Kamma (ear ornament). — An exogamous sept of Motāti Kāpu.
Kammālan (Tamil). — The original form of the name Kammālan appears to have been Kannālan or Kannālar, both of which occur in Tamil poems, e.g., Thondamandala Satakam and Er Ezhuvathu, attributed to the celebrated poet Kamban. Kannālan denotes one who rules the eye, or one who gives the eye. When an image is made, its consecration takes place at the temple. Towards the close of the ceremonial, the Kammālan who made it comes forward, and carves out the eyes of the image. The name is said also to refer to those who make articles, and open the eyes of the people, i.e., who make articles pleasing to the eyes.
A very interesting account of the nētra mangalya, or ceremony of painting the eyes of images, as performed by craftsmen in Ceylon, has been published by Mr. A. K.Coomaraswamy.*[1] Therein he writes that "by far the most important ceremony connected with the building and decoration of a vihāra (temple), or with its renovation, was the actual nētra mangalya or eye ceremonial. The ceremony had to be performed in the case of any image, whether set up in a vihāra or not. Even in the case of flat paintings it was necessary. D. S. Muhandiram, when making for me a book of drawings of gods according to the Rupāvaliya, left the eyes to be subsequently inserted on a suitable auspicious occasion, with some simpler form of the ceremony described.
"Knox has a reference to the subject as follows.'Some, being devoutly disposed, will make the image of this god (Buddha) at their own charge. For the making whereof they must bountifully reward the
- ↑ • Mediaeval Sinhalese Art.
