No. 29.— 1884.] 



A1NT-KELIYA. 



373 



horn whose point is fixed vertically, so as to ourve upwards 

 from below and from under the Uclupifa, which is placed 

 horizontally over and across the middle of the curve of the 

 Yatipila, and at right angles to it. The two parties repre- 

 sented by the horns belong to either side by descent, and 

 not by selection or choice, it being considered that every 

 Sinhalese family belongs from ancient time to one or the 

 other side. It sometimes happens that members of the 

 same family belong to different sides, but this is very rare, 

 and indeed, to prevent its possibility, it is said that inter- 

 marriages between families of different sides were forbidden 

 in times past. It is rarer still to find any person who has 

 voluntarily abandoned one side for the other, and when this 

 is done, it is owing to very bitter family quarrels. Thus every 

 Sinhalese who attends at an an-keliga, has a close interest in 

 the game, and knows his place in the field. 



To return, directly a horn cracks or is broken, it is extri- 

 cated from its ropes and its an-mola, and a rush is made for the 

 broken pieces (todu) ; the an-mola is left against the an-gaka, 

 and the captain of the losing side having satisfied himself 

 that the winning horn is intact, admits that he has lost. 

 As soon as the admission is made, a rope is tied between the 

 an-gaha and the kenakanda, and the losing party are made 

 to stand on one side of it, while the winners, one or two of 

 whom carry the pieces of the broken horn, dance round 

 them, hoot at them, revile them, and make themselves as 

 disagreeable as they can without actually assaulting them. 

 In some places indecent expressions and contemptuous 

 reference to absent persons are forbidden ; but, as a rule, 

 there is little or no restraint on the language that may be, 

 and is, used. 



The losers are bound to submit in silence ; but occasion- 

 ally some one of them is stung beyond endurance by the 

 taunts of his opponents, and retorts, and then there is a 

 general fight. Should one of the winners in the whirl of the 

 dance, or carried away by his feelings, touch one of the 

 losing side, if he is not at once handed over to be soundly 

 thrashed by them, a quarrel ensues, and a free-fight is the 

 result. These quarrels, though they seldom happen, have 



