Legends

Legends

There are money legends connected with the betel leaf. There is a legend which says that the betel leaf was brought from the land of the nagas.

There is another legend about a person who had to provide betel to the palace. He had to prepare “seven chews” of betel for the king at different time of the day. He was an ordinary villager, and soon he came to be known by the job he was given, “Bulatha”.

He had to trudge a long distance over a hill to perform this duty. Legend says the Bulatha’s wife who brought his lunch everyday though of making a stone flight of steps as it would make her journey easier. Each day she carried two stone and laid them as steps. The hill with these manmade steps is still known as “gal padi hela”. Some say it was Bulatha who did the steps.

There is another legend about the making of the Soraborawewa by Bulatha. During his journey to the palace he is said to have brought loads of sand and rock to the place where the wewa is. He had succeeded in making a dam across the river, creating a lake.

The story of this lake reached the king too. The king decided to visit him at his work. He was praised by the king. Soraborawewa is one of the earliest hydrological constructions in our country. It is in Mahiyanganaya which is one of the earliest seats of civilization in Sri Lanka.

There are many folk tables and folk songs about the beauty of “Soraborawewa”. The stone sluice of Soraborawewa is considered a feat of engineering skill, unsurpassed. The people respected Bulatha and his wife for they had made the work of ordinary man easier. Now the villagers could climb the hill easily over the steps and use the water of the lake for their agriculture.

At a time when we talk so much about work and wages, it is important to remember that there were people who did good work and did not think of payment.