26 



THE DEMONS 



accounts this demon has 4 ; 448, and according to others 484,000 

 subject demons under him. He generally rides on a lion, and has 

 18 principal attendants, the first of whom is called B hoot a Sanni 

 Yakseya, or the demon of madness ; 2nd Maru Sanni Yakseya, 

 or the demon of death; 3rd Jala Sanni Yakseya, or the demon 

 of cholera ; 4th Wewulun Sanni Yakseya. or the demon of cold 

 and trembling fits ; 5th Naga Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of 

 a disease resembling that from the sting of a Cobra de Capello ; 

 6th Cana Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of blindness ; 7th Corra 

 Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of lameness; 8th Gollu Sanni 

 Yakseya, or the demon of dumbness ; 9th Bihiri Sanni Yakseya, 

 or the demon of deafness ; 10th Wata Sanni Yakseya, or the 

 demon of diseases caused by the wind ; 11th Pit Sanni Yakseya, 

 or the demon of bilious diseases; 12th Sen Sanni Yakseya, 

 or the demon of diseases influenced by the phlegm ;* 13th Be mala 

 Sanni Yakseya, or the Tamil demon of diseases ; 14th Murtu 

 Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of fainting fits and swoons ; 15th 

 Arda Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of Apoplexy ; 16th Wedi 

 Sanni Yakseya, or the demon of a disease which kills one in- 

 stantly like a shot from a gun; 17th Dewa Sanni Yakseya, or 

 the demon of diseases influenced by the gods; and 18th Aturu 

 Sanni Yakseya, or the servant of Maha Cola Sanni Yakseya (the 

 chief of all the i 8.) These 18 demons are not considered to be 

 mere apparitions of the same demon, as in the case of the other 

 Takseyo, but separate individual demons acting together in con- 

 cert with their chief Maha Cola Sanni Yakseya. 



IV. Oddy Cumara Hooniyan Dewatawa f is the son of 

 Susiri, queen of Sagalpura in Maduratta. He always rides on 



* Wind, phlegm and bile are considered by the Singhalese physicians to be 

 the proximate causes of every sickness, to which man is liable: and in the treat- 

 ment of any disease, one or more of these three agents have to be influenced. 



f Though dewatawa is a term, which is generally applied to the inferior 

 classes of gods, and to the superior classes of demons, that do not inflict disease 

 on men, yet it is also sometimes applied by Cattadiyas, as in the text, to in- 

 ferior or malignant demons. 



