Glossary of Sri Lankan Terms
- achterhuis the back central room of a Dutch house forming the
main family living room
- adigar principal minister of state
- ambalama rest pavilion providing shelter for travellers
- arahat alternative name for Buddha; Buddhist disciple,
including a bodhisattva
- atuva loft space or mezzanine, also used of raised rice
bins
- avasa monastery
- bana maduwa preaching hall
- biralu turned wooden ornament
- bodhisattva a person who reached the final stage before that of
nirvana but refrained from the last step in order to remain of service to
mankind; revered as a saint
- bo-tree ficus religiosa
- or pipal tree; the sacred tree of the Buddhists, because it was in the
shelter of one of these trees that Siddhartha Gautama was sitting when he
attained enlightenment
- budu-ge building in which a statue of the Buddha is enshrined
- cadjan woven mats made from coconut palm leaves, used for
roofing and walls
- chaitya shrine, usually a stupa
- Culavamsa literally the lesser Buddhist chronicle of Sinhalese
history—named so to distinguish it from the Mahavamsa
- dagoba see stupa
- deva a god
- devale temple to a god of the Sinhala pantheon, the members
of which are sometimes identified with Hindu gods
- dharma, dhamma doctrine; commonly used of Buddhist doctrine
- dhoti draped lower garment for a man
- edanda simple bridge—usually made of a tree trunk
- ftnial a small spire-shaped element placed on the highest
point of a roof to form a crowning element against the sky
- frieze a band of decoration, used on the upper parts of
walls or on an entablature above a colonnade
- gamalu a wood especially good for carving
- gopuram elaborately carved tiered towered entrance gateway to
a Hindu temple
- harem or harim the private area of a house
- kachcheri office of the provincial or district administrator
- karma, kamma literally: act or deed. Used in the sense that each
life is conditioned by acts or deeds of a previous existence, which together
make up karma
- kovil a Hindu temple
- mafraj Yemeni arable word for an entertaining room with a
view
- mahagedera "great house"; commonly used of the
ancestral home
- Mahavamsa literally the greater text of Sinhalese history
- maidan an open public space in a town or village
- makara mythical beast with a cock's tail
- mal lalla floral fretwork panel above a door or window
- mandala magic diagram or sign
- midula courtyard
- moors moslems
- mushrabiyya, masharabiyya (from Arabic) an openwork wooden screen covering an opening or balcony. Sometimes referring to a screen made of lattice, more usually to one made of panels of turned wood
- nadai walkway
- nirvana the state of enlightenment, in which the causes of rebirth are eliminated;
- it is equivalent to salvation
- pala pethi plants and petals
- perahera procession
- perahera-ge processional shrine
- piano-nobile upper main floor of a house pila gutter
- poya observance day for Buddhists commencing on the nights
of the full moon and .the night of the new moon each month—traditionally spent
at the temple
- poya ge chapter house—the building in which monks meet on
observance days for the chanting of the scripture and for conducting community
affairs
- punchi aliya small elephant
- rajamaha royal
- rajamahavihara (or Raja MahaVihara) a vihara created by royal
command or edict. Literally a great temple of a king
- salle, sale hall; the principal room of a house, usually used as
the dining room
- Siddhartha Gautama historical, secular name of the Buddha
- sikhara elaborately carved tower roof or dome above an
individual shrine in a Hindu temple
- sinha lion
- sinhasana lion throne
- stoep raised terrace, sometimes roofed but more
traditionally open to the sky, attached to the outside of a house
- steep-bank masonry seat flanking a stoep
- stupa also called dagoba; funeral or commemorative
mound, usually hemispherical, often containing a relic; Buddhist symbol and
votive structure
- sutra,sutta discourse, text
- tampita vihara temple building erected on stilts
- thinai raised platform
- thorana gateway
- vahanam mount or "vehicle"; in Hindu iconography,
the animal on which a god or godess customarily rides
- vihara literally: house; used to refer to Buddhist temple
complexes which include a house for monks, or to a monastery forming a
self-contained and largely autonomous institution
- voorkamer entrance hall
- walauwa the residence of a member of the aristocracy
