Sinhalese Folklore Notes, Ceylon

by Arthur A. Perera

PELKARAYA: A sub-tenant. See Dalu pathkaraya. The Mulpakaraya (original or chief tenant) frequently gets a person to settle on the lands of his panguwa, in order to have a portion of the services due by him performed by the person so brought in, who is called the pelkaraya; lit. cotter.

PELLAWEDAGAMAN: The service turns of tenants. A term in use in the Kegalle District.

PENPOLA: A priest’s bath.

PENUMA: The same as dekuma. q. v.

PENUM-KADA: A pingo of presents, provisions, vegetables, dried fish or flesh, chatties, etc., given annually or at festivals by tenants to their landlords.

PENUMWATTIYA: Presents carried in baskets.

PERAWA: A measure equal to one-fourth of a seer, in use in the Kurunegala District, corresponding to a Hunduwa.

PERAHANKADA: A piece of cloth to strain water through, used by priests, being one of their eight requisites. A filter; vide “delipihiya” supra.

PEREHERA: A procession; the festival observed in the month of Ehela (July), in Dewale, the chief ceremony in which is the taking in procession, the insignia of the divinities Vishnu, Kataragama, Nata and Pattini for fifteen days. All the Dewala tenants and officers attend it; buildings and premises are cleansed, whitewashed, decorated, and put into proper order. The festival is commenced by bringing in procession a pole and setting it up at the Temple in a lucky hour. This is done by the Kapurala; during the first five days the insignia are taken in procession round the inner court of the Dewale; the five days so observed are called the Kumbal-Perehera, from Kumbala, a potter, who provided the lamps with stands called Kalas generally used in some Dewala at the festival. During the next five days, called the Dewala Perehera the procession goes twice daily round the Widiya or outer court of a Dewale. During the third or last five days, called the Maha or Randoli-perehera the procession issues out of the temple precincts, and taking a wider circuit passes round the main thoroughfare of a town. The festival concludes with one of its chief ceremonies, the Diyakepima, when the insignia are taken in procession on elephants to the customary ferry which is prepared and decorated for the occasion; and the Kapurala, proceeding in a boat to the middle of the stream, cuts with the Rankaduwa (golden sword) the water at the lucky hour. At that very instant the “Rankendiya” (the gold goblet) which is first emptied of the water preserved in it from the Diyakepima of the previous year, is re-filled and taken back in procession to the Dewala. It is customary in some temples for the tenants to wash themselves in the pond or stream immediately after the Diyake-pima. This is a service obligatory on the tenants. After the conclusion of the Perehera, the officers and tenants engaged in it, including the elephants, have ceremonies, for the conciliation of lesser divinities and evil spirits, performed called Balibat-netima, Garayakunnetima and Waliyakun-netima. The Perehera is observed in all the principal Dewala such as Kataragama, the four Dewala in Kandy, Alutnuwara Dewale and Saman Dewale in Sabaragamuwa etc. The following notice of the Kandy Perehera is taken from a note to the first report of the Service Tenures Commission:—“The most celebrated of these processions is the Perehera, which takes place at Kandy in Esala (July-Aug.) commencing with the new moon in that month and continuing till the full moon. It is a Hindu festival in honor of the four deities Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama (Kandaswami) and Pattini, who are held in reverence by the Buddhists of Ceylon as Deviyo who worshipped Goutama and are seeking to attain Nirwana. In the reign of King Kirtissiri (A. D. 1747–1780) a body of priests who came from Siam for the purpose of restoring the Upasampada ordination objected to the observance of this Hindu ceremony in a Buddhist country. To remove their scruples, the king ordered the Dalada relic of Buddha to be carried thenceforth in procession with the insignia of the four deities. Nevertheless, the Perehera is not regarded as a Buddhist ceremony.”

PERUDAN: Food given to priests according to turns arranged amongst tenants.