The sun, moon, and Rahu were three sons of a widowed mother whom they left at home one day to attend a wedding. When they returned she inquired what they had brought with them; the eldest angrily replied that he had brought nothing, the second threw at her the torch which had lighted them on the way, but the third asked for his mother’s rice pot and put into it a few grains of rice, which he had brought concealed under his nails and which miraculously filled the vessel. The mother’s blessing made the youngest son the pleasant and cool moon, while her curses made the second the burning sun and the eldest the demon Rahu who tries to destroy his brothers by swallowing them and causing an Eclipse.
[1] An account of the Interior of Ceylon (1821) Page 119 Davy. [↑]
[2] Eleven Years in Ceylon (1841), Vol. II, p. 81 Forbes. [↑]
CHAPTER II.
THE VEGETABLE WORLD.
Trees which grow to a large size like the Nuga (ficus altissima), Bo (ficus religiosa), Erabadu (erythrina indica), Divul (feroma elephantum) are the abodes of spirits and villagers erect leafy altars under them where they light lamps, offer flowers and burn incense. Before a wood-cutter fells a large tree he visits to it three or four days previously and asks the spirit residing there to take its abode elsewhere; otherwise evil will befall him.
On the way to Adam’s Peak there are to be found sacred orchards where a person may enter and eat any quantity of fruit but will not be able to find his way out if he tries to bring any with him.
The Bo tree is sacred to Buddha and is never cut down; its leaves shiver in remembrance of the great enlightenment which took place under it. His three predecessors in the Buddha hood—Kassapa, Konâgama, Kakusanda—attained enlightenment under the nuga, dimbul and the sirisa.