The fifth group consists of the outcastes; the Kinnaru and the Rodi who contest between themselves the pride of place. The Kinnaru are fibre mat weavers who were forbidden to grow their hair beyond their necks, and their females from wearing above their waist anything more than a narrow strip of cloth to cover their breasts. The Rodi are hideworkers and professional beggars; the females were prohibited from using any covering above their waists.
A guest of equal social status is received at the entrance by the host and is led inside by the hand; on a wedding day the bridegroom's feet are washed by the bride's younger brother before he enters the house. Kissing is the usual form of salutation among females and near relatives and among friends the salutation is by bringing the palms together.
When inferiors meet a superior they bend very low with the palms joined in front of the face or prostrate themselves on the ground; when they offer a present it is placed on a bundle of 40 betel leaves and handed with the stalks towards the receiver.
A guest always sends in advance a box of eatables as a present; when the repast is ready for him he is supplied with water to wash his face, feet and mouth; and the host serves him with rice and curry, skins the plantains for him, and makes his chew of betel. The males always eat first and the females afterwards; and they drink water by pouring it into their mouths from a spouted vessel (kotale).
At the guest's departure, the host accompanies him some distance--at least as far as the end of the garden. When a person of distinction, a Buddhist priest or a chief visits a house, the rooms are limed and the seats are spread with white cloth.
An inferior never sits in the presence of a superior, and whenever they meet, the former removes the shade over his head, gets out of the way and makes a very low obeisance.
Seven generations of recognised family descent is the test of respectability, and each ancestor has a name of his own: appa, âtâ, muttâ, nattâ, panattâ, kittâ, kirikittâ (father, grand father, great grand father, etc.)
The system of kinship amongst the Sinhalese is of the classificatory kind where the kin of the same generation are grouped under one general term.