Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.63

c7.63

Household work was done by the women on the inside verandah; here they pounded rice and kurakkan, and wove their mats. One room was set apart as a kitchen. A granary (*atuva*) was built up on stone pillars as a protection against white ants, on the inner verandah, or formed a separate building outside. The house could be enlarged by the addition of other courtyards surrounded by their own set of rooms, and in this way there often grew up quite a large house, consisting of several associated but independent parts, occupied by the families of near relations or of married sons or daughters. This is, of course, a feature of the well-known joint family system.