Kothanaka Sitiyath Lyrics by HR Jothipala

Wherever you may be in this world,
may you live a long life.
Bring comfort and ease to your heart,
may you live a long life.
With the wedding ring kept safe on your hand,
may you live a long life…

Even if someone desired you as his own,
even if he saw you and pictured your beauty,
even if he thought of you and let the moment pass,
like Sirikatha (the goddess of fortune), may you live long…

Until you came, I waited all alone.
You arrived together with another.
The right to protect your life came to me,
pure woman, may you live a long life…

The tender lamp opened up to shine,
filling the dark house with light.
Guarding the life of your loving husband,
virtuous one, may you live a long life…

This is a blessing song, sung in the voice of a husband who wishes his wife a long, full life. There is no heartbreak or chase in it. Instead it reads like a quiet vow spoken over the person he loves, a prayer that wherever she is and whatever comes, she will be safe and live long. The phrase that carries the whole song, “digukal jeewath wennako,” simply means “may you live a long life,” and it returns at the end of every verse like a blessing repeated again and again.

The first verse sets the tone. He asks for nothing for himself, only that she find comfort in her own heart and keep the wedding ring safe on her hand. That ring is the small, everyday symbol of their marriage, and in a Sri Lankan home it stands for the whole bond between husband and wife. By naming it, he is really blessing the marriage itself.

The middle verses turn tender and a little protective. He admits that other men may have wanted her, may have looked at her and imagined her beauty, may even have thought of her and then let her go. He does not begrudge them this. He only wishes that, like Sirikatha, she lives long. Sirikatha is the goddess of prosperity and good fortune in Sri Lankan belief, the figure a household invokes for abundance and blessing, so comparing his wife to her is the highest honour he can give: she is the fortune of his home. He then tells the small story of how she came into his life, that he waited alone until she arrived, and that the duty of protecting her became his.

The last verse holds the most beautiful image in the song. He calls her a tender lamp that has opened to shine and filled a once dark house with light. In Sinhala homes the oil lamp is sacred, lit at dawn and at every blessing, and to call a woman the lamp of the house is to say she is the one who brings warmth, light and life to it. Closing on her as the lamp who guards her loving husband’s very life, the song lands where it began, as a soft and steady blessing, the kind a man gives the woman he is grateful to have found.