202 



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



[Vol. XII. 



27 According to the Tamils the age of man is 100 years (cf . " The days of 

 our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be 

 fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut 

 off, and we fly away."— Psalm XC, 10), of an elephant 100 ; cow or bull 20 ; 

 male buffalo 30 ; camel 73. 1,728,000 years = the kreta yugam ; 1,296,000 

 years = the treta yugam; 864,000 years = tuwapara yugam; 432,000 

 years = the kali yugam; the four yugams added together == 4,320,000 

 years = the satur yugam; 18 satur yugams — the reign of Manu ; 74 Manu's 

 reigns = the reign of an Indiran ; 270 Indiran's reigns = a day of 

 Piramd; 30 such days = a piramd month ; 12 piramd months = & piramd 

 year ; a hundred such years = the age of Pirama ; 360 such ages= the age 

 of Atipirama ; 10 such ages = a hatpam. In a hundred hatpam, Roma 

 Risi sheds one hair of his body ; when ten crores of Roma Risi's hair 

 fall Minasi Risi casts off one scale of his fishy body ; when one crore of 

 these scales fall it is a moment to Parathuvusa Risi ; it takes 30 such 

 moments for Maha Satti to do up the hair of her head ; when Maha Satti 

 has done her hair 780 crores of times, that space of time counts as a 

 moment for the Urittiramakali, who sits by the side of the Almighty. 

 (Orientalist, vol. III., parts 7 and 8, pp. 144, 145.) 



Mr. MODDER added that before reaching pahalos-peya (the 

 Paper had occupied nearly an hour in reading, although 

 several parts of it had been skipped over) he would relieve 

 the audience by resuming his seat. (Laughter and applause.) 



6. Sir E. Noel Walker, on behalf of the Members of the 

 Society and their friends, proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 Modder for his Paper and the trouble he must have taken in 

 preparing it. The prevailing reflection in his mind on 

 listening to the long tables Mr. Modder had read was one of 

 congratulation that his early education did not find place in 

 a Sinhalese school in Ceylon. His recollection was that they 

 found difficulty enough with the simple tables of troy, avoir- 

 dupois, and lineal measures. (Laughter.) When he first came 

 to Ceylon he confessed he had found difficulty — considerable 

 difficulty — in ascertaining what the huruni and amunams 

 were, and he was more puzzled in pursuing his inquiries to 

 find that in every Province the huruni and amunam mea- 

 sures were different. The officer who was then his Principal 

 Assistant, and who is now the Government Agent of the 

 Western Province,* to whom he appealed, volunteered to col- 

 lect some information on the subject, and when that gentle- 

 man left him he was engaged in a very interesting, and, he 

 might say, very diligent inquiry, because there was a great 

 variety of information concerning the different huruni mea- 

 sures. He thought Mr. Modder had afforded some explana- 

 tion of the difficulty when he told them that the unit of 



* The Hon. A. R. Dawson, c.c.s. 



