No. 11.— 1858-9.] SINHALESE MYTHOLOGY. 



15 



the tresses of Siva.* The following couplet of the poet, in 

 allusion to this 4 heavenly river,' is well known : — 



Kaviyasekhara. 



There are several other minute particulars connected with 

 the foregoing account of the Universe ; but as they can be 

 easily learnt on reference to the books on the subject, we 

 now turn our attention to 



1. SAKRA or Jupiter, the personification of the firmament. 

 ' Aspice hoc sublime candens, quern invocant omnies Jovem.' 



He is called by various names ; Sakra is his most usual 

 designation in the Sinhalese, whilst Indra is that commonly 

 used by the Hindus. He is the ruler of the highest heaven, 



the great father of the gods above. 



Virgil. 



Hence he is called Sura-rada or Sura-isura in Sinhalese : 

 he is the patron of " 100 sacrificial offerings," and is thence 

 called Siya-hutan : he has a diamond weapon in his hand 

 called viduru or vajraf : he, 



whose awful hand 



Disperses thunder on the seas and land, 

 Dispensing all with absolute command. 



Virgil. 



is therefore named Vidu-rata, or Vidu-ravi. He is called 

 Purandara, from the fact related of him, that he divided his 

 city with king Mahd Mandathu after the expulsion of the 

 Asuras, who may be compared to the Titans and giants of the 



* May the tresses interwoven with a circular garland of serpents for 

 flowers, where the waters of the Mandakini are flowing over the lower 

 chaplet of skulls worn in the crest &c." — Hindu Plays, ii. p. 9, 



t " The diamond and thunderbolt according to Hindu notions, are of 

 one substance and are called by the same appellation, Vajra, as the fall 

 of the thunderbolt is usually followed by rain, and may thus be considered 

 as its cause. The propinquity and the mutual friction of the same sub- 

 stance upon the wrists of our young ladies, is in like manner supposed to 

 occasion the dispersion of the fluid treasures of the cloud." — Wilson's 

 Megha Diita, note, p. 73. I may state it as a fact that the native Sinha- 

 lese of the fifth century, regarded diamond as a non-conductor of light- 

 ning It is so stated, in unmistakeable language, in the" Mahawansa" 

 and the Tika. 



