370 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



to by various travellers, viz., that of marriage with a sister. 

 It was only with a younger sister, marriage with the elder 

 being considered unchaste. According to Mr. Hartshorne,* 

 even marriage with a daughter was allowed, although 

 probably this, if it occurred, as a matter of fact was not 

 legitimated. Knox f also tells of a king of Kandy who had 

 a child by his daughter, but none of his subjects seem to 

 have considered this a proper relation. BaileyJ is inclined 

 to see in this marriage with the sister a last remnant of times 

 outlived. This reminds us that Wijayo, the founder of the 

 Sinhalese dynasty, sprung from marriage in India with a sister, 

 and that his son again, Jivahattha, whom he had begotten 

 with a Yakkho princess in Ceylon, had married his sister, 

 and was the progenitor of a special tribe, the Pulinda. 

 Later, this practice was also in use among the royal families 

 of the Sinhalese. § We must allow that these statements are 

 certainly worthy of attention, but these old myths are hardly 

 to be looked upon as positive historical facts. They seem 

 to me only to prove that a practice whish existed also in 

 Persia and Egypt, was early permitted in Ceylon ; the reason 

 for it was probably the same everywhere, in the royal families 

 as with the naked Veddas, the lack of suitable women, or 

 of women altogether. At any rate, it is not unchastity or 

 licence which leads the Veddas to form such marriage ties. 

 A marriage among them is usually decided by the will of 

 the parents of the bride, who herself is allowed no choice ; 

 the only ceremony consists in the bringing of food for the 

 parents on the part of the suitor. If under these circum- 

 stances the matrimonial tie is held faithfully and truly, it 

 surely speaks for the purity of heart in such a wild race. 



On the other hand we perceive from the accounts of 

 different observers, that there is no particular depth of feeling 

 among the Veddas ; all the descriptions indicate rather a 



* Hartshorne, I. c, p. 416. f Knox, I. c, p. 38. J Bailey, I. c, p. 310. 

 § SirE. Tennent (II.. p. 459) quotes as authority for this, Valentyn, 

 U c, cap. IV., p. 63. 



