JOURNAL 



OF 



THE CEYLON BRANCH 



OF THE 



ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



On Demonology and Witchcrajt in Ceylon. — By Dandris De 

 sllva gooneratne, modliar. 



General Remarks on Demon Worship. 



A belief in the realities of an invisible world of evil spirits as 

 influencing, in a certain manner, many of the ordinary concerns of 

 human life, has not only always formed an integral part of the 

 creed of a large majority of mankind in every age and country of 

 the world, but has also had, and still has, to a considerable extent, 

 a certain strange, mysterious, and unaccountable fascination for 

 the mind of man, even when reason happens to raise its authorita- 

 tive voice of condemnation against it. Why, or how this is so — 

 whether it is founded on any innate, morbid quality of the human 

 heart, which men find it difficult to resist under certain circum- 

 stances, or on any intrinsic truth inherent in the nature of the 

 thing itself, or only on mere ignorance, it is as far from my present 

 purpose, as it is beyond my humble abilities, to discuss here. But 

 that the belief really exists will hardly admit of a doubt. 



This belief has, according to the amount of intelligence and 

 civilization possessed by those among whom it prevails, given rise 

 to various systems of superstition, of which some are of the most 



B 



