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වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර
The Pilgrim Party at Our House
Wandana Nade Ape Gedara
At dusk in Anuradhapura a bus of pilgrims from far away stops at our gate, the mats go down in a row on the verandah, and Achchi keeps saying eat a bit more. At dawn Seeya walks in front with the lantern and the granddaughter carries the basket of flowers.
Lyrics
Chorus
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
ආච්චිගේ බත් කෑවා, ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ නිදාගත්තාAchchige bath kaawa, isthoppuwe nidagaththaThey ate Achchi's rice and slept on the verandah
සීයා කිව්වා සෑයේ කතාව, එයාලගේ භාෂාවෙන්මSeeya kiwwa saye kathawa, eyalage bhashawenmaSeeya told the stupa's story, in their own language
"සාදු!" කියලා අපේ මිදුලේ හඬ ගියා"Sadhu!" kiyala ape midule handa giya"Sadhu!" rang out across our yard
අනුරාධපුරේ, අපේ ගෙදරAnuradhapure, ape gedaraIn Anuradhapura, at our house
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
Verse 1
හවස අඳුර වැටෙද්දී, ගේට්ටුව ළඟ බස් එකHawasa andura wateddi, gettuwa langa bus ekaAs dusk fell, the bus at the gate
ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ පැදුරු දාලා, පේළියටIsthoppuwe paduru dala, peliyataMats laid on the verandah, in a row
ආච්චි බත් බෙදනවා, "තව ටිකක් කන්න"Achchi bath bedanawa, "thawa tikak kanna"Achchi serves rice, "eat a bit more"
එයාලා අත් එකතු කරලා "සාදු", මම හිනාEyala ath ekathu karala "sadhu", mama hinaThey fold their hands, "sadhu", and I laugh
Before the chorus
පාන්දර සීයා ඉස්සරහින්, අතේ ලාම්පුවPandara Seeya issarahin, athe lampuwaAt dawn Seeya walks in front, lantern in hand
මල් වට්ටිය මගේ අතේ, පිටිපස්සෙන් ඔක්කොමMal wattiya mage athe, pitipassen okkomaThe flower basket in my hands, everyone behind us
සෑය ළඟ සීයා කතාව කිව්වා, හෙමින්Saya langa Seeya kathawa kiwwa, heminAt the stupa Seeya told the story, slowly
හැමෝම නිශ්ශබ්ද වුණා, ඊට පස්සේ "සාදු!"Hamoma nishshabda wuna, eeta passe "Sadhu!"Everyone went quiet, and then "sadhu!"
Chorus
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
ආච්චිගේ බත් කෑවා, ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ නිදාගත්තාAchchige bath kaawa, isthoppuwe nidagaththaThey ate Achchi's rice and slept on the verandah
සීයා කිව්වා සෑයේ කතාව, එයාලගේ භාෂාවෙන්මSeeya kiwwa saye kathawa, eyalage bhashawenmaSeeya told the stupa's story, in their own language
"සාදු!" කියලා අපේ මිදුලේ හඬ ගියා"Sadhu!" kiyala ape midule handa giya"Sadhu!" rang out across our yard
අනුරාධපුරේ, අපේ ගෙදරAnuradhapure, ape gedaraIn Anuradhapura, at our house
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
Chant
සාදු!Sadhu!Sadhu!
අපේ ගෙදර!Ape gedara!Our house!
අනුරාධපුරේ!Anuradhapure!Anuradhapura!
ආයෙත් එන්න!Aayeth enna!Come again!
Verse 2
මාසෙකට පස්සේ, ඈත රටකින් ෆොටෝ එකක්Masekata passe, aatha ratakin photo ekakA month later, a photo from a far country
අපේ ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ ඔක්කොම, ආච්චි මැද්දේApe isthoppuwe okkoma, Achchi maddeAll of them on our verandah, Achchi in the middle
සීයා බැලුවා, "මගේ කතාව අහපු අය"Seeya baluwa, "mage kathawa ahapu aya"Seeya looked: "the ones who heard my story"
ආච්චි කෑ ගැහුවා, "ආයෙත් එන්න කියන්න!"Achchi ka gahuwa, "aayeth enna kiyanna!"Achchi shouted, "tell them to come again!"
Before the chorus
පාන්දර සීයා ඉස්සරහින්, අතේ ලාම්පුවPandara Seeya issarahin, athe lampuwaAt dawn Seeya walks in front, lantern in hand
මල් වට්ටිය මගේ අතේ, පිටිපස්සෙන් ඔක්කොමMal wattiya mage athe, pitipassen okkomaThe flower basket in my hands, everyone behind us
සෑය ළඟ සීයා කතාව කිව්වා, හෙමින්Saya langa Seeya kathawa kiwwa, heminAt the stupa Seeya told the story, slowly
හැමෝම නිශ්ශබ්ද වුණා, ඊට පස්සේ "සාදු!"Hamoma nishshabda wuna, eeta passe "Sadhu!"Everyone went quiet, and then "sadhu!"
Chorus
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
ආච්චිගේ බත් කෑවා, ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ නිදාගත්තාAchchige bath kaawa, isthoppuwe nidagaththaThey ate Achchi's rice and slept on the verandah
සීයා කිව්වා සෑයේ කතාව, එයාලගේ භාෂාවෙන්මSeeya kiwwa saye kathawa, eyalage bhashawenmaSeeya told the stupa's story, in their own language
"සාදු!" කියලා අපේ මිදුලේ හඬ ගියා"Sadhu!" kiyala ape midule handa giya"Sadhu!" rang out across our yard
අනුරාධපුරේ, අපේ ගෙදරAnuradhapure, ape gedaraIn Anuradhapura, at our house
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
Bridge
කලින් සීයගේ ලාම්පුව එළිය දුන්නේKalin Seeyage lampuwa eliya dunneSeeya's lantern used to light
අපේ ළිඳ ළඟට යන පාරට විතරයිApe linda langata yana parata witharaiOnly the path to our well
අද ඒ ලාම්පුව පාන්දර ඉස්සරහින්Ada e lampuwa pandara issarahinToday that lantern walks in front at dawn
ලෝකෙ ගෙනියනවා සෑය ළඟටLoke geniyanawa saya langataTaking the world to the stupa
Chorus
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා! (නැවතුණා!)Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna! (nawathuna!)The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
ආච්චිගේ බත් කෑවා, ඉස්තෝප්පුවේ නිදාගත්තාAchchige bath kaawa, isthoppuwe nidagaththaThey ate Achchi's rice and slept on the verandah
සීයා කිව්වා සෑයේ කතාව, එයාලගේ භාෂාවෙන්මSeeya kiwwa saye kathawa, eyalage bhashawenmaSeeya told the stupa's story, in their own language
"සාදු!" කියලා අපේ මිදුලේ හඬ ගියා"Sadhu!" kiyala ape midule handa giya"Sadhu!" rang out across our yard
අනුරාධපුරේ, අපේ ගෙදර (අපේ ගෙදර!)Anuradhapure, ape gedara (ape gedara!)In Anuradhapura, at our house
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදර නැවතුණා!Wandana nade ape gedara nawathuna!The pilgrim party stayed at our house!
Outro
වන්දනා නඩේ අපේ ගෙදරWandana nade ape gedaraThe pilgrim party at our house
සාදු! ආයෙත් එන්න.Sadhu! Aayeth enna.Sadhu! Come again
From the book
- Idea 484Anuradhapura: a pilgrim city with lodging, food and interpretation to match its sacredness
- Cluster 26The cities, one idea each
The book behind the songs
Every song here is sung from inside one moment: the day someone in Sri Lanka has already done one of the book's 500 ideas, and the family is celebrating.
This song is a story about one idea from the book Why Not Sri Lanka. It promises nothing. No real person or business is shown in it. The book's ideas belong to whoever builds them. Music and vocals created with Suno from original lyrics written for this channel. The pictures in the songs are made with AI too.
© 2026 Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. Lyrics, music recordings, films and pictures. All rights reserved. Please do not re-upload or reuse these songs; to use one, get in touch through whynotsrilanka.com.