Reference
Glossary
The Sinhala and Pali terms used across this archive, with their script forms and meanings.
- All 39
- Irrigation & agriculture 6
- Office & administration 7
- Religion & monastic life 10
- Society & community 6
- Architecture & craft 6
- General 4
A
- Ambalama අම්බලම ambalama
- A wayside rest house for travellers, typically an open timber pavilion on a stone platform. Many carry substantial carved woodwork.
K
- Korawakgala කොරවක්ගල korawakgala
- The curved balustrade running down each side of a shrine stairway, carved as a stylised makara.
M
- Muragala මුරගල muragala
- A guardstone flanking a shrine entrance, usually carved with a nagaraja figure holding a pot of plenty.
P
- Pancha karmakara පංච කර්මකාර pañca karmakāra
- The five crafts — work in gold and silver, iron, brass, stone, and ivory or wood — practised hereditarily by the Navandanna community.
- Pilimage පිළිම ගෙය piḷimagē
- An image house — the building within a temple complex that holds the Buddha images.
S
- Sandakada pahana සඳකඩ පහන saňdakaḍa pahana
- The semicircular carved stone at the foot of a shrine stairway — the moonstone. Its concentric bands of flames, animals, creeper, geese and lotus are usually read as a progression from worldly attachment to release.