128 



SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



The chief peculiarity of a Kandyan door is that it has no hinges. 

 One might say of the Kandyan what Browning says of Sordello's 

 builders (who are referred to I have been unable to fathom), that he 



" dreams and shapes 

 His dream into a door post. Just escapes 

 The mystery of hinges." 



Instead of hinges, the door, which is very thick, is rounded off on 

 the side where, if there were hinges, the hinges would be, and the 

 ends of this rounded portion project slightly at top and bottom and 

 fit into holes, so that the door swings on these ends. These rounded 

 ends are called watmv (singular watawwa, not in Clough). 



fe 



^ 



c a 



6 Bapataldlla 



7 Agulkanuwa 



8 Agula 



^ 



9 Elipatkanda 



Plate II. — Interior view. 



A single door with its door frame consists of nine parts, which are 

 indicated in the accompanying diagrams showing the door from the 

 exterior and interior. 



The whole door frame is called uluwassa. The two perpendicular 

 posts are the uluwahukanu. The agulkanuwa is the post on the 

 inside into which the big wooden bolt (agula) fits. There is some- 

 times an ornamental border round the door frame on the outside. 

 This is called Ussara or lissarapati. The lintel (haraskade) , which is 



