44 



JOURNAL, B. A. s. (oeylon). [Vol. V1IL 



SINHALESE CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES CON- 

 NECTED WITH PADDY CULTIVATION 

 IN THE LOW-COUNTRY. 



By H. C. P. Bell, Esq., C.C.S., Honorary Secretary. 

 {Read February 15, 1882.) 



On nearly all that pertains to the general process of 

 native tillage in this Island, the curious enquirer need but 

 consult the quaint description given by Robert Knox in his 

 "Historical Relation of Ceilon," or more recent writers, 

 notably Pridham and Campbell, — who have, however, done 

 little more than condense Knox's account.* 



It is proposed here rather to follow out the particular 

 branch of enquiry taken up by Mr. R. W. levers, C.C.S., in his 

 interesting paper contributed to the Society's Journal for 

 1880, by dealing with the superstitious beliefs and practices 

 which continue to this day— though, be it noted, with marked 

 diminishing force — to centre round and form an integral 

 part of the agricultural operations of the Sinhalese culti- 

 vator. 



A record of these semi-religious rites and ceremonies is 

 important, not merely for purposes of comparison with those 

 found cropping up under one form or another all over the 

 world, but as tending to bring out, more than ought else, 

 the actual, if confused and undefined, religious ideas and 

 aspirations of the unenlightened goyiya. 



The faith of the Sinhalese is a strange mixture of demono- 

 latry (including the worship of devils or Yakseyo and 

 demi-gods or Demyo) tempered more or less by Buddhism, 

 but withal showing unmistakeable traces of that older 

 (i nature worship," which preceded both, and dates from the 



* Pridham, " Ceylon and its Dependencies," Vol. L, pp. 362-7, 1849 ; 

 Campbell, " Excursions, &c, in Ceylon," Vol. II., pp. 34-48, 1843; 

 Knox " Historical Relation of Ceilon," pp. 7—11, 1681. 



