Stories Behind Names of Places in Sri Lanka How places in Sri Lanka got their names – PUSSELLA – By Nimal Sedera
Source : Dæhæna – July 2025
Here is a cute little story behind the village named Pussella. As often stated by me most Sri Lankan village names are linked to the time of our Kings. This too is one such story. Messages of the King were made known to the people in Sri Lanka by sending a drummers to the country, identified as “Anaberakaraya” meaning the drummer that carries the order if the King to the public.
King’s Palace needed sand for some building work and the drummers carried the message to the people. So, people began to respond immediately. There had been a system to record who complied with the order and obviously those who did not comply were subject to be questioned.
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The village headman the “Korala” was the monitoring person. There were some households that have not complied with the
order and they were summoned before the King. One person when questioned by the King as to why he did not comply with the order, he had a wonderful explanation to be excused.
He humbly said “Oh my Lord, hearing your order, I promptly collected the sand at the stream and put to dry in my compound. Unfortunately, when I went to bag them to be brought to the Palace, some fungus (පුසව ) was there with sand (වැල්ල).
The King knew that he was lying, but he was that happy he came out with a creative excuse. He laughed and said “You keep the Pus Vella for yourself ” (පුසව වැල්ල උඹම තියාෙනින්) Over time the area became to be known as “Puswella” that
because “Pussella”.
Nimal Sedera
Dr. Nimal Sedera is a journalist, poet, motivational speaker and
an author of over 70 books.
