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910
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1903.
Saman, and Pattini; and the spot where it stands is decorated and perfamed with sandalwood, frankincense, and burnt raisins, and a lighted lamp with nine wicks is placed at the foot of the tree. At the lucky hour a propension of elephants, tom-tom beaters and dancers proceed to the spot, the tree is cut down by one of the tenants (the watforurdla) with an axe, and it is trimmed, and its end is pointed by another with an adze. It is then carried away in procession and placed in a small hole in a square of alab rock, buried in the ground or raised on a platfrom in the small room at the back of the déwala. It is then covered with a white cloth. During the five following days the procession is augmented by as many elephants, attendants, dancers, tom-tom beaters and flags as possible; and it makes the circuit of the temples at stated periods. The processions of the several temples are then joined by one from the Dalada Måligava (the temple of the sacred Tooth of Buddha), and together they march round the main streets of Kandy at fixed hours during the five days next ensuing. On the sixth day, and for five days more, four palanquing-one for each dawdla -- are added to the procession, containing the arms and dresses of the gods; and on the last day the bowl of water (presently to be explained) of the previous year, and the poles cut down on the first day of the ceremony. On the night of the fifteenth and last day, the Perahera is enlarged to the fullest limits which the means of the several temples will permit, and at a fixed hour, after its usual round, it starts for a ford in the river near Kandy, about three miles distant from the temple of the Sacred Tooth. The procession from the MAligava, however, stops at a place called the Adábana Malawa, and there awaits the return of the others. The ford is reached towards dawn, and here the procession waits until the lucky hour (generally about 5 A.M.) approaches. A few minutes before its arrival the chiefs of the four temples, accompanied by a band of attendants, walk down in Indian file under a canopy of linen and over cloth spread on the ground to the waterside. They enter a boat and are punted up the river close to the bank for some thirty yards. Then at & given signal (i. e., at the advent of the lucky hour) the four Jack poles are thrown into the river by the men on shore, while each of the four chiefs, with an ornamental silver sword, outs & circle in the water; at the same time one attendant takes ap a bowl of water from the circle, and another throws away last year's supply. The boat then returns to the shore, the procession goes back to Kandy, the bowls of water are placed reverently in the several déudla, to remain there until the following year; and the Perahera is at an end."
During the time of the kings, it was on this occasion that the provincial governors gave en account of their stewardship to their over-lord and had their appointments renewed by him. Kandy was the last Singhalese capital.
The festival at Dondra or Devundars (Devi Nuvera, the city of the god) commemorates a legendary event; when a king of Ceylon was reigning here & sandalwood image of Vishna was found floating by the sea coast; this was carried to the city and a déwdia built for it. i
Seven days before the full moon siz temporary structares are erected in the temple premises for Pattini, Vishnu, Nátha, Saman, Kataragama Deviyo, and Alat Takinni ; and their kapurdlas purify themselves with a bath, and carry in procession the sacred relics to a place by the sea (sinhâsana), followed by a long line of pilgrims who wash their offerings there and wrap them in white cloth. On their return the chief lay-incumbent (basndyaka nilame) makes his offering at each of the shrines, and the others follow. The hapurdlas stand at the entrance of their respective temples and mark each votary with sandalwood.
Here religion is combined with business, and a fair is held during the seven days of the festival, when traders from all parts of the island bring goods for sale.
The Kataragams celebration is in honour of Kartikeys (Sing, Kataragama Deviy6) who halted on the highest of the seven hills close by on his homeward return to Kailkas, after
• Asiatic Society's Journal of Coylon (1881), Vol. VII. p. 18.
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