Constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom. 245 
The two parties in the suit being directed to swear, abstain from all pollu- 
tions and purify themselves during three days. On the day appointed, which 
is either Wednesday or Saturday, they proceed to the house of the Adikar, 
when two olas called dewe sitta have been properly written and prepared, 
one in the name of each party, asserting the truth of the point upon which 
his right depends, and denying the same of his adversary, declaring that he 
has employed no sorcery or medicines, and calling the gods to witness the 
truth of his words. 
They are next sent with a messenger of the Adikar to the four temples 
in Kandy, or sometimes only to that of Parrinr. In presence of the 
Kapurale they offer each a tangama (eighteen pice) upon the altar, and call 
the gods to witness that the contents of the ola are true, and the Kapurale 
then invokes a manifestion of evidence. From the temple they proceed with 
three messengers to the spot where three sticks of the lime tree are 
planted to hold the earthen vessels, in the centre of a small enclosure 
formed by stakes and white cocoa-nut leaves; two or three cocoa-nuts are 
brought by each party. 
The oil is extracted from them and poured into the vessel, and cow-dung 
mixed with water and strained is prepared in another, and the fire kindled, 
a friend or servant from both parties assisting in all these operations. The 
officers having ascertained that the oil and cow-dung water are boiling hot by 
immersing in them a strip of white cocoa-nut leaf, each litigant advancing 
from opposite sides with the two dewe sifta bound respectively to the lower 
part of their right arms, breaks the fence of white olas, calling the gods to 
witness as before at the temple that the contents of the sifta are true, and 
seat themselves near the fire. 
First the plaintiff touches the burning oil with the tip of his fore or 
middle finger usually three times in succession, and sprinkles a drop or 
two upon a leaf which is placed beside it for the purpose of this proof, and 
then touches and sprinkles in like manner a little of the water impregnated 
with cow-dung ; immediately after the defendant performs the same opera- 
tion; and the hands of both being wrapped up with a cloth tied round the 
wrist, they are conducted before the Great Court, or the Adikar or Desave 
who sent them. Here their fingers are minutely examined, and if nothing is 
perceptible, their hands are usually wrapped up a second time with a wetted 
tag or piece of lime, and re-examined the next morning or evening, for 
the purpose of determining with greater certainty. After the examination 
