Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-13
A CEYL0N DEVIL DANCE.
SERPENT WORSHIP AND DEMO
NOLOGY IN THE ORIENT.

SERPENT WORSHIP AND DEMO
NOLOGY IN THE ORIENT.
a Curious Performance Witnessed in the
Darkness of a Colombo JungIe-The
Embodiment of Superstition and Hor-
rible Nightmare.
CegIon Letter to San Francisco Chronicle.
While we were taking our coffee and
cigars on the long veranda, the soft night
breeze whispered through the palms, the
air was laden with the breath of CHINA
mon, fireflies flashed amid the flowers,
nothing was audible but rhythmic muir
murings of a myriad tiny creatures in
their slumber. Surely it is all an en-
chanted dream. Presently, from the pic
ture in the arabian Nights" where /
last saw him, the turbaned and long
skirted magician will step out, clap his
hands and all viii disappear these pleas
ant gentlemen, the palms and the fretliCs
all l shall rub my eyes, perceive the
London Jog, then turn over to try and dOze
again. Not so! The Dir am is destined
to deepen its euchantment, to grow wild.
My host has somehow learned how fond L
am of demons and devils, how many years
/ have given to the study Of themes
pecially to the rich, diabOlic fauna of
CeylOn-and has resolved that for once /
shall have enough of them. The wild peO-
pie 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 cOnsiderate hos
pitality which | find chara cteristic of his
race, had invoked the aid of the chief
Buddhist of CeylOn-tIe priest of Adams
Peak-and 10, here were some twenty or
do L bo
come to perform their weird orgies before
the door.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE DANCES.
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 a loud
beating of tOm-tOms-drums OF long h0l-
low wood, at each end of which is a skin
beaten with the hand alone. Presently a
man began to dTaWl out a wild, WaIling
chant, with which another and then an
other joined. These were words, but the
gentlemen present who knew the Ian
guages 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 column Of the
pOrticO, and the tlaring Of the torches upon
their shining black bodies and eager faces
ness.
Presently there was something distinct
ly diabOlical in the notes, which, in COM
binatiOn with the silent thrOng of nearly
naked people, their white eyes lightingup
their dusky faces along with the liyid
torches, caused strange sensations to
shoot through ones nerves. A deatening
succession Of tOm-tOm thumps accOmpa-
MED the entrance before us of the Serpent
King Maya Rajah). His mask-face and
crown tOgether-represente every terri
bic and beautiful curve and cOntortion Of
the cobra. SeTpents cOiled out of the cor
nerS OF his many-tOOthed mouth and about
his huge prOtruding eyes; they made the
pendants of his ears and five blended CO.
bra hoods and heads rose into a canopy
for his crown. With him was his Prime
Minister, who also had an ingeniously
I horrible decoration Of serpents, three
monster hoods rising above his head and
three smaller ones being erect over his
forehead. With them was third person
age, crowned with five cObras. The three
faces We're blood red gOggle-eyed, dusky,
the forms dressed in red, with touches of
green, beneath which patches Of dark
skin were occasionally revealed as they
/ threw themselves about in sinuOus &C.
stacies. 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 dread
! ed object is not worship worth ship.
| They cOiled, twined, twisted and wrung
/ their necks so long as to make one uneasy.
TIE BLACK PRINCE.
| / recognized an interesting legendary
! parsonage in 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
/ Asiatic S0ciety's journal. The manager
/ of the show told me, through a gentleman
4 kindly Interpreting for me, that this Prince
! lived on mountain, surrounded by She
/ devils. asked him if 1t were not true
| that women attributed to him all their
| ailments and he promptly assured me that
such was the fact. The early legend
! which would thus seem TO have nearly
! died out, was that this Prince was once
beautiful and great; a race of female war
/ riors (AmazOns) besieged his kingdom.
! but, on seeing him, they all fell IN love
] with him. Each Amazon tried to apprO-
/ pirate him, and in their competition he
was torn to pieces. He then became a
J demon, and ever since has been aYeuging
| himself on the female sex in the way
stated. The classic Amazons have become
/ the ''she-deyils' of Singhalese supersti-
ton. / thought l could perceive an I'M
/ usual shrinking back on the part of the
| crowd when this Black Prince came dash
| ing on the scene. He tlared torches WITH
both hands, and burning brands issued
/ from the corners of his mouth. His mask
| was pallld and hideOus. He never rested
| an instant, but danced and leaDed furi-
! ously, going through movements which
! expressed conyulsi0ns, gripings, deliri-
/ UNI, epilepsy-sOmetimes setting fire To
{ beard q N 81 aJo7, IN,
! have observed that even educated peo-
! pie heTe-and some of them are even
! learned-are rarely free from the infu-
! ence Of the supersttious atmosphere in
| which they dwell, and easily accept some
! ratlonallzed modification Of a popular de-
| fusion.
In the final there moved before rs an
| embodiment of malaria that recalled to
me Blake's picture of the Shiny green
sower scattering seeds. Then delirium
appeared, and finally fearful, livid mask
with moving saw-teeth in a cavernous
mouth, in whose face one need not look
/ twice to recognize the graveyard demon.
Marua-deatE. This was the demon con-
celYed by a village which made a cemete-
ry on hill that Oyerhungit, whence came
poison to the springs from which they
drank. Marua was the last enemy. The
chief deities of the Buddhist and Hindu
heavens, Sakra and Indra, came out to bid
us goodnight and receive compliments on
the interesting demons provided in their
universe, for they were all demons-no
devil was among them, for devils do not
repel, but allure; they are not ugly, but
fascinating. A coolie performed somer-
saults and cOntortions suggestive of bone
| essness, and then the tom-toms ceased
for the first time. The torches were ex-
tinguished. The dusky crowd dispersed
among the palms and mangOes. Our
revels were ended.
A Procession of Rahv carriares