No. 23.— 1881.] KANDYAN CEREMONIES. 33 



year all Buddhists wash, and confine themselves to certain 

 victuals prescribed by the astrologers. All work is abandoned 

 for a certain specified time; and after the usual religious rites 

 have been performed, the people engage in games of various 

 descriptions. These they break off and resume at stated 

 periods. During the intervals they pray, or have the scriptures 

 read to them by their priests, or visit their friends, according 

 as their fancies or opportunities dictate. The priests confine 

 themselves for the most part to their religious duties : or they 

 keep away from the busy world and meditate ; it being con- 

 sidered that the New Year is a peculiarly fitting time for the 

 exercise of this duty. 



2. — The next in importance is the Perahera Mangalyaya, the 

 great processional festival of the Kandyans. This festival is 

 begun at Alutnuwara in the Badulla district on the first day 

 after the full moon in May; and is repeated at different times 

 in different parts of the Kandyan province. The forms in all 

 cases are the same, though of course the magnificence of the 

 ritual varies with the place and the means of those who engage 

 in it. The most magnificent and complete is that at Kandy, 

 which begins at a lucky hour on the first day after the new 

 moon in the month of Esala (July-August). A jack tree, the 

 stem of which is three spans in circumference, is selected 

 beforehand for each of the four d6wala— the Kataragama, Nata, 

 Saman, and Pattini ; and the spot where it stands is decorated 

 and perfumed with sandal-wood, frankincense, and burnt raisins, 

 and a lighted lamp with nine wicks is placed at the foot of the 

 tree. At the lucky hour a procession of elephants, tom-tom 

 beaters, and dancers proceeds to the spot; the tree is cut down 

 by one of the tenants (the wattorurala) with an axe, and it is 

 trimmed, and its end is pointed by another with an adze. It is 

 then carried away in procession, and placed in a small hole in 

 a square of slab rock, buried in the ground or raised on a plat- 

 form in the small room at the back of the de*wale. It is then 



