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AUGUST, 1903.]
GLIMPSES OF SINGHALESE SOCIAL LIFE.
The average Singhalese is an early riser; he takes in the morning some preparation of riceflour with a pot of toddy (ra), and at mid-day and night a large quantity of boiled rice and a few curries. The latter are more varied when a guest is in the house. The visitor is received at the threshold and conducted inside by the hand; kissing is the usual form of greeting among females and near relatives, and salutation with clasped hands, in the attitude of prayer, among friends, masters and servants. He brings with him some eatables as a present, or sends them before his arrival. Water is supplied to him to wash his face, feet and mouth, and the repast made ready. The host serves him with the rice and carries, skins the plantains for him, and makes his chew of betel. His attendants also are well treated in the servants' room. On his departure the host accompanies him some distance. When a person of distinction, viz., a Buddhist priest or a chief, visits a house, the rooms are lined with white cloth and the seats are spread with it; the host never sits down in his presence.
The respect of an inferior to a superior is even seen on the high roads; if they meet, the former removes the shade (talapat) over his head, gets out of the way and makes a very respectful obeisance.
In the olden time, as seen above, the people were occupied according to their caste; but now the majority do not follow their ancestral calling, but earn a livelihood by pursuing any vocation they choose. One man works at his field, carefully observing all the agricultural superstitions11; a second fishes at the village stream with a rod made of the mid-rib of the kitul-leaf; a third slings his baskets of garden produce at the end of a flexible kitul-shaft and carries them on his shoulders to towns or the weekly village fairs (polaval); a fourth climbs the palm-trees with his ankles encircled by a ring of cocoanut-leaf and picks the fruit with his hand; a fifth taps for toddy the blossoms of several cocoanut-trees by coupling their crowns with stout ropes to walk upon, and their straight boughs with smaller ones to support himself; a sixth brings for sale from the country straw and firewood in single or double bullock carts; and a seventh transports cocoanuts, salt, and cured fish to centres of trade by flat-bottomed boats (páda), or pack-bullocks (tavalam).
The women, too, are not idle; they either make jaggery (molasses) from the unfermented toddy, or plait mats of dyed rushes in mazy patterns, or earn a pittance by selling, on a small stand by the roadside, the requisites of a chew betel, areca, and burnt lime; or hawk for sale fruits and vegetables in baskets carried on their heads; or keep for sale, on a messa in the verandah, sweetmeats and other eatables protected from the crows, which infest the place, by a net spread before them; or make coir by beating out the fibre from soaked cocoanut-husks; or attend to the domestic duties with a child astride their hips.
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The children are away at school the whole morning; and on their return either divert themselves at games or go in search of the wild fruits with which the jungles abound, or construct rude swings under the shady trees and pass away the day singing rural ditties. And at nightfall, while the mother lulls her youngest to sleep on her outstretched legs with a pillow thrown across, the father beguiles their time with nursery tales.
(4) Religious Rites.
Buddhism is the prevailing religion of the island, and its adherents observe as holy four days of the lunar month: when the moon is new (amwaka), full (pahaloswaka), and half-way
11 For paddy cultivation ceremonies, vide(1) Ceylon Asiatic Society's Journal
(2)
"
"
(1883), Vol. VIII., No. 26, p. 44.
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(1884), Vol. VIII., No. 29, p. 331. (1889), Vol. XI., No. 39, p. 167.
(5)
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(6) Asiatic Society's Journal of Great Britain (New Series, 1885), Vol. XVII. p. 366.
(7) The Taprobanian (1865), Vol. I. p. 94.
(3)
(4)
"3
(1848-1849), Vol. II., No. 4, p. 27. (1880), Vol. VI., No. 21, p. 46.
