APPU: Tale of a Villager

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Saradiel from his childhood could not stick the white man and grew a venomous vendetta against him which in the end cost his own life. Adissi Appu after his marriage gave up his pedalling jewellery ware, but took up to selling coffee which quite became lucrative to him. The villagers around Uthumankanda and Molligoda comprised both Sinhalese and Muslim families. They all lived in all harmony. Saradiel's best friend and his trusted accomplice in his banditry exploits was also a Muslim named Mammalay Marikkar.

In such gallant episodes, of highway robberies, robbing the wealth of the white sahibs and also of the people who were their mere stooges like the korale mahathmayas, arachchis and gam muladanies and then distributing such loot among the poor villagers. Mammalay Marikkar too had to pay the death penalty along with his friend Saradiel under the hangman's noose.

Saradiel's childhood sweetheart up to his death was also a raving Muslim beauty called Menaka. Though she later got married to Cader, she still became Saradiel's paramour up to his death. Uthumankanda is steeped in a hoary legend. In Sinhalese, this lofty hill overlooking the Colombo-Kandy highway lying close to Mawanella, it is named as Otuwankanda meaning camel's back. As from a distance, it appears to have the very profile of a camel's hump.

In the collection of material in writing this article, I have been able to glean a wealth of such information about the life and times of Uthumankande Saradiel from the village patriarchs whom I had in my past sojourns around Uthumankanda and Molligoda enroute Kandy-Mahiyangane when I was attached to the Mahaweli Centre, Colombo, as a Media Officer from But the most authenticate material in black and white which I was able to get on Saradiel's life story was from the book in Sinhala, titled 'Saradiel', authored by Gunasena Vithana Saradiel from his childhood to boyhood was a quiet but unmoved type of village boy.

It must be recalled bitterly with a sense of aversion how the British rulers of the time had even banned the holding of Dahampasals in these villages around its environs. But the valiant Buddhist monks undeterred carried them on, on the sly. Saradiel as a growing boy sensed unpalatably in silence the gross discrimination meted out to the schoolchildren of this Idangoda Dahampasal.

The poor children wearing a sarong and a banian or in some torn attire, while the so-called affluent class of village boys wearing the shirt and sarong or even a pair of shorts was given a different form of treatment. The poorer children had to sit in the back row benches, those children of the village hierarchy the stooges of the white rulers were accommodated in the front rows of the benches. Even while at play, in the playground this same bitter distinction was well marked. On this rash but in different cold treatment shown to the poor children of the village, there grow in Saradiel slowly but steadily an inherent hatred towards those arachchis, gam muladanis, korales and the white sahibs and the like who were mere puppets of the white rulers and the white sahibs - the planters of the coffee and tea estates.

The seeds of such vendetta against the white rulers were sown in Saradiel even in his puerile age.

The children of the korales, gamarchchis, and the like openly branded and hurled insults at them. They were not allowed to mingle with the others who were supposed to be of higher levels in the village. Once over these offending insults, a scuffle brewed up between the two sections of the feuding boys. A hand to hand fight erupted, where Saradiel was the gallant victor. In this bodily fight, when Saradiel hit his opponent, a son of a Korale Mahatmaya, he fell down on the ground severely injured.

Full text of "Village folk-tales of Ceylon v.1"

In this state of the melee, a son of a village headman took a huge stone aiming it at Saradiel. But the 'flying missile' which Saradiel ducked, unfortunately it struck the head of a son of an Arachchi Mahatmaya. Then pandemonium struck the whole playground. The injured boy was bleeding profusely from his head injury caused to him by the hitting of the stone. Fearing the awful repercussions that would follow over this malefic incident, Saradiel then a boy of years old vanished into the oblivion from the precincts of Molligoda-Uthumankanda. By rail, the journey from the city was four hundred miles long.

In Pearl Island there lived a boy named Appu. In spite of staying in this tiny village, Appu had the manner and extravagant habits of a townsman. He had no value for money and spent wastefully. In the morning he would go to the village tea-shop and eat all kinds of titbits. He hailed every hawker and bought whatever the man was selling. He stuffed himself till his stomach was bloated. In the evening he went to the village square and again gorged himself. Appu was not only a glutton, he was also a dandy. Every day he carelessly tore his clothes while playing and demanded new ones.

And what was more he always lost or misplaced his books and pencils and asked for new stationary. Appu bullied his mother for money every day and if he ran out of funds he knew he could always extort more. You see, Appu was the only son of his parents and they indulged his every whim.

But when he began squandering money recklessly his parents became anxious. His father tried to reprimand him but Appu took no notice. Moreover Appu had also begun smoking. When his father heard about it, he was furious and scolded Appu angrily. Appu began to cry bitterly; his mother was very upset and taking him in her arms comforted him.

Then she gave him some money and sent him off to play. Was it too late to remedy the situation? The teacher promised to do his best. One day, the teacher sent for Appu. Patting him affectionately he asked Appu to come to his house in the afternoon. Appu was filled with trepidation.

The Kandian village is a self-contained unit, producing everything that the inhabitants require, with the exception of the few articles previously mentioned. It hears a faint echo of the news of the great outer world, without feeling that this has any connexion with its own life. It would listen with almost equal indifference to a statement that the sky was blue, or that England was at war with a European power, or that a new Governor had been appointed.

When I asked a villager's opinion regarding the transfer of a Government Agent who had ruled a Province for some years, he replied, " They say one Agent has gone and another Agent has come ; that is all. The latter title is not recognised in any of the folk-tales, in which with one exception the Gamarala is the only headman represented. His jurisdiction extends over two or three closely adjoining villages, or sometimes over one only. Of much more important authority are the Korale- Aracci and Korala, the latter being the head of a considerable district, and above these again is the Ratemahatmaya, who is the supreme and very influential chief of a large part of a Province.

By successive steps in promotion the members of influential or respectable families may rise to any of these offices. Though all but the highest one are unsalaried, they are competed for with a good deal of eagerness on account of the power which they confer, the possibility of further promotion, and also for the opportunities which they afford for receiving " presents," which flow m a pleasing though invisible, but not therefore less remunera- tive, stream towards all but the Vidanes and Gama- A few words may be added regarding the castes of the Kandian districts whose stories are given in this work, or who are referred to.

The Smiths come next to the cultivating caste, sometimes occupying separate hamlets, but often living in the same village as the superior caste, though divided from it by an impassable gulf, of which only the women preserve the outward sign. The Smiths are considered to be the highest class of their caste, called Nayide, the artificers. There are said to be five classes of Nayides: All these, and the other low castes, except the Rodiyas, cultivate rice and millet.

The Potters live by making all local forms of earthen pottery, and tiles and bricks if required. They build up large temporary kilns filled with alternate layers of pots and fire-wood, and are often intelligent men. Some of them are priests or conductors of services for the propitiation of planets and other evil astronomical bodies, as well as astrologers. Next in the villages come the Washermen Radawd, or Henayd, or Henawalayd , who possess great power as the arbiters regarding cases of the violation of social eti- quette or custom. The disgrace of a refusal on their part to wash the clothes of objectionable persons is a form of social ostracism, and the offender soon has sad experience of the truth of the statement of the Maha Bharata that there is nothing except fire that is so purifying as gold or its value.

Some of the washermen are officiators at demon ceremonies. They are paid for their services as washermen in produce of various kinds, each family giving an annual subvention in paddy, etc. One whom I knew could improvise four-line stanzas for an indefinite time, on the spur of the moment, each verse being composed while the audience chanted the refrain after the preceding one. The Tom-tom Beaters Berawayd are a peculiar and interesting caste, who formerly combined their present duties with the weaving of cotton fabrics in frames. In their own work many of them are very expert, the result of many years of training.

On one occasion three tom-tom beaters requested permission to give me an exhi- bition of their skill. The leader first played a short simple tune, which was repeated in turn by the second and third players. They continued to play in this way, in turn, the tunes becoming increasingly difficult and rapid ; whatever impromptu changes the leader introduced were all repeated in the same manner by the others. A number of villagers who were present, and listening critically, stated that it was a clever performance ; it was also a noisy one. The boys are taught to learn thoroughly, without using a tom-tom, the whole of the complicated airs that are played, repeating a series of sounds such as ting, tang, etc.

Not until they can give in this manner the whole of an air correctly, as regards notes, time, and emphasis, are they considered to know it. It is a tonic sol-fa system. To these professionals, every air has its name and meaning, often expressed in words which fit the notes ; so that when a very few notes have been heard they can state what is being said.

The reader will find one or two references to this in the folk-tales. The Durayds are the carriers of baggage for the higher caste, and nearly always have tanks and fields of more than average quality. These have been granted to them in former times by the cultivating caste in return for their services, which could be claimed at any time if a man were about to proceed on a journey, and required himself or his luggage carrying. They still occupy a very low social position.

Formerly the women were not allowed to wear above the waist more clothing than a strip of calico of about a hand's breadth, across the breast ; a coloured handkerchief now generally takes its place. Much has been written about the Rodiyas. They also partly subsist by begging, and, it is said, by theft ; some are gamblers also. The women usually wear no clothing above the waist. Their dialect differs from Sinhalese to some extent.

Nothing is known regarding the origin of the Kinnards, the lowest caste of all, in whose case there are several anomalies that deserve investigation. They do not hunt as a profession. They have village tanks and rice fields, own cattle, and have good houses and neat villages. Their caste occupation is mat weaving in frames, with Niyanda fibre alone or combined with grass.

Some have their heads covered with a mass of thick, short, very curly hair, being the only people in the island possessing this distinctive characteristic The features and the colour of the skin are of the ordinary type of the lower castes, and would not enable them to be recognised from others. Social rules forbid the growth of the hair beyond the neck.

The dress of the women is restricted like that of the Durayas. Though they can never enter Buddhist temples, or the enclosures round them, they are all Buddhists. I was informed that their social ceremonies, as well as the religious ones, that is, those for propitiating evil spirits, whether demoniacal or planetary, closely resemble those of the other castes ; and that they, as well as the Rodiyas, have their own medical practitioners, astrologers, soothsayers, and kafuwas or officiators at demon ceremonies.

The men of the Chetti caste, or Hettiyds, who are men- tioned in some of the stories, are either Indians, or the descendants of Indian settlers.

The Chetti caste is one of great importance, and many of its members are persons of the highest respectability and often of great wealth. Coming at last to the stories themselves, I may quote the words of the late Mr. Goonetilleke, the learned editor of The Orientalist, a journal published during the years , in which many folk-tales of Ceylon were given. Though all have been collected by myself, I have only myself written down a very limited number from dictation. All the rest have been written for me in Sinhalese by the narrators themselves, or by others villagers employed by me to collect them, who wrote them just as they were dictated.

I preferred this latter method as being free from any disturbing foreign influence. Only three very short stories were written down by me in English ; two of them were related in English by a Sinhalese gentleman, and the other, a variant of another story, was written immediately after a Buddhist monk had related it to me in Sinhalese. The stories, as they now appear, are practically literal translations of the written Sinhalese originals, perhaps it may be thought in some respects too literal. My aim has been to present them as nearly as possible in the words in which they are related in the villages.

The only liberty of any importance that I have taken has been the insertion of an occasional word or phrase where it was evidently omitted by the narrator, or was necessary in order to elucidate the meaning, or complete the sense. Many past participles which Sinhalese grammar requires have been transformed into the past tense, and most of the tense errors have been corrected, and in rare instances an unmanageable sentence has been cut in two.

Such a word as " came," when it expressed -" came back," is sometimes translated " re- turned " ; and " said," where it referred to an answer, is occasionally turned into "replied. In other respects, the reader may rely on having here the tales in their true village forms, and expressed in the same simple manner.

I have even left one peculiar idiom that is often used, according to which a question is des- cribed as being asked, or a statement made, " at the hand " of a person ; but I do not follow the village story-teller in using this form in conversations carried on with the lower animals. It is quite usual in Sinhalese to state that a question was asked by a person " at the hand " lit.

It will be seen that I have not attempted to translate the interjections into English. It will be noticed that in the majority of the tales the characters are introduced in the present tense, which is then abandoned. The narrators sometimes relapse into it afterwards, but as a rule, unless action is being emphasised, I have adhered to the past tense in such instances, excepting in the stories told by the Village Vaeddas and the lowest castes, in which it seemed advisable to make as little change as possible. Attention may be invited to the tales told by the lowest castes, probably the only stories of theirs that have ever been collected in Ceylon.

From the Tom-tom Beaters a considerable number were obtained, some of which will appear in a later volume. It appeared to be likely that some of the Sindbad series of adventures might be found in Ceylon, but inquiries made in different districts, including part of the west coast, failed to reveal any tales belonging to the " Arabian Nights," with the exception of one which probably was derived from a printed work, and orally transmitted from one of the towns.

It is still possible that some may be found, as the Rukh is included in the Sinhalese tales, and the ogre called Rakshasa, who is a familiar personage in them, is correctly described in his folk-tale form, in one of the Sindbad voyages. In one story, which is not included in this work, there is the incident of the demon who was imprisoned in a bottle. The demon was Mara, Death personified, and his captor was a Vedarala, or medical practitioner. The age of the tale is uncertain. It is evident that many of the stories belong to distant times, but there is little to indicate their age more definitely.

In one tale only, of this volume, the money mentioned is the kahawanuwa, in old Sinhalese kahawana, the Pali kaha- pana, a coin that ceased to be current by the tenth or eleventh century a. Com- monly, we find that the coinage is the masurama, plural masuran, which came into use in the eleventh century and was not coined after the thirteenth ; but of course this is far from proving that the stories in which it occurs are not of much earlier date. There are no references to the Portu- guese, who arrived in Ceylon at the beginning of the six- teenth century, or to later foreign residents ; but a Tamil king is mentioned.

Although a large number of the stories relate the adven- tures of Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses, it will be observed that these personages sometimes behave like ordinary villagers. It is not to be understood that such persons in these stories are supposed to be members of the family of the ruling monarch of Ceylon. This old title does not make its appearance in the stories, however. Vaedda rulers who are termed " kings " receive notice in three stories.

In one which was given in Ancient Ceylon, p.

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In a tale in the present volume No. In another story, which is not included here, there is an account of another Vaedda " king " who lived in a forest, and who ordered his archers to kill a prince who had succeeded to the sovereignty of a neighbouring district on the death of his father, and was proceeding there in order to assume it.

His offence lay in travelling through the forest without first obtaining the permission of the Vaedda ruler. We also find references to Vaeddas who were ac- customed to enter the towns ; one of them laid a complaint before a Sinhalese " king " that a person had threatened to kill him in the forest.

Probably in all these instances we have a true picture of the actual position, in early times, of some oi the Vaeddas who had not yet adopted, or had abandoned, the vSHlage life. Their chiefs were practically independent in their wild forests. The Rakshasas in village spelling Rdsaya, Rasi who are introduced into many tales are ogres like those of Europe. They live chiefly upon human flesh, like the ogres, and possess like them some supernatural powers. With regard to the animals mentioned, it is strange to find such prominence accorded to the Lion, which has never existed in a wild state in Ceylon.

Its characteristics are correctly described, even including its ear-splitting roar. The place taken by the Fox of European tales is filled by the Jackal, full of craft and stratagems, but sometimes over-reaching himself. The Hare and Turtle are repre- sented as surpassing all the animals in cleverness, as in African and American Negro stories. Of all the animals, the poor Leopard is relegated to the lowest place, both as regards want of intelligence and cowardice ; and in only one adventure does he come off better than the Jackal.

Even in that one his position is a despicable one, and he is completely cowed by a little Mouse-deer, the clever animal of Malay stories. In Ceylon the Leopard occupies the place taken in India by the foolish Tiger. It is perhaps the chief merit of these stories, and cer- tainly a feature which gives them a permanent value, that we have in them the only existing picture of the village life of ancient times, painted by the villagers themselves.

From the histories we can learn practically nothing regard- ing the life of those of the ancient inhabitants of Ceylon who were not monks or connected with royalty, or the conditions under which they existed. It is here alone that the reader finds the daily experiences and the ideas and beliefs of the villagers gradually unfolded before him. In some of the stories we may see how the village life went on in the early centuries after Christ, and how little it has changed since that time.

Others doubtless contain par- ticulars which belong to a much later period, and in some there is an incongruous mixture of the old and the new, as when the slates of school children are introduced into what is evidently a tale of considerable age. So far from this being the fact, I am able to state with much satisfaction that in only three or four instances in this volume has it been thought desirable to slightly modify any part of the stories.

It is to be remembered that it is not the function of these tales in general to inculcate ideas of morality or propriety, although kindness of heart is always represented as meeting with some adequate reward or success, and the wicked and cruel are punished in most cases. But successful trickery and clever stratagems are always quoted approvingly, and are favourite themes in the tales which, are most evidently of entirely local origin.

In this respect they do not differ from many Indian stories. Undaunted bravery, and also self-abnegation and deep affection, are characteristics which are "displayed by many of the heroes and heroines ; but untruthfulness is practised, and is never condemned.

The instances of polygamy are almost confined to the members of the royal families ; there is one case of polyandry in which both the husbands were brothers. Infanticide was practised ; in one tale a woman is recommended to kill her infant son because his horoscope was said to be unpro- pitious, and in another the parents abandoned their newly- born infant in order to carry home some fruit. In a story that is not included in this volume, a king is described as ordering all his female children to be killed immediately after birth. In another tale which is not given here, another king is stated to have sold his children during a time of scarcity.

They are represented as cowardly, selfish, licentious, unintelligent, and headstrong, ordering their sons or others to be executed for very slight faults, in sudden fits of anger. Murders are referred to as being commonly committed with impunity, and by no means of unusual occurrence. One man is said to have exchanged his wife for a bullock. The humdrum life of the ordinary villager did not appeal to the story-teller, who required more stirring incidents.

It is not necessary to assume that such events were of everyday occurrence. Considering the situation of Ceylon and the Indian origin of the people, it was certain that numerous tales would be similar to those of India, if not identical with them ; but, with the exception of the story of the Creation, there are merely bare references to the Indian deities in about four of the tales in this volume. The great majority of the folk-tales collected by me, and almost the whole of those given in this volume, come from districts of the far interior of the island, where story- books in Sinhalese, Tamil, 1 or Arabic do not appear to have penetrated, and English is unknown by the villagers.

The Story of Appu

Such tales are therefore nearly free from modern extraneous in- fluences, and must be looked upon as often of genuine Sinha- lese origin, even when they utilise the usual stock incidents of Indian folk-stories. A very few which resemble Jataka stories may owe their dissemination to Buddhist teaching, and doubtless some also were orally transmitted by immi- grants who were often of South Indian nationality — as their similarity to South Indian stories shows — or in some instances may have been settlers from the Ganges valley, or near it.

With regard to the latter, it is not probable that they consisted only of the early immigrants of pre-Christian times. King Nissanka-Malla, who reigned from to a. In the Galpota inscription at Polannaruwa Prof.

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Miiller's Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon, No. Further on in the same inscription he stated that " he sent to the country of Kalinga, and caused many Princesses of the Soma and Surya races to be brought hither. In his inscriptions the same king claimed that the sovereignty of Ceylon belonged by right to the Kalinga dynasty.

In the Galpota in- scription we read of " Princes of the Kalinga race to whom the island of Lanka has been peculiarly appropriate since the reign of Wijaya. He, too, claimed that Wijaya was a member of their family. He said, " Because King Wijaya, having destroyed the Yakshas, established Laijka like a field made by rooting out the stumps, it is a place much protected by Kings from this very family. Appa- rently it is in this manner. To show the connexion of the Sinhalese stories with those of India, the outlines of some Indian parallels have been appended after each tale, as well as a very few from the interior of Western Africa ; but no European variants, except in two instances, where they are inserted for the benefit of readers in Ceylon.

The stories have been arranged in two parts. In the first one are those told by members of the Cultivating Caste and Village Vaeddas ; in the second one those related of or by members of lower castes. Those of each caste are given consecutively, the animal stories in each case coming last. The general reader is advised to pay no attention to diacritical marks or dots which indicate separate letters in the Sinhalese alphabet, or to note only the long vowels.

In all cases ae is to be pronounced as a diphthong, like a in " hat," and not to rhyme with " me. Enough material has been collected for a second volume, which it is hoped may be published next year. As reference has been made to the subject in the foregoing extracts from Sinhalese inscriptions, a few lines may be added regarding the district from which Wijaya came, and his journey to Ceylon.

At a very early date the lands along the southern bank of the Ganges were divided into a series of states that once were independent. Ex- tending along the east coast was Kalinga ; and between it and Magadha and Anga came the Pundra and Odra states, the latter occupying part of Orissa. An old legend recorded that several of these states had a common origin. The names of the first four are grouped together several times in the Maha Bharata, as taking part with K5sala and Magadha in the great legendary fight against the Pandavas, and on one day the troops from Magadha and Kalinga are said to have formed, with another people, one wing of the Kuru army.

Regarding Kalinga, Pliny gives the name of a race called the Maccocalingae, who have been thought to belong to Orissa, and he wrote that the Modogalingae occupied a very large island in the Ganges, that is, apparently part of the delta. At a later date there were said to be three districts called collectively Trikalinga. Whether these were portions of the more southern part of the Kalinga country only, or included the land of the Modogalingse, is not clear.

If the Kalinga kingdom once included the territory of the Modo- galingae, the Tamalitta district would be part of the Kalinga country at that time ; but apparently Vanga was uncon- nected with Kalinga, the two being mentioned as separate kingdoms. Divested of its impossibilities, the story of Wijaya's ancestry which is contained in the Sinhalese histories is that a king of Vanga, who had married the daughter of a king of Kalinga, had a daughter who joined a caravan that was proceeding to Magadha.

They settled down in a wild tract of country termed Lala, near the western border of the Vanga territory. There she had two chil- dren—the eldest being Siha-Bahu— with whom she after- wards returned to the Vanga capital, where her cousin Anura, who became King of Vanga, is said to have married her. Her son Slha-Bahu went back to his father's district, Lala, founded a town called Sihapura or Sinhapura, and lived there as the ruler of the country around. Evidently it was a subordinate district belonging to Vanga; it is stated that the Vanga king granted it to him Mah.

The first marriage or elopement of the Princess does not appear to have affected the status of her son Slha-Bahu. According to the histories, his eldest son, Wijaya, eventually married the daughter of the Pandiyan king of the southern Madura, and his second son, Sumitta, who succeeded him, married the daughter of the King of Madda or Madra, probably a small eastern state of that name, rather than the distant Madda in the Pan jab. The Sinhalese histories record that Wijaya was exiled on account of his lawless behaviour, but the truth of this statement may be doubted, and it is a suspicious fact that this part of the story resembles folk-tales from Kashmir.

All that is actually credible in this incident is that for a reason which is unknown, perhaps a love of adventure, or possibly at the solicitation of traders who had settled there, he proceeded by sea to Ceylon, where he became the 1 Folk-Tales of Kashmir, Knowles, 2nd ed. Most probably he accompanied a party of Magadhese or other merchants. It is recorded that from an early period vessels sailed across the Bay of Bengal from various ports on the Ganges. In the Jataka stories some are mentioned as passing down the Ganges from Benares with traders, and being far out at sea for several days, and even going to Suvanna Bhumi Bur- ma and back.

Tamalitta was a famous port in early times and for many centuries ; and there is a definite and credible statement that vessels sailed direct from it to Ceylon in the reign of As5ka, in the third century B. There is no reason to suppose that similar voyages were not undertaken long prior to the period during which the Jatakas were being composed.

If they are not mentioned in earlier Buddhist works, this may have been merely owing to the fact that their authors felt no interest in the trade of the countries near the mouth of the Ganges. In the presence of such evidence of the sea-going capa- bilities of the vessels which sailed from the ports on the Ganges, the statement of the Sinhalese histories that Wijaya embarked at Baroach, on the western coast, whether accom- panied by a large party of followers and numerous women and children or not, cannot be credited.

It is impossible to believe that any travellers who wished to proceed to Ceylon in the fifth century B. In any case, there is no likelihood that a large number of women and children were taken, unless we are prepared to accept the improbable hypothesis that a fleet of ships was expressly chartered for the voyage. It is most unlikely that many other passengers were ever carried so far in Indian ships in early times, notwithstanding fanciful tales of imaginary ships with hundreds on board, in the Jataka stories. Nissanka-Malla and his brother do not claim that the Sinhapura at which they were born was the city founded by Wijaya's father.

It is possible, however, that they could trace some distant connexion with the Lala family, and it has been noted already that Wijaya's great-great-grand- father was said to be a king of Kalinga. With regard to the exorcism of the flies, I give a relation of the similar treatment of locusts in Abyssinia, by Father Francis Alvarez, who visited that country in , in the jsuite of a Portuguese Ambassador. An appeal having been made to Alvarez to drive away an enormous flight of locusts, " which to our iudgement couered fower and twentie miles of lande," the following is his own record of the proceedings: This liked the Ambassadour very well: It pleased God to heare us sinners, for in our re- turne home, they came so thicke vpon our backes, as it seemed that they woulde haue broken our heads, or shoulders, so hard they strooke against vs, as if we had beene beaten with stones and cud- gels, and in this sort they went towards the sea: The men, women, and children remaining at home, were gotten vpon the tops, or tarrasses of their houses, giuing God thankes that the locusts were going away, some afore, and others followed.

In the meane while towardes the sea, there arose a great cloude with thunder, which met them full in the teeth, and continued for the space of three howers with much raine, and tempest, that filled all the riuers, and when the raine ceased, it was a fearefull thing to behold the dead Locustes, which were more then two yardes [marginal note, or fathomes] in height vpon the bankes of the riuers, and in some riuers there were mightie heapes of them, so that the morning fol- lowing there was not one of them found aliue vpon the earth.

There were neither men, nor living beings, nor anything whatever. During the time while it was in this state, Great Vishnu thought, "In what manner, having lowered the water, should the earth be established? Having gone there, he asked at the hand of the God Saman, " What is the way to establish this earth? Having placed it there, in seven days the lotus seed sprouted. Then the God Vishnu again went to the dwelling-place of Rahu. Having gone there, he spoke to Rahu, the Asura Chief: Having made ready to descend into the water, he asked Great Vishnu, " What thing am I to bring up from the bottom of the water?

Having descended to the earth in seven days, taking a handful of sand he returned to the surface again in seven days more. Having come there, he gave the handful of sand into the hand of the God Great Vishnu. After it was given, taking it and squeezing it in his hand, the God Great Vishnu placed it on the water. Having placed it there the God Great Vishnu made the resolution: Thus, in that manner, in three months and three-quarters of the moon, the water having diminished, the earth was made.

After it was formed, this world was there in darkness for a long time. We must make men. Then the God Vishnu said, " Brahmana, for thy assist- ance thou art to make for thyself a woman. I v North-western Province. In Hinduism there is a series of four ages termed Yugas, each ended by a destruction of the world by fire, which is quenched fc by cataclysmal rainfall. These are the Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali Yugas, their periods being respectively 4,, 3,, 2,, and 1, divine years. There are also intermediate periods equal to one-tenth of each of the adjoining; Yugas. When a series is ended the order is reversed, that is, the Kali Yuga, which is the present one, is followed by the Dwapara.

The Vishnu Purdna, p. His action is thus summarised: Having thus devoured all things, and converted the world into one vast ocean, the Supreme reposes on his mighty serpent couch amidst the deep: In the Kathd Sarit Sdgara Tawney , vol. The only way which the Creator could hit upon to destroy them was to create two lovely maidens, one black and one white. Each of the Danavas wished to carry off both, so they fought over them and killed each other.

It is only in the Sinhalese story that we find an Asura assisting in the creation. Rahu is usually known as a dark planetary sign, a dragon's head, which endeavours to swallow the sun and moon, and thus causes eclipses, at which time, only, it is seen. The story of the application of Vishnu for Rahu's assistance is based on the Indian notion that the Asuras were of more ancient date than the Gods. The Maha Bharata states that they were the elder brothers of the Gods, and were more powerful than the Gods, who were unable to conquer them in their strongholds under the sea.

The God Saman is Indra, the elder brother of Vishnu. According to the Maha Bharata, Vishnu assuming the form of a boar raised the earth to the surface of the waters which covered it to the depth of one hundred yojanas , on his tusk, without the aid of any other deity, The following accounts of the state of things in very early times are borrowed from The Orientalist, vol. The sun and moon in their course through the heavens sometimes came in close contact with the house-tops. The stars were stationed so close to the earth that they served as lamps to the houses.

One cloudy morning, when this naughty girl was sweeping the compound as usual, the clouds came frequently in contact with the broom-stick and interfered with her work. Even demons are supposed to be afraid of being struck by it, and thus it is a powerful demon-scarer. His food at first consisted of some substance like boiled milk, which then grew spontaneously upon the earth. This substance since disappeared, and rice took its place, and grew abundantly without the husk. The God Sakra [Indra] bethought himself of teaching mankind that Jak was not a deadly fruit, but an article of wholesome food.

There are also the children of those two persons, the elder brother and younger brother and elder sister. Well then, while these three persons were there, the man having died those children provided subsistence for the mother of the three. One day the three persons went to join a party of friends in assisting a neighbour in his work.

For that woman there was not a thing to eat. Should those persons bring food, she eats ; if not, not. The younger brother thought, " Ane! We three persons having eaten here, on our going how about food for our mother? Then the mother asked at the hand of the elder sister, " Where, daughter, is cooked rice and vegetable curry for me? Having indeed eaten, I came [empty-handed]. The son struck down his finger nail in it. Then the pot was filled and overflowed. Afterwards the mother, having eaten the rice and curry, gave authority to those three persons, to the elder brother, to the younger brother, and to the sister older than both of them.

Firstly, having called the elder sister she said, " Thou shalt be cooked even in hell. She told the eldest son to go speedily. That elder brother himself having become the Sun, goes very speedily. For the Sun, in very truth aettema , there is no rest. In the little time in which the eyelids fall, the Sun goes seven gawwas, 2 they say.

At the time when the Great Paddy is ripening, the Sun goes across harahin.

Appu (Hurrian)

Having called the younger son she said, " My son, go you in the very wind fiawanema 5. For the Moon in very truth there is not a difficulty, by the authority given by the Mother. According to Indian reckoning of about six winks to a second, as given in the Maha Bharata, this would be an orbit of about 14,, miles, with a diameter of 4,, miles.

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