bmgn — Low Countries Historical Review | Volume 135-3-4 (2020) | pp. 106-132

Children Between Company and Church

Subject-Making in Dutch Colonial , c. 1650-1790

bente de leede

The position of children under the Dutch East India Company (voc) in Sri Lanka has been a hitherto fairly neglected subject in the historiography on the voc. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of focusing on children in colonial contexts during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially when analysing political rationalities of colonial power and religion. While the voc was an early modern mercantilist company, it sought to impose intellectual, moral and bodily discipline on the local population. The Company wanted to create subjects through education and the introduction of Protestant religion, explicitly targeting children. Why did an early modern mercantilist Company-state attempt to create loyal subjects? How was the Dutch Reformed Church involved in this process of subject-making in Sri Lanka, and what was the importance accorded to children? Using ordinances, visitation reports, minutes from church council meetings and school thombos (parish registers containing school data), I will show why children in eighteenth century Sri Lanka were targets of Dutch colonial subject-making.

De positie van kinderen onder de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (voc) in Sri Lanka is een tot nog toe weinig verkend perspectief in de historiografie over de voc. Recente studies over kinderen in de negentiende- en twintigste-eeuwse koloniale context hebben laten zien dat dit een belangrijk uitgangspunt is voor het bestuderen van de politieke visies achter koloniale en religieuze machtsstructuren. Hoewel ze een vroegmoderne, commerciële compagnie was, wilde ook de voc morele, intellectuele en lichamelijke discipline opleggen aan de lokale bevolking. Door het gebruik van educatie en het invoeren van de protestantse religie wilde de Compagnie hen omvormen tot loyale onderdanen, en zij richtte zich daarbij expliciet op kinderen. Waarom probeerde een vroegmoderne, mercantilistische

Published by Royal Netherlands Historical Society | knhg Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License doi: 10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10880 | www.bmgn-lchr.nl | e-issn 2211-2898 | print issn 0165-0505 de leede children between company and church 107

4 .2 (1750- the specific Dutch, Calvinist

, 4a.1-4, translation Samuel by Andrew 1760) section 141, in: Klaus Koschorke (ed.), (ed.), section in: Klaus Koschorke 141, 1760) of Consistory the of Minutes the of Summaries held in Colombo Church Reformed Dutch the (1735- Colombo Church, Wolvendaal the at 1797) zur William Mottau (2008). Webportal , 16 Christentumsgeschichte Außereuropäischen 2008,May http://www.aecg.evtheol.lmu.de/ 2019. on 31 May cms/index.php?id=20, accessed In this article, ‘Christianity’, ‘(Dutch) Reformed’ and ‘Protestantism’ as opposed Catholic Christianity, will be Roman to refer Nederduits to to interchangeably used Gereformeerd meeting of 29th May 1759’, 4a 1759’, May 29th meeting of denomination here. analysed Piet Emmer and Jos Gommans, rand de aan Rijk Nederland van geschiedenis De wereld: de van 1600-1800overzee (Amsterdam 2012). 3 4 2 – a curious fact, considering the Dutch’s initial interest in the region considering the Dutch’s – a curious fact, 3 ... see, that all possible attention is paid to the instruction is paid to ... see, attention that all possible the school-going of youth. 1 In and around eighteenth-century (then and now the largest city of Colombo Protestant, were said to attend Dutch, children around 14,000 local Sri Lanka), schools Compagnie-staat van ‘subject-making’ door een proces haar bevolking aan zich binden?te Hoe was de Nederduits dit in proces Gereformeerde betrokken Kerk in Sri Lanka, hierin belang en aan rol welk kinderen werd toebedeeld? en welke behulpMet van visitatierapporten, minuten van de Kerkenraadvergadering en dorpsregistersdie schooldata laat ik zienbevatten) ’ (kerkelijke ‘school thombos kinderenwaarom in het achttiende-eeuwse Sri Lanka het doelwitvan waren een Nederlands, disciplineringsbeleid. koloniaal was the trade in cinnamon. Like elsewhere in the aim to control and Like elsewhere in the trade in cinnamon. was in territorialisation ofmonopolise the spice trade had resulted the Dutch The state-like of character the Company’s (voc) power. East India Company’s through expressed through continuous acts ofAsia was warfare, presence in the diplomatic relations it forged on behalf of States General, the Dutch through taxation of as Sri Lanka, land and labour. in places such and, ), and part for this paper the of research In this article the Sri term Lanka to will be used as Lankadescribe the before island known 1972 the general to and Ceylon, as it contributes historiography on Sri Lanka. Geertje Mak,I am grateful Schrikker, Alicia to and the anonymous reviewers colleagues several for their valuable and insightful comments on earlier this article. of versions research My Council project the Dutch Research by is financed (nwo was conducted during an archival Sri trip to Lanka, partly University the Leiden sponsored by Fonds. the Special thanks to Walsem Fund/Van Consistory Church and the Christian Wolvendaal Sri of Lanka Church Reformed to for the access their archives. the Dutch Bronsveld to in a letter Reverend Sri Colombo, of Council Church Reformed from: ‘Extraordinary Cited Lanka, 1759. May 29 Introduction 2 1 article – artikel

Nevertheless, many indigenous children in coastal Sri Lanka experienced the colonial power of the voc in the first place through Christian village schools. To examine what the position of children in the Company’s policies and practices was, this article critically questions the role of the Protestant churches and schools as instruments of subject-making in Dutch colonial Sri Lanka. Children seldom take a central place in the historiography of the voc. There certainly are studies dedicated to the education, religion and family relations of Europeans and Asians in Company territory that relate to the lives of indigenous children: Gerrit Schutte’s overview of the Church in voc territories, Carla van Wamelen’s rich study on colonial family law in Indonesia and Gerrit Knaap’s Kruidnagelen en Christenen on the early history of the voc in the Moluccas are all useful to understand the institutional context of interactions between children and the voc.5 For the history of Protestant education in Dutch Sri Lanka, Jur van Goor’s dissertation from 1978 remains the most thorough study. He demonstrates that the Dutch Church and its educational initiatives became a vehicle for the voc to control local powerholders, and through them, the population. These studies, however, do not foreground indigenous children as historical actors or political targets.6 Moreover, historiography of the Dutch colonial context that does deal with children and youth mainly focuses on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Recent research on children’s education – for example, by Kirsten Kamphuis and Maaike Derksen – has examined the ideologies and practices of the twentieth-century Dutch colonial government, as well as Protestant and Catholic missions in the Indonesian archipelago.7 These civilising missions were aimed at educating children to transform them into modern subjects, and through them, the rest of the community. Rooted in late-nineteenth-century ‘ethical policies’ and ‘humanitarian missions’, schools and churches were operating fields of the colonial state. The Dutch colonial government used education and religion, as Bloembergen and Raben have shown, as instruments with

5 Gerrit Jan Schutte (ed.), Het Indisch Sion: De 7 Kirsten Kamphuis, ‘Giving for Girls: Reconsidering Gereformeerde kerk onder de Verenigde Oost- Colonial Civilizing Missions in the Dutch East Indische Compagnie (Hilversum 2003); Carla Indies through Charitable Girls’ Education’, van Wamelen, Family life onder de voc: Een New Global Studies 12:2 (2018) 217-234. handelscompagnie in huwelijks- en gezinszaken doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2018-0030; (Hilversum 2014); Gerrit Knaap, Kruidnagelen Maaike Derksen, ‘“On their Javanese sprout en christenen: De Verenigde Oostindische we need to graft the European civilisation.” Compagnie en de bevolking van Ambon 1656-1696. Fashioning local intermediaries in the Dutch Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Catholic mission, 1900-1942’, Tijdschrift voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 212 (Leiden 2004). Genderstudies 19:1 (2016) 29-55. doi: https://doi. 6 Jurrien van Goor, Jan Kompenie as Schoolmaster: org/10.5117/tvgn2016.1.derk. Dutch Education in Ceylon 1690-1795 (Groningen 1978). de leede children between company and church 109

12 In his work 9 11 : https://doi. : https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10871. 135:3/4 (2020) 135:3/4 Review Historical Countries – Low 43 (1995) 191-220, 193. doi 191-220, 193. (1995) 43 Colonial power in Sri Lanka had been Colonial power in Sri 6-9, doi 11-15. bmgn org/10.2307/466631. Governmentality’,Scott, ‘Colonial 191, 202-207, 210-214. Governmentality’,Scott, ‘Colonial 197. 193, David Scott, ‘Colonial Governmentality’, Scott, ‘Colonial David Social Text 10 11 12 10 targeting the lives of a crucial was children

8 How does early modern Dutch rule in Sri Lanka relate to these concepts How does early modern Dutch This article examines how the activities of examines how the This article Reformed Dutch the of colonial power, governmentality and subject-making, which are designed which governmentality and subject-making, of power, colonial To during the late colonial period? practices’ ‘civilising to explain shifting deconstructs it Scott understand the rationality of British colonial power, at a ‘instruments’ by aiming achieved that is or objective, ‘object’, into an or instruments. of application’ ‘points through ‘target’ colonial power’s Church in Sri Lanka during the early modern period are related to these modern period are during the early in Sri Lanka Church and twentieth-centurynineteenth- in mission schools. civilising practices building on the work Wesseling, and Elisabeth Marit Monteiro Geertje Mak, this special issue introduce and others, Ann-Laura Stoler of Scott, David that with the central observation on colonial and post-colonial modernities, Scott observed that the British on colonial and post-colonial modernities, strategy of in the course of Lanka changed colonial rule in Sri the nineteenth political rationality’ ‘colonial strategy as a an intricate He defines such century. outcome of the intended that characterises colonial rule and shapes the outcome. this methods used to achieve When applying Scott’s analysis to the Company in early modern Asia it is clear to the Company in early modern analysis When applying Scott’s the voc in Sri Lanka had the mercantilist being a commercial enterprise, that, object of by extracting products through revenue from the island, gaining many of the the instruments Nevertheless, the labour of colonised bodies. education as registration, such Company enforced on the local population, for moral values introduced Sri Lankans to Dutch and marriage policies, Many interactions locals had with colonial power family life and childhood. characterised by mercantilism, enforcing discipline on colonised bodies to enforcing by mercantilism, characterised what Scott calls This rationality shifted in the 1830s to attain economic profit. to internalise the population governmentality’:the British wanted ‘colonial moral and and introduced new intellectual, they imposed, the behaviour The objective of this particular subject- cultural repertoires to attain that goal. but to transform them. not to extract labour from the colonised, making was that colonial order would not the British projected Through reshaping society, but rather be self-regulated by the subjects. to be enforced, have which to win and keep the loyalty of the archipelago’s populations in the in the populations of the loyalty and keep to win which archipelago’s the period. late colonial strategy in the subject-making process ofstrategy in the subject-making states. modern colonial Marieke Bloembergen and Remco Raben BloembergenMarieke (eds.), and Remco naar Wegen beschavingsoffensief: Het koloniale van 1890-1950 Indië, . Verhandelingen het nieuwe Land-het Koninklijk Instituut en Taal-, voor 2009) (Leiden 265 4, 11-12. Volkenkunde Geertje Mak, and Elisabeth Marit Monteiro Policies Separation. ‘Child (Post)Colonial Wesseling, and Practices in the Netherlands and Belgium’, 9 8 article – artikel

 Figure 1: This aquarelle by Jan Brandes contains a rare contemporary, European depiction of indigenous children in Dutch Sri Lanka (see the detail) amongst a group of Sinhalese women and soldiers. The children appear to be playing or drawing in the grass. On the left, a house with a palm-leave roof is depicted, a type of building that was among others used for schools. This aquarelle appears to be a casual observation, especially with the detail of the children, but the scene could also be a fictional combination of several sketches and moments. Brandes was a Dutch, Lutheran minister who travelled colonial Sri Lanka, Indonesia and South , during which he drew many animals and plants. He also sketched in situ observations of his everyday life, depicting a variety of both European and Sinhalese customs, street scenes and dress styles, offering rather unique eighteenth-century snapshots of Sri Lanka from a European perspective. Similar to historiography, in this aquarelle Sri Lankan children are visible, but only in the periphery. ­Without omitting the context of the full aquarelle, the cut-out detail invites us to zoom in on these children, much like this article does. Centralising colonised children in colonial histories offers new insights and perspectives on familiar stories and images.13

13 Jan Brandes, Lascorijns of Singalese soldaten op © Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, ng-1985-7- Ceylon, 1785-1786 (no title), from the first part of 1-2. http://hdl.handle.net/10934/rm0001. the sketchbook of Jan Brandes (1808) page 3. collect.131429. de leede children between company and church 111 , 15 ori and demonstrates, demonstrates, 14 Mak, Monteiro and Wesseling, ‘Child Separation’, ‘Child Mak, and Wesseling, Monteiro 9. 2, 5-7, ‘Child Mak, and Wesseling, Monteiro Separation’, 7. 15 16 16 : https://doi. As there is no precedent for the study of children in the early modern As there is no precedent for the study of the early modern in children Education and religion are in the colonial context often associatedthe colonial context and religion are in Education targeted children, and how the enforcement of Reformed moral voc targeted children, ori, and the Question of of Question the and ori, - symbolising the synthesis ofsymbolising the synthesis hard and soft colonial power. and Monteiro introduced by Mak, the approach colonial context, Dutch combined with the work of into an serves as an inroad Wesseling, Scott, and the Company-state. Church analysis of the relation between children, established in the the churches In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, of in Europe, colonies were overseas branches Reformed Church the Dutch as such ‘missions’ Dutch placed under the regional board ofAmsterdam. Asia the early modern in Nonetheless, did not exist under Company rule. European moral repertoires enforced Christian, and schools Church Dutch and missions’ ‘colonial to the instruments of similar late Asian children, on an agent of Church’, ‘colonial this a Was British colonial governmentality. into colonial indigenous children colonial power intended to transform subjects? By focusing on the position of in village schools in children I seek to understand why Sri Lanka during the period 1650-1790, Dutch the learn in school? did the children What repertoires worked in practice. and did they attend? to attend school, get children How did schoolmasters Examining the political rationality of in the early modern subject-making in its the Protestant Church period will answer why the Company involved This analysis of the relations between the Company, policies and practices. in Sri Lanka period during the Dutch and the children the Church subsequently contributes to a wider understanding of and subject-making colonial interaction in practice. with ‘soft power’, as opposed to ‘hard power’ such as warfare and taxation. taxation. and as warfare such ‘hard power’ opposed to as power’, ‘soft with Ballantyne between Mā on the interaction of the work Tony However, in nineteenth-centuryBritish missionaries New Zealand took place in the ‘operating fields’ of the schools and churches of ofchurches and the Dutch schools the fields’ ‘operating place in the took of application’, ‘points became children local Moreover, Church. Reformed then The question colonial power. by the voc’s targeted and were specifically object of the Company’s and targets support these instruments is: how could revenue? economic among others, that European and local actors in schools and churches could and churches actors in schools that European and local among others, of but were often also specifically carriers oppose colonial rule colonial modern life sexuality and family relating to the clothing, Missionary policies power. Late ofthe intimate sphere of far into the colonised reached local households. missions ‘colonial’ even be labelled as Christian colonial missions could org/10.1215/9780822375883. Entanglements of Empire: Empire: of Ballantyne, Entanglements Tony Ma Missionaries, (Durham Body doi the 2015).

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This article is set out in three parts, in which I analyse educational policies and practices, its disciplining function of children’s behaviour and family life, and the relation of the Church’s registration to the organisation of labour. In the first part I situate the Protestant schools in their Sri Lankan setting and discuss the Dutch regulations with regard to these schools. The primary sources used are a diverse set of, among others, minutes of church and school council meetings, and ordinances. Normative sources, such as the ordinances, present an idealised image, but they were responsive as well, as they were drafted in direct reaction to local cultural behaviour and moral repertoires the voc considered problematic. The terms ‘children’ or ‘youth’ in this article refer to people up to around twenty-five years old. In Dutch laws and reports by the voc and the Church these terms refer to this specific age group, regardless of marital or parental status. The second part analyses the school and the church as institutions and spaces to control and discipline behaviour of colonised subjects. Here, the role of Sri Lankan schoolmasters in Sri Lankan society and the Dutch colonial system is explored, specifically in their function as record keeper in the village. In this section, I particularly pay attention to the instruments the voc and the Church implemented, such as school attendance, fines, registration and the concept of illegitimacy, and the visitation by the minister which was also an opportunity to use these disciplining instruments. Mechanisms and strategies that children and their parents developed to cope with or counter these instruments, from acceptance to avoidance, will equally be examined. The third part of this article moves away from the school as a site of education. The relation between schools and the control of labour is analysed, shedding light on why the voc employed the Church, aside from the need to regulate moral behaviour. For boys, leaving school meant entering the labour force, on which the Company were greatly dependent. Among the sources used here are the school thombos, parish records that form a most unique set of sources which historians have thus far neglected.17 While at first sight these clerical records concern purely the spiritual work of ministers and schoolmasters, deconstructing and contextualising these sources will reveal different functions and new meanings. The main focus of my research is Colombo and its hinterland, where predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists lived. As of 1658, the voc, in alliance with the King of Kandy, defeated the Portuguese, who had conquered the western coasts of Sri Lanka. The King of Kandy ruled the kingdom in the centre of

17 Edmund Reimers’s 1950 introduction to the Schutte (Het Indisch Sion) and Van Goor (Jan school thombos, with some transcribed examples, Kompenie) refer to these registers too, there is is a useful start for further research: Edmund no detailed or quantitative research of them Reimers, The Dutch parish registers (school aside from my current PhD research Negotiating thombos) of Ceylon: Ambalangoda, Patabendimulla, Conversion and Family Relations in eighteenth Welitara and Gosgoda (Colombo 1950). While century Dutch Colonial Sri Lanka. de leede children between company and church 113 ), -Hana Indisch

Throughout the 19 182. /1, Documents in Civil Cases, inv. 4779 f. 79- f. 4779 /1, Cases, Documents in Civil inv. ) Visitation Report Galle and Colombo,

, , 561, 565, 574; Schutte, Het , 561, 565, 574; Plakkaatboek Sion Somaratna, ‘The Superficial of G.P.V. Success the Catholic of the and Reformation the Trials in Sri Lanka’, the of Journal (1658-1796) Church Seminary 92-95; 2 (2003) Theological Colombo slna 83; TheNationaal The Archief, Hague, (nl 1.04.02 Oostindische Compagnie Verenigde (voc 964-992. f. 2925 inv. 1758, Trinconomalee 21 and could, therefore, intersect with different therefore, and could, 21 The west coast of Sri Lanka was a hierarchical, caste-basedThe west coast of a hierarchical, Sri Lanka was 18 20 eighteenth century however, Catholic priests from Portuguese-Indian Goa Goa Catholic priests from Portuguese-Indian eighteenth century however, converting and serving new and remaining around the island, were travelling congregations. religious identities. While the Dutch demanded exclusive worship at their While the Dutch religious identities. the island and was of great spiritual importance to Sri Lankan Buddhists. of and was the island Buddhists. to Sri Lankan spiritual importance great of worshippers Hinduism, still, today and Buddhism, period, Dutch In the dominant group are The lived on the island. Roman Catholicism Islam and Tamil-speaking followed by the Sinhala, who speak Buddhists, the Sinhalese were divided into which ruled the coastal areas, mainly The Dutch minority. administrative left an extensive The Portuguese three Commandments. with administrative centres in the maintained, Dutch framework that the and cities of south and Jaffna in the north, Galle in the Colombo in the west, hinterland consisted The surrounding on the east coast. some separate forts and forests harbouring coconut plantations, of villages with paddy fields, to be the administrative centre, Colombo continued cinnamon and elephants. remaining records. currently keeps the most extensive ofand, the three cities, registration the key area of it was power, Dutch with its hinterland, Together and education. When the Dutch took over Portuguese rule, they feared that Catholic converts they feared that Catholic converts rule, took over Portuguese When the Dutch Buddhists to the King of and Sinhalese to the Portuguese, would remain loyal made responsible therefore, was, Reformed Church The zealous Dutch Kandy. and the voc prohibited churches, for spreading Protestantism and planting and practices. Buddhist and Roman Catholic worship society. Castes were connected to occupations and mandatory labour, such as such Castes were connected to occupations and mandatory labour, society. . Many castes also consisted ofserving in the military and peeling cinnamon Caste identities were not directly with its own specific task. each sub-castes, related to the religious system (Hilversum 1991) 352-353, (Hilversum 1991) 355, 369, 402- ) Lot 1: Archives of the Dutch Central the of Dutch Central 1: Archives ) Lot ii , 135. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van plakkaatboek: Ceylonees Hovy, Lodewijk het door uitgevaardigd wetten andere en Plakkaten 1638-1796 Ceylon, op . Part bestuur i Nederlandse and 403. The Sri Lankan (hereafterNational Archives slna Ceylon, 1640-1796 Coastal of Government (hereafter/1) Roman Declarations by allegiance of Ceylonees Hovy, 3192; Catholic priests (...), inv. Religion and education in practice in Dutch Sri Lanka Sri Lanka in practice in Dutch andeducation Religion 18 19 20 article – artikel

 Figure 2: Wolvendaal Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 17 January 2020. The church was built by the Dutch in 1749 and is currently still in use by the Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka, formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. While built on a hill just outside The Pettah – the neighbourhoods outside of Colombo Fort – the area around the church has urbanised throughout the centuries.22

22 Anonymisation by author. https://commons. 01_img01_Wolvendaal_Church.jpg, accessed on 6 wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SL_Colombo_asv2020- August 2020. © Alexander Savin, WikiCommons. de leede children between company and church 115 ) and teachers taught ) and teachers The Portuguese built The Portuguese 24 23 libr.1995.45.2.65; Ranavira Gunawardana, Robe libr.1995.45.2.65; in Interest Economic and Monasticism Plough: and 163-164; 1979) (Tucson Lanka Sri Medieval Early Jayaweera,Swarna ‘Schooling in Sri Lanka’, in: Asia in South Amita school Gupta to (ed.), Going 167-171. 2007)(Westport 167-194, and 142; , 115-116 Jan Kompenie Goor, Van Jayaweera, ‘Schooling in Sri Lanka’, 171-172; Somaratne, ‘Superficial 112. Success’, 25 had taught. These classes, held separately for These classes, had taught. became more defined, offering several levels of became more defined, 45:2 45:2 : https:// The school building resembled, for villagers, the familiar for villagers, building resembled, The school 25 The schools were managed by the Church and institutions called and institutions were managed by the Church The schools : https://doi.org/10.1515/ school councils, one in each Commandment. These councils, established in These councils, Commandment. one in each councils, school to the and reported elders, consisted of and church 1659, merchants voc council was The church Commander of the respective district. Company’s without whom important decisions dependent on a political commissioner, function of the Buddhist religious space, as Sunday church services were function of as Sunday church the Buddhist religious space, the building served as the place where the Additionally, conducted there too. voc announced and posted political ordinances. Catholic schools specifically for lay people too, often in the same villages specifically for lay people too, Catholic schools or even spaces the Bhikkhus but were taught Roman Catholicism and elementary reading boys and girls, teaching these places into schools transformed The Dutch attended sparsely. continuing the tradition of literacy and Reformed doctrines and texts, Dutch by the schools, The village inhabitants built and repaired religious education. order of voc. the churches, for Sri Lankans different religious repertoires could be combined. combined. could be repertoires religious different Lankans for Sri churches, of influence and political the cultural and Buddhism kingdom the Besides, of 2 million the estimated Nevertheless, of strong as well. Kandy remained in 1 million lived the early modern period, on the island in people living 300,000 of and under the Protestant these were registered territory, Dutch century. the eighteenth throughout Church education for monks and political and cultural elites. education for monks and political and cultural young monks and higher-caste lay boys to memorise religious doctrines, religious doctrines, lay boys to memorise young monks and higher-caste and on palm in several languages and write in the sand read Buddhist texts place often took elementary teaching Throughout the island, (olas). leaves century monasteries dedicated Around the eleventh in Buddhist temples. to education called piriven Before the European conquests, religion, power and education had already power and education had already religion, Before the European conquests, Buddhist monks (Bhikkhus Sri Lanka. been intertwined in (1995) 65-77, 66. doi 65-77, (1995) doi.org/10.4038/sljh.v42i1-2.7253; Tilak Kularatne, ‘Introduction Sri Lanka to Printing of (Ceylon): Libri (1736-1796)’, The in Ceylon Dutch Press 117 and 140. , 117 Jan Kompenie Goor, Van Chandra R. De Silva, ‘The Buddhist of Education in SriMonks Lanka: and Some A Historical Review the of Journal Suggestions Lanka Sri for Reform’, 42:1/2 doi (2019)Humanities 1-28, 5-7. Education in Sri Lanka in Sri Education

24 23 article – artikel

regarding church policies could not be made.26 The first instruction for school councils was published as early as 1663. All children of baptised parents – boys and girls – had to go to school. Younger children could be baptised based on their parents’ Confirmation, while older children were baptised only after memorising the Reformed doctrines in school. Children were required to attend school daily except on Sundays, preferably starting around the age of six years, until they were between twelve and fifteen years old. If children had two siblings or more, they were allowed to alternate their attendance. Older pupils, up to twenty years old, were expected to return to school twice a week for Catechism, where their knowledge and Christian lifestyle were tested.27 The elementary schools were built in the larger central villages and attended by children from the surrounding communities. Importantly, village schools were not envisioned to alienate children from their families, unlike educational policies geared towards child separation in later Dutch colonial history.28 In Dutch Sri Lanka children were rather seen as potential bearers of Christianity into their communities. The same rationality was part of the ordinances specifically ordering baptised headmen – the village elites – to send their children to school and attend church regularly. This order was not created to exclude lower classes, but to show the villagers the headmen’s example of allegiance to the voc.29 In 1704 there were 29 schools in Colombo district, growing to 46 in the course of the eighteenth century. In total there were around 140 Christian schools on the island during the Dutch period, with the number varying through the century.30 Schools could have up to three schoolmasters, depending on the number of pupils. Some schools were attended by over 250 children, while others saw less than a dozen pupils. It appears that not all schools were continuously in use, but eighteenth-century reports to the Governor-General and the Church in Amsterdam consistently mention a fluctuating number of over 12,000 children who were attending school in the area around Colombo, which corresponds to the approximate amount of children registered in the school thombos.31

26 In Dutch the Scholarchale Vergadering; Hovy, 28 Mak, Monteiro and Wesseling, ‘Child Separation’. Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 112-114, 133-137, 153; 29 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 112-114; slna/1, Kularatne, ‘Introduction of Printing’, 65-6; Instructions to the native headmen ca. 1790, inv. Sinnappah Arasaratnam, Ceylon and the Dutch, 2468 f. 9. 1600-1800: external influences and internal change 30 J.D. Palm, ‘The Education Establishments of the in early modern Sri Lanka (Aldershot 1996) 18. Dutch in Ceylon’, The Journal of the Ceylon Branch 27 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 112-114, 278-279; nl- of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1846) 105-116; Van Hana, voc, Visitation Report Colombo 1738, inv. Goor, Jan Kompenie, 125. 2445 f. 1282-1294; nl-Hana, voc, Visitation Report 31 nl-Hana, voc, inv. 2925, 964-992; Stadsarchief Colombo, Jaffna, Galle and Matara 1764, inv. 3201 Amsterdam (sa), Archief van de Nederlandse f. 886-890. Hervormde Kerk: Classis Amsterdam (Classis) Letter de leede children between company and church 117 , , voc )

32 -Hana inv. 2925 f. f. 2925 inv. :2/3 (2012 , voc, -Hana upanov, ‘“I Am a Great upanov, : https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209- . doi -446 See, for example: Ines Ž Sinner”: Jesuit Missionary in Southern Dialogues India (Sixteenth Economic the Century)’, of Journal Historyent Ori 55 the of Social and 415 12341241. J.D. Palm, ‘The Establishments’, Education 124-125; Hovy, nl , 464; Plakkaatboek Ceylonees Kularatne, ‘Introduction967; Printing’, of 66-67; , 83-86. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van inv. 2445 f. 1282-1294; nl 2445 1282-1294; f. inv. European missionaries and colonial European missionaries 33 34 35 35 , Sinhalese schoolmasters also had to focus on spelling and Sinhalese schoolmasters , Sion Indisch 34 inv. 203 f. 93; sa 93; f. 203 inv. 969; f. 2925 , inv. The widespread approach ofThe widespread approach the voc to education shows that Christian Inside the school building, schoolmasters, often indigenous men, men, indigenous often schoolmasters, building, the school Inside , voc , 107-122. , ‘Ordinary 24th meeting of -Hana , inv. 2445 f. 1282-1294; Van Goor, Jan Goor, Van 2445 1282-1294; f. , inv. schools in Sri Lanka were not only an extension ofschools but also local practices objective of creating Christian a clear implementation of the Company’s But how were these repertoires. subjects by enforcing Protestant intellectual able to shape village and were they educational standards imposed in practice, themselves three instruments that served these the schools Within life? led the church services and school classes. Fully ordained ministers, based ministers, Fully ordained classes. school and services church led the who or Sri Lankan men were either European or Galle, Jaffna in Colombo, Once a year Netherlands. training in the received their academic had mostly with a member ofthe hinterland district through travelled these ministers both students examining tour, – on a visitation – a Scholarch council the school attendance Required knowledge and progress. on their and schoolmasters in other voc were similar to those in the schools and the visitation system the content of as was the classes. the Moluccas in particular, territories, reading of the Sinhala script by using translated Dutch canonical texts, such as such reading of texts, canonical the Sinhala script by using translated Dutch instructive but also some Articles and the Catechism, Twelve the expected to sing psalms They were Sri Lankan children. texts geared towards introduced in Sri Lanka When a printing press was as well. with the children parts translations and Tamil the aforementioned Sinhalese and in the 1730s, among others in of and churches, were printed for use in schools the Bible of Little is known about methods below. shown book’ school ‘Sinhalese the but often schoolmasters before and besides these printed materials, teaching and continued traditional methods: writing in the sand seemed to have memorising doctrines using olas. churches often translated European Christian texts to educate local people on Christian texts to educate local often translated European churches their doctrines. The Dutch Church generally regarded education as the best instrument for education as the best instrument generally regarded Church The Dutch and Children were taught reading local people. and converting teaching Dutch Sinhala, Tamil, vernacular; in Sri Lanka this was writing in their own in the but the main goal of to instruct children was the schools or Portuguese, true faith’. ‘one fundamentals of the voc , 114. , Visitation report Galle 1758, inv. 204 f. 56-83; f. Visitation 204 report inv. Galle 1758, -Hana Ceylonees Ceylonees 88; Hovy, f. 203 inv. , 1710, , Classis nl , Classis Kompenie Knaap, Kruidnagelen Koschorke, Minutes ; nl 1760’ March sa Schutte, Het , 565-566; Plakkaatboek Somaratna,180, 184-185; ‘Superficial Success’, 112-113. , 1710, Classis the to Colombo from 33 32 article – artikel

particular purposes stand out: the schoolmaster, visitation and registration, and disciplining methods.

Subject-making in school The registering schoolmaster

Many studies point to the indigenous schoolmaster as a central figure throughout colonial empires in both the modern and early modern periods. Historians such as Felicity Jensz and Maaike Derksen have conceptualised schoolmasters as cultural intermediaries between local society and colonial state.36 The schoolmasters in Dutch Sri Lanka seem to have had a similar function. In 1720 there were around 150 local, Reformed schoolmasters in Sri Lanka; this number more than doubled over the next twenty years. These men of Sinhalese, Tamil or mixed background represented a large part of the Church’s Asian staff and largely outnumbered the European clerical staff.37 In Dutch-speaking seminaries established in Jaffna and Colombo, the Church trained Sri Lankan elite boys to become schoolmasters, church functionaries or other voc employees, such as translators and clerks. For children and their families, seminary education could consolidate their position within the community and the colonial government.38 The children attending the seminaries were to obtain ‘good manners’ and assimilate to Dutch culture, as opposed to the vernacular village schools. As Van Goor explains more extensively, the goal was to create a new class of Christianised elites and intermediaries.39 These seminaries prelude the functions of colonial mission schools: their pupils were not only agents in subject-making but also subjects in the making themselves. Schoolmasters were considered crucial to the Church, and highly valued if they ran successful schools. Whenever many children could read and recite the scriptures, the ministers credited the schoolmaster in their reports, and vice versa.40 To the Church and the voc, Sri Lankan schoolmasters

36 Felicity Jensz, ‘Non-European Teachers in Mission in mid-eighteenth-century Dutch Sri Lanka’, Schools: Introduction’, Itinerario 40:3 (2016) 391. in: Paul Puschmann and Tim Riswick (eds.), doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115316000620; Building Bridges: Scholars, History and Historical Maaike Derksen, ‘Local Intermediaries? The Demography. A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Missionising and Governing of Colonial Subjects Theo Engelen (Nijmegen 2018) 157-163. in South Dutch New Guinea, 1920-42’, The Journal 39 Koschorke, Minutes, ‘Ordinary meeting of 24th of Pacific History 51:2 (2016) 111-142. doi: https:// March 1760’; Koschorke, Minutes, ‘Extraordinary doi.org/10.1080/00223344.2016.1195075; Knaap, meeting of 12th December 1760’; Van Goor, Jan Kruidnagelen, 116-119; Van Goor, Jan Kompenie. Kompenie. 37 Van Goor, Jan Kompenie, 142-143, appendix c. 40 nl-Hana, voc, inv. 2925, f. 964-992, specifically f. 38 Van Goor, Jan Kompenie, 116-119, appendix c; Dries 977; nl-Hana, voc, inv. 3201 f. 886-890. Lyna, ‘Ceylonese Arcadia? Colonial encounters de leede children between company and church 119 ,

43 These , inv. 2925, 2925, , inv.

47 , voc The right to be The right -Hana 42 ), 2011/35, the of Minutes Compared to the , 116-119. 44 keeper and at church keeper and at church This lack ofThis lack resources 41 nl 65; f. 204 , inv. , Classis sa , 118-119. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van 975; f. Knaap, Kruidnagelen , 117; Koschorke, Minutes Koschorke, , 117; Jan Kompenie Goor, Van 4a-2 (1750-1760). Wolvendaal Wolvendaal 1750’; 2ndmeeting of November (wca Archives Church Juneg (29 1779). Vergaderin Scholarchale , 116-117. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van

46 47 44 45 Reimers, , relied on the schoolmasters relied on the schoolmasters The ministers and the voc /1, , , Classis 45 , inv. 4779 4779 , inv. 46 , ‘Extraordinary The schoolmasters could use their position to their own advantage – could use their position to their own advantage The schoolmasters , Decree to Tamil and Sinhalese Tamil , Decree to and staff resulted in a variety of practices in Dutch Sri Lanka. The majority and staff of a variety resulted in Sri Lanka. in Dutch practices member, church of a fully-fledged not trained or even were schoolmasters on existing local frameworks. and the Company depended types of dynamics illustrate that Sri Lankans disputed the position of village he represented to and the discipline and administration the schoolmaster, as an agent of it is better to consider the schoolmaster In this regard, them. on comparative research Further rather than an intermediary. colonial power, comparing them not only in space but also in time, indigenous schoolmasters, practices ofcan provide useful insights into the varying this colonial position. for example, by reporting negatively or falsely on their local rivals, but it also local rivals, by reporting negatively or falsely on their for example, from the schoolmaster A made their position in the community complicated. repeatedly Bronsveld that he was Galle Commandment reported to Reverend commented while the reverend physically threatened by local elite men, might owe the discipline in his school that another Colombo schoolmaster mainly to the presence of a Protestant local headman living nearby. a schoolmaster could be bought and passed on from father to son, which was was which bought and passed on from father to son, could be a schoolmaster schoolmasters. loyal administratively experienced, established to ensure represented and facilitated new moral and cultural repertoires in the village, village, the in repertoires and cultural new moral facilitated and represented Church of analysis intermediaries. cultural and Derksen’s Jensz’s resembling about the to the Company permanently complained however, personnel, understaffing. budget and subsequent inadequate for information on school attendance and family events, such as marriages, as marriages, such attendance and family events, for information on school and also incidents of unmarried couples and children births and deaths, district travelled working in Colombo Schoolmasters born out of wedlock. to the thombo to Colombo every few months to report council meetings. After all, these men were often members of these men were often already familiar After all, the scribe caste, became the main task ofwith what in practice record- the schoolmaster: they were since local networks, embedded in existing was Their work keeping. from the surrounding villages, assisted by informants less densely populated Ambon Island in the seventeenth century Moluccas, in the seventeenth century Moluccas, Ambon Island less densely populated and extensively implemented educational more Sri Lanka had a much Dutch registration system. voc -HaNa, Protocols of Affidavits of the Landraad of Affidavits of Protocols Minutes Koschorke, 79-83; f. 117-119, 142; slna, 117-119, Jan Kompenie Goor, Van Somaratna, ‘Superficial 101; sa Success’, 204, 20. f. inv. nl ; 1433-1434 f. 2693, inv. Schoolmasters 1747, Minutes , 32-36; Koschorke, Registers Parish ‘Extraordinary 1750’. 2nd meeting of November

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 Figure 3: Dutch title page of Sinhala School book printed in Colombo in 1742, stating the contents of the book, such as the Ten Commandments and traditional Dutch religious texts. The rest of the book is in Sinhala language and script, including a preface that calls the Sinhalese to devotion towards their salvation, as well as gratefulness towards God 48 and their government. Note the voc logo in the printer’s stamp.

48 Singaleesch School-Boek behelsende korte vragen vyf gebeden, de twaalf artykelen des geloofs ende ende antwoorden, nopens de grond-beginselen van de tien geboden Gods, na Kerken-Ordre behoorlyk de waare leere der christelyken religie, bestaande gerevideert (Colombo 1742) title page. © Koninklijke in vyf deelen, soo als deselve in de Singaleesche Bibliotheek, photo by author, kw 1748 b 32, 472 g 37 schoolen werden geleert, nevens de gewoonlyke [oud signatuur]. de leede children between company and church 121

49 resulting in the production 50 Hovy,, 278-279. Plakkaatboek Ceylonees , 120. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van 51 52 In the morning, all children and their families mandatorily all children In the morning, – a ritualised form of control over children and their families. The – a ritualised form of and their families. control over children In Scott’s analysis of British colonial power modern subject-making, In Scott’s an inherent part of day was the educational and religious Visitation 52 51 , ‘Extraordinary meeting of , extract in ‘Ordinary meeting of subjects loyal to the Protestant Company-state, and strengthening the of Company-state, to the Protestant loyal subjects therefore, Reformed education, political and economic grip. Company’s combined the targets of and the voc: the Reformed Church the Dutch starting in childhood. production of orderly Protestant subjects, While the ideals top-downused governmentality to ideally replace discipline. in the too, power’ ‘soft of revolved around early modern Church the Dutch form of and intellectual discipline through conversion and education, moral ‘hard disciplining many of power’, the instruments used were based on instruments Such and rituals. the body and imposing protestant customs the levy of attendance, fines and the regulation of and school as church To physical behaviour. Sri Lankans’ procreation were all employed to shape had introduced structural registration the Dutch monitor this behaviour The records employees. and other church and reporting by schoolmasters were based on embodied produced within this administrative framework yearly particularly during the interactions of Sri Lankans with the Church, . visitation ofschool the minister and the Scholarch system Since these young people were explicitly described as ‘wild’, or morally or morally ‘wild’, were explicitly described as Since these young people apparently the Church in the absence ofundisciplined, a schoolmaster, outside the seminaries to impose disciplined and masters expected schools discipline fit into colonial subject- How did Protestant as well. behaviour imposed new moral and cultural the Dutch Through the Church, making? These worship. baptism and reformed as Christian marriage, such repertoires, as the regarded was which a Protestant lifestyle, repertoires represented the The voc valued of conversion to Protestantism. spiritual and proof, start, to Christians are trained ‘native enforcement of expecting that this lifestyle, Dutch]’, duly conform in their habits to (...) [the visitation would have been quite an intimidating spectacle for the children, quite an intimidating spectacle for the children, been visitation would have as it consisted of a large delegation of soldiers and clerical and company agents. A case in Kalutara, discussed in the Colombo church council, illustrates the council, Colombo church discussed in the case in Kalutara, A as to schools, but also to the schoolmaster accorded not only significance of due to the absence In 1752, part of Sri Lanka. in Dutch colonial discipline wild’. ‘run in Kalutara had reportedly the youth that year, a schoolmaster Koschorke, Minutes 25th May 1752’. May 25th Koschorke, Minutes (art. 24thof 1760’ March 9). Methods of Protestant discipline Protestant of Methods

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gathered in the school building. After prayer and a sermon, the minister examined the children and registered their results. The youngest were tested on memorisation of the alphabet and prayers; the older children on their understanding of the doctrine, reading and writing.53 Children of twelve years old and over whose knowledge was considered sufficient were officially discharged from school service by the minister and the Scholarch. After this, youth who had been discharged on an earlier visit were examined. The minister resumed conducting official rituals such as baptism and the consecration of marriages, since only ordained ministers could perform them. Finally, the schoolmaster reported on the school and any of his material, financial or spiritual needs, and gave demographic updates, which were reported in the school report and school thombos.54 The schoolmaster was also obliged to report disobedience and absence at school and in church. A significant part of Protestant physical discipline in the everyday life of Sri Lankans consisted of the imposition of a new weekly rhythm of classes, church services and prayers. These were led by the schoolmaster and enforced by mandatory attendance, on penalty of fines or forced labour, which the Scholarch charged on visitation day. The fines were used for the upkeep of school buildings and the salaries of schoolmasters.55 While the schoolmaster was predominantly held accountable for the success of pupils in their examinations, the school and church penalties directly affected the children. Penalties depended on circumstances, however: ‘If anyone is absent, the master should enquire whose fault the absence is. If it is the child’s disobedience, [the master] will [physically] punish it fittingly. If it is the parent’s fault, they will pay for every child half a tammekassie per day’,56 Evidently, the voc regarded youth as a different legal and social category, capable of making independent decisions to obey and disobey but befitting a different punishment from adults. The history of church and school fines in Sri Lanka shows increasing tension between the voc and the Church, with diverging rationalities regarding discipline and faith. The Company abolished the fines in 1745 and paid the schoolmasters’ salaries directly instead, wanting to protect its political position from popular hostility. In a request for reinstatement three

53 sa, Classis, inv. 203, 85-89. ider dag een halve tammekassie betalen’. Hovy, 54 sa, Classis, inv. 204 f. 56-83; nl-Hana, voc, inv. Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 195. A Tammekassie was 2925 f. 964-967; nl-Hana, voc, inv. 3201 a local coin worth a quarter of a stiver. A day’s f. 886-890; nl-Hana, voc, inv. 2445 f. 1282-1294. wage of unskilled labour in Sri Lanka in this 55 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 112-114, 278-279. period was around six stivers. Pim de Zwart, 56 ‘Imand nu absent zijnde, zal de meester vernemen ‘Population, labour and living standards in early bij wien de schuld is van het agterblijven is. Zo modern Ceylon: An empirical contribution to the het des kinds ongehoorsaamheits schuld is, divergence debate’, The Indian Economic & Social zal hij ‘t zelve na merite kastijden. Dog soo het History Review 49:3 (2012) 365-398, 368-370. doi: der ouders schuld is, zullen zij voor ider kint https://doi.org/10.1177/0019464612455272. de leede children between company and church 123 59 , inv. 2925 f. 977- f. 2925 , inv. Company , voc The 57 -Hana In church reports from In church 62 , inv. 2925 f. 977-978; Van Goor, Jan Goor, Van 977-978; f. 2925 , inv. 65 voc While the Dutch explained the explained the While the Dutch , 110; Nandasena, 110; Ratnapala, Sinhalese , 58 /1, inv. 4779. /1, inv. -Hana , inv. 203, f. 85-89. 203, f. , inv. , Classis ‘...immers de meisjes tot nog toe geene gewoonte gewoonte geene toe nog ‘...immers de tot meisjes gehad hebben...’, nl 978. ‘...om niet door de luxurieusheit van de jongens Ceylonees Hovy, werden’. en andren te verleyd , 112-114. Plakkaatboek sa nl Kompenie 1980) (Colombo Life Folk and Religion, Folk Folklore, Jayaweera, ‘Schooling142-145; in Sri Lanka’, 170-172. slna

Schoolmaster Don David Narklaer of Don David Schoolmaster In 1758, the Reverend Bronsveld noted In 1758, 65 64 63 61 62 63 60 The mixed education of boys and girls proved 61 This is an example of how Sri Lankans resisted and 64 , inv. 3201 f. , inv. Overgekomen Overgekomen , voc , voc , Not sending children to school was also a form of was to school resistance against Not sending children -Hana Ordinary meeting held on ‘ -Hana , n, inv. 2713 f. 1104-1105. f. 2713 n, inv. the early eighteenth century approximately twice as many boys as girls were the early eighteenth century approximately while baptisms, attended and graduated from school, registered as having were divided equally. for instance, lack of school attendance as people’s unwillingness or laziness, reasons for unwillingness or laziness, oflack attendance as people’s school in the few months taught at schools only Many schoolmasters absence varied. at home to work with kept their children and parents before the visitation, too dangerous. two-hourconsidered the because they them or to school walk colonial power. Some parents wanted to avoid registration of school dates, registration of to avoid wanted Some parents dates, school colonial power. altogether. or Christian education consequently reinstated the fines to a limited extent in 1751, but the ministers but the ministers in 1751, to a limited extent reinstated the fines consequently about empty schools. continued to complain the school in Kohilawatta, around ten kilometres east of Colombo, sued a of around ten kilometres east Colombo, in Kohilawatta, the school neighbour at the worldly institute of arguing that the latter the land court, from his everyone away drawing had created a Buddhist ceremonial place, services. and church school years later, the church council stated that abolishing the fines had caused a caused fines had the that abolishing stated council church the later, years Company the which its funds, importantly, and, rates in attendance decrease not exist that fines did Council members argued to compensate. had failed slow ‘naturally tool for the rather offered a necessary but religion, to enforce Protestant faith. committed to the to remain population’ to be problematic as well. In Sinhalese society, girls were traditionally In Sinhalese society, to be problematic as well. first especially after their not educated alongside boys in public spaces, when they were eligible for marriage. menstruation, ignored imposed cultural repertoires. The voc had considered this already in ignored imposed cultural repertoires. ‘seduced regulations promising to protect girls from being with school 1663, encouraging girls to simultaneously in school, by the lust of boys and others’ considered with what the Church school so they could leave early, start school ofsufficient Christian education by the age ten. casually that in Bolawalana only boys attended school, as the girls ‘had not as the girls only boys attended school, casually that in Bolawalana yet. had the habit’ , inv. 3201 886-890; f. Somaratna,, inv. Memoir of Julius Stein Van Gollenesse, Gollenesse, Van Stein Julius of Memoir Minutes voc , -Hana nl , 132. Jan Kompenie ‘Superficial Goor, Van 116; Success’, , 111, 117. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van , 142; Somaratna, ’Superficial Jan Kompenie Goor, Van nl 97-100; Success’, Brieven en Papiere Koschorke, the 24th June of 1771’; nl 886-890; van and Gollenesse Julius Sinnappah Stein Arasaratnam, Gerrit His for Successor 1743-1751 Ceylon, of Governor 34-36. 1751 28th February 1974) (Colombo Vreeland, Joan

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The regulation of girls’ lives did not end after education, as the Dutch had extensive legislation regarding marriage and procreation. Cohabitation, Catholic and Sinhalese marriages were all criminalised as unregistered unions, like adultery, because they were not registered in the Reformed Church. Children of these unions were considered illegitimate.66 Similar to the argument that Alicia Schrikker and Kate Ekama make about the European concepts of freedom and slavery in Sri Lanka, Europeans enforced the concept of illegitimacy on a society that had previously not regarded (il)legitimacy or (un)registered marriage dichotomies.67 The status of illegitimacy was used as a penalty to control marital practice, along with fines, forced labour and corporal punishment. Illegitimate children could not be baptised, nor consequently attend school or be registered in the school thombos, preventing them from acquiring agency within the colonial structure. Legitimacy, therefore, was important for families wanting, pretending or forced to be part of the Dutch Church. By legitimising only children of parents who were baptised and married as Protestants, the Church enforced a Protestant lifestyle. Though thousands of Sinhalese registered their marriage and children in the Church, the ‘problem’ of illegitimacy kept occurring throughout the century: ordinances re-imposing illegitimacy were published repeatedly, responding to resistance and obliviousness to Protestant marital norms. This legislation demonstrates colonial control, but reflects a lack of it even more.68 Registration, school fines and the concept of illegitimacy were part of the subject-making process, enforcing behaviour to instil a Dutch, Reformed repertoire, disciplining children’s bodies in particular. Embedded as the Church’s registration of family life was in the voc’s administration, it served an important function to establish and maintain small-scale control on village communities. Regulations were not always accepted compliantly, or even acknowledged. Nevertheless, educational and religious discipline created an unstable power balance, with the schoolmaster at the centre and disciplining instruments at his and his superior’s disposal. It represented a form of colonial coercion that made it impossible for the local population to distinguish the Company’s power from that of the Church.69

66 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 12-14, 48-49, 115-116, doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115318000311; 263-266, 278-279, 309-310, 574, 585-588, 645-649, Bulten et al., ‘Contested conjugality? Sinhalese 673-674, 769-772. marriage practices in eighteenth-century Dutch 67 Alicia Schrikker and Kate Ekama, ‘Through colonial Sri Lanka’, Annales de démographie the lens of slavery: Dutch Sri Lanka in the historique 135:1 (2018) 55-56. doi: https://doi. eighteenth century’, in: Zoltán Biedermann org/10.3917/adh.135.0051; Ratnapala, Sinhalese and Alan Strathern (eds.), Sri Lanka at the Folklore, 150-151. Crossroads of History (London 2017) 178-193, 68 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 12-14, 48-49, 191-192; Nadeera Rupesinghe, ‘Navigating 265-266, 309-310, 673-674, 769-772, 785-788; Pluralities Reluctantly: The Marriage Contract Rupesinghe, Negotiating Custom, 171, n. 129. in Dutch Galle’, Itinerario 42:2 (2018) 223. 69 Somaratna, ‘Superficial Success’, 97-100. de leede children between company and church 125

gama), They Hunu and Why should gama gama, Hunu (limegama, 70 , inv. 2925, f. 980; Koschorke, f. 2925, , inv. , voc , ‘Extraordinary May 29th meeting of /1, School thombo Pas Betaal (Wattala), inv. /1, inv. thombo School Pas Betaal (Wattala), -Hana nl Minutes ‘Extraordinary1759’, 2nd meeting of July 1759’; slna 4083, p. 83 ff. 73 73 How could church registration practices relate to registration How could church 71 as in Wattala, for example, around ten kilometres northeast of for example, Wattala, as in

72 , ‘Ordinary 24th of Meeting Goyigama, ā Sal Due to a conflict between the local Goyigama, Colombo. burners) and the schoolmaster, a whole generation had not attended school a whole generation burners) and the schoolmaster, over sixty Salā Eventually, or been baptised for twenty years. church registration be overseen by a merchant? While the Church facilitated Church While the be overseen by a merchant? registration church day the on visitation and registration, discipline education, colonial religion, responsibility of with the ministers the State’, ‘the voc considered the school only ‘co-supervisors’. The Dutch, like the Portuguese had done before them, tried to undermine the had done before them, the Portuguese like The Dutch, strong position of the higher landowning castes – Goyigama in Sinhalese. as cinnamon-peelers (Salā such castes, appointed middle- or lower-ranking converting to Christianity could For these groups, in official Company positions. Simultaneously, be a manner of to the new colonising power. expressing loyalty offering an opportunity to circumvent social mobility, it enabled their group’s the labour extraction when the church records did not directly refer to labour? records did not directly refer to labour? the church labour extraction when and procreation discharge school how caste conversion, This final part shows instruments ofregulations were Christian for political and economic control on children in its policies specifically target Why did the Company the voc. labour and caste? symbolised symbolised The voc’s his visitations, the minister on accompanying Scholarch, and Company. Church relation between the intertwined children approached the Reverend Bronsveld during a visitation, and requested a visitation, the Reverend Bronsveld during approached children been equally they could have Spiritual reasons aside, him to baptise them. by the registration ofmotivated baptism and the recognition it provided in their even though the They convinced the minister, the colonial and religious system. debatedThe case was could not recite any scriptures or doctrines. older children but eventually council and even the Governor-General, and church by the school a number of as they won the Church registeredthe baptisms were approved, this case also illustrates how local caste agency, Besides the youth’s congregants. and politics could determine who within the community had access to schools, not baptised. or was who was , 110. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van Koschorke, Minutes (art. 1760’ March 27). Society in Sinhalese Kitsiri Malalgoda, Buddhism Change and Revival 1750-1900: Religious of A Study 101-103. 46-49, (Berkeley 1976) Caste politics in church politics Caste Labour and the Church

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 Figure 4: First page of the Alutgama school thombo, circa 1704. Many of the geographical descriptions in the school thombos can be connected to locations in present-day Sri Lanka.74

74 slna/1, inv. 4011. Photo by author, July 2018. © slna, Colombo, Sri Lanka. de leede children between company and church 127

:1 (2013) :1 (2013) , 107-125. thombos clearly embodied Similarly, the early modern church the early modern church Similarly, 76 Paulo in the de Matos. ‘Population Censuses ’, notes Research Portuguese Empire, 1750-1820: vii Studies Population of Journal Romanian 4, 11. Knaap, Kruidnagelen

The school 77 76 75 represented only a third of represented only a third registered in all children gama 77 in particular are well represented in the records. In the school the school In represented in the records. gama in particular are well The Dutch did not solely focus on castes such as the cinnamon- as the such on castes focus did not solely The Dutch /1, Alutgama thombo, school , children were always registered in relation to their to their registered in relation always were children thombos, In the school the nuclear family, The basic categorisation was family and community. categories of into but families were organised imposing Dutch registration, occupation overlapped with social positions, which village communities, one one column for parents, the registers have As seen in Figure 4, and caste. age at the and columns with the with an individual name, each for children, as well as date, start and discharge school time of baptism date, registration, attendance The school migration. dates for marriage and possible death or in comparison to other colonial thombos are unique, dates in these school censuses and parish records either royal empire, In the Portuguese contexts. from their first communion at seven years old or only registered children just the numbers of Christians per area. , but why was this specific type of register but why was church the voc, economic control to so important? the entire Alutgama school thombo. Alutgama school the entire peelers because of caste politics. Registration was more extensive in the areas in the areas extensive more was Registration of because peelers caste politics. and cinnamon voc had a long-establishedwhere the presence, commercial Kalutara district, profits. of a large component was production the Company’s an area of plantations of forests and coconut cinnamon great economic The caste-based of a tradition registration. had such Dutch, importance, and century, and updated throughout the eighteenth registers were renewed the Salā one of in Kalutara district and about thombo ofAlutgama, the seven schools as part of were registered 2,000 children the of75 kilometres south Colombo, thombos with a similar number While there are school cinnamon-peeler caste. the Salā of records, reports in the Dutch Moluccas gave the number of church members and the number of Moluccas gave members and reports in the Dutch church thombos The school but no names or family relations per village. attendants, demonstrate that the Dutch attempted a tighter grip on village populations attempted a tighter grip on village populations demonstrate that the Dutch in Sri Lanka. For example, (2,000 Bolawalana thombo School (1,700 Colombo of School and thetotal) Tamil in Hanwella,total); further east, school barely any registration. slna School Tamil 4028; Bolawalana, 4012; inv. inv. 3998. Hanwella 1, inv. 3979; inv. Colombo, ‘Largatie’: from school duty to caste service duty caste to school from ‘Largatie’:

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While girls did not attend school, or would only do so for a short time, boys were expected at school until they reached the age to start the rājakāriya (‘services to the king’). This mandatory, caste-related labour was claimed by the voc in this period and boys ideally started their duties after formal school discharge. The discharge age differed by caste but mostly overlapped with the starting age for the rājakāriya: for the cinnamon-peelers this was around eleven years, but children were also registered as leaving school at around twelve, fifteen or even seventeen years old.78 A student’s discharge was marked by a largatie ceremony, which the Dutch accredited to ‘an old custom’. Largatie was an official ritual held during visitation, and involved a certificate called a largatie ola. The use of a ceremonial, inscribed ola indicates that largatie was either a continuation of Portuguese or Sinhalese tradition or a Dutch attempt at claiming ceremonial value to legitimise their education system among the local population. By rewarding children with an ola, they might have been more prone to attend and finish school. Children deemed old enough for labour but whose school results were not sufficient would also be discharged from school. In this case, the largatie ola was often not granted.79 Disobedient children or those absent on the day of the visitation could even be discharged without a largatie – implying that entering children into the workforce was more important than the actual ritual. Since discharged pupils would return for catechism, there was not a rigid separation between work and education, but the largatie changed a child’s status, as it was a transition from school service to caste service. That school and church attendance was referred to as ‘duty’ and as ‘service’ is not a coincidence; the term largatie was otherwise only used in the context of dismissal from a job or forced labour, meaning to ‘release’ or ‘discharge’. I, therefore, argue that, even though in historiography school thombos are mainly regarded as parish records, the voc intended the school thombos to be an instrument for monitoring children until they were to become labourers, serving the Company’s object on the extraction of caste labour. While school thombo registration continued for several decades after the British takeover in 1796, by then school and largatie columns had largely disappeared from the registers.80

Caste labour and procreation

Ballantyne describes how British missionaries in New Zealand employed labour in their civilisation process. By transforming Māori economic behaviour, the missionaries hoped to instil new moral and spiritual behaviour.81 The voc in Sri Lanka emphasised the relevance of labour too,

78 Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek, 78-90; slna/1, 80 slna/1, Maditiyawala school thombo, inv. 3996; Bolawalana, inv. 4028; J.D. Palm, ‘Education slna/1, Hanwella school thombo 2, inv. 3999. Establishments’, 107. 81 Ballantyne, Entanglements, 98. 79 nl-Hana, voc, inv. 3201 f. 887; nl-Hana, voc, inv. 2693, f. 1393-1432; nl-Hana, voc, inv. 2925, f. 968. de leede children between company and church 129 Among others, Among others, 83 resistance demonstrates resistance demonstrates gama , 570-571. Plakkaatboek Ceylonees 778. , 758-759, Plakkaatboek Ceylonees , 78-90. Plakkaatboek Ceylonees Children’s separate status did not Children’s 87 Salā inter-sub-caste marriages when Hovy, Hovy, Hovy, The 84 85 86 gama 85 ori were supposed to become good Christians ori were supposed to become good Christians youth had their own quota of produce to deliver to the ompany prohibited inter-sub- as the Company prohibited but to no avail, , gama 86 The 1747 ordinance was met with resistance and defiance met with ordinance was The 1747 84 gama worked in reverse compared to the missionaries worked in reverse compared to the missionaries the voc In a way, . recognised children as a specific legal and social category not The voc recognised children only in their family and in school but at work as well. From the age of eleven but at work as well. only in their family and in school the Salā onwards, as minors were considered the quota for adults, lower than It was Company. but it would increase every year. ‘tender’, the Company’s complicated relation to caste, especially when compared to relation to caste, complicated the Company’s actually able to when the landowning caste was a similar case in the 1770s, oftemporarily prevent the social downgrading their inter-sub- in children caste marriages. from the Salā in 1753. caste marriage altogether but to different ends. One instrument the Company used to control the supply control the used to Company the One instrument ends. different but to of of regulation the was labour castes. within procreation a 1747 ordinance only allowed Salā only allowed a 1747 ordinance the couple had the marriage registered in the church, and the children only the children and in the church, had the marriage registered the couple The same caste. the lowest as, and were registered the services of, performed Children of inter- marrying free people. people to enslaved principle applied the supply ofcaste unions could disrupt caste mandatory labour by avoiding the obligation with labour of lower-caste preferably the at least one parent, The headmen of the and the most burdensome duties. lowest social status expected to keep a close eye therefore, were, cinnamon-peeler communities the working even before they reached register them, on every baby born and age of eleven. mean the Company separated them from its objective of revenue generation. its objective ofmean the Company separated them from revenue generation. but they were been considered adults, Children under twenty might not have education with or without deemed capable enough to join the workforce, and largatie Church the Reformed the extent to which analysed In this article I have and of involved in the process was Sri Lanka, in Dutch subject-making in this process. accorded to children looked at the importance I have in New Zealand. While the Mā in New Zealand. the Sinhalese to be wanted the Dutch through enforced economic behaviour, productive workers. in order to be loyal, Christians with a Christian lifestyle, This is why the political rationality of revolving around the object of the voc, going to school. started with children labour extraction, Hovy,, 118. Plakkaatboek Ceylonees Hovy, 322- , 220, 263-264, Plakkaatboek Ceylonees , 110. Jan Kompenie Goor, Van 328, 570-571, 749; Conclusion 83 82 article – artikel

 Figure 5: Wolvendaal Church, seen from the front. Note the Sri Lankan man and children in front of the church. ­Painted in the nineteenth century by John Leonard Kalenberg van Dort, a Sri Lankan man of Dutch descent.87

87 John Leonard Kalenberg van Dort, Dutch kitlv 36b150. http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/ Presbyterian Church at Wolvendahl, Colombo: the item:725319. west front, 1888. © Leiden University Libraries, de leede children between company and church 131

88 In conclusion, modern colonial processes of subject-making, such modern colonial processes of such In conclusion, subject-making, The objects of both collided and and the Company the Church employed the Church as the driving force for subject-making for subject-making driving force as the Church the voc employed as humanitarian missions, have deeper roots than often assumed. There There deeper roots than often assumed. have as humanitarian missions, as the through instruments such is an early modern overlap in Sri Lanka Children were a education. registration and indigenous schoolmaster, pliable and state as a separate, by Church recognised specific target too, Understanding of potential vehicles their communities. in change group, Yet, key to understanding subject-making. therefore, their position is, while the operating fields of resembled and school the early modern Church they should not be those of using moral repertoires, modern colonialism, Although masked by the role of a colonial understood as a civilising mission. thombos reveal the voc’s as fines and school such instruments Church, While there are similarities children. even towards mercantilist rationality, the voc colonial governmentality Scott conceptualised, to the far-reaching The Company’s not mentality. merely aimed at control over behaviour, not was subject-making rationality behind this distinct early modern controllable subjects to increase loyal, but to have to transform society, to trace and It would make for compelling further research revenue. compare different legacies and definitions of modern subject-making (early) era. throughout the (post-)colonial The Scholarch schoolmaster, by the Personified level. family village and at the and minister, the Church introduced moral repertoires by enforcing by enforcing moral repertoires introduced the Church and minister, and , largatie fines, as school such instruments With discipline. Protestant to monitor children intended the Dutch marriage regulations, labour and form of registration as a using age into adulthood, from an early colonial coercion. spiritual the Church’s remains important to acknowledge It cooperated. sincere consideration as well as the possibility of Sri Lankans’ intentions, the Additionally, of spiritual repertoire. the Reformed faith as a relevant recognition and registration of empowerment, could provide the Church people of seen glimpses we have In this article negotiators, social mobility. from Sri Lankans Resistance policies. Dutch undermining and transforming a counterweight in the colonial system functioned as regarding their position and castes, schoolmasters resistance of find such girls, To to subject-making. at an the grain’ ‘against religious archives it is necessary to read the colonial, even deeper level. This negotiation by Sri Lankans by This negotiation with colonial PhD and my is the of religion focus power research. 88 article – artikel

Bente de Leede (ma) is a historian and PhD candidate at Leiden University, working on the interaction of Sri Lankans with Dutch Protestantism and its consequences for their everyday life in Dutch colonial Sri Lanka. She is specifically interested in everyday colonialism, colonial culture, and religion and empire and has previously researched decolonisation and colonial ideologies. Her PhD research ‘Negotiating Conversion and Family Relations in eighteenth-century Dutch Colonial Sri Lanka’ is part of the nwo-funded project ‘Colonialism Inside Out: Everyday Experience and Plural Practice in Dutch Institutions in Sri Lanka (circa 1700-1800)’, a collaboration between Leiden University and Radboud University Nijmegen. E-mail: [email protected].