In The Orientalist, vol. i, p. 234, Mr. C. J. R. Le Mesurier mentioned the man who tied up the rice mortars in the belief that the elephants’ foot-prints in a rice field were caused by them.
In the Kathā Sarit Sāgara (Tawney), vol. ii, p. 111, a man who got a tank made found that some animal tore up the surface of the embankment. When he remained on the watch for it he saw a bull descend from heaven, and gore it; and thinking he might go to heaven with it, he held the tail and was carried up to Kailāsa, the bull evidently being the riding animal of the God Śiva. After spending some time in happiness he descended in the same way, in order to see his friends. They asked him to take them with him on his return, and he consented. He seized the bull’s tail, the next man held his feet, the third his, and so on, in a chain. While they were on their way upward one of the men inquired how large were the sweetmeats he ate in heaven. The first man let go, joined his hands in a cup shape, and said, “So big.” Thereupon they all fell down and were killed. The story adds that “the people who saw it were much amused.”
[1] That is, the amount of the seed being first deducted, a certain share of the produce would be taken by the cultivator—sometimes one-half or one-third,—the rest going to the owner of the land, in this case the King. [↑]
[2] Gedarawal gānēṭtama. Gānē or gāna = gahana, multitude; compare kaḍawal gānēma, vol. i, p. 86, line 17. [↑]
[4] Um̆balat ekkenek magē ina gāwin allā-ganillā (hon. pl.); gāwin, “near,” is commonly used for “at” or “by,” as in ata gāwin allāgana, seizing the hand (vol. i, p. 127, line 23). [↑]