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ABARANA: Insignia of a Deviyo; vessels of gold and silver, etc., in a Dewala.
ADAPPAYA: Headman amongst the Moors; a term of respect used in addressing an elder.
ADHAHANA-MALUWA: A place of cremation; especially the place where the bodies of the kings of Kandy were burnt and where their ashes were buried.
ADIKARAMA: An officer of the Kataragama Dewala next in rank to the Basnayake Nilame.
ADIPALLA OR WARUPALLA: The lower layers of the stacked paddy on the threshing floor allowed to the watcher as a perquisite.
ADUKKU: Cooked provisions given to headmen or persons of rank.
ADUKKU-WALANKADA: A pingo of earthenware vessels for cooking or carrying food for headmen, etc.
AGAS: First-fruits; ears of paddy cut as alut-sal, i.e., for the thanksgiving at the harvest home.
AHARA-PUJAWA: The daily offering of food in a Vihare; before noon the mid-day meal is carried to the Vihare, and placed in front of the image of Buddha; it is then removed to the refectory or pansala, where it is consumed by the priests or by the servitors.
AHAS-KAMBE: The tight-rope (literally air-rope) used for rope-dancing which is a service of certain tenants of the Badulla Dewale.
AKYALA: Contribution of rice or paddy on the occasion of a procession at a Dewala; first fruits offered for protection of the crop by the Deviyo.
ALATTIBEMA: A ceremony performed at the door of the sanctuary in a Dewale; the waving to and fro of an oil lamp by females, who repeat the while in an undertone the word ayu-bowa, long life (lit. may your years increase).
ALGA-RAJAKARIYA: Service at the loom.
ALAGU: A mark to assist the memory in calculation (Clough); a tally, e. g. in counting cocoanuts one is generally put aside out of each 100; those thus put aside are called alagu.
ALIANDURA: The morning music at a temple.
ALLASA: A present, a bribe, a fee paid on obtaining a maruwena-panguwa.
ALUT-AWRUDU-MANGALYAYA: Festival of the Sinhalese new year; it falls in the early part of April.
ALUT-SAL-MANGALYAYA: The festival of the first fruits; the harvest home.
ALWALA-REDDA: A cloth fresh from the loom.
AMARAGE OR AMBARAGE: Covered walk or passage between a Dewala and the Wahalkada or porch.
AMUNA: A dam or anicut across a stream; a measure of dry grain equal to about 4–1/2 bushels, sometimes 5 bushels.
ANAMESTRAYA: A shed in which to keep lights during festivals. In some temples these sheds are built permanently all round the widiya or outer court; in others they were mere temporary structures to protect the lights from wind and rain.
ANDE: Ground share given to a proprietor.
ANDU-GIRAKETTA: An arecanut-cutter of the shape of a pair of pincers; it forms the penuma or annual offering of the blacksmiths to their lord.
ANKELIYA: The ceremony of pulling horns or forked sticks to propitiate Pattini-deviyo in times of epidemics; according to ancient legends, it was a pastime at which the Deviyo and her husband Palanga took sides. They are said to have emulated each other in picking flowers with the forked sticks the husband standing at the top and the wife at the foot of a tree. The ankeliya as its name imports partakes more of the nature of a village sport than of a religious ceremony. There are two sides engaged, called the uda and yati-pil. It is conducted in a central spot in the midst of a group of villages set apart for the particular purpose, called anpitiya, and commenced on a lucky day after the usual invocation by the Kapurala, who brings with him to the spot the Halan a kind of bracelet the insignia of the Deviyo. The two Pil select each its own horn or forked stick; the horns or sticks are then entwined—one is tied to a stake or tree, and the other is tied to a rope, which is pulled by the two parties till one or other of the horns or sticks breaks. The Pila which owns the broken horn is considered to have lost, and has to undergo the jeers and derision of the winning party. If the Yatipila which is patronized by the Deviyo (Pattini) wins, it is regarded as a good omen for the removal or subsidence of the epidemic. The ceremony closes with a triumphal procession to the nearest Dewale. A family belongs hereditarily to one or the other of the two Pil.
ANPITIYA: The spot or place where the above ceremony is performed.
ANUMETIRALA: A respectful term for a Kapurala, one through whom the pleasure of the Deviyo is known.
ANUNAYAKA UNNANSE: A priest next in rank to a Maha-Nayaka or chief priest, the sub-prior of a monastery.
APPALLAYA: The earthen ware vessel flatter than an atale, q. v.
ARALU: Gall-nuts.
ARAMUDALA: Treasury, or the contents of a treasury; the reserve fund.
ARANGUWA: An ornamental arch decorated with flowers or tender leaves of the cocoanut tree.
ARA-SALAWA OR BOJANASALAWA: Refectory.
ARRIKALA: One-eighth portion.
ASANA-REDI: Coverings of an asanaya; altar cloth.
ASANAYA: Throne, altar, seat of honor.
ATALE: A small earthenware-pot usually used in bathing.
ATPANDAMA: A light carried in the hand, formed generally of a brass cup at the end of a stick about two feet long. The cup is filled with tow and oil.
ATAPATTU-WASAMA: The messenger class. A holding held by the atapattu people. The service due from this class is the carrying of messages, keeping guard over treasure or a temple or chief’s house, and carrying in procession state umbrellas, swords of office etc., watching threshing floors and accompanying the proprietor on journeys.
ATAPATTU MOHOTTALA: Writer over the messenger class.
ATAWAKA: The eighth day before and after the full moon. The first is called Pura-atavaka and the second Ava-atavaka.
ATTANAYAKARALA: Custodian; storekeeper; overseer corresponding in rank to Wannakurala, q.v.
ATUGE: A temporary shed or outhouse for a privy.
ATUPANDALAYA: A temporary shed or booth made of leaves and branches.
ATUWA: Granary.
AWALIYA: The same as Hunduwa or Perawa, which is one-fourth of a seer.
AWATEWAKIRIMA: Ministration; Daily service at a Dewala.
AWATTA: An ornamental talipot used as an umbrella.
AWULPAT: Sweetmeats taken at the end of a meal.
AWRUDU-PANTIYA: New year festival, a term in use in the Kurunegala District.
AWRUDU-WATTORUWA: A chit given by the astrologer shewing the hour when the new year commences, and its prognostics.
AYUBOWA: “Live for years”, a word used by way of chorus to recitals at Bali ceremonies.