On Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon

A subordinate object of it is the accomplishment of purposes diferent from the above such as that of protecting the fruits of a tree from pillage of creating discord and hatred between the different members of a family of gaining the affections of a woman of dicovering treasures hidden in the ground and other similar purposes. [...] It also appears in the various accounts given of the birth of demons especially in the genealogical accounts recited or chanted at the commencement of demon ceremonies that a demon has the power at any moment (a power which he often exercises) of entering the womb of a woman where he remains during the necessary period assuming in their order the various conditions of a foetus conceived in the [...] The mythology and the apotheosis of the Greeks of the Romans and of most other early nations of the world were in a manner only counterparts of this. [...] Yakseya or the demon of a disease resembling that from the sting of a Cobra de Capello; 6tli Cana Sanni Yakseya or the demon of blindness; 7th Corra Sanni Yakseya or the demon of lameness; 8th Gollu Sanni Yakseya or the demon of dumbness; 9th Bihiri Sanni Yakseya or the demon of deafness; 10th Wata Sanni Yakseya or the demon of diseases caused by the wind; 11th Pit Sanni Yakseya or the demo [...] The first is derived from the Pali Yakkho and the second from the Sanscrit Yakaha.36 THE DEMONS of chastity having to accompany the wedding procession of Canda Camara (the god of Kattragam ) but not wishing to do so because the house together with all the furniture prepared for the reception of the guests was wholly constructed of the bones and skins of animals (the adopted father of the brid