WASKALAYA: The season in which priests take up a fixed residence, devoting their time to the public reading and expounding of Bana. It falls between the months of July and October. Sometimes a resident priest is placed in Was in his own Pansala, which means that he is to be fed with dan provided by the tenantry during the season of Was. The practice originated in the command of Buddha that his disciples should travel about during the dry season as mendicant monks, but that in the rainy season they should take shelter in leaf huts. The modern priests now desert their substantially built monasteries to take up their residence for the Was-lit: rainy season—in temporary buildings. The object of the original institution was to secure attention during part of the year to the persons living near the monastery—in fact that for this period the monks should serve as parish priests.
WAS-ANTAYA: The close of the Was-season.
WATADAGE: Temporary sheds for lights, sometimes called “Pasriyangewal” or “Wadupasriyangewal.”
WATAPETTIYA: A circular flat basket to carry adukku and penum in.
WATATAPPE: Circular wall round a temple.
WATTAKKA: The common gourd generally grown on hen.
WATTAMA: A round or turn. In Nuwarakalawiya it is applied to the turn in a Hewisimura service.
WATTIYA: A flat basket for carrying penum, flowers etc.
WATTORURALA: The tenant whose duty it is to open and close the doors of the sanctuary in a Dewale, to sweep it out, to clean and trim the lamps, to light and tend them, and to take charge of the sacred vessels used in the daily service.
WENIWEL: A creeper used as strings for tying.