Some pansalas have villages assigned to them and some let their lands and do not scruple to receive the rent.  The monks still follow the ancient routine of making a daily round with the begging bowl, but the food thus collected is often given to the poor or even to animals and the inmates of the pansala eat a meal which has been cooked there.  The Patimokkha is recited (at least in part) twice a month and ordinations are held annually.[111]

The duties of the Bhikkhus are partly educational, partly clerical.  In most villages the children receive elementary education gratis in the pansala, and the preservation of the ancient texts, together with the long list of Pali and Sinhalese works produced until recent times almost exclusively by members of the Sangha,[112] is a proof that it has not neglected literature.  The chief public religious observances are preaching and reading the scriptures.  This latter, known as Bana, is usually accompanied by a word for word translation made by the reciter or an assistant.  Such recitations may form part of the ordinary ceremonial of Uposatha days and most religious establishments have a room where they can be held, but often monks are invited to reside in a village during Was (July to October) and read Bana, and often a layman performs a pinkama or act of merit by entertaining monks for several days and inviting his neighbours to hear them recite.  The recitation of the Jatakas is particularly popular but the suttas of the Digha Nikaya are also often read.  On special occasions such as entry into a new house, an eclipse or any incident which suggests that it might be well to ward off the enmity of supernatural powers, it is usual to recite a collection of texts taken largely from the Suttanipata and called Pirit.  The word appears to be derived from the Pali paritta, a defence, and though the Pali scriptures do not sanction this use of the Buddha’s discourses they countenance the idea that evil may be averted by the use of formulae.[113]

Although Sinhalese Buddhism has not diverged much from the Pali scriptures in its main doctrines and discipline, yet it tolerates a superstructure of Indian beliefs and ceremonies which forbid us to call it pure except in a restricted sense.  At present there may be said to be three religions in Ceylon; local animism, Hinduism and Buddhism are all inextricably mixed together.  By local animism I mean the worship of native spirits who do not belong to the ordinary Hindu pantheon though they may be identified with its members.  The priests of this worship are called Kapuralas and one of their principal ceremonies consists in dancing until they are supposed to be possessed by a spirit—­the devil dancing of Europeans.  Though this religion is distinct from ordinary Hinduism, its deities and ceremonies find parallels in the southern Tamil country.  In Ceylon it is not merely a village superstition but possesses temples of considerable size,[114] for instance at Badulla and near Ratnapura.