Stories Behind the Names of Places in Sri Lanka: Negombo (Meegamuwa, මීගමුව ) – By Nimal Sedera
Very often, there is more than one story behind the origins of the names of cities and villages in Sri Lanka. Today, we are looking at how the name මීගමුව (meegamuwa) came into being.
There are about four key opinions on the name මීගමුව. I will present only two views in this article. Surprisingly, one documented story links to the greatest King in the Mahavamsa, and that is King Dutugemunu. It dates back to BC 161.
Prince Dutugemunu was born to Queen Vihara Mahadevi, the wife of the ruler of Magama in southern Sri Lanka, King Kavantissa.
It is stated in the “Thupawansa” and endorsed in the “Rajawaliya” that when Queen Vihara Mahadevi was
pregnant to deliver Dutugemunu, one of the key desires (පදාලදුක) she had was to get a huge beehive and offer it to the Maha Sanga and for her to enjoy the honey.
Her desire had been made known to the country, and people were searching for a huge beehive. It is said that such a beehive was found in an abandoned overturned boat in the coastal area passing Colombo, far away from southern Sri Lanka where King Kawantissa ruled. It is said that the boat with the hive was carried to the King’s palace, and from that day the place where the huge beehive was found became meegomuwa (මීපගාමුව)ප and over time it became Meegamuva (මීගමුව).
The second opinion is that, as the area was full of “mee trees” (මීගස්)ප this led to naming it Meegomuwa (මීපගාමුව) and evolved it to be මීගමුව (meegamuwa). In the olden days, mee seed oil had been used for Ayurveda treatment, cooking and also to lightup houses. There are several other places named after mee trees in Sri Lanka, like මීගස්වත්ත (Meegaswatta) and මීමුප් (Meemure).
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