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



315 



and sides. Holding his right arm with his left hand* 

 he marks on the top and sides of the heap with his finger 

 representations of the trident (chulam ) of Siva, at the four 

 cardinal points, and also certain diagrams, generally circles, 

 ornamented with tridents. f A cow-dung representation 

 of Pillaiyar is again made, and, adorned with aruku grass, is 

 placed on the heap with split cocoanuts and the knife used 

 in splitting them. Rice is then boiled and offered to 

 Pillaiyar. A twisted straw rope is put round the heap as 

 a guard-cord ( kavatkodi ) until the winnowing takes place. 

 The men having thus taken measures to protect kdvatcheyya 

 (the heap) against the kulis, Sbre at liberty to leave the thresh- 

 ing-floor for a time. In case another heap of paddy has to 

 be threshed the same night, the paddy already threshed is 

 heaped in the east corner of the floor to await winnowing 

 after the other rick has been threshed. 



Some of the prevalent superstitions with respect to these 

 kulis may be noticed here. The kulis are supposed to be 

 mischievous, and to favour, or disfavour, the farmer according 

 as they are propitiated by him or not. They will remove 

 paddy from a neighbouring floor to the one favoured by 

 them, from high to lowland, from east to west, and to 



* In a Kandyan picture of a Saluvadana Nilame (Master of the 

 Robes) he is handing the Crown in this manner to the king. It is 

 meant to show reverence or respect. 



•j- Tridents are always introduced into the figures drawn by the 

 Sinhalese cultivators, both Kandyan and Low-country, but it does 

 not appear that they understand what it signifies. (C. A. S. Journal, 

 1883, p. 55.) Neither did Sirr understand what they intended to 

 represent. He says the circles are quartered by a cross, the four 

 points of which are terminated by a "character resembling a written 

 letter M." {Ceylon and the Cingalese" Vol. 1, p. 151.) Certainly 

 there is this resemblance in the florid tridents in the diagrams 

 given by Davy, and in the Pasdun Korale diagram. (C. A. S. Journal, 

 1883, p. 79.) 



In a Buddhist religious picture in my possession all the gods attendant 

 upon Buddha, except Siva, are represented holding a trisula in one hand 

 and a sword (katfuva) in the other. The trident is a common emblem 

 at Jaffna. 



21—86 H 



