Senkottan by Mahinda Prasad Masimbula: Summary, Characters, Caste Themes, Awards and Where to Buy

Last checked: 7 November 2026

Senkottan (සෙංකොට්ටං) is the debut novel by Mahinda Prasad Masimbula (මහින්ද ප්‍රසාද් මස්ඉඹුල), published by Santhawa Prakashana. Set in Ridivita, a village in the Ratnapura District of Sabaragamuwa, the book follows a family placed at the bottom of a caste hierarchy and the relentless social pressures that shape their lives eight decades into the past. The novel won the 2013 State Literary Award for best Sinhala novel, and its English translation by Malinda Seneviratne received the 2019–2020 H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation. This page covers the author's path, a spoiler-light summary, the named characters, how the book treats caste, the awards it has received, and where to buy the Sinhala and English print editions.

Who wrote Senkottan?

Mahinda Prasad Masimbula comes from the village of Masimbula in Godakawela, Ratnapura District. In a 6 October 2013 interview published under the title "The story of the amazing scent," he described arriving in Colombo in 1999 at the age of nineteen to work in teledrama production. He started in minor crew roles and moved into assistant directing, contributing to series including Sakwalihiniyo, Depath Nai, Ridee Ittankaraya and Swayanjatha. He later wrote scripts for Pini Wessa and Ahasin Wetuna Geheniyak.

Before turning to fiction, Masimbula published the poetry collection Hiruth Hima Piyallaka in 2010. That collection won the 2011 State Literary Award for best poetry collection. Senkottan is his first novel, emerging from approximately nine years of research he had originally begun for a teledrama script. He read newspapers and books from the 1930s and spoke with older people to gather details of Sabaragamuwa speech patterns and daily life from roughly 1920 to 1940.

His surname appears as Masimbulla in the 3 October 2013 Daily Mirror report on the State Literary Awards ceremony; that spelling is a newspaper variant, while Grantha and other book trade sources use Masimbula.

What is Senkottan about?

The novel is set in Ridivita (රිදීවිට), a village in the Ratnapura District. According to Grantha's product description, it looks back about eight decades from the time of publication and centres on a household of people placed at the bottom of the local caste system. The family includes Veerappuli Henaya (වීරප්පුලි හේනයා) and his wife Malma Ridee (මල්මා රිදී); their older daughters Podina (පොඩිනා) and Heen Ridee (හීං රිදී); Podina's husband Nambu Henaya (නම්බු හේනයා); and eight-year-old Baba Henaya (බබා හේනයා).

Grantha's description notes that Baba is Podina's son by Anagihami (අනගිහාමි), a man from a higher caste, before Podina's marriage to Nambu. That fact is part of the story's starting situation rather than a late-revealed twist, and it places the household under a particular kind of scrutiny and pressure from the village.

In the 6 October 2013 interview, the author explained that Baba Henaya is a child of the Rada washer caste—people who washed clothes for higher-caste households in the fictional world of the novel. The book follows the household's day-to-day life and the weight of inherited social boundaries on each member, particularly the young boy.

Grantha's English listing includes a short sample in which Veerappuli appears with a sapling — a careful, sensory opening rather than a plot synopsis. Later turns are left for the book itself.

Characters and relationships

The following characters appear in the novel, drawn from Grantha's product description and the 6 October 2013 interview:

• Veerappuli Henaya (වීරප්පුලි හේනයා): Head of the household. The interview spelled his first name as Weerappuli, while Grantha's Sinhala and English pages use Veerappuli.
• Malma Ridee (මල්මා රිදී): Veerappuli's wife.
• Podina (පොඩිනා): Elder daughter of Veerappuli and Malma Ridee, mother of Baba Henaya, later married to Nambu Henaya.
• Heen Ridee (හීං රිදී): Another daughter.
• Nambu Henaya (නම්බු හේනයා): Podina's husband.
• Baba Henaya (බබා හේනයා): Eight-year-old boy, Podina's son by Anagihami, central child character.
• Anagihami (අනගිහාමි): Higher-caste man, Baba's biological father.
• Guna Ralahami: A higher-caste friend of Veerappuli who holds leftist ideas, mentioned in the 6 October 2013 interview.

A Grantha sample passage also refers to Wansa Ridee (වංසා රිදී) as a kiriamma — a wet-nurse or nanny figure — from Magallawatta. The 2013 interview called Wansa Ridee Baba's grandmother, but Grantha's family list names Veerappuli's wife as Malma Ridee. The two names are not merged here; they may be different people, or the interviewer may have used grandmother loosely.

Caste themes in Senkottan

The novel examines how one household, described in Grantha's product note as people placed at the bottom of a caste hierarchy, lives under social pressure. In the 6 October 2013 interview, Masimbula said Baba Henaya belongs to the Rada washer caste — in the period the book explores, people who washed clothes for higher-caste households. He gathered that world from 1930s newspapers and books and from conversations with people, and he wanted a dialect close to Sabaragamuwa speech of about 1920 to 1940.

Baba's parentage — Podina and the higher-caste Anagihami — is part of the book's opening situation, and Grantha's note places that household under particular scrutiny. Guna Ralahami, named in the interview as a higher-caste friend of Veerappuli who holds leftist ideas, shows that political conversation exists around the family. The novel's attention stays on the household rather than on a lecture about caste in general.

This page describes the fictional world of the book, using the author's interview and the publisher's trade copy. It does not generalise about caste communities in Sri Lanka today.

Awards and recognition

Senkottan has received more than one prize. The source for each claim is named below, because retailer badges are not all equally reliable.

2013 State Literary Award for best Sinhala novel

This is the most thoroughly documented award. A Daily Mirror report published on 3 October 2013 under the headline "Awards aplenty at a great literary evening - State Literary Awards 2013" lists Mahinda Prasad Masimbulla (the newspaper's spelling of the surname) as the recipient of the prize for best Sinhala novel for Senkottan. The ceremony took place in 2013.

Godage Literary Award and Vidyodaya Literary Award

In the 6 October 2013 interview, the author stated that Senkottan had won both the Godage Literary Award and the Vidyodaya Literary Award. Those two prizes are attributed here to that contemporaneous interview rather than to a separate ceremony news report of the same kind as the Daily Mirror State Literary Awards piece.

Swarna Pusthaka Award shortlist

The 6 October 2013 interview states that Senkottan was short-listed for the Swarna Pusthaka finals. Some online retailer pages stack "Swarna Pusthaka 2013" in product headings in a way that might suggest a win, but the interview describes a shortlist or final-round nomination, not a win. Grantha's Swarna Pusthaka series pages include both nominated and awarded titles, so a listing there does not by itself confirm victory. This article treats the Swarna Pusthaka as a nomination or shortlist rather than an award won.

H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation, 2019–2020

The English translation by Malinda Seneviratne, titled The Indelible (Senkottan), won the 2019–2020 H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize for Literary Translation. This prize is administered by the Gratiaen Trust, and the award is listed on the Gratiaen Trust's Goonetileke Prize page. Katha's English edition listing also notes the 2020 Goonetileke Prize. This is a prize for the translation rather than for the original Sinhala novel, recognising Seneviratne's work in rendering the book into English.

Publication year

Secondary catalogues and some retailer listings give 2012 as the publication year, but a publisher colophon was not independently inspected for this article. The book is Masimbula's debut novel and had received major recognition by October 2013. Readers seeking a confirmed first-print year should check the colophon of a physical copy.

Editions, ISBNs, page counts and prices

Both the Sinhala original and the English translation are in print and available from Sri Lankan book retailers. The following table shows edition details and prices as snapshots taken on 7 November 2026. Prices, stock status and discounts can change; readers should confirm current figures at checkout.

The Santhawa.lk product page displayed a placeholder ISBN (000-000-0000-00-0) and listed 162 pages, which appear to be copied from the Sinhala edition. The correct ISBN for the English translation, confirmed by Grantha and Katha, is 9786245594214, and the page count is 183.

Where to buy Senkottan in Sri Lanka

Readers can buy the Sinhala and English editions of Senkottan from the following retailers:

• **Grantha** stocks both the Sinhala and English editions. As of 7 November 2026, both were marked in stock, with the Sinhala edition priced at Rs 800 and the English at Rs 1,350.
• **Katha** lists the English edition at Rs 1,020, but it was out of stock on 7 November 2026. Readers should check the site for restocking.
• **Santhawa**, the publisher's own shop, lists the English translation at Rs 960 and marked it in stock on 7 November 2026.

These shops list online checkout. Confirm current delivery fees and timelines at checkout, as terms can change.

Does Booxworm stock Senkottan?

Booxworm does not currently list Senkottan in either Sinhala or English. Readers who would like the shop to stock the book can ask through the Suggest a Book page. The Sinhala literature collection is at https://booxworm.lk/collections/sinhala-books. A request is not a promise that the title will be obtained.

Booxworm is located at 12/2 Abhaya Para, Kolannawa, Colombo 09, and is open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 8 pm. For inquiries, call +94 11 722 8305. The shop's standard delivery policy, as stated on other product pages, is free delivery on orders from Rs 6,000 and a 2–5 working day delivery window for standard orders; confirm current terms at checkout.

Is there an ebook or PDF?

A licensed ebook or Kindle edition was not verified on the publisher or retailer pages used for this article. Readers searching for “senkottan pdf” will find that the copies confirmed here are print books. Prefer those named shops over unofficial files, which do not support the author, translator or publisher. For general guidance on legal digital reading options in Sinhala, see Booxworm's Sinhala book online reading guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is Senkottan about, without spoilers?

It is set in Ridivita, in the Ratnapura District, about eight decades earlier than the trade note. It follows Veerappuli Henaya, his wife Malma Ridee, their daughters Podina and Heen Ridee, Podina's husband Nambu Henaya, and eight-year-old Baba Henaya, Podina's son by the higher-caste Anagihami. The book looks at a household living under caste pressure; later events are left for the novel.

Who wrote Senkottan?

Mahinda Prasad Masimbula, from Masimbula in Godakawela, Ratnapura District. He went to Colombo in 1999, at nineteen, to work in teledrama. His 2010 poetry collection Hiruth Hima Piyallaka won the 2011 State Literary Award for best poetry collection. Senkottan is his debut novel, drawn from about nine years of research first begun for a teledrama script.

How do you spell the title and the author's name?

The Sinhala title is සෙංකොට්ටං, written in English as Senkottan. The author is මහින්ද ප්‍රසාද් මස්ඉඹුල / Mahinda Prasad Masimbula. The Daily Mirror's 2013 awards report used Masimbulla, a newspaper variant. The English translation by Malinda Seneviratne is titled The Indelible (Senkottan).

Did Senkottan win the State Literary Award?

Yes. The Daily Mirror report of 3 October 2013 records that Mahinda Prasad Masimbulla (the newspaper's spelling) received the 2013 State Literary Award for best Sinhala novel.

Did it win the Swarna Pusthaka Award?

Treat it as a shortlist, not a win. The 2013 interview says the book was short-listed for the Swarna Pusthaka finals. Some shop headings stack “Swarna Pusthaka 2013” as if it were a victory, and Grantha's Swarna series includes both nominated and awarded titles.

Is there an English translation?

Yes. Malinda Seneviratne's The Indelible (Senkottan) won the 2019–2020 H.A.I. Goonetileke Prize, listed by the Gratiaen Trust. The trade edition from Santhawa is ISBN 9786245594214, 183 pages.

Is Senkottan available as an ebook or PDF?

A licensed ebook was not verified on the publisher or retailer pages used for this article. The confirmed copies are print. For general Sinhala digital-reading options, see the Sinhala book online reading guide.

Where can I buy Senkottan in Sri Lanka? Does Booxworm stock it?

Booxworm did not list the title on 7 November 2026; you can ask via Suggest a Book. The same day's snapshots: Grantha had Sinhala at Rs 800 and English at Rs 1,350, both in stock; Katha listed English at Rs 1,020, out of stock; Santhawa listed English at Rs 960, in stock. Confirm live prices. See also the Sinhala books collection and buying books online in Sri Lanka.

For more legal reading options, see our guide to eBooks in Sri Lanka.