top of page
Cuthbert's Golden Treasury
of Word, Saying, Phrase & Quotation in Sri Lanka
Afterlife
Illustration: Public Domain.
TUK-TUK WISDOM
“Everyone needs to go to heaven, but no one likes to die”
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“You are now. And you won’t be soon.”
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“The afterlife is a tax office, and everyone wants their rebate.”
Ambition
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
TUK-TUK WISDOM
“Who Flies Not High, Falls Not Low”
Animals
Illustration: Public Domain.
COMMON FOLKLORE
Animals harbour a wealth of traditional Sinhala folk beliefs. Bats in a house imply it will soon be deserted. To look at a slender loris brings bad luck. A dog howling or scratching at the earth before a house presages illness or death, and if it sleeps under a bed, its occupant will all too soon be dead. The smell of smallpox patients attracts cheetahs. Goblins are afraid of cattle with crumpled horns. Children who are made to pass under an elephant's body become strong and are free from illness. The presence of sparrows in a house is a good sign that a male child will be born. The common babbler hops as if he were once a fettered prisoner. The red-tailed flycatcher was a fire thief, and the white-tailed one a cloth thief. A white cock brings luck and prevents black beetles from destroying a garden. Peacocks dance in the morning to honour the Sun, and should you keep them as pets, your girls will not find suitors. Snails were people who, in a previous life, used to spit at others, and spiders were fishermen. It is lucky to have ants carrying their eggs around a house. Centipedes run away when their name is mentioned. The black beetle is the messenger of death. A person who kills a cobra dies or suffers some misfortune within seven days.
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“Do animals get an afterlife? Or is their punishment to be reborn as human?”
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“There are good reasons humans can’t converse with animals, except after death. Because animals wouldn’t stop complaining. And that would make them harder to slaughter.”
Architecture
GEOFFRY BAWA
"Architecture cannot be totally explained but must be experienced."
Astrologers
Illustration: Public Domain.
AWRUDU-WATTORUW
A chit given by the astrologer showing the hour when the new year commences, and its prognostics.
Bags
Illustration: Public Domain.
OLONGUWA
A long bag or sack that divided its contents into two equal portions, so that one fell before and one fell behind when the bag was slung over the shoulder.
PINGO
A traditional, dated term for a flexible pole or yoke carried across one shoulder, with loads suspended from each end. It was historically used to transport goods, such as coconuts, pots, or agricultural produce.
Pingo carriers were commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The term also refers to a measure of weight—the amount of goods that could be comfortably carried using a pingo - about twenty-five kilograms.
Baskets
Illustration: Public Domain.
KARAKGEDIY
A portable wicker basket for catching fish in shallow streams, open at both ends and conical in shape.
KODE
A basket to remove earth or sand.
PIRIWEHIKADA
A load that was made up of PIRIWOHI - wicker baskets filled with provisions.
PIRIWEHIKADA
A wicker basket.
WATAPETTIYA
A circular flat basket for carrying ADUKKU (food in layers).
WATTIYA
A flat basket for carrying flowers.
Beauty
Illustration: Public Domain.
RANI MANICKA, THE RICE MOTHER
"Excessive beauty is a curse. Happiness refuses to share the same bed as beauty."
SIGIRIA GRAFFITI: 7th - 8th CENTURIES
“We spoke, but they did not answer
Those ladies of the mountain
They did not give us
The twitch of an eyelid
The girl with the golden skin
Enticed the mind and eyes.
Her lovely breasts caused me to recall
Swans drunk with nectar.”
TUK-TUK WISDOM
“If you’re cute, you can call me baby”
Belonging
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
SAM FORE
"Inclusion means not just having a seat at the table but flipping the table itself".
SHAUN CHRISTIE-DAVID
"My mum had a rule that no matter who was at the dinner table, you never eat alone."
Birds
Illustration: Public Domain.
A SRI LANKAN PROVERB
“The bird that flies from branch to branch will end up getting drenched.”
Borders
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
LEAH LAKSHMI PIEPZNA-SAMARASINHA
“This border is rotten meat, a hallucination, a wavering line, a stupid idea. Can’t we blink and it'll be gone?”
Buffalos
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
BUFFALO CURD
Buffalo curd - "Mee Kiri”, Sri Lanka's best-kept secret.
HIMILA
Money given by proprietors in ancient times as hire for buffaloes employed in ploughing and threshing crops.
TAWALAMA
A pack bullock.
WIYAKOLAMILA
The hiring of buffaloes for threshing paddy.
Calander
Illustration: Public Domain.
MONTHS OF THE SINHALA YEAR
Duruthu - January
Navam - February
Medin - March
Bak - April (Sinhala New Year)
Vesak - May
Poson - June
Esala - July
Nikini - August
Binara - September
Vap - October
Ilmasa - November
Unduvap - December
Aircraft
Illustration: Public Domain.
ROMESH GUNESEKERA
“An aircraft cabin is a place that seems to be nowhere, but I find it steeped in the place left behind and the place ahead.”
Anger
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
MAKE SOMEONE ANGRY IN SRI LANKAN ENGLISH
“Raise the devil.”
SUNIL YAPA
“But that was the thing with anger. That was the tricky thing about pain. Sometimes it was hiding around a corner just waiting to slice you from stomach to throat.”
Approval
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
FANTASTIC IN SRI LANKAN ENGLISH
“Patta/Patas.”
IT'S ALRIGHT IN SRI LANKAN ENGLISH
“Shape!”
GOOD VALUE IN SRI LANKAN ENGLISH
“Fully worth.”
Artists
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
ANANDA COOMARASWAMY
“The artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist.”
LIYAWEL
Ornamental flower work in temple carvings or paintings.
NETTARA-PINKAMA
The festival focused on painting the eyes of a Buddha statue in a VIHARA. The offerings received during the ceremony were given to the painters.
ROMA TEARNE, MOSQUITO
"Now there are no priests or philosophers left; artists are the most important people in the world."
SITTARA
A painter in feudal times was usually a tenant of the smith caste. His responsibilities included mending temple images and paintings. In this arrangement, the temple would supply the pigments and food. On completion of the work, the painter would offer the head of the temple an ornamented walking stick or betel tray.
Atheism
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“For atheists, there are only moral choices.”
Bananas & Plantains
Illustration: Public Domain.
ATHKOLAYA
A piece of a plantain leaf that is used instead of a plate. In feudal times, there was a special tenant whose job was to supply it for a temple’s daily service.
POPULAR SLOGANS FOR SELLING BANANAS IN SRI LANKA
"Ambul Kesel: The True Taste of Lanka."
"Stay Fit, Eat More Local Bananas."
"Power Up with Locally Grown."
"Peel the Joy."
RAMBATORANA
An arch in which plantain trees form the chief decoration.
TATUKOLA
Pieces of plantain leaves that are used as plates.
Bathing
Illustration: Public Domain.
DIYAGE
A bathroom, the creation of which and the supply of water were the responsibility of
ULIAMWASAM tenants – tenants who held paddy lands belonging to temples.
PADIYA
Water to wash the feet on entering the sanctuary of a Dewala.
PENPOLA
A priest's bath.
BOLPEN
Water used at a temple for purposes of purification.
NANAGEYA
A bath-house. Ahead of a visit from someone of rank, the bathhouse and ATUGE (privy) were put up at his lodging by a NILAPANGUWA tenant who had a right to cultivate but not own land.
Beggers
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
ROBERT KNOX’S KANDYAN PROVERB
"A beggar and a trader cannot be lost. Because they are never cut out of the way."
Betel
Illustration: Public Domain.
Betel – the chewing of its nuts and the presentation of its leaves - is a cultural tradition that dates back over 3,500 years across the Indian subcontinent. Betel’s primary compound – arecoline – is fondly thought to stimulate alertness and energy, even to the point of creating mild euphoria, a condition that probably blots out its known health downsides: mouth cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
It is easily prepared. The DEHET-GOTUW, or betel nut, is wrapped in a betel leaf, or NIYAKOLA, and slaked lime paste, cardamom, cloves, and sometimes dates and tobacco are added for flavour. The leaf is folded into a small pouch, chewed, and the red saliva is spat out. Occasionally, TAMBALA leaves from a creeper are used instead.
It is popular at all levels of society and is especially prominent at weddings, the New Year, and other important celebrations. Presenting its leaves to elders, professionals, astrologers, the ancient kings, and present-day leaders is a familiar sign of respect. In feudal times, this included BULAT-ATA, where a roll of betel consisting of 40 leaves would be presented to a landowner on rent day, or BULAT-HURULLA, which marked the fee paid by tenants to a temple for MARUVENA PANGUWA land. The very act of supplying betel for such occasions was termed DALUMURE. Some tenants, with DALUMURA-PANGUWA tenancies, were required to supply a certain quantity of betel leaves weekly, or for important ceremonies and for the consumption of duty officers and priests. The kings of Kandy had significant betel plantations, staffed by officers, gardeners, and carriers, and centred on XINDA VILLAGES, such as Meemure.
When a roll of betel leaves, was given to a priest, it was often placed on an ILLATTATTUWA. This traditional betel tray was a feudal requirement for carpenters and wood carvers to create. Elaborate CHUNAM BOXES, or KILLOTAYA, were created by goldsmiths to store the lime (chunam) used for betel leaf chewing, and the act of offering both betel and chunam at temples was known as KARANDU-HUNU.
Blood
Illustration: Public Domain.
FENNEL HUDSON
"A traditional Englishman drinks tea to the point where his blood has long-since been replaced with an infusion of Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling."
MICHAEL ONDAATJE, THE COLLECTED WORKS OF BILLY THE KID
"Blood a necklace on me all my life."
RAJNI PERERA
“Moving is all our blood knows about.”
Bread
Illustration: Public Domain.
MUSIC BREAD
Choon paan – or music bread- signifies the coming of the choon paan man, accompanied by the drifting tunes of Beethoven’s Für Elise.
SAMANTHA SENEVIRATNE
"Keep an eye on the dough rather than the clock."
THARSHAN SELVARAJAH
“My bread is always made with love. Always smiling, always laughing, always singing,”
TIK-TOK
"In Sri Lanka, you don't go to the bakery… the bakery comes to you."
Bureaucracy
Illustration: Rene Magritte, Public Domain.
ARTHUR C. CLARKE, RAMA II
"All bureaucracies are the same. They drain the life out of the truly creative people and develop mindless paper-pushers as their critical mass."
PHILIP GUNAWARDENA
"It is heartbreaking to see how some institutions have strayed from their original objectives, leading to mayhem and chaos."
SHEHAN KARUNATILAKA
“Typical government office. Take a number and sit down until you forget why you came.”
Festivals
Illustration. Orient Line, c1930s. By Walter Jardine. Public Domain.
ALUT-AWRUDU-MANGALYAYA
A festival of the Sinhalese year that falls in early April.
ALUT-SAL-MANGALYAYA
The festival of the first fruits; the harvest festival.
AWRUDU-PANTIYA
The term for the New Year festival, as used in the Kurunegala District.
KATTIYA
A general term for a festival; in particular, it was applied to the festival of lights in Nov. Dec., called KATTIMANGALAYA.
MANGALYAYA
A festival. The four principal festivals are AWURUDU (old year), NANUMURA (new year), KATTI (feast of lights) in November, and ALUTSAL (harvest) in January. Repairs, cleaning, decorations, processions, and lights accompanied the festival. Land disputes would traditionally be settled, annual officers appointed, and dues paid to landlords.
NANUMUTRA-MANGALYAYA
The festival immediately following the Sinhalese New Year, when purification with NANNU is performed. Nanu was made of lime juice and sandalwood.
SATARA-MANGALYAYA
The four principal festivals in the year.
bottom of page