Glossary

A Glossary of Useful Terms

Abi and Aya: Titles preceding a name which in ancient Lanka designated royal status; pron. "AH-bee" and "AH-yuh". Amalaka: A bell-shaped dagoba taller than it is round, as distinct from the bubble-shaped dagoba which is equal in height to its diameter; pron. "aah-muh-lAH-kuh". Appa: Also known as hoppers — a pancake-like food made of sourdough and water; pron. "aahp-paah". Anicut: A dam, dike, embankment, or channel which directs water into different streams for irrigation; a sluice gate; pron. "ah-nee-cuht". Arahat: In Buddhism, an individual who has completely emancipated himself from the passions and defilements which keep one in the endless cycle of rebirths in samsara; sometimes spelled arahant; pron. "aah-ruh-haht". Arama: Buddhist monastery complex; pron. "ah-rah-muh". Areca: A species of palm whose pingpong-ball-sized nut is chewed with betel leaf and ash as a mild stimulant; bitterly astringent; creates abundant cinnamon-colored spit which decorates most sidewalks; makes one wonder who could have been so hungry as to have discovered to this combination; pron. "air-EE-kuh". Arrack: Hard liquor distilled from fermented coconut or palm-flower sap called toddy; comes in several grades ranging from the virtually poisonous to what has been described as "coconut cognac"; generally contains about 32-35 percent alcohol with a high sugar and congener content which is said to produce the worst hangovers in the world; illegal homemade arrack is called kisappu and is perhaps the swiftest known route to delerium tremens; kisappu has been known to cause blindness; tourists should never drink liquor from an unsealed bottle or a bottle with no label; pron. "aah-rahk". Avasa: A monk's personal quarters in a pansala; pron. "ah-vah-sah". Ayurveda: An ancient indigenous system of herbal medicine stressing naturopathic healing; pron. "ayu-hr-VEH-duh".

Bali: A sacrificial ritual involving masked figures and often exorcism dances; pron. like the unrelated island in Indonesia. Basnayaka Nilame: The principal lay officer of a Buddhist shrine, equivalent to a Protestant deacon; pron. "bahs-nAYA-kuh neelam-EH. Bathmalla: A portable meal of rice and curry originally packed in areca-palm leaf; pron. "bath-mAH-luh" (also spelled bathmula). Beedi: A poor-man's smoke made by wrapping cheap tobacco into a cigar-like tube; smells like burning garbage, which announces its presence up to several dozen meters away; pron. "bEE-dee". Bhavana: Meditation; there are two major types of bhavana: samadhi (tranquillity) and vipassana (insight); pron. "bhAH-vah-nuh". Bhikkhu: Monk of the Buddhist Sangha or order; pron "bEE-khoo". Bisokotuwa: A sluice valve consisting of a square well on the upstream side of a tank bund, sunk a few to many meters down to the level of the surrounding fields; functions as a water gate and also a silt trap; pron. "bee-soh-kOOH-too-wuh". Bodhi: A tree of the ficus religiosa species, under which the Gotama Buddha attained nibbana or Enlightenment approximately 544 B.C. about 200 miles from Benares (present day Varanasi) in India; a cutting of this tree was sent to ancient Lanka between 230 and 210 B.C. and today is known as Sri Maha Bodhi, the oldest continuously maintained tree on Earth; Sri Lankans today often use the term bo as shorthand for Bodhi; Bodhi is often used as a first name or the prefix or suffix to a devout layperson's surname; it also is often adopted by bhikkhus upon ordination, e.g., "Bodhidharma"; pron. "bow-dee". Bodhi-maluwa: A raised terrace on which a Bodhi tree is planted; pron. "bow-dee mah-loo-wuh". Bodhisatta: The Pali spelling of Bodhisattva, a Buddha who has forsaken the final extinction of parinibbana, choosing to remain in the cycle of birth and death called samsara in order to help other beings ascend the ladder of karma, pron. "Bow-dee-sAHt-tuh". Brahmins: The highest Hindu caste; priests who teach and study; pron. "braah-minz". Bund: An embankment fully or partially surrounding a tank; built up of heavy rock forming a broad base narrowing at a low angle toward the top, into the interstices of which have been tamped clayey mud which when dry solidifies the mass into a waterproof wall; the bund

is usually surmounted by an inspection road; the whole embankment is tamped at each rise in elevation first by walking elephants atop it, then driving herds of sheep along it to level the surface; pron. "booond". Burghers: Light-skinned descendents of Dutch settlers comprising less than one percent of the Sri Lankan population; pron. like the famous American culinary product. Cadjan: A fence made of palm leaves woven at a 90-degree angle into a tight mat; used as fencing, windbreaks, roofing (in layers of four or more thick), and protective covers for objects lying on the ground; pron. "cah-djahn". Chena: Forest land brought under cultivation for a few years by the slash-and-burn method, then abandoned; normally fenced in with a dense mat of branches and vines; in the center there is often a palmfrond hut in which family elders and children make noises and sing pel kavi ("pehl kah-vee"; lit. "songs of the hut") through the night to ward off wild pigs and elephants; pron. "chAY-nuh". Chulu: A torch made for outside use by tying coconut leaves or the dried sheaths of coconut flowers tightly together and then lighting; often used during fire dances during village festivals; pron. "chooloo". Chutty: An unglazed clay cooking pot which rests above a fire pit made of three stones, with a space between them for burning sticks; a Sri Lankan cook can turn out incredibly complex rice-and-curry dishes using one fire and half a dozen chuttys; washed only with cold water so food oils penetrate the pores of the pot, creating a smooth nonstick surface; a well-cared-for chutty will last a lifetime; also spelled chattie but both are pron. "chewt-tee". Culavamsa: An epic of the Lankan kings written by Buddhist monks as a sequel to the Mahavamsa; covers the period roughly from the time of Buddhaghosa starting in A.D. 337 to the British era; pron. "Coo-loovAHm-suh". Dagoba: Originally a relic chamber; later, a monument built over a relic of the Buddha or a Buddhist holy man; solid brick in construction; usually dome-shaped (rounded with a pronounced shoulder line) or the bubble-shaped (nearly a hemisphere); surmounted by a pointed stupa (sometimes spelled thupa). Many

dagobas in villages contain gifts from pious lay members in the relic chamber at the center; in ancient literature often referred to by the term cetiya; pron. "dAHH-go-buh". Dalada Maligawa: Temple of the Tooth; a temple sheltering the sacred left eyetooth of the Buddha; many such temples have existed since the Sacred Tooth arrived in ancient Lanka in the early part of the fourth century A.D.; from, 1590 the tooth has resided in Kandy; pron. "Dahl-EE-da Mah-li-gAH-wuh". Dana: Almsgiving, a very important part of earning merit towards reincarnation on a higher level; pron. "dAH-nah" Dansela: An alms-hall, usually in a Buddhist temple, where food is given out, especially during the Wesak festival on the full-moon day in May, on which the Buddha is said to have been born, attained Enlightenment, and passed into parinibbana; pron. "dahn-seh-luh". Deva: A god; The word derives from the gods worshipped by indigenous Yakhsa and Naga tribespeople prior to the arrival of the Aryans; later, gods were incorporated from the Hindu pantheon and worshipped in addition to paying homage to the Buddha; pron. "dayvuh". Devala: A shrine devoted to particular gods in the Buddhist or Hindu pantheon; also, the lands attached to that shrine; pron. "day-vuh-luh". Deviyo: A deified folk hero; popular cult figures in villages corresponding to the minor local saints after which many European towns are named; pron. "day-vEE-yoh". Dhal: A mush of cooked red lentils that accompanies nearly every rice and curry dish; pron. "dahl". Dhamma: The Pali-language spelling of Sanskrit dharma, the teachings of the Buddha; synopsized in the Dhammapada, itself a part of the Pali Canon of officially accepted teaching of the Buddha first written down between 35 and 32 B.C. at Aluvihara near Matale in central Sri Lanka; pron. "dahm-mah". Digge: A room in a temple used for chanting; pron. "deeg-gay". Diyawadana Nilame: Chief lay trustee of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy; the highest Buddhist lay person in Sri Lanka; pron. "Dee-yuhwuh-dAH-nah Nee-lah-may".

Ela: Brook, creek, rivulet, channel, or canal, depending on the context; a small watercourse; when dammed by an earthwork becomes an elaamuna; pron. "ehl-luh". Gal-bemma: Stone wall, rampart, or embankment, especially those bordering a tank; pron. "gahl behm-muh". Gal-wana: Dam spillway cut from rock in situ or assembled from stone transported from afar; pron. "guhl-vuh-nuh". Gana denu: The first business transaction of the new year (April 13 for Buddhists, 14th for Hindus); the exchange of cash must be directly hand into hand, accompanied by a handshake, the money is never placed on a table first; pron. gah-nah day-new". -gama: Suffix designating "village" or "settlement", even if in later years it grows to town or city sized; an example is Weligama in the south coastal strip, which due to tourist development is hardly a village any longer; pron. "-gah-muh". Ganga: A large river; the Mahaweli Ganga is the longest river in Sri Lanka; pron. "gahn-ga". Gansabhava: A village council in which decisions are made by the elders; pron. "guhn-suh-bhAH-vuh". Gedige: An brick vault roofing over a Buddhist image house; the vaulting usually consists of vertical walls supporting a gable-like inwardly sloping straight-line terrace of brick which ends in a barrelvault; tends to place great stress on the joint where the vault begins to close in above the walls, necessitating extremely thick walls (the occasional appearance of a flying buttress indicates a modern reconstruction which doesn't appear in original vaulted roofs); pron. "geh-dee-guh". Gopuram: An incredibly exuberant and ornate multi-level tier of sculptures adorning the entrance and roof of a Hindu kovil; wildly painted in brilliant colors and complex decorative motifs; renders the Spanish churrigueresque style or German baroque calm by compare; pron; "goh-poor-ahm". Gurula: Sinhalese spelling of Garuda, the Hindu mythical eagle which is half human and half bird which flies Vishnu through the skies; pron. "goo-roo-luh". Hirimane: A serrated metal disk used to scrape coconut from its shell to be used as the basic ingredient of sambol (an acetylene-

temperatured condiment sprinkled to taste on food); smaller sixbladed version is used to eviscerate limes for their juice (plain lime juice and water is a popular Sinhalese refreshment); pron. "hee-reemAH-nay". Horana: A double-reed instrument used by snake charmers and accompanists to dance performances; sounds like an oboe with asthma; pron. "hor-uh-nuh". Horowwa: An exit sluice from a tank or canal; usually in the form of a square-shaped outlet sunk to the base of an embankment, with a gate at one end which when opened allows water into irrigation ditches; pron. "whore-ohw-wuh". Howdah: A structure on the back of an elephant; in Sri Lanka used mainly to carry artifacts or relics during perahera celebrations, especially the golden casket containing the Sacred Tooth of the Buddha during the Kandy perahera in late July; pron. "how-duhh". Illam: Gem-bearing gravel which from before the time of Solomon and Sheba is the source of Sri Lanka's famed gemstone trade; pron; "eel-laahm". Jaggery: A rock-hard unrefined brown sugar made from palm sap; superb way to make friends with children and elephants; said to dent forged hammers, but this may be apocryphal; bane of dentists, which is not apocryphal; pron. like the name of a famed British pop singer with a suffix "ee" tacked on. Jak: Thick cobble-skinned fruit used when unripe to make curries; when ripe peeled and deseeded and eaten as a dessert; the fruit grows larger than a basketball as appendages on the sides of trees; monkeys hurl them down on tree trunks, rocks, or passersby in an attempt to break them open for the flesh; pron. "jack". Jataka: One of 547 stories of the Buddha's various lives in previous existences; according to some interpretations, the Gotama Buddha is but one of many Buddhas or bodhisattas who return to earth to provide enlightenment or help others achieve enlightenment; these stories often provide the inspiration for frescos and other imagery in temple image houses; pron. "jAH-tuh-kuh". Jati: Literally "birth"; hereditary group or caste; sometimes subgroups within one's own caste; pron. "jAH-tee".

Kahapana: Early Lankan coins circulated from the first century A.D. through an indefinite date during the Anuradhapura period; weight varies due to amount and type of metal used, although the same values fixes to each; pron. "kuh-HAH-puh-nuh". Kangany: Labor manager at a tea plantation; appointed by the government-appointed plantation management to oversee the work of Indian Tamil immigrant labor; pron. "kahn-gAH-nee". Kapurala: Buddhist priest who officiates at a service at a devala; pron. "kah-poor-ah-luh". Karanduwa: Name of the assemblage of seven concentric caskets which hold the Sacred Tooth; also, a replica of the innermost casket which consists of a gold base, glass bell jar, and gold stupa, often sold as tourist items; pron. "kah-rahn-doo-wuh". Khamma: Pali spelling for the Sanskrit word karma, the cause-andeffect cycle of present actions determining future actions, both good and bad, transmitted from this life to the next; pron. "kahm-mah". Kiribath: Rice cooked in coconut milk; possesses an adhesive coefficient greater than that of toffee; slow chewers may find their teeth glued together; pron. "kee-ree-bahth". Kema: A water hole where animals go for water and hunters go for animals; pron. "Kayh-muh". Kolam: Masked drama combining ritualistic dance with theatrical skits; "koh-luhm". Kovil: A Hindu temple devoted to one or more gods; pron. "kohveel". Kuveni: A Yaksa demon goddess who subdued the first Lankan conqueror Vijaya and bore him two children; pron. "Koo-vayn-ee". Lamprais: Rice and curried meat wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf; Sri-Lankan version of the tortilla; pron. "lamb-prays". Lanka: The ancient place-name for today's Sri Lanka; lit. "perfect beauty" but sometimes translated as "resplendent isle"; pron. "Lahnkah". Lasya: A graceful, feminine dance form unusual in a country noted for its mostly male and mostly virile dance forms; pron. "lahs-yuh". Lingam: A oversized and symbolic male phallus associated with the fertility of the goddess Shiva; barren women rub their vulvas against it to improve their fecundity; pron. "linn-gum".

Mada idam: A muddy plot on which paddy is sown; pron. "mah-dah ee-duhm". Maha: (a) "great" when used as an an adjective (e.g., Maharaja = Great King); (b) the largest of the two annual paddy crops, sown in September and reaped in February-March; the lesser crop sown in April and reaped in September is called Yala, or "lesser"; pron. "maahaa" and "yaa-laa" respectively. Mahakavya: Generic term for any epic poem; pron. "muh-HAH-koovEYE-ah". Mahanayake Thera: Lit. "Great Old Monk of the Chapter"; the highest official of a nikaya, or sect; pron. "mAH-huh-nEYE-uh-kuh Thair-uh". Maharab: Muslim prayer hall; pron. "maa'hrahb". Mahavamsa: "The "Great Epic"; a 270-page recital of the legendary qualities of Lankan kings written in the sixth century A.D. by Buddhist monks whose intention was partly to cement their relationship with the royal court; more fanciful than historical; bears about as much resemblance to the facts as the Arthurian Tales resemble the history of fifth century A.D. Britain; nonetheless a delightful read if for no other reason than the literature which can be produced by someone living in the midst of an austere monastic discipline; pron. "Mah-hah-vAHm-suh". Mahout: Elephant trainer; pron. "mah-howt". Makara torana: An ornamental arch over the entrance of a vihara or image house; usually contains mythical guardian beasts (makara = "dragon"; torana = "arch") on both sides in plaster and polychrome high relief; pron. "muh-kuh-ruh toh-rah-nuh" Metta: The philosophy and practice of universal love as preached by the Gotama Buddha in the Metta Sutta; pron. "meht-tAH". Mettaya: The Pali spelling for Maitreya (pron. "M't'ray-uh"), said to be the next incarnation of the Buddha; pron. "Met'yah". Mudaliyar: Prior to colonialism, chief or headman; during British period, administrator; pron. "mud-dAHl-ee-ahr". Mudra: Gestures of the hand used in dance to express specific messages as a visual vocabulary; positions of the hands of the Buddha in statues or painted images, which convey specific meanings to viewers: the abhaya ("ah-bheye-ah") mudra signifies "peace" or

"protection" and consists of the hand raised palm-outward with the fingers placed together; the bumisparasa ("boo-mees-pah-rah-suh") mudra is a gesture where the fingers of the right hand touch the earth while the Buddha is sitting in the lotus position, signifying closeness to Mother Earth; most seated Buddhas adopt the dhiyani mudra in which the hands in the lap are cupped up towards the sky; vitarka ("vee-tahr-kuh") mudras show the thumb and forefinger circled into a circle and the remaining three fingers raised, signifying a discourse on the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Nadagam: A folk drama consisting of puppetry, prose, and dramatic song; pron. "nAH-duh-guhm". Nadayo: One's kinsmen; pron. "nah-dEYE-oh". Naga: The cobra, especially as depicted protecting the Buddha by sheltering him from rain with its hood; pron. "nah-guh". The nagaraj is the much larger King Cobra. Nagas: One of the indigenous tribes of Lanka before the Aryans arrived; considered not to be true humans by settlers and chroniclers alike; as with the Yahksas, the Nagas either intermarried or fled to the remote jungles; pron. "Nah-guhs". Natya: Storytelling or narrative drama; (pron. "naht-yah". Netra Mangalya: Name of the ceremony during which the Buddha's eyes are painted; pron. "Neht'rah Mahng-ahl-yeah". Nibbana: The state neither existence nor nonexistence, sometimes called a quality of being without being in which perfect understanding exists, for which every Buddhist strives through meditation, the dhamma, dana, and metta; pron. "nib-bhan-nuh". Nikaya: A Buddhist sect. There are three such sects in Sri Lanka. The Siyam [="Siam"=Thailand] Nikaya originated in the eighteenth century when the Kandyan Sangha had become so sparse the kings of Kandy sent an emissary to Thailand to recruit monks to ordain new novices in Kandy. This sect drew its bhikkhus from the kingdom's top two castes; no one else was permitted to become a fully ordained monk. Today this Nikaya consists of two chapters, both based in Kandy: the Malwatta Nikaya on the east side of Lake Kandy manages the affairs of the Sangha to the north of Kandy; the Asgiri Nikaya is located in the hilly southern suburbs of Kandy and manages affairs in the southern part of the island. The two co-administrate the Dalada

Maligawa in Kandy. In the final years of the eighteenth century, the exclusionary caste system of the Siyam Nikaya prompted a lowercaste bhikkhu to travel to Burma, where he was ordained at the monastery of Amarapura. He returned to Lanka in 1803 and established the Amarapura Nikaya, which admits novices from all castes. Finally, a dissident monk who felt the other two nikayas were too materialistic formed a much more austere sect, the Ramanya Nikaya, in 1835. While in agreement on questions of doctrine, these three nikayas differ as to admissions and practices. Pron. "nihk-AHeye-uh". Nindigam: Village holding under the exclusive ownership of a proprietor such as a Buddhist temple or prosperous landowner; pron. "nin-dee-guhm". Nritta: Pure dance with no intent to convey meaning or the dancer's personal expressiveness; pron. "nrit-tah". Nritya: Expressive dance in which emotional content is the fundamental quality being communicated; pron. "nrit-t'yah". Nurtiya: Operatic drama of the same lyric play as the nadagam, but containing less song and more recitation; very popular in villages due to absence of trained voices; pron. "nUHRr-tee-yuh". Nuwara: Prefix or suffix name designating "city"; pron. "new-AHrah"; the tourist's delightful tea plantation town "Nuwara Eliya" is condensed to "New'rely-a"; Kandy's nickname for itself is "Maha Nuwara" — "Great City". Ola: The dried nascent leaf of the talipot palm, which grows to fifteen feet in length before it uncurls, which is prepared by being flattened, smoked, and aged two years, before being inscribed with burin-like styluses; pron. "olAH". Oruva: Dugout canoe whose original design was probably an import from the Indonesian islands about the time of Christ; pron. "oar-oovah". Oya: A small stream or river, especially one which dries up between monsoons; pron. "oh-yah". Paddy: Technically, unhusked rice; commonly but incorrectly, the field in which rice is transplanted from germinating beds and grown; pron. "paa-dee".

Padhanaghara: A meditation center; some of these are a bit commercial and can be spotted by their road signs near tourist destinations; pron. "pahd-hah-nAHg-hah-ruh". Padma: A lotus flower; Padmini, meaning the same thing, is a common surname or nickname for girls; pron. "pahd-mah" and "pahd-mee-nee" respectively. Panchama: Fruit salad containing five kinds of fruit, depending on the season; excellent with yoghurt or curd; makes mortal knees quiver when covered with ice cream; pron. "pahn-chah-muh". Pandal: A bamboo framework, often shaped into a series of semicircular arches on which raffia strips have been tied, emblazoned with paper-shrouded candle lanterns for festive occasions and used unadorned for burials and memorial services at the gravesites of people too poor to afford cremation; pron. "pahn-dahl". Pansala: The building where bhikkhu's reside in a temple complex; formerly referred to the complex itself; originally derived from pan = "leaf" and "sala = "hut"; pron. "pahn-suh-luh". Paraveni: Hereditary property held in perpetuity that cannot be transferred; pron. "puh-ruh-veng-ee" (the "g" in "ng" is soft as in "ring"). Parinibbana: The passage of a Buddha beyond physical life into transcendent nibbana; pron. "pair-ee-nib-bah-nuh". Patimaghara: "Image House" — a building in most (but not all) Buddhist temple complexes which houses as a minimum three statues of the Gotama Buddha: (a) standing as the Counsellor or Teacher; sitting in samadhi or deep meditation; and reclining either in sleep (the feet parallel) or at the moment of passage into parinibbana (the feet somewhat offset); an image house may also contain other images numbering into the dozens which depict momentous events in the life of the Gotama Buddha, fabled kings, an occasional Hindu god or two, abstract lotuses, and paintings of stories from the Jatakas; pron. "pah-tee-mAH-ghah-ruh". Pavula: Extended family, as in "kin"; pron. "puh-vOO-luh". Perahera: An ornate processional pageant featuring dancers, people in period costumes, and many elephants caparisoned in brilliantly colored raiments; can go on for as many as ten days; (see Calendar for

a list of the major peraheras throughout the year); pron. "pair-uh-hairuh". Peramuna: Political "front", as in the dissident political group Janata Vimukti Peramuna ("People's Liberation Front"), or JVP; pron. "pairuh-moo-nuh". Pesavalulu: A series of rings placed atop one another at the base of a dagoba; often the lowest ring is shaped in the form of an unfolding lotus blossom; pron. "peh-sah-vAH-loo-loo". Pinkama: The giving of alms; pron. "pinn-kAH-muh". Pin-kate: Offering box at a Buddhist shrine; when placed next to a road, many drivers stop when setting out and returning from a journey to put alms into the pin-kate beseeching and then thanking the Buddha for a safe journey; pron. "pihn-kAH-tay". Pirit: Buddhist liturgical chant akin to Gregorian chant; texts drawn from the Dhammapada and other suttas (sacred literature); sung on poya and other days of special worship, and at events such as death, cremation, and the ordination of monks; the musical form's origins are undocumented but probably stretch back to the days of the Buddha himself and were adapted from brahminical canonic music; pron. "pih-riht". Pirivena: School attached to a Buddhist temple complex used for the teaching of the Dhamma to lay people; pron. "pee-ree-vayh-nuh". Pokuna: A pond or small lake; pron. "poh-koo-nuh". Polthel pahana: A coconut oil lamp made of a pottery bowl about the size of the bottom quarter of a sliced-off tennis ball, with a lip at one edge to hold a wick; placed by the dozens before images of the Buddha at a vihara or other place of worship; pron. "pahl-thel pAHhah-nuh". Potgul: A library, secular or sacred; pron. "pawt-guhl". Poya: Technically, a phase of the moon; in practice, days at the four quarterly phases of the moon, especially full moon, on which the devout visit their neighborhood temple to offer dana (gifts, usually food) and puja (offerings such as incense, oil lamps, and flowers), and chant suttas (discourses originally given by the Buddha). Full-moon poya day is a national holiday; the devout are expected to renew their Five Precept vows; pron. "poh-yah".

Poyage: A hall in which poya-day services are held after the outside worship before a vihara or the main temple; especially for the ceremonial midday meal; pron. "poh-yah-dj". Punya: Meritorious acts which give one good karma and help on the path rising through samsara toward nibbana; pron. "poon-yah". Purana: Oldest inhabited village in a district; assumes a quasi-capital status over newer villages in the area; pron. "puhr-AH-nuh". Puranas: The oldest known Lankan coins; small square or oblong pieces cut from a strip of silver and then punch-stamped in the center; earliest examples date from pre-Christian times and continued in circulation until the second century A.D.; similar to Indian coins of the same period and may have been minted there; weight ranged from fifteen to fifty grams; pron. "puhr-AH-nuhs". Raj: A king; pron. "radj". Rajakariya: "The King's Duty" — hereditary forced service to the king, as in Western European feudal levies; however, rendered only to the king, not to lesser nobility; in modern times has come to mean the duties of an officeholder; pron. "rah-djah-kahh-rEE-yuh". -rata: Suffix designating a county, district, or region; pron. "rah-tuh". Raelapana: A "ripple band" of heavy chunks of stone placed on tank embankments where wave action would erode soil; pron. "ray-luhpAH-nuh". Sadu: A novice monk not yet ordained; also a term of greeting used only with monks, as in "Sadu, bhikkhu" when meeting a monk on the street; not appropriate for addressing non-bhikkhus; pron. "sah-doo". Sagara: The ocean surrounding Lanka; pron. "sAH-guh-ruh". Sakra: King of the gods; pron. "sAHk-rah". Samadhi: Deep meditation leading to ineffable tranquillity; pron. "sAH-meh-dee". Samanera: A novice monk, also known as a sadu; pron. "sah-mahnair-ruh". Sambura: A large many-antlered deer; Mahinda changed into this form to entice King Devanampiya Tissa to ascend the rock of Mihintale (pron. "mihn-tah-lay") so he could preach the Dhamma to the king; pron. "sahm-boo-ruh". Samsara: The cycle of rebirths one passes through on the way toward attaining nibbana; often described as a place in the same way outer

space is often described as a place; in fact samsara is state of existence in between physical manifestations; pron. "sam-sAH-ruh". Samudra: The Sinhalese word for tank; the latter is most often used in speech but the former most often appears on maps; pron. "sa-mOOdruh". Sandesa: Lit. "message" but commonly a genre of Sinhalese poetry in which a messenger such as a bird carries the message from the poet or a character in the poem such as a king or queen to another being, usually a god or goddess; the trouveres of medieval France would have loved this device; pron. "sahn-day-suh". Sangha: The Buddhist order of monks; one of the Three Jewels (the others being the Buddha and the Dhamma) of the Buddhist faith; pron. "sang-aah". Sangharaja: The chief bhikkhu of a monastery; pron. "sahng-aahrAH-juh". Sasana: The Buddhist religion itself, as in the "Protestant" or the "Islamic" faith; pron. "s-AHH-suh-nuh". Sanka: A conch shell with the pointed top shorn off to make a horn; used most often as an instrument in Kandyan and Bali dance and during demon exorcisms; also announces the entry of a bride at a wedding; pron. "sAHng-kuh". Sanni yakuna: An exorcism ceremony using an eighteen-faced devil mask to drive out demons from a sick person in a ceremony which usually lasts until dawn; performed mainly in villages in the south of the island; pron. "sAHn-nee yah-koo-nuh". Sarama: The sarong worn by men; tied with a single or double knot in the front which is then thrust into the waistband to increase tightness; field workers raise the long hem up to the waist and tie it in an identical manner, which turns the sarong into a sort of knee-length loincloth; pron. "sAH-ruh-muh". Sil: Spiritual improvement via meditating, reading spiritual guides, listening to scriptures; pron. "seel". Sila: General morality; pron. "see-luh". Sinha: A lion, but more particularly, the lion with which the unnamed daughter of a Kalinga king mated to bear the first progeny of the Sinhal race; pron. "seen-huh".

Sokari: A form of drama to ensure an abundant rice crop; masked characters enact a story in mime; a village art that becomes majestic in its silence; pron. "soh-kahr-ee". Sariputra: A system of measurements in the Pali Canon which are used to establish the proportions of a Buddhist statue; using these proportions one may construct an image forty feet tall or long which will look exactly like an image forty inches tall or long; especially useful for carvers of stone images in which, unlike built-up brick images which are then plastered over before painting, a mistake can't be chipped out and replaced knowing the plaster will conceal it; pron. "suh-ree-poo-truh". Sutta: A discourse of the Buddha; set to memory by his followers and finally recorded on ola leaf over 500 years after his parinibbana; pron. "suwt-tuh". Tandava: Energetic masculine dance; pron. TAHn-dhuh-vuh". Tank: An artificial reservoir built from natural depressions or lakes by the addition of embankments and sluice gates leading to irrigation or water transport canals; derives from the Portuguese word for reservoir, tanque; pron. as in English. Tapal: Mail runners prior to the introduction of mechanical transport; these runners ran in relays from way stations; pron. "tah-puhl". Tekkam: A dam or weir built across a flowing river to turn water into a canal or irrigation ditch; pron. "tehk-kuhm". Thali: A wedding necklace placed by the groom; a plain gold necklace for Buddhist brides; for Hindu brides adorned with a medallion on which appear the Hindu symbols for the trinity, a conch, a trident, and a ring; in ancient times a Hindu thali was a simple yellow cord knotted three times; pron. "thAH-lee". Thambili: Juice of the king coconut; being sterile it is often drunk by natives and visitors alike when local water is impure; pron. "thimbah-lee". Thera: Originally a Buddhist sage; recently it has come to mean any bhikkhu who has been ordained ten years; pron. "th-air-uh". Tikka: Lit. the "Divine Eye"; placed above eye level in the center of the forehead; most often used by Hindu women young and old, but many Buddhists apply it to their little girls, calling it the "Beauty Eye"; pron. "tee-kuh".

Tipitaka: The "Three Baskets" of sacred Buddhist literature; sometimes spelled Tripitaka; pron. "Tih-pee-tah-kah". Tivanha: The "thrice-bent" posture of a standing Buddha, in which one leg is slightly bent at the knee, thus lowering the waist and shoulder on that side; the idea conveyed is relaxation; pron. "teevahn-aa". Torana: A linteled gateway at the entrance to a Buddhist shrine or temple; normally a stack of three lintels atop each other with a space in between, bent slightly upward in the middle and elaborately carved; pron. "toh-rah-nah". Tunhavul: During the Dutch period, land which was granted on the condition one-third of it was cultivated in cinnamon; pron. "toon-hahvuhl". Uluma: A teacher of the Koran and Islamic faith; pron. "oo-loo-maa". Upasampada: The higher ordination of a bhikkhu, equivalent to a monsignor or abbot; pron. "ooh-puh-suhm-pah-duh". Vali-kangana: The distinctive "parapet wall" surrounding most Buddhist temple grounds; resembles a giant sawtoothed wall with decorative holes pierced through them teeth; pron. "vahl-ee kAHngah-nah". Vannama: An imitative secular dance in which the dancer tries to portray the movements and habits of a bird or other animal; pron. "vahn-nah-muh". Vatadage: A protective enclosure for a dagoba consisting of a circle of stone or wood pillars holding up a wood and tile roof; pron. "vahtAH-dah-guh". Varna: The original four Hindu castes of brahmin (priest), kshatriya (warriors; pron. in Sinhalese "kssh-aht-ree-yuh"); vaisya (cultivators and traders, pron. "vah-ee-syuh"; and candalas (menial laborers corresponding to the Hindu sudra caste who lived on the outskirts of towns and did scavenging and similar work, pron. "cahng-dhAHluhs". Over time these four broke down into an elaborate melange of castes based on hereditary occupation and region of origin; pron. "vAHr-nuh". Veda: Any of four canonical texts written approximately 3,500 years ago in the form of brahminical verses defining the polytheistic brahminical faith and rules of conduct; pron. "Vay-dah".

Veddahs: Aboriginal tribespeople now numbering very few members who live in the remote jungles of Sri Lanka and try to practice their original late neolithic hunter-gatherer subsistence lifestyle; thought to be the last remnants of the island's original Yahksa and Naga inhabitants; pron. "Ved-dhaa". Vihara: Originally the hall in a Buddhist temple where the monks took their morning walks; eventually evolved into the designation of the entire temple itself; now used only to designate a building or shrine dedicated to the memory of the Gotama Buddha and set apart from other temple structures as a place where the faithful may worship and offer flowers and incense; not to be confused with an image house or pansala; pron. "vee-hAHr-uh". Viharagam: Land and villages whose revenues benefit a specific vihara; pron. "vee-hAHr-uh-guhm". Vila: A lotus-meadow of shallow water overgrown with lotuses and other lilies; beautiful beyond heaven, especially when the herons come hunting; sometimes spelled villu; pron. "vee-luh" and "veel-loo" respectively. Vinaya: Monastic disciplinary regulations; while the laity have the Five Precepts to obey, bhikkhus have 227 to keep in mind; the Buddhist equivalent to the Rule of St. Benedict; pron. "vee-nayh-yaa". Vuvera: Hindu god of wealth; revered mostly by people who have too much of it; pron. "Voo-vair-aa". Wesak: The full-moon day in May, on which the Buddha is said to have been born, attained nibbana and died. Wewa: Suffix name for a tank or reservoir, as in "Kalawewa" or "Newara Wewa"; pron. "vay-vuh". Yahksa: Malevolent supernatural being or demon; the name of the original aboriginal inhabitants of Lanka who sometimes intermarried with the Aryan settlers but most often retreated into the jungles; pron. "yaak-suh". Yakadura: A low-caste demon exorcist/priest; pron. "yah-kah-dooruh". Yak bere: A drum used in demon exorcism ceremonies; positively deafening; pron. "yahk bear-uh".

Yakdessa: Shaman or priest; pron. "yahk-dess-suh". The prefix "yak" in the foregoing few terms hearken to indigenous aboriginal traditions which were adopted by Aryan and other settlers. Yala: A supplemental rice crop planted in May and reaped in September; pron. "yAH-luh". Yoda-ela: A "giant" canal, such as the one connecting the Kalawewa tank to Anuradhapura; popularly imputed to have been made by giants (Yoda is an adjective meaning "huge", though not necessarily made by giants; pron. "yoh-duh ay-luh". Yojana: Ancient Lankan measure of distance equalling approximately twelve to sixteen miles; a yojana is made of four gowwa of three to four miles each (the exact measure is unknown); sometimes spelled yoduna; pron. "yoh-djhah-nuh" and "gOW-wuh" respectively. Yoni: A representation of the vulva associated with the worship of Shiva; pron. "yoh-nee".