No. 26. — 1883.] PADDY CULTIVATION CUSTOMS. 



77 



Much the same ceremonies have been noted in India : — 

 Idangal panni sutti seyte 



Itta pida mitile 

 Adanga nirum puje seytu 

 Arun davangal pannuoir 

 " Clearing a place, an altar 

 Ye raise upon the site ; 

 And heaping ashes on it, 

 Perform ye many a rite.'' 

 (" Tamil Popular Poetry," by Dr. Caldwell, in Ind. Ant., Vol. I.) 

 " When Gonds, Kurkus, or Bharias start together in their tilli 

 crops, they take with them some ashes and Indian corn seeds, and 

 as they go along they keep making circles with the ashes, and place 

 in their centre the seeds of the corn. This practice is supposed to 

 keep away all the bad will of the devas." — (Notes on the Bharias, 

 bj C. Scanlan, Assistant Surveyor, in Ind. Ant. Vol. I. p. 159.) 



According to Mr. levers (C. A. S. Journ. 1880, p. 52, Diagram) 

 the figure described on the threshing-floor by the cultivators of 

 the Kegalla District consists of no less than seven concentric 

 circles with four cross lines. 



This is a noteworthy departure from the diagram usually seen 

 elsewhere. Throughout the low-country not more than three 

 concentric circles with two diameters between the cardinal points 

 would seem to be drawn. 



Precise directions regarding the preparation of a threshing-floor 

 are laid dow T ninthe Muhurtta-chintdmani (stanzas 257-261) :— 



E. 



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s. 



w. 



257 



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