THE VEGETABLE WORLD.
Trees which grow to a large size like the Nuga (ficus altissima),
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
incense. Before a wood-cutter fells a large tree he visits to it
three or four days previously 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 remembrance of the great enlightenment which took place
under it. His three predecessors in the Buddha hood--Kassapa,
Konâgama, Kakusanda--attained enlightenment under the nuga, dimbul
and the sirisa.
The margosa tree is sacred to Pattini and the telambu tree to Navaratna
Wâlli. Each lunar asterism is associated with a particular tree.
Homage is paid to an overlord by presenting 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 holding
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 astrologer'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 mal) are sacred to malignant spirits and white flowers
(sudu mal) to beneficient spirits. Turmeric water is used for charming
and sticks from bitter plants are used as magic wands. The Nâga darana
root (martynia diandra) protects a man from snake bite.
It is auspicious to have growing near houses the following:--nâ
(ironwood), palu (mimusops hexandra), mûnamal (mimusops elengi), sapu
(champak), delum (pomegranate), kohomba (margosa), areka, cocoanut,
palmyra, jak, shoeflower, idda (wrightia zeylanica), sadikka (nutmeg)
and midi (vitis vinifera) while the following are inauspicious:--imbul
(cotton), ruk (myristica tursfieldia), mango, beli (aegle marmelos),
ehela (cassia fistula), tamarind, satinwood, ratkihiri (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 "tôra kola visa netâ kahambaliyâ 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 Bômbu (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 lê-blood). Thereafter the batala
(Edulis batatas) became the food of the poor.
That the jak fruit may be eaten by the people, the god Sakrayâ 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 consequently 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" (nagâ 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 (sevendrâ)
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 etikukulâ (jungle fowl) should be tied by a metal
chain when the parents will fetch the twig to release their young.