Know the Etymology: 412
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Naabirittan-kadawara

நாபி₃ரித்தன் கட₃வர
Nābirittan Kaḍavara

Naabiritta+kadawara

The jungle limits or precincts found with Naapiritta shrubs

Kadawara	1. from Kada+wara: seems to be meaning a forest limits or precincts (Sinhala place names, see boxes below); 2. a defined part, portion, “Kotasa” (Sinhala, Sorata notes with a question mark, the etymology may be related to Kada meaning a piece); 3. channel, ditch, gutter (Sinhala, Clough, may be related to Kada meaning a passage); 4. a Yaksha (spirit) that has powers to remove infertility (Sinhala, Sorata); Kadawara-deviyaa: a forest deity (Sinhala, Parker, Ancient Ceylon, p. 683); the name probably related to the deity’s association with jungles.
Kada	forest (Sinhala, Sorata); Kadam, Kaadu: forest (Tamil, DED 1438);
Wara	1. surrounding (Sinhala, Clough); 2. enclosure, fence, rampart, “Aawara'naya, Praakaaraya” (Sinhala, Sorata); 3. bank-like place, shore, “Tataya, Goda vana tæna” (Sinhala, Sorata); Varai: bank, shore, limit, boundary (Tamil, DED 5261); Varaippu, Varappu, Varampu: limit, boundary, ridge of a field, enclosure (Tamil, DED 5261); Varu: boundary, border (Malayalam, DED 5261); Vara: limit (Telugu, DED 5261); Vari, Varai: line (Tamil, DED 5263); Wari: line (Sinhala); Varu: a place name suffix, meaning a sector, part, extent or division (Dhivehi/ Maldivian, An Etymological Dictionary of Maldivian Island Names). See column on Udu-wara, Yata-wara
Naabiritta	from Naapiritta: a hairy and thorny shrub with yellow flowers having dark crimson bottom inside, Hibiscus furcatus (Sinhala); Kaaddup-paruththi: literally meaning the wild cotton, also called Iraddakath-thuththi, literally meaning the Thuththi of dual coloured interior, a hairy shrub of yellow flowers having dark crimson bottom inside, Musk Mallow, Hibiscus abelmoschus (Tamil, MTL, DED 1438 + DED 3976); Naa+piritta; Naa: probably a reference to the flower in comparison to other Naa flowers such as Naa-mal, Naa-imbul, etc.; Piritta: a comparison of the shrub and its flower with the cotton shrub; Paruththi: Indian cotton plant, Gossypium herbaceum (Tamil, DED 3976); the leaves and flowers of the Naa-piritta and Kaaddup-paruththi shrubs resemble those of the cotton shrub (see images). All of them belong to the Malvaceae family of plants.

The Sinhala phrase Kadawara in the context of place names seems to mean a forest limits or precincts.

The phrase is made of two components Kada, meaning forest (Sorata's dictionary) and Wara meaning surrounding (Clough) or bank, shore, fence, enclosure etc (Sorata). The components correspond to Kadam/ Kaadu meaning forest and Varai, Varampu, Varappu meaning bank, shore, limit, boundary, ridge of a field, enclosure etc., in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1438, 5261).

In Sinhala, Kadawara popularly means Kadawara-deviyaa, a forest deity (Parker, Ancient Ceylon, p. 683). Different interpretations are given for the origins of the name, but it seems the deity is identified by that name because of its status as forest deity, usually present at the entrance of forests.

Clough's dictionary gives a different set of meanings, channel, ditch and gutter for the phrase Kadawara, which have their etymon in Kada meaning a way or passage in Sinhala (Sorata) and meaning to pass through or cross over in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 1109). However, the meanings given by Clough for Kadawara are not found in Sorata's dictionary.

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Naa-piritta or Naa-biritta, botanically known as Hibiscus furcatus, is a hairy and thorny shrub of the Malvaceae family. Its yellow flowers are conspicuous of their dark crimson bottom inside.

While the first part of the Sinhala name, Naa, may be relating the flower to that of Naa/ Naaga, Mesua ferrea (see column on Naalanda), the second part Piritta assigns the flower or the shrub to the cotton shrub family.

Piritta is a cognate of Paruththi in Tamil/ Dravidian (DED 3976), which is the name for the cotton shrub Gossypium herbaceum of the same Malvaceae family. A species Hibiscus abelmoschus, related to Naa-piritta (Hibiscus furcatus), is called Kaaddup-paruththi in Tamil, meaning the wild cotton.

The flowers and leaves of all the said shrubs are comparable.



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Naabirittan-kadawara is a place in Pannala division of Kurunegala district.

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Some related place names:

Del-paa-kadawara: The jungle limits or precincts having a grove of breadfruit trees; Divulapitiya division, Gampaha district

Amba-kadawara: The mango (or wild mango) forest limits or precincts; Wariyapola division, Kurunegala district

Puliyan-kadawara: The tamarind tree forest limits or precincts; Chilaapam division, Puththa'lam district

Naan-kadawara: The Naa tree forest limits or precincts; Madampe division, Puththa'lam district

Maa-kadawara: The big forest limits or precincts; Mawanella division, Kegalle district

Mæ'nik-kadawara: The gem-bearing forest limits or precincts; Warakapola division, Kegalle district

Kidawaran-kulam: probably, Kadawarang-ku’lam: the tank of the jungle limits or precincts; Medwachchiya division, Anuradhapura district

First published: Tuesday, 28 July 2015, 17:11