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JOURNAL R. A. S. CEYLON. [Vol. VII., Pt. II, 



A HUNIYAM IMAGE. 

 By L. Nell, Esq. 



{Bead July 6tk, 1881.) 



Long residence amongst the native Sinhalese and careful 

 observation of their superstitious practices and expressions of 

 superstitious ideas lead to the conclusion that, amongst the 

 lower castes, who have also hitherto been the most ignorant, 

 Buddhism has not existed as a religion. The tom-tom beaters, 

 the toddy-drawers, the jaggery-makers, have only lately at- 

 tempted to build Buddhist temples of their own. The Amara- 

 pura sect of Buddhists is a modern importation to satisfy the 

 social ambition of the Mahabadde people, candidates of whose 

 community for priestly ordination would have been refused by 

 the previously existing Siamese sect. The latter, though 

 heterodox in this exclusiveness, had confined the right of 

 ordination to pupils drawn from the Goyigama caste. 



The liberal and orthodox principle of the Amarapura sect 

 extended in time from the Mahabadde and Kardwe to lower 

 castes. As an instance, the jaggery people ( Vakumpura) near 

 Galle have built a temple, and their pupil-priests in yellow 

 robes and with begging-bowls in their hands are now seen 

 obtaining the food of mendicants from the hands of their own 

 friends. The profound meditative air of the young mendicants, 

 and the evident pride with which their friends give alms and 

 honor the new priesthood are very striking. This is quite a 

 reform, and Buddhism, perhaps for the first time, is subverting 

 what other missions have not hitherto observed as a likely. field 

 of conversion. Before this reform the priests of the very low 

 castes have been the Yakadurds, commonly called Kattadiyas, 

 belonging to the tom-tom beater and Oliya castes. Kapurdlas 

 belong to all castes, and Pattinis also belong to all castes. 



