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JOUKNAL, K.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



This is not our threshing-floor, 

 'Tis King Pandi's * threshing-floor. 

 This is not our threshing-floor, 

 'Tis god Gana's "f threshing-floor.] 



High as Samanala's Peak, fill with corn the threshing- 

 floor ; 



High as holy Mecca's J shrine, fill with corn the 

 threshing-floor ; 



High as sacred Kelani, fill with corn the threshing-floor; 



High as Buvanveii's shrine, fill with corn the threshing- 

 floor. 



Bring the corn from highest tracts, § and pile it on the 



threshing-floor ; 

 Bring the corn from lowest tracts, and pile it on the 



threshing-floor ; 

 From atuva and kotuva || bring corn to fill this 



threshing-floor ; 

 E'en the women's wonted share % must help to fill this 



threshing-floor.] 



* Tamil, Pdndi-rdsan, the King of Madura : Pdndiyan, any king of Madura, 

 of the lunar dynasty : Pdndu, a sovereign of ancient Delhi, the nominal father 

 of the Panda va princesi(Wins.). See " Hinduism," by Monier Williams, p. 112. 

 "Indian Kings belonged to one or the other of two great families, which 

 were held to have descended respectively from the sun and the moon. The 

 former called surya vansa, or solar dynasty ; the latter, the chandra vansa, 

 or lunar dynasty. The solar dynasty was the more eminent of the two." 

 (" Arichandra," translated by Sir M. Commara Swamy, note on p. 217.) 



f Gana, Ganesa, or Ganapati, the Hindu god of wisdom, and remover of 

 obstacles. 



% Compare the song from the Kalutara District, given by Mr. Bell, in 

 which reference is also made to "Mecca's sacred foot." (C. A. S. Journal, 

 1883, p, 53.) There must have been some Moormen, I should think, in the 

 villages in which these songs were composed, whom it was desirable to con- 

 ciliate. 



§ Ihala and pahala elapata, the portions of a field which are res- 

 pectively nearest to and furthest from the tank which irrigates it. 



|| The atuva is a store for paddy, either a detached building or under 

 the same roof as the house The kotuva is a shelf or platform used for the 

 same purpose, and supplementary to the atuva, Atukotuvala may be merely 

 a re-duplication, such as is common in Sinhalese and Tamil. Cf. with this 

 and the two preceding lines the song above referred to, given by Mr. Bell, 

 part of which is almost identical with them : 

 Ihala vele' tibena betat 

 Pahala vele' tibena betat 

 Atu-kotu-vala tibena betat 

 Eda puravan me kamatata. 

 \ The portion paid to the women as hire for their labour. 



