Are our ‘ parayas’ descendants from Portuguese times?

This is a line of thought with reference to a ‘somewhat humorous’ newspaper report published in the ‘Island’ newspaper last month, where it was stated that a stray dog had carried a pistol concealed in a bag to a policeman thereby preventing a murder!

Stray dogs without a known pedigree in Sri Lanka have long been considered a menace and a health hazard with few animals taken in as pets and those too often by the lesser fortunate. They are, however by no means stupid but well known for their alertness despite their mangy appearances and the constant rummaging for food.

The healthier of these are often of smooth brown body supported by muscular legs sporting a noticeably curly ‘murrukku’ tail.

The Portuguese language refers to the famous Greyhound breed as ‘Galgo’ which sounds close to the Sri Lankan meaning for dog - ‘Balloe’. What is however most intriguing is that the Portuguese animal has some very noticeable similarities to the ‘non pedigreed’ canines of Sri Lanka .The former too are described as being of ‘reddish brown skin with a white patch on their chests, sleek and muscular’ . Their exception is the taller and the larger stature against which our local stray hounds differ, being exposed to the elements of nature for centuries with little or no nutrition in a notably vegetarian country.

It could hence be argued that our ‘paraya’ meaning alien dogs are the descendents of an important high breed that were once imported for the purpose of security of their masters.

Ironically the word dog in Portuguese is referred as ‘cachorro’, a close similarity to Sinhala colloquial word ‘Cachada’.

Sujeewa Nugawila Via email