← Table of contents
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume 1 (of 3)

Part 2 — INDEX

H. (Henry) Parker translation

Abbot of Canterbury and K. John, 155

Actions, six, against one man, 171

Adikāramas beheaded, 151

Aet-kanda Lēniyā or Lihiniyā = Rukh or Garuḍa, 291, 296; assists Prince, 293, 299; carries off elephant, 293; Sumerian idea, 300; youth goes for its milk, 296. See Rukh

Aewariyakkā Mulakkā, story of, 320, 321

Adoption of child by birds, 121, 124, 125, 127, 128

Alvarez, Father Francis, exorcised locusts, 43

Amu, a small grain, 72

Amuna, measure of 5·7 bushels, 55, 295

Anga, a Gangetic kingdom, 39, 40

Animals bought by Prince, 278, 301; offer to marry women, 113; protect youth, 299; receive information from gods, 19; with trees and road condemn man, 340, 341; warnings by:—Aet-kanda Lēnī, 297; bear, 298; cat, 123, 124, 126; crocodile, 299; crows, 125, 300; Demon Hound, 298; dog, 15, 123, 124, 126; fish, 86; jackal, 300; leopard, 356; lizard, 14; parrot, 97, 122, 124, 126; peacock, 300; storks, 121, 127; woodpecker, 19

Appā, light rice cake, 78

Appearances not to be trusted, 232

Arabian Nights, 33

Ārakshā, protective written spells and diagrams, 15, 147

Ashes offered for sale, 106

Ass-driver miscounts asses, 259

Asuras, superior to Gods, 47, 50

Aṭasil, eight precepts of Buddha, kept by lay devotees (Upāsakās), 354

Ayiyā, elder brother, honorific suffix or address, 21, 68, 69, 80, 83, 85, 221, 222, 235

Bali, or Vali, K., his five sons, 40

Bali Tiyannā, priest for planetary services, 18

Banga, or Vanga, a Gangetic kingdom, 40–42

Barbet, its call, 3

Barter, 21; bull for bill-book, 337; cart and bulls for horse, 306; dog for waterpot, 306; fish for hoe, 306; goat for dog, 306; goods, 21, 305, 306; hoe for ox, 306; horse for goat, 306; leaf for fish, 306; ox for two cakes, 306; waterpot for shave, 306; wife for bull, 337

Bathing in boiling water, 60; in warm water, 83, 87, 98, 281

Bear and youth, 298; kills man, 299, 321

Beating converts old women into girls, 109–111

Bed of glass, 61

Bell rung to call absent King, 133

Bell worship, 352

Berawa caste, tom-tom beaters and weavers, 28, 249, 252 ff.

Betel, leaves presented to sooth-sayer, 180, 182; vine, 364; protected by bullock’s skull, 11

Bhārunda bird = Rukh, 300

Bhūta, frightened by man, 149; thought his reflection a real figure, 149

Bihangama = Rukh, 300; dung a remedy for blindness and poison, 300

Bird and eggs, 201, 204; and grains of corn, 204, 205

Bird-lime, 179

Birds adopt child:—Crows, 125; eagles, 128; storks, 121, 124, 127

Birds bring presents for girl, 121, 124, 125, 127

Birth signal:—Chain, iron or silver, shaken, 131

Black storks, 7; adopt child, 121; carry turtle, 234, 239

Blindness caused by father, 130; by King, 187, 276, 277; by magic, 272; by sight of Prince, 173; by Yakā, 146; cured by burning flowers on eyes, 173, 177; by rubbing fruit on them, 90; by ointment or medicine, 275–277; by spell, 131

Blue clothes of Princesses, 271

Blue lotus in river, 117–119; in sea, 298

Boar and jackal, 359; jumps into fire, 290; killed by lion, 360

Boars kill and eat Rākshasa, 371; kill lion, 371; kill tiger, 371

Bola, 69, 73, 77, etc.; bolan, 77, 122, 223; bolawu, 224

Borrowing clothes by litigant, 322, 327, 331

Boy and leopard, 357; burns house, 108; floating in river, 108; steals fruit, 109. See Youth

Brāhmaṇa carried jackal, 347, 348; created first from earth, 48; his investments, 306; made first woman, 49; mark of, 97; rides on Rukh, 251, 300

Brer Rabbit and Brer Tarrypin, 244

Bridegroom and parents fetch bride, 58

Bridge, 138

Broom, a demon scarer, 50

Brothers, seven marry seven sisters, 100

Buddhas, becoming a thousand, 232, 241

Buddhist creed, 14; precepts (sil), 349, 354

Buffalo, bathing, 7; price of, 181, 304; dead, revived, 102

Bullock’s skull protective, 11

Bulls offer to marry women, 113

Bull, stone, controlled by nail in head, 168

Bum-bum the tom-tom beater, 351

Burning of house, 106, 108

Buttresses on trees, 5

Cakes, of snakes’ eggs turn Queen into cobra, 132; pounded in mortar, 72, 78; Gamarāla’s, 219

Calf borne by bull, 233

Call to temple service, 14

Camels’ flesh as food, 176

Campā, capital of Anga state, 40

Carving figure by Princess, 98

Castes in folk-tales, 27–30

Cat assists gambler, 175, 177; pious, 345–354

Cattle-fold, 12, 102, 191, 192

Celestial bodies near house tops, 50

Centre of country, or earth, 150, 153, 154

Chain shaken as birth signal, 131

Character of kings, 36

Charcoal, magical, creates fire, 68, 70; white mark by, 292

Charms against dreams, 15; against snake poison, 25

Chena, 2; cultivation, 3, 17, 19; watch hut, 2, 169, 170, 172; path blocked by demon, 16

Cheṭṭi caste, 30

Child, abandoned, 120, 124–126, 173, 191; eaten, 187, 271–273; in exchange for mango, 302; name given by strangers, 303; sold, 36, 94; own, unrecognised, 254

Cleverest animals, hare and turtle, 35

Club to turn old women into girls, 109–111

Cobra assumes human form, 132; climbs tree to kill young eagles or Rukhs, 292, 300; cured by Princess, 64; fangs removed, 24; gives treasure, 64; guarding pool requires human offering, 58; imprisons Prince, 59; killed, 133, 158, 267, 292, 300; king, 269; pretended captures, 25; swallows horses, 269; tame, 23, 24

Cobra Stone, brilliance, 266, 269; fatal light of, 266; grants all desires, 269; light intercepted by cow-dung, 267; or horse-dung, 269

Cock, jewelled golden, 67–70; silver, 264, 268

Coins:—Kahawaṇa, 33; kahawaṇa (golden ?), 348; masurama, 33, 62, 189, 191–193, 228–230, 278–280, 294–296, 313, 315; panam, gold, 259; pence, 262, 263, 304; rupee, 304, 313; salliya, 85, 87, 139; tuttuwa, 73, 74, 304, 306; warāgan, 182

Consent of parents or guardians necessary before marriage, 63, 102, 127

Cookery, by Princess or Queen, 33, 98, 161, 270, 271, 279, 291; cakes, 73, 74, 101, 220; camels’ flesh, 176; pumpkin milk-rice, 211; rice, 85, 86, 129, 309

Cormorant and crab, 346

Corn store, 10, 55, 78, 109, 110, 368

Corpse set up and killed, 103

Counting incident:—Ass driver, ten asses, 259; Chinese guard, six things, 259; Guru Paramarta, five disciples, 259; Kaḍambāwa men, twelve, 258; pigs, twelve, 259; weavers, seven, 259

Courtesan assisted by cat, 175; has gambling house, 174; imprisons losers, 174, 175; marries Prince, 175

Cow-dung, 10; winnowing basket stops light of cobra stone, 267

Cowry brings guilty snake, 91

Cow, magic, of jōgī, 276; Sinhalese, one cubit long, 276

Creation legend, 47; Brāhmaṇa created first, 48; obstruction by Dānavas, 49; Vishnu Purāna on, 49; woman made by Brāhmaṇa, 49

Crab and crane, 345; and cormorant, 346; and heron, 342; and pelican, 345; and pond heron, 342–345

Crane and crab, 345; makara, 346

Creed, Buddhist, 14

Crickets assist Prince, 300, 301

Crocodile, 5; and jackal, 380, 381; and man, 339, 341; and monkey, 381; cheated by jackal, 218, 240; of sea, 298, 299; its milk, 298; shams death, 380; wags its tail, 380; warns youth, 299; wedding of, 216; wounded, returns next day, 362

Crops in chena, 3

Crown, 152; golden, 144

Crow, pious, 354; warns girl, 300

Crying tom-tom beaters and weavers, 260, 261

Cultivation, chena, 17; rice, 17

Custom on arrival of strangers, 139

Dānavas obstruct creation, 49

Darter (Plotus), 6

Days, unlucky, 18

Dead cow revived by wand, 102

Deaf persons, two, 136; three, 135; four, 134–135

Death in thumb, 157

Death, payment for causing, 103

Deities, Indian, rarely mentioned, 37

Deity, gives information to animals, 19; to man in dream, 58; goads possessed person, 289; guardian, 173, 175, 222, 223; inside elephant, 249, 250, 251; outwitted, Senasurā, 55; Śiva, 56, 251, 381

Demon and pandit, 215; blocked path, 16, 146; confined in bottle, 33; cry of, 13; Hound, 297; assists youth, 298, 299; warns youth, 298; scarers:—Broom, 50; invectives, 172; gun-shot, 146; spells and diagrams, 146, 147, 171. See Yakā

Demons inhabit north, 13

Deer and girl, 284; mouse, 4, 35, 213, 256, 340

Departure, manner of, 15

Deposition of King, 152, 153

Depth of sea, 154

Destruction of world, 49

Dēvas, 150

Dēvatāwā, godling, dwelt in tree, 158; feeds on smoke of lamp, 158; guards treasure, 249

Devil and husbandman, their division of crops, 324

Difficulty of killing hero, 193, 299

Diribari-Lakā, keeps gambling-house, 174; imprisons and enslaves losers, 174, 175; marries Prince, 175

Dog, demon, 297; party-coloured, 306

Dohṭa karanawā, to give poisonous bite, 157

Dola piḍēni, small square frames made of plantain stems, on which offerings to demons are placed, 147

Dream causes abandonment of journey, 16, 260; charms against, 15; interpretation of, 16, 260, 264, 268, 269; truth of, 141; warning in, 58

Dress of villagers, 8, 103

Ducks, pair of, beheaded to revive Princess, 269

Durayās, porter caste, 29, 348; stories of, 114, 317

Eagle, white-tailed, 6; girl carried off and reared by, 128; lion-headed, of Lagash, 300

Eating, mode of, 12, 281, 309

Ēdanḍa, foot-bridge of tree trunk, 104, 305

Effect of Yakā’s attack on man, 146

Egret, 5, 6, 342

Elephant, 3; assists Prince, 295; kills jackal, 316; selects King, 65, 81, 90–92, 99

Elopement, 41, 63, 99, 127

Emal bisawā, 125

Escape while arrows are fetched, 96, 99; while carried on bed, 357, 358

Evils, all due to evil spirits, 16

Evil eye, bullock’s skull against, 11; effect of, 15

Evil mouth, 15

Exorcism of flies, 18; locusts, 43

Eyes plucked out, 130, 272, 276, 277; replaced, 131, 275

Fakīr changes letter, 276, 277

Fan shaken to call Prince, 133

Farmer’s wife and tiger, 215

Fate, 19, 314

Father’s name remembered on performing difficult feat, 140

Feather dress, removable, 310, 311

Female quail and its egg, 201

Fever, treatment for, 338

Field, rice, 6

Figure carved, 98; made of rice flour, 303

Figurine, injury through, 167, 168

Finger-nail, food carried under, 53, 101; poisonous, 125, 126, 128

Fire-flies fried, 294; assist Prince, 296

Fire kills Rākshasa, 70, 71, 290

First cooking, 22; fire, 22; fruits, 20, 309; hair-cutting, 72–74; milk taken, 304

Fish, sun-dried, speaks, 86; saves Prince, 87

Five hundred carts, 192; cattle, 191; masuran, 313, 315

Flies, exorcism of, 18

Flight through air, 59, 60, 64, 66

Flower, floating, comes into hand, 118, 119; silver, 264, 268

Flying horse, 66, 277, 379

Fly killed on head, 259, 319, 321

Folk-tales contain picture of ancient village life, 35

Food, Indian, 176; and clothes obtained at road-side shops, 21; carried under finger-nail, 52, 101; given to man by Yakā, 148, 149; King’s, prepared by royal family, 33, 270; magic, fills pot, 53, 101; primitive, 51

Fool in well, 317, 318

Foolish Brāhmaṇa, 263, 347; Gamarāla, 322, 325; Gamarāla’s son, 336; judge, 230; King, 199, 334; leopard, 35, 213; man, 228, 262, 317, 318; tiger, 35, 215; tom-tom beaters or weavers, 249, 250, 252, 262

Forest, animals in, 3, 4, 173, 175; resembles ocean, 1

Fortune from mouse, 197; from carrying butter, 197, 198, 306; from glass-ware, 198

Fortune-telling, 23, 101, 173, 289

Four tasks of Prince, 295–298, 301; four tom-tom beaters, 262

Frame for cooking pots, 10, 338; for demon offerings, 147

Frere, Sir Bartle, on cookery by King’s family, 33; on poisonous snake’s biting boy, 24

Frog Prince, 67

Gāla, a fold for cattle or goats, 2, 102, 230, 367, 368

Galgamuwa tank, in N.-W. Prov., 375

Gama-gāēni, wife of Gamarāla, 319, 336; treated for fever, 338

Gama-mahagē, wife of Gamarāla, 124, 219, 328, 329, 284; abandons child, 124, 125

Gama-mahayiyā, wife of Gamarāla, 125

Gama-puta, son of Gamarāla, 319, 336–338; exchanged bull for bill-hook, 337; wife for bull, 337; his wife’s illness, 336; treats bill-hook for fever, 338; treats mother for fever, 338

Gama-rāhami = Gamarāla, 326, 327

Gamarāla, 78, 126, 129, 284; abandons child, 124, 125; duties, 27; keeps many horses, 228

Gamarāla and foolish son, 319, 320; and leopard, 367, 368; and washerman, 322, 325; their cattle-grazing, 325, 326; their exchange of timber, 324, 329; lawsuits, 322, 327; quarrels, 326; sharing cattle, 323, 326; chena, 322; onion garden, 323; rice field, 323

Gamarāla’s cakes, 219–223; cat, 350; search for stars, 284; village sold, 284

Gamayā, village headman, 201–204, 208

Gambling, 22, 30, 174, 177, 178

Gambler assisted by cat, 175, 177

Garā Yakā, 318

Garuḍa in Ceylon, 251, 300; man rides on, 251; nature of, 300; races turtle, 244. See Aet-kanda Lēniyā and Rukh.

Gem, contained sand, 140; cut with sword, 140; drops from mouth on laughing, 90; stones given to Princes, 80, 82, 83, 89

Gifts, magic, 68, 71; King’s, 99, 133, 365, 366

Giants accompany Prince, 161; imprisoned by Rākshasī, 162; restore Prince’s life, 165; fight of, 313–315

Gilding woman’s body, 290

Girl, at Rākshasa’s house, 121, 124, 125, 163–165; eyes plucked out and restored, 130, 131; figure made of flour, 303; her thief-lovers, 330 ff.; imprisoned in tree, 269; in golden swing, 129; storks’, 120 ff.; wants Nikini, 284 ff.

Glass bed, 61, 62

Glass Princess, 57–65; becomes mare, 64; magical gifts, 63; power of flight, 59, 60, 64

Goat and jackal, 361, 362; and lion, 215; and tiger, 215; foreign, 306; price, 304

Gods give son, 336; inform animals of coming events, 19; make man, 48; unable to create earth, 47; visit men in men’s disguise, 51, 55, 157, 223

Golden branches, 269; cock, jewelled, 67–70; kaekiri, 129, 131, 132; leaves, 269; peacock, 70, 71; salt chillies, 367; shoot, 273; swing, 129; tree, 264, 268

Goods given away, 306

Goonetilleke, W., on folk-tales, 31

Goonewardene, E. G., folk-tales by, 197, 199

Grain measures, 133, 208

Grateful animals, 295, 296; Aet-kanda Lēnī, 293; cobra, 64; dog, 365; jackal, 373; monkey, 279–282; Rākshasī, 163; Yakā, 142, 144

Ground Cuckoo, 13, 349, 351

Guard, Chinese, counted articles, 259

Guardian deity, 222, 223; protects Prince, 173, 175

Guru Paramarta and disciples count themselves, 259

Gypsies, 22–24; their cobras, 23–25

Hair, cuts iron tree, 64; first cutting, 72, 73; knot’s absence a mark of slavery (?), 84; Rākshasī’s causes fire, 71

Hare and jackal, 209 ff.; and tom-tom beaters, 255; devil-dancer, 349–352; feigns death, 209, 210

Hay, Drummond, on poisonous snakes’ biting charmers, 24

Headmen, Kandian, grades and duties, 27

Heaven, visit to, 76, 106, 301

Heron and crab, 342; pond, 7, 342–345

Heṭṭiyā or Seṭṭiyā, man of Cheṭṭi caste, 30, 82–89, 139–145, 287–288

Hidden Prince, 69; treasure, 64

Hides, cattle, not bought, 104

Hokkiyē, cry of jackal, 316

Hopscotch, 193, 194

Horoscope, 101, 173

Horse, borne by oil-mill, 229, 233; eaten by tree, 233; flying, 64, 66, 277, 379; many kept by Gamarāla, 228; price, 50 masuran, 229; speaking, 199; two out of pumpkin, 233; white, of King, 144, 199

House burnt, 106, 108; deity, 222; Kandian, 10; surrounded by seven, 83

Hunchback and robin, 207

Husbandman and devil, division of crops, 324

Huts, of gypsies, 22; watch, 2, 169, 170, 172

Hyaena and hare, 233

Idiots, twenty-five, 318

Imgig, lion-headed eagle, emblem of Lagash, 300

Immortality through eating golden peacock, 71

Improvisation of stanzas, 28

Incense box, 308

Indra, 223; creates Brāhmaṇa from earth, 48; creates Princess, 157; teaches use of jak fruit, 51; work of, 150–152

Infanticide, 36, 101, 120, 124–126, 173

Iron house against Yakā, 137, 145

Iron tree cut by hair, 60, 64, 66

Jacana, 7

Jackal, 204; advises man, 367; against leopard, 368; and boar, 359; and Brāhmaṇa, 347, 348; and crocodile, 216–218, 380, 381; and goat, 361; and hare, 209; and leopard, 367; and lion, 316, 359; and Mahādeo, 381; and turtle, 234; assists man, 340, 341, 367, 373; as witness, 231–233; cheated by lizard, 240; cheated by turtles, 235 ff.; cheats crocodile, 240; cheats hare, 211; cheats scavengers, 251; cheats Śiva, 251; cheats tom-tom beaters, 249, 250; Dēvatāwā inside bullock, 251; inside elephant, 249–251; eats dainties of lion or tiger, 360, 362, 363; enmity against crabs, 381; hares, 212; gets washed, 212; grateful, 373; induces King to marry daughter to weaver, 283; judgment, 339–341; leopard’s preceptor, 213; offers to marry women, 113; pious, 354; proud, 316; settles lawsuit, 228–233; skin dress, 310; titles, 213, 230, 316, 367; warns girl, 300; wounded by knife in fruits, 358

Jacket made by Princess, 94

Jak fruit, eating taught by Indra, 51

Janel Siññā, Mr., 278; his cities, 282

Jayawardana, D. A., legends of primitive times, 50

Jewelled ring, 143–145, 295

Jōgī, white cow of, 276; three became copper pots when killed, 269

Journey abandoned through dream, 16, 260

Jungle and forest, appearance of, 1–4

Jungle-fowl, 4, 204, 322, 349, 353

Kāccalē = Ground Cuckoo, 349

Kaḍambāwa men and bush, 257; and hares, 255; and mouse-deer, 256; count themselves, 258; interpret dream, 260; journey to Puttalam, 253

Kaekiri, a small cucumber, 3, 117, 120, 125, 126, 140, 365; golden, 129–132

Kattāēpahuwa, story of origin of name, 376

Kahawaṇa, 33; golden (?), 348

Kālinga, Indian kingdom, 37, 40–43; Kings and Queens came from, 37, 38

Kandian castes in folk-tales, 27 ff.; headmen, 27; houses, 10; village, 6, 8, 26

Kayiyā, a party of labourers assisting a person without pay, 52

Keṭala, aquatic plant, 235, 381

Kettledrum, double, used at temples, 14, 238

Kettle with twelve spouts, 87

Kindness rewarded, 16, 365

King carries off Princess, 94; cheated, 334; chops firewood, 265; death sentence on Prince, 36, 66, 80, 91, 137, 160, 173, 278, 279, 291; on Princesses, 270; dreams of gold or silver tree, 264, 269; gifts to girls, 365, 366; loses sight or dies on seeing son, 173, 177; marries Rākshasī or ogress, 186, 190, 272, 276, 277; rescues girl from Rākshasa, 303; sells firewood, 65, 66; seized by Yakā, or ogre, 141, 145; wicked, 191

Kings in folk-tales are Parumakas, 34; unfavourably depicted, 36

Kinnarā, 30, 95, 98; and parrots, 224–226; curly hair, 30; stories by, 375; villages, 30

Kitten assists Prince, 301

Kitul seeds, story of, 197

Knife run through fruits, 355, 358

Kohomba deity, 317

Kokkā, large wading bird, 234

Kulēbakā flowers cure blindness, 173, 177; in forest of Gods, 173; guarded by Yakās, 175, 176

Kuppāyama, Roḍiya hamlet, 30

Kūrmarsha, 243

Kuwēnī and Wijaya, 167

Lagash, lion-headed eagle the emblem of, 300

Lāḷa, a district of Vanga, 41

Lan̥ka, or Lakdiva, name of Ceylon, 38

Lattī’s man, 76, 77, 78

Lawsuits, 21; Gamarāla v. washerman, 322, 327; servant v. oil-mill owner, 229 ff.; thief v. merchant, 331, 332; weaver-bird v. monkey, 247

Lēniyā or Lihiniyā, Aet-kanda = Rukh, 291–293, 296, 297, 299; assists Prince, 293, 299; carries off elephant, 293; nest in tree, 292, 296

Leopard, 3; and jackal, 367; and mouse-deer, 213; and lizard, 355–358; carries off boy, 357; fear of lizard, 357, 358; noosed, 368; stupidest animal, 35; warns man, 356

Letter changed by Fakīr, 276, 277; by Princess, 195, 275, 276; by Sannyāsi, 276; by Yōgī, 277; in orange, 95; sent, 144, 188, 193–195, 274–277

Life index:—Barley plant, 165; blue-lotus flower, 162, 164; lime trees, 162, 164; nosegay, 165; plant, 165; tree, 165

Life concealed in bees, 166, 167; birds, 166, 167; box, 167; brightness of sword, 167; cocks, 166; golden parrot, 190; lemon, 167; mountain, 167; necklace, 166; parrot, 167; pigeon, 166; snow, 166; spinning-wheel, 166; starling, 166; sword, 164, 166, 167; tree, 167; veranda pillar, 166

Lightning unlucky, 174, 227, 313, 359, 360

Lion, 35; and goat, 215; and jackal, 316, 359; and turtle, 241; cheated by turtle, 242 ff., 244

Lion-throne, 152

Lizard, 3, 19; and leopard, 355–358; cheats jackal, 240; chirp, an omen, 14

Locusts, exorcised, 43, 44

Loku-ammā, step-mother, 116–118, 130–133; mother’s elder sister, 115

Loku-māma, eldest uncle, 102

Longing of pregnancy, 116–118, 130, 284, 285

Lotus, blue, 117–119, 298; in Creation legend, 47, 48; pink, 119

Lucky hour for beginning works, 18

Lynx and tiger, 215

Maccocalingæ and Modogalingæ, Gangetic tribes, of Pliny, 40

Madahapola, P. B., folk-tale by, 350

Maḍuwa, an open shed, 8

Magadha, 39

Magic, cow, 276; figurine, 167, 168; fruit mango, 90, 116; kaekiri, 117; gifts, three, 68; four, 71; horse, 277, 379; rice, 276, 277; seat, 99; singing water, 276; turtle dove, 80; wand, 102, 109, 111

Mahādeo and jackal, 56, 251, 381

Mahagē, well-to-do village woman, 129

Maha-Mudā, Yaksanī, marries Prince, 176

Maharājani, form of addressing king, 199, 200

Man and crocodile, 339–341; and snake, 341; assisted by jackal, 340, 341, 367–369, 373; condemned by animals, trees and road, 340, 341; made from earth, 48

Mango in exchange for child, 302; tree, a dead woman, 116, 117

Māra, Death, imprisoned in bottle, 33

Margōsa tree planted for king, 334

Mariyada Rāman, stories of, 37

Marriage customs, 238, 240, 308; to bridegroom’s sword, 58, 65

Masurama (coin), 33, 62, 189, 191–193, 228–230, 278, 279, 294–296, 313, 315; measure for, 280

Mātalangē Loku-appu, 108

Midula, open ground in front of house, 10, 73, 74, 130, 163, 209

Milk-rice, 13, 211

Millet Trader, 72 ff.

Mini-geḍi, hawk’s-bell, 352

Mini Ran Kukuḷā, jewelled golden cock, 67

Minister, Chief, 154; giant appointed, 315; pay of, 189

Mī-paeṭikkī, young mouse or rat, 308

Money, 33; kahawaṇa (golden ?), 348; masurama, 62, 189, 191–193, 228–230, 278, 279, 294–296, 313, 315; panam, gold, 259; pence, 262, 263, 304; rupee, 181, 304, 313; salliya, 85, 87, 139; tuttuwa, 73, 74, 304, 306; warāgan, 182

Monk and Yakā, 375; and boy, 320

Monkey and crocodile, 381; and Prince, 278; and weaver-bird, 247; brown, 5, 278; grey, 3, 247; induces King to marry daughter to Prince, 281; skin dress, 310, 311

Moon as a man, legend, 52; travels in breezes, 53

Mouse, dead, fortune from, 197; jacket, 310

Mouse maiden, cooks food, 309; in incense box, 308; reaps paddy, 309; becomes Princess, 310

Mouse-deer, 4, 35; and leopard, 213; and tiger, 340; and tom-tom beaters, 256

Müller-Hess, Prof., inscriptions translated, 38

Mun̥, a small pulse grown in chenas, 3, 295, 296

Mun-aeṭa Guruwā, 169; re-born as Yakā, 170, 172

Murders, frequent and unpunished, 36

Murungā tree, 79, 88, 123, 124, 126, 323, 328

Musical instruments, 238

Naekata, 173, 323, 324

Nāga or Nāgayā, 157; takes form of cobra, 158; belt, 158; King, 267, 269; killed by Prince, 267; Princesses, 267; beheaded, 268; marry Princes, 268; three were a golden tree, silver flower, and silver cock, 268; stone, its qualities, 269

Nagul-Munnā, 169

Nari-nayidē, 230, 231, 239, 316, 340

Nayidē, artificers’ caste, 28

New Year, 22; ceremonies at lucky hours, 22

Nikini, story, 284; non-existent, 285; search for it, 286

Niśśanka-Malla, K., 37, 43

North, inhabited by demons, 13

Number of stars, 150, 153, 154

Oath, 158, 195; by touching body, 93, 293, 298

Obeisance, claims to, by Brāhmaṇas, 263; men, 263; tom-tom beaters, 262

Obstacles created, three, 68, 70; four, 71

Ōḍra State, 40

Offering, human, to cobra guarding pool, 58; to Yakā, 147

Office through eating bird, 90, 91

Ogre = Rākshasa, 34; characteristics, 145; seizes King, 145

Oil-mill gives birth to horse, 229, 233

Olinda game at New Year, 22

Omens, 14, 15, 260

Owl, call thought to be cry of demons, 13

Paddy, legend of, as woman, 52; cooked in hell, 53

Pandit and demon, 215; wise, 199

Paramour, 73, 157, 221, 287, 289

Parrot, 14, 121–127; as Prince, 66; gives warning, 97, 122, 124, 126

Parrots, 14; and Kinnarā, 224 ff.; when netted escape by feigning death, 225, 227

Parumaka, early Chief, termed King in folk-tales, 34

Pāṭaliputta, capital of Magadha, 39

Panams, gold, 259

Path blocked by Yakā, 16, 146

Peacock, golden, 70, 71; warns girl, 300

Pelican and crab, 345

Pence, 262, 263, 304

Peraeli-bāsa, 368

Perēdā, 75

Pied Robin and its song, 206

Pigs saved by Prince assist him, 295; count themselves, 259; kill Rākshasa, 370, 371

Pious cat, 349–354; crow, 354; heron, 342; jackal, 354

Planets, influence of, 18

Poison by powdered glass, antidote, 300

Polyandry, 36, 115

Polygamy, 36, 64, 145, 176, 177, 186, 262, 272

Pond heron, 7; and crab, 342–345

Pool guarded by cobra, 58

Portents, 16:— Favourable words, 14; house lizard’s chirp, 14; no obstruction on leaving house or starting on journey, 14, 15; seeing first a person of superior rank, 14; stepping over threshold with right foot, 14; woodpecker’s cry, 19

Portrait displayed, 99; sent for approval before marriage, 57, 66

Possession, 181, 182, 184; sooth-saying due to goading by deity, 289

Pots, cooking, stand for, 10, 338; of oil, story, 304

Potters’ caste, 28

Pōya day, 14

Preceptor, leopard’s, 213; royal, 151

Presents, magical, 68, 71; by King, 99, 133, 365, 366

Proud jackal, 316

Prince abandons kingdom for wife, 93; accompanied by animals, 277, 297–299, 300, 301; and monkey, 278 ff.; and Yakā, 137 ff.; assisted by animals:— Ants, 301; bear, 299; crickets, 300, 301; Demon Hound, 299; elephants, 295; fire-flies, 296; frogs, 301; kitten, 301; pigs, 295; rats, 61; Rukh, 293, 299; snake, 301; turtle doves, 296; Yakā, 142, 144; as frog, 67; as parrot, 66; as tortoise or turtle, 71; at nest of Aet-kanda Lēniyā or Rukh, 292, 296; at Rākshasī’s house, 69; at school, 93, 160; beheads three Nāga Princesses at one stroke, 268; brings wonderful articles, 276, 277, 301; buys animals, 278, 301; carried by Rukh, 293, 300; changed into birds, 276; chased by Rākshasas, 70, 71; chops firewood, 265; fights Rākshasa, 163; hidden in trunk, 69; hides robes of Princess, 291, 301; imprisoned by cobra, 59; killed by potter, 194; kills cobra, 292, 300; kills lizard in place of brother, 161; kills Nāga King, 267; kills ogre, 90; kills Yakā, 143, 265, 274; life in necklace, 166; in sword, 164–167; lives with flower woman, 79, 87; made horse-keeper, 139; made shepherd, 141; made slave, 84; marries courtesan, 175; marries mouseling, 308; marries Nāga Princess, 268; marries Yaksanī, 176; saved by sun-dried fish, 87; saves Aet-kanda Lēniyā’s young ones, 293; ant, 301; cricket, 300, 301; eagles, 300; elephants, 294; fire-flies, 294; frog, 301; giants, 162; monkey, 278; pigs, 294; turtle doves, 294; seeks meaning of dream, 265; selects Princess in dark room, 296; sent by Rākshasī, 274, 276, 277; maims Yaksanī and is served by her, 189; sentenced to death, 36, 66, 80, 91, 137, 160, 173, 278, 279, 291; tasks given, 66, 274, 276, 277, 295, 296; thrown overboard, 87, 91; binds Rākshasī’s daughter, 69; visits Princess at night, 62, 66; visits Indralōka, 301; Nāgalōka, 267

Princess alters letter, 195, 275, 276; at Rākshasa’s house, 270; bathed after puberty, 294; bathes in river, 84, 138, 291; becomes mare, 64; becomes mouseling, 308; carves figure, 98; cures cobra, 64; encloses letter in orange, 95; escapes from captors or death, 95, 96, 99, 270, 271; faithless, 157; flying powers, 59, 64; learns writing, 93; magic gifts to Prince, 63; made from Prince’s body, 157, 159; made King, 99; made school teacher, 97; marries slave, 85; offered to Yakā, 141, 143; personates Brāhmaṇa, 96; pricks finger to keep awake, 63, 66; recognises Prince’s ring, 295; robes hidden, 291, 301; selected by Prince in dark room, 296; sews jacket, 94; sold, 36, 91, 94; wears blue robe, 271

Princesses, Nāga, 267; marry Princes, 268

Princesses, seven, 270, 281; escape from Rākshasa, 271; marry King, 272

Puberty custom, 294

Puñci-Ammā, step-mother, 89; mother’s younger sister, 296

Puṇḍra State, 40

Purōhita Brāhmaṇa, 151

Python seizes boy, 373

Queen becomes cobra, 132; sells firewood, 65, 66

Queens eat children, 187, 272, 276, 277; eyes plucked out, 187, 272, 276, 277; twelve, 186

Quail and its egg, 201

Quartering and hanging at city gates, 86, 89

Questions, two, 154; three, 150, 155; four, 153

Race:—Brer Rabbit and Brer Tarrypin, 244; crane and butterfly, 244; crane and crab, 244; Garuḍa and turtle, 244; lion and turtle, 242, 244

Rāhami, 327, 328

Rāhu, Asura Chief, assists in Creation, 47; his divine form, 50; planetary sign, 49

Rājagaha, capital of Magadha, 39

Raja Gurunnānsē, 151

Rākshasa = ogre, 34; afraid of fire, 70, 71; and boars, 370; at girl’s door, 122–126, 128; cannot straighten hair, 377; creates mouth at crown of head, 303; death by drinking, 124; death in fire, 290; eats daughter, 271; eats girl’s figure, 303; gives mango for child, 302; head split, 303; imprisons girl in tree, 269; killed by boars, 370; killed by thorn in head, 163; King, 66, 71; life in bees, birds, etc., 166, 167; man’s servant, 376; marries woman, 290; mode of approach, 163

Rākshasī, 67; assists Prince, 163; imprisons giants, 161, 162; smells Prince, 69; burnt, 70, 71

Ran oncillāwa, golden swing, 129

Rāsayā, Rāsi = Rākshasa (m. and f.), 34, 67

Raṭēmahatmayās, principal district chiefs, 27; beheaded, 151

Raṭēwissa, 327

Rat and cat, 351–353; assists gambler, 177; eggs, 252; male about to bear young, 233

Rats come when thought of, 60, 61; excavate tunnel, 61, 177; saved from drowning, 59; save elephant, 66

Reaping chena, 19; rice, 20

Rewards given by Kings, 67, 90, 185, 266, 267, 315

Rice cultivation, 17; eating, 12, 86; field, 1, 6; magic, 276, 277; night growing, 276; originally huskless, 51; threshing, 20; strung on date spike transforms frog, 67, 70

Riddle, 158, 215

Ring cools boiling water, 63; jewelled, 143, 295

Road tax, 21

Robin, pied, 206

Roḍiyā, 29, 30, 372; stories by, 364; term of reproach, 73, 74

Roll of cotton, 364

Rosary, 349, 350

Rukh, 291–300 = Aet-kanda Lēniyā or Lihiniyā, 291; Bhārunda bird, 300; Bihangama, 300; Garuḍa, 251, 300; Imgig, 300; Zū, 300; assists Prince, 293, 299; breeds in Ceylon, 251, 292, 296, 300; carries off elephants, 293; man rides on one, 251; Sumerian idea, 300

Rupee, 181, 304, 313

Sack, man tied in, 104, 106, 110

Sāēstara, 179

Sahadeo, father of Śiva, 56, 251

Sāhasa-Malla, K., 38

Śakra appears as man, 51, 157; created Princess out of Prince’s body, 157

Sale of children, 36, 94

Salliya, 85, 87, 139

Samādama, 98

Saman, God, 47, 48, 50, 223

Sand of sea, King’s journey for, 285; used in creation of earth, 48

Sangha-raja, 153, 154

Sannyāsi changes letter, 276; seizes Yakā, 171

Sapu-flowers’ Minister = leopard, 367

Scarecrow, 230

Scavengers cheated by jackal, 251

School, 93, 96–99, 160

Sea, depth of, 154; on fire, 233

Seed collected after sowing, 296, 300, 301

Self-acting bill-hook, 337; sickle, 338

Senasurā, deity, appears as old man, 55; assists worshipper, 56; his evil influence, 54; gives book, 56; legend of, 54

Seṭṭiyā or Heṭṭiyā, 30, 82 ff., 139 ff., 287, 288

Seven baskets, 122; baths, 300; brothers marry seven sisters, 100; bundles of firewood, 122; days, 48, 91, 308; doors, 128; family of, marry seven, 107; gawwas, 53; houses, 83; jars of milk, 300; pots of water, 100, 122, 125, 300; mats, 100; nights, 66; quarts of money, 104; Princes, 57; Princesses, 57, 84, 270, 281; Rākshasa girls, 271; robbers, 317; seas, 71; trees planted, 334; trunks, 69; Vaeddās, 96, 98; weavers, 259; years, 81, 89

Shed, road-side, for travellers (ambalama), 9, 61, 62, 63, 64, 94, 95, 138, 278, 279, 312

Shops, road-side, 21, 85, 209

Sickle gets fever, 338

Sīgiris Siññō, the giant, 312, 313; kills twenty flies, 312; victor over giant and made Prime Minister, 314, 315

Sīha-Bāhu, K., 41

Sillu, Hopscotch, 193, 194

Silver cock, flower, and tree, 264, 268, 269

Sil rakinawā, 349, 354

Sinhapura or Sīhapura, 37–43

Sister kills sister, 114

Śiva cheated by jackal, 56, 251, 381

Sivalinga, God, 287–289

Skin dresses:—Dove, jackal, monkey, mouse, tortoise-shell, woman, 310, 311

Sky, near house-tops, 50

Sleeping, lying east and west, 13

Slaves branded when freed, 177; hair-knot cut, 84; losing gamblers enslaved, 174, 175, 177, 178

Small Lion, title of jackal, 316

Smith makes bow and arrows, 273

Smiths’ caste, 27, 28

Snake and man, 341; assists Prince, 301; bite cured by snake, 91; by spell, 301; brought by cowry, 91; cakes made of eggs turn Queen into cobra, 132; charms against its poison, 25; killed, or cut in two, 133, 158, 267, 292; poison brought, 301; poisonous, bites charmer, 24

Soothsaying, 180 ff., 289

South, abode of Yama, 13

Sovereignty through eating bird, cock, fruit, maina, mango, sheldrake, 90, 91; turtle dove, 80,89

Speaking horse, 199

Spell, against Yakā, 146, 147, 171; broken by conversation, 19; cures snake-bite, 301; revives corpse, 378, 379

Spring dried by magic, 91, 92

Squirrel, small, its cry, 352

Stars, number of, 150, 153, 154; search for, 284

States of Lower Ganges, 39

Statue displayed as bait, 98

Step-mother, cruel, 79, 90, 91, 130, 132

Sticks thrown into river, 108, 319

Stone, magic, 68, 70

Storks, 7; and turtle, 234, 239

Stupid boy, 108, 319

Stories brought from India, 38, 176

Story told in sections, 88, 91

Strangers give name for child, 303; names taken by guards, 139

Subha, K., 153

Subhadrā, Q., 37

Suitor’s tasks, 60, 295; three, 378, 379

Sumitta, K., 41

Sun legend, as man, 52; orbit, 53

Sunga, son of Vali, 40

Swarṇamūla mountain, breeding place of Rukhs, 300

Swing, golden, 129

Sword contains life of Prince, 164–167; marriage to, 58, 65; of state, 152

Tales accord with village experience or traditions, 36; some brought by later immigrants, 37

Talla, reservoir, 298

Tāmalitta, Gangetic State and port, 40, 42

Tamarind Ṭikkā, 100; carries food under finger-nail, 101; drowns uncles, 105; hung under bridge, 104; sets up corpse in garden, 103; revives dead buffalo, 102

Tambi, Muhammedan trader or pedlar, 110, 221

Tamil King, 313–315

Tank, village, 4; turtles, 6, 115, 234 ff., 241 ff.

Tasks given:—One, 189, 274, 276, 277; two, 60, 63, 125, 301; three, 66, 105, 122; four, 295–298, 301; bathing in boiling water, 60, 63; bringing firewood, 122; milk of bear, crocodile, Demon Hound, Rukh, 296–298; carrying water, 122, 125; cutting gem, 140; cutting iron tree, 60, 63, 66; pounding paddy, 122, 125; solving riddle, 158

Tax, road, 21

Terms of relationship are conciliatory and honorific, 21, 68, 69, 80, 83, 85, 174, 276, 277, 298, 364

Thorn or pin, magic, 68–71; effect of, 168, 376; kills Rākshasa, 163

Thousand articles, 281, 282; masuran, 191–193, 278, 279; Buddhas, 232, 241

Thread, charmed, 15; standing at, 268

Three questions, 150; suitors, 378, 379

Thieves, two:—Clothes and horse borrowed, 331; purse stolen and replaced, 330; wife of, 333

Threshing floor, 20, 120; rice, mode of, 20

Tiger and farmer’s wife, 215; and goat, 215; and lynx, 215; and man, 340, 341; and mouse-deer, 340; and two brothers, 215

Timber for house building, 323, 328

Tokkama, 350; Tokkā or Tokkan the devil-dancer = hare, 349, 351

Tom-tom beaters and bull, 254; and bush, 257; and dream, 260; and hares, 255; and mouse-deer, 256; caste, 28; cheated by jackal, 249; children unrecognised, 253, 254; crying, 260, 261; counting themselves, 258; foolishness of, 252; four, story of, 262; journey to Puttalam, 253; stories of, 109, 252; throw man into river, 111

Tom-toms, say words, 29, 238, 303; verse on, 238

Tortoise Prince, 71; shell dress, 71, 311

Transformation:—Frog into Prince 67, 70; parrot into Prince, 66; Prince into birds, 276; Queen into cobra, 132

Transmission of tales from India, 38, 176

Travellers’ shed (ambalama) on road-side, 8, 61–64, 94, 95, 138, 278, 279, 312

Treasure of cobra, 64; seekers killed, 105, 106, 111

Tree, buttresses, 5; girl as, 269; golden, 264; Nāga Princesses, 268; silver, 269; speaking, 117, 123, 124, 126, 340, 341

Trickery approved, 36

Trikālinga, 40

Trumpets, 238

Tummal Kittī, jungle hen, 349

Tun-iri Mudiyansē, small squirrel, 351

Tunnel dug, by pigs, 370, 371; dug by rats, 61, 62, 177; thief, 66

Turtle, tank, 6, 113 ff.; and jackal, 234; and lion, 241; carried by geese, 240; by hansas, 239, 240; by black storks, 234, 239, 240; cheats Brer Rabbit, 244; Garuḍa, 244; jackal, 235 ff.; lion, 242–244

Turtle dove, 79; magic, effect of eating, 80, 89; Prince assisted by, 296

Tusk-elephant mountain, 291

Tuttuwa, 73, 74, 304, 306

Udayagiri, mountain of Dawn, 71

Unlucky days, 18

Unnānsē namak, 320

Untruthfulness, 36

Upāsakā, 350, 354

Vaeddā, 202–204; complains to King, 188; K. imprisons travellers, 34, 64, 65; in folk-tales, 34; seven shoot for Princess, 96, 98; shoots magic turtle-dove, 80, 81; visits city, 273; wedding custom, 240; stories, 224

Vali, K., and his five sons, 40

Vanaspati rice, 277

Vanga, Gangetic kingdom, 40

Vedarāla or Vedā, demon expeller, 147, 171; medical man, 336, 338; soothsayer, 179–185

Vessels, Gangetic, their voyages, 42, 43

Vibhīsana, K. in Ceylon, 251

Victim’s escape, enemies take his place, 105, 106, 110, 112

Village, Kandian, 6; dress, 8, 103; garden, 11; life, 21, 35; new year’s re-union, 21; path, 2; tank, 4; women, 8

Vishnu, 227; boar incarnation, 50; creation of earth and man, 47–50

Wager for life, 158

Wand, magic white, revives dead buffalo, 102

Warāgan, 182

Warnings by animals, etc., 14, 15, 19, 97, 122–124, 126, 297–299, 300, 356

Washerman, caste, 28; and boy, 320, 321; and jackal, 212; and Gamarāla, 322, 325; their cattle, 323, 325, 326; chena, 322; house building, 323, 324, 328, 329; onion garden, 323; rice field, 323; lawsuits, 322, 327

Watch hut in chena, 2, 72, 73, 169, 170

Water not drunk while eating, 12

Waterpot, foreign, 306

Weaver-bird and monkey, 247

Weavers count themselves, 259; foolishness of, 252; hero killed a mosquito, 315; nine flies, 315

Whale’s fat brought, 301

Wife exchanged for bullock, 36, 337; taken by king, 94, 186

Wimalī, 302; reared by Rākshasa, 303

Wijaya, K., 38–41, 167; his exile doubtful, 41; his voyage to Ceylon, 42; saves followers from Kuwēnī, 167, 168

Woodpecker’s cry, 3; an omen, 19

Woman, body gilded (?), 290; dead, becomes white turtle, 115; mango tree, 116; kaekiri, 117; blue lotus, 118; revived by spell, 378, 379; made by first man, 49; made from man’s body, 157, 159; marries Rākshasa, 290; old, rejuvenated by beating, 109–111; skin dress, 310, 311

Work, all, begun at lucky hour, 18, 22

Worship of Gods for a child, 336

Writing style, 93

Yabbaelli, f. Demon Hound, 297

Yama, God of Death, in south, 13

Yakā, afraid of man, 148, 149; and Damunu pole, 375; and monk, 375; assists Prince, 142, 144; blinds man, 146; blocks path, 16, 146; imprisoned in bottle, 33; in iron house, 137; killed by Prince, 143, 265, 274; kills calf and men, 170, 171; lives in tree, 148; magic nail in head, 376; man-eating, 137, 141–143, 145, 265; man re-born as, 170, 172; mode of approach, 142, 265, 266; offerings, 147, 170; power of incantations over, 171; possesses man, 147; provides man with food, 148, 149; seizes King, 141; seizes man, 146; shot, 146; underground palace, 141; a demon or evil spirit, 34, 137; works, 375

Yakō, a form of address, 287

Yaksanī, female Yakā, built palace, 189; chased man or Prince, 186, 190; ate corpse, 189, 190; made Queen, 186; served Prince, 189

Yaksa Vedarāla, practitioner against demons, 147, 171

Yasalālaka-Tissa, K., deposition, 153

Youth accompanied by young animals, 297–300; cheats monk, 320; tom-tom beaters, 109–111; washerman, 321; four tasks given, 296–298

Youth, foolish, and gruel, 320; and monk, 320; burns house, 108; kills fly on mother’s head, 319; throws sticks into river, 108, 319

Yugas, four, 49

Butler & Tanner The Selwood Printing Works Frome and London

Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.

Reading settings