Stories Behind Names of Places in Sri Lanka – ALAGALLA – By Dr Nimal Sedara
Source : Dæhæna – March 2024
Alagalla is near Mawanella on the Kandy – Colombo Road. Alagalla mountain is a popular spot for the hill climbers in Sri Lanka and many a mountain climbing competitions are often held here. When descending from the hill capital Kandy this mountain appears very beautiful. A regular climb happens here for the Independence Day of Sri Lanka, the 4th of February
Often, there are more than one story behind the formation of names of places. I will relate only one of them pertaining to ALAGALLA.
The story is based on a family, where the mother- in- law and the daughter-in-law had disputes. Though the mother-in-law did not like the daughter-in-law very much she tolerated her as she was the wife of her only child.
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The family had enough wealth to manage affairs and the mother-in-law expected only one thing to be done to her by the daughter-in-law. That was that she should cook and offer all three meals to the mother-in-law. This was happening uninterrupted.
One day, the daughter-in-law was boiling SWEET POTATOES (බතල අල) for lunch. The daughter-in-law had a special liking for sweet potatoes, and she was planning to eat them alone. When the sweet potatoes were boiling, the aroma began to spread in the house and the mother-inlaw was also happy that for lunch, she would have sweet potatoes. She walked to the kitchen and happily commented on the aroma of boiling sweet potatoes.
“Daughter, it is a nice aroma from the boiling Sweet potatoes”. The daughter-in-law promptly replied: “I am not cooking any sweet potatoes. How do you get the aroma of sweet potatoes?” she questioned.
She retreated without any argument. She ate a part of the sweet potatoes alone and served the mother-in-law rice with other curries and she went to have a bath to the spout thinking of eating the balance potatoes (බතල) on returning from the shower.
She returned after the shower and with a plate in hand opened the pot to serve the sweet potatoes. She was surprised to see that all the potatoes had turned into stones. The Sinhala word for stones is “Gal” so the potatoes turned in to stones made the name “අලගල්ල”.
By Dr Nimal Sedara
Dr. Nimal Sedera is a journalist, poet, motivational speaker and an author of over 70 books.
