CHAP. XI.] DEVIL-DANCERS. 541 



Kattadias or devil-priests are to be sought, and tlieir 

 ceremonies performed, generally with observances so bar- 

 barous as to be the most revolting evidence still extant of 

 the uncivilised habits of the Singhalese. Especially in cases 

 of sickness and danger, the assistance of the devil-dancer 

 is implicitly relied on : an altar, decorated with garlands, 

 is erected within sight of the patient, and on this an 

 animal, frequently a cock, is to be sacrificed for his 

 recovery. The dying man is instructed to touch and 

 dedicate to the evil spirit the wild flowers, the rice, and 

 the flesh, which have been prepared as the pidaneys 

 or offerings to be made at sunset, at midnight, and 

 the morning ; and in the intervals the dancers per- 

 form their incantations, habited in masks and disguises 

 to represent the demon which they personate, as the 

 immediate author of the patient's suffering. In the frenzy 

 of these orgies, the Kattadia having feigned the access of 

 inspiration from the spirit he invokes, is consulted by 

 the friends of the afflicted, and declares the nature 

 of his disease, and the probability of its favourable 

 or fatal termination. At sunrise, the ceremony closes 

 with an exorcism chanted to disperse the demons who 

 have been attracted by the rite ; the devil-dancers 

 withdraw with the offerings, and sing, as they re- 

 tire, the concluding song of the ceremony, " that the 

 sacrifice may be acceptable and the life of the sufferer 

 extended." 



In addition to this Yakha worship, which is essentially 

 indigenous in Ceylon, the natives practise the' invocation 

 of a distinct class of demons, their conceptions of which 

 are evidently borrowed from the debased ceremonies of 

 Hinduism, though in their adoption they have rejected 

 the grosser incidents of its ritual, and replaced them with 

 others less cruel, but by no means less revolting. The 

 Capuas, who. perform ceremonies in honour of these 

 strange gods, are of a higher rank than the Kattadias, 

 who conduct the incantations to the Yakhas, and they are 



