No. 29.— 1884.] PADDY CULTIVATION CUSTOMS, i 311 



ruary). It must not be done on a Wednesday. At the lucky 

 hour the land-owner makes a rough extempore image of 

 Gane*sa out of a handfal of moist cow-dung, decorates it with 

 the tops of aruku grass,* which is sacred to this and other 

 gods, and after doing pusai to it, leaves his house, taking care 

 to pass by a lighted lamp and a full water-pot — the latter 

 placed on a heap of paddy in front of his house. The 

 mouth of this pot is filled up by a cocoanut surrounded by 

 five or more (but always some odd number of) mango 

 leaves. t On his way to the field, if he has to pass a temple 

 he does not omit to make his devotions there. On reaching 

 his field he splits a cocoanut, and reaps a few of the ears of 

 paddy, and takes them home with him, passing by the lamp 

 and water-pot as before. In the inner room of his house 

 he hangs up a few of the ears, and treads out the paddy 

 from those remaining. 



The paddy he places in a small old basket, which he 

 hands to his wife. She receives it with both hands, and, 

 facing north,| either keeps the paddy or boils it at once 

 as " new rice."§ 



This " new rice " is eaten at the lucky hour, and a little 

 raw rice, with the usual accompaniments, is sent to the 

 village temple to be boiled and offered as a ponkal to the 

 deity. The reaping is then proceeded with. 



But it is the " threshing " that the cultivators have to be 

 the most punctilious about. It is commenced on one of the 

 auspicious days— Thursday or Friday (or sometimes on 

 Sunday), but never on a Wednesday — and continued on 



* Cynodon dactylon, Pers. See C. A. S. Journal, 1880, pp. 7-8, for 

 a full account of this grass, by Mr. W. Ferguson. 



t The cocoanut-oil lamp also has five or seven or some odd number 

 of wick-spouts. 



% So the Sinhalese set apart on a post three handfuls of ripe ears 

 for Kataragama Deviyo (the Kantasuvami of the Tamils ; Skanda, the 

 god of War). (C. A. S. Journal, 1883, p. 48.) 



§ This appears to correspond to the "New Kice-feast" (Alut-bat- 

 kema ) of the Sinhalese, except that the latter takes place after the 

 threshing is concluded. (Journal, 1880, p. 50; 1883, p. 56.) 



