Sakra having taken him to the Sakra residence (bawana) showed him
the boy's mother. Having shown her, Sakra asked, "Can you stay here?"
Then the boy said, "I having asked at elder brother's hand must come,"
and came [back to earth]. Having gone to the elder brother's city
and said, "Elder brother, our mother having gone is in the Sakra
residence; I also will go," the elder brother replied, "If you can,
go." He having said it, he came away to go, [but] the boy not knowing
the path simply stayed [at home].
Finished.
Tom-tom Beater. North-western Province.
I have inserted this pointless tale on account of the evidence
it affords of a belief that infanticide was practised in former
times; I may add that I have adhered as closely as possible to the
text. It agrees with the story numbered 243 in this volume (a tale
from Ratmalana, about eight miles south of Colombo), that children
who were not likely to prove useful were sometimes buried alive. For
other instances of infanticide see the Index to vol. i.
I am unable to refer to Indian instances in which Sakra occupies the
position of Yama as the God of Death; but in Ceylon he is sometimes
represented as being a Dharma-raja, a god of righteousness or justice,
and this is a function of Yama. See the verse at the end of the story
numbered 179 in vol. ii; in No. 107, vol. ii, it is Sakra who kills
the wicked Princess.
The reason for cutting a special well with the water of which the
women wished to bathe, was that they would thus obtain undefiled water.