.

KOVTLA : A small temple. A minor Dewale.

KtrDE : A basket to remove earth, sand, etc.

KUDAYA : An umbrella.

KUDAMASSAN : Small fishes cured for curry.

KULU : Winnowing fans made of bamboo.

KUMBAL-PEREHERA : Preliminary Perehera at a Dewale when the insignia are carried in pro-
cession round the inner Court for five days, followed by the Dewale Perehera for five days twice a day
round the Widiya, and the Randoli or Maha Perehera for five days.

KT7MBAYA : A post, a pole for arches in decorations.

KUMARIHAMILLA : Ladies of rank.

KUMARA-TALA-ATTA : A talipot of state. An ornamental talipot carried in processions by tenants
of superior grade.

KTJNAMA : The palanquin carried in procession at the Perehera containing inside the insignia
of a Deviyo. It is also called Randoliya.

KURUMBA : The same as Kasapen.

KTJRU : Hair-pins.

KURU-KANDA : A candle stick made of clay, called also Kotvilakkuwa.

KURAPAYIYA : The same as Kadapayiya.

KURUNIYA : One eighth of a bushel or four seer.

KURUWITALE : Spear used at elephant kraals.

KUSALANA : A cup.

xii APPENDIX

L

LAHA : The same as Kuruniya.

LANSA-MURE : The turn of service of the Hewawasam tenants ; it is now taken also by the
Atapattu class.

LATDEKUMA OR LEBICHCHAPENUMA : Present of money or provisions given to the proprietor
by his nominee on appointment to an office.

LEGUNGE : The dormitory. A priest's cell.

LENSTJWA: A handkerchief .

LEKAMA : A writer. A clerk, out of courtesy styled Mohottala.

LEKAM PANGTJWA : The tenement held by the Lekam pangu tenants. The panguwa was ori-
ginally Maruwena, but in course of time, in most instances, it has become Paraveni. The Lekam tenant
besides doing duty as "writer to the proprietor of Ninda villages superintends his working parties and
harvesting operations and appears before him at the annual presentations of the tenants, accompanies
him on important journeys, attends on him and supplies him with medicines when sick, and occasionally
guards the house in his absence. In temple villages where there is no resident Vidane, the Lekama does
all the duties of that officer, besides keeping an account of the things received into and issued out of the
Gabadawa, arranges and superintends all the services of the tenants, in which capacity it is that he is
styled Mohottala.

LIYADDA : The bed of a field. A terrace.

LIYANABATA : Food given by a cultivator to the Lekam on duty at a threshing floor.

LIYANARALA: A Writer.

LIYAWEL : Ornamental flower work in carvings or paintings generally found in Wihare and which
it is the duty of the Sittaru (painters) to keep in order. The service is valuable and large and valuable
pangu have consequently been allotted to this class. The cost of the pigments is borne by the temples.

LTJNXJKAHAMIRIS : Salt, saffron, andchillies. The three principal ingredients which give flavour
to a curry. Hence in enumerating the articles which make up a pehinduma or dankada, mention is
always made of Lunukahamiris or Sarakku or Tunapahe, general terms for " curry -stuff ".

M

MADAPPULURALA : Title of an officer in the Nata Dewale who performs duties analogous to those
of a Wattoru-rala such as sweeping out the Maligawa cleaning and tending its lamps, etc.

MADDILIYA : A Tamil drum used in the Kataragama Dewale in the Badulla District.

MADOL-TEL : Lamp-oil extracted from the nuts of the Madol.

MADU-PIYALI : The nuts of the Madugaha, broken into pieces dried and converted into flour for
food.

MAGXJL-BERE : The opening tune beaten on tom-toms at the regular hewisi (musical service) at
the daily service and at festivals.

MAHADANE : The midday meal of the priests before the sun passes the meridian.

MAHA-NAYAKA-UNNANSE : The highest in order amongst the Buddhist priesthood. The
Malwatte and Asgiriya establishments in Kandy have each a Mahanayake before whom the incumbents
of the subordinate Wihara belonging to the respective padawiya (see or head monastery) have to appear
annually with penumkat and ganpanduru consisting chiefly of rice.

MAHA-PEREHERA OR RANDOLI-PEREHERA. The last five days of the Perehera (in July)
when the insignia are taken in procession out of the precincts of a Dewalaya along the principal streets
of the town.

MAHA-SALAWA : The chief or great hall.

MAHEKADA : The pingo of raw provisions, chiefly vegetables and lamp oil, given regularly once a
month to a temple or chief by the tenants of the mul-pangu in a village, namely the Ganwasama, Dura-
wasaraa, etc.

MALIGAWA : Palace. The sanctuary of a Dewale where the insignia are kept. In Dewala only the
officiating Kapurala can enter it. Even its repairs such as white washing, etc. are done by the Kapurala

APPENDIX XUl

MALU-DENA-PANGUWA : Lands held by the tenants generally of the Nilawasam class, whose
duty it is to supply » temple with vegetables for curry for the multen service. A quantity sufficient
to last a week or two is provided at one time, and this is continued all the year through. The vegetables
supplied are of different sorts, consisting of garden and henaproduce and greens and herbs gathered from
the jungle.

MALU-KESELKEN : Green plantains for curries, as distinguished from ripe plantains.

MALtTPETMAN : The courtyard of a temple with its approaches.

MALWATTIYA : A basket or tray of flowers. One of the duties of a tenant in mura at a temple is
to supply a basket of flowers morning and evening for offering in front of the image of Buddha or in front
of the shrine.

MAKARA-TORANA : An ornamental arch over the portal of a Vihare formed of two fabulous mon-
sters facing each other. These monsters are said to be emblems of the God of Love (Kama). They are a
modern introduction borrowed from modern Hinduism.

MAKUL : Clay used in whitewashing.

MALABANDINA-RAJAKARIYA : The term in use in the Matale District for the services of putting
up the pole for the Perehera, so called from flowers being tied to the pole when it is set up.

MALASUNGE : A small detached building at a Vihare to offer flowers in. These buildings are also
found attached to private houses, where they serve the purpose of a private chapel.

MANDAPPAYA : Coverd court or verandah.

MANGALA-ASTAKAYA OR MAGUL-KAVI : Invocation in eight stanzas recited at Dewale as a
thanks giving song.

MANGALYAYA : A festival, » wedding. The four principal festivals are the Awurudu (old year)
the Nanumura (new year), the Katti (feast of lights) in II (November) and the Alutsal (harvest home) in
Duruta (January). Some reckon the old and new year festivals as one, and number the Perehera in Ehala
(July) amongst the festivals. In Ninda villages it is at one of the festivals, generally the old or new year,
that the tenants appear with presents before the proprietor and attend to the ordinary repairs of his Wala,
awwa. In temple villages they likewise present their penuma, repair and clean the buildings, courts-
compounds and paths, put up decorations, join in the processions, and build temporary sheds for lights
and for giving accommodation to worshippers on these occasions. They pay their Ganpandura, have land
disputes etc. settled and the annual officers appointed. Tenants unable to attend by reason of distance
or other causes make a payment in lieu called Gamanmurakasi.

MANNAYA : Kitchen knife. Knife commonly used in tapping Kitul.

MASSA : An ancient Kandyan coin equal to two groats or eight pence. Massa is used in singular
only ; when more than one is spoken of " Ridi " is used.

MEDERI OR MENERI : A small species of paddy grown on hen. Panic grass (Clough).

MEDINDINA MASE : The twelfth month of the Sinhalese year (March-April.)

MEKARAL : A long kind of bean.

METIPAN : Clay lamps supplied by the potter for the Katti -Mangalyaya.

METIPANDAMA : A bowl, made of clay to hold rags and oil, used as a torch.

MINUMWI : Remuneration given to the Mananawasam tenants for measuring paddy. The rate is
fixed by custom in each village but varies considerably throughout the country.

MINTJMWASAMA OR PANGUWA : The office of a, Mananna or the holding held by the Manana
people ; their primary service as their name denotes is measuring out paddy given to be pounded as well
as the paddy brought in from the fields and rice brought in after being pounded, but as the office has come
to be held by low caste people and by Vellala of low degree the service has become anologous to those
of the THiyakkara-Wasam class such as putting up privies, mudding walls, carrying palanquins, baggage
Penumkat and Adukkukat and serving as torch bearers at festivals. The Mananna is as much the Vid-
ane's messenger as the Attapattu Appu is the messenger of the proprietor. He together with the Lekama
keeps watch at the threshing floor, takes care of the buffaloes brought for ploughing and threshing and
assists the Vidane, Lekama, and Kankanama in the collection of the dues such as, Ganpandura etc.

MIPENI : Honey. It is given g as a sort of forest dues by tenants of villages in the wild districts.

MIRIS : Chillies given as a rent or proprietor's ground share of hena land cultivated with it

MOHOTTALA : The same as Lekama q. v.

MOLPILLA : The iron rim of a pestle or paddy pounder.

xiv APPENDIX

MTJDUHIRUWA OR MUDTTWA : A ring. It is the penuma given by silver-smiths and gold-smithB.

MUKKALA : Three-fourths. A Tamil word used by certain tenants in the Seven Korala for three-
fourths of the service of a full Panguwa.

MULTEN OR MURUTEN : Food offered to a Deviyo in a Dewale by a Kapurala daily, or on Ken-
mura days. The Muttettu fields of the Dewalaya supply the rice for it, and the tenants of the Malumura-
panguwa the vegetables. It is cooked in the temple, mulutenge or kitchen, sometimes as often as three
times a day. It is carried from the kitchen with great ceremony on a Kada by the proper Kattiyanaralas.
All thus engaged in cooking, carrying and offering it should be of the Kapu family, by whom it is afterwards
eaten.

MULTEN-MEWEDAMAWTMA : The carrying of the Multen Kada from the Multenge (kitchen)
to the sanctuary. The term is in use in the Badulla District.

MUN : A sort of pea forming one of the chief products of a hena, and largely used as a ourry.

MURA-AMURE : An ordinary turn and an extraordinary turn of service. A term applied to a hold-
ing which, in addition to its proper or ordinary turn of service, has to perform some extra service on
account of additional land attached to the mulpanguwa. The term is used in Kurunegala District.

MURA-AWUDAYA : A lance. The weapon in the hands of the Hewawasam or Dunukara tenant
on guard.

MURA-AWUDA-RAJAKARIYA : The service of a guard holding a lance.

MURAGEYA: Guard-room.

MURAYA : A general term for the turn of any service. The Muraya is of different lengths, 7, 10,
or 15 days being the common periods of each mura. In some mura the tenant receives food, in the others
not.

MUSNA : Broom ; brush.

MUTTEHE-PENUMA : presents of sweetmeats or raw provisions given by tenants of some villages
in the Sabaragamuwa District after the harvesting of a middle crop between the ordinary Yala and Maha
crops, known as the Muttes harvest.

MUTTETTUWA : A field belonging to the proprietor, whether a chief or temple, and cultivated on
his account jointly by tenants of every description. The proprietor usually finds the seed-paddy, and
bears all costs of agricultural implements, and sometimes gives the buffaloes ; the service of the tenants is
reckoned not by days, but by the number of the different agricultural operations to which they have to
contribute labour, and they are accordingly spoken of as " Wedapaha " and "Weda-hata," which are —
1, puran ketuma or puran-hiya (first digging or first ploughing) 2, dekutuma or binnegunhiya (the second
digging or ploughing); 3, wepuruma (sowing including the smoothing of the beds); 4, goyan-kepuma
(reaping including stacking), and 6, goyan-medima (threshing including storing). These admit of sub-
divisions. Hence the number of agricultural operations differ in different districts. All the tenants take
a part in the cultivation, and are generally fed by the proprietor or by the Ganwasam tenants on his be-
half. The sowing of the seed -paddy is the work of the Gammahe as requiring greater care, and irrigation
that of the Mananna, unless special arrangements are made for it with a Diyagoyya who is allowed in pay-
ment, a portion of the field to cultivate free of ground-rent, or the crop of a cultivated portion. The
Muttettu straw furnishes thatch for buildings, the tying and removing of which is also a service rendered
by the tenants. The services of the different classes of the tenantry on an estate are centred in its Muttettu
field. Hence the passing of the Muttettuwa from the family of the landlord into the hands of strangers
io invariably followed by the tenants resisting their customary services in respect of the Muttettu. They
have generally succeeded in such resistance. See first Report of the Service Tenure Commission P. 9. "In only
a few cases have estates been sold away from the families of the local chiefs, and in these cases with the
almost invariable result of the loss of all claim to service by disuse, the Kandyan tenant being peculiarly
sensitive as to the social status of his Lord. A few years ago one of the leading Advocates in Kandy
acquired three estates, and after several years' litigation, he was compelled to get the original proprietor
to take back the largest of the three, and the claim to services from the other two had to be abondoned.
On the original proprietor resuming procession, the tenants returned to their allegiance.

MUTTIYA -. The same as heliya (q.v.)

APPENDIX XV

MUTU-KTJDE : Umbrella of State, made of rich cloth, and carried .in procession by one of the
higher tenants over the insignia of the Deviyo> or over the Karanduwa of the Maligawa which is borne
on an elephant.

N

NAMBIRALA OR NAMBURALA : A headman corresponding to an overseer. It is a term in
use in Moorish villages in the Kurunegala District.

NANAGEYA -. A bath-house. On the visit of the proprietor or some other person of rank, the
nanage and atuge (privy) are put up at the lodging prepared for him by a tenant of the XJliyam or Nila
panguwa, or by the mananna of the village.

NANU : Composition generally made of lime juice, and other acids for cleansing the hair. In tem-
ples it is made of different fragrant ingredients the chief of which is powdered sandal-wood.

NANUMlTRA-MAlSfGrALYAYA . The festival immediately following the Sinhalese new year on
Which purification with nanu is performed (see above).

NATA-DEWALE : The temple of Nata Daviyo, who is said to be now in the Divyalokaya, but is
destined when born on earth to be the Buddha of the next kalpa under the name Mayitri Buddha.

NATANA-PANGUWA : It is one and the same with the Geekiyana-panguwa q. v. The service of this
section of the Geekiyana-panguwa is the Digge-netima by females on the nights of the Kenmura days
and of festivals. They likewise perform the Alattibema and dance during the whole night of the last
day of the Perehera and one of their number accompanies the Randoli procession. Dancing taught by the
matron of the class, called Alatti-amma or Manikkamahage. This panguwa is also called the Malwara-
panguwa. One of favourite dances of the Alatti women is " Kalagedinetima " (dancing with new pots)
the pot used at Which becomes the dancer's perquisite.

NAVAN-MASE : The eleventh month of the Sinhalese year (February-March.)

NAYYANDI-tfETIMA : The dance of the Yakdesso (devil-dancera) during Perehera in Dewale.

NAYAKE-TJtfNANSE : Chief priest.

NELIYA l A seer measure.

NELLI : One of the three noted myrobalans (Clough).

NELTTtfWI : Paddy given as hire for weeding and transplanting in a field.

NEMBILIYA : A vessel used in cleansing rice in water previous to being boiled. It is of the size
and shape of a large " appallaya " but the inside instead of being smooth is grooved, or has a dented
surface to detain sand and dirt.

STETTARA-PINKAMA = The festival on the occasion of painting-in the eyes of a figure of Buddha
in a Vihare. The offerings received during the ceremony are given to the artificers or painters as their

hire (see Barapen.)

NETTIPALE : A penthouse, or slanting roof from a wall or rock.

NETTIMALE : The ornamental head dress of an elephant in processions.

NIKHSTIMASE : The fifth month of the Sinhalese year (August-September).

NTLAKARAYA : A tenant liable to service, more particularly the term is applied to tenants doing

menial service.

NILAWASAMA : The tenement held by the Nilawasam tenants. The services, as those of the Uliyak-
wasam embrace all domestic and outdoor work of various and arduous kinds soma of which, as those al-
ready enumerated under the Minumwasama, are the supplying of fuel and water to the kitchen and bath,
the pounding of paddy, the extracting of oil, the mudding of walls and floors, the dragging of timber and other
building materials, the preparation of clay and the supplying of firewood for the brick and tile kiln, blowing
the bellows for the smith and supplying him with charcoal for the forge, the breaking of lime stones, the
cutting of banksand ditches, putting up fences, clearing gardens, sweeping out courtyards and compounds,
joining in all agricultural operations on gardens, fields, and hen, removing the crops, tying straw and assist-
ing in thatching, the carrying of palanquins and baggage on journeys, conveying to the proprietor the
penumkat adukkukat, pehindumkat, mahekat, wasdankat, etc., supplied by the other tenants, joining
in the preparations for festivals, carrying pandam in processions, and serving at the proprietor's on occasion,,
of importance such as weddings, funerals, arrival of distinguished visitors, and at Yak and Bali ceremonies.
Nilawasam tenants for the most part, are of a low caste or belong to the lower classes of the Vellala caste.

xvi APPENDIX

Hence their yearly penuma to the proprietor, instead of being a kada of sweetmeats consists of vegetables
and a contribution of raw or uncooked articles of food. Besides services as above, rendered to the proprie-
tor, the Nilawasam tenants work for the proprietor's Vidane, and for the Ganwasama, a few days in
fields and hen and carry their baggage on journeys.

NTLA-PANDAMA OR KILA-PANDAMA. The same as Kalapandama. q. v.

NINDAGAMA : A village or lands in a village in exclusive possession of the proprietor. Special
grants from kings are under sannas.

NIYANDA : A plant, the fibres of which are used in making cords, strings for curtains and hangings
and carpets or mats.

NTYAKOLA . The leaves of a shrub used for chewing with betel.

NULMALKETE : A ball or skein of thread.

O

OTU : Tax, tythe.

OLONGUWA : A long bag or sack having the contents divided into two equal portions so as to fall
one before and one behind when the bag is slung over the shoulder.

ORAK-KODIA OR OSAKKODIYA. Small flags on arches or on sticks placed at interval*.

PADALAMA : A floor, foundation.

PADIYA : Water to wash the feet on entering the sanctuary of a Dewale.

PADUWA : A palanquin bearer. This class carries the palanquins of males, those of females
being carried by Wahunpura tenants.

PAHALOSWAKADA : Full-moon day.

PALLEMaLERALA : The chief officer of the Pallemale (lower temple in the Dalada Maligawa.)

PANAMA : A fanam, equal to one-sixteenth part of a rupee.

PANALELI : Horns cut into shape for combs, and given as penum.

PANDAMA : A torch, candle, see atpandama.

PANDAM-DAMBU : It is sometimes written Dambu. The same as Dambu q. v.

PANGUWA : A holding, a portion, a f arm.

PANGUKARAYA : The holder of » panguwa, a tenant, a shareholder.

PANHARANGUWA : An ornamented arch or support for lights at festivals in temples.

PANIKKILA OR PANIKKALA : Elephant keeper. He has the charge of temple elephants used
in processions, in which service he is assisted by a grass-cutter allowed by the temple, and is besides fed
when on duty at a temple.

PANIKKIYA : The headman of the tom-tom beater caste. A barber.

PANMADTJWA . The festival of lights occasionally held at a Dewale in honour of Pattini Deviyo,
in which all the tenants of a village join and contribute to the expenses.

PANPILI : Rags for lights or lamps. The same as Dambu.

PANSALA . The residence of a priest. Lit-hut of leaves.

PANTIYA ; An elephant stall. A row of buildings. A festival.

PAN-WETIYA: A wick.

PATA . A measure corresponding to a hunduwa. One-fourth of a seer. The same as Awaliya.

PATABENDI : Titled. There are in some villages a superior class of tenants called Patabendo, doing
nominal service, such as occasionally guarding the proprietor's house. In temple villages, however, they
perform services similar to those of the Ganwasama.

PATHISTHANAYA : A lance with an ornamented handle, carried in processions or on journeys of
state by the Hewawasam or Atapattu tenants.

PATHKADAYA : A priest's kneeling cloth or leathern rug.

PATHKOLAYA : A piece of a plantain leaf used instead of a plate. It is called Pachchala in Saba-
ragamwua. In temples there is a special tenant to supply it for the daily service.

PATHTHARAYA . The alms bowl of a priest, sometimes of clay but generally of iron or brass, or,
rarely of silver.

APPENDIX xvii

PATTAYA : The sheath of an arecanut branch. It is vary commonly used by way of » bottle for
keeping jaggery or honey in.

PATTINIAMMA : The female attendant in the Pattini Dewale.

PATTINI-NETUMA : Dance held by Nilawasam tenants in charge of temple cattle, who serves at
the giving of fresh milk called " Hunkiri-payinda-kirima and at the " Kiri-itirima "ceremony of boiling
milk in Dewale at the new year, and sprinkling it about the precincts, in expression of a wish that the year
may be a prosperous one.

PATTIRIPPUWA : An elevated place, or raised platform in the Widiya of Dewale, as a resting
place for the insignia during procession.

PAWADAYA OR PIYAWILLA : A carpet or cloth spread on the ground by the dhobi on duty
for the Kapurala to walk upon during the Tewawa, or at the entry of a distinguished visitor into the house
of the proprietor.

PEDIYA : A dhobi. A washerman.

PEDURA : A mat. It is given for use at a threshing floor or for a festival or public occasion by
tenants as one of their dues.

PEHINDUM : Uncooked provisions given to headmen, generally by low class tenants.

PELA : A shed, a watch-hut.

PELDORA : Perquisite to the watcher of a field, being the crop of the paddy around the watch-
hut. See Hiwelande.

PELELLA : A screen made of leaves and branches to answer the purpose of a wall in temporary
buildings.

PELKARAYA : A sub-tenant. See Dalu pathkaraya. The Mulpakaraya (original or chief tenant)
frequently gets a person to settle on the lands of his panguwa, in order to have a portion of the services
due by him performed by the person so brought in, who is called the pelkaraya ; lit. cotter.

PELLAWEDAGAMAN : The service turns of tenants. A term in use in the Kegalle District.

PENPOLA : A priest's bath.

PENTJMA : The same as dekuma. q. v.

PENUM-KADA : A pingo of presents, provisions, vegetables, dried fish or flesh, chatties, etc., given
annually or at festivals by tenants to their landlords.

PENTJMWATTIYA : Presents carried in baskets.

PERAWA ; A measure equal to one-fourth of a seer, in use in the Kurunegala District, correspond-
ing to a Hunduwa.

PERAHANKADA : A piece of cloth to strain water through, used by priests, being one of their
eight requisites. A filter ; vide " delipihiya " supra.

PEREHERA : A procession ; the festival observed in the month of Ehela (July), in Dewale, the
chief ceremony in which is the takujg in procession, the insignia of the divinities Vishnu, Kataragama,
Nata and Pattini for fifteen days. AH the Dewala tenants and officers attend it ; buildings and premises
are cleansed, whitewashed, decorated, and put into proper order. The festival is commenced by bringing
n procession a pole and setting it up at the Temple in a lucky hour. This is done by the Kapurala ; during
the first five days the insignia are taken in procession round the inner court of the Dewale ; the five days
so observed are called the Kumbal-Perehera, from Kumbala, a potter, who provided the lamps with stands
called Kalas generally used in some Dewala at the festival. During the next five days, called the Dewala
Perehera the procession goes twice daily round the Widiya or outer court of a Dewale. During the third
or last five days, called the Maha or Randoli -perehera the procession issues out of the temple precincts, and
taking a wider circuit passes round the main thoroughfare of a town. The festival concludes with one of its
chief ceremonies, the Diyakepima, when the insignia ara taken in procession on elephants to the customary
ferry which is prepared and decorated for the occasion ; and the Kapurala, proceeding in a boat to tha
middle of the stream, cuts with the Rankaduwa (golden sword) the water at the lucky hour. At that very
instant the "Rankendiya" (the gold goglet) which is first emptied of the water preserved in it from the
Diyakepima of the previous year, is re-filled and taken back in procession to the Dewale. It is customary
in some temples for the tenants to wash themselves in the pond or stream immediately after the Diyake-
pima. This is a service obligatory on the tenants. After the conclusion of the Perehera, the officers
and tenants engaged in it, including the elephants, have ceremonies, for the conciliation of lesser divinities
and evil spirits, performed called Balibat-netima, Garay^kunnetima and Waliyakun-netima. The Perehera

XVlil APPENDIX

is observed in all the principal Dewala such as Kataragama, the four Dewala in Kandy, Alutnuwara Dewale
and Saman Dewale in Sabaragamuwa etc. The following notice of the Kandy Perehera is taken from
a note to the first report of the Service Tenures Commission : — "The most celebrated of these processions
is the Perehera, which takes place at Kandy in Esala (July- Aug.) commencing with the new moon in that
month and continuing till the full moon. It is a Hindu festival in honor of the four deities Natha, Vishnu,
Kataragama (Kandaswami) and Pattini, who are held in reverence by the Buddhists of Ceylon as Deviyo
who worshipped Goutama and are seeking to attain Nirwana. In the reign of King Kirtissiri (A. D. 1747-
1 7 80 ) a, body of priests who came from Siam for the purpose of restoring the Upasampada ordination
objected to the observance of this Hindu ceremony in a Buddhist country. To remove their scruples,
the king ordered the Dalada relic of Buddha to be carried thenceforth in procession with the insignia of
the four deities. Nevertheless, the Perehera is not regarded as a Buddhist ceremony.

PERUDAN : Food given to priests according to turns arranged amongst tenants.

PETAWILIKARAYA : A tavalan driver. It is the Moor tenants who perform this service.

PETHETIYA : A vessel for measuring an hour. A small cup of brass or silver, or sometimes a
cocoanut shell, having a small hole in the bottom, is put to float in a basin of water, the hole is made of
such a size that the water which comes through it will be exactly sufficient to make the cup sink in the
;<pace of a Sinhalese hour or peya, equal to twenty -five minutes or one-sixtieth part of a day<

PETMAN : Foot-paths. They are to be kept free of jungle by the tenants, with whom it is a
principal duty.

PILIMAGEYA : Image-repository, the chamber in Wihare for images.

PILLEWA: A bit of high land adjoining a field, called also " Wanata ".

PINBERA : The beating of tom-tom, not on service but for merit at pinkarn at the poya days,
or after an almsgiving.

PINKAMA . In a general sense, any deed of merit, but more particularly used for the installing of
priests in "Was " in the four months of the rainy season (July to November) for the public reading o
Bana.

PIRIWEHIKADA : A pingo made up of " piriwehi " wicker baskets filled with provisions or other
articles.

PIRUWATAYA ; A cloth, towel, sheet etc., supplied by the dhobi and returned after use.

PITAKATTALAYA : The exterior of a Dewale or the portion outside the sanctuary. It is also
a term applied to all the classes of tenants whose services are connected with the exterior of a Dewale,
as distinguished from the Etul-kattale, tenants or servants of the sanctuary.

PIYAWILLA . The same as Pawadaya. q. v.

POKUNA : A pond, or well, or reservoir of water, resorted to at a Perehera for the Diyakepuma.

POLis : The present given to the Vidane of a, village by a sportsman on killing game within the
village limits. It is about four or five pounds of flesh. In some districts the custom of giving the pole,
apart from the Gangate, has ceased to exist, but it is kept up in Sabaragamuwa.

POLGEDIYA -. The fruit of the cocoanut tree.

POLWALLA ; A bunch of cocoanuts used in decorations, and the supplying of which forms a service.

PORODDA : The collar of an elephant.

POSONMASA : The third month of the Sinhalese year (June-July).

POTSAKIYA . The button fastened to the end of a string used in tying up and keeping together
the ola leaves and wooden covers of native manuscripts.

POTTANIYA: A bundle larger than a "mitiya."

POYAGEYA: A detached building at «. Wihare establishment within proper "sima" (limitary
posts). It is used as a confessional for priests on poya days, as a vestry for convocations and meetings
on matters ecclesiastical, and for holding ordination and for worship.

PUJAWA : An offering of any kind — e. g. food, cloth, flowers, incense, etc.

PULLIMAL : Ear-rings.

PURAGEYA : The scaffolding of a building or the temporary shed put up to give shelter to the
workmen and protection to the permanent structure in course of erection.

PURANA : A field Jying fallow, or the time during which a field lies uncultivated.

PURAWEDIKODIYA : A flag. A term used in the Four Korale.

PURAWASAMA . See Gaopandura. A term in use in the Kurunegala District for ground rent.

APPENDIX xix

PTJRUKGOBA : Tender oocoanut branch for decorations. It is called Pulakgoba in Sabaragamuwa
and Pulakatta in Matale.

PRAKARAYA ; A rampart, a strong wall.

R

RADA-BADDARA-RAJAKARIYA : Dhoby service. It consists of washing weekly or monthly the
soiled clothes of a family, the robes, curtains, flags, and vestments of a Temple ; decorating temples with
viyan (ceilings) for festivals and pinkam, and private houses on occasions of weddings, Yak or Bali cere-
monies, and arrival of distinguished visitors ; the supplying on such occasions of " Piruwata " for wearing,
etirili " or covers for seats, tables etc., " piyawili " or carpets, and " diyaredi " or bathing dresses ; the
making of " pandam " torches and " panweti " wicks and the supplying of " dambu " tow. The " Heneya "
(dhobi) has also to attend his master on journeys carrying his bundle of clothes and bathing requisites.
He supplies the Kapurala and Yakdessa with piruwata, the former weekly when on duty at a Dewale and
the latter for dancing at festivals. He gives piruwata for the Muttettu, for serving out the food, for
penum-kat and tel-kat as covers, and for the state elephant during festivals. The penuma he presents
consists generally of a piece of wearing apparel or of a " sudu-toppiya " ( Kandyan hat ) or in some cases
of Panaleli (horns for combs.) His perquisites vary according to the occasion calling forth his services.
Thus at the Sinhalese new year besides the quota of sweetmeats and rice, given on such an occasion every
member of the family ties up a coin in the cloth he delivers to him for washing. At " kotahalu ' ' (occasion
of a female attaining puberty, festivities the dhoby is entitled to the cloth worn by the young woman and
to her head ornaments, and at a funeral to all. The clothes not allowed to be burnt on the pyre.

RADAYA -. A washerman of an inferior grade.

RAD ALA ; A chief, an officer of rank.

RAHUBADDA : A general term for small temples or dependencies of the Kandy Pattini Dewale.
It is sometimes used of a kind of dancers. It is also sometimes taken as one of the nine " Nawabadda "
the nine trades, which are, possibly, the following, but it is difficult to find any two Kandyans who give
precisely the same list: 1, Kottal, smiths ; 2, Badahela, potters ; 3, Hakuru, jaggery makers; 4, Hunu, lime
burners; S, Hulanbadde, or Madige, tavalam-drivers, who are always Moors ; 6, Rada, dhobies ; 7, Berawa
^om-tom-beaters ; 8, Kinnaru, weavers ; 9, Henda or Rodi, Rodiyas.

RAJAHELIYABEMA : The distribution of rice boiled at a Dewale at the close of the Perehera,
among the servitors who took part in the ceremonies.

RAJAKARIYA : Service to the king. The word is now used indiscriminately for services done
to a temple or Nindagam proprietors, or for the duties of an office-

RAMBATORANA : An arch in which plantain trees form the chief decoration.

RAN-AWTJDA : The golden sword, bow, and arrows etc., belonging to a, Dewale. The insignia of;
a Deviyo.

RANDOLIYA : A royal palanquin, the palanquin in which the insignia are taken in procession dur-
ing the Maha Perehera.

RANHILIGE : The royal howdah in which the insignia are taken in processions on the back of an
elephant.

RANKAPPAYA : A plate made of gold. See ranmandaya.

RANMANDAYA : A circular plate or tray for offerings in the sanctuary of a Dewale.

RATHAGEYA : The building for the car used in processions.

REDIPH.I : Curtains, coverings, etc. of a temple ; clothes.

RELIPALAM : Decorations of an arch made of cloth, tied up so as to form a kind of frill.

RDDISURAYA : Rim of silver by a smith tenant for the Ehela tree.

RIDIYA : An ancient coin equal to eight-pence, or one-third of a rupee.

RIPPA : Called also Pattikkaleli are laths forming building material annually supplied by tenante.

RITTAGE : Resting place for the insignia during the procession round the courts of a Dewalaya.
See Pattirippuwa.

S

SADANGUWE-PEHINDTJMA . A pehinduma given by a village in common, not by the tenants in
turns. The term is in use in Sabaragamuwa.

SAMAN DEWALE : Temple of Sumana or Saman deviyo, the tutelary god of Sripadastane.
The one in Sabaragamuwa is the richest and largest of the Dewale dedicated to this Deviyo

X* APPENDIX

SAMUKKALAYA : A cover for a bed or couch forming a travelling requisite carried by a tenant
for the use of his superior.

SANDUN-KIRIPENI-IHIMA : A sprinkling of perfumes at festivals to denote purification, tran-
quility.

SANNI-YAKTtMA : A species of devil^dance to propitiate demons afflicting a patient.

SARAKKU : Curry -stuff. Drugs.

SARAMARU-MOHOTTALA . A mohottala over service villages, holding his office during the plea-
sure of the head of the Dewale.

SATARA-MANGALYAYA : The four principal festivals in the year. See mangalyaya.

SATTALIYA : An ancient coin equal to about one and-a-half fanam, or two-pence and a farthingi

SEMBUWA . A small brazen pot generally used on journeys for carrying water or for bathing.
The service of carrying it on journeys devolves on the dhoby.

SEMENNUMA : Remuneration given originally to an irrigation headman, which in lapse of time
began to be given to the proprietor, and called " Huwandiram " or " Suwandirama ". When given to »
Dewale, it is sometimes called Semennuma.

SESATA : A large fan made of talipot or cloth and richly ornamented* with a long handle to carry
it in processions. It was once an emblem of royalty.

SD3ILDAN : Priest's early meal at daybreak. The same as Hildana q. v.

SINHARAKKARA-MXJHANDIRAMA : A rank conferred on the headman over the musicians of a
temple.

SINHASANAYA ; A throne. An altar, A seat of honor. It is also a name given to the " Pattirip-
puwa."

SITTARA : A painter. He is a tenant generally of the smith caste, and mends and keeps in repair'
the image and paintings of temples. The temple supplies the requisite pigments and food during work.
The completion of an image or a restoration or construction of a Vihare is observed with a pinkama ;
and the offerings of moneys, etc-, for a certain number of days are allowed as perquisites to the painters
and smiths in addition to the hire agreed upon called " Barapen " (q. v.) The painter, likewise, supplies
ornamented sticks as handles for lances, flags, etc., and presents to the head of the temple a penuma of
an ornamented walking-stick or betel tray.

SIWURUKASI OR SIWURUMILA : Contribution for priests' robes, being a very trifling but a
regular annual payment during the Was Season, and given with the usual dankada.

SRIPADASTANE : The place of the sacred foot-step-Adam's peak. It is yearly frequented by
crowds of pilgrims, has a separate temple establishment of its own, presided over by a Nayaka Unnanse,
and held in great veneration second only to the Dalada Maligawa or shrine of the eye-tooth of Buddha.

SUDUREDI-TOPPIYA : The white hat commonly worn by Kandyan headmen forming the an-
nual penuma of a dhoby tenant.

SUWANDIRAMA : See Semennuma.

T

TADUPPTJREDDA : Country -made cloth of coarse texture, which forms with the tenants of the
tom-tom beater caste their annual penuma to the proprietor.

TAHANCHIKADA OR TAHANDIKADA : A penumkada given to a Dissawa. A term in use in
the Kegalle District.

TALA : Sesamum.

TALA-ATU-MUTTUWA : Two talipots sown together and ornamented. It is used as'ar umbrella',
and on journeys of the proprietor it is carried by the proper tenant, generally of the Atapattu class.

TALAM-GEHIMA : To play with the " Taliya " cymbals as an accompaniment to the tom-tom.

TALATTANIYA : An elder in a village.

TALIGEDIYA : A large earthen-ware pot.

TALIMANA : Blacksmith's apparatus for a pair of bellows generally made of wood, sunk in th«*
ground and covered with elk-hide.

TALIYA OR TALAMA . A kind of cymbal.

TALKOLA-PIHIYE : A small knife with a stylus to write with.

APPENDIX XXl

TAMBALA : A creeper, the leaves of which are used with betel.

TAMBORUWA : A tambourine.

TANAYAMA : A rest-house. A lodging put up on the occasion of the visit of a proprietor or per-
son of rank to a village.

TANGAMA : Half a ridi, equal to one groat or four-pence.

TANTtTWAWA : Any ceremony such as a wedding, a devil-dance, a funeral, etc.

TATUKOLA : Pieces of plantain leaves used as plates. The same as Patkola q.v.

TATTTJMARUWA : The possession of a field in turns of years ; a system leading often to great
complications e. g., a field belongs to A and B in equal shares, and they possess it in alternate years. They
die and leave it to two sons of A, and three sons of B. These again hold in Tattumaru (Al, A 2)
(Bl, B2, B3,). In fourteen years the possession is Al, Bl, A2, B2, Al, B3, A2, Bl, Al, B2, A2, B 3 , Al, Bl,
and so on. Al leaves two sons, A 2 lives, Bl has three sons, B2 has four sons and B3 has five. A2
gets his turn after intervals of four years, but Ala and Bib have to divide Al's turn. Each therefore
gets his turn after intervals of eight years, but each of the B shareholders gets his turn at intervals of six
years and Bla Bib Blc now have a turn each at intervals of eighteen years, B2a, B2b, B2c, B2d, at in-
tervals of twenty-four years, B3e at intervals of thirty years, as in the following table: —

1

Ala

11

A2

21 Alb

2

Bla

12

B3b

22 B2d

3

A2

13

Alb

23 A2

4

B2a

14

Bl«

24 B3d

5

Alb

15

A2

25 Ala

6

B3a

16

B2c

26 Bib

7

A2

17

Ala

27 A2

8

Bib

18

B3c

28 B2a

9

Ala

19

A2

29 Alb

,0

B2b

20

Bla

30 B3e

TAWALAMA: Pack-bullock.

TELGEDI : Ripe or dry cocoanuts to express oil from.

TEMMETTAMA : A kettle-drum. One of the five musical instruments of a temple.

TEMMETTANKARAYA : A tenant playing on the Temmettama and belonging to the tom-tom
beater caste. His service is in requisition for the daily services of a temple at its festivals, perehera, and
pinkama and when the incumbent proceeds on journeys of importance such as ordinations, visits to the prior,
and pinkam duties. Under a lay proprietor, the Temmettankaraya attends at weddings, Yak and Bali
^ceremonies, funerals, and on journeys on state occasions. He occasionally assists in agricultural and
'building works, and presents a penuma of a towel or piece of cloth with betel. At the four festivals in
temples he takes a part in all the preparations and decorations.

TETAMATTUWA : A towel or piece of cloth to rub the body dry after a bath, Which it is the
service of the dhoby to supply.

TETIYA ; A metal dish used for the purposes of a plate.
■ TEWAWA : The daily service of a Dewale, morning, noon, and evening* when muruten is offered.

TIRALANU : Cords for curtains.

TIRAPILI : Curtains.

TITTAYAN : A kind of small fresh-water fish having bitter taste. It is dried and given with other

articles as penum.

TORANA : An ornamental arch put up on public and festive occasions.

TUPPOTTIYA : A cloth of ten yards worn round the waist. The ordinary wearing cloth of a

Kandyan.

TUTTUWA: A pice, equal sometimes to Id. sometimes one half -penny; when it contains four

t&allies it is called the " Mahatuttuwa."

TUWAYA-TUNDAMA : A towel given by the tom-tom beater tenants as a penuma.

xxn APPENDIX.

U

UDAHALLA : A hanging basket of wicker-work.

UDAKKIYA . A small kind of drum carried in the hand and used to play for dance music. Its
use is not restricted to any caste.

TJDUWIYANA : A canopy held over the muruten in the daily service of a Dewale, or over the in-
signia at processions, or over any sacred thing taken in procession, such as Alutsal, Nanu, Bana booksa
Relics, etc. The word also means ceilings put up by the dhoby.

UGAPATA : Vegetables, jaggery, or kitul-peni etc., wrapped up in leaves, generally in the sheath,
of the arecanut branch. Six ugapat make a kada, or pingo-load.

ULIYAMWASAMA : The holding of land by the Uliyamwasam tenants who perform all kinds of
menial service. The same as Nilawasam q. v.

TXL-UDE : Trousers worn by dancers.

UNDIYARALA . A Dewala messenger.

tTNDTTWAPMASA : The ninth month ofthe Sinhalese year (December-January).

UPASAKARALA : Persons devoted to religious exercises.

UPASAMPADAWA : The highest order of Buddhist priests. The ceremony of admission, into the
order.

USNAYA : A smith's forge. The same as idinna. q.v.

UYANWATTA : A park, » garden. The principal garden attached to a temple or to the estate
of a, proprietor, the planting, watching, gathering and removing the produce of which forms one of the.
principal services of tenants.

W

WADANATALAATTA : A richly ornamented talipot. In ancient times its use was restricted to.
the court of the king and to temples ; but now it is used by the upper classes on public occasions, being
carried by the Atapattu tenants. The same as Kumaratalatta. q.v.
WAHALBERE : The same as Magulbere. q.v.
WAHALKADA : The porch before a temple or court.

WAHUNPURAYA : A tenant of the jaggery caste, which supplies the upper classes with domestic
servants, chiefly cooks. This class has to accompany the proprietor on journeys and carry the palan-
quin of female members of the proprietor's family. Wh6n not engaged as domestics the Wahumpura-
pangu tenants supply jaggery and kitul-peni. They likewise supply vegetables, attend agricultural work
and carry baggage.

WAJJANKARAYA . A tom-tom-beater. A general term for a temple musician. The five wajjan
of which a regular Hewisia is made up are : 1, the Dawula (the common drum) ; 2. the Temettama (kettle-
drum) 3, the Beraya (drum longer than a Dawula) 4, the Taliya (cymbals) and 5, the Horanewa (the
trumpet.)

WADUPASRIYANGE : The same as " Anamestraya. "

WAKMASE OR WAPMASE : The seventh month of the Sinhalese year (Oct. Nov.)

WALANKADA : A pingo of pottery, usually ten or twelve in number, supplied by the potter as a
part of his service, either as a penumkada or as the complement of chatties he has to giv^ at festivals, etc.

WALAN-KERAWALA . Half a pingo of pottery.

WALAWWA . A respectful term for the residence of- a person of rank. The manor-house.

WALIYAKUMA . Called also " Wediyakuma." The devil -dance after a Diyakepuma. See "Hiro
hiuetima"

WALLAKOTU : Sticks, the bark or twigs of which are used in place of string. It is supplied by
tenants for Yak or Bali ceremonies.

WALLIMALE : A poem containing the legends of Valliamma, the wife of Kataragama.

WALTTMALGOBA : The cluster of young fruit the flower and the sprout (tender branch) of the!
cocoanut tree used in decorations, and supplied by tenants.

WANATA : A clearing between a cultivated land and the adjacent jungle. The same as " Pillowa".

WANNAKURALA : An accountant. The officer of a temple whose duties correspond to those
of a Dewala Mohatiala or Attanayakarala. .

APPENDIX xxiii

WAPPIHIYA : A knife little larger than a Wahunketta (kitchen knife) with the blade somewhat
curved.

WARAGAMA ; A gold coin varying in value from six shillings to seven shillings and sixpence.

WASAMA : An office. A service holding.

WASKALAYA : The season in which priests take up a fixed residence, devoting their time to the
public reading and expounding of Bana. It falls between the months of July and October. Sometimes
a resident priest is placed in Was in his own Pansala, which means that he is to be fed with dan provided
by the tenantry during the season of Was. The practice originated in the command of Buddha that his
disciples should travel about during the dry season as mendicant monks, but that in the rainy season
they should take shelter in leaf huts. The modern priests now desert their substantially built monasteries
to take up their residence for the Was-lit : rainy season-in temporary buildings. The object of the original

institution was to secure attention during part of the year to the persons living near the monastery in

fact that for this period the monks should serve as parish priests.

WAS-ANTAYA : The close of the Was-season.

WAT AD AGE : Temporary sheds for lights, sometimes called " Pasriyangewal " or " Wadupasriyan-
gewal."

WATAPETTIYA : A circular flat basket to carry adukku and penum in.

WATATAPPE : Circular wall round a temple.

WATTAKKA : The common gourd generally grown on hen.

WATTAMA : A round or turn. In Nuwarakalawiya it is applied to the turn in a Hewisimura service.

WATTIYA : A flat basket for carrying penum, flowers etc.

WATTORTJRALA : The tenant whose duty it is to open and close the doors of the sanctuary in a
Dewale, to sweep it out, to clean and trim the lamps, to light and tend them, and to take charge of the
sacred vessels used in the daily service.

WENIWEL : A creeper used as strings for tying.

WESAK : The second month of the Sinhalese year (May-June).

WESIGILIYA OR WESIKILIYA : A privy for priests.

WESMUNA : A mask worn at a Devil or other dance.

WIBADDE-MOHOTTALA : The writer who keeps the account of the paddy revenue of a temple.

WIDANE : The superintendent of a village or a number of villages. The agent of a proprietor.

WIHARAYA : A Buddhist temple (from the Sanskrit vi-hri to walk about), originally the hall where
the Buddhist priests took their morning walk ; afterwards these halls were used as temples and sometimes
became the centre of a whole monastic establishment. The word Wihara or Vihara is now used only to
designate a building dedicated to the memory of Gautama Buddha, and set apart for the daily offering
of flowers, and of food given in charity. To the Wihara proper there has been added in modern times
•an ima^e-house for figures of Buddha in the three attitudes standing as the law-giver, sitting in meditation,
reclining in the eternal repose of unbroken peace and happiness ; and these figures now form prominent
•objects in every Wihara, and it is before these figures that pious Buddhists make their offerings of rice,
flowers, money, etc. It should not be confounded with the " Pansala ' ' which signifies the monastic build-
ings as distinguished from the temple or place of worship around which they are clustered.

WILKORAHA : A large chatty used in soaking seed paddy.

WITARUMA : An inferior Vidane, but the office has lost its original dignity. The duties formerly
•consisted of mere general superintendence of Muttettu-work and carrying of messages to Hewawasam
tenants. The Vitaranna now is only a common messenger doing ordinary service as » petty overseer.

WIYADAMA : Anything expended or issued for use, whether money or stores- It is generally used
for provisions given to a headman or person of rank.

WIYAKOLAMILA : Hire of buffaloes employed in threshing paddy.

WIYANBENDIMA : The hanging up by the dhoby of clean cloths in temples for festivals or in
private houses on festive and other occasions.

WIYAN-TATTTJWA : A canopy ; a coiling.

xxiv APPENDIX

Y.

YAKDESSA : A tenant of the tom-tom beater caste who performs Devil ceremonies.

YAKGE OR YAKMADUWA : The shed in which is performed a devil ceremony.

YAKADAMILA : Hire or cost of agricultural implements forMuttettu cultivation, given by a pro-
prietor.

YAKADAWEDA : Hard-ware. Blacksmith's work.

YALA : The second or the smaller of the two yearly harvests. The season for it varies according to
the facilities which each part of the country has in respect of irrigation. Sometimes the word is used
in a general sense to mean a crop.

YAMANNA OR YAPAMMU : Smelters of iron. Their service consists of giving a certain number
of lumps of iron yearly, the burning of charcoal for the forge, carrying baggage, assisting in field work,
and at Yak or Bali ceremonies. They put up the Talimana (pair of bellows) for the smith, and smelt
iron.

YATIKAWA : A Kapurala's incantation or a pray uttered on behalf of a sick person.

YATU : Half lumps of iron given as a penum by the Yamana tenants.

YOTA : A strong cord or rope.

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