512 PALM^. 



Tenkaya-chettu { Tel. ) , Tengina-gidaj Tcngiiio-kuyi {Can,^, 

 Tenga, Ten-inaram (Mai.), 



History, Uses, &C. — The cocoanut, formerly written 



coconut, derives its European names from the Portuguese coco^ 

 "a mask/' Garcia abHorta says : " We have given it the name 

 of coqus on account of its having three holes which cause it to 

 resemble the face of a cat or similar animal." The resemblance, 

 however, of this nut to a head and face had not escaped the 

 notice of the Hindus ; long before the Portuguese had set foot 

 in India, nciral was used as a cant term in the sense of head, 

 pate, sconce, &c., and was sometimes used to represent the 

 head of a dummy figure by the relatives of a deceased person 

 whose body could not be found, and who nevertheless were 

 desirous of rendering to it the usual funeral rites. Various 

 superstitious uses to which the cocoanut is put in India 

 attracted the notice of the early missionaries. Yincenzo Maria 

 da Santa Caterlna [Viaggio alle Indie Orient.^ iii., 29) states that 

 when an Indian falls sick, they spin a cocoanut ; if it stops 

 with its face towards the West, the sick person will die, but if 

 it faces the East, he will recover ; he also notices the offering of 

 a cocoanut at the commencement of any buildinn-. To this we 

 may add that on the Western Coast cocoanuts are offered to 

 the Sea on the day of the full moon of Shravan, when the 

 monsoon is supposed to terminate. It is related that in former 

 days the European Governor of Bombay used to go in state 

 and throw a golden cocoanut into tho sea on this day. In 

 Hindustan there is also a practice among the Indian Maho- 

 metans of breaking a cocoanut to ascertain whether a pregnant 

 woman will be deKvered of a male or female child ; if it is 

 empty she will be delivered of a son, if not, of a daughter: 



is called " nariyal torna." Breaking a cocoanut against 



this 



Western 



inmates 

 smellins: 



them to leave the house. The utarna or casting away of 

 disease or misfortune may be performed "by carrying a cocoanut 

 to a distance from the house and brealdujr it. 



