VIDANA, s. In Ceylon, the title of a village head man. "The person who conveys the orders of Government to the people" (Clough, s.v. vidán). It is apparently from the Skt. vadana, "... the act of speaking ... the mouth, face, countenance ... the front, point," &c. In Javanese wadana (or wadono, in Jav. pronunciation) is "the face, front, van; a chief of high rank: a Javanese title" (Crawfurd, s.v.). The Javanese title is, we imagine, now only traditional; the Ceylonese one has followed the usual downward track of high titles; we can hardly doubt the common Sanskrit origin of both (see Athenaeum, April 1, 1882, p. 413, and May 13, ibid. p. 602). The derivation given by Alwis is probably not inconsistent with this.
1681.—"The Dissauvas (see [DISSAVE]) by these Courli vidani their officers do oppress and squeez the people, by laying Mulcts upon them.... In Fine this officer is the Dissauva's chief Substitute, who orders and manages all affairs incumbent upon his master."—Knox, 51.
1726.—"Vidanes, the overseers of villages, who are charged to see that no inhabitant suffers any injury, and that the Land is sown betimes...."—Valentijn (Ceylon), Names of Officers, &c., 11.
1756.—"Under each (chief) were placed different subordinate headmen, called Vidána-Aratchies and Vidáns. The last is derived from the word (vidāna), 'commanding,' or 'ordering,' and means, as Clough (p. 647) defines it, the person who conveys the orders of the Government to the People."—J. de Alwis, in Ceylon Journal, 8, p. 237.
VIHARA, WIHARE, &c., s. In Ceylon a Buddhist temple. Skt. vihārā, a Buddhist convent, originally the hall where the monks met, and thence extended to the buildings generally of such an institution, and to the shrine which was attached to them, much as minster has come from monasterium. Though there are now no Buddhist vihāras in India Proper, the former wide diffusion of such establishments has left its trace in the names of many noted places: e.g. Bihār, and the great province which takes its name; Kuch Behār; the Vihār water-works at Bombay; and most probably the City of Bokhārā itself. [Numerous ruins of such buildings have been unearthed in N. India, as, for instance, that at Sarnāth near Benares, of which an account is given by Gen. Cunningham (Arch. Rep. i. 121). An early use of the word (probably in the sense of a monastery) is found in the Mathura Jain inscription of the 2nd century, A.D. in the reign of Huvishka (ibid. iii. 33).]
1681.—"The first and highest order of priests are the Tirinanxes,[[282]] who are the priests of the Buddou God. Their temples are styled Vehars.... These ... only live in the Vihar, and enjoy great Revenues."—Knox, Ceylon, 74.
[1821.—"The Malwatte and Asgirie wihares ... are the two heads of the Boodhaical establishment in Ceylon."—Davy, An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, 369.]
1877.—"Twice a month, when the rules of the order are read, a monk who had broken them is to confess his crime; if it be slight, some slight penance is laid upon him, to sweep the court-yard of the wihāra, sprinkle the dust round the sacred bo-tree."—Rhys Davids, Buddhism, 169.
VISS, s. A weight used in S. India and in Burma; Tam. vīsai, 'division,' Skt. vihita, 'distributed.' In Madras it was ⅛ of a Madras maund, and = 3lb. 2oz. avoirdupois. The old scale ran, 10 pagoda weights = 1 pollam, 40 pollams = 1 viss, 8 viss = 1 [maund] (of 25lbs.), 20 maunds = 1 candy. In Burma the viss = 100 tikals = 3lbs. 5 5⅓. Viss is used in Burma by foreigners, but the Burmese call the weight peiktha, probably a corruption of vīsai.
1554.—"The baar (see [BAHAR]) of Peguu contains 120 biças; each biça weighs 40 ounces; the biça contains 100 ticals; the tical weighs 31⁄5 oitavas."—A. Nunes, 38.