The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-02
A CEYLON DEMON DANCE.
SERPENT WORSHIP AND DEMON
oLoGY IN THE ORIENT.
"A Curious Performance i'm tho Dark
ness of ~ Col fmbO Jungle-The
Embodiment OF SuperstitiOn.

chronicle Moncure ID. Conway says
While we were taking our coffee and ci-
gars on the long veranda, the soft night
breeze whispered through the palms, the
air was laden with the breath of CHINA
mon, frchies flashed amid the flowers,
nothing was audible but rhythmic muir
murings of myriad tiny creatures in
their slumber. Surely it is all an en-
chanted dream. Presently, from the
picture in the "Arabian Nights" where
last saw him, the turbaned and long
skirted magician will step out, clasp his
hands and all will disappear-thcse
pleasant gentlemen, the palms and the
firefies-all l shall rub my eyes, per-
ceive the London fog, then turn over to
try and doze again. Not so! The dream
is destined to deepen its enchantment, to
grow wild. My host has somehow
learned how fond l am of demons and
devils, how many years l have given to
the study of them-especially to the rich,
diabolic fauna of Ceylon-and has re-
solved that for once l shall have
enough of them. The wild people
called "devil- dancers" are not now
found in or near Colombo, English man
ners and customs having frightened them
into the interior, where they can only be
surprised now and then, as Passion
Play" performers may be in the Tyrolese
villages. My host with a considerate
hospitality which find characteristic of
his race, had invoked the aid of the chief
Buddhist of Ceylon-the priest of Adams
Peak-and 10! here were some twenty or
more dark bronze figures from the hills
come to perform their weird orgies be-
fore the door.
The first sign of what was coming was
a flare of torches approaching from vari-
GUS quarters irregularly, held by men
nearly naked. Then there was loud
beating of tom-toms-drums of long,
hollow wood, at each end of which is a
skin beaten with the hand alone. Pres
entity man began to drawl out a wild,
wailing chant, with which another and
then another joined These were words,
but the gentlemen present who knew the
languages of this region could not make
out their sense, and one of them thought
the singers themselves did not know.
BY this time a considerable crowd of
people had gathered about the outer col
umn Of he portico and the t1aring of
the torches upon their shining black
bodies and eager faces made a scene of
wondrous picturcsqueness.
Presently there was something distinct
ly diabolcal in the notes, which, in com
bination with the silent throng of nearly
naked people, their white eyes lighting
up their dusky faces along with the livid
torches, caused strange sensations to shoot
through ones nerves. A deafening sue
cession of tOmtom thumps accompanied
the entrance before US of the serpent king
(Naga Rajah). His mask-face and crown
.ho, to1 +or ,l,io i
beautiful curve and contortion of the
cobra. Serpents coiled out of the corners
of his many-toothed mouth and about his
huge protruding eyes; they made the pen
dants of his ears and five blended cobra
hoods and heads rose into a canopy for
his crown. With him was his prime min
lister, who also had an ingeniously horri-
bic decoration of serpents, three monster
hoods rising above his head and three
smaller ones being erect over his forehead.
With them was third parsonage, crowned
with five cobras The three faces were
blood red, goggle-eyed, dusky, the forms
dressed in red with touches of green, be-
meath which patches of dark skin were
occasionally revealed as they threw them
selves about in sinuous ecstasies. Though
no word was uttered the theme of their
dance was evidently the serpent, and do
not doubt that we were looking upon an
ancient rite of serpent worship, or what
is called SUCH my own opinion being that
Precipitation of a dreaded object is not
''worship' (worth ship. They coiled,
twined, twisted and wrung their necks
so long as to make one uneasy.
l recognized an interesting legendary
parsonage in a fiery figure that followed
the Nagas already described. They called
him kalu Cumara, the Black Prince, but
none present seemed to know his legend
with which | met some years ago in the
Aasiatic society's journal. The manager
of the show told me, through a gentle
man kindly interpreting for me, that this
prince lived on mountain, surrounded
by she -devils. | asked him if it were
not true that women attributed to him all
their ailments, and he promptly assured
me that such was the fact. The early le-
gend, which would thus seem to have
nearly died out, was that this prince was
once beautiful and great; race of fe-
male warriors (Amazons) besicged his
kingdom, but, on seeing him, they all
fell in love with him. Each Amazon
tried to appropriate him, and in their
competition he was torn to pieces. He
then became demon, and ever since
has been ayenging himself on
the female sex in the way stated. The
classic Amazons have become the ''she-
devils" of Singhal csc superstition.
thought | could see an unusual shrink
ing back on the part Of the crowd when
this black prince came dashing on the
scene. He tared torches with both hands.
and burning brands issued from the
corners of his mouth. His mask was
pallid and hideous. He never rested an
instant, but danced and leaped furously,
going through movements which ex-
pressed commissions, gripings, delir-
ium, epilepsy-sometimes setting fire
to his beard and clothes in an
alarming way. l have observed
that even educated people here
and some of them are even learned-are