No. 29. — 1884.] PADDY CULTIVATION CUSTOMS. 



313 



plantain fruit, betel, &c, the worshipper doing obeisance 

 by crossing the forearms in front of his face, and striking 

 his temple three times with closed fist. 



A stake (polikkaddai ) — which, if itis to be a protection 

 against the kulis, should be of the wood of the strychnos 

 tree (kdnchurai)* but is generally of some hard wood, 

 such as vidattal or tiruk-kondaij — is next fixed by the 

 chief farm-servant (who is hence called the Kaddaippolan) 

 in the centre of the circle, with a few ears of paddy and a 

 few margosa leaves tied at the top of it. If the floor is of 

 loose soil, mats are spread round the stake ; if not the bare 

 ground is used as a threshing-floor. Water, in which fresh 

 macerated cow-dung has been soaked, is sprinkled over the 

 floor to purify it. The usual cocoanut is split, and then the 

 Kaddaippolan (usually an elderly man) takes some ears 

 from the rick, and holding them over his head with the 

 goad (polimildru) or the flail ( velai-dl) walks three times 

 round the stake. % He places the ears at the foot of the 

 stake, standiDg with his face towards the north or east. 

 He is followed by all the other servants ( polamdrkal), each 

 carrying sheaves of ears, and depositing them round the 

 stake, until there is a sufficient quantity for threshing to 

 commence. The men then pull down the heap (po?ypai) 

 and spread out the sheaves conveniently for threshing. 



* Strychnos nux-vomica ; Sinhalese, goda-kaduru. 

 f Cassia fistula, L; Sinhalese, ehela. 



\ This resembles the procedure in the Rayigam Korale. The 

 Sinhalese dispense with the stake, the place of which is taken by the 

 muttd. Instead of the chief servant it is " any goyiyd reputed fortu- 

 nate." He walks three times round the muttd, and places the sheaf 

 on it. Instead of facing towards the north or east, he looks " in the 

 direction fixed by the astrologer with reference to the nekata. ' But 

 in the ceremony immediately following, the chief goiyyd (the kaddaip- 

 polan) ' carries the deli goyiyd (velai-dl) round the corn. The Jaffna 

 ceremony, in fact, seems to be an abridgment of that followed in Rayi- 

 gam Korale. In the Siyane Korale the cultivator walks seven times 

 round the arakvala — the hole in the centre of the circle in which the 

 charms are placed. (See C. A. S. Journal, 1883, pp. 49, 51.) 



