OR YAKSEYO. 



21 



I. Reeri Yakseya or Reeri Yakka* (demon of blood) is con- 

 sidered to be the most cruel and powerful of all these. He is 

 represented as having the face of a monkey, and the rest of his body 

 like that of a man. The colour of his skin is a fiery red. He uses 

 a red bull to ride on. There is scarcely a single disease, to which 

 a Singhalese man is liable, in which this demon is not supposed to 

 exert an influence. Diseases, which produce a flux of blood from 

 the system, are supposed to be especially inflicted by him. When 

 a man is about to die, this demon is supposed to be present by means 

 of an avatar^ or apparition called Afar it Avatar, or apparition of 

 death. On such an occasion he is supposed to assume the dimen- 

 sions of a pigmy, measuring one span and six inches in height, and 

 carrying in one hand a cock, in the other a club, and in his mouth 

 the corpse of a man ; he is supposed to be present at the death bed, 

 or not far off, till the man dies. Every demon, as well as Reeri 

 Yakseya, has several forms of these apparitions or disguises, which 

 he assumes on different occasions according to circumstances, and 

 in each of which he is called by a different name. There is how- 

 ever another opinion entertained by some of the Cattadiyas, that 

 these apparitions are not different disguises of the same demon, but 

 that they are separate individual demons, forming however a sort 

 of confederacy, and all acting together in concert. The former, we 

 think, is the more popular opinion of the two. Nevertheless, in the 

 case of one demon, viz., Sanni Yakseya, these apparitions are sup- 



* Yakseya and Yakka are synonymous terms, of which the latter however is 

 the one which is more commonly used. 



| Avatar is a Sanscrit term signifying the incarnation of any being or spirit 

 in some particular shape. Among the Hindoos an avatar of being, such, for 

 instance, as that of Vishnoo, is some condition of existence, such as that of a 

 cow, a man, a serpent or some other, which Vishnoo chooses to assume or to be 

 born in. An avatar of a demon, as understood amongst the Singhalese, means 

 some disguise which a demon assumes for a few moments or so. It is also 

 supposed that the demon himself is not bodily present at any place where such 

 an avatar is seen, but that he is millions of miles distant from the scene, and yet 

 has the power of creating these avatars and of presenting them to the eyes of 

 men. 



