36 



THE DEMONS 



of chastity, having to accompany the wedding procession of Cauda 

 Cumara (the god of Kattragam), but not wishing to do so, because 

 the house, together with all the furniture prepared for the reception 

 of the guests, was wholly constructed of the bones and skins of 

 animals (the adopted father of the bride happening to be a Weddah), 

 she ordered Gara Yakseya to go there in time, and see what he 

 could do before her arrival. Accordingly he went to the house in 

 the character of Gam an a* and not seeing any better way of clear- 

 ing the house of its disagreeable furniture, at once fell to devouring 

 every thing, and in a short time the whole building with all its 

 furniture was deposited in his stomach; to show his host, that he did 

 this merely to satisfy his hunger, and not for any other purpose, he, 

 even after this feat of gastronomic power, said that he was still very 

 hungry. Before he commenced to eat the house, he had also eaten 

 all the food, that had been prepared for the whole wedding party. 

 Lastly, to satisfy his thirst, he drank some thousands of young 

 Cocoanuts, and then drank up all the wells in the neighbourhood: 

 and after all this, he left the house in great displeasure, say i fig to his 

 host, as he was leaving him, "you, fellow, have starved me; a nice 

 way indeed of treating the Gam ana of a son-in-law. Oh dear, I 

 am dying of hunger and thirst." 



XX. Gewala Yakseya, or House demon, lives in the dwell- 

 ings of men. These demons are innumerable. They are the spirits 

 of those, who lived and died in the houses they now haunt, and who 

 on their deathbed had thought much more of the money or other 

 valuables they had hoarded up in the house,")" than of their souls. 



* About an hour or so before a bridegroom accompanied by his friends 

 arrives at the house of the bride, a person, named for the occasion Gamana or 

 messenger, is sent forward with a number of betel leaves equal to the number 

 of people, who accompany the bridegroom. The Gamana is to give these 

 betel leaves to the bride's friends, together with the large pingo of plantains 

 called Gira-mul-tada, which in the Maritime districts is always a. sine qua non 

 of the presents, which a Singhalese bridegroom carries to his bride's house. 



| The Singhalese, especially the poorer classes, generally secrete their money 

 in holes dug in the floor, or in the walls of their houses. In a case of burglary 

 which was tried at Karidy before the Supreme Court about a year ago, it was 



