Stories Behind Names of Places in Sri Lanka KALUTARA – By Dr. Nimal Sedera
Source : Qld Sri Lankan Newsletter – Dæhæna – December 2022
It gives me great pleasure in exploring the history of the nation in searching for the stories behind places of my motherland. Today, I draw your attention to an incredibly famous place of the country.
Kalutara, that is well known to all primarily because of the temple by the Colombo – Galle Road. It is popularly identified as “Kalutara Bodhiya”. As it is by the “Kalu Ganga”, the “Bodhiya” became famous due to its survival with the common floods related to the “Kalu Ganga”. Every vehicle passing the shrine stops at the Bodhiya to offer respect and venerate. Most public transport vehicles
stop near the Bhodiya and the conductor would run to the donation till to offer a contribution.
However, the formation of the name “Kalutara” is also linked to another temple story. Before the area was identified as Kalutara it had been a jungle. The only available method to cross the river was the “PARUVA” (Ferry). There were people living by the banks of the river and there had been a small Buddhist temple too. The young monk in this temple was intelligent and he was liked by the people. The monk was shorter than the average people and appeared to be fat. People referred to him as “THARA HAMUDURUVO”. “ THARA” is another Sinhala word for “fat”. Hence the temple by the river “Kalu” was identified as කලු ගඟ අසල තර උන්නාන්්ස්ග පන්සල.
Over time that evolved to be “Kalutara”
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Dr. Nimal Sedera
Dr. Nimal Sedera is a journalist,
poet, motivational speaker and an author of over 70 books.
