CEYLON ISLAND

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3895, 28 April 1937, Page 9

CEYLON ISLAND

ITS GENTLE AND TOLERANT FOLK. ASTROLOGER STILL QUITE IMPORTANT. If I were a Sinhalese mother I would bring up my son to be either an astrologer or a cultivator of coconuts (writes Henry Baerlein). Both of these professions are lucrative, but the latter has the disadvantage of requiring a certain amount of capital, to say nothing of the technical knowledge in these days when the standard of coconuts in Ceylon has been so vastly improved.

On the other hand an astrologer works on traditional lines; from a few Sanskrit and Sinhalese books he obtains the necessary rudiments, after which he attaches himself to a recognised astrologer, and finally—when the planets indicate that such a step may be undertaken—he sets up for himself. Of course no one should be recommended to embark on this career who is devoid of self-confidence, alertness of mind, and a tolerable flow of unprecise language. There is a good deal of competition, caused by the influx of Brahmin soothsayers front India, but anyone of average ability should be able to earn an adequate livelihood, seeing that almost the whole population of the island is anxious to consult the astrologer at every turn.

LITTLE EFFECT. It was supposed, some time ago, that the spread of education would undermine the astrologers’ status, yet the injurious effect of. education has been slight, for many of the more advanced Sinhalese remain among the faithful; it would surprise nobody in the island if a Sinhalese Minister, talking perfect and voluble English, were to ask his favourite astrologei* as to the auspiciousness of this or that day for the introduction of a Bill before the State Council. Such a client will, although there are no fixed charges, pay handsomely tor the astrologer’s advice. Like the more humble supplicant, he will have the delicacy to conceal the coins among betel leaves, which are regarded as having originally belonged to the gods; they are offered as tokens of submission to

a personage more highly placed than oneself; they are also interchanged among equals at the New Year by way of compliment.

Most of the Sinhalese are very conservative. The betel leaf is also used to cover up the doctor’s remuneration, if payment is made in cash. Naturally the Europeanised doctors of Colombo and the other towns are not treated in the ancient fashion but in the villages the art of medicine is, as of old, in the hands of a man of substance who does not greatly care if among the betel leaves no cash is lurking. His father and .his grandfather will have been landowners and doctors, tending patriarchally anyone who came to them. If the villager cannot pay in money he will do so in kind, or he will help to cultivate the doctor’s land.

These village doctors, by the way, will, like the astrologers, have studied a few Sanskrit and Sinhalese books. The populace have confidence in them, for the ingredients of the medicines are know to everyone, consisting as they do of five or eight or twenty-four items. It' the patient is not very ill the first of these is employed; if the result is unsatisfactory tne medicine of eight is brought to tear; and if that should prove ineffective there is the grand remedy of the two dozen components. If the Sinhalese parent is uneasy as to the inroads of education which may imperil the astrologer’s trade, that of the village doctor being in the hands of the wealthier landowners, he will turn to the coconut which flourishes so mightily in the low country. The products of the coconut are so miscellaneous that the Swiss Family Robinson would not have required their ship if a grove of these trees had been on their island. Carpets, brushes, rugs, brooms, matting, biscuits, confectionery, perfumes, hair oil, curios, buttons, studs, and soaps are being manufactured in Ceylon from this admirable tree. Coconut gin, whisky, and brandy have been produced, but are not yet on the market—and personally I should prefer the coconut’s delicious milk. There is also such a thing as coconut benedictine, but one would not like to prophecy that it will prove a serious rival to the produce of Fecamp in Normandy. Who can help loving a people which arrived, many centuries ago, at such a oegree of tolerance that in the Kelaniya Temple, the most sacred place for Buddhist worship in maritime Ceylon—Buddha himself, so it is said, having visited the spot—a corner of the image house is devoted >o the Hindu gods because the Buddhist kings were wont to take their wives from Southern India.

It is painful after this to think of the behaviour of the Portuguese in the 16th century. Kelaniva’s revenues were allocated to the Franciscans for the building of Roman Catholic schools, and the Captain of Colombo, Diago de Melo, burned the temple in spite of the resistance of the villagers who rallied in its defence, a number of them being driven into the river and drowned.

Gentle are the Sinhalese, but not devoid of the competitive spirit. Their diminutive pale brown oxen that one sees in the towns drawing a two wheeled cart which appears much too big for them these little animals are capable of moving at a much greater speed, and out in the country they will trot surprisingly. It has been discovered that the Sinhalese oxen<t>r bulls have endurandee and speed in inverse relation to

their size. Steps are therefore taken to prevent them from growing; a favourite method is to provide the young creature with toddy, a very potent fermented liquor that comes from the palm tree. One also hears of whisky being administered. And the tiny creatures, not much larger than a St. Bernard dog, put up very fine performances.