Know the Etymology: 487
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 04 August 2016

Tissa-mahārāma, Arama, Tal-araṁba

திஸ்ஸ மஹாராம, அரம, தல்-அரம்ப₃
Tissa-mahārāma, Arama, Tal-araṁba

Tissa+mahā+ārāma
Arama
Tal+araṁba

The great grove-monastery named after Tissa

The grove-monastery

The palmyra palm grove

Ārāma	mental delight, place of mental delight, grove/ park, residence of Buddhist monks; “Sita ẹlvīma, Sita alavana tẹna, Uyana, Bhikṣun vasana tẹna” (Sinhala, Sorata); garden, orchard, grove, forest, residence of the disciples of Buddha, monastery (Sinhala, Clough); delight, place of pleasure, garden (Sanskrit, CDIAL 1317); pleasure, park, garden (Pali, Prakrit, CDIAL 1317); Āramaṇa: resting place, pleasure (Sanskrit, CDIAL 1306); Āram, Āramati: (verb) to pause, stop, to delight in, to enjoy one’s self, take pleasure (Sanskrit, Monier Williams); Ārāmam: grove, flower garden (Tamil, Maṇimēkalai, 3: 31-32); Aṟavi: a hall for the public to take rest or sleep, as in “Ulaka-aṟavi” (Tamil, Maṇimēkalai, 17: 77-78); Amar: (verb) to rest, become tranquil (Tamil, DED 161); Āra-amara: (verb) being relaxed (Tamil); Amarvu: abode (Tamil, DED 161); Romāna: (verb) to rest, to rest after labour (Gondi, DED 5178); Roma: rest, repose (Gondi, DED 5178); Rōmb: (verb) to rest, to take rest (Konda, DED 5178); Āṟu: (verb) to cool, be appeased, to comfort, to soothe (Tamil, DED 404, cognates in 14 Dravidian languages)
Araṁba	grove, forest (Sinhala, Clough); “Uyana, Kẹlẹva” (Sinhala, Sorata); a plantation or grove of areca nut palms (Sinhala, Codrington); Arab, Araba: = Ārāma (Sinhala, Sorata). See box on Ārāma
Arama	= Ārāma (Sinhala, Clough, Sorata). See box on Ārāma
Tissa	Pali form of Tiśa, Tisa: a royal/ noble title or personal name, both masculine and feminine, noticed in the early Brahmi inscriptions of the island; traced to Tiṣya, the name of an asterism the same as Puṣya (Paranavitana, Inscriptions of Ceylon, Vol I, Early Brahmi Inscriptions, Glossary, p. 109); Tiṣya: the sixth or eighth asterism (Sanskrit, Rig Vedic, CDIAL 5838); name of former and future Buddhas and of various disciples and kings (Sanskrit, CDIAL 5838); the name of a heavenly archer and of the sixth asterism of the old order or the eighth asterism of the new order, i.e., Puṣya; name of people born under the asterism, auspicious, fortunate (Sanskrit, Monier Williams)
Tal	palmyra palm (Sinhala); Tāla, Tāḍa: palmyra palm (Sanskrit, Pali, CDIAL 5750, 5801); Tāḻ: palmyra palm (Kannada, DED 3180); Tāḷi: palmyra palm (Tulu, DED 3180); Tāḻu, Tāḍu: palmyra palm (Telugu, DED 3180); Tāṭi: palmyra palm (Telugu, Parji, Kuwi, DED 3180); Tāṟ: palmyra palm (Naikri, Parji, Gondi, Konda, Pengo, Kurux, DED 3180); Tālam, Tāḷi: palmyra palm (Tamil, Tivākaram, 4: 73); Tāḷi: Kitul (sugar) palm, Talipot palm (Tamil, Kāraikkāl Ammai, 2: 6; Kallāṭam 33: 3); Tāḻai: screw pine, coconut palm (Tamil, DED 3183); generic term for palm variety of trees coming from their hanging leaves, as in Maṭal-tāḻ-peṇṇai: palmyra palm of hanging leaves (Tamil, Caṅkam diction, Kuṟuntokai, 81: 4-7); Tāḻ: (verb) to fall low, flow down, hang down, be suspended (Tamil, DED 3178); Taḻai: (verb) to hang down, bow down (Tamil, DED 3178); (verb) to sprout, grow luxuriant as plants; (noun) bough with leaves, fan (Tamil, DED 3119); Tāṟi: plantain (Konda, Kui, Kuwi, DED 3181); Tāṟu: bunch, hanging bunch as of bananas, date, areca nuts etc. (Tamil, DED 3189). Note the Ḻ, Ḷ, L, Ṭ, Ḍ, Ṟ variations in the above languages and the presence of the verb form in Tamil.

Ārāma in Sinhala is commonly understood as a Buddhist monastery attached with a Buddhist place of worship. This meaning derives from the practice of Buddhist monks residing in groves in the times of Buddha and later. A grove, orchard, park or flower garden was the original meaning, and more originally the meaning was mental delight. Even in Sinhala, “Sita elvīma” and “Sita alavana tẹna” are the primary meanings given to the word by Sorata Thera.

Ārāmam was a term found used in post-Caṅkam Tamil too, in the meaning of a grove attached to a Buddhist place of worship, as could be noted in the Tamil Buddhist epic Maṇimēkalai (3: 31-32). There was also another term Aṟavi used in the same literature to mean a public resting place (17: 77-78). In an old Tamil lexicon Ārāmam is a grove attached to a hill (Piṅkalam, 9: 193).

In Sanskrit, Ārāma originally meant delight, pleasure etc., (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, Taittirīya Upanishad); Āramaṇa was delight and resting place (Lexicons) and the verb forms Āram and Āramati meant to pause, stop etc. (Aitareya Brahmaṇa) and to delight in (Manu). The grove meaning is found in later literature.

The Ārāma/ Ārāmam usages in Sinhala and Tamil are obviously in Indo-Aryan form. However, looking into etymology, Dravidian has the verb roots such as Āṟu in Tamil with cognates in 14 other Dravidian languages (DED 404); Roma/ Romāna in Gondi and Rōmb in Konda (DED 5178), all basically meaning to relax, rest or repose.

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Arama and Araṁba in Sinhala are equated to Ārāma. But in usage, Araṁba doesn’t have the Buddhist monastic connotation. Araṁba seems to be meaning only a grove or forest (Clough, Sorata), and in some instances it specifically means a plantation or grove of areca nut palms (Codrington).

See box above and earlier columns for discussion on the Dravidian etymology of Tal meaning palmyra palm in Sinhala.

See box above for citations tracing the personal name Tissa to Tiṣya in Sanskrit meaning the Puṣya asterism or people born in that asterism. However, looking at the number of persons having the name in the early Brahmi records and in Pali literature, it seems the name was applied to people, as it was also the term for former and future Buddhas, and also had the meaning, auspicious or fortunate.

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Tissa-mahārāma is a Buddhist centre of historical antiquity and is the headquarters of a division by its name in Hambantota district.

Arama is a place in Aranayaka division of Kegalle district.

Tal-araṁba is in Weligama division of Matara district.

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Some related place names:

Ārāma:

Khettārāma: The monastic grove of the sacred place; Colombo, Colombo. Khetta: Kṣētra

Saňghārāma: The monastic grove of the Buddhist Sangha; Homagama, Colombo

Nandārāma: The monastic grove named after Nanda; Dompe, Gampaha

Aśōkārāmaya: The monastic grove named after Aśōka; Nuwaragam Palatha, Anuradhapura

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Arama:

Aramaň-goḍa: The bank/ hill/ village of the monastic grove; Mahara, Gampaha

Aḷuttarama: The new monastic grove; Mahiyanganaya, Badulla

Sittarama: The monastic grove of mental delight; Thanamalvila, Moneragala

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Araṁba:

Val-araṁba: The grove or plantation in the forest; Dompe, Gampaha

Mẹṭaraṁba: The clayey grove; Akmeemana, Galle

Maharaṁba: The big grove; Habaraduwa, Galle

Māraṁba: The big grove; Akuressa, Matara

Gōnāraṁba: The elk grove; Ruwanwella, Kegalle

First published: Thursday, 04 August 2016, 16:17