No. 29.-1884.] 



A1ST-KELIYA. 



379 



the shade of an over -spreading bd tree, thus making the tree sacred to 

 Buddha participate in a purely Hindu ceremony. At one end of the 



an-pitiya 



" Stands there a stump six feet high, the ruins of a tree, 

 " ret unrotted by rain and tempests' force. " 



The stump selected is generally that of a cocoanut tree put loosely into 

 a deep hole, with the root -end up, and is called the henakanda, or 

 " thunderbolt." A hole large enough for a man's arm to pass is cut or 

 burnt through this upper end. The respective teams are now ready 

 with stout ropes made of buffalo-hide and strong jungle creepers, when 

 the Kapurala opens the game, proclaiming, like Pelides at the funeral 

 pyre of Patroclus, 



" Come ye that list this prize to win, and ye this bout decide." 



The men of the upper team now pass a stout buffalo-hide rope through 

 the hole in the henakanda and firmly make fast to its end the elk horn of 

 their champion. The horn of the lower team is similarly got ready and 

 tied to the nearest tree ; the henakanda is now leaned forward, and the 

 two champions hook the horns one into the other, and lash them together 

 with cords. The two champions grasp the horns in their hands to 

 prevent their turning or slipping, and the word is given to pull. Both 

 teams now unite and haul at the rope passed through henakanda, while 

 some half a dozen men of both parties lay hold of the henakanda and 

 sway it up and down, as the rope in the hands of the pullers is tightened 

 or relaxed. The two champions hold on to the horns like grim death, 

 and are swayed hither and thither with every motion of the rope. The 

 contest lasts for hours, the snapping of a rope only serving to prolong it 

 with a fresh splice, until one of the horns yields, and the pullers go 

 rolling and sprawling on the ground.* 



All the time the mighty tug has been going on, the Kapurala is 

 engaged at a small booth constructed of white olas under the bd 

 tree, chanting the sacred hymns appropriate to the occasion, jingling 

 the halamha, or consecrated armlets, and burning incense to the 

 accompaniment of tom-tom, fife, and cymbal. After the contest has 

 been decided the whole assembly go in procession through the villages 

 that participated in the ceremony, the Kapurala leading with a chant, 

 the champion carrying the victorious horn in a basket on his hand, and 

 every one joining in the " hdyiyd" chorus at the proper stops. By the time 

 the procession returns to the ground, a feast, consisting of rice boiled in 



* In this, as well as in the striking of cocoa-nuts ( poropol gehima J, 

 it is considered a bad omen should the horn or cocoa-nut of the upper 

 team break, such an accident is looked upon as the consequence of the 

 continual displeasure of the offended deity. Hence it is not unusual to 

 concede the victory to the upper team by opposing a weaker horn. 



21—86 M 



