No. 34.— 1 887.] 



WE HERA GOD A DEVALE. 



43 



The famous Pattini Deviyo having become jealous of the 

 several deities landing in the Island, and fearing that Dewol 

 Deviyo would, by the magical powers he possessed, and the 

 other daring feats (for which as a Malabar he was distin- 

 guished), attract to himself the offerings that had hitherto 

 been made to her, placed a great heap of red-hot coals on the 

 spot where he landed. But with an insensibility to pain in 

 keeping with the other supernatural gifts to which he laid 

 claim, he is said to have trodden on these red-hot coals with 

 the utmost calmness, and, as was to be expected, came off 

 unhurt. 



Without waiting to inquire into the probabilities of this 

 story, it is of importance as fixing the arrival of Dewol 

 Deviyo at a date somewhat contemporaneous with that of 

 Pattini Deviyo. But unfortunately even the date of her 

 arrival is not accurately known as yet. 



In different other places in the low country devales were 

 erected in honour of this Dewol Deviyo, and the Kapuralas 

 connected with these devales still continue to perform these 

 ceremonies. In Pahalagamhaya, in the Bentota-Walallawiti 

 Korale, this ceremony is performed once a year shortly after 

 the yala harvest, — thanks being offered for the crop already 

 reaped, and a sort of protection invoked for the coming crop, 

 as well as for the people engaged in agricultural pursuits, — by 

 the Kapuralas of Horawala, who are called Sdmes (lords) 

 in that village. 



On the site at Weheragoda where this devale and vihare 

 existed, there are no buildings now except a watch-hut. 

 There are, however, seven stone pillars on the ground marking 

 the boundaries of the vihare or devale. There are also on 

 the ground lying lengthwise some stone slabs planed so as to 

 be used for door-posts. These stone slabs may possibly have 

 been pillars intended to point " to some sacred edifice on the 

 place, although none of them bear any inscription. 



On this temple's premises there are huge umbrageous 

 trees — one of them of a variety that no native is acquainted 

 with — which the mind of the superstitious devotee can only 



