168 



J. HORNELL ON 



thurai Vellalas claim to be a branch of the great Vellala caste with whom the custom 

 is prevalent of marking their doors with hand impressions to avert the evil eye. Of 

 still greater interest is the survival of an eye carved upon either bow, followed by a 

 small square containing the name of the patron goddess of the owner^n the cases 

 noted Amman — surmounted by the Hindus' propitiatory sign of t^- , paravi {ut^) or 

 "horse" being added — evidently an offering of the vessel to the goddess honoured 

 as her horse or vehicle (text-fig. 13 and pi. vi, fig. 3). Be it noted that the only sur- 

 vivals of the use of "eyes" on the bows of sea-going boats in India and Ceylon 

 are the present instance and that of the Jaffna dhonis of Ceylon. The pictures of 

 a three-masted ship and of a Royal barge on the walls of the Ajunta caves (A.D. circa 

 600 A.D.) ^ show that this custom was in use formerly — probably habitual. The 



Fig. 13. — Kalla dhoni showing an oculus and inscription incised on the bow. 



Greeks, Romans and ancient Egyptians followed the same custom, and although it 

 has died out in India save at this out-of-the-world spot, it flourishes among the 

 junks and sampans of China and Indo-China. The custom is not followed by the 

 peoples of Malaysia — possibly because of Muhammadan influence. 



Eyes are also fixed upon the bows of the smah coasters of the dhoni type 

 owned by Hindus in the north of Ceylon. In this case the wooden eye (pi. vi, fig. 2) 

 is carved separately and then nailed to the hull; in the Indian kalla dhoni it is 

 carved in the planking of the bow. The Jaffnese Tamils, long isolated in the 

 north of Ceylon, are noted as having retained many archaic Tamil customs long since 

 lost by their continental kindred and as employing in ordinary speech a form of 

 Tamil closely approaching the classical ; the likelihood therefore is the greater that 

 their local vessels retain more archaic characteristics than those of ports more open 



I R. },luktiji, Indian. Shipping, p. 41. 



