M
MADAPPULURALA: Title of an officer in the Nata Dewale who performs duties analogous to those of a Wattoru-rala such as sweeping out the Maligawa cleaning and tending its lamps, etc.
MADDILIYA: A Tamil drum used in the Kataragama Dewale in the Badulla District.
MADOL-TEL: Lamp-oil extracted from the nuts of the Madol.
MADU-PIYALI: The nuts of the Madugaha, broken into pieces dried and converted into flour for food.
MAGUL-BERE: The opening tune beaten on tom-toms at the regular hewisi (musical service) at the daily service and at festivals.
MAHADANE: The midday meal of the priests before the sun passes the meridian.
MAHA-NAYAKA-UNNANSE: The highest in order amongst the Buddhist priesthood. The Malwatte and Asgiriya establishments in Kandy have each a Mahanayake before whom the incumbents of the subordinate Wihara belonging to the respective padawiya (see or head monastery) have to appear annually with penumkat and ganpanduru consisting chiefly of rice.
MAHA-PEREHERA OR RANDOLI-PEREHERA: The last five days of the Perehera (in July) when the insignia are taken in procession out of the precincts of a Dewalaya along the principal streets of the town.
MAHA-SALAWA: The chief or great hall.
MAHEKADA: The pingo of raw provisions, chiefly vegetables and lamp oil, given regularly once a month to a temple or chief by the tenants of the mul-pangu in a village, namely the Ganwasama, Durawasanaa, etc.
MALIGAWA: Palace. The sanctuary of a Dewale where the insignia are kept. In Dewala only the officiating Kapurala can enter it. Even its repairs such as white washing, etc. are done by the Kapurala.
MALU-DENA-PANGUWA: Lands held by the tenants generally of the Nilawasam class, whose duty it is to supply a temple with vegetables for curry for the multen service. A quantity sufficient to last a week or two is provided at one time, and this is continued all the year through. The vegetables supplied are of different sorts, consisting of garden and henaproduce and greens and herbs gathered from the jungle.
MALU-KESELKEN: Green plantains for curries, as distinguished from ripe plantains.
MALUPETMAN: The courtyard of a temple with its approaches.
MALWATTIYA: A basket or tray of flowers. One of the duties of a tenant in mura at a temple is to supply a basket of flowers morning and evening for offering in front of the image of Buddha or in front of the shrine.
MAKARA-TORANA: An ornamental arch over the portal of a Vihare formed of two fabulous monsters facing each other. These monsters are said to be emblems of the God of Love (Kama). They are a modern introduction borrowed from modern Hinduism.
MAKUL: Clay used in whitewashing.
MALABANDINA-RAJAKARIYA: The term in use in the Matale District for the services of putting up the pole for the Perehera, so called from flowers being tied to the pole when it is set up.
MALASUNGE: A small detached building at a Vihare to offer flowers in. These buildings are also found attached to private houses, where they serve the purpose of a private chapel.
MANDAPPAYA: Covered court or verandah.
MANGALA-ASTAKAYA OR MAGUL-KAVI: Invocation in eight stanzas recited at Dewale as a thanks giving song.
MANGALYAYA: A festival, a wedding. The four principal festivals are the Awurudu (old year) the Nanumura (new year), the Katti (feast of lights) in Il (November) and the Alutsal (harvest home) in Duruta (January). Some reckon the old and new year festivals as one, and number the Perehera in Ehala (July) amongst the festivals. In Ninda villages it is at one of the festivals, generally the old or new year, that the tenants appear with presents before the proprietor and attend to the ordinary repairs of his Wala, awwa. In temple villages they likewise present their penuma, repair and clean the buildings, courts-compounds and paths, put up decorations, join in the processions, and build temporary sheds for lights and for giving accommodation to worshippers on these occasions. They pay their Ganpandura, have land disputes etc. settled and the annual officers appointed. Tenants unable to attend by reason of distance or other causes make a payment in lieu called Gamanmurakasi.
MANNAYA: Kitchen knife. Knife commonly used in tapping Kitul.
MASSA: An ancient Kandyan coin equal to two groats or eight pence. Massa is used in singular only; when more than one is spoken of “Ridi” is used.
MEDERI OR MENERI: A small species of paddy grown on hen. Panic grass (Clough).
MEDINDINA MASE: The twelfth month of the Sinhalese year (March-April.)
MEKARAL: A long kind of bean.
METIPAN: Clay lamps supplied by the potter for the Katti-Mangalyaya.
METIPANDAMA: A bowl, made of clay to hold rags and oil, used as a torch.
MINUMWI: Remuneration given to the Mananawasam tenants for measuring paddy. The rate is fixed by custom in each village but varies considerably throughout the country.
MINUMWASAMA OR PANGUWA: The office of a Mananna or the holding held by the Manana people; their primary service as their name denotes is measuring out paddy given to be pounded as well as the paddy brought in from the fields and rice brought in after being pounded, but as the office has come to be held by low caste people and by Vellala of low degree the service has become analogous to those of the Uliyakkara-Wasam class such as putting up privies, mudding walls, carrying palanquins, baggage Penumkat and Adukkukat and serving as torch bearers at festivals. The Mananna is as much the Vidane’s messenger as the Attapattu Appu is the messenger of the proprietor. He together with the Lekama keeps watch at the threshing floor, takes care of the buffaloes brought for ploughing and threshing and assists the Vidane, Lekama, and Kankanama in the collection of the dues such as, Ganpandura etc.
MIPENI: Honey. It is given as a sort of forest dues by tenants of villages in the wild districts.
MIRIS: Chillies given as a rent or proprietor’s ground share of hena land cultivated with it.
MOHOTTALA: The same as Lekama q. v.
MOLPILLA: The iron rim of a pestle or paddy pounder.
MUDUHIRUWA OR MUDUWA: A ring. It is the penuma given by silver-smiths and gold-smiths.
MUKKALA: Three-fourths. A Tamil word used by certain tenants in the Seven Korala for three-fourths of the service of a full Panguwa.
MULTEN OR MURUTEN: Food offered to a Deviyo in a Dewale by a Kapurala daily, or on Kenmura days. The Muttettu fields of the Dewalaya supply the rice for it, and the tenants of the Malumura-panguwa the vegetables. It is cooked in the temple, mulutenge or kitchen, sometimes as often as three times a day. It is carried from the kitchen with great ceremony on a Kada by the proper Kattiyanaralas. All thus engaged in cooking, carrying and offering it should be of the Kapu family, by whom it is afterwards eaten.
MULTEN-MEWEDAMAWIMA: The carrying of the Multen Kada from the Multenge (kitchen) to the sanctuary. The term is in use in the Badulla District.
MUN: A sort of pea forming one of the chief products of a hena, and largely used as a curry.
MURA-AMURE: An ordinary turn and an extraordinary turn of service. A term applied to a holding which, in addition to its proper or ordinary turn of service, has to perform some extra service on account of additional land attached to the mulpanguwa. The term is used in Kurunegala District.
MURA-AWUDAYA: A lance. The weapon in the hands of the Hewawasam or Dunukara tenant on guard.
MURA-AWUDA-RAJAKARIYA: The service of a guard holding a lance.
MURAGEYA: Guard-room.
MURAYA: A general term for the turn of any service. The Muraya is of different lengths, 7, 10, or 15 days being the common periods of each mura. In some mura the tenant receives food, in the others not.
MUSNA: Broom; brush.
MUTTEHE-PENUMA: presents of sweetmeats or raw provisions given by tenants of some villages in the Sabaragamuwa District after the harvesting of a middle crop between the ordinary Yala and Maha crops, known as the Muttes harvest.
MUTTETTUWA: A field belonging to the proprietor, whether a chief or temple, and cultivated on his account jointly by tenants of every description. The proprietor usually finds the seed-paddy, and bears all costs of agricultural implements, and sometimes gives the buffaloes; the service of the tenants is reckoned not by days, but by the number of the different agricultural operations to which they have to contribute labour, and they are accordingly spoken of as “Wedapaha” and “Weda-hata,” which are—1, puran ketuma or puran-hiya (first digging or first ploughing); 2, dekutuma or binnegunhiya (the second digging or ploughing); 3, wepuruma (sowing including the smoothing of the beds); 4, goyan-kepuma (reaping including stacking); and 5, goyan-medima (threshing including storing). These admit of sub-divisions. Hence the number of agricultural operations differ in different districts. All the tenants take a part in the cultivation, and are generally fed by the proprietor or by the Ganwasam tenants on his behalf. The sowing of the seed-paddy is the work of the Gammahe as requiring greater care, and irrigation that of the Mananna, unless special arrangements are made for it with a Diyagoyya who is allowed in payment, a portion of the field to cultivate free of ground-rent, or the crop of a cultivated portion. The Muttettu straw furnishes thatch for buildings, the tying and removing of which is also a service rendered by the tenants. The services of the different classes of the tenantry on an estate are centred in its Muttettu field. Hence the passing of the Muttettuwa from the family of the landlord into the hands of strangers is invariably followed by the tenants resisting their customary services in respect of the Muttettu. They have generally succeeded in such resistance. See first Report of the Service Tenure Commission P. 9. “In only a few cases have estates been sold away from the families of the local chiefs, and in these cases with the almost invariable result of the loss of all claim to service by disuse, the Kandyan tenant being peculiarly sensitive as to the social status of his Lord. A few years ago one of the leading Advocates in Kandy acquired three estates, and after several years’ litigation, he was compelled to get the original proprietor to take back the largest of the three, and the claim to services from the other two had to be abandoned. On the original proprietor resuming procession, the tenants returned to their allegiance.”
MUTTIYA: The same as heliya (q.v.)
MUTU-KUDE: Umbrella of State, made of rich cloth, and carried in procession by one of the higher tenants over the insignia of the Deviyo, or over the Karanduwa of the Maligawa which is borne on an elephant.