Know the Etymology: 442
Place Name of the Day: Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Ang-ke'li-pitiya

அங்கெளி-பி[ட்]டிய
Aṅkeḷi-piṭiya

Ang+ke'li+pitiya

The high-ground plain for playing the hook-tugging ritual game

Angke'liya	Ang-ke'liya: literally meaning “the horn-game” (Sinhala); a traditional game, similar to tug-of-war, ritually played to propitiate Goddess Pattini (Ka'n'naki). Antler horns or similar hooks of wood attached to ropes are interlocked and tugged between two parties of a village; Kompu-vi'laiyaaddu: the same ritual game played especially in Batticaloa (Eezham Tamil). See column on Karaiyaakkan-theevu for further discussion on the game.
Ang	(plural), Anga, Hanga: (singular) horn (Sinhala); Srnga: horn (Sanskrit, Rig Vedic, CDIAL 12583); Singa: horn (Pali, CDIAL 12583)
Ke'li	also Keli: play, sport, pastime, amusement, pleasure (Sinhala); Ka'li: (verb) to rejoice, to be intoxicated (Tamil, DED 1374); Ka'li, Ka'lippu: (noun) delight, intoxication (Tamil, DED 1374); play, game, jest, joy, entertainment (Malayalam, DED 1374); Ka'li: play (Kodagu, DED 1374); Ka'l: toddy (Tamil, Malayalam, Kodagu, Kannada, DED 1374); Ka'li: toddy, liquor (Tulu, DED 1374); cognates in 12 Dravidian languages; Kalya: spirituous liquor (Sanskrit, lexicons, Dravidian origin noted, CDIAL 2950)
Pitiya	plain tract of ground (Sinhala, Clough); Piti: found as a place name component in Brahmi inscriptions of the island (Early Brahmi Inscriptions 1218); grassland, “Ta’na-bima,” backside, outside (Sinhala, Sorata, for the latter shade of meaning see column on Pita-kotte); Piti = Pittaniya: vacant land without trees, “Vrkshalanaadiya næti his bima” (spoken Sinhala, Sorata); Piddi, Puddi: a wasteland usually a high ground; a waste mound or dune land, a plain coastal high ground (Eezham Tamil and place names); Puti, Putti: (Old Dhivehi/ Maldivian, Isdhoo Loamaafaanu copper plates, 1195-1196 CE); = Fushi, Futtaa, Huttaa: small island, minor island, island formed with stones and pebbles, unproductive island (Divehi/ Maldivian, Dhivehi Bas Foiy dictionary); 1. Peedu: waste, uncultivated land (Tamil, DED 4219); Beedu: waste, uncultivated land (Kannada, Telugu, DED 4219); waste, useless (Telugu, DED 4219); Bedda-ceanu: a dry land, a waste uncultivated land (Telugu inscriptions, DED 4219); Vidu-nilam: barren land (Tamil, Akanaa:no’ru, 321: 8); Poddal: baldness (Tamil, DED 4387); Poddal-ve’li: barren open land (Tamil); 2. Paddai: flatness (Tamil, DED 3878); Paddam: flat or level surface of anything (Tamil, DED 3878), Pat: flatness (Kota, DED 3878); Ma’na-patti: sandbank (Kodagu, DED 3878); 3. Peetha: stool, bench (Sanskrit, CDIAL 8222, Non-Aryan origin suggested); Peedilikai: a waste high ground (Tamil, inscriptions, 550 CE, TASSI, 1958-59 pp. 41-83); Pudai: (verb) to swell, puff up; (noun) bulkiness, protuberance (Tamil, DED 4253);

Ang-ke'liya in Sinhala and Kompu-vi'laiyaaddu in Eezham Tamil mean the same ritual game, played by an entire village to invoke the blessings of Goddess Pattini (Ka'n'naki in Tamil). However, the attributes and structural meaning of the game show its origins from a pastoral culture synthesized with the cult of Pattini. See column on Karaiyaakkan-theevu for further discussions.

The game is like a tug-of-war, played by a village divided into two sides, at an open ground assigned for the purpose.

Some villages were known for playing the game in a grand way. The village Ang-ke'li-pitiya, literally meaning “the high-ground plain for the Ang-ke'liya game,” has gained the identity from the presence of a ground in the village that was popular for the performance of the game.

A similar Tamil place name, Kompuch-chanthi (the junction locality where Kompu-vi'laiyaaddu use to take place), could be found at Ka'luthaava'lai in Batticaloa (V.C. Kanthaiya, p.13).

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The phrase Ang-ke'li in Sinhala comes from two components, Ang meaning horn and Ke'li meaning play, as the game involves interlocking antler horns or similarly shaped wood in the tug-of war.

Ang, Anga and Hanga, meaning horn in Sinhala, are cognates of Singa in Pali and Srnga in Sanskrit meaning the same (CDIAL 12583).

Ke'li on the other hand is Dravidian, corresponding to Ka'li in Tamil, Malayalam and Kodagu, meaning rejoice, play, game, entertainment etc. (DED 1374). The Dravidian terms are also related to Ka'l meaning toddy and Ka'li meaning intoxication and delight.

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Angke'li-pitiya is a place in Pathahewaheta division of Kandy district

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First published: Tuesday, 19 January 2016, 19:29