Language: Sinhalese
Source: Standard literature

Description

Vẹlpota is the Sinhalese term for a specific decorative motif that consists of a series of connected, identical floral elements.¹

Vẹlpota pattern as illustrated in Coomaraswamy in 1908.
Design taken from a lacquered staff.

Upper part of a lacquered staff.
From colored drawings by Ethel M. Coomaraswamy.

The above image shows two sections of Sinhalese lacquered staffs. The decorative motifs are as follows:

A. Vẹlpota or pāhaḍe vẹlpota
B. Ādāra-koṇḍu
C. Gal-bindu or mori binduva
D. Kola vẹla ("leafy branch") or kaḷas-dangaya
E. Pāhaḍe or palā peti
F. Lanu-dangaya
G. Patura
H. Bō-kola ("bō-leaf")
K. Binduva or tani binduva ²

Notes
1. See Ananda K. Coomaraswamy; Medieaval Sinhalese Art, Pantheon Books, New York, Second Edition of the 1908 original, 1956. Page 216-217.
2. Ibid. Explanation of plate XXIV.