Echoes of the Millstone: An Ethnographic Account of Life in a Village in Sri Lanka

This is the mosaic of a small village in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. Author's narrative encapsulates the life he lived half a century ago in his native village. Extensive notes in each chapter provide empirical insight into the socio-cultural make-up of a rural community in this Indian Ocean Island. Here are firsthand accounts of archaic marriage customs; ancient door locks in the village; ambush of game at the dry bed of the village tank (irrigation reservoir); killing of a majestic tusker; work at a buffalo kraal; noosing wild buffalos; rendezvous of 7-month old baby and a baby elephant in a jungle farm; public caning (spanking) in the village school; lay priest ascending to divine trance with hypnomantic convulsions; bali rituals for various deities and demons; folk theater in the village square; slash-and-burn farming; honey collecting; and bone-chilling midnight cry of Devil's Bird or ulama - a cryptid writ large; all representing the vivacious ways of a time being overtaken by changes. Complete with a glossary of Sinhala words, Bibliography, and Index.