Citation link:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/taprobanian1888/0051
June, 1888.)
NOTES AND QUERIES.
49
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Khadaniyam, Pali foe “cake.”
T page 130 of Dr. Muller’s Pali Grammar, in the
course of his translation of the Valahassa
Jiltaka, he translates as follows the passage which
relates how the yakkhinis enticed the shipwrecked
merchants with food ; “drink this rice gruel, partake
of this rice, eat this food,” and in his analysis he tells
us that bhattam is soft or wet food, and khadaniyam
means “literally that can be chewed, i.e. solid food.”
Accordingly he translates bhattam as rice, and
khadaniyam as “ food.”
In this I believe he is mistaken. We have a
Sinhalese idiom which will explain the real sense.
When a Sinhalese serves “food” to his guest, it
always is rice served with curries and condiments
which in colloquial use are understood as included in
“rice.” If the occasion is one for special luxury or
observance, he adds “cakes,” as a dessert. These
cakes are of many kinds, but the most usual one is
the “ kaewum,” a cake made by frying in oil a batter
of oil, sugar, and ricefloar; it was represented in
this Journal, at fig. 3, Plate VII., Vol. I. So ancient
and important is the use of this cake on ceremonial
occasions, that it has developed its own special super-
stitious observance, which is recorded at p. 142, Vol.
I. loc. cit.
The name has come to be used now, not only in its
own restricted use as the name of this cake, but as a
generic term for “cakes,” much as we say “ dessert.”
“ They gave us rice (bat) and cakes (kaewum)” is
still an everyday way of saying “they feasted us
right royally.”
I take this “kaewum” to be the word rendered
into Pali as “ khadhaniyana” under the impression
that it was derived from Sinhalese Vka, to eat,
which is equivalent to Pali \/khad, to eat.
The text therefore really shows ns that the food
offered corresponded to that which would now be
presented to an honoured guest; rice-gruel (kaenda
— yagum), rice (bat = bhattam), and cakes
(kaewum — khadaniyam).
The idea of soft food and hard food, a distinction
not known to the Sinhalese, is hereby avoided, and
we follow exactly both the modern usage and idiom.
I will not now digress into the derivation of
kaewum” further than to say that I believe it has
no connection with to “ eat” in reality, but comes
from a sense of “broiling,” &c. The passage “ imam
yagum pivatha, bhattam bhunjatha, khadaniyam
khadatha,” should therefore be rendered, “ drink this
gruel, feed on this rice, eat these cakes.”
Editor.
Scops sunia, Hodgs.
Capt. Legge does not seem to have met with many
.examples of this little owl in Ceylon. I have seen
only four or five, all from the hills. At Gampola
I procured a very fine adult, which passed into Lord
Walden’s collection, and at the same season and
locality a specimen in grey plumage, which in no
respect differed from S. sunia, excepting in the grey
ground colour replacing the rufous. This I consi-
dered to represent S. pennatus, and in the markings
of the plumage and size, I could detect no difference
between the two specimens.
A specimen shot at Kandy, and seen by me in the
the hands of Jacobs, a local taxidermist, had the
plumage of the lower parts from the breast to the
tail coverts, the latter inclusive, white with grey
cross bars and broad black medial streaks on many
of the feathers, mere traces of the rufous ground
being here and there apparent, as if the specimen
was in a transition state. Sex not known. It has been
purchased by the Colombo Museum.
Scops minutus, Legge.
This species is quite abundant around Batticaloa
in the breeding season, four or five fledglings being
offered to me by the villagers during each year of
my two years’ stay.
It seems to be the common species from Trinco-
malai to Batticaloa along the.Eastern Coast, replac-
ing S. bakkamuna of the Western Coast. During
the dry part of the year it migrates elsewhere, and
probably from May or June to October it will ulti-
mately prove to retire into the Kandian hills on the
southern and eastern sides.
The hoot of this little owl is very distinct from
that of S. bakkamuna, and a hoot rather than the
quack of that species. I have not yet distinguished
the cry of S. sunia, and cannot say if it resembles
that of this species. The amateur can at once
recognise this little owl, from others of its size found
in Ceylon, by the peculiar dirty look of the feathers
within the ruff, and over the breast. It looks as if
the bird had got down a chimney and soiled itself
with soot.
Editor.
The Kala waewa or tank.
At page 129, Vol. I. of this Journal, I briefly noted
the history of the Kala waewa; it will be well to
complete that notice. The tank was first pro-
minently brought to the notice of Europeans by
Tumour (Mahawanso, p. 11) and has ever since
fascinated those who have enquired into its
scheme. The present tank consists of two, the Balalu
waewa and the Kala waewa, now thrown into one.
Tradition states that an Indian prince took refuge
in Ceylon and lived as an ascetic in these forests,
feeding on leaves, fruits, &c. The king hearing of
this strange existence, sent for him and questioned
him as to the strange experiences he had gained. He
then said that the strangest was the conversion of a
NOTES AND QUERIES.
49
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Khadaniyam, Pali foe “cake.”
T page 130 of Dr. Muller’s Pali Grammar, in the
course of his translation of the Valahassa
Jiltaka, he translates as follows the passage which
relates how the yakkhinis enticed the shipwrecked
merchants with food ; “drink this rice gruel, partake
of this rice, eat this food,” and in his analysis he tells
us that bhattam is soft or wet food, and khadaniyam
means “literally that can be chewed, i.e. solid food.”
Accordingly he translates bhattam as rice, and
khadaniyam as “ food.”
In this I believe he is mistaken. We have a
Sinhalese idiom which will explain the real sense.
When a Sinhalese serves “food” to his guest, it
always is rice served with curries and condiments
which in colloquial use are understood as included in
“rice.” If the occasion is one for special luxury or
observance, he adds “cakes,” as a dessert. These
cakes are of many kinds, but the most usual one is
the “ kaewum,” a cake made by frying in oil a batter
of oil, sugar, and ricefloar; it was represented in
this Journal, at fig. 3, Plate VII., Vol. I. So ancient
and important is the use of this cake on ceremonial
occasions, that it has developed its own special super-
stitious observance, which is recorded at p. 142, Vol.
I. loc. cit.
The name has come to be used now, not only in its
own restricted use as the name of this cake, but as a
generic term for “cakes,” much as we say “ dessert.”
“ They gave us rice (bat) and cakes (kaewum)” is
still an everyday way of saying “they feasted us
right royally.”
I take this “kaewum” to be the word rendered
into Pali as “ khadhaniyana” under the impression
that it was derived from Sinhalese Vka, to eat,
which is equivalent to Pali \/khad, to eat.
The text therefore really shows ns that the food
offered corresponded to that which would now be
presented to an honoured guest; rice-gruel (kaenda
— yagum), rice (bat = bhattam), and cakes
(kaewum — khadaniyam).
The idea of soft food and hard food, a distinction
not known to the Sinhalese, is hereby avoided, and
we follow exactly both the modern usage and idiom.
I will not now digress into the derivation of
kaewum” further than to say that I believe it has
no connection with to “ eat” in reality, but comes
from a sense of “broiling,” &c. The passage “ imam
yagum pivatha, bhattam bhunjatha, khadaniyam
khadatha,” should therefore be rendered, “ drink this
gruel, feed on this rice, eat these cakes.”
Editor.
Scops sunia, Hodgs.
Capt. Legge does not seem to have met with many
.examples of this little owl in Ceylon. I have seen
only four or five, all from the hills. At Gampola
I procured a very fine adult, which passed into Lord
Walden’s collection, and at the same season and
locality a specimen in grey plumage, which in no
respect differed from S. sunia, excepting in the grey
ground colour replacing the rufous. This I consi-
dered to represent S. pennatus, and in the markings
of the plumage and size, I could detect no difference
between the two specimens.
A specimen shot at Kandy, and seen by me in the
the hands of Jacobs, a local taxidermist, had the
plumage of the lower parts from the breast to the
tail coverts, the latter inclusive, white with grey
cross bars and broad black medial streaks on many
of the feathers, mere traces of the rufous ground
being here and there apparent, as if the specimen
was in a transition state. Sex not known. It has been
purchased by the Colombo Museum.
Scops minutus, Legge.
This species is quite abundant around Batticaloa
in the breeding season, four or five fledglings being
offered to me by the villagers during each year of
my two years’ stay.
It seems to be the common species from Trinco-
malai to Batticaloa along the.Eastern Coast, replac-
ing S. bakkamuna of the Western Coast. During
the dry part of the year it migrates elsewhere, and
probably from May or June to October it will ulti-
mately prove to retire into the Kandian hills on the
southern and eastern sides.
The hoot of this little owl is very distinct from
that of S. bakkamuna, and a hoot rather than the
quack of that species. I have not yet distinguished
the cry of S. sunia, and cannot say if it resembles
that of this species. The amateur can at once
recognise this little owl, from others of its size found
in Ceylon, by the peculiar dirty look of the feathers
within the ruff, and over the breast. It looks as if
the bird had got down a chimney and soiled itself
with soot.
Editor.
The Kala waewa or tank.
At page 129, Vol. I. of this Journal, I briefly noted
the history of the Kala waewa; it will be well to
complete that notice. The tank was first pro-
minently brought to the notice of Europeans by
Tumour (Mahawanso, p. 11) and has ever since
fascinated those who have enquired into its
scheme. The present tank consists of two, the Balalu
waewa and the Kala waewa, now thrown into one.
Tradition states that an Indian prince took refuge
in Ceylon and lived as an ascetic in these forests,
feeding on leaves, fruits, &c. The king hearing of
this strange existence, sent for him and questioned
him as to the strange experiences he had gained. He
then said that the strangest was the conversion of a