Madura English–Sinhala Dictionary: Who Really Built It?

I still remember receiving my first English–Sinhala dictionary, a used Gunapala Malalasekara 1st edition published by M.D. Gunasena, priced at 45 rupees, originally belonged to my late father. It was 1997, the same year Wijeya Newspapers launched “පරිගණක” as a tabloid-style free supplement to ලංකාදීප, before turning it into a standalone paid magazine later. In its first issue, I noticed an advertisement for තිබස් (Thibus, meaning tri-lingual), a dictionary software developed by Science Land Information Technology Pvt Ltd. Three years later, in August 2000, I bought my first brand-new PC. Thibus fascinated me, yet it was financially out of reach, and piracy was not an option due to its hardware dongle protection system. Then, while wandering around Unity Plaza one day, I came across the Madura English–Sinhala Dictionary on CD, priced at Rs. 300.

So, what do Thibus and Madura really have in common? Much of the speculation points toward a single element—the database. Madura was released around 2002, if my memory serves me right. One day, during a casual chat with a friend who happens to be a friend of a member of the board of directors at Science Land Information Technology Pvt Ltd, I was told that the developer of the Madura English–Sinhala Dictionary had allegedly copied the database used in Thibus without authorization. According to him, Madura, the developer, had used a Microsoft Visual Basic script to copy the entire dataset. The claim is difficult to verify, but not impossible to imagine. At the time, Thibus was likely built using Microsoft Visual Basic and may have relied on an unencrypted Microsoft Access database. That possibility has stayed with me ever since, leading me to revisit the question many years later.

Disclaimer: This post explores the possibility that the developer may have used Thinus’s database to build the early editions of the Madura English Sinhala Dictionary instead of building the dataset from scratch. Nothing is claimed as fact; I’m simply examining the evidence. (I reached out to Mr. Madura Kulathunga to verify these claims, but I did not receive a response.)

Similarity in Content and Structure

One of the strongest reasons people who have used Thibus (including myself) suspect that the Madura Dictionary database may have been copied from Thibus English-Sinhala dictionary is the remarkable similarity in content, structure, and even spelling errors. Many entries in Madura appeared almost identical to those in Thibus, not just in their definitions or example sentences, but also in the way the entries are organized and formatted. What makes this especially striking are the repeated mistakes—certain English words are misspelled in the same way, and their Sinhala equivalents often have identical minor typos. It is extremely unlikely that two independent projects would reproduce the same errors at such a large scale, which makes it plausible that Madura may have directly reused the Thibus database rather than building it entirely from scratch.

Reference to Thibus on Wikipedia

Another reason people who have used Thibus raise questions is how the database is described on the Wikipedia page for the Madura English–Sinhala Dictionary. Instead of listing a typical database technology such as MySQL, Oracle, or Microsoft Access, the page simply mentions “Thibus” as the database. This is unusual, since software descriptions normally refer to the underlying technology rather than another product or application. The wording suggests that the data itself may have originated from Thibus. At the same time, it leaves open the possibility that, if such data were used, an agreement may have been reached later with Science Land Corporation, although no clear public evidence confirms this interpretation or claim conclusively in any official or reliable source available today.

Timing and Sequence of Releases

Another reason people who have used Thibus suspect that the Madura Dictionary database may have been copied from Thibus is the timing of their releases. Thibus was launched in the late 1990s, around 1998, while Madura Dictionary appeared a few years later, approximately in 2002. Creating a fully functional English–Sinhala dictionary from scratch is a massive undertaking, requiring years of compilation, verification, and formatting. The short gap between the two releases makes it seem unlikely that Madura could have independently completed such a comprehensive database in that period. This close timeline, combined with the sudden availability of a fully formed dictionary, naturally raises questions about whether the database may have been reused rather than developed entirely from the beginning.

Wrap Up

In the end, the origins of the Madura English–Sinhala Dictionary are not fully clear, and questions about how it was developed continue to raise debate among users, researchers, and industry observers. Today, it is widely used, highly valued, and continues to help countless Sinhala speakers learn, communicate, and understand English better than they ever could have imagined. At the same time, questions about its origin, particularly the possible connection to Thibus, remain unresolved and unclear, with no publicly verified confirmation anywhere. Similarities in content, structure, and timing, along with occasional recurring peculiarities and mentions in various online sources, raise points worthy of consideration. However, none of these alone provides absolute proof, leaving the evidence open to careful interpretation, analysis, and discussion among researchers, enthusiasts, and users alike.

If, however, the claims regarding the database prove to be accurate and legitimate, then the discussion must shift from speculation to proper acknowledgment and recognition of contributions. In that scenario, the role of Rohan Manamudali and Science Land Corporation becomes significantly more important than commonly understood. Not only did they develop Thibus, but they also laid the essential foundation that may have allowed the Madura Dictionary to exist, grow, and eventually reach a very wide user base across the country. Had legal action been taken to protect intellectual property rights, development might have stopped entirely, and the Madura dictionary could never have reached the public. Thibus, as an early Sinhala–English digital dictionary, has largely faded from active distribution in later years as the market shifted toward mobile and online platforms. If Madura copied the database from Thibus indeed, the actual credit should go to Science Land Information Technologies Pvt Ltd for its creation, survival, and lasting positive impact on all users.

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