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



317 



rule. But it will help to thwart the kulis if the oxen are 

 made to take one or two turns to the left, instead of to the 

 right, when commencing operations. 



It is unlucky for men or animals to pass out from the 

 threshing-floor, except at the proper entrance (kalavdsal ) 

 on the east side. 



Next comes the winnowing. The winnows to be used 

 are marked with tridents in cow-dung. After the usual 

 ponkal to Pillaiydr, one or two mats are spread on that 

 side of the threshing-floor which is exposed to the wind 

 (which at this time comes from the North-East), and paddy 

 is poured from the winnows along the windward edge of 

 the mats, so that the chaff flies ofT to the leeward, leaving 

 the grain in a heap. It is an unlucky omen if one of the 

 winnows upsets, or is blown off by the wind ; and if in the 

 act of sifting the winnow strikes against the heap, a trident 

 is at once marked on the place in the heap where the latter 

 was touched by the winnow. 



The paddy is formed into an oblong heap of uniform 

 width, and the surface is made as smooth as possible. A 

 line is traced with a corner of the winnow along the ridge 

 of the heap, and tridents are similarly marked at each end 

 of the heap, and in the middle,* thus : — 



% e 



The cow-dung ( Pillaiydr ) is then placed on the paddy- 

 heap, and the twisted straw rope is put round the heap as 

 before.f These precautions are necessary until the paddy 

 is measured, as it is supposed, after the measuring, to be 

 secure from the kulis. 



Before the paddy is measured, a winnow is plunged into 

 the heap, and filled up well with paddy, which is kept apart 

 to be given to the temple as a thank-offering. This paddy 



* A similar practice is followed by some of the Galle cultivators. 

 (C. A. S. Journal, 1883, p. 55.) 



| The Kandyans put a twisted straw rope round the paddy after 

 the winnowing. {Ibid, 1880, p. 49.) 



H 2 



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