No. 47.— 1896.] place names in the Vanni. 



203 



PLACE NAMES IN THE VANNI. 



By J. P. Lewis, c.c.s. 



To ascertain the meanings of the names of places in a long- 

 settled, district is as a rule by no means an easy task, owing 

 to the changes they have undergone in the course of ages. 

 This has been well put by a writer in the " Madras Journal of 

 Literature and Science":* " All proper names were, or were 

 originally derived from, words or sounds having a meaning ; 

 but process of time and the long-continued wear and tear of 

 familiar use have rubbed off the corners that were rough to 

 the tongue, and have run together the liquid parts that most 

 easily coalesced. With the original form the meaning has 

 also been lost, and it is generally very difficult, almost 

 impossible, to discover them. Still, local circumstances 

 and traditions occasionally point to the true etymology, 

 whence the original form may be approximately recon- 

 structed or fairly guessed at ; but there is a very general 

 impression that the tradition itself has been often invented 

 to account for the name."f Most of the place names now 



* Names of Places in Tanjore, by Colonel Branfill in the volume for 1879. 



t There are numerous instances of this to be met with in Ceylon ; for 

 instance, the explanation of the name Anuradhapura as being- " the city of 

 ninety kings," because over ninety kings had reigned in it, which would 

 mean that it did not get its name until the 90th king had at least begun 

 his reign (see Ceylon Literary Register, vol. III., p. 296). 



Another is the explanation of the name Makawita quoted by Casie 

 Chitty ( Gazetteer, p. 152) from a Mission Report: — "When the famous 

 temple at Dondra-head was in progress, the inhabitants of this village 

 were ordered to display their generosity by feeding the crows. The words 

 used in calling them, kd kd wita, were uttered so often, that the name was 

 afterwards given to the village with the change of the first letter." I may 

 mention that there is more than one Makawita in Ceylon, and I suppose 

 the crow-calling episode occurred in each before the village had acquired 

 any name at all. 



I have met with very good instances of this tendency in the Negombo 

 District, where some of the villages have very curious names ; as for 

 example, Watinapaha and Nallapaha. The explanation given me of the 

 former was that once a sweet potato grew there that measured five cubits 

 in circumference. Nallapaha was explained as being really " Nallapaw," 

 " do not seize (them), it is a sin," and the story relied on to account for the 



