What place names tell us

Have you ever thought about the name of your home-town or the village you live in? Place names are very interesting. They are like permanent monuments to their origin. The place may change so much that it is unrecognisable, but the name remains to rouse our curiosity, or to tell us about the past and the beginnings.

Can you imagine a banana plantation in the concrete jungle that is Pettah now? There had been a banana plantation in that area. Now, only the name Keselwatte remains to tell us what the place was like about 120 to 150 years ago.

Bentota

Our place names usually consist of two words, occasionally three. By long usage the words coalesced (came together) forming one word and the meaning was forgotten. If we probe deep, the facts that come up will add to our historical stock of information and reveal very interesting episodes. A junction on the Colombo - Kandy road was named 'Aapahu Handiya' - 'Turn back junction". Why? Because a protest march from Colombo to Kandy by a political party was not allowed to proceed further by members of the ruling party of the day and the 'protestors' had to turn back. Hence 'aapahu' going back.

Let's go on a tour of the island to see what the most common place names are. The second part of the name or the name-ending tells us about the physical features or the sort of land, (cultivated or jungle) the place was before people settled down there.

The commonest name-ending is 'gama', others are watta, pitiya, wela, wella, vila and pola. There are many others, these are some of the more common ones. (I am writing only about the Sinhala names, as I am not quite sure of the meaning of many Tamil words).

A gama was originally a hamlet, a place where a few people settled down, clearing the jungle and putting up huts to live in. They continued to live there generation after generation unless forced to leave the place because of natural disasters like floods and landslides or lack of space or due to man-made disasters like bombing and enemy attacks, as is happening now. A person's 'gama' is his/her ancestral village, where his ancestors lived and the grandparents still live.

When the hamlet or village grew in size and the inhabitants in numbers, some moved away and put their roots down elsewhere. As the settlements, the hamlets increased, the people added a prefix to differentiate one gama from the other. The new place was 'Aluthgama', and the older hamlet/village was referred to as 'Paranagame' old village. A large settlement with more people, more amenities and perhaps a shrine was called Mahagama - big village. The birthplace of Dutugemunu and his brother Tissa was Mahagama in the present Hambantota district. It was then the largest and most important gama located in Ruhuna, from where Kavantissa ruled the region. With time and with constant usage, Mahagama became Maagama and the place name is still in use, and the territorial division is Maagam Pattu.

Other prefixes indicate its location, its physical features or its flora, like Beddegama (jungle village) Weligama, Udugama, Ihalagama and Pahathgama. How did Ragama, the railway junction town, get that name? It is worth probing. Rayigama near Horana has a history. When Kotte was our capital (15th - 16th centuries), a prince of the ruling family was residing there. Rayigama was then 'Rajagama' - a royal's home.

Do you live in a 'gama'? What does the prefix tell you about the 'gama?

The Roman Catholic Basilica in Tewatta, Ragama

Let's move on to other places with other name-endings. A Watta is a land planted with flowering or fruit-bearing trees and ornamental or useful plants and shrubs. The botanical gardens at Peradeniya, Hakgala and Gampaha are in popular parlance, Malwatte not 'udbida Udyana', the jaw-breaking official name which means 'botanical garden'.

Places that were once a 'watta' with a prefix are now busy towns or residential areas or concrete jungles like Keselwatte referred to earlier. Keselwatte was not the only garden or plantation that had to give way to roads and buildings as the town of Colombo expanded. Kurunduwatte (Cinnamon Gardens) harks back to Dutch times when cinnamon plantations extended to Maradana and Kuppiyawatte (between Maradana and Borella). Both words are connected with the growing and processing of cinnamon for sale.

The area behind Temple Trees, where the President resides, is still known as Polwatta, while Kitulwatta adjoins the General Cemetery, Kanatte. The landscape changes, but the name remains. I wonder how many coconut trees there are now in the whole of Polwatta. The village on the outskirts of Ambalangoda, must be having enough coconut trees to justify the name Polwatta.

The Roman Catholic Basilica is in Tewatta, Ragama. How come a tea garden (tewatta) near Ragama? Could there have been an experimental tea garden there, during early British rule? Batuwatte also a railway station is north of Ragama, and closer to Gampaha is Miriswatte. There is another Miriswatte close to the Colombo Horana road.

Kollupitiya, Bambalapitiya, Balapitiya, Divulapitiya, Pannipitiya, Nawalapitiya, Okkampitiya (lower Uva), Kuliyapitiya (NWP) and Manampitiya (NCP)... What is this 'pitiya' that is common to these towns and to many more towns and villages? Pitiya is a large open space. The school playground is Kreedapitiya.

Hamlets that grew around or by a pond/lake/water hole still retain the name 'Wila' qualified by a prefix indicating some landmark or special feature closeby. There is Kalubowila where the Colombo South Hospital is, and Bellanwila, where the famous temple and devala are may have been a lake teeming with those aquatic creatures with shells, known by the general term 'bella'. Marawila is in the NWP while there is Weerawila in the Hambantota district. Gangodawila, now a university town, literally means a lake amidst a cluster of hamlets (gam goda).

Wella is beach and Dikwella in the far south is long beach. (There's a long beach in America too - I believe in California). Nearby is Kudawella, small beach, Ruwanwella and Anguruwella are in the far interior of the Kegalle district.

Wellawatte at the southern end of the city of Colombo must have been one expanse of sand covered with weeds that grow on sandy soil, before people built houses and made footpaths, that became lanes later, leading to those homes.

Tota is a ford, a shallow place in a river, where people can go across by wading or in a vehicle. Oxford the famous university town in England, is said to be a place where oxen crossed the river. There are many totas - fords - on the south west, and south eastern coasts - Ambalantota, Hambantota, Gintota and Bentota. The last two are named after the rivers and Ambalantota would have had more than one ambalama, waiting room, on the bank for travellers, Hambantota was more than a ford. It was the port of call for the Chinese sailing vessels, the 'Sampaan'.

Two important fords across the Mahaweli are Katugastota near the Mahiyangana Vihara. Yatiyantota is at the furthest end of the Kegalle district.

We have done a long tour, haven't we, visiting places in Colombo and the suburbs and in the provinces. You must be very tired now, so we will call off the tour.

I shall take you to a few places with unusual names on another day. In the meantime, try to find out other places with the place name endings we discussed today. I'll be very happy if you tell me what you think of this tour. Was it interesting?

- Sumana Saparamadu