28 



THE DEMONS 



Demon is now always trying to avenge his wrongs on the whole 

 female sex. Women and little children are therefore supposed to 

 suffer from his malign influence. 



6. Galu Cumara Dewatawa or the Black Prince is the son 

 of king Boksella and his queen Sonalu. He shews himself to men 

 in seven different apparitions; in the 1st he is called Bandung 

 Cumara, or Prince of sandal perfumes;* in the 2nd An dung 

 Cumara, or Prince of Eye Ointments;^ in the 3rd Mai Cumara, 

 or Prince of flowers; in the 4 th Gini Cumara, or Prince oj fire; 

 in the 5th Dala Cumara,, or the Hough Prince; in the 6th Sohon 

 Cumara, or Prince oj graves; and in the 7th Wata Cumara, or 



* There is scarcely a single offering made to any demon in which Sandal 

 wood does not form a constituent part: and Demon worship, be it remembered, 

 is a system, which seems to have prevailed here from times anterior to those of 

 Wijeyo himself. This circumstance, taken together with the fact, that the 

 Chinese writers actually mention Sandal wood as forming in early times an 

 article of export from this Island, seems to favor the idea, that the article 

 must have been growing in the Island in considerable quantities in early times, 

 though at present specimens are to be met with only in a few spots, and those 

 preserved rather as objects of curiosity and ornament than for use. 



f The soot, which is produced on a piece of porcelain when held to the 

 lighted wick of a lamp, is scraped up and mixed with a little cocoanut oil, 

 when it acquires the name andung or Eye Ointment, so called because it is 

 rubbed on the outside of the eyelids of very young infants by Singhalese 

 mothers, who believe it to be productive of some benefit to the eyes. Can it 

 be that this benefit is the protecting of the tender eyes of the young infant from 

 being dazzled by too much light, that the black pigment is laid all round the 

 cornea of the eye in order that it may imbibe all the straggling rays of light 

 which, falling on the parts nearest to the cornea, by reflection, tend to injure 

 the tender retina by an overabundance of light? If this be the case, it will 

 wan-ant the supposition, that the Singhalese were practically acquainted with 

 the Theory of Light, tens of centuries before Newton was born. The practice 

 is one o £ the m >st ancient among the Singhalese. 



This Eye Ointment sxLo forms an important item in the offerings made to 

 demons in many demon ceremonies: but for what use it x s intended to serve a 

 demon it is difficult to guess. In a certain ceremony performed to propitiate 

 the demon Calu Cumara dewatawa, the Cattadiya, who performs the ceremony., 

 paints his eyelids with this Ointment. 



