OR TAKSETO. 37 



They are fond of throwing into confusion the cooking utensils and 

 crockery, and of continually opening and shutting the boxes in the 

 house, if the inmates do not take care to secrete the keys, unobserved 

 by the spirits. The jingling of coin, the sound of strange footsteps, 

 and the creaking of door-hinges are frequently heard. The demon 

 does not like to see the inmates eat and drink and enjoy themselves. 

 When these latter sit together at their meals, he gets so annoyed 

 by the sight, that he seizes them by the hair and knocks their heads 

 against each other. He is of course invisible to men, like all other 

 demons, but is possessed of no power to inflict disease.* He be- 

 longs to the class called Mala Yakseyo. 



XXI. Bodkima is a female demon, at first originating no doubt 

 in the nursery, but at present believed to be a real existence. She 

 is the ghost of a woman, who has died in child-birth. She is said 

 to be heard at night, wailing and groaning in a peculiar manner; 

 and if she sees a man passing by, she immediately springs on his 

 back, and, fixing her fingers and long nails in his throat, tries to 

 choke him to death. She however is afraid of women, and espe- 

 cially of a woman with a house-broom in her hand. When she is 

 supposed to be heard at night groaning in her peculiar way, and 

 approaching a house, the male portion of the inmates take care to 

 remain inside, while the women, especially the elder, go out of the 

 house with brooms, and abuse the demon with such a string of 

 epithets and names, as would seem enough to drive, not only one 

 Bodrima, but the whole race of demons from this terrestrial globe. 

 On such occasions, people sometimes place at some distance from 

 the house a lighted lamp and some betel leaves, which the demon 

 is said to hold one by one over the lighted wick, and warm and 

 foment her abdomen with. If she were to be fired at, there would 



proved that a portion of the stolen property, consisting of some £ 3 or £ 4, had 

 been concealed by the thief under the stone in the fire-place, as the least likely 

 place to be suspected of concealing money. 



* There are certain ceremonies performed to expel a Gewala Yakseya from 

 a house, especially the Perit ceremony performed by Buddhist priests, 

 generally during three days and four nights. 



