No. 29.— 1884.] THRESHING-FLOOK LANGUAGE. 



267 



Then come the numerous husbandmen, 

 On the four sides a fence to raise, 

 While to the leader of the band 

 The favouring gods assistance give.* 



His heart is filled with joys divine, 



When Gonagala's fields are sown, 



A thousand kings the rites attend, | 



The great world's bounds by them enclosed. 



Six persons carry on the work, 

 Milk-leaven then the chief provides 

 For offerings meet J— and to the feast 

 Mothers-of-milk a thousand bids. §] 



* Devipihitayi. — See C. A. S. Journal, 1883, p. 59, note. 



f Puravedimata, — A correspondent writing to the Ceylon Observer says : 

 " Whether in malm or yala when the field is properly ploughed, the cul- 

 tivator observes a favourable nekata to sow the first seed ; for which purpose 

 a small space of ground, where two embankments meet, is prepared. When the 

 first seed is sown, a branch from the sabarala, a cocoanut-flower, and a bit of 

 saffron are fixed on the spot, that it may be thus exactly distinguished. 

 This ceremony is called Puravedi'ma. When harvest is at hand, the portion 

 of corn in this distinguished spot is first reaped by some person who is not 

 a member of the family. It is kept, to be dedicated to the gods, on an 

 elevated stick until the harvest is ended, is threshed in a separate place, and 

 the paddy of that portion forms a part of expense, either of the dance called 

 gammadu, or the feeding a kapuwd, a demon priest." 



According to Mr. Bell, Puravadanavd also means to begin the work of 

 clearing. It is evidently an euphemistic expression used with various meanings. 

 See C.A.S. Journal, 1883, p. 46. 



J Gurupandurata. " The money offered to a god or demon is always 

 called panduru, which means, "ransom money." C.A.S. Journal, 1865, p. 42. 

 See also C.A.S. Journal, 1883, p. 58 ; also a gift to one's Teacher in grateful 

 acknowledgment of his services. 



§ " There is a certain dane or alms-giving ceremony called Kiri Amrimd- 

 warunne Dane, or " the alms of the mothers-of-milk," generally observed three 

 months after the birth of a child. Besides other people, who are invited to 

 the house to partake of food or ddne on the occasion, seven women, some- 

 times seven unmarried girls, named for the time Mri ammald, or" the mothers- 

 of-milk," are made to sit apart from the others, and are treated to a breakfast 

 of boiled rice, plantains, and a sort of jelly called " milk," made of rice- 

 flour, jaggery, or country sugar, and the juice of the cocoanut. The dishes 

 of the others, who are treated on the same occasion, are different from these." 

 C. A. S. Journal, 1865, p. 65. 



21—86 B 



