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32
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1894.
They then went to a room where there was some sandal-wood, aud ground a great deal of the saudal-wood, and fully besmeared their bodies down to their waists with it, and then sat down to take their food. They next got into a palankin of the color of parrots, and each of them tied to his waist a dagger like that of Rama.
Thus did they go to the Ballal's house. They approached the gate, and entered the enclosure, and, passing through the yard in front of the house, went into a room set apart for the use of bards, poets, and such like.
• They then went into a room on the western side of the house, and climbed into the upperstory by means of a rope. On a great chair the Balla! was sitting in great enjoyment. He had ahat of areca-nut shell, decorated with a crest of peacock's plumes. On his head were garlands of jasmine flowers and of the flowers called kétaki. Thus seated, the boys made him a lowly salute.
“Come, my children, sit down," said the Balla!.
He brought a bed of flowers and spread it out, and they sat down on it and placed their daggers on the ground. Then the Ballå! asked them why they had come, and they replied :
"You have nourished us with great love. You have treated us with great respect. From this time forward, also, do you provide for our livelihood !"
Then the Ballal said: "Buddyanta owns the upper part of a paddy field named Anilaja; the lower part of that field, I shall assign to you."
He accordingly marked its boundaries, and when he was giving the field to the boys, he advised them to make some offering to Buddyanta, whenever they might sow it.
With the intention of sowing the yanéla seed at the proper time, they gathered all the refuse of the field and set fire to it. And then, after eighteen days of the month Paggu had passed, they ploughed the field with two pairs of he-buffaloes. Thus did they caltivate the yanéla crop:
Meanwhile, to choose a day for celebrating & kambala in his field, Buddyants was going to ask the opinion of one Matti Bira Ballaya. On his way he passed the field of Koti and Channayya, and they called out to him :
“Where are you going to, Buddyanta ?"
"I am going to ask the opinion of a soothsayer for fixing a day for the celebration of a kambala," replied Buddyanta.
“When you are asking about your kambala, please ask also about ours," said the young men.
Then Koti asked his brother to go up to the upper-story of their house by a ladder, and fetch down a cocoanut. Then he took off its outer skin, removed all the fibres from it, and gave it to Buddyanta. Taking the cocoanut with him, Buddyanta walked away, but when he got out of their sight, he struck the cocoanut against a rock, broke it to pieces, and put the pieces into the skirts of his garment. He munched them all the way as he went along. Channayya saw this, and he said to Koti :
« The cocoanut we gave to Buddyanta he has broken to pieces, and he has been eating it all along the way; so we have not had the good fortune of eating vegetables mixed with cocoanat!"
Buddyanta went to Matti Bîra Ballaya, and asked him to name a day for the celebration of a kambala. Tuesday was found to be an anspicious day, and, when he heard this, Buddyanta returned home.
(This is an agricultural coromony, and consists in racing with buffalooo and bullocka in luck. - ED.)
rice field
for
