SINHALESE FOLKLORE NOTES
CEYLON
BY
ARTHUR A. PERERA,
Advocate, Ceylon.
Bombay:
PRINTED AT THE BRITISH INDIA PRESS, MAZGAON
1917
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
The Sinhalese beliefs, customs and stories in the present collection
were contributed by the writer to the Indian Antiquary fourteen years
ago in a series of articles under the title of "Glimpses of Sinhalese
Social Life"; they are now offered, amplified and rearranged, to the
student of folklore in Ceylon, as a basis for further research. The
writer has adopted the scheme of classification in the Folklore
Society's Hand Book of Folklore.
ARTHUR A. PERERA.
Westwood, Kandy,
10th February, 1917.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Belief and Practice.
Chapter. PAGES
1. The Earth and the Sky 1
2. The Vegetable World 4
3. The Animal World 6
4. Human Beings 11
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 25
Customs.
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.
16. Stories 47
17. Songs and Ballads 51
18. Proverbs, Riddles and Local Sayings 54
Appendix.
Glossary of Sinhalese Folk terms from the Service
Tenure Register (1872).
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's Peak) which contains the sacred foot print
of the Buddha was in prehistoric times sacred to the god Saman who
still presides over the mountain. 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 Dumbara 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 Kalâviya district,
S.E. of Anuradhapura 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 he 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.
Râvanâ Kotte,--the stronghold of Râvanâ (king of the Rakshas)--was
off Kirinda in the Hambantota District and is now submerged. 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 Wêragoda 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 Wenêru 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 petrifying 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 complicated malady of cough, asthma, fever and diabetes in
consequence of Wijeya, the first king, having killed his old benefactor
and discarded mistress, Kuvêni, 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 Rajâ, king of Malva Dêsa, 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 Urâtota (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 Rajâ complying with the wishes of the gods,
ordered the Kohomba Yakku dance 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 Kuvêni 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.
The earth goddess (Mihi Ket) supports the world on one of her thumbs
and when weary shifts it on to the other causing an earthquake.
The four cardinal points are presided over by four guardian deities
(Hataravaran Deviyô).
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 is 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 bow (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 "Handahamy 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 astrologer before any work of importance is begun.
The sun, moon, and Rahu 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 miraculously filled 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 brothers by swallowing them and
causing an Eclipse.