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FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY THROUGH THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS

BY MICHAEL ROBERT Hannadige Jeronis Pieris (1829-1894) was educated at the Colombo Academy and thereafter joined his in-laws, the brothers Jeronis and Susew de Soysa, as a manager of their ventures in the Kandyan highlands. Arrack-renter, trader, plantation owner, philanthropist and man of letters, his career provides fascinating sidelights on the social and economic history of British Ceylon. Using Jeronis Pieris's letters as a point of departure and assisted by the stock of knowledge he has gathered during his researches into the island's history, the author analyses several facets of colonial history: the foundations of social dominance within indigenous society in pre-British times; the processes of elite formation in the nineteenth century; the process of Wes- ternisation and the role of indigenous elites as auxiliaries and supporters of the colonial rulers; the events leading to the Kandyan Marriage Ordinance no. 13 of 1859; entrepreneurship; the question of the conflict for land between coffee planters and villagers in the Kandyan hill-country; and the question whether the expansion of plantations had disastrous effects on the stock of cattle in the Kandyan districts. This analysis is threaded by information on the Hannadige- Pieris and Warusahannadige de Soysa families and by attention to the various sources available to the historians of nineteenth century Ceylon. FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY THROUGH THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS

MICHAEL ROBERTS

HANSA PUBLISHERS LIMITED COLOMBO - 3, SKI LANKA (CEYLON) 4975 FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1975

ill

Printed at the Colombo Co-operative Printers' Society Ltd., 60, Station Road, Homagama. To MR. W. J. F. LABROOY CONTENTS Part One FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY

I Introduction II Kith, Kin and Career 5

HI The Background of Social Change and Elite Formation in Nineteenth 12 Century Ceylon IV Western Orientations 24 V The Highland Scene: Coffee Plantations vs Village Land? 44 VI Buffaloes, Cattle and Paddy Cultivation in the Central Highlands 49 VII Epilogue 57

Part Two THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS, 1853-1856 List of Letters 6

The Letters, 1853-1856. 62

Appendix : Translation of a Letter from Jeronis Pieris to his sister and his 85 mother, 7 September 1877.

Appendices

A. Select Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris family. 89

B. Genealogy of the Warusahannadige (de) Soysa family. 90

C. Jeronis Pieris's Cash Crop Plantation Properties as listed in Ferguson's 91 Ceylon Directories, 1871-1891. D. Translation of a Memorial submitted by Certain Kandyan Chiefs and 93 Inhabitants calling for a Reform of the Kandyan Marriage Customs, c. November 1858. Bibliography 95 index

LIST OF PLATES & MAPS

1. Hannadige Jeronis Pieris frontispiece 2. Hannadige Jeronis Pieris: a portrait 6 3. Hannadige Engeltina Pieris: a portrait 6

4. Susew & Engeltina de Soysa 6

5. Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. 6 6. Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr., Engeltina and Louis Pieris 6

7. Charles Henry de Soysa's and Lindamulage Catherine de Silva's Wedding Photograph in 1863. 36 8. Charles Henry de Soysa and his bride, Catherine de Silva 36

9. Louis Pieris 36 10. A Wedding Photograph: Louis Pieris and Cecilia de Fonseka 36 11. Louis Pieris 58 12. Mrs. Jeronis Pieris 58 13. Richard Steuart Pieris 58

14. Henry A. Pieris 58

15. The Firm of S. C. Fernando & Bros. 58

16. Facsimile of a letter from Jeronis Pieris 58

Map of Hanguranketa - Kandy - Kadugannawa Localities 72 PREFACE

In the course of journeys and meanderings arising from a project in which I was using oral history techniques to build up a body of historical information on twentieth century Ceylon, it became evident that a rich body of historical manuscripts remained in private hands. Neither the commendable enterprise of James T. Rutnam nor the sporadic activities of the Historical Manuscripts Commission had exhausted the vein of documents that lay hidden from the world, so to speak, in private homes. Many of these documents pertain to the twentieth century. A few, including the letters reprinted here, are of nineteenth century origin. Employing the several opportunities that came my way, I have enjoyed the privilege and good fortune as a historian to be able to unearth several such collections. In doing so, I have been greatly encouraged by the generous cooperation afforded by those with whom such documents lay and by the assistance of the staff officers in the Department of National Archives.

The copies of the letters dispatched by Hannadige Jeronis Pieris in the years 1853-56 were in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Lynette Peries (nee de Soysa) wife of Mr. Herman Peries, who lives at 18, de Fonseka Road, Colombo 5. A letter in Sinhalese written by Jeronis Pieris on the 7th September 1877 was in the hands of Mr. L. D. Asoka Pieris and was secured for me by Mr. Lankeswara S. D. Pieris. I gratefully acknowledge their generous assistance in lending me the letters and permitting me to edit them.

The main object in reproducing these letters has been that of making them more widely available to scholars and of providing interested laymen with some insights into developments in mid-nineteenth century Ceylon. At the same time, I have used the information and the insights supplied by these letters to illumine certain facets of nineteenth century Ceylonese history by developing some of my own findings and theories. In brief, the letters have been variously used — at times as a point of departure for the investigation of various subjects on which they throw some light, and at other times as a convenient show-case in which to display conclusions fashioned for the most part out of other evidence.

The decision to edit Jeronis Pieris's letters was also influenced by a subsidiary aim. I wish to make possessors of similar materials alive to the value of such documents as they may have in their possession and to encourage them to make them available to students, either by donating them to the Archives or by making their existence known and intimating their willingness to loan them for purposes of reproduction.

This monograph could not have been successfully completed without the cooperation of several individuals, for whose assistance I am truly grateful. I am particularly indebted to Mr. Lankeswara S. D. Pieris of the National and Grindlays Bank for his patient and under standing assistance in numerous fields. My thanks are also extended to the following individuals for the information they provided: Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, Messrs. Gustavus Jayawardene, "Harry" Pieris, Marcus Pieris, Shanti Sri Chandrasekera, E. L. F. de Soysa Jnr., Patrick Peebles, Shelton C. Fernando and Dr. G. C. Mendis as well as my colleagues Professor Gananath Obeyes ekere, Drs. Vamadeva Kanapathypillai, C. R. de Silva, Vijaya Samaraweera, G. P. V. kf

Somaratne and H. L. Seneviratne. As so often, Mr. W. J. F. Labrooy 'vetted' my drafts and provided invaluable advice, a service he has rendered to many scholars and the benefit of which only those whose manuscripts have been 'processed' by him can truly grasp. Needless to say, he is not responsible for the views which I have expressed. I would also like to thank Mr. M. Duraiswamy and Mrs. N. Hettiaratchi for typing the drafts with such diligence, and to the staff attached to the Archives and the libraries at the Museum and the University of Ceylon for their assistance.

Michael Roberts. June 1970.

P.S.

Questions of finance, a visit abroad, and endemic problems in the publication trade have delayed the appearance of this monograph. Pressure of work has not allowed me to make any alterations to the text and it appears as it was written in June 1970.

M.R. January 1973.

P. P. S. Administrative problems in which the Publishers became enmeshed after I had corrected the final proofs have delayed the appearance of this monograph for yet another year. It is fortunate that it is a work of history and that other historians have not, in the interim, trespassed much on the fields surveyed in this monograph. I have since developed and refined the manner in which I use the elite concept, but the definition provided within these covers should be adequate enough for the purposes of this work. A significant change since I wrote this monograph has been the destruction on official orders of the district court reoords held in judicial repositories.

Michael Roberts. October 1974.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I convey my thanks to the following for having made available for reproduction certain photographs or portraits in their possession:- Mr. "Harry" Pieris (plates 1, 2, 12 and 14); Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya (plate 13); Mr. C. V. H. de Soysa of Haragama estate (plates 3 and 8); Mr. and Mrs. Shelton C. Fernando (plate 15); and Mr. Lankeswara Pieris (the rest). SPELLING

PIENS : In Sinhalese, of course, this proper name has only one spelling. The transliteration into English has taken different forms however: "Peiris" and "Pieris" are the most common, while "Peries" and "Peeris" also occur. In this instance I have followed the spelling that is generally adopted by the descendants of Jeronis PieriF.

HANNADIGE : : The spelling is mine. In family circles the English renderings that seem to be favoured are "Hannadigai" and "Hennedige". Since no consistency of usage has established itself, I have preferred what I consider to be the more correct presentation in English. The Sinhalese sound "a" as in "bad" has been rendered in a form suggested to me by Mr. Rajaka- runa of the Department of Sinhalese, University of Ceylon—one which is commonly used by several of my colleagues in the Department of History who write on Ancient Ceylon.

The difficulty of obtaining diacritical marks has been such that it was not possible to indicate the correct phonetic rendering for this and other words by such means. Our apologies are extended to all readers for this omission. PART ONE

FACETS OF MODERN

CEYLON HISTORY Plate 1

HANNADIGE JERONIS PIERIS CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Among the many categories of raw material on the history of British Ceylon the sources most utilised to-date have been the despatches containing the correspondence between the British authorities in Colombo and their official superiors in London, supplemented by printed official sources in the sessional papers, administration reports, statistical blue books, command papers issued by the House of Commons, addresses delivered by the Governors in the Legis- lative Council and the debates in the Legislative and State Councils. The fanfare associated with the publication of Leonard Woolf's diaries has focussed attention on the diaries of govern. ment agents, assistant government agents and other administrators. The use to which the diaries of land settlement officers were put by Lal Jayawardena in his analysis of policy and practice in the administration of "waste lands" in the twentieth century confirms the historical value of these diaries.' The diaries, however, vary greatly in their degree of usefulness. The view that Woolf's diaries are typical of the diaries maintained by administrators and the opposite belief that Woolf's diary notes are exceptionally perceptive and valuable are both erroneous opinions. It is premature to fix on this or that diary as "typical". Nor must one be misled by Woolf's subsequent literary and intellectual eminence. While some administrators penned very pedestrian notes, a few others surpasS Woolf in the information their diaries supply, both on local conditions and on administrative policy and practice. Be that as it may, no piece of historical research worthy of the name could rely solely on the diaries.

Less talked of but equally fruitful is the internal correspondence between district officers in the field and the Secretariat and departmental headquarters in Colombo—a largely untouched mass of source material. The correspondence itself is but a part of the vast body of source material contained among the kachcheri records (which are also the repository of the diaries). A random list of some of the different categories of source material among the kachcheri records of one district, that of Colombo, is sufficient to indicate the variety and the potential value of these records: correspondence on surveys; forest lands; breach of irrigation rules; plumbago (graphite) mines; shroff's receipts; appointments of headmen; lists of landowners; last will and testament; applications to purchase crown lands; crown land sales; land deeds; land disputes; village settlement; grain tax registers; (arrack and toll) rent ledgers; petitioners and reports; register of rubber producers; N. D. P. Silva; Solomon Dias Bandaranaike's purchases.2

1. Lal Jayawardena, The Supply of Sinhalese Labour to Ceylon Plantations (1830-1930) A Study of Imperial Policy in a Peasant Society (Cambridge: D. Phil. dissertation in Economic History, 1963). 2. For the Provinces and Districts which include Kandyan districts there are also such documents as the service tenure registers, correspondence re temple lands, hilekammiti and lekammiti (registers, written on ola, of land, landowners, households and cattle) henlekammiti (registers of chena land), land claim registers and commutation registers. Most of the extant kachcheri records are now with the Department of National Archives and are being steadily listed and catalogued. Interested readers are well-advised to refer to the annual Adminis- tration Reports of the Archives for information on the new material which is reaching the repository. 2

A. C. Lawrie's Gazetteer of the Central Province and the work done by Ralph Pierisl indicate the possibilities inherent in a study of district court records,' another sphere that is largely untouched. It is only in recent years that scholars have begun to move beyond the study of policy-formulation and decision-making at the level of Colombo-London relationships and to delve into the kachcheri and district court records.2 In the near future, therefore, there is promise of studies on policy-implementation and policy-impact. These studies are bound to provide a rich haul in detailed information besides presenting pictures of administrative policy at the grassroots, or, more probably, at one notch above the grass-roots.) But the vein of archival material is so rich that these sources will not be exhausted even decades hence.

Except for petitions or private letters enclosed among the official correspondence, the information yielded by witnesses in the courts, and some of the statistical data, such sources suffer from the bias of the administrator and the concepts and procedures within which he worked. Sources of information originating from individuals outside the administrative sector are therefore needed as a counter-balance. For nineteenth century Ceylon the most extensive non-official source materials are the newspapers and journals, and the printed reports on the proceedings in the Legislative Council.4 These can be supplemented by other types of material: travellers' accounts in book or manuscript form; reminiscences, autobiographies and biographies; tracts or books written by non-officials on particular issues; directories, almanacs and who's who (including the invaluable Ferguson's Ceylon Directories); minutes and other documents pertaining to associations, agency houses, companies and other institutions; diaries and private correspondence of individuals outside the official sector; and the correspondence and documents in Missionary archives and in certain temples in Ceylon.5 In weight and extent these source materials do not match the official sources available. But the preponderance of official material is such that the non-official source materials assume a great importance. They serve as counter-weights. They provide different angles. They raise new queries.

1. A. C. Lawrie, A Gazetteer of the Central Province, 2 vols. (Colombo: George J. A. Skeen, Govt. Printer 1896 & 1898); Ralph Pieris, Sinhalese Social Organization: The Kandyan Period (Colombo: The Ceylon University Press Board, 1956) and "Title to Land in Kandyan Law" in The Sir Paul Pieris Felicitation Volume (The Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd, 1956). 2. The records of the district courts of Tangalle, Galle, Kalutara and Chilaw are with the Department of National Archives (Lots 28, 40, 32 and 39 respectively), and have been listed and catalogued. The records of other courts are with the respective district courts. I am grateful to Messrs. G. P. S. H. de Silva and M. U. de Silva of the Department of National Archives for providing information on various matters concerning documents in the Archives. 3. Thomas R. Metcalf's description and appraisal of material in the district archives in Uttar Pradesh contain many points which hold true for Ceylon as well. See "Notes on the sources for local history in North India", The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol XXVI (August 1967) pp. 665-75. Recent examples of the information and insights which such records can provide scholars are Robert Eric Frykenberg's Guntur District, 1788-1848: A History of Local Influence and Central Authority in South India (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965); Dharma Kumar's Land and Caste in South India (C. U. P. 1965); Ravinder Kumar's Western India in the Nineteenth Century (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968); and Frykenberg (ed.) Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,1969). 4. In other words, the Ceylon Hansard. Reports on proceedings in the Legislative Council are available as separate volumes for the years from 1842-44 and from the year 1870. One has to resort to newspapers for the reports in the years before 1870 (excepting 1842-44). 5. For an elementary catalogue of the types of sources see the author's mimeographed paper (19 May 1969) on "The Sources Pertaining to the History of British Ceylon" which was paper No 8 in the 1968/69 series of the Ceylon Studies Seminar, University of Ceylon. One should also consult the bibliography in K. M. de Silva's Social Policy and Missionary Organization in Ceylon 1840-1855 (London: Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd, 1965) pp. 301-14. Also see K. W. Goonewardena's "Ceylon" in Robin W. Winks (ed) 77ee Historiography of the British Empire-Commonwealth (Durham, N. C: Duke University Press, 1966), pp. 438-47. 3

The non-official source material is not without shortcomings, both with reference to the accuracy and veracity of information as well as its range. One weakness stems from its origins in the educated classes, a tiny segment of the population in Ceylon in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As such they do not reflect the attitudes and the experiences of the man in the street or, more appropriately for Ceylon, the peasant in the field. Moreover, many of these non-official source materials emanate from non-Ceylonese—British journalists, planters, merchants or wayfarers. This is particularly true for the nineteenth century. For instance, one can count on the fingers of one hand the reminiscences and autobiographies written by Ceylonese who lived the greater part of their lives in the nineteenth century; those by James Alwisi, Tikiri Banda Panabokke2, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan,3 and Frederick Dorn- horst4 are the only works within the author's knowledge. There are, however, a greater number of books and pamphlets on particular issues which have been written by Ceylonese.3 Autobiographies and reminiscences pose their own problems. One arises from the fact that the lines are penned in the later stages of an individual's life. By which time his (or her) attitude may have mellowed; or, in sharp contrast, gone very sour. By which time he would have to depend on the soft sands of his memory in describing non-contemporaneous events. This is an aspect in which the diaries and private correspondence of individuals surpass autobiographies (unless the latter are based on diary notes). They are records of contemporaneous thoughts and events. For nineteenth-century Ceylon one finds scarcely any material of this nature written by Ceylonese. Among the rarities are the letters preserved in certain Buddhist temples,2 the letters from Ceylonese in the William Digby MSS,6, the letters and documents in the Coomaraswamy-Ramanathan - Arunachalam MSS,9 the de Swam letters,lo a few

1. A. C. Seneviratne (ed) Memoirs and Desultory Writings of the late James D' Alwis (Colombo: The Ceylon Observer Press, 1947). 2. P. B. Panabokke & J. A. Halangode (ed) The Autobiography of Tikiri Banda Panabokke (Kandy: Miller & Co., 19387). This work is only part autobiography — up to page 33; the rest has been written by, the editors. T. B. Panabokke's life-span was 1846-1902. 3. A typed (and partly printed) copy of Ramanathan's autobiography is in the hands of Mr. James T. Rutnam of "Baron's Court", Guildford Crescent, Colombo 7. Consisting of six chapters, It was written in 1889 and pertains solely to his ancestors. In this sense it is akin to a biography of Cooma- raswamy Mudaliyar and Ponnambalam Mudaliyar, his grandfather and father respectively. 4. A typed copy of Frederick Dornhorst's autobiographical letter to his children, dated 22nd September 1895, is in the possession of Mr. Donovan Moldrich of 88/1, Stork Place, Colombo 10. 5. Among nineteenth-century books perhaps the most notable is Leopold Ludovici's Rice Cultivation: Its Past History and Present Condition;with suggestions for its improvement(Colombo: J.Maitland &Co.,1868). 6. There is one pertaining to the late 18th century: P. E. Pieris (ed) Notes on Some Sinhalese Families Part III Being the Diary of Adrian De Alwis Goonetilleke Samaranaike, Mudaliyar of Salpiti Korale for the years 1777-1795 (Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd, 1911). 7. Generally speaking they consist of letters received by scholar-bhikkhus from other bhikkhus, from theosophists and other individuals participating in the revival of Buddhism in the late nineteenth century (such as Col. Olcott and the Anagarika Dharmapala), and from such Oriental scholars as T. W. Rhys- Davids and Hugh Nevill. Two examples of such collections are the letters and manuscripts of Revd. Silakkhanda thero of Dodanduwa and of Revd. Waskaduwe Subhuti thero of Waskaduwa. For more details on the latter collection see G. P. S. H. de Silva's article in a 1970 volume of a Sinhalese journal, the Sanskruti (in press). 8. In the possession of Mr.James T.Rutnam. Photostats are available in the Archives. Among the letters are some from James Alwis, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, R. F. Morgan and (Sir) Ponnambalam Arun achalam. 9. This collection is in the hands of Professor T. Nadaraja of the Faculty of Law, University of Ceylon, Colombo. To quote an extract from a letter in which he kindly conveyed some information: "speaking broadly, the manuscripts date back to about 1835, the time of Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar, member of the first Legislative Council. Most of the documents relate to his son, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, and his grandsons (P. Coomaraswamy), Sir P. Arunachalam and Sir P. Ramanathan and consist of various letters despatched by and received by them as well as some diaries". The last-three individuals named above were the sons of Ponnambidam Mudaliyar who married a sister of (Sir) Muttu Coomaraswamy. 10. See P. E. Pieris (ed) Notes on Some Sinhalese Families Part V The De Sarams in England 1811-1821 (The Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd, n. d. ). 4 letters sent by (Sir) James Peiris to Jacob de Mel in the years 1879-86,1 the letters from Ceylonese in the Gregory MSS and the Lord Stanmore MSS,2 and the diaries of (Sir) Richard Francis Morgan,3 (Sir) Muttu Coomaraswatny,4 Edmund Rowland Gooneratne (1861-1868),5 and the Revd. John Simon de Silva (1897-1939).6 The letters written by Hannadige Jeronis Pieris over the years 1853 to 1856 therefore present a welcome addition to this category of source material. In fact, they lay claim to being unique.? They do not contain the thoughts of an urbanite, whether lawyer or aristocrat; they are the lines of an entrepreneur resident in the district of Kandy at the time he wrote them. They are letters and not diary extracts. Though we have several such series of letters written by Britons sojourning in Ceylon,8 these seem to be one of the few extant collections written by a Ceylonese. It is also unusual to have a collection of letters written by one individual to several persons, including those who are not members of the family. This arises from the fact that the letters are not originals but copies derived by means of a press-copying machine; the procedure involved the use of a special indian-ink, inser- tion of the original into the machine which was then pressed down so as to reproduce the original on wafer-thin tissue paper. As a result, they appear in Jeronis's own hand and contain his signature. They also happen to be in a continuous series.

In order to grasp their historical significance, and before proceeding to highlight some of the features which the letters reveal, it is necessary to provide details on Jeronis Peiris's family connections and personal career.

1. The letters are in the hands of his son, Mr. Deva Suryasena of 10 Alwis Place, Colombo 3. The Archives has photostats. There are also a few letters (of meagre historical value) he has received in the twentieth century. 2. Sir William Gregory was Governor of Ceylon from March 1872 to May 1877 and Sir Arthur Gordon (later Lord Stanmore) was Governor from 1883-1890. The Gregory Papers were with his grandson, Major Richard Gregory, in Ireland till they were unearthed by Bertram Bastiampillai (Department of History, University of Ceylon, Colombo), who should be consulted regarding their present location. They include letters from (Sir) R. F. Morgan. See B. Bastiampillai, The Administration of Sir William Gregory (Dehiwala: Tisara Prakasakayo, 1968) for further details. The Stanmore Papers are in the British Museum and include letters from (Sir) Samuel Grenier, a Ceylonese Attorney-General. 3. These are in the hands of Mr. Sam J.C.Kadirgamar, a lawyer whose address is Queen's Road, Colombo 3. Extracts from the diaries have been printed in William Digby, Forty Years of Official and Unofficial Life in an Oriental Crown Colony; being the life of Sir Richard Morgan, 2 vols. (Madras: Higginbotham & Co., 1879). 4. These are also with Professor T. Nadaraja. 5. Poorly edited by P. E. Pieris as Notes on some Sinhalese Families Part VI Mid XIX Century From the Diaries of E. R. Gooneratne (Colombo: The Times of Ceylon Ltd., n. el.). The manuscript diaries are in the possession of Rowland H. Dias Abeyesinghe of Dickman's Road, Galle. 6. These are with Srian & Ratna de Silva, who could be reached through the Employer's Federation. 7. The letters preserved by the temples have their own brand of uniqueness. B. For instance: the Fairholme letters which are with Mr. & Mrs. Graham of Saskatchewan House, Canada and have been serialised by Mildred Wickrema in the Ceylon Daily News in late 1968; the James Taylor MSS with Miss Mary Greig of Dundee; the Julia Margaret Cameron MSS discovered very recently in Britain (in private hands; it may be possible to reach the owners through Mr. Ralph St. L. Deraniyagala of Racecourse Avenue, Colombo); the Norman MSS in the Kent County Archives Office (largely re the C. H. Cameron family); the Hartwell Papers in the County of Buckingham Record Office (including letters from George Lee and A. H. Roosmalecocq); the Clifford correspondence in the Earl of Halsbury MSS; and a host of other collections recorded in A Guide to Western Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles relating to South and South East Asia compiled by M. D. Wainwright Noel Mathews under the general supervision of J. D. Pearson (0. U. P. 1965). CHAPTER TWO

KITH, KIN, AND CAREER

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris was born on the 15th June 1829, the second child and eldest son of Hannadige Hendrick Pieris Jnr., of Nagalagam Street, Grandpass in Colombo. H. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. was a younger brother of Francisca Pieris and H. Daniel Pieris (who died on the 12th January 1843). They were the children of Hannadige Hendrick Pieris of Moratuwa.I The Pierises were closely connected with the Warusahannadige de Soysas of Panadura and Moratuwa and may even be considered part of the same clan because their ge name2 is sometimes rendered as Warusahannadige. In the first place. Francisca Pieris married Warusaha- nnadige Joseph de Soysa (1764-1839), son of W. Bastian de Soysa of Nalluruwa, Panadura, on the 16th August 1792.3 In the second place, Joseph de Soysa and Daniel Picris would appear to have been associated in a business enterprise, which hired out bullock carts and traded in tobacco!

If the basic details in that stage of the family history are known, the origins of the family are shrouded in the mists of oblivion. One has to rely on unreliable and residuary oral traditions maintained among descendants. The oral tradition which bears the greatest detail has been conveyed by one of Jeronis Pieris's granddaughters, Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, nee Francesca Pieris, supported by letters from her cousins, L. C. de S. and Asoka Pieris. I have, however received a somewhat different version from one of Jeronis's grandnephews, Mr. Marcus Pieris of Kandy.5 The very existence of differing versions raises uncertainties and doubts about the accuracy of such traditions. Moreover, the tradition maintained by Mrs. • Jayasuriya is confused in its details about Jeronis Pieris's parents. Initially Mrs. Jayasuriya stated that his father's name was "Hendrick" but subsequently amended it to "Ardris", a detail she maintains forcefully.6 Nor does her version explain the existence of two Hendrick Pierises in the biographical details mentioned in the de Soysa Charitaya.7 As such, the whole of the oral tradition conveyed by Mrs. Jayasuriya is called into question and cannot be considered historical fact. I repeat it here, however, because of the illustration it affords of the types of oral traditions that are cherished by Sinhalese families and because of one or two historical insights it affords.

1. These biographical details are based on a genealogical table that was kindly supplied by Mr. Gustavus Jayawardene of Fern Bank, Moratuwa and on C. Don Bastian, The de Soysa Charitaya or The Life of Charles Henry de Soysa, Esq. J. P. (Colombo: The "Sinhalese Daily News" Press, 1904) pp. 9, 182, 237 & 239. The former is largely based on church records. 2. Ge is the Sinhalese for "of-. It is a genitive. However official literature has perpetuated the erroneous concept that it means "house" and refers to the unilinear house group. I am indebted to Professor Gananath Obeyesekere for this clarification. 3. The de Soysa Charitaya, p. 9 and Jayawardene's genealogical table. 4. Centenary Souvenir of the Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa (Moratuwa: D. P. Dodangoda & Co., 1960) pp. 40-41; and The de Soysa Charitaya, p. 10. According to this account Joseph de Soysa was evidently the junior partner and the business would appear to have been founded by Hendrick Pieris Snr. 5. For the connections of all members of the family whom 1 have consulted see the select genealogy of the Pieris and de Soysa families in Appendices A and B. 6. In conversation, 5 December 1968 and subsequently in letters dated 5th & 22nd December 1968, and 11th February 1969. 7 See pages 9, 182, 237 & 239.

5 6

The tradition t runs as follows: Jeronis's father (erroneously called Ardris) was the son of a Hindu from North India,2 a Rajput warrior named Vijay Vikram who came to Ceylon with a body of troops in the eighteenth century to serve Kirti Sri Rajasinghe, the King of Kandy (whose reign extended from 1747-82). He reached the Kandyan Kingdom via Seenigama, a village near Hikkaduwa on the southwestern littoral. On completing his service he was persuaded to remain in Kandy and was ordained high priest (kapuwa or kapurala) of the Vishnu Dewale of the Dalada Maligawa.3 He adopted Kandyan dress and the Sinhalese name, Samaranayake, but was referred to by the popular epithet "Malhamy Kapuwa".4 Intrigues in the Kandyan court circles, however, induced him to send his son to reside with relatives in Panadura. Ardris's (i. e. Hendrick Pieris Snr's) guardian in Panadura was one Anthonis Pieris Goonevarnasuriya Patterbadi Hannadige, who resided at Ouru Valle Road, Dombegaswatte, Panadura. Attending a Roman Catholic seminary for his education, Ardris (Hendrick) was converted to that faiths In time, he became a "shipowner" and import-export trader of note. He owned two-masted luggers and engaged in the coastal and Indian trade, having a "shipyard" of his own near Grandpass (where he had several acres of land).6 His death was the result of an accident in the "shipyard" which resulted in bloodpoisoning and occurred a few months before his third child was born.7

The tradition betrays an attempt to claim Indian origins and kshatriya af1iliations8 that is not uncommon among Karava families. That portion of it must be treated as altogether unsubstantiated. The story of mercenary warrior origins, however, is within the realms of possibility. Kirti Sri Rajasinghe fought against the Dutch in the period 1762-66 and his

I. My summary is based on the following sources: Letters from Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, 5 & 12 December 1968, 8 January 1969 (conveying information supplied by a relative, Mrs. Ellen Paranavidana of 231 Galle Road, Nawala), and 11 & 24 February 1969; Letters from L. C. de S. Pieris and L. D. Asoka Pieris to Mrs. Jayasuriya, 28 December 1968 and 16 February 1969 respectively, (both of which were kindly loaned to the author). 2. Since we know that Jeronis's grandfather was also named H. Hendrick Pieris one must amend the tradition by considering Jeronis's grandfather rather than his father to be the son of the Hindu named Vijay Vikram. 3. My attempts to ascertain the authenticity of this point through the good offices of Mr. H. L. Seneviratne (who is presently engaged in a sociological study pertaining to the Dalada Maligawa) have not been successful. For what it is worth the present kapurala said that there was no person called "Malhami" who served as a kapurala; while his own ancestors and he himself were froth Ayagama in Kegalla District. 4. The reference to an ancestor who was a kapuwa is an insistent feature in both the de Soysa and Hannadige Pieris family traditions, and probably has a basis in fact. The question remains where he held such a post. It may have been at the Devinuwara temple near Matara, with which the two families have long had connections. The Warusahannadige de Soysas, in fact, are said to have moved from Devinuwara to Panadura. 5. Letter from Mrs. Jayasuriya to author, 8 January 1969. 6. !dem; and L. C. de S. Pieris to Mrs. Jayasuriya, 28 December 1968 & 8 January 1969. Some information on the coastal trade can be gleaned from the "Shipping Intelligence" in newspapers and in the Ceylon Almanacs. Reference to the Colombo Journal of 1833 revealed that the port of Colombo despatched and received brigs and schooners to and from Trincomalee, Jaffna, Tutic,orin, Negapatam, Nagore, and Calcutta. An impressionistic survey suggested that most "masters" of these coastal trading ships were Muslims. But there are a few Fernandos and such names as Passe, Santiago, Jacob, Marco Anthony and Savery Mootoo. 7. L. C. de. S. Pieris to Mrs. Jayasuriya, 28 December 1969. 8. Mrs. Jayasuriya, Gustavus Jayawardene and M. D. Raghavan lay much emphasis on the contention that "Hannadige" is derived from "Sannadhige" or (Senadige) and therefore means "house of the comm- anding officer"; thereby satisfying themselves that another proof of the kshatriya origins of the karma caste has been provided by these "facts". The old- fashioned, unscientific reliance on the soft foundations of philological and phonetic similarities is a deeply-ingrained feature of popular Ceylonese historiography. In all probability it will successfully resist demolition. Popular historical prejudices usually do Plate 2

HANNADIGE JERONIS PIERIS: a portrait

born: 15. June 1829 died: 8 July 1894 Plate 3

HANNADIGE ENGELTINA PIERIS: a portrait 1825-1893; She was Jeronis Pieris's elder sister. Plate 4

Susew (1809-1881) was a younger brother of Jeronis de Soysa and his partner in business. He married Hannadige Engeltina Pieris, Jeronis Pieris's elder sister, on the 12th December 1839.

SUSEW AND ENGELTINA DE SOYSA Plate 5 Plate 6

MRS. HENDRICK PIERIS, JNR. MRS. HENDRICK PIERIS, JNR., ENGELTINA AND Lou is PIERIS nee Sellaperumage Welmina Fernando (1803-1895): mother of Engeltina, Jeronis, and Louis, 7

Nayakkar conections could have induced him to import soldiers. But one is left wondering how a foreigner from India serving the Nayakkar King of Kandy could have had relatives in Panadura.

The reference to eighteenth century Indian origins bears the mark of relatively greater authenticity. The oral traditions concerning both the Pieris and the de Soysa families are emphatic on this point. It is unusual, moreover, for Sinhalese families to admit so recent Indian connections. While Jeronis's letters reveal hardly any information on his ancestry there is a wisp of evidence which may be held out as indirect support on this point. In a letter to a friend he inquires after "our old Coergu( ?)" and asks whether Coergu( ?) had any intentions of visiting "his native land".1 This could only be India. The question remains whether Coergu( ?) was a relative of some sort or a faithful employee or partner in one of Jeronis's (and his friend's) trading concerns for the same paragraph goes on to talk about rice supplies and indicates that Coergu( ?) dealt in rice.

There is also little doubt that the Pieris family were an entrepreneurial family. By the second and third decades of the nineteenth century, as noticed earlier, they were transport contractors and traders in association with the de Soysas. It was at this stage that Hendrick Pieris Jnr. married one Sellaperumage Welmina Fernando (1803-1895) from a long-established and propertied family clan in Moratuwa. They had three children :2

1. Engeltina born 15 December 1825 (died 11 May 1893). 2. H. Jeronis born 15 June 1829 (died 8 July 1894). 3. Louis born 19 March 1840 (died 16 June 1913).

The relationship with the de Soysa family was consolidated further by a cross-cousin marriage. On the 6th of December 1839 at Wolfendhal Church, Colombo, Engeltina was married to her first cousin, Susew de Soysa, the eighth child of Warusahannadige Joseph de Soysa. One of the oral traditions has it that young Jeronis caught the eye of the Reverend Joseph Marsh and received a scholarship to the Colombo Academy.3 This carries the suggestion that the family were not in affluent circumstances,—a suggestion that is not in accord with the ownership of a trading enterprise (unless the enterprise was on the decline). It is more probable that the de Soysas, and Susew de Soysa in particular, would have sponsored his education after 1839, if not earlier. The fortunes of two of the de Soysa brothers, Babasingho Jeronis and Susew, were on a rapid upswing from the late 1830's4 and they could easily have met the cost of Jeronis Pieris's education. Be that as it may, the H. J. Pieris's letters support the correctness of the tradition on one point. Jeronis attended the Colombo Academy. One letter refers to "the falling condition of our old Academy".5 Several letters reveal that he had been a pupil

1. No. 10, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854. Infra, p. 67. 2. The details below are based on the following sources: Jayawardene's genealogical table; inscriptions on tablets in the Kanatte cemetery; a printed death notice re Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. which is in the possession of Mr. Marcus Pieris; obituary in the Lakrivikirana of 14 July 1894; the de Soysa Charitaya; and an obituary in The Ceylon Morning Leader, 19 June 1913. 3. Interview with Mr. Henry ("Harry") Pieris Jnr, 3 December 1968. Mr. "Harry" Pieria is one of Henry A. Pieris's sons and Jeronis's grandsons. 4. See infra, pp. 40-43. 5. No. 19, To Simon Perera, 3 December 1855. Infra, p. 79. 8 of the Reverend Dr. Barcroft Boake at the Academy and thought highly of his tutoring abilities! The Colombo Academy was established at San Sebastian in Colombo in October 1836 with the Reverend Joseph Marsh in charge. Boake arrived in Ceylon and became Principal of the Academy in 1842.2 Jeronis must therefore have been a student at the Academy at some - in the 1840's and may even have joined it in Marsh's time, (1836-39).

One of the oral traditions hesitantly contends that Jeronis completed his education in England.; This is probably erroneous in that it may be the product of some confusion arising from one of Jeronis's latter-day visits to Britain. It is also alleged that the British officials in Ceylon were anxious to secure him for government service but that the two de Soysa brothers saw to it that he joined their enterprise in a managerial capacity.4 There can be no doubt on the latter point. When he wrote his letters in the period 1853-56 he was based in Kandy and was helping the de Soysas to plant their properties and to farm arrack rents,5 his address on several occasions being presented as "Arrack Godowns, Kandy". This is supported by reference to the estates (plantations) of Hanguranketa and Haragama and a property in Kadugannawa which were owned by Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa (most of these properties have remained in the hands of the de Soysa family to the present day). The exact relationship between the de Soysas and Jeronis Pieris is difficult to gauge. The Ceylonese entrepreneurial ventures in the nineteenth century were largely family enterprises. The managerial and middle- echelon executives were usually relatives. Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa made it a point to select "young men.... from his native village" as managers of his estates.6 The de Soysas, would have attached much value to a bright clansman. The question remains whether, at the outset Jeronis was a hired and trusted manager, or a ward whose individual advancement was sponsored in combination with the utilisation of his services, or even, perhaps, an equal partner. The second suggestion is the more probable. For one thing, Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa (1797-1862) willed some property to him and it is said that Susew also purchased some properties for him.i For another, he appears to have been permitted to branch of on his own account while serving with the de Soysas. It is not known whether the Pieris family maintained the trading establishment which Hendrick Pieris Jnr. is alleged to have owned, but the letters suggest that Jeronis may have been trading on his own account in the 1850's.9 In any event, it is evident that his relationship with the de Soysas developed into a status of equality. By 1868 he was associated with them in the banking firm of "Soysa & J. Pieris" located in the Pettah, Colombo.9 In

1. Idem and No. 16, To C. H. de Soysa, 28 July 1855. Infra, pp. 79 v 76. 2. The History of Royal College (formerly called the Colombo Academy) written by the boys in the school 1931, (Colombo: H. W. Cave & Co., 1932) p. 56. Marsh left Ceylon in 1839. 3. Interview with Mr. "Harry" Pieris, 18 March 1969. 4. Conversation with Mrs. Jayasuriya, 5 December 1968. 5. No. 8, To C. H. de Soysa, 10 May 1854. Infra, p. 68. 6. Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870. 7. Certified application for a deed, No. L. 2943 of 4 November 1867, in the possession of Mr. Shanti Sri Chandrasekera of Colombo, which shows that Jeronis Pieris received a portion of Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa's property in Bagatelle Road, Colombo; and interview with Mrs. Jayasuriya, 30 December 1968. 8. Nos. 10 and 18, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854 and undated respectively. Infra, pp. 70v 88 9. A. M. Ferguson, The Ceylon Directory for 1866-68, Supplement, p.lxxxiv. Cf. Sir T. Villiers, Mercantile Lore (Colombo: The Ceylon Observer Press, 1940?) p. 5, which refers to "The Bank of Kandy" founded by the Pieris brothers and the de Soysas, but provides an obviously erroneous date. The Kandy bank may well have been a branch of that in the Penal', or vice versa. The bank appears to have been wound up by the 1880's. 9 this venture the de Soysa-Pieris family may have profited from the banking experience gained in England by Jeronis's younger brother, Louis,1 for Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72 indicates that Louis Pieris was a "partner" in Susew de Soysa's mercantile firm in Kandy.2 The de Soysa-Pieris banking agency was undoubtedly one of the first Ceylonese-owned banks, though the distinction of having initiated the first Ceylonese bank appears to lie to the credit of another family, that of Harmanis Soysa.3 At this stage, in the 1860's, the de Soysa enterprises were in the hands of Susew de Soysa (1809-1881). Susew had joined his elder brother, Babasingho Jeronis, in the Kandyan Highlands in the 1830's and assisted him in managing his interests (while establishing some of his own ventures as well). At this stage, too, the de Soysas were one of the richest Ceylonese families, if not the richest. And fortune was soon to be stacked upon fortune: Charles Henry (1836-1890) was Babasingho Jeronis's only son and heir; in 1862 he married an heiress i9 Catherine de Silva, the only daughter of one Jusey de Silva who was reckoned by a contemporary to be second only to the de Soysas in wealth ;4 and he was eventually to receive most of the childless Susew's inheritance.

While Jeronis Pieris profited from his service with the de Soysas it is clear that he provided them witli considerable talent in return. The success of his own entrepreneurial ventures indicates that he possessed as much commercial panache as the de Soysas had displayed in their pioneering days. By 1868 he owned four properties in the Central Province, covering approximately 1630 acres, which were partially cultivated with coffee.5 By 1875 he had his own mercantile firm, which stood with that of the de Soysas in lone splendour as the only Ceylonese mercantile firm among those listed for Colombo in Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1875.6 Like the de Soysas he was careful to spread his investments. He purchased several urban properties in Colombo and invested in coconut plantations and arrack rents.? Table I depicts the extent of his plantation properties (in acres) in the years 1871-72,1880-81 and 1890-91, and provides further evidence

1. Interview with Mr. Marcus Pieris, January 1969. The fact that Louis Pieris went to England is strongly emphasised in the several family traditions. 2. See p. ciii. Harmanis Soysa was another partner in this firm, a partnership which dated from 1863 at the latest. A distinction is drawn between the banking agencies and mercantile agencies because Ferguson's Ceylon Directories maintain such a distinction. 3. See Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1863, p. lvii, where Susew de Soysa's firm is listed under the category "Merchants" but not under "Bankers"; whereas Harmanis Soysa's name is listed under the latter. On the other hand the list of men's names and addresses in the very same Directory (p. cxliii) gives Jeronis Pieris's occupation as that of a "native banker" (in Grandpass). For further details on the business relationship between Harmanis Soysa and the de Soysas see infra, p. 43. Harmanis Soysa's sons were H. J. A. J., George Francis, Arnold Cornelius and J. J. Soysa. One of his grandsons is A. C. H de Soysa (prefix readopted). Born in 1822 (probably in Panadura) Harmanis Soysa died at the age of 60. His father is believed to have been one Elliot Soysa and the relationship to Joseph de Soysa and his descendants is believed to have been, at best, distant. These details were provided by Mr. A. C. H. de Soysa (personally communicated, 4 July 1970) . Also see Arnold Wright (ed), Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon (London: Lloyds's Greater Britain Publishing Co., Ltd., 1907), p. 820. 4. The Ceylon Examiner, 9 December 1871: editorial. See infra, pp. 40-43, for further details. 5. Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1866-68, Supplement, pp. xxiv, xliv and xlv. 6. See p. 879. However note that there were other non-European mercantile firms which found mention in the Ceylon Directories of previous years: those owned by E. Nannytamby, P. B. Fernando and the Parsee, Cowasjie Eduljie. 7. Wright (ed) Twentieth Century Impressions, pp. 576,578-80, 582-84. Interviews with Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya (30 December 1968) and Mr. Harold Pieris (3 December 1968). NLR, Vol. III, pp. 179-208 re D. C. Colombo, C. 1850 Testamentary. 10

TABLE I

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year No. of Total Acreage Total Acreage Acreage Acreage Acreage Acreage Proper- Extent Unculti- Acreage under under under under under ties vated Culti- coffee coconut cinna- tea rubber vated MOB

1871-72: 6 2,455 1,354 1,101 1,011 1880-81: 11 2,749 605 2,144 601 1,529 14 1890-91: 19 6,543 1,564 4,979 — 4,346 14 3814 2374

of his affluence.t It also shows that he began acquiring coconut properties in the 1870's and that he shifted his emphasis from coffee culture to coconut cultivation. The details2 also indicate that he had sold four of the coffee estates which he held in 1871-72 (Ambokka, Kent, Baddewella and Macoolussa) by 1880-81; all four were sold to Europeans, who were thereby left the task of countering the coffee leaf disease and the attendant decline of the coffee industry. Such measures would appear to have assisted Jeronis to weather the depression of the late 1870's and early 1880's, as evidenced by his capacity to expand his plantation holdings. As he appears to have been responsible for planting the 2374 acres of rubber which the Maturata and Elbedde estates supported in 1890-91, he could also lay claim to be one of the pioneer rubber planters in Ceylon. One can, on the basis of this evidence, endorse the Lakrivikirana's opinion that he traded and planted intelligently and that he was one of the most wealthy Ceylonese (pra-dhana dhana-va-thek) at the time of his death.3

Jeronis Pieris married a first-cousin-once-removed named Warusahannadige Caroline Francisca Soysa, a daughter of Lewis Soysa and a niece of the de Soysa brothers, on the 13th December 1856.4 Significantly, even by the time of her death in March 1903, Mrs. Caroline Francisca Pieris (1842-1903) had acquired "nothing of English, beyond the ability to sign her name in English characters".5 Sinhalese must have been the language of their home. They had seven children:

1. Since Pieria is a common name and the Ceylon Directories compiled by the Fergusons were- not always meticulous about spelling and other details, it is possible that a few properties have been missed or that properties listed under "J. Pieris" may have belonged to another individual with the same initials. Again, the coconut properties listed in the Directories generally do not indicate the acreage under cultivation. In this sense column 7 must be treated as an exaggeration. Column 5 (total extent cultivated) is therefore exaggerated; and the figures for column 4 (uncultivated extent) are an underestimate. For a detailed breakdown of Table I and a more elaborate explanation of the shortcomings, see Appendix C, infra, pp. 87-88. These tables were compiled by two undergraduates, Misses R. Kaleel and Manel de Silva. Their employment was made possible by a research grant from the University of Ceylon in support of my study on elite formation in British Ceylon. 2. See Appendix C. 3. The Lakrivikirana, 14 July 1894, in an obituary notice. It was also noted that Jeronis Pieris supported the Lakrivikirana regularly. 4. Extract from the Baptismal Register, Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa on the occasion of Richard Steuart Pieris's baptism, 6 June 1858. The extract was kindly sent by Mr. Gustavus Jayawardene. Also see Appendix A & B. 5. NLR, Vol. III, p. 182. 11

1. Richard Steuart Pieris 1858-1918 2. Henry A. Pieris 1862-1919 3. Annie Pieris 1864-1891 who married Charles Peiris. 4. Lambert Louis Pieris 1867-1928 5. George Theobald Pieris 1871— ? 6. Emily Hortensz Pieris ? ? who married Francis James Mendis. 7. Caroline Lucille Pieris 1875-1942 who married E.L.F. de Soysa (Snr.)I

A further measure of Jeronis's position and wealth is provided by the fact that Richard Steuart Pieris was sent to Chiswick Collegiate School and to Cheltenham in England. It must have been partly in connection with his son's welfare that Jeronis visited England (with Louis) in 1877.2

To Richard Steuart Pieris's education in Britain one may perhaps attribute the extravagant tastes he developed later, tastes which his younger brothers are said to have been partial to as well. If one is to rely on oral family traditions, such habits did not meet with Jeronis's approval. Whether for this reason or not, Jeronis bequeathed his estate to his wife under a joint will, dated 9th February 1894, five months before his death.3 Between July 1894 and the date of her death (4 March 1903) Mrs. Pieris conveyed "a considerable amount of property" to her children by deeds of gift. Her will was enacted on the 1st March 1903. The will dealt with property valued at approximately Rs 2 million. All the children were provided for under the will. Five of the surviving children, however, felt that the will and the previous deeds of gift greatly favoured the sixth child, Henry A. Pieris, who was her favourite child and who not only managed the family business for her but resided at the family house, "Elscourt". In consequence the bequest was contested both on technical grounds and on the grounds that the testatrix (Mrs. Pieris) was not of sound mind on the day in which the will was executed and that undue influence was exercised by Henry A. Pieris. The outcome was the famous Pieris will case of 1903-04. Giving their judgement on the 18th July 1904, the Supreme Court supported the verdict of the District Court and upheld the wili.4

1. Charles Peiris was James Peiris's brother and subsequently married a daughter of Jacob de Mel. F. J Mendis was a brother of the Revd. J. G. C. Mendis. E. L. F. de Soysa Snr. was one of C. H. de Soysa's sons and Jeronis de Soysa's grandsons. 2. Wright (ed) Twentieth Century Impressions, p. 578. Letter from Jeronis (in Sinhalese) to Enge!tina de Soysa (his sister) and his mother, from London, 7 September 1877, See infra, pp. 85-87. 3, NLR, Vol. III, p. 190. 4. kid, pp. 179-208. CHAPTER THREE

THE BACKGROUND OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND ELITE FORMATION IN NINETEENTH CENTURY CEYLON

Antecedents Sinhalese society in the centuries immediately preceding the territorial intrusion of the European powers, and subsequently in the Kandyan Kingdom, had an aristocracy at its apex. This aristocracy possessed the characteristics of an elite. By "elite" is meant a leadership group or social formation which possesses the attributes of (1) wealth, (2) status and esteem, (3) power and influence, (4) authority, and (5) skill (as best reflected 'in one's oocupation), attributes which may be held singly or in combination, though generally members of such a social formation combine at least a few of these attributes.'

Since the Sinhalese aristocracy or elite group was part of a society that isgenerally described as a traditional society, and since one's vision, being retrospective, is conditioned by subsequent transformation and modernisation, it is possible to label this particular social formation as the traditional aristocracy or traditional elite.

In the Kandyan Period2 the "traditional social order was based on a complex of village communities, knit together for purposes of revenue, government and defence through a hierarchy ranging from village headmen through provincial governors, to the king who was at the apex of the social pyramid."3 This social structure was girded and threaded by the caste system on the one hand and an interrelated system of land tenure on the other. It has commonly been suggested that the dominant principle in the formation of the traditional elite which this framework supported was that of ascription.4 To quote Ralph Pieris:

1. In more modern and complex societies, it may be possible to classify elites on functional lines and to speak of the political, bureaucratic, military, economic, and religious elites, for instance. Even on this basis one can contend that these groups would constitute an elite in relation to the rest of the population; that is, an elite that was (is) an aggregate of the functionally defined elites could be identified. Such functional classification makes little sense for traditional Sinhalese society where the political, military, administrative and economic (and even religious)bases of power were fused in the same hands. For some literature on the subject of elites which devotes particular attention to elites in more complex societies see C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (0. U. P., 1956) and a critique by Paul M. Sweezy "Power Elite or Ruling Class ?" a reprint (New York; Monthly Review Press, 1956); and Suzanne Keller, Beyond the Ruling Class (New York: Random House, 1963). Also see T. B. Bottomore, Elites and Society, new edn. (Penguin Books, 1967); Andre Beteille, Caste, Class and Power: Changing Pattern; of Stratification in a Tanjore Village (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1965); and Robert Eric Frykenberg, "Elite Groups in a South Indian District: 1788-1858", The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol XXIV: 2 (February 1965). 2. The Kandyan Period refers to the period from 1591 to 1815, when the Kingdom of Kandy existed in the central portion of Ceylon. However there was a semi-autonomous principality in Kandy dating from around the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 3. Ralph Pieris, "New Elites in Ceylon" in Transactions of the Fifth World Congress of Sociology (Louvain Belgium: International Sociological Association, 1964) p. 295. 4. Idem; and Marshall R. Singer, The Emerging Elite (Cambridge, Massachusetts: M. I. T. Press, 1964) pp. 19-21; and P. T. M. Fernando, The Development of a New Elite in Ceylon with special reference to educational and occupational background, (Oxford University: D. Phil. dissertation in Sociology, 1968) pp. 14-15. This is a view to which I myself subscribed initially, but about which my doubts have tended to increase, particularly after discussions with Drs. V. Kanapathypillai, C. R. de Silva, Vijaya Samaraweera and Mr. W. J. F. Labrooy.

12 13

A stratum of royal officials, radolan, is mentioned in tenth century inscriptions. By the nineteenth century that stratum, known as radala, consisting of a powerful group of intermarrying families, had been consolidated in the interior.'

Such a view is based on slender and fragmentary evidence, much of it pertaining to the early nineteenth century. In the circumstances, the view that the traditional elite in the Kandyan Kingdom was confined to a small group of interlocked radala families and rested on a hereditary and ascribed basis cannot be treated as an established fact and must be presented in tentative fashion.2 When applied retrospectively to the several centuries preceding the Kandyan Period, such an interpretation has an even flimsier base and carries all the perils of excessive oversim- plification. In short, one must be doubly circumspect in applying this interpretation to the very broad period of history which is said to have been featured by a "traditional society". Illus- tration of both the interpretation and the errors it might carry is provided in marshalling some of the fragmentary evidence for and against the theory that ascription prevailed.

Writing of the Kandyan Kingdom in the mid-seventeenth century, Robert Knox in effect suggested that the traditional elite was drawn largely from the radala sub-caste within the goyigama caste, a caste which was the largest single caste group in the Sinhalese districts. Said Knox:

The king when he advanced any to be Dissauva's, or to any other great Office regards not their ability or sufficiency to perform the same, only they must be persons of good rank, and gentile extraction: and they are all naturally discreet and very solid

The elite was distinguished from the rest of the goyigama caste and the rest of the populace by the authority conferred through high government office (such posts as adigars, disavas, basnayake nilames, ratemahatmayas and korale vidanes); by their life-style, social status, and degree of regional influence ;4 by the extent of their landholdings5; and by the fact that they had emancipated themselves from direct cultivation of the soils

1. Ralph Pieris (1964) p. 295. Radala refers to the highest sub-caste within the top ranking gorigama caste in the Kandyan Provinces. Strictly speaking it does not apply to the Low-Country Sinhalese. 2. To date, no historian has devoted much attention to the subject. It is anticipated that the researches of Mts. Lorna Dewaraja will shed considerable light on this issue. 3. Robert Knox (Ryan's edition), An Historical Relation of Ceylon (Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1911) p. 80. However, Knox notes that the disavas were "appointed by the King himself, not for life but during his good pleasure". 4. For a description of the powers exercised by the principal chiefs and headmen, their symbols of status, and the homage they received,see ibid, chapter 5.Knox also observed :"The great people have handsome and commodious houses", (p. 138). For a list of Kandyan headmen compiled by John D `Oyly and James Gay in 1817 see Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 30-32. 5. Many of them held nindagam (lord's properties or villages) and therefore enjoyed the revenue and services of the villages besides wielding varying powers of jurisdiction. This involved the maintenance of a walauwa lekam miti or manorial land roll. There were also office holdings which were not entire villages but only portions of land in certain villages. See Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 60-72. 6. This is a strongly-rooted status symbol in modem-day Sinhalese culture. "I was not expected to soil my hands with manual labour as other boys did, being of too respectable family as they deemed", remarked T. B. Panabokke Snr. See Panabokke and Halangode (ed), (1938?), p. 4. Also see Gananath Obeyesekere, Land Tenure In Village Ceylon: a sociological and historical study (C.U.P., 1967) pp. 216-17, 226-47. However note what Knox says (op. cit., p. 152): "Nor is it held any disgrace for Men of the greatest Quality to do any work either at home or in the Field, if it be for themselves; but to work for hire with them is reckoned for a great shame. But he that goes under the Notion of a Gentleman may dispense with all works, except carrying; that he must get a man to do when there is occasion." 14

While the distinctiveness attached to the traditional elite is evident, there is much less certainty about 'recruitment' patterns. On the basis of his work among British records of the early nineteenth century, Ralph Pieris has evidently gained the impression that aristocratic roles were restricted to a few radala families during the late Kandyan Period. On the basis of evidence from vitti pot' G.P.V. Somaratne's impressionistic opinion also favours the view that chief headmanships were largely decided on hereditary lines during the period of the Kotte Kingdom (c. 1411-1521)2 But neither Pieris nor Somaratne have substantiated these opinions through detailed analyses. One suspects that their's is an idealised picture which does not fit the practices of the Kotte, Sitawaka and Kandyan. Kingdoms. Since the radala sub- caste itself was probably a numerous or fairly numerous group, even if choice of personnel for the top-level administrative posts was largely confined to the radala group, it does not follow that aristocratic roles were monopolised by a few radala families on a hereditary and kinship basis, or that social mobility was severely restricted. Knox's statement on this issue is merely suggestive, and not conclusive. More crucially, the political and social flux that prevailed in the island during the fifteenth, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries carries significant implications. These centuries were characterised by a considerable intermingling of Sinhalese and of Tamils from North Ceylon as well as India.3 Apart from mercenary elements, Ceylon attracted a number of South Indian caste groups during this period. The royal household itself furthered this process. It is suspected that Paralcramabahu VI was a Tamil and it is known that Bhuvenaka Bahu VI was a Tamil named Sempahap Perumal. The kings of Kotte generally chose their brides from either the Sinhalese royal house of Kirivalla or from princely lines in South -India .4 Thus, several officers drawn from outside the traditional elite are known to have risen to high office in this period, among them the Alagakkonaras and Arittakeevendu Perumal.5 Bhuvenaka Bahu VI brought along his henchmen (paddeittalewan) from India.6 Again, Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka became a Hindu and is said to have dismissed or executed several members of the existing aristocracy? The fluctuating fortunes of war between the Portuguese and the Sitawaka and Kandyan Kingdoms would also have been conducive to some degree of social mobility

1. Books of incidents, generally pertaining to various districts. For illustration of the type of evidence conveyed by vitti pot, see Navulle Dhammananda (ed) Madyama Lanka Puravurthi (Colombo: Lake House Investments, 1969) and A. J. W. Marambe (ed) Tri Sinhale Kadaim ha Vita Pot (Kandy: Lanka- pradipa Press, 1926). 2. Personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne, 5 June 1970. Dr. Somaratne has recently completed a study on the "Political History of the Kingdom of Kotte from 1400-1521" (London University: Ph. D. in History, 1969). 3. Evidence for this development in the south-west coast is provided by the Portuguese Thombo of Kotte completed in 1614. The Mandaram Puwatha (Colombo: 1948) edited by Labugama Lankananda gives a glimpse of the socio-political conflict attending this development in the Kandyan areas. A summarised English translation of the Mandaram Puwatha is available in the JCBRAS (1952). For a description of South Indian influences in this period see Tikiri (B.H.) Abeysinghe, Pruthugeeseen ha Lankava 1597- 1658 (Colombo: Lake House investments, 1969) pp. 104-06. I am indebted to Dr. C. R. de Silva for these references and also for the clarification of many of the points included in the text. 4. Both points above were personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne 5. History of Ceylon (Colombo; Ceylon University Press, 1960), Vol. I, Part II, pp. 653-59. T. B. H. Abeyasinghe, Portuguese Rule in Ceylon 1594-1612 (Colombo: Lake House Investments, 1966) p. 14. I owe these references to Dr. C. R. de Silva. 6. Personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne with his documentation being the RaJavaliya. 7. Abeyasinghe (1969) ; p. 106. Parakramabahu VI ruled Kotte from c. 1411-1467 and Bhuveneka Bahu VI from c. 1469-1477, Rajasinghe I was king of Sitawaka from 1581-1592. Vidiye Bandara was the father of Don Juan Dharmapala, the last king of Kotte. Promoted by Mayadunne, Antonio Barreto alias Kuruwita Rata, led some insurrections against the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century and was even proclaimed "King of Kotte" by the rebels. l5 by providing a graveyard for aristrocratic families (who chose the wrong side) and by the opportunities they supplied to individuals with military prowess.1 The fact that the king Senarat's father appears to have been a mere village headman and that such individuals as Antonio Barrett) and Marcellus Bouchouwer rose to positions of great influence in the Kandyan King- dom suggest that there was some scope for advancement based on personal skills in the Kandyan Period as well.2 Granting that there was much less ascription in the 'recruitment' of the traditional elite than hitherto believed, nevertheless, there is reason to think that a difference existed between the practice and the theory; and that the social ideals continued to embody the principle of ascription.3 It is probable that those who rose from the ranks subscribed to such an ideology themselves once their position was secure, applying it against others less successful and thereby legitimizing their role. It is not an infrequent phenomenon in social history that families which have ascended the social rungs and entered a new estate are the most ferocious in maintaining the symbolic values of their newly-adopted estate.4

When the maritime districts fell into the hands of the Portuguese, the power and influence of the traditional elite in these districts diminished. The foreigners became the dominant group or the ruling elite of Maritime Ceylon. The Portuguese, however, revealed a preference for inexpensive forms of administration through indirect means and maintained the traditional machinery of economic and political organisation, merely adapting it for their own exploitative ends.. Such changes as they made were within the basic framework of the Sinhalese archetype.5 One of the changes effected by the Portuguese between 1597 and 1615 was the replacement of all the important administrative officials by Portuguese personnel.6 Another was the granting of villages and tracts of land to Portuguese casados such as Lancarote de Seixas.7 Nevertheless, the traditional elite remained as an intermediary social group that was distinct from the masses. They continued to man the administrative infra—structure; and the perpetuation of the traditional administrative archetype, in association with the Portuguese officials' -unfamiliarity with ground-conditions, enabled them to maintain a significant degree of influence.

1. JCBRAS, Vol. II (1952) p. 125. I am grateful to Dr. C. R. de Silva for providing me with the example mentioned in the body of the monograph as well as the documentation to support it in this footnote and the one that follows. 2. Abeyasinghe (1966) p. 50. P. Baldeaus, A True and Exact Description of the Great Island of Ceylon (Ceylon Histoilcal Journal, Vol. VIII, Nos. 1-4) p. 53. 3. Dr. Ralph Pieris et al would appear to have treated the theoretical ideals as the practice. 4. Cf. the nobility of the Ancient Regime in France which received numerous accretions from the ranks of the bourgeoisie in the 17th and 18th centuries, and particularly during the reign of Louis XIV. So much so, for instance, that when 58 noblemen in the Beauvaisis assembled to draw up their grievances in 1789 "only ten could trace their origins back to the beginnings of the seventeenth century, most dated from the reign of Louis XIV and sixteen from the period after 1740", as C. B. A. Behrens reminds us on the basis of Professor Gilbert's researches. Yet the nobility as a whole in France accepted bourgeois standards to a very limited degree only and "remained bound by their past". not only were they attached to their privileges but they also adhered to their traditional ideals, many of which dated back to the early Middle Ages. See C. B. A. Behrens, The Ancien Regime (London, Thames & Hudson, 1967), pp. 62-84 especially 73 and 78. 5. Abeyasinghe (1966) p. 69. 6. Ibid., pp. 77-78, 7. C. R. de Silva, "Lancarote de Seixas and Madampe", Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1969/70 Series, No. 1, (12 October 1969 mimeographed paper) passim, Also see Abeyasinghe (1966), pp. 102 ff. 16

With the triumph of Dutch power, the traditional elite were able to improve their position considerably; and there is room to suggest that in several ways they succeeded in carving out for themselves privileges and positions of power which they had not enjoyed under the Sinhalese kings.' Like the Portuguese, the Dutch2 maintained the traditional politico-economic structure and made only minor adjustments. But in contrast to the Portuguese they did not mix well nor were they adept at picking up the local languages. Their personnel were also spread much more thinly over the ground. They also discovered that the land registers painfully compiled by the Portuguese had been destroyed. In consequence the Dutch were forced to rely on the indigenous elite. They attempted to secure the loyalty of the elite by upholding their privileges and positions.3 The basis of their policy is underlined in the phrase: "The richer they are, the trustier they must become as their wealth is like a security of their loyalty".4 As in Portuguese times,5 the indigenous officials got more chances of acquiring wealth at the expense of the government as well as the villager. They appropriated services for their own profit. They extended their landholdings. By the mid-eighteenth century, according to the evidence presented by Kotelawele, several members of the well-to-do and high ranking Sinhalese officialdom owned, "large estates" and had "considerable cash incomes.""

It would appear that the facets supporting a traditional elite (centred round officialdom) continued to exist in Portuguese and Dutch Ceylon, albeit with changes—some to the detriment, and others to the advantage, of the traditional elite of the maritime districts. The questions remain whether the composition of the traditional elite remained the same? and whether the dominant ideals were based on ascribed status? The spadework which has been undertaken on this problem is limited, and the historical foundations slender. The evidence that is available suggests that there was a certain amount of change in the personnel comprising the traditional elite and that there was some degree of mobility. The implications of the warfare that prevailed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been noticed earlier.7 Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka,

I. Cf. the situation in Malaya in the period 1870's to 1939: " ...change occurred within (or coexisted with) a remarkable persistence of traditional patterns of social organization. British policy in the peninsula throughout the period was based on a mutually profitable alliance with the Malay ruling class... This symbiotic relationship ... certainly deprived the Malay Sultan of much of his policy-making or decision-making power ... But ... within Malay society itself the rulers not only remained supreme but had their position considerably strengthened by the improvement, under the aegis of the British, of the centralized apparatus of government, by the reduction of previously competitive territorial chiefs to the status of titled pensioners or government-paid bureaucrats, and by the strengthening of their customary but frequently unexercised control over religion". See William R. Roff, The Origins of Malay Nationalism (New Haven - London: Yale University Press, 1967). p. 250. This would be broadly in accord with the experience of several tropical colonies. Western overlordship, not uncommonly, enabled the indigenous elites to build on their own petty despotisms within the area of decision-making which did not go up to the higher levels of government and within the more crucial arena of policy implementation. 2. I am indebted to Dr. V. Kanapathypillai for providing me with several insights into the nature of the Dutch administration with special reference to the role of the principal headman. Particularly valuable was his emphasis on the difference between the nature of Portuguese control and that of the Dutch. 3. S. Arasaratnam, Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1658-1687 (Amsterdam: 1958) pp. 121-22. V. Kanapathypillai, "Dutch Agrarian Policy in Maritime Ceylon, 1766-1796," Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1969/70 Series, No. 4, 17 January 1970 (mimeographed paper). 4. K. W. Goonewardena, The Foundation of Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1638-1658 (Amsterdam: 1958). p. 149. 5. Abeyasinghe (1966) pp. 82-83. 6. D. A. Kotelawele, "Agrarian Policies of the Dutch in South-West Ceylon, 1743-1767," A. A. G. BiJdragen• 14 (1967) pp. 15-16. 7. Supra, pp. 14-15. 17 the Portuguese, and the Dutch dismissed, punished or exiled many chiefs.[ During the Dutch wars with Kandy in the period 1760-66, many Low-Country Sinhalese chiefs fled to the Kandyan Kingdom? Again, during the governorship of Schreuder (1757-62) a large number of Sinhalese chiefs who were suspected of complicity in the uprisings of the 1760's were banished; and their properties expropriated. Though the powers and positions of some of these chieftain families were restored during Van Falck's time (1765-84), the changes in the 1760's and 1770's were sufficient to create openings for a number of individuals. The new chiefs were chosen "from families of proven loyalty". A few of these families had "hitherto not provided the native officialdom of the Company". Others, such as the Dias Abeyesinghes of Galle, had - served in the lower rungs of the native administrative hierarchy.3

Despite such flux in the composition of the traditional elite, the dominant ideals associated with the traditional aristocracy appear to have persisted. The structure and attitudes of the traditional elite in early British times, on which we have more evidence, suggest that this was so. Conjecturally, several factors could be said to have contributed to this state of affairs. For one thing, it does not appear that there was a complete overturn of the leading Sinhalese families in Maritime Ceylon at any one time. The intrusion of new families into the ranks of the traditional elite would seem to have been sporadic, though not infrequent. Even the changes occurring in the 1760's and 1770's did not result in a wholesale displacement of the highest layers of the traditional elite. In the second place, the individuals whom the Dutch chose as the principal headmen of territorial divisions appear to have been largely goyigama.5

In the circumstances, in conclusion it could be said that a traditional indigenous elite continued to exist in Maritime Ceylon in Portuguese and Dutch times. Though several of the families within this group did not have Iong-standing roots in the elite, the features supporting their elite status remained traditional in that they centred round the official administrative hierarchy, the ownership of land, caste ranking, and, to some extent, ancestry. In short, the facets of elite status were based on the traditional socio-economic and political organisation.

1. Abeyasinghe (1966) pp. 77-81; Kanapathypillai (1970), pp. 3-4. 2. Kanapathypillai (1970) p. 3. 3. Ibid., pp. 3-4; together with elaborations that were communicated personally. Note should be taken; of the development in Dutch times of new categories of officers as competitors to the village headmen namely, the school masters and thombo-keepers. However, Dr. Kanapathypillai informs me that their range of powers was generally limited to the lower levelsof administration: that, even within these levels, they may well have been subservient to the village headmen; but that general conclusions cannot be reached on the latter point without detailed studies which pay attention to regional differences. 4. See, for instance, Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 14-36, 60-70, 127-33; (Maha Mudaliyar A. de Saram) "A Description of the Castes on the Island of Ceylon, their trade and their services to Government, supplied to Sir Robert Horton on the 24th Jan: 1832" published anonymously in the Colombo Journal; 23 June 1832 and subsequently under the author's name and with an expanded title by the Albion Press,Galle in 1888 under the sponsorship of one D. A. Tilakaratne; and C. J. R. Le Mesurier and T. B. Panabokke (ed.) Niti Nighanduwa or Vocabulary of Law as it existed in the Last Days of the Kandyan Kingdom (Colombo; Govt. Printer, 1880). The Colebrooke Cameron Commission received several petitions from the higher castes, particularly from goyigamas in Kandyan areas, which complained of low-castes assuming the privileges of higher castes. Such complaints illustrate the prevalence of an ideology attached to the caste system. The "privileges" which the goyigamas sought to preserve included that of office. See C. 0. 416 29, nos. 101, 116, 125, 126, and 145. I owe this reference to Dr. Vijaya Samaraweera. 5. Personally communicated by Dr. V. Kanapathypillai. Also implied by the nature of the system in early British times. See The Ceylon Almanacs of the 1830's. Though there were principal headmen from other castes, they were "caste headmen" in that they represented particular caste groups in particular administrative divisions. 18

One of these facets was a value-system which was both a product of the traditional structure and one of its supporting pillars. There is room to conjecture that the symbols, ideals, and concepts constituting the value-system associated with the traditional elite approximated to that of pre-Portuguese times and leaned towards ascriptive principles.

The Nineteenth Century

When the British conquered the island in two stages (1796 and 1815), therefore, they were confronted by the existence of a traditional elite;or, rather, of several traditional elites because one could differentiate between the Tamil elite of the North and East, the Kandyan Sinhalese elite, and the Low-Country Sinhalese elite. The weight of the traditional elite groups in the Sinhalese districts was perhaps brought home to them forcefully by the insurrection in the Maritime Provinces in 1797-98 and by the rebellion of 1817-18 in the Kandyan Provinces. As a result, they consciously attempted to reduce the powers of the chieftains and the principal headmen during the first half of the nineteenth century' — a policy which they could only pursue to certain limits because their system of revenue administration demanded a host of intermediary officials and because the headman system met this need cheaply. The British nevertheless went further than the Portuguese or the Dutch in reducing the powers of the principal headmen.2 In contrast to both the Portuguese and the Dutch moreover, they leaned towards Western forms of administration, a money economy, and free enterprise rather than a structure based on indirect forms of administration, barter, and compulsory services.3 They began to move away from the restrictive and stratified feudal order. Impediments to social mobility in the form of rajakariya4 were eventually swept away. Communications were extended. The rule of law and contractual relations supported by courts replaced the system of com- pulsion and customary law so common to the tropics. Land was rendered a commodity that was easily transferable, i.e., a freehold right. In a nutshell, the individualistic, simplified capitalist-structure of England was grafted onto Ceylon. In consequence, a market society developed and a process of social flux was generated. It was a gradual process not a cataclysmic one. It was marked by considerable regional differentiation in the degree of change. It was concentrated in the agricultural sector and its ancillary services, and therefore developed as an outgrowth on a traditional base. But it was a metamorphosis for all that. It was out of this social transformation that new Ceylonese elites were born.

The process of elite formation in British Ceylon was a gradual one attended by considerable regional variation. The transformation effected under British rule provided individuals and

1. "The policy of our Government has always been to curtail the power of the Chiefs and to destroy that paramount influence which under a despotic Government they naturally possessed," C. 0. 54/471, John Bailey to Lord Blachford, 19 December 1871. Bailey had just retired from the Ceylon Civil Service. See also Lennox A. Mills, Ceylon Under British Rule 1795-1932 (0. U. P. 1933) pp. 121-24; G. C. Mendis, (ed) The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers, Vol. 1 (0. U. P., 1956) pp. 51-52, 69, 116 & 189 - 211; and P. D. Kannangara, The History of the Civil Service 1802-1833 (Dehiwala, Ceylon: Tisara Prakasakayo, 1966 pp. xxix-xxxi, chapter two and pp. 123-24. 2. Kannangara, idem. 3. Cf. J. Bastin, The Native Policies of Sir Stamford Raffles in Java and Sumatra: an economic interpretation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957) passim. 4. Compulsory services that were largely, but not wholly, based on tenure. 19

families with the opportunity of achieving and consolidating elite status through two broad sets of factors : (a) new fields of economic enterprise and (b) educational acquirements ( especially in the English medium) in an environment which gave scope, albeit with limitations, for such acquirements. The two avenues of advance were not independent but closely intertwined. The hard-earned wealth of the pioneer entrepreneurs enabled them to educate their sons in the best schools ;and/or to send them to the inns of court in London to become fully-fledged barristers. The second and third generations employed their education to consolidate their economic and social position. In other instances, the professions provided a ladder to the ramparts of the elite and acquisition of landed property from professional earnings, supported this ladder. Strategic marriage alliances and the formation of family phalanxes or pelantiyasl were another component in elite formation; but generally constituted a second stage or second step in that the attainment of a suitable occupational and/or financial position was the primary stage and the basis for the negotiation of such marriage contracts.

Within the indigenous population, in time one could identify at least two levels of politico- economic power and status amounting to two elite categories : the "national elite" and the "local elite" as I would term them. Both these elites were, in effect, hierarchically situated and occupied levels of power lying between the British ruling elite and the indigenous masses.2 The "national elite" describes those individuals and families who possessed the attributes of elite status to a greater degree than the local elite, and whose circle of influence could be said to have had a nation-wide significance rather than a limited significance, regional or otherwise. Drawing examples from newly-emergent families as well as traditional elite families who maintained their elite status, it could be said that in nineteenth century Ceylon the national elite was typified by such families and individuals as Jeronis and Susew de Soysa, the de Sarams and the de Liveras, the Obeyesekeres of Talpe Pattu (Southern Province) and Veyangoda, the de Abrew Rajapakses of Welitara, the Ilangakoons of Weligama, the Dunuwilles of Kandy, the Iddamal- godas and the Eknelligodas of Sabaragamuwa, the descendants of Francisco de Mel of Mora- tuwa, the Panabokkes of Udapalata, the descendants of Don Adrian Jayawardene of Grandpass, the Senarat Mudalige Pereras of Kotte, the Nell family, Richard Francis Morgan, Coomara- swamy Mudaliyar and his descendants and kin, J. A. Perera, James Alwis, Dandris de Silva Gunaratne, D. C. G. Attygalle and Hannadige Jeronis Pieris. The "local elite", on the other hand, describes less influential individuals who were nevertheless set apart from the masses. Within the indigenous Ceylonese population, they were literally an intermediate and link social category. Their's was an intermediate station for upwardly and downwardly mobile families and individuals. And they often functioned as intermediaries and links between the national elite and the Citizens Perera, Tikiri Banda, and Velupillai. In British Ceylon the local elite was exemplified by such individuals and families as Pedroe de Silva of Waskaduwa,3 the Bastian-

1. For a description of the manner in which pelantiya formation occurs at the subdistrict level, see Gananath Obeyesekere (1967) pp. 214 ff. 2. The distinction between these two elites will be clarified in a work which I am preparing for publication. A preliminary, less refined, attempt will be found in Roberts, (1970 c) pp. 7-10.

3. The father of Dandris de Silva Gunaratne, Pedroe was a notary public in Waskaduwa (a village near Katutara North) and is said to have been an Oriental scholar.

L. 20

koralage Rodrigo of Hendala-Pamunugama,1 C. Don Bastian,2 Hemendra Sepala Perera,i P. H. Abraham Silva,4 and the Wijenayake pelantiya in Hinidum Pattu in the Southern Pro- vince which is described by Gananath Obeyesckere.5

The emerging national and local elites added significant new components to the social structure of the island. They were not mere extensions of the traditional elite as in Indonesia.6 The power and status of the new elites was largely based on personal achievement.7 The new elites included many individuals who would have found it very difficult to enter the ranks of the traditional elite in former times, particularly the elite in the Kandyan Provinces. In the long-run it was from the ranks of the newly-constituted national and local elites that the challenge to British rule originated. Both in the short and Iong-run they, or rather, the waves on which they advanced, presented a threat to the traditional elite. The latter were obliged to adapt themselves to the changes taking place around them and to take on the new facets of elite status; or else decline. It is known that several families (particularly Kandyan families) that belonged to the traditional elite of late-Dutch and early-British times succumbed to the new pressures.8 On the foundations of what is admittedly an impressionistic survey, however, it is evident that significant segment of the traditional elite revealed powers of adaptation and formed an important segment of the national elite that emerged with the social transformation of British times.9 In adapting themselves to changing times, 'traditional elite families were aided by the continuance of a modified headman system. They were also assisted materially by the persistence of traditional forms of status aspiration; among other tendencies, these norms placed a high premium on the possession of government office and on forms of land ownership which enabled an individual to emancipate himself from direct cultivation of the soil. 10 In adapting themselves, too, traditional elite families were assisted by the fact that several new avenues of economic advancement depended on the ownership of substantial land-holdings, holdings that were suited to the culture of coffee, coconut, cinnamon or tea (and later'rubber), or holdings that included gem deposits or rich veins of plumbago (graphite). Since the possession of significant extents of land in traditional Sinhalese society was largely restricted to members of the traditional elite,1 t they had a distinct advantage in having an economic base for further

1. An example supplied by Patrick Peebles on the basis of a study of the patterns of land grants and land sales in Colombo District, and of the regional bases and nature of other economic interests (e. g. arrack rents). Peebles is presently preparing a dissertation on elite formation in Colombo District. 2. Bastian (1852-1921) was a Sinhalese novelist and journalist. Born in the Pettah, he settled down in Karagarnpitiya, Dehiwala and carried influence in the locality. He was the proprietor and editor of the Dinapatha Pravurthi. Information based on interview with his daughter, Mrs. Pieris (March 1970), and his son, C. D. R. B. Jayaweera Bandara (14 May 1970), and on notes supplied by Mr. M. Gamagc, an assistant editor attached to the Sinhalese Encyclopaedia Office. 3. Perera (born in Kandy, 1868) was the editor of the Sandaresa at the turn of the 20th century, See Wright (ed), Twentieth Century Impressions, p. 319. 4. A native of Dodanduwa, Silva (born c. 1887) adopted Rambukkana as his main base and was active as a temperance and religious worker while deriving his income as a small trader. 5. Obeyesekere (1967) pp. 216-17, 226-47. 6. See Robert Van Neil, The Emergence of the Modern Indonesian Elite (The Hague: Van Hoeve, 1968). 7. In agreement with P. T. M. Fernando, The Development of a New Elite in Ceylon (1968) pp. 14-15. 8. See Lawrie (1896 & 1898) pp. 62, 67 & 418-19 for some instances. Several Kandyan families also suffered severe setbacks during the rebellion of 1817-18. 9. Here, I am anticipating a conclusion which I have reached in drafts of a study on "Social Change aad Elite Formation in British Ceylon, 1833-1931". 10. Obeyesekere (1967) pp. 216-17, 226-47. 11. The Crown, the devales and the temples, of course, also enjoyed large extents of land in the Kandyan Provinces. r-

development.' Their local bases of influence and their know-how also assisted them in expanding their lands and in pursuing other avenues of social ascent. To quote the Revd. Clough's observation in 1830:

The wealth of the country is chiefly among the headmen and they possess not only the positive riches of the country, but they exercise an influence over the labours, time and little gettings of the lower classes such as no person can at all understand but from living among them.2

While the traditional elite of the preceding centuries would seem to have been relatively undifferentiated, the national and local elites were highly differentiated. Economic distinctions in the form of income-levels were more accentuated than before and provided lines of division that were "horizontal", in the sense that stratification along levels of income are horizontal. Such distinctions were compounded by "vertical" lines of cleavage imposed by primordial communal and religious affiliations, vertical in the sense that such affiliations cut across income-Ievels and included all strata under one ethnic or religious umbrella. Regional differences such as that between the Kandyan and Low-Country Sinhalese_ provided further , differentiation.

The age-old distinctions of caste among the Sinhalese and the Ceylon Tamils caused additional and heated divisiveness. In the Sinhalese regions caste rivalry was accentuated by the fact that numerically significant sections of the new elites were from the karava and salagama castes.3 These two castes (together with the duravas) were relatively late infusions into the Sinhalese social system: for the evidence, scanty and largely inferential, suggests that these Low-Country Sinhalese caste groups migrated from South India in successive waves at various times between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries,4 a hypothesis that is supported by the oral traditions concerning the origins of the de Soysa and Pieris families.s In consequence, it would appear that they were not completely enmeshed in the traditional system (which was based on land tenure) and its concomitant behavioural patterns by the time of increasing Western influence and increasing opportunities for personal advancement in the seventeenth and eight..., eenth centuries.6 This contention is supported by the facts that, speaking broadly, they held

I. See supra, pp. 13-17. This point needs qualification. In the late eighteenth century the Dutch liberally granted thunhavul lands to inhabitants on the understanding that one third of each grant was to be cultivated with cinnamon (Kanapathypillai (1970) pp. 18-19); and prior to the 1830's the British also made numerous land grants, (Information supplied by Patrick Peebles on the foundation of a survey of the Colombo Kachcheri records on the subject). Both developments would have provided individuals outside the traditional elite with opportunities to improve themselves. Note that the headmen families themselves were among the recipients of such grants. 2. Quoted in E. F. C. Ludowyk, The Modern History of Ceylon (London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, 1966), p. 115. 3. This is generally acknowledged. Also see my "The Rise of the Karavas", Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1968/69 Series, No. 5, (4 March 1969) mimeographed paper, pp. 14-22. 4. Ibid., pp. 1-2. I am also supported in this view by (a) the opinion of Dr. G. C. Mendis, as communicated personally; (b) that of Bryce Ryan, Caste in Modern Ceylon (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rut- ger University Press, 1953) pp. 11-12, 73, 107-1I; and (c) C. R. de Silva's opinion (communicated personally) based on the fact that karava landholdings, especially in paddy land, were extremely limited in the early sixteenth century. In an agrarian community this can be taken as a mark of recent arrival. 5. Supra, pp. 6-7. 6. Roberts, "The Rise of the Karavas" (1969) pp. 6-7. Also see Kenneth A. David, "Socio-Cultural Change in the Sinhalese Section of Ceylon: Cultural Innovations by the Karava Caste" (University of Chicago: M. A. Dissertation in Social Anthropology, August 1968) pp. 26 if. 22 very limited extents of paddy land during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries' and that they had no role in the traditional Low-Country Sinhalese rituals. In further consequence, the potential elite segments within the karava and salagama castes showed relatively greater elan and dynamism than those of the more traditional castes. Their social advancement, particularly that of the nineteenth century, posed a threat to the numerically preponderant and traditionally dominant caste, the goyigama. The main 'push' from the karavas, however, appeared on the historical time-scale at an earlier date than that of the salagama. It also carried more muscle.2 The `kara-ga conflict, therefore, was a significant phenomenon in the history of British Ceylon. It was also attended and complicated by a hostility between the karavas and salagamas of not insignificant proportions. The national and local elites, therefore, were composed of dissimilar parts and possessed a heterogeneous nature. At the same time, nevertheless, the different parts of the national elite were linked by important common denominators. Whatever their caste or race or religion, members of the national elite generally did not query the existence of private property or of private enterprise. Their very existence as an elite rested (in part) on these pillars. Whatever their origins, once they had consolidated their position as members of the national elite, they became members of a single class — the term "class" being used in the Marxian sense of an aggregate of persons who perform the same functions in the organisation of production and who possess a sense of group consciousness. In short, it was an elite that was representative of the capitalist class which formed the upper crust of indigenous society. In this sense, all its members had a certain community of interest with the British ruling elite) who were also part (the dominant part) of the capitalist class. Their class situation provided the different segments of the national elite with a degree of homogeneity. It might, perhaps, be possible to depict this class situation as the basic framework within which they functioned, as a circum- ference, so to speak, which enveloped and linked the heterogeneous elements of the national elite. But its walls were thin. The very heterogeneity of the national elite imposed numerous strains which, every now and then, breached the community of interest engendered by class. No study of major political and social developments in British Ceylon will be adequate which does not recognise both the heterogeneity and the class homogeneity of the national elite.4 H. J. Pieris and the National Elite Hannadige Jeronis Pieris rose to be a member of the national elite which has been described in the foregoing pages. His career was a part of the process of elite formation in nineteenth century Ceylon — at an early stage when the coffee industry dominated the economy of the

1 Opinion personally communicated by C. R. de Silva on the basis of his study on the thombos of the Por- tuguese period as well as that of a land register or thombo of the late sixteenth century. For a study based on these thombos see C. R. de Silva Some Comments on the Political and Economic Condi- tions of the Kingdom of Kotte in the Early Sixteenth Century", Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1969/70 Series, No. 10 (mimeographed paper, 9 July 1970). 2. Roberts, "The Rise of the Karavas" (1969) pp. 18-27. 3. "I do not think a distinction can be made between the members of this society(The Ceylon Social Reform Society) and those people who are spoken of as the planters. Most of us are planters The interests of the Ceylonese planters are identical with those of the European planters", said James Peiris in the course of his speech at an extraordinary general meeting of the Ceylon Social Reform Society on the 11th January 1908 (The Ceylon National Review, No. 5 (February 1908) p. 169). I am grateful to Dr. K. H. Jayasinghe for helping me to locate this reference. 4. The local elite have been excluded from this section so as to simplify the problems of description. They could probably be included within the boundaries of the capitalist class. However, the very fact that ( have seen fit to distinguish between the local and the national elites illustrates another element of differentiation within the class. 23 island. It reflects the importance of both avenues of individual advance, educational qualifi- cations and entrepreneurial talent, with the accent on the latter. Unlike the brothers Baba- singho Jeronis and Susew de Soysa (but like Charles Henry de Soysa) he was English-educated, and was probably more Westernised than either.[ Like them but in possibly less difficult circumstances, he revealed considerable entrepreneurial ability. And in common with many Sinhalese families, cross-cousin marriages preserved fortunes within family circles and thereby bolstered the elite status of the Pieris family. The fact that the business and marriage alliances of the Hannadige Pierises were with the Warusahannadige de Soysas naturally proved of material benefit.

Jeronis Pieris's letters, therefore, provide interesting sidelights on the attitudes of the national elite at the fledgling stages of its growth. One must, of course, beware of generalisa- tions from one case-study, particularly when the social formation in question had multi-form and varied features. Yet Jeronis's outlook can be held to represent one strand of thinking in the new national elite. Since he was a Sinhalese it is arguable that his attitudes approximate closer to those of the Sinhalese elite than to those of the other communities. Within the Sinhalese national elite, Low-Countrymen noticeably predominated, numerically and otherwise, over the Kandyans. Jeronis was a Low-Country Sinhalese. He was also a member of the karava caste, one of the most powerful elements within the Low-Country Sinhalese elites and the national elite as a whole. He was also a karava from the locality of Moratuwa on the littoral immediately south of Colombo — a locality which mothered a high proportion of the karava dite.2

In summary, then, the letters of Hannadige Jeronis Pieris provide insights into the thinking of a notable entrepreneur and a potential plantation and property owner, who was a Low- Country Sinhalese, a karava from Moratuwa and a representative of the emerging national elite. The time at which the letters were penned is naturally of significance. The 1840's and 1850's were formative years for both the national and local elites. In this period the national elite were not seeking a share in the government and presenting demands for constitutional reform. It was not a period characterised by any modernistic brand of nationalism. Potential and ascending members of the Ceylonese national elite were concentrating on scaling the socio-economic ladder.

1. Most of the entrepreneurs who ascended the social scale in the course of the nineteenth century knew only a smattering of English. This statement applies particularly to the arrack renters and the plumbago mine owners and dealers. Among such examples were Simon Fernando Sri Chandrasokera, Wanna- cuwattewaduge Andris and W. J. Fernando, U. D. S. Gunasekera, N. D. P. Silva, Hettiakandage Bastian Fernando, Don Spater Senanayake, Ponnahannadige Manuel Dias of Panadura and Lindamullege Jusey de Silva of Moratuwa. Their children, however, acquired an English education. Thus, C. H. de Soysa was sent to the Colombo Academy and Francisco de Mel employed a resident English tutor to educate his sons. (See news item on an interview with Mrs. M. A. Fernando, a daugther of Francisco de Mel, in The Times of Ceylon, n. d. in Major E. C. de Fonseka's book of newspaper cuttings.) 2. Roberts, "The Rise of the Karavas" (1969) pp. 6, 18-24. CHAPTER FOUR

WESTERN ORIENTATIONS

An Emphasis on Education A significant vein in Jeronis Pieris's letters is an emphasis on English education. This is brought out very clearly in his letters to his younger brother, Louis, and his nephew-in-law, Charles Henry de Soysa, who were approximately eleven and seven years younger to him and students at the Colombo Academy in the 1850's. Jeronis's advice to Louis was aimed at improving Louis's attainments in English. Louis was required not merely "to become a diligent and learned youth" but, explicitly and implicitly, one who was highly proficient in English. His hopes for young C. H. de Soysa, too, were that he would "become a good classical scholar".1 In keeping with most contemporaries in the national elite, Jeronis Pieris clearly turned his face towards Western learning. As a Methodist missionary observed in 1875 (in a communication that may be exaggerated by its persuasive objectives): "English ! English! English! is all the rage now".2

Jeronis also emphasised the virtues of education and industry. "The root of learning is indeed bitter, but the fruits thereof sweet" ran one of his homilies to C. H. de Soysa. He maintained a continuous stream of inquiry concerning the progress which young Louis and C. H. de Soysa were making in their studies. Advice was accompanied by an insistence that both should keep their shoulders to the wheel. In the case of Louis his insistence grew increasingly agitated and soprano in tone. Louis, it would seem, remained in the bottom class, or one but the last class, for several years.3 Solicitous admonitions were heaped on this line of pressure: You read English badly, I am afraid, Louis. Would you kindly rewrite your last letter, herewith returned, in a better manner! Please improve your handwriting and spelling and do not forget to "introduce stops to your writing". Your last letter showed no improvement and was not in the least bit satisfactory.4 As if this was not enough, his letters to both Louis and C. H. de Soysa complained of the briefness of their letters — an incongruous complaint from a man who himself admitted to being a bad correspondent due to pressure of business.5

Rooted in affection and interest though these instructions were, they amounted to a nagging insistence which could well have got under Louis's skin. This would seem to be all the more so when one notes that a letter from Louis to Jeronis in late 1853 was the first letter which Louis had addressed to his brother in English.6 The letter in question was greeted with warmth

1. No. 9, To Louis Pieris, 10 June 1854 and No. 10, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854. Infra, pp. 69-70. 2. Quoted in Yasmine Gooneratne, English Literature in Ceylon 1815-1878 (Dehiwala, Ceylon: Tisara Prakasakayo, 1968), p. 9. The missionary was trying to persuade his superiors in London to devote more attention to advancing education in English rather than in the vernacular. 3. No. 22, To Louis Pieris, 22 March 1856. Infra, p. 83- 4. Infra, pp. 65, 69, 72, 75, 77 and 83-84. 5. No. 16, To C. H. de Soysa, 28 July.1855 and No. 17, To Louis Pieris, 23 Sept 1855. Infra, pp. 75-77. 6. No. 1, To Louis Pieris, 30 October 1853. Infra, p. 62.

24 25 and encouragement. Holding extravagant hopes for Louis's performance, however, Jeronis's impatience and concern led him to a nagging stance. Part explanation lies in the fact that roughly eleven years separated the brothers. Jeronis was fulfilling the role of a big brother on whom a great responsibility had been thrust by the early demise of their father, for family responsibilities are taken seriously in Sinhalese society. Part explanation could also lie in the influence of Protestantism. The virtue of industry was strongly favoured by certain brands of Evangelical Christianity in the nineteenth century. In association with the Victorian social values of decorum and scrupulous correctness, such influences could have produced the brand of emphasis which Jeronis's letters reveal.

Jeronis Pieris's partiality for English education and the sense of urgency with which he desired Louis Pieris to have a successful scholastic career suggest other important considerations. Education was, as we have seen, one of the major channels of individual and familial advancement in British Ceylon. It was regarded in such a light by several Ceylonese. To quote T. B. Panabokke, Snr:

Then, as now, parents sought education for their children not for any cultural value, but for advancement in life. They had greater reason to think of education in that light. A knowledge of English meant so much: Power, office and a means of liveli- hood. The Kandyans were beginning to realise that their hold of the country and people was gradually slipping out. Others alien by race and culture were being favoured and preferred in the Government appointments. My uncle had the sense to see that it would help me in life and was only too pleased to send me to (the school run by the Church Missionary Society in Cotta.)'

It is evident that Jeronis viewed an English education as such a career-investment. His insistence suggests the possibility that these views were sharpened by a sense of competition. As the situation stood in the 1850's, the fruits of an education in English were being enjoyed largely by two segments of the Ceylonese populace. One group were the Burgher elite; their preponderance in the more important subordinate posts in the administrative and judicial services and in the newly emerging indigenous legal profession cannot be questioned.2 There is room to think that a section of the traditional elite, the goyigama aristocracy, constituted the second segment: the careers of such individuals as James Alexander Dunuwille, James Alwis, the de Sarams, Frederick de Livera, John Graham Jayetilleke, Frederick Jayetilleke,

1. P. B. Panabokke and 3. A. Halangode (ed.) The Autobiography of Tab.: Banda Panabokke (Kandy: Miller & Co, 19387) p. 11. The Panabokkes' were undoubtedly more farsighted than many of the Kandyan traditional elite families in responding so eagerly and so early to the new educational opportunities. 2. A cursory glance at the lists of advocates and proctors, and personnel in the office of the Civil Medical Officer shows that among the Ceylonese names an overwhelming proportion in 1851 were Burghers; while in 1861 they were predominantly Burgher. See The Ceylon Almanac and Annual Register for 1851 and for 1861 (Colombo: Govt. Press, 1851 & 1861 respectively) pp. 69-72 & 321-23 respectively. Also see a list of the pupils at Rev. Joseph Marsh's Hill Street Academy in 1835 provided in Gooneratne (1968) p. 22, fn. 1. Dr. Andradi reckons that out of the 220 members of the legal profession in 1868 roughly 140 were Burghers, (W. M. D. D. Andradi, English educated Ceylonese in the official life of Ceylon from 1865 to 1883 (London University : Ph. D. dissertation in History, 1967) p. 125. 26

Albert de Alwis, D. J. F. W. Obeyesekere, "Harry" Dias, and Nicholas Dias Abeyesinghe,1 provide indications that this was so. The question, then, is whether such factors induced a sense of urgency in Jeronis's concern for his brother's future. The age was undoubtedly characterised by powerful group antipathies, antipathies that even influenced the youth. Panabokke provides another piece of evidence on this point in his description of life at the Cotta (Kotte) Missionary School:

Though the Singhalese predominated there were Burghers and Tamils and boys of others races. The Singhalese boys were divided into caste groups and the Karawe community seemed to be more caste ridden and caste conscious than the others.. There were a few Kandyans who instinctively came together not in antagonism to others but from a sheer fellow feeling common to those who leave home behind.2

Jeronis's letters to C. H. de Soysa were less fatherly in tone than those to Louis and provide the most information on his own literary interests. Despite his preoccupation with entrepreneurial tasks, his letters show that he found time for some reading. He professed himself captivated by Addison's beauty of style, which he considered superior to any other. He also read the Spectator and the Taller, and thought highly of Johnson. Among the works he borrowed or purchased were Boswell's Life ofJohnson and Johnson's Rambler in three volumes.3

William Digby has recorded that the "Rambler" was regularly quoted by and "exercised a marvellous influence" over the minds of the students at the school run by the Church Missio- nal:), Society at Cotta (Kotte).4 Among the popular fare of the Ceylonese educated in the English-medium, Yasmine Gooneratne has listed: Johnson's Rambler, Macauley's Essays and other works, and such periodicals as Blackwood's Magazine, Brougham's Statesman, the Edinburgh Review, the Illustrated London News and The Gentleman's Magazine.5 Besides providing confirmation on several points, Jeronis's letters suggest a few additions: the Taller, the Spectator, Addison and Boswell. Addison, in fact, would seem to have had the same popularity among Ceylonese students as among the Indian students observed by Trevelyan.6

1. This list is based on the biographies of James Alwis and J. A. Dunuwille; Paul E. Pieris's various editions under the title Notes on Some Sinhalese Families; Wright (ed), Twentieth Century Impressions, pp. 98, 102, 521; the histories of Royal and St. Thomas's Colleges; Memorials of James Chapman, D. D. First Bishop of Colombo (London, 1892); The Ceylon Civil List, 1863; and the lists of personnel in the various government establishments, the lists of headmen, and the lists of proctors and advocates, in the various editions of The Ceylon Almanac between 1836 and 1861. Among the ten Ceylonese who appear to have entered the Civil Service proper before 1863, five were Sinhalese: Frederick de Livera (1844) Christoffel H. de Saram (1845), John A. Henry de Saram (1852), David Ernest de Saram (1856) and Frederick Jayetilleke (1861). All were goyigama. The following Sinhalese were enrolled as proctors between 1841 and 1861: J. A. Dunuwille, J. de Alwis, D. S. de Silva, Hettigedara Ranhamy, J. H. and F. J. de Saram, D. J. F. W. Obeyesekere, G. A. de Silva, W. Jayatilleke, H. Dabera, J. G. Jayatilleke, Paranagama Mudiyanse, M. Perera, A. J. de Saram, D. E. and Christoffel 1-1. de Saram, G. Perera, E. de Abrew, and J. C. Dias. (Two "de Zilvas" who may be Sinhalese are also listed). Of these 19, 1 can identify the caste of 12 individuals. 11 of them are goyigama. 2. Panabokke & Halangode (1938?) p. 13. The quotation itself, the biography, and T. B. Panabokke's role in the publication of a version of the Niti Nighanduva in 1880 provide ample proof that his own caste sentiments were not less strong than those whom he criticised. 3. Infra, pp. 63, 67, 68, 70. 4. William Digby, Forty Years of Official and Unofficial Life in an Oriental Crown Colony being the life of Sir Richard F. Morgan, Vol. I (Madras: Higginbotham & Co, 1879) p. 74. 5. Gooneratne (1968). pp. 23-31. 6. G. 0. Trevelyan, The Competition Wallah (London, 1864) pp. 58-59. 27

I am not certain how to read this evidence. Yasmine Gooneratne considers that the English schools in Ceylon in this period "do not appear to have given the student much guidance in literary matters beyond providing him with models for his imitation" and stresses that "the student's aim was chiefly imitation." She also notes that educationists of the time offered the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer as the best models of composition and that "generations of Ceylonese schoolboys were brought up with the Scriptures as their standard of literary excellence") The letters are on more mundane and down-to-earth subjects than the largely literary raw material on which Gooneratne has based her conclusions. Jeronis's style and thought certainly betray strong scriptural influences. There is a suspicion that his is an earnest and deliberate attempt to acquire an English culture — which was at that stage Victorian. On the other hand the flow of thinking seems natural and spontaneous.

However one may read this evidence, the end product is hardly in doubt. Hannadige Jeronis Pieris modelled himself on his own conception of the proper Victorian gentlemen — and perhaps fancied himself as one already.

Collaboration: Christian and Anglophile

His Victorian traits were rounded of by affiliations to the Christian faith and the Church of England, affiliations which probably contributed towards his Britishness. if the oral tradition which maintains that their father was a Catholic is correct, it is probable that Engeltina, Jeronis and Louis were brought up as Catholics. But they shifted their allegiance to the Church of England at some stage in the mid-nineteenth century. It is said that this occurred sometime after Susew de Soysa had become an Anglican.2 However that may be, by the 1850's Jeronis had the ardour of a new convert. Gratitude for the blessings provided by the Almighty forms an integral part of his letters. This was not mere lip-service. A letter of condolence to C. H. de Soysa following the death of one of the latter's uncles, and another to a friend who was at death's door, were missionary in style, tone, and appeal.3 They advised the recipients to find refuge in the bosom of the Lord and to seek strength from the Holy Spirit. To young C. H. he advised recourse to the Bible as "the source (of) all consolation" and ended his letter with a reference to the 39th Psalm: "How beautifully does that holy Psalm the 39th read. Yea how truly are we though in life yet in the midst of death". His attitude to death was one of accepting the inevitable: "death pays not the least regard to the supplication of mortals we must all die sooner or later," he remarked in sending a message of consolation to his mother (through Louis) on the death of his (presumably maternal) grandfather.4 He was clearly determined to take death in his stride. In the meantime he would, to annotate our own observations, build his own little material kingdom here on earth — a kingdom which he drew on generously and continuously to provide benefactions for the Church of England in Ceylon.5

1. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 19, 24 25, 27. 2. Letter from L. C. de S. Pieris to Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, 4 January 1969. 3. No. 23. To W. H. Wright, 12 June 1856. Infra, p. 84. No. 20. To C. H. de Soysa, 22 December 1855. Infra, P. 81. 4. N. 22, To Louis Pieris, 22 April 1856. Infra, pp. 83-84. 5. The obituary in the Lakrivikirana (14 July 1894) noted that he had donated a house in Maradana and an estate in Chilaw to the Anglican Church. The oral traditions on this aspect have also been supported by Mr. Shelton C. Fernando (Letter to author, 15 March 1969) who was Chairman of the Incorporated Trustees or the Church of England in Ceylon from 1963-67. 28

To a person cast in such a mould, the marriage practices of the Kandyans were simply ghastly. The marital customs that prevailed in the Kandyan districts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were, in terms of conventional present-day norms, casual and lax: divorce was by mutual consent and could be effected by the unilateral decision of the male partner;' polygamy was not unknown; concubinage and temporary liaisons were widely prevalent, for changing spouses often was not frowned upon; "being as they account never the worse for wearing";2 and polyandry was common, with polyandrous marriages being generally contracted with "brothers", which in Sinhalese kinship terminology included parallel cousins and step-brothers.3 Such practices occasioned severe condemnation from Jeronis: polygamous arrangements were "a brutal practice",; their customs as a whole were "barbarous" and "nasty". He turned automatically (and with every good intention) to one solution: "Look how barbarous the Kandyans are still! I wish all of them would soon turn Christians and leave off their old nasty customs."4

Such traits were not uncommon in the history of British Ceylon. They can be seen with some variation in James Alwis and in numerous members of the emerging national elite, a social fcirmation which was predominantly Christian at this stage.5 "Marriage is regarded by the natives (especially by the Kandians) as a matter of inconsiderable importance; they have no notion of the sacredness of its institution. Even that portion of the Singhalese who in fact are Christians, think it a matter of little or no consideration In the interior parts of Ceylon, `where white man's foot never trod' the people live in the rudest and most barbarous manner possible," complained James Alwis.6 These Ceylonese were in step with contemporary British opinion. In 1856, for instance, a journalist complained that no legislation had been introduced to amend "the present immoral and licentious customs of the Kandyan country."7 Other journalists, the evangelically-oriented Fergusons, referred to "the hideous system of polyandry" as a violation of "a clear physical law of our nature".8 Such views were typical for that day. In echoing them, the members of the national elite illustrate their adoption of new sets of values, Western values. In Jeronis, such opinions may have partly been the result of the zeal which new converts, not uncommonly, show. They were certainly due in large part to the weight and direction of education in English-medium schools of the era and the fact that he matured in life at a time when Evangelical zeal was at its most aggressive and pervasive height.9 Significantly, the guru he greatly admired, the Reverend Barcroft Boake, was one

1_ Generally speaking, this entailed the restoration of the marriage settlement (dowry). 2. Knox (1911) p. 149. 3. See kid, pp. 145-51; Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 195-228; and S. J. Tambiah, "Polyandry in Ceylon"' in Christoph Von Purer Haimendorf's Caste Kin in Nepal, India and Ceylon (Bombay: Asia Pub- lishing House, 1966) pp. 264-358. 4. No.12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854; and No.19, To Simon Perera,3 December 1855, Infra, pp.72-80. 5. This point is generally acknowledged. It was partly due to the preponderance of Burghers among the administrative and professional elements of the elite; and the Burghers, almost without exception were (and are) Christians. Note that the majority of individuals mentioned in fn. 1, supra, p. 26, were Christians. Many members of the karava elite, especially those from Moratuwa, were also Christians. In time however, the proportion of Christians in the national elite diminished. By the 1920's the elite was "disproportionately Christian" rather than predominantly Christian. 6. James Aiwis, "Marriage. Customs of the Singhalese", Ceylon Magazine, Vol. 1:7, (March 1841), pp. 278 & 281. 7. The Examiner, 5 June 1856. At this stage The Examiner was in British hands. 8. The Colombo Observer, 10 April 1865. Also see 5 December 1859. 9. See K. M. de Silva, SocialPolicy and Missionary Organization in Ceylon, 1840-1855 (London: Lon gmans' Green & Co., Ltd., 1965). chapters 1 - 4. 29

of the most unyielding and forceful of Evangelicals.1 As Yasmine Gooneratne has observed, in his twenty seven years at the Academy "Boake stamped upon it the impress of a personality in which religious dogmatism obscured all sense of proportion".2 Where it did not produce reaction and rebellion, such influences as Boake exerted would have tended to create acceptance of Western and Christian norms. kronis Pieris's path had clearly been one of acceptance.

The opposition to the Kandyan marriage customs was not confined to Britishers or members of the Low-Country Sinhalese elite (who, after all, had been subject to the influences of Wes- tern Christendom for several centuries). Inthe 1850's, significantly, a segment of the Kandyan elite sought a legal enactment which would prohibit their traditional practices, enforce monogamy and the registration of marriages, and thereby render marriage "a highly important and solemn engagement."3 The first request for a reform of the Kandyan marriage customs would appear to have been presented by "the Kandyan Chiefs" at an interview with the Governor, Sir George Anderson, in the early 1850's.4 There was apparently no response from the Government of Ceylon. Though The Examiner attributed this lack of response to Anderson's indolence, it could only have been, at best, a contributory factor. One may conjecture that the main reasons for Anderson's policy lay in the after-effects of the so-called rebellion of 1848; though the insurrection of 1848 offers no comparison in scale to the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 its influence on government policy was not greatly dissimilar; previous innovationist tendencies were soft-pedalled; for many years afterwards, the Government followed a cautious policy and hesitated to disturb "ancierla landmarks" or meddle with traditional institutions.5 Undeterred, "a large Deputation of Kandyan Chiefs" repeated their request in the course of an interview (which lasted Oyer an hour) with a new Governor, Sir Henry Ward, in May 1858.6 Ward was cautiously responsive. He wanted evidence of general support for such a proposal among the Kandyan people. He was evidently unaware how easy it was for the Kandyan elite of that day to conjure proofs of widespread support. By November the Government Agent of Kandy (Philip Braybrooke) received a memorial signed by eight thousand "Kandyan Chiefs, Headmen and people" from the districts of Kandy, Matale, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala and Nuwarakalawiya.7 The requests presented by the memorial were supported by Bray- brooke's findings during his circuits:

1. Ibid., pp. 117-21, 184. B. Boake, A Brief Account of the origin and nature of the connexion between the British Government and the idolatrous systems of religion prevalent in the island of Cey'lon and of the extent to which that connexion still exists (Colombo: tk. d. probably 1855). 2. Gooneratne (1968) p. 13. 3. A petition from a group of Kandyans enclosed in C.O. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858. See Appendix D. That I should review the implications of this request is an idea that lies entirely to the credit of Mr. W. 3. F. LaBrooy. He is not, of course, responsible for the analysis that follows. 4. The Examiner, 22 October 1856: editorial. 5. See the author's "Some Aspects of Economic and Social Policy in Ceylon, 1840-1871" (Oxford: D. Phil. dissertation in History, 1965) pp. 32 - 33; K. M. de Silva, Letters on Ceylon 1846-50, The Ad- . ministration of Viscount Torrington and the ' Rebellion' of 1848 (Colombo: K. V. G. de Silva & Sons, 1965) pp. 30 31. In a letter to R. F. Morgan, C. A, Lorenz referred to the senior civil servants W. C. Gibson, Caulfield, and C. P. Layard (particularly the first two) as being generally "unwilling to disturb ancient landmarks"(and therefore as reluctant supporters of Ward's first Kandyan Marriage Ordinance). See Digby, Life of Morgan (1879) Vol. 1, pp. 243-44. 6. C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858. 7. Idem; and Enclosure, Letter from P. Braybrooke (G. A., Kandy) to Col. Sec., 1 November 1.858. 30

I have heard the most unanimous expression given to the desire of the people for a change in the present customs in regard to the Marriage Contract. I have no hesitation in recording my opinion that the Kandyans of all ranks, but more especially the poorer classes, feel the operation of the Existing Law to be an intolera- ble burden, as well as the source of great shame and annoyance. Wherever I went I took great care to consult the people openly in regard to the proposed change in the Law, but without any previous intimation of my intention to do so, and although there was frequently a large concourse of persons present, I never heard a dissentient voice — nay more, I met with the most hearty approval of the project...1

(They also gain independent non-official support in a subsequent assertion of one Balangode Siddharta Unnanse Thera to the effect that "a large portion of the Chiefs and intelligent inhabitants had entreated for a change" ).z On receiving Braybrooke's report and the petitions in November 1858, characteristically, Ward swept into action. An Ordinance (No. 14 of 1858) was hurriedly prepared and pushed through the Legislative Council. In despatching the bill to Britain for approval, he stressed the need for immediate action because "delay might be con- strued into apprehension and doubt"s — a point which he reiterated in a private letter: "It is a golden opportunity which, I trust, will not be lost".4 He did not hide the fact that the bill had raised a storm. The Chief Justice in Ceylon as well as two unofficial members of the Legislative Council had opposed the measure with considerable energy, largely because of its technical inadequacies, and possibly because of personal rivalry.5 The Colonial Office and its legal advisers also found numerous imperfections and ambiguities in the form of the Ordinance. But they were wholeheartedly in favour of its objectives. This placed them in a dilemma. Proposing amendments would result in a considerable delay. In the interim, the Legislative Council might change its mind, or the Kandyans might "waver in their good resolution."6 They therefore resorted to the unusual technique of sending Ward two despatches of the same date in the same packet. One despatch stayed confirmation of the bill, suggested amendments and enclosed a draft ordinance. The other ratified the bill sent by Ward while indicating its imperfections. They favoured the former course of action but left Ward with the discretion of opting for the latter despatch if he felt that the Legislative Council would create difficulties, or that the Kandyans were likely to alter their views.? Wiser counsel prevailed

1. Ibid, Enclosure, Letter from Braybrooke to Col. Sec., 1 November 1858. 2. The Ceylon Times, 8 February 1870. 3. C. 0. 54/25, Executive Council Minutes, 13 November 1858. C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858. 4. Private letter from Ward to Lytton, 13 December 1858 enclosed among the official despatches in C.O. 54/338. 5. Ibid, Enclosure 4 containing a Minute by C. A. Lorenz and George Wall. Also enclosed among these papers is a private letter from the Chief Justice, W. C. Rowe, to H. Merivale, 29 December 1858. Also see Digby, Life of Morgan (1879) Vol. I, pp. 243-44. The objections were partly to the manner in which the Ordinance was promulgated, and partly against the repeal of Ordinance No. 6 of 1847. Lorenz considered it an "extraordinary piece of patchwork", (Idem). Merivale observed that Rowe's objections were "chiefly of form and not of substance", (CO 54/338, Ward to Lytton, No. 163, 9 December 1858, Minute by H. Merivale, 25 March 1859). 6. Idem., Also see Minute by Frederic Rogers, 12 March 1859. In conclusion Rogers observed: "There are other defects of drawing in the Ordn. which shew, I think, a little want of care. In the proposed despatch I have only gently hinted this. On the whole it will be so good a work that it seems a pity to find more fault than is necessary." 7. Ibid. draft of a private letter, Lytton to Ward, 11 April 1859. The letter was drafted by Rogers. This mode of meeting the dilemma was suggested by Merivale (Ibid., Minute of the 25th March 1859). Herman Merivale was the Permanent Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. Rogers was an Emigration Commissioner who eventually (1869) took Merivale's place. 31 in Ceylon. Ward employed the services of R. F. Morgan and the Chief Justice, Rowe, in enacting a technically-adequate legal instrument which entered the statute books as Ordinance No. 13 of 1859, the Kandyan Marriage Ordinance' — a measure which Ward considered a "novel, and curious, experiment in Eastern legislation," and the outcome of a "spontaneous attempt" on the part of the Kandyans "to elevate and purify" their institution of marriage?

In attempting to implement this Ordinance in the 186a's, however, several district officers found it difficult to secure registration of marriages (though several reported favourably or remained optimistic.)3 A few asserted that the people had not been consulted. One officer observed that the "enthusiasm with which the Ordinance was said to be received by the people... was either factious, or a transient emotion."4 A Governor concluded from 'the results that there had not been "any widespread desire amongst the mass of the population for the change and that the proposal was not even generally understood."s It was also alleged that the request for reform had been engineered by a clique of aged men who were no longer interested in cohabi- tation.6 The Ordinance was therefore replaced by a more realistic Ordinance, No. 3 of 1870.

Such evidence contradicts the conclusions drawn by Braybrooke and the Government in 1859. The evidence could be misleading however. The Kandyan Marriage Ordinance of 1859 had several major defects.1 The people may have been entirely rational in their reluc- tance to register marriages under such conditions.s On the other hand, the techniques which Braybrooke appears to have used to elicit opinion in 1859 are suspect. In circumstances in which a body of headmen and an imposing aura of authority separated the Government Agent and the populace, and among a people who were, perhaps, not given to ostentatious and direct expressions of opinion, it is very doubtful if dissent would have been revealed - the more so if the audience divined that the "Agent hamuduruwo" would have liked them to favour reform. The'final resolution of the conflicting evidence on the extent to which the

1. C. 0. 54/347, Ward to Newcastle, no. 103, 16 November 1859: and no. 129, 9 December 1859 and its enclosure, Queen's Advocate to Col. Sec. 2. Newcastle MSS, fol. 10988, Ward to Newcastle, 26 April 1860. 1858 Blue Book Reports, Ward to Lytton, no. 135, 4 July 1859, p. 102. 3. 1864 Blue Book Reports, Enclosure in Government despatch: Administration Report for Kegalle in 1864, F. R. Saunders, 28 February 1865. Saunders was one of the constant critics of the Ordinance No. 13 of 1859 whereas Braybrooke and W. E. T. Sharpe remained optimistic. For a selection of views among civil servants and a mass of information, see the Administration Reports for the years 1867-70, the 1864 Blue Book Reports and C. 0. 54/428, Robinson to Buckingham & Chandos, no. 231, 15 October 1867. 4. C. 0. 54/428, Robinson to Buckingham & Chandos. no. 231, 15 October 1867, Enclosure: Extract from Administration Report for Ratnapora in 1866. 5. C. 0. 54/454, Robinson to Granville, no. 71, 6 March 1870. 6. Digby, Life of Morgan (1879), Vol. II, p. 67. 7. See ibid., pp. 66 - 71; C. 0. 54/446, Robinson to Granville, no. 178, 16 September 1869 and its enclosures; and C. 0. 54/454, Robinson to Granville, no. 171, 6 March 1870. 8. The section on divorce in Ordinance No. 13 of 1859 seems to have jeopardised the operation of the whole Ordinance, (idem). Significantly, when a district officer warned the people of the consequences (re inheritance rights) of not registering marriages, he often received the reply: "Our old customs are more convenient and we will protect our children and secure their inheritance to them by deed." See 1864 Blue Book Reports, Enclosure: Administration Report for Central Pro'vince, F. B. Templar, 26 August 1865, pp. 158-59. For a review of the Ordinance which provides several insights, see particularly 1868 AR, Report of the District Judge, Kandy (T. Berwick), 16 July 1869, pp. 44-50. Among other points, Berwick stressed (1) the inadequacy of the administrative machinery used to implement the Ordinance; and (11) the failure to provide the necessary incentives, or "motive machinery" as he called it, to induce Kandyans to follow the new law. 32

Kandyan masses were in favour of amendments to their marriage practices in 1859 will have to await a study in depth. But the probability is that very few were in favour of a change.

Whether there was popular support or not, a segment of the Kandyan elite must have been behind the deputations which waited upon Anderson and Ward in the 1850's. Who were these men? Ward described the group as "a large Deputation of Kandyan Chiefs, comprising men the most distinguished by their influence, and property."1 The suggestion is that they were members of the traditional elite. Unfortunately, Braybrooke's letter enclosed an English translation of the original memorial2 which does not include the names of the signatories. Attempts on my part to locate the orginal petition among the archival material in Ceylon did not achieve success.3 The intriguing question as to the identity of the "distinguished" persons4 who initiated this request for marriage reform must remain unanswered for the moment.

However, there is no lack of evidence on the reasons behind the request for marriage reform, which is perhaps the most pertinent question for this study. The overt reason presented by the deputation which met Ward was in complete contrast to the sentiments influencing such individuals as A. M. Ferguson, Jeronis Pieris and James Aiwis. In Ward's words:

they stated distinctly that it was a question of property, not of Religion. They said that the Litigation growing out of the present system was endless; that no man could secure the rights of his children; that the largest properties were dwindling away in Law expenses; that feuds, malicious injuries to property, and murders were the consequence;5

Ward also believed that an additional and unstated motive existed. Though no member of the deputation "hinted at the fact that contact with a more civilized Race had made them asham- ed of the social status of their own wives, whom European ladies naturally avoid, while living under this degrading system," Ward was certain that they wished to remove "what they felt to be a stigma upon their Raee."6 For Ward, this was no doubt a comforting thought, confirming notions of Anglo-Saxon superiority and beliefs in a 'civilizing mission'.? It might lead one to suspect his conclusion. But his opinion is supported by Braybrooke, by the traces

1. C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858. Morgan too referred to this group as being composed of "many of the influential Kandyans," (See report on his speech in the Legislative Council in 1869 in Digby, Life of Morgan (1879), Vol. II, p. 69). 2. See C. 0. 54/338, op. cit., or D. N. A. Cey., Lot 6/2436, G. A. Central Province to Col. Sec, 1 November 1858. For full text, see Appendix D, infra, pp. 93-94. 3. Apart from the letters received by the Secretariat, the records of the Kandy Kachcheri wefe also explored without success. Unfortunately there is a gap in the newspaper records in the Archives for the year 1858, while a survey of the 1859 newspapers did not yield useful results. 1 have every confidence that. in time, more evidence will come to light on this subject. 4. It is my suspicion that James Alexander Dunuwille was one of the principal movers -- a suspicion shared by Mr. W. J. F. LaBrooy. 5. C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858. Whether the Kandyans or their British contemporaries were correct in their analysis is a matter for debate. The symptoms complained of continued to prevail even after the Marriage Ordinances of 1859 and 1870. 6. !dem. 7. He referred to this "free and spontaneous expression of feeling on the part of His Majesty's Kandyan subjects" as an indication of "an advance in social improvement," (Governors Addresses, Vol. I, 8 De- cember 1858, p. 429). 33 of such an attitude in the memorial, and by the fact that the European society in Ceylon was, generally speaking, the reference group by which the Ceylonese national elite comported itself.'

The publicly-stated reason for requesting reform is novel. It suggests significant influences. In the first place, it illustrates the degree to which some members of the Kandyan elite had become attached to the concept of freehold rights and to the associated idea of acquiring security of tenure by having a clear title to one's landed property. In several ways these were principles that were alien to Kandyan society. In traditional Kandyan society land had been a medium for various rights,2 the question of ownership did not arise because private rights and political allegiance were entwined, and all rights emanated from the king.3 While the concept of freehold rights which had to be secured by clarity of title was a novel concept for Kandyan society, it would be erroneous to consider it as completely alien to the strands of thought engendered by the traditional system. While traditional social and economic relations included such practices as kaiyas or labour teams, cultivation on the bethma system,4 various forms of undivided 'proprietorship' or control over parcels of land, and mutual labour services for nikkan or nothing-in-return, the collectivism inferred is more apparent than real. Such forms of cooperation were corporate forms akin to those prevailing among members of a joint-stock company. The ideology was individualistic. This is indicated by the recognition afforded to the concept of praveni (paraveni) or hereditary possession, by the fact that Kandyans were inordinately attached to their praveni land,5 and by the contractual and finely-calculated form of reciprocal labour services known as at tan. In other words, the traditional Kandyan Sinhalese system of land tenure possessed a powerful strand of individualism within it. The individualism, however, was balanced by other socio-centric features in the fabric: by the fact that a custom of pre-emption operated which gave a kinship group or the members of a village the first option in acquiring any property within the village that was put on the market; that transfers of land were generally veiled mortgages;6 that rights and duties were attached to the land and remained constant so that the new landholders were obliged to render the attached service; that land transferred to outsiders (to the village) tended to return circuitously to village hands; that a barter economy prevailed; and that mobility of labour, surplus production, and achievemental-orientations were limited. In the result, the individualistic motivations did not lead to atomistic results and create radical alterations in the prevailing structure.l In consciously and unconsciously altering these features, in removing

1. The kernel of the Anagarika Dharmapala's criticisms. 2. Thus "different 'social persons' could simultaneously hold various rights over the same land," (See S. B. W. Wickremasekera (Sunimal Fernando), The_Social and Political Organisation of the Kandyan Kingdom (London University: M. A. dissertation in Anthropology, 1961) p. 147. 3. This summary and synthesis is based on the following sources: H. W. Codrington, Ancient Land Tenure in Ceylon (Ceylon Govt. Press, 1938); Ralph Pieris "Title to Land in Kandyan Law" in the Sir Paul Pieris Felicitation Volume (Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd., 1956) pp. 92-113; U. Alex Gunasekara, Land Tenure in the Kandyan Provinces of Ceylon (Oxford: B. Litt. dissertation in Social Anthropology, 1959); and Wickremasekera (1961). 4. An arrangement whereby the shareholders of a field, which cannot be cultivated in the normal pattern because of a lack of water, agree to cultivate only a portion of that field and then share out the proceeds among themselves on a proportionate basis. 5. Ralph Pieris, Title of Land, (1956) p. 101. 6. See particularly, ibid, pp. 95-103. 7. I am indebted to Professor Gananath Obeyesekere for confirming and elaborating tentative conclusions I had arrived at regarding the nature of the Kandyan tenurial system. With reference to the customs of nikkan and attan I also profited from a paper presented in Peradeniya in 1968 by Dr. Marguerite Robinson. 34 several of the counterweights, in fostering monetization, and in providing scope for the extension of latent Kandyan individualism by establishing the principle of freehold ownership, the British effected a radical transformation. Some Britishers were aware of this impact. The opinions on this subject expressed in 1869 by a notable district judge, Thomas Berwick, are worth mention, not the least because the extent of the impact is exaggerated by certain miscon- ceptions concerning the nature of Asian polity that were common to British Civil Servants (and other observers such as Karl Marx and James Mill) in Ceylon and India.

These archaic institutions (referring to polyandry, polygamy, and "community of estate" or undivided proprietorship) which have as their key the conception of the family instead of the individual as the unit of society, are but commencing in our day to melt before the influence of commerce in land and individual industrial enterprise, which seem to be destructive of at least the ancient and Asiatic form of communism

The Kandyan Law required for every day application to the bulk of NATIVE litigation is now tolerably settled by decisions, and the new questions that arise are generally solvable by reference to certain principles and motives which underline the whole system. The difficulty now consists in its application, and in finding within itself law applicable to the altering and altered circumstances of the country and to the social and industrial revolution which the people are voluntarily passing through. The endeavour by the Courts must now be to expand and adapt the law, without departing from it, and in fact to apply and develop its principles to new combinations of facts and new habits.

In concluding this sketch of the present aspect of the great bulk of Kandyan litigation, I cannot refrain from the observation that, while the-introduction of new Marriage and Divorce Registration laws, and the substitution of a definite and evidenced marriage tie for an archaic and almost promiscuous concubinage are effecting one of the greatest social revolutions in the settlement of property (viewing it wholly apart from moral considerations) that can be conceived, the facility and quietness with which this organic change in the institutions of a nation is being made under the simultaneous influences of legislative and industrial progress, is, I believe, one of the most remarkable events in history. The change is, in its ultimate root, no less than a complete alteration of the type and unit of society, and infers in it a system of law which will expand instead of one which cramps civilization.[

The outlook of the Kandyan deputation which sought marriage reform in 1858 was part of a radical transformation in society which was characterised by some of the elements mentioned by Berwick. It was also in keeping with the Utilitarian programme for British India (by implication meant for all British colonies in Asia) that was advocated by James Mill:

1. 1868 AR, Report of the District Judge, Kandy, Thomas Berwick, 16 July 1869, pp. 44-46. Berwick went on to propose "a means of driving the new law of marriage and legitimacy into early and effectual operation, without avoidable collision with the ... incorrigible feelings and habits of the natives on the subject of Divorce," (p. 47.) 35

Mill proposed a legislative revolution in Indian society. The object of this revolution would be the release of individual energy through the protection of its efforts from the despotism of custom and communal ownership, and the tyranny of the Brahmin and the landlord. Set at liberty in this way, Indian society would be stirred out of its inveterate stagnation and set moving at a brisk pace along the path of improvement. The individualistic and competitive society which Mill wanted to create in India involved the definition and protection of proprietary rights in land: a consummation which would act as a solvent of the traditional joint-ownership and communal control, features which he regarded as the characteristics of a primitive level of social organization.

Accordingly, the "agrarian legislation passed in India prior to the 1850's invested proprietary rights in the soil at different social levels and was accompanied by the growth of a judicial system which aimed at ensuring these rights and enforcing freedom of contract so that the ownership of landed property would flow through a spontaneous process of exchange to the enterprising, and vigorous sections of the community",1 in other words, to intermediary and collaborating elites.2

Secondly, therefore, the views of the Kandyan deputation reflect the influence of one of the agencies by which this social transformation was effected, that of an English-style legal system. Though cognisance was taken of Kandyan law and of Roman-Dutch law, the British had moved gradually towards an English system. To quote a Governor in 1840: "the very great influx of British settlers will make it absolutely necessary to assimilate the laws of the Colony to that of the Parent State as far as regards the disposition of their landed property."3 English- style laws, English legal procedure, English forms of conveyancing, and the decisions of British judges invariably served as instruments of change.4 One area of influence was that of property relations. One body of victims, it would seem, were the Kandyan marriage customs. It is evident that a segment of the Kandyan elite felt that these customs were unsuitable and burdensome under the conditions of British Ceylon.5 Contemporary Britishers held that it `was so. Apart from Berwick, for instance, another civil servant remarked of polyandry: "This state of social confusion gives rise to numberless law suits of a peculiarly intricate character..."6 Such individuals would probably have aided the dissemination of similar opinions among the Kandyan elite.

1. Ravinder Kumar, "Liberalism and Reform in India," Journal of World History, Vol. VII: 4 (1963) p. 892. Whether a communally-organised self-sufficient village community ever existed is subject to serious question, though Kumar has accepted this nineteenth-century British notion. What is pertinent here, however, is that British theorists like Mill fashioned their policies on the basis of this questionable belief. 2. See infra, pp. 38-39. 3. Governors Addresses, Vol. I, J. Stewart Mackenzie, 17 November 1840, p. 145. 4. This was a commonplace in British colonies. See C. K. Meek, Land, Law and Custom in the Colonies, 2nd min. (0. U. P., 1949) p. 290. 5. Whether this was so is another matter. The Kandyans connected laws of inheritance with their property rights but some sociologists have questioned the view that laws of inheritance have a causal influence on fragmentation and subdivision of the land. See Ralph Pieris (1956) p. 207. 6. Archives of the Church Missionary Society, C Ce/O 25/4, L. Liesching to the Secretary, C. M. S , n. d. 1858. 36

In the third place, the reason presented by the deputation of 1858 probably reflects the extent to which a segment of the Kandyan elite were investing in new land and taking to the culture of peasant coffee or plantation coffee. It can be shown, for instance, that James Alexander Dunuwille purchased at least 35 acres of Crown land (two properties) in Udunuwara in 1841;1 that Galagoda Basnaike Nilame acquired a Crown property of 540 acres in Maila.pitiya, Lower Hewaheta in 1841 ;2 and that Wegodapala Ratemahatmaya purchased a highland of 89 amunams (roughly 178 acres) in Matale South from the villagers of Kaguwela in 1844.3 It was also observed that, between 1853 and 1855, 32,000 coconut trees and 1,247 acres of peasant coffee had been newly planted in the locality of Kandy;4 while the district officer in Badulla reported that the indigenous peoples were "in many places planting in European Fashion."5 Then again, the Fergusons estimated that about 50,000 acres were under peasant coffee.6 Virtually all this coffee would have been cultivated in the Kandyan Highlands. The list of proprietors of "native coffee gardens" in the Central Province provided in Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1875 includes several individuals who could be identified as Kandyan.7 Again a British coffee planter referred to "a Sinhalese gentleman", who was (allegedly) descended from one of the oldest families and a man of standing in the neighbouring village, as the owner of "several gardens, varying from one to ten acres" which he worked very cheaply and (supposed- ly) profitably.s

In the circumstances, the desire to change their prevailing marriage customs would seem to have been a rational move on the part of those members of the Kandyan elite who were behind the `agitation' of the 1850's. If the analysis of traditional society presented earlier in this essay is correct it could also be viewed as a fruition, induced by a congenial change of atmosphere, of individualistic seeds which existed within the traditional system of social and tenurial relations. Nevertheless the span of time within which this segment of the elite moved to such a position elicits surprise.9 The maritime districts, from whence Jeronis Pieris hailed, had been subject to European territorial subjugation and its influences since the late sixteenth century. The Kandyan Provinces were subject to such influences largely from 1815; and in their full force, from 1833 when the British abandoned the separate administration which they had established for that area. In the final analysis, the thinking of this segment of the Kandyai elite is more radical in its implications than the attitudes displayed by Jeronis Pieris. .

1. D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 7B/586/114-138. I am grateful to Patrick Peebles for leading me to this reference. 2. Lawrie (1898) p. 520. 3. Lawrie (1896) p. 392. These are not isolated instances. A cursory glance at land sales in the Central Highlands listed in volumes 585 and 586 in Lot 7B (D. N. A. Cey.)., covering the years 1839 to 1841, , revealed that many other Sinhalese (several of them Low-Country Sinhalese) were purchasing properties of varying extent. While the allotments were generally smaller than those purchased by Europeans in this period, some of them were over 50 acres and were occasionally over 200 acres in extent. 4. The Examiner, 31 July 1856, Footnote to Season Report for Kandy from the G. A. Kandy. 5. D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 6/2435, "Annual Report of the A. G. A. of Nuere Ellia District", 18 May 1858. 6. Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1880-81, Vol. 1, Planting Review, no pagination. He presented a similar estimate in 1868. Also see C.O. 54/335, Ward to Stanley, no. 63, 29 June 1858. 7. See pp. 761-75. 8. A. H. Duncan, The Private Life of a Ceylon Coffee Planter by Himself (Colombo: H. W. Cave & A. W. Cave, 1881) p. 7. 9. Similar surprise is occasioned by the speed with which the Central Province appears to have adopted a money economy, and by the amount of ready cash which some inhabitants seem to have possessed. When a scheme for the redemption of the paddy tax was applied in the Central Province in the period 1835-42, redemptions were secured to the extent of £ 18,329. Redemption payments would seem to have been in cash, (See D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 18/1340). For details of the redemption scheme see my article "Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832 - 1878: Theories, Prejudices and Controversies", Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol. 1, 1 (January 1970), pp. 119-20. xs Plate 7 $

CHARLES HENRY DE SOYSA'S AND LINDAMULAGE CATHERINE DE SILVA'S WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH IN 1863 Standing left to right: Louis Pieris, Charles Henry de Soysa and his bride, Catherine Seated: Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr., Mrs. Jeronis de Soysa, Engeltina and Susew de Soysa. Plate 8 Plate 9

CHARLES HENRY DE SOYSA AND HIS BRIDE, CATHERINE DE SILVA Louis PIERIS

with his bestman, Louis Pieris, on his left. (pronounced "Lewis"): Jeronis Pieris's younger brother Plate 10

A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH ON THE OCCASION OF THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN LOUIS PIER IS AND CECILIA DE FONSEKA Seated: Mudaliyar S. R. de Fonseka, Mrs. S. R. de Fonseka, Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. and Cecilia de Fonseka Standing between lascorin guards are Charles Henry de Soysa, Peter Soysa and Louis Pieris 37

• Yasmine Gooneratne has remarked that the form of English education in Ceylon "was shaped by religious and political motives of a kind which tended to create disciples, rather than thinkers or inquirers". Accordingly, "English was to be the classical language of the East bringing about a new Renaissance through the access it gave to the technical inventions, the liberal ideas and institutions, and the literary and artistic standards of the West." Reiterating and elaborating a point that is commonly voiced today, she notes that the Colombo Academy and St. Thomas's College set the standards for the larger English-medium schools and "had the 'effect of isolating its (sic) products from the rest of their countrymen." An associated . development was the "enthusiasm for the English way of life". In other words, the form of education and the weight of foreign influence bifurcated Ceylonese society, separating the English-educated Ceylonese from their indigenous background and leading them to adopt Wes- tern criteria—a process in which the Sinhalese socio-cultural structure is said to have been more vulnerable than that of the Tamils.1 Jeronis reveals many of these features. His criteria were Western and Christian. His intellectual fare was Western. His academic aspirations were perfection in the use of the Queen's English and mastery of the Classics. His reference group was the British elite, his cultural Mecca, Britain. His eldest son had, perforce, to be provided with schooling in Britain once the monetary means of meeting the luxury had been secured. And it was typical that Jeronis should consider "the anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday" art important and prized event.2

There is more than enough reason to consider him thoroughly Anglophile. This suggests that his life-style was also very Western, though we have no direct evidence on this point. English wines and shirt fronts, varnish boots and cheese, backgammon and other such card games, and English-style teas were quite the thing among the fledgling Ceylonese elite of the period.; There is little cause to think Jeronis an exception. But some qualification might be necessary. An extended family system, the semi-rural environment of Moratuwa, and traditional social practices would have served to preserve some indigenous roots. Several families retained their knowledge of the Sinhalese language as a mode of literary expression no less than for its colloquial use. That of Louis Pieris, younger brother to Jeronis, certainly did4 . Nor were the pioneer entrepreneurs so distant in point of time from their humble origins as to let them recede to the back of their minds. Self-made men, some of them believed in the dignity of labour and, unlike many of their latter-day progeny, were willing to "soil their hands" even after they had achieved affluence and social status. Engaged in pioneering business activity in the agricultural and poorly-roaded Kandyan districts, moreover, Jeronis could hardly have been separated from his indigenous background in entirety. His position was not that of an urban lawyer. In short, there is reason to think that his outlook and life-style was not completely alien and Western, but an admixture — though an admixture in which the Western ingredients preponderated.

1. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 14, 16, 17, 36-38, and 50. 2. No. 8, To C. H. de Soysa, 10 May 1854 and No. 9, To Louis Pieris, 10 June 1854. Note however that • C. H. de Soysa's father, Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa, received a presentation from his friends on Her Majesty's birthday, 24 May. 1854. This would have influenced Jeronis's reaction. 3. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 36-39. 4. Conversation with Mr. L. S. D. Pieris (a grandson) March 1969. Louis Pieris taught his sons, Louis H. S. and L. E. 0. how to use carpenters' instruments and saw to it that they achieved competence in Sinhalese through tuition at temples. L. E. 0. in turn maintained this tradition. Mr. L. S. D. Pieris. is one of L. E. 0. Pieris's children. 38

In his Westernised orientation Jeronis was not an isolated example. His stance and outlook was in line with a prominent characteristic in the emerging national elite and fulfilled many of the hopes held out by the British Commissioner, Lieutenant Colonel W. M. G. Colebrooke. In presenting his reports on the Island of Ceylon in 1831-32, Colebrooke emphasised the need for an infusion of European capital and example. But he also anticipated a chain reaction of improvements in which the indigenous population would participate, because "the natives were prepared to engage in any undertaking, the success of which had been sufficiently assured by the example of others."' Perhaps as a corollary, perhaps in a compartmentalized manner, there are suggestions that Colebrooke thought of improvements in other sectors which would create a group of "natives" who were progressive in outlook, free of the prevailing caste distinctions and servility to the traditional elite, willing to improve themselves, their country, and its institutions. Having observed the influence wielded by the headmen, he felt that "under liberal encouragement, their influence could be exerted in support of the views of government for the improvement of the country."2 In short, he wanted a group of "natives" who would assist in transforming and improving both the institutional structure and the ethos of the island —an auxiliary, collaborating Ceylonese elite imbued with the ideas dominant in the Britain of that day. In pursuing such an objective Colebrooke was in step with the Utilitarian and Liberal programmes for India.3 He also anticipated Macaulay's effort to create, through the dissemination of western education, a class "who may be interpreters between (the British and) the millions whom (they governed)—a class of persons Indians in colour and blood, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect."4 Towards this end, Colebrooke suggested: (1) an impartial policy which refused to uphold caste and other distinctions in making appointments or promotions; (2) a public announcement that the Civil Service would no longer be exclusive but would be open "to His Majesty's native subjects"; (3) the provision of the means of education to the natives "whereby they might in time qualify themselves for holding some of the higher appointments"; (4) an emphasis on education in English and a requirement that "the principal native functionaries throughout the country" should be competent in English; and (5) the diffusion of knowledge through publications so as "to diminish the influence of those classes who were interested in upholding the ignorant prejudices of the people, and who retained them in servile dependance on themselves" — a policy he advocated from his observation that the limited extent of published works in Ceylon tended "to check the progress of moral and intellectual improvement" and to perpetuate the ignorance and prejudices of the people in those localities which had little contact with Europeans, while obstructing "the improvement of the country and the amelioration of its institutions."5

Not all these policies were adopted. Some suggestions were only pursued half-heartedly or partially. But the outcome was in the direction of Colebrooke's thought. The social transformation of the decades that followed saw to that. Entrepreneurial and occupational

1. G. C. Mendis (ed.) The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers, Vol. 1, (0. U. P., 1956) p. 69. 2. Ibid, p. 69. 3. See Kumar (1963) pp. 892. ff; Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959) chapters 1-3; Raghavan Iyer, "Utilitarianism and All That," St. Antony's Papers VII, South Asian Affairs, No. 1. 4. Macaulay's Minute on Education dated 2nd February 1835, quoted in Kumar (1963) .pp. 892-93. 5. A summary and synthesis from The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers (1956) Vol. I, pp. 65-76. Quo- tations from pp. 68 & 75. 39 opportunities and the diffusion of education in English, albeit slowly, combined to create a new indigenous elite, the "national elite" defined in this essay, (a) which was achievement-moti- vated and improvement-oriented to some degree; (b) which upheld the other Commissioner C. H. Cameron's belief that Ceylon was a very good spot "in which to plant the germ of Euro- pean civilization";1 and (c) which was an intermediary and collaborating elite in more ways than one, especially in the early decades though, logically and more latterly, as Barnes fore- warned,2 they also provided those elements who challenged the supremacy of the British.

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris reflects the outlook of such an auxiliary, collaborating elite.

It is only too easy to tilt at such an outlook, in polemical terms or otherwise. One must, however, be cautious in applying twentieth century norms to an essentially different context. To Jeronis, the new changes under British rule — and they were new — meant hitherto unmatched opportunities of material advancement. Education in English opened his eyes to new vistas. As an undoubtedly genuine adherent of the Christian faith, Christianity offered him succour and a path to salvation. In the mid-nineteenth century there were too few dissenters, at least among Ceylonese on the ascent, for one to cast Jeronis and the collaborating elite into the hell of quislingdom.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

The data on Jeronis's entrepreneurial activities and successes presented in an earlier portion of this essay were mostly assembled from sources other than his letters. The letters do not provide these details. But they include a remarkable piece of evidence on his capitalistic spirit and his partiality towards the improvement of properties through the application of capital and improved technological methods. He was quick to perceive that the respectable Kandyan farmers had "trifling capital" and, "therefore, slender means of improving their lands." And while he noted that the Kandyans, generally the women, weeded their paddy fields adroitly, he observed that they were ignorant of the advantages of irrigation and inundation under water as a means of counteracting weeds.3

His modernistic orientation was accompanied by the profitable trait of industry. On two different occasions he excused his failure in maintaining his correspondence by referring to "the press of business"; while an unexpected business visit to Colombo had kept him so occupied that he had not the time to call on a friend, Simon Perera, who resided in the city.4 These references cannot be brushed aside as lame excuses. The whole spirit of his letters and the impression they create, in their totality, support the conclusion that Jeronis was a hardworking man.

So much so that he was not inclined to favour marriage at that stage of his life. Or so he informed Simon Perera in December 1854 when the latter sought Jeronis's advice—as I infer

1. Mid, p. 186. 2. Ibid, Vol. 11, pp. 30-31. 3. No. 12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854. Infra, p. 72. Also see pp. 76-80. 4. No. 6, To C. H. de Soysa, 30 March 1854; No. 14, To Marcellus Perera, 8 January 1855; and No. 19, To Simon Perera, 3 December 1855; Infra, pp. 65, 74, 79. 40

— on the question of taking a wife: a person leading a sedentary occupation in a town or village was "better... coupled than... single"; not so an individual resident in hilly terrain "who (was) obliged to be away from home for several months together"; to such a person, and Jeronis • was in this position, a wife was a "heavy load".1 Only the subject of a wife could explain the con- fidential letter he despatched to one Marcellus Perera shortly afterwards, in January 1855.2 This was in response to a letter from Marcellus Perera which is not before us. But there is reason to infer that Marcellus Perera had cast himself in the role of a broker presenting a marriage proposal. Jeronis declined courteously: it was more than he deserved. He terminated his reply with a wonderful line: "At my years, and with a trifling fortune, a man with a little common sense, without philosophy may be indifferent about...";

He did not remain in this frame of mind for long. Within two years 'he married (13th December 1856) Caroline Francisca Soysa, a lady who was his first-cousin-once-removed. Pro- ducing many offspring (as I have noted) he distinctly added to his "load" — without, however, diminishing his "trifling fortune."

The letters also provide useful tit-bits of information on the de Soysa brothers' entrepreneurial ventures. The data can be marshalled here. The de Soysas had arrack godowns in Kandy, and functioned as arrack renters. In May 1854 when the arrack rents of the Central Province were auctioned in small, separate units,4 they bid successfully for the right of farming (renting) arrack.5 Besides the property in Hanguranketa, they had an estate in Haragama (along the right bank of the Mahaweli in the district of Lower Hewaheta) and another in Kadugannawa which may have been the same as the property named Didula.6 The properties referred to as "Kottle", Udawatta, Alutwatta, and "Ratmateya" (Kirimetiya) were probably owned by the de Soysas and may even have been sub-divisions of their estate in Hanguranketa. Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa also had property at Mattagoda (near Homagama in Colombo District) where coconut and sweet-potato were planted. And one of his brothers, probably Susew, had plantations near Negombo in which cinnamon appears to have been the main crop.? Jeronis Pieris, either in combination-with the de Soysas or on his own, also had a "trading line" in rice supplies in which S.C. Perera of Grandpass, Colombo, served as the Colombo agents

The details illustrate the rapid expansion of the de Soysa fortunes. Jeronis de So ysa, originally known as Babasingho Vedarala, is alleged to have been the first young man from

1. No. 13, To Simon Perem, 12 December 1854. Infra, p. 73. 2. No. 14, To Marcellus Perera, 8 January 1855. Infra, pp. 74-75. 3. The last fragment is torn and indecipherable. 4. In auctioning the arrack rents in the nineteenth century the British authorities alternated between a system of renting out large areas as one unit to be farmed out to a single person or combine, and that of dividing the same area into smaller farms. The former course usually drew larger bids and greater revenue. In 1858-59 the arrack farms in the Central Province were auctioned in seven different units: (i) The town andgravets of Kandy including Gangewatta (ii) Udunuwara & Yatinuwara; (iii) Tumpane & Harrispattu; (iv) Lower and Upper Dumbara & Lower Hewaheta; (v) Udapalata & lower Bulat- gama (vi) Nuwara Eliya; and (vii) Badulla. At this stage the rents for these units fetched the Govern- ment a revenue ranging from £ 17,000 to 24,000. See D. N. A. Cey. Lot 6/2435, G. A., C. P. to Col. Sec. no. 327, 30 April 1858 and no. 330, 3 May 1858. Also see infra, pp. 41-42. 5. No. 8, To C. H. de Soysa, 10 May 1854. Infra, p. 68. 6. Nos. 6, 16 and 21, To C. H. de Soysa, 30 March 1854, 28 July 1855 and 10 March (1856) respectively. Infra, pp. 66-67, 76 & 82-83. 7. No. 21, ibid. 8. No. 10, 25 July 1854. Infra, p. 70. 41

Moratuwa to have ventured to the Kandyan Highlands "to try the new field" which it presented.' He set up business as a firewood contractor to the government around 1825. He soon extended his business into that of a general merchant who undertook contracts to supply rice and paddy in particular, and probably dealt with native coffee as well. He may also have been a transport contractor.2 To these entrepreneurial lines he added that of farming out the arrack and toll rents in the Central Province. "At first the arrack rents were limited to small divisions but by degrees it extended to the entire Kandyan District, the rent of which was purchased for many years successively" by Jeronis de Soysa.3 His fourth step was the purchase of potential plantation properties from the Crown. On the I Ith April 1837, in collaboration with Aluda- liyar "Harry" de Alwis of the Kandy Kachcheri, he purchased "the coffee garden called Diya- talakanda situated at Hanguranketa of Diyatilake Korale", which was 482 acres and 38 perches in extent, as well as another"coffee garden called Kirimetiya" of approximately 38 acres in extent. He paid £ 30 for the latter and outbid several European capitalists in paying £ 411.1.0 for Diyatalakanda — "a price which was at the time considered much beyond the value."4 But the property already had mature coffee trees, growing wild, within their boundaries and the first crop apparently repaid his investment. These purchases have been described as the turning point in Jeronis de Soysa's career.5 Thereafter, he continued to expand his trade and his investments in arrack rents and plantation properties, competently assisted in his business by his brother, Susew.6 In 1838 he purchased 23 small allotments ("fields") which covered about 24 amunams (say, 48 acres); and in 1842 he acquired two more plantations in Hewaheta. Yakkuranguve at Haragama covering 115 acres 3 roods and 11.52 perches, and Newatenne in Diyatilaka Korale covering 232 acres 2 roods for £ 92.13.2 and £ 90.1.10 respectively.? In July 1841 and January 1842 he also bought two cinnamon gardens totalling nearly 30 acres for the sum of £ 427.15.08 These statistics on some of his purchases reveal that in the five- year period 1837-1842 Jeronis de Soysa spent (at the very least) approximately £ 1200 to acquire roughly 9081 acres; and that in every instance he paid more than the minimum upset price of 5s. per acre, (which was raised to £ 1 in 1844). The extent of liquid capital in his hands is witness to the profits in trade, in arrack and toll renting, and in the culture of coffee.

In 1849, following a court case, "Harry" (Hendrick) de Alwis's share in the coffee plantations of Diyatalakanda and Kirimetiya — then valued at £ 2025 — was put up for sale.9 Apparently receiving the option of first refusal, Jeronis de Soysa seems to have bought these shares. At some stage in the 1840's and early 1850's the two de Soysa brothers are said to have

1. Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870. 2. My own annotation founded on the fact that his father was a transport contractor in Moratuwa and the fact that his trading ventures demanded the command (or hire) of transport services. 3. Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870. No reference is made to toll rents in this newspaper item. The infor- k mation is derived from John Capper, The Duke of Edinburgh in Ceylon (London: Provost & Co., 1871) chapter on "The Ceylon Rothschilds". 4. D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 7B/585, p. 24, a reference supplied by Patrick Peebles; and the Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870. Also see infra, p. 24. 5. Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870 and Capper (1871). 6. The information above on Jeronis de Soysa has been founded on the Ceylon Observer item of the 23rd April 1870, supplemented by: Capper (1871); The de Soysa Charitaya, pp. 9-11, 32, 38, 44-48; P. E. Pieris (ed), Diaries of E. R. Gooneratne (n. d.) pp. 64-65; and a letter from the G. A. Kandy to Col. Sec., 28 November 1837 enclosed in C. 0. 54/345, Ward to Newcastle, no. 46, 29 August 1859. 7. D. N. A. Ceylon. Lot 7B/585 pp. 136-40, 143, 144; and Lot 7B/586, pp. 217-18. 8. Details supplied by Patrick Peebles. 9. Ceylon Examiner, 3 February 1849, p. 74. 42 monopolized the arrack renting industry in the Central Province. By the late 1850's however, they "gave way to new men" and concentrated their resources in the Central Highlands on the cultivation of coffee.' Indeed, during the middle decades of the century both Jeronis and Susew continued to invest in plantation properties, both in the Low Country (for cinnamon and coconut culture) and the Highlands. In what is undoubtedly a partial picture pertaining to the situation at about the time of Jeronis de Soysa's death (in 1862), the Ceylon Directory for 1863 lists the following coffee plantations under the ownership of Jeronis and Susew de Soysa.2 Name of Estate Planting District Manager Total Extent of Property Wyrley Grove Alagal la F. Perera 218 Hanguranketa Upper Hewaheta M. Soysa 480 Goodlands Lower Hewaheta Louis Perera 425 Amanapoora Kadugannawa Bastian Cooray 100 Kuragalla Kadugannawa John James 80 Hatelle "Kallibokka" D. Pereira 400 Marigold Mat urata Carolis Silva 332

total 2035 acres It is known that the de Soysas enlarged the original properties in Hanguranketa from time to time till they included the whole of Diyatalakanda and had about one thousand acres under cultivation by the year 1870.3 It was reckoned that his Hanguranketa estate alone yielded about £ 4000 a year.4 Indeed, by 1871-72 Jeronis's son and heir, C. H. de Soysa, would appear to have owned twenty large properties covering 3986 acres, with 2516 acres under coffee and 457 acres interplanted with coconut and cinnamon, while Susew de Soysa owned eight estates covering 2391 acres, which had 933 acres under coffees

The pieces of information in Jeronis Pieris's letters are of value in supplementing the information derived from other sources. Perhaps their most significant aspect is in the con-

1. See the Colombo Observer, 25 April 1859, letter to the editor from "Iota" in Kandy, dated 20 April. He also noted that the rents for the various sub— divisions of the Central Province for the year 1859-60 had been farmed out for £ 32,000. 2. See pp. lxix ff. Note that Haragama is not mentioned. This edition of Ferguson mistakenly lists the de Soysa's as lessees of Kuragalla. Both this correction and the details for Goodlands are based on the Ceylon Directory for 1866-68. Since Jeronis de-Soysa died in 1862 the properties in fact belonged to C. H. de Soysa but they are generally listed as "Modliar de Soysa" or "Heirs of J. Soysa". 3. Ceylon Observer, 23 Apil 1870; and Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72, p. clxiv, where the plantations named "Hanguranketa" and "Wevalenna" are noted as being 1700 acres in extent with 1000 acres under coffee. 4. The Examiner, 31 May 1862: news item. 5. Based on a compilation from Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72 which was undertaken by Misses R. Kaleel and Manel de Silva under my direction. In addition C. H. de Soysa and Bastian Fonseka ate listed as the joint owners of 585 acres in Moratuwa while an "S. de Soysa" is listed as the owner of Keha- tepatna estate (265 acres) in Hunasgiriya. Further details are provided by a different source. A table supplied by the G. A. of Kandy which depicts "the native coffee gardens in the Central Province" was reproduced in several editions of Fer- guson's Ceylon Directories (from 1875 to 1882). A compilation from this table was undertaken for the author by Mr. V. 0. Ranasinghe. C. H. de Soysa is listed as the owner of 27 properties covering 2786 acres. 16 of these properties can be identified among the 28 estates listed under the two de Soysas' names by Ferguson in 1871-72. Of the other 12, several are small lots; the 12 total 940 acres. It is also my impression that the Directory for 1871-72 does not contain a completelist of the coconut and cinnamon properties owned by the de Soysas. 43

firmation they afford that the de Soysa's had multiple interests from an early date. To their business interests as contractors and merchants, to coffee culture and the farming of arrack rents the de Soysa brothers had added coconut and cinnamon properties in the maritime districts, (besides extensive and valuable urban properties.) It was such foresight in spreading their investments that largely explains their success in withstanding the coffee crash of the 1870's and the 1880's. The nature of their success can only be understood by reference to the relative decline of such houses as those of the Sellaperutriage Fernandos and Harmanis Soysa during the 1880's.'

Similar little details provide some data on the circle - of business associates and friends of the de Soysas and the Pierises. Harmanis Soysa, identified as a "renter", appears as an acquaintance of Jeronis Pieris? In fact, he had some entrepreneurial associations with the house of de Soysa. Oral tradition maintains that he began his career as a manager in the service of the de Soysas. A firm in Kandy listed in Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1863 as 4 belonging to Susew de Soysa has Harmanis Soysa's name under the category "Partners etc.", while "S.Soysa" was the Lessee or Agent" "of six estates owned by Harmanis Soysa in 1866-68.3 Harmanis Soysa appears to have run his own banking establishment in Kandy. Their relation ship would seem to have been symbiotic. By 1871-72 Louis Pieris was also a "Partner" in the Kandy firm of Susew de Soysa. By 1874 the partnership between Harmanis Soysa and the de Soysa's had terminated —possibly with the increasing influence of C. H. de Soysa—and the former ran his own establishment in Kandy.4 M. (Migel) Soysa, on the other hand, was no more than a resident manager of the Hanguranketa properties in the 1860's and 1870's as well as, by inference, in the 1850's. Of greater significance was the fact that Jeronis Pieris had struck up an acquaintance with some European planters in Kandy District. George Pride("a go-ahead, ill-tempered little fellow") of Naranghena estate in Lower Hewaheta had about a thousand acres under coffee and more than twice as much forest land in 1854.5 Jeronis knew him well enough to borrow a book from him but his letter shows that he (Jeronis) was not quite of equal station.6 His acquaintance with W. H. Wright of Peradeniya estate (whose son joined the Colombo Academy in 1855) obviously ran deeper. Wright would seem to have recovered from the illness which drew Jeronis's consoling lines.) Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1863 lists W.H.Wright as owner of two estates, and part-owner of two others (one with de Saram and Martensz, and the other with John Hamilton) in the planting district of Haputale in Uva.s

1. Following oral traditions and Shelton C. Fernando's pamphlet S. C. Fernando I Bros., op. cit. Another family which did well at the start, P. B. Fernando & Sons, appears to have collapsed by the 1860's, well before the main coffee depression. 2. No. 4, To C. H. de Soysa, 14 February 1854. Infra, p. 64. 3. Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1863, p. Ivii. Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1866-68, Supplement, pp. xxxxviii, xxxix, xli & xlv. An "H. de Soysa„ was also the "Lessee or Agent" of an estate (Goodlands) owned by S. de Sbysa in Lower Hewaheta (p. xxx). 4. Ferguson, Ceylon Directories for 1863, 1864-65, 1866-68, 1871-72, 1874, 1875 and 1880-81. 5. Letters from James Taylor to his father, Michael Taylor, from Loolcondera, 23 June and 9 March 1854. I am indebted to Mr. D. M. Forrest for his kindness in sending me typed copies of some of James Taylor's letters. George Pride was Taylor's first employer. 6. No. 3, To George Pride, 13 December 1853. Infra, p. 60. 7. No. 23, To W. H, Wright, 12 June 1856. lira, p. 81. 8. pp. lxxiii iv. In all probability Wright was the Civil Servant named W. Henry Wright who at one time acted as G. A., Central Province and ended his service as Auditor General. In December 1840 a Henry Wright purchased the "Peradenia Government Coffee Plantation" and an allotment named Govindi- tenne, in extent 425 acres, for the sum of 486. He also held another property adjoining this purchase. See D. N. A. Cey., Lot 7BI585, pp. 113-14.

L . - ' CHAPTER FIVE

THE HIGHLAND SCENE: COFFEE PLANTATIONS VS VILLAGE LAND

Among the letters is one which describes a hill-trek and the scenery it disclosed.I This is not an unusual feature for writings of that era. Among many examples, the books written by Knighton, Skinner, Capper, Baker, and Tennent as well as the letters written by James Taylor and William Fairholme provide such descriptions — with those by Taylor unsurpassed for detail. They must not be treated as mere scenic rhapsodies or pioneer adventure tales. Whe- ther graphic verbal sketch or a more prosaic literary effort, the descriptions could contain a historical detail of some value to a supporting line of inquiry on a major question: namely, the question whether the expansion of coffee plantations was at the expense of forest, chena, and pasture land that was essential to Kandyan village ecology. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the extent to which verbal sketches are historically useful; and in doing so to illustrate the supporting line of inquiry.

According to an opinion that is widely accepted, the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 (and its successor Ordinance No. 1 of 1897) and the growth of coffee plantations (later tea and rubber) resulted in large-scale expropriation of land utilised by the Kandyan peasantry.2 This thesis is based on a mere reading of clause 6 of the Crown Lands Encroach- ment Ordinance of 1840 (the "Waste Lands Ordinance" as it is popularly called). Little or no effort has been made to see how the Ordinance was administered, the prima facie evidence of injurious results being treated as sufficient proof in this regard. The evidence of injurious results presented so far has been: (1) an analysis of clause 6 of Ordinance 12 with evidence to illustrate how the Kandyans could not have produced the proofs of ownership which it (the letter of the law) demanded; (2) the evidence of several European witnesses before a British Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on the insurrection of 1848;3 (3) one concrete instance of appropriation of land belonging to the Aluwihare family of Matale District, as presented by A. C. Lawrie ;4 (4) a powerful oral tradition continuing to dwell in the minds of long-standing Kandyan families;5 and (5) present-day (mid-twentieth century) evidence of landlessness and

1. No. 6, To C. H. de Soysa, 30 March 1854. Infra, pp. 66-67. 2. I. R. Vandendriesen, "Land Sales Policy and Some Aspects of the Problem of Tenure 1836-1886: Part II", UCR, Vol. XV (January-April 1957). Ralph Pieris, "Society and Ideology in Ceylon during a 'Time of Troubles', 1796-1850, part HI", VCR, Vol. X, (January 1952). Sessional Paper XVIII of 1951, The Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission, pp. 69 - 77. J. B. Kelegama, "The Economy of Rural Ceylon and the Problem of the Peasantry", The Ceylon Econo- mist (September 1959). W. Don Michael, "Some Aspects of Land Settlement", The Ceylon Economist, Vol. IV (January 1958). N. K. Sarkar and S. J. Tarnbiah, The Disintegrating Village (Colombo: The Ceylon University Press Board, 1957) pp. xi-xii. 3. Vandendriesen (1957) pp. 40-46. 4. A. C. Lawrie (1896) p. 30. Pieris (1552) pp. 86-87. 5. It is illustrated in print in Panabokke and Halangode (1937?) pp. 22-24, in numerous speeches in the Le- gislative Council, State Council and House of Representatives reported in the Ceylon Hansard, and in the Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission.

44 45 impoverishment in Kandyan areas.1 For an issue of great complexity, this evidence is inade- quate. A long, hard road of probing in depth is called for, and greatly overdue.

One supplementary line of inquiry relates to the proximity of identified cash crop plantations on the one hand and paddy fields and villages on the other. It proceeds on the following assumption: if forest, chena and pasture land was expropriated in a particular locality, it is likely that coffee or tea plantations on the one hand and cultivated or occupied village areas on the other would be contiguous to each other; where contiguous to each other, there exists a probability that the village lost (by processes unknown, in that several possibilities exist) land to the plantation; where there is a wide area of "no man's land" in between, the probabilities are weighted on the other side. Now, in a situation where one encounters a galaxy of estates (plantations), it will be obvious that general conclusions cannot be reached in haste. But each little piece, each conclusion pertaining to a specific locality, is of some assistance in building up the puzzle.

It is largely on this sort of field evidence — on a broadly impressionistic basis — that B.H Farmer concludes that the growth of plantations over the last 125 years led to some loss of village land.2 His impressions, however, are based on the situation prevailing in the 1950's. Such present-day evidence is not without significance but conceals a major pitfall in the time- lag between the period in which the plantations were established and the period in which one eyes the scene. Say, in locality A, the plantation M neighbours (at one spot) paddy fields R belonging to certain individuals in a Kandyan village (X). This is the picture in 1970. Accord- ing to Farmer's reasoning, expropriation or loss of village land has taken place in the past as a result of the waste lands legislation. But it is also possible that other processes had taken place, either severally or singly, since the plantation M was cleared for the first time. The village population of X could have expanded. And either because of population increase, new incentives, or other factors, the village could have expanded the land under perennial culture — climbing up the valleys and hill-sides, so to speak, till it met the restrictive boundary created by the plantations. Such twentieth century evidence, therefore, must be treated as an indication that loss of land and expropriation may have taken place. In other words, it must be treated as an area for inquiry. Further investigation of survey plans and title deeds of plantations and other lands in the locality would, thereafter, clarify matters. Among other points, such deeds and survey plans would indicate the process by which loss of land has occurred— whether through sale of Crown land to planters, or through sale of private land to planters by villagers, landbrokers or other indigenous inhabitants. It will be evident that, even if visual evidence of the present-day is treated as positive proof of the loss of village land, it does not show how (and when) it occurred, Critics have invariably assumed that the losses have been the result of Crown sales of land cruelly appropriated through the Crown Lands Encroach- ment Ordinance. They have rarely considered the impact of the private land market.3

1. Sarkar and Tambiah (1957) by implication. Sessional Paper XVIII of 1951, The Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission, pp. 69-77. 2. B. H. Farmer, Pioneer Peasant Colonization in Ceylon (London : 0. U. P. 1957) pp. 65, 91. 3. This criticism does not apply to Farmer, and Sarkar & Tambiah. However, Farmer does not take this feature into account in assessing the validity of present day field evidence as a proof of the Waste Lands Ordinances having affected the peasantry severely. 46

In such a context nineteenth century descriptive accounts might add to our knowledge. In contrast to visual evidence of the present day, they constitute visual evidences that are contemporaneous, or nearly contemporaneous, to the days in which the plantations were formed. They might provide some indication of the village population and the extent of perennially cul--' tivated land in a particular locality. To illustrate this category of evidence and to complement Jeronis Pieris's brief description, I present extracts from James Taylor's letters of the year 1852 describing the vistas around Naranghena and Loolecondera estates which were located in the administrative district of Lower Hewaheta and in the vicinity of the town, Deltota.

This estate Naranghena is at the head of a long den or deep hollow in the bottom of which they grow rice the lower part of the estate is not at all steep, then there is a very steep ascent of, then say, about 500 feet, there is a pretty level place at the back of which rises a too steep ascent to be cultivated I was employed clearing forest at Loolecondera with the Cinghalese natives from what we call the village a pretty level place in the bottom of the Glen where the natives live and cultivate Rice.2 About a stonecast in front of the Bungalow there are two cairns of rocks on the other side of which is a perpendicular precipice of about 50 feet high among them are 2 or 3 nice small caves A road goes through between the cairns of rocks or rather blocks of stone for they go on depth below the surface of the ground. There are many of these nice caves all over the estate. This is a much more rugged estate than the other, Naranghena, round the corner of the hill. A stream of water runs past by the end of the Bungalow the stream turns right round these rocks before the Bun- galow making a right angle at the corner there is a fall of about 20 feet down into the bottom of the cut or ravine along which it runs. On the top of the bank on the other side is jungle the boundary of the clearing about 2 stone casts from the door. The Bungalow faces South East this stream passes by the west end and then right before the Bungalow. There are three of these large streams besides several small ones run through the estate and several enormous springs of water on it. These streams are not like our streams at home. They are just a quantity of water tumbling about amidst large rocks and deep holes in the bottom of a deep cut about as much water runs in each of the two largest of these as in the "Luther" at Denmill after a shower of rain and our ears are continually feasted by the noise of it. Across the stream on the west end of the Bungalow is a steep ascent with a flat piece of land on the top this is cleared and we have a zigzag road newly made that leads up it. At the back of this upper flat is a large hill on the top of a perpendicular rock of an enormous height about four or five hundred feet perpendicular which juts out like a round tower of a castle and on the south side is a wall of perpendicular rock as far as we see on the north side it goes back a little then turns and runs along east and north forming a rocky bill on southern side of which is the castle so from the back of the Bungalow and all along eastward it is a steep ascent and in some places perpendicular rock all the rest of the estate.; The other stream

1. James Taylor to his father, Michael Taylor, from Naranghena, 13 March 1852. 2. Mid, from Loolecondera, 23 June 1852. 3. This sentence is reproduced as it appears in the typescript sent by Mr. D. M. Forrest. 47

as it enters the clearing from the jungle at the top has a fine fall of more than a hundred feet down a perpendicular rock. A little farther on the slope of the hill makes nearly a right angle and runs north. On that side it is nearly perpendicular rock with lots of trees growing out of the clefts for many hundreds of feet from the top then there is a flat with a less steep and rocky slope; below this is planted with coffee and is the Naranghena estate. Through a narrow belt of jungle before our Bungalow is a patna or piece of grass which we cut for the thatch to the Lines and Bungalow at a small distance in front of the Bungalow through the jungle is a road leading to Neurallia (sic) a town built on a hill at a great elevation which makes it very cool so that it is much frequented by the Europeans here for their health. It is about 28 miles from this I think to the westward or southwest. Across the Glen about a mile or not so much is another estate on the other hill right over from us. This glen appears soon to end to the west-ward but to the eastward it extends many miles across the country to a range of lofty mountains running apparently about North and South. This glen is joined by many others branching off from it and all along the bottom is native villages and Rice fields or 'Paddy' as it is here called. I have not time to say more just now of the appearance of the country it is very grand and awfully rugged not a level bit of ground to be seen except sonic of the paddy fields from the top of the estate there is a splendid view of what appears to be a tableland more level and mostly covered with Grass with patches of forest and belts here and there. Then I can see by the steep slopes on the far corners of some small hills on the other side of this table and that there appears to be a large valley on the other side; then in the distance it is backed by this range of lofty mountains one of which is very curious it is a peak of perpendicular rock almost to an enormous height filling up a gap in the range with a very deep glen on each side. On the sides of these mountains we can see many coffee estates. Their tops are almost constantly covered with clouds even the rock at the top of this estate or the hill on top of it which is like a dome, on the top of a tower has always clouds resting about it except in very clear weather of which we don't have much just now and also the other hill opposite us which has also a castle of rock on the top with a flat of many acres of grass on the top of it. It is they say inaccessible all round.Adam's Peak and Neuraillia (sic) I believe lie up the glen through the forests to westward of us. Kandy lies northward about 16 miles round the road but not nearly so far in a line we hear the gun fired every morning if it is pretty quiet.'

These descriptions suggest that Loolecondera was a rugged property that is not likely to have been used for chena cultivation and that both estates were way up the hillsides and not proximate to the village lands below. But such conclusions are far from conclusive and must be used cautiously. Taylor may not have been aware of the significance of forest, chena and pasture for village economy. In any event, his accounts provide no indications of the exact location of the paddy fields in relation to the boundaries of the estates. Moreover, it is significant that the lower part of Naranghena was "not at all steep". The very name, Naranghena, suggests that it was used for chenaing. For "hen" or "hena" is the Sinhalese for the form of shifting cultivation that is commonly rendered as chena in the English used in Ceylon — indeed, it is the word from which "chena" was derived.

1. ldem. 48

One is led to the conclusion that, in itself, a verbal description has serious limitations. One confronts a major obstacle in analysing such evidence. To what extent can words capture, and depict, a scene? How much is left out? Without being in the writer's shoes, can one capture the details of the scene — details being what we are looking for? Would not the writer's overview be a generic, panoramic one? To grasp the dangers, one should attempt a similar description while standing (sitting, if you like) on a mountain pass or atop a mountain — say the Ramboda Pass, Hunasgiriya, or Hantane. The tendency would be to paint the panorama before one's eyes in sweeping and generic terms. With such a panoramic overview and an emphasis on literary expression, the plantations and paddy fields might be described as neighbouring each other — the clumps of scrubland and trees which lie interspersed or intervening being omitted from one's purview. A verbal description, therefore, will not have the virtues of a good photograph or sketch (sources which are not wholly non-existent). However even the latter will be easily surpassed in usefulness by a good survey plan or village settlement plan. Where verbal descriptions exist, therefore, their value is, at best, supplementary,) and it will be necessary to use them in conjunction with other types of evidence, including the visual evidence of maps and survey plans. Every little footpath has its uses and potentialities.

1. Verbal descriptions of a somewhat different category, those presented by Col. W. H. Simms (a Surveyor General) and F.D'A Vincent (a forester), have proved relatively more valuable. In Simm's case (1846) his description gains added value because it depicted the highland scene in terms of land on which "native products" grew and those used for (plantation) coffee cultivation; and because it connected both types of culture to elevation in stating (incidentally) that coffee was grown on "elevated forest lands" which were "above" the land on which "native products" were cultivated. For quotations and implications see the author's "Some Aspects of Economic and Social Policy in Ceylon, 1840-1871" (Oxford Uni- versity: D. Phil. dissertation in History, 1965) pp. 280 - 81 and K. M. de Silva's "The Third Earl Grey and the Maintenance of an Imperial Policy on the Sale of Crown Lands in Ceylon, c. 1832-52" in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXVII: 1 (November 1967) p. 9. For D'A Vincent's evidence see Sessional Paper XLIII of 1882 and the author's article "The Impact of the Waste Lands Legislation and the Growth of Plantations on the Techniques of Paddy Cultivation in British Ceylon: A Critique". Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol. 1:2 (June 1970) pp. 175-76. CHAPTER SIX

BUFFALOES, CATTLE, AND PADDY CULTIVATION IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

Finally, one can take up an important subject on which Jeronis Pieris provides veritable gems of information. In the course of a letter to his brother,f he described the agricultural practices of the Kandyans. Some of these practices were strange to his eyes and compared unfavourably with the methods employed in and around Colombo and Moratuwa. But it is his eyewitness description, not his attitude, which concerns us here. Among other comments, he makes three observations of some historical significance: (I) he had never- seen the Kandyans use "bullocks" (i.e., neat cattle) in ploughing; (2) he had occasionally noticed them using buffaloes to plough fields which were located at lower elevations and which not only included stretches of level land but also were muddier; (3) generally, they tilled their fields with a hoe and did not use draught animals. Taking the passage as a whole, the inference is that even- on the relatively low-lying flatter stretches of fields buffaloes were seldom employed.

His description is of considerable relevance to a hypothesis which postulates that the waste lands legislation and the associated expansion of plantations had injurious effects on the island's agriculture. As an ancillary point to their main theses, S. B. D. de Silva2 and Buddhadasa Hewavitharanaa have presented this hypothesis independently, but with a structure of argument which is similar in its basic design. The theory, which can be labelled "the chain reaction hypothesis," runs as follows: the expansion of plantations under the protection of the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinances led to a loss of forest, chena, and pasture — in de Silva's words, "drastically curtailed the traditional access of cultivators to forest and waste land". Or, as Hewavitharana phrases it, in the Wet Zone "the clearing of land deprived paddy of its hand- maiden — forest." Concurrently, the deterioration of the irrigation works in the Dry Zone during the nineteenth century resulting from governmental neglect affected the cattle population in that region. The limitation of pasture in turn led to a deterioration in the condition and numbers of draught animals. Cattle murrain (rinderpest) also contributed towards this trend.4 As a result,paddy cultivation was seriously affected through loss of manure and animal power. In the meantime, the population and the acreage under paddy continued to increase. The scarcity of draught animals generated by these trends caused a rise in hire charges. All these factors created a spiralling tendency for the paddy-growers to rely on manpower rather than animal power in preparing their fields. Technology had taken a large step backward.

1. No. 12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854. Infra, p. 72. 2. S. B. D. de Silva, Investment and Economic Growth in Ceylon (London University: Ph. D. dissertation in Economics, 1962) pp. 162-64. 3. B. Hewavitharana, Factors in the Planning and Execution of the Economic Development of Ceylon (Lon- don University: Ph. D. dissertation in Economics, 1964) pp. 222-23. 4. S. B. D. de Silva does not refer to rinderpest at all. Hewavitharana mentions it, referring to Leonard Woolf's diaries as his documentation: but his emphasis is such as to place this factor in a secondary causal category.

49 50

With its emphasis on a process ofchain reaction, it will be noticed that the hypothesis is built brick upon brick, plank upon plank. It also has the virtues of simplicity and plausibility. The evidence supplied by de Silva is brief but fairly powerful, being derived from the Adminis- tration Report of the Government Agent for the Central Province, H. S. 0. Russell, for 1869 (written in 1870) and Sessional Paper VI of 1908. Hewavitharana's evidence on the foundation points is negligible and is limited to a table which shows the number of cattle per hundred of the "peasant population" in the census years 1881-1962 and which indicates a decline in numbers. The peasant population has been calculated by subtracting the figures for "estate population" from those for the "rural population" in the censuses. The cattle population has been derived from the Ceylon Blue Books and Statistical Abstracts. His table can be reproduced here. 1881 : 67 1891 : 66 1901 : 79 1911 : 68 1921 : 59 1931 : 40 1946 : 32 1953 : 31 1962 : 29

Apart from the fact that the Ceylon Blue Book statistics have been used without any comment on their reliability, in depicting the decline in the number of cattle in terms of a ratio Hewavi- tharana has introduced another variable into the computation, that of the rural population. In slipshod fashion his table assumes that the growth-rate of the rural population was constant. Even where the number of draught animals did not decline, it is possible for such a table to suggest that there was such a decline if the rural population increased at a much faster rate than the stock of cattle and buffalo. In short, it could produce a total fiction.

Nevertheless, the chain reaction hypothesis receives considerable support from other quarters. H. S. 0. Russell's comments in the course of the years 1870-72 are particularly noteworthy. In 1872 he remarked that he was:

trying to prevent the sale of common pasture land on account of Government, or by underhand bargain of private parties, but that the evil of indiscriminate alienation of such land had already been carried so far that in many places no pasturage was left for villagers' cattle and in others beasts could be turned out to graze only at the risk of their straying into neighbouring coffee estates, where they would be impounded or shot.'

Observing that the circumscribed pasture lands made it impossible for the—beasts to continue living in herds, Russell argued that this factor was the main cause of the prevailing "degeneracy" of the cattle, while "scanty food and exposure to weather!' also served as contributory causes.2 The observations of other administrators, such as T. W. Rhys-Davids and F. D'A. Vincent

1. 1871 AR (Kandy District and Central Province) H. S. 0. Russell, 23 March 1871, p. 41. 2. Idem and 1869 AR (Kandy District and Central Province), H. S. 0. Russell, 27 June 1870, p. 39. 51 provide circumstantial evidence in support of Russell's opinions.' The report of the Cattle Disease Commission in 1869 also lends qualified support. While hearing evidence the Commis- sion was informed by a group of Sinhalese headmen and cattle owners from Uva that it had previously been the practice to drive their herds "to the higher lands in the hill ranges" after the ploughing season, but that they had not been able to pursue this custom "to nearly the same extent" after the establishment of coffee plantations.2 Conveying this type of evidence, the Cattle Disease Commission concluded that "in many districts the cultivation of Coffee on lands formerly covered by forest, had deprived the Natives of much of this means for grazing their herds during seasons the most trying to animal life."3

In the circumstances the chain reaction hypothesis cannot be dismissed lightly. It is not my intention to examine its main facets here.4 This chapter will be confined to a survey of that part of the hypothesis on which Jeronis Pieris's description bears directly and significantly. The chain reaction hypothesis carries two related and unspoken premises: (a) the premise that, in the period before the late 1830's and before the intrusion of the allegedly injurious forces which it describes, the paddy-growers relied largely on animalpower rather than manpower in preparing their fields; and (b) the premise that there was an adequate number of draught animals for the existing population in the pre-British era and the early decades of British rule. Being unspoken no documentation is presented in support of these assumptions. It will be at once evident that Jeronis's observations directly contradict the assumption that paddy-growers (within his area of observation) largely depended on animalpower in the preparation of their fields. The questions arise as to how valid Jeronis's description is for the pre-plantation period, namely the early 1830's and the decades previous; and to what regions his witness might be applied.

It is unlikely that the techniques of paddy culture which Jeronis witnessed would have undergone much change in the two decades separating the year 1854 and the pre-plantation period. Nor is it possible to claim that the extension of plantations had led to a large reduction in the cattle and buffalo population and effected a radical change in agrarian techniques within such a short span of time. Only about 80,000 acres had been brought under coffee by 1856 while the extent of land which was in the hands of plantation interests was, to hazard a guess, probably in the region of 280,000 to 320,000 acres at this stage.5 If his witness is applicable to the early 1850's it could also apply to the 1820's and early 1830's.

1. See my article "The Impact of t he Waste Lands Legislation and the Growth of Plantations on the Techni- ques of Paddy Cultivation in British Ceylon : A Critique" in the Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol. 1:2 (June 1970). 2. S P XX of 1869, Appendix, Evidence of "Divitotavila Ratemahatmaya, Kosgahakumbere Korala, Udakinda Korala and many other cattle owners" at Wilson's Bungalow on the 25th March 1868, p. 3. 3. Ibid., p. vii. Note a statement they make elsewhere (p. xxi): "It is not that a sufficiency of cattle for all industrial purposes may not exist throughout the country, but it is their unequal distribution that affects native agriculture so prejudicially. In some districts cattle are abundant and cheap, in others extremely scarce and dear". 4. These aspects are considered in my essay in the Modern Ceylon Studies (June 1970) op. cit. 5. The acreage under coffee is derived from Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1875, Section on "The Planta- tion Enterprise", supported by C. 0. 54/332, W. Ferguson to Labouchere, 22 August 1857. W. Ferguson was a surveyor and, as far as I know, no relation of the journalist Fergusons. Also see The Ceylon Times 15 August 1856 where the estimate is 60-70,000 acres. The conjecture on the total acreage acquired by plantation interests by 1856 is based on the figure of 280,000 acres for 1847 (with 52,722 acres under cultivation) and that of 380,883 acres in 1866-68. See K. M. de Silva (1967) p. 9, fn. 27 and Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1866- 68, Supplement, pp. 31-32. 52

From the situation of the de Soysa properties in the Central Highlands it could be argued that Jeronis Pieris was familiar with the locality around Hanguranketa and the areas contiguous to the Kandy-Hanguranketa road (part of which Jeronis de Soysa had constructed). As a manager of arrack rents and as a trader, it is reasonable surmise that he had wide travelling experience throughout the administrative unit known as the Kandy District, and possibly in the Central Province as a whole. Since he visited Colombo every now and then, he would also have had some familiarity with the roadside localities between Kandy and Colombo. Delineation of his range of regional experience is important. In Ceylon, agrarian activities and their attendant probems were (and are) notable for their regional differentiation. No account is adequate which is not aware of such regional diversity. The island's economic historians have unfortunately tended to gloss over such differentiation while charting its agrarian history. Jeronis Pieris's comments cannot be applied to the regional entity known as the Central Highlands or even the smaller regional entity covered by the administrative unit called the Central Province.' The maximum limits within which his description might be relevant are most parts of lower Hewaheta, most parts of Kandy District, and the areas contiguous to the Kandy-Colombo road in Kegalle District (the latter outside the Central Province but within the Central Highlands). This happens to be a crucial area. It includes a greater part of the plateau-like regions which constitute the second level of differential erosion,2 and encompasses an area in which there was a relative concentration of people. It should be remembered that in laying special emphasis on the detrimental effects arising from the extension of plantations, the chain reaction hypothesis focuses attention on the Central Highlands, where most coffee plantations are sited, rather than the Wet Zone Lowlands and the Dry Zone Lowlands. The region which I have delimited as Jeronis's likely range of observation covers a vital part of these Highlands. The question nevertheless remains whether his comments were a valid generalization for the area delimited; or whether they were random observations which were engendered in the course of reflections on cultivation operations in a locality that had very rugged terrain.

In examining the validity of Jeronis Pieris's observations and in testing the foundation premises in the chain reaction hypothesis, I will marshal! a body of evidence from sources that are easily available and from documents that I have chanced upon. One can begin, as so often, by turning to Robert Knox. In a detailed description of the arts of paddy cultivation among the Kandyans and in the illustrations which he provides, Knox leaves no doubt that buffaloes were used to prepare the fields, by dragging the plough as well as by puddling the mud with their feet3. The possibility remains that buffhloes became scarce between the mid-seventeenth century,when Knox was held captive in the Kandyan Kingdom,and the early nineteenth century. One cannot discountenance the possibility that the scorched earth policy implemented by the

1. In the mid-nineteenth century the Central Province consisted of the administrative districts of Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, and Badulla (Uva). The northern, eastern and south-eastern borders of the Central Province contain Dry Zone lowlands but the greater part of its landmass can be said to constitute part of the Central Highlands. Portions of Kegalle District and Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura) Dis- trict within the Western Province and a small segment of Kurunegala District formed the rest of the Central Highlands. 2. In popular and incorrect parlance, "the second peneplain". For elaboration see Michael Roberts (June 1970) and D. N. Wadia, "The Three Super-imposed Peneplains of Ceylon" in Records of the Depart- ment of Mineralogy, Professional Paper No. 1 (Colombo: Ceylon Govt. Press, 1945), pp. 25.26. 3. An Historical Relation of Ceylon, Ryan's edn. (Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons, 1911) pp. 12-18. 53

British forces in suppressing the rebellion of 1817-18 might have produced a setback in the buffalo population and in the technology of paddy culture with which it was associated. The coffee planter, R. E. Lewis's account of cultivation operations in the district of Sabaragamuwa, however, reveals that it was not uncommop for draught animals to be used in cultivation operations!. The witness of the chief headmen who appeared before a committee on cattle trespass in 1852-54 and the reports of the committees inquiring into rice cultivation and cattle disease in the late 1860's provide further confirmation that draught animals were in use within the Central Highlands.2 As a Governor observed in 1854, in resisting pressure from the plantation interests for a more stringent law against cattle trespass, "the chief property of the natives in many districts" consisted of cattle.3 Such evidence can be supported quantitively by concentrating on the administrative unit known as the Central Province: The cattle and buffalo population of-the province in the year 1851 was estimated at 100,000 by its Government Agent when he provided statistical returns on the impact of a rinderpest epidemic in 1852.4 For what they are worth, the government returns show the following numbers of "horned cattle" (i. e. presumably buffaloes and neat cattle) in the Central Province in the middle decades of the century: 1846 : 76,253 1851 : 98,393 1856 : 118,168 1861 : 108,312 1866 : 113,510 Unfortunately such statistics do not distinguish between neat cattle and buffaloes. Their significance is further reduced by the fact that they do not pertain to the early decades of the nineteenth century but to a period which had seen some expansion of the cattle and buffalo population as a result of the Central Highlands being opened up.6

The evidence against the general validity of Jeronis Pieris's eyewitness account and in favour of the two inter-related premises in the chain reaction hypothesis would seem to be conclusive. Jeronis's observations, however, do not stand isolated. Qualified but strong support is available in the opinions expressed by certain Kandyan "Chiefs and Headmen" in the course of an audience before the Governor in 1834. Their replies to certain queries,7 presumably through a single spokesman and via an interpreter, are so valuable as to merit reproduction in extenso :

1. R. E. Lewis, "The Rural Economy of the Sinhalese (more particularly with reference to the District of Sabaragamuwa) with some account of their superstitions," JCBRAS, Vol. II, Part 11, No. 4 (1848) pp. 36 & 49. 2. Report of Committee on Cattle Trespass (1853) pp. 3, 5 - 6; SP IV of 1867, Report on Irrigation Works and Rice Cultivation, with Appendices (see particularly the replies to question no. 21);and SP XX of 1869 Cattle Disease Commission, & Appendices, passim. 3. C. 0. 54/309, Anderson to Grey, no. 60, 25 October 1854. 4. SP XX of 1869, Cattle Disease Commission, Appendix with Extracts from Annual Reports etc. E. R Power's Report on the Central Province in 1852, p. 49. 5. Ceylon Blue Books for the relevant years, from the section on Agriculture. These statistics are based on returns sent by headmen and were generally viewed as unreliable. It is my supposition that the headmen based their returns on the lekammiti, hilekammiti and henlekamrniti (registers of village agrarian. and household statistics). This raises another question: does it mean that the latter were unreliable? 6. See SP XX of 1869, Cattle Disease Commission, p. vi. 7. C. 0. 54/198. "An Examination of the Chiefs and Headmen assembled at the Pavilion on the (n.d.)July 1834, in the Presence of the Right Hon'ble the Governor" which is part of a printed booklet. Emphasis has been added. 54

1st: What is the ordinary extent of the landed property of a Kandyan Inhabitant of the middle class? About a ammonam of Paddy ground; it is generally cultivated but once a year; and yields about 10 ammonams at 5 parrahs per ammonam - 50 parrahsi.

2nd : Has he any other means of subsistence 7 He sometimes cultivates chenas, but this is by no means a certain means of subsistence. He has a garden in general containing perhaps 10 coconut trees, the produce of which may be reckoned at 12s; altogether, including the produce of jaks and other fruits and vegetables, his garden may realise £ 1.10.0 or £ 2.

3rd : Has he no advantage from Cattle ? Very little - milk is not sold excepting near towns, and very few people of this Class possess Buffaloes which alone are used in ploughing. The average profit from the sale of cattle will not exceed 6 shillings.

In a traditional society with relatively little economic differentiation — the most notable differentiation being that of caste and a basic social stratification between a small traditional elite (drawn largely from the goyigama caste) and the rest of the populace — one can read "a Kandyan Inhabitant of the middle class" to refer to the large body of service tenants (paraveni nilakarayo) who held their lands on a hereditary basis (subject to service) in the days of the Kandyan King- dom and were in the category of owner-cultivators and landowners in 1834 after the changes effected by the British in the former gabadagam (Crown villages)2, while remaining as secure service tenants in the nindagam (chiefs' holdings or villages) and viharagam. It should also be noted that this term may have referred largely to the goyigama landowners as distinct from those of the so-called inferior castes. On this basis, the evidence of the chiefs supports Jeronis Pieris's observation that buffaloes, and not neat cattle, were used for ploughing by the Kandyans. On this reading, too, it contradicts one of the premises in the chain reaction hypothesis by suggesting that there were few buffaloes in the Central Highlands. Thereby, it leads to a further suggestion that, contrary to the other assumption in the chain reaction hypothesis, Kandyan paddy-cultivators could not have relied greatly on draughtpower. These suggestions cannot be held conclusive. Buffaloes can be hired and need not necessarily be in a cultivator's possession. In Kandyan society some well-to-do landlords (including temples perhaps) maintained their position and influence through the ownership of herds of buffaloes which they loaned out.3

As neither Knox nor Lewis refer to cattle being used on the plough, one can accept the evidence that Kandyans used buffaloes rather than neat cattle to plough their fields. The distinction is of some relevance to the chain reaction hypothesis. The replacement of animal power is predicated on the basis of a decline in the cattle population. To be valid it must distin-

1. An amunam is a measure of sowing extent and was generally considered to be equivalent to two acres. In fact, the extent varied from locality to locality and field to field, a great deal depending on the estimated fertility of the land. A parrah was generally treated as equivalent to three-quarter bushel. 2. The maruvena nilakarayo (tenants-at-will) in gabadagam may also have secured freehold rights. 3. The evidence presented to the Cattle Disease Commission in the late 1860's indicates that some individuals had very large herds. 55

guish between buffaloes and neat cattle, and prove that the quantity of buffaloes declined. Such a distinction does not prevail in the British administrative literature. Both officials and other observers often use the term "cattle" generically to include both buffaloes and neat cattle.I This even applies to the phrasing of the third question that was put to the chiefs in 1834, to the observations of Russell in 1870-72, and the statistical data presented earlier in this chapter. The distinction is of some consequence in view of the uses to which cattle were put in transporting goods. From bygone days it was the practice to transport commodities by means of pack-cattle (and perhaps even pack-buffaloes) which were known as tavalam cattle. The system continued to prevail in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in localities which lacked road and railway. With the expanding influence of a market economy- in the Highlands (and the Wet Zone) the numbers of tavalam cattle must have increased. At the same time the creation of a road network and the demands of the plantation industry generated a demand for cattle to draw the large number of bullock carts2 which were put into use. Therefore the period after the 1830's witnessed an influx of cattle (and buffaloes perhaps) into the Central Highlands3 and a general increase in the cattle population, within the limitations imposed by deaths through disease and other causes. Equally, with the establishment of railway connections in the Highlands during the nineteenth century and, more vitally, with the advent of the motor car and the motor lorry in the twentieth century, the role of the cart, the cart-drawing cattle and the tavalams have diminished — though never to the point of extinction (as we, alas, witness everyday). Hewavitharana's statistical proof must be appraised in this light.

The more crucial questions remain. To what extent were buffaloes used in ploughing - operations in the Central Highlands ? Were buffaloes found in any significant quantity in the. Highlands in pre-British and early British times? On both points there is a stark conflict of evidence. On both points, and particularly on the former question, the weight of the evidence leans towards a position which contradicts the assumptions attached to the chain reaction hypothesis. Jeronis Pieris's experience was largely in Kandy District, the central core of the Highlands, and it is a fair presumption that the chiefs involved in the audience of July 1834 were drawn from that district. Whereas R. E. Lewis's knowledge pertains to the outlying district of Sabaragamuwa which (while also being well-peopled) lies in the foothills and contains greater extents of relatively flat lands. It is also evident that the use of buffaloes is not a practical proposition in most terraced paddy fields. It is known that they cannot be used in fields which become so soft and muddy that the buffalo tends to sink in too deeply. In situations (localities) in which labour supplies were abundant,4 moreover, paddy–cultivators (whether owners or tenants) who did not possess buffaloes would naturally have preferred to resort to manpower, rather than to meet the hire of buffaloes, when cultivating their fields.

1. The word "cattle" refers to "beasts of pasture, especially oxen, bulls and cows" (Chambers' Twentieth Century Dictionary p. 167), so perhaps this is not surprising. Some individuals even used the word "bullock" in a generic sense though it refers to an ox or castrated bull. • 2. In the period 1850-62 (both years inclusive) an average of 873 cart licenses was issued every year in the Central Province, with 673 as the lowest figure and 1369 as the highest for an year, and with more issued in the early 1850's than later on. This contrasts with the average of 10,961 cart licenses per year issued in the Western Province. See Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1864-65, p. 187. It is probable that more carts were in use than the registration figures indicate. 3. •'Concurrently with the rapid extension of coffee planting in the Island, cattle were more largely imported from India for purpose of transport by tavekams (sic) and carts", (SP XX of 1869, Cattle Disease Commission, p. vi). 4. It is not suggested that labour supplies were abundant but that it may well have been so in several parts of the Highlands, and notably in Kandy District. 56

In any event the conflict of evidence is such as to call into question any facile acceptance of the view that buffaloes were an integral part of Kandyan village economy in the decades immediately preceeding the late 1830's and the 1840's. More incisive studies are needed to resolve the conflict and to depict the regional differentiations as preliminary steps towards. generalisation. Such studies will have to rest on the internal correspondence and other documents among the records of the Secretariat in Colombo and the records of the various Kachcheries. A statistical study of the lekanuniti pertaining to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries will probably be the most fruitful means of establishing a definitive answer. CHAPTER SEVEN

EPILOGUE

The historiography on .British Ceylon, not excluding this brief survey, has only been scratching the surface of a vast area calling for investigation. Hitherto, it has concentrated largely on historical problems of policy-formulation and on major political incidents for the simple reason that the prospector heads for veins that lie readiest to hand. As the mine of archival material described in the first chapter is worked, fresh gems will be discovered, fresh jewels fashioned; in other words, to change metaphors, fresh shapes and insights will occur. In some spheres, such as those relating to the views and the interests of important personalities and social groups, it is likely that definitive historical writings can be worked out soon. Analysis of policy-formulation may also be amenable to such positive results at an early date, but it is likely that there will be several hard knots within this sphere of history because of the variations in policy induced by the regional diversities in conditions and by the touch of different personalities. Policy-impact will probably be the toughest arena to probe in a definitive way, though it is possible that statistical methodology based on detailed studies of district records may make an analysis of some problems less difficult than they seem at first glance.1 Speaking broadly, the odds favour a further proliferation of the contrary threads of evidence in many spheres. There will probably be more confusion and muddle, amidst greater clarity, in the state of our historiography. Despite these gloomy prospects one trusts that historians will continue to chip away at the material and seek after definitive analysis; and one can only hope that their findings will erase myth and legend (however incorrigible such popular my- thology is). Through it all, it seems certain that the letters of Hannadige Jeronis Pieris will survive unscathed as a unique historical source for nineteenth century Ceylon unique because of the several insights they afford and because of the scarcity of such sources for the nineteenth century. The pity of it is that the extant letters do not span a more extended period.

1. The potentialities in such methodology arc illustrated in some of the recent regional studies on India. For instance, see Dharma Kumar, Land and Caste in South India (0. U. P. 1965), the essays in Robert Eric Fryken berg's (ed), Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History (Madison: University of Wiscon- . sin Press, 1969) and some of the essays that have appeared in recent issues of The Indian Economic and Social History Review. Also await Tom Kessinger's study of a Punjubi locality (University of California Press, 1973 or 1974)

57 Plate 12

MRS. JERONIS PIERIS LOUIS PTERIS - nee Warusahannadige Carolina Francesca Soysa (1842-1903). She was at a later stage in his life-span (1840-1914), he eventually a daughter of Lewis Soysa and a niece of Jeronis and Susew de Soysa. settled down in Kandy and was among the first Sinhalese She was married to Jeronis Pieris on the 33th December 1856. Municipal Councillors in the town.

Plate 14 Plate 13

RICHARD STEUART PIER'S HENRY A. PIER'S

1858.1918; eldest son of Jeronis and Carolina Francesca Pieris, 1862-1919; Jeronis and Carolina's second son. familiarly referred to as "Ritchie" in Jeronis Pieris's letter (in Sinhalese) from London in 1877. Plate 15

THE FIRM OF S. C. FERNANDO & BROS.

Outside part of their premises in Colombo St., Kandy in the 1870's — An epitome of the Low-Country Sinhalese familial entrepreneurial groups which achieved success in the hill country during the nineteenth century.

SELLAPERUMAGE CHRISTOMBU FERNANDO iS in the centre. Plate 16

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FACSIMILE: LETTER F RliERONIS PIERIS 'TO LOUIS P 'ERIS, 30 October 1853. PART TWO

THE LETTERS OF JERONI S PIER IS 1853-1856 61

LIST OF LETTERS . 1. To Louis Pieris, Colombo. 30 October, 1853.

2. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo. 24 November, 1853.

3. To George Pride, Naranherme, Kandy. 17 December 1853.

4. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo. 14 February 1854.

5. To Louis Pieris, Morottoo. 10 March 1854.

6. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo. 30 March 1854.

7. To S. C. Perera, GrandPass, Colombo. 3 April 1854.

8. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo. 10 May 1854.

9. To Louis Pieris, 10 June 1854.

10. To S. C. Perera, Grand Pass. 25 July 1854.

11. To Johannes Salgado, Morottoo. 22 August 1854.

12. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo. 18 October 1854.

13. To Simon Perera, Colombo. 12 December 1854.

14. To Marcellus Perera, Colpetty, Colombo. 8 January 1855.

15. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo. 16 April 1855.

16. To C. H. de Soysa, 28 July 1855.

17. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo. 23 September 1855.

18. To S. C. Perera, Colombo. n. d. (Sept. 1855).

19. To Simon Perera, Colombo. 3 December 1855.

20. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo. 22 December 1855.

21. To C. H. de Soysa, Colombo. 10 March 1856( ?).

22. To Louis Pieris. 22 ,April 1856.

23. To W. H. Wright 12 June 1856. 62

Letter No. 1

Kandy. Oct. 30. 1853. Mr. Louis Pieris, Colombo.

My dear Louis,

I have received your last letter, which tho' very short and by no means satisfactory, yet it gave me great pleasure in reading, being the first letter in English you wrote to me - 1 am very glad for your endeavour in so doing, and hope that your next will be, thro' the blessing of the Almighty, a much fairer and better one. Write to me now & then, as I am always delighted to find myself not forgotten.

How comes it that you tell nothing about your School - write to me fully about your school in your next letter ? Who is the head of your class? What lessons do you learn? Be regular in attending School. Write letters to Mr. Chs. Soysa of Morottoo as well as to me. Let me know what books you are in need of.

Make my compliments to Mr. Chs. Soysa, to all at home & to all my friends. I am, My dear Louis,

Yours affectionately, Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 2

Kandy. Nov. 24th 1853. Chs. H. de Soysa Esq. Morottoo.

My dear Charles,

Be pleased to accept my sincere thanks for your letter of the 8th Inst., an answer to wh. I am at last sat down to write to you, and should blame myself very much for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute that, as well as many such failings, to want of health - and much more on this occasion for want of health in holding my pen. I hope not to be so long silent again.

You have not heard, I think, the severe shock I received by a fall from my bandy wh. occasioned the slipping of a bone in my arm. I was obliged to call for surgical assistance, as was instantly done. The Surgeon desired me not to move my arm for about 10 days, during 63 wit. time it was suspended in a sling - I am now by the mercy of God able to write a little, altho' writing much pains my arm still and that is the only reason for not making this letter a longer one. Tell nobody how I was severely hurt - let it be kept as a secret.

Let me tell you, my dear Charles, that I am very much satisfied with your progress; and you should try to give up as many hours in the day, as you could conveniently spare, to study - and spend not a single hour in vain. The root of learning is indeed bitter, but the fruits thereof sweet.

Your books will be returned when I could find a fair opportunity - I am not using them. They have been lying in my almirah - I'll try to find out some useful books for you.

I suppose you will find a safe place for my letters in your box preserve them - as I do take much care of yours - They might be of use to us sometime after.

I shall hope to hear very often from you and every day better news & better. Your good health is sincerely wished by

Most affectionately yours • Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 3

Kandy. Dec. 17th. 1853. Geo. Pride Escir.,1 Naranhenne, Kandy.

Sir,

I beg leave to state that I am very much obliged to you for lending me "Boswell's life of Johnson". The 2 Vols. that remained with me I have herewith returned with many thanks.

Boswell's Johnson is truly an entertaining work - if I am so fortunate as to receive any present from you, as a token of my obedience towards you, I wd. willingly prefer "BosweIl's life of Johnson" to any thing else.

I am Sir, With great respect, Your most obedient and humble Servant, Jeronis Pieris.

George Pride was a wealthy British planter in Upper Hewaheta; see supra, P. 43. 64

Letter No. 4

Arrack Godown, Kandy. Feby. 14th. 1854. C. H. de Soysa Esqr., Morottoo.

My dear Charles,

A report of the extreme illhealth of my grand-father made me visit home on the 6th Inst. Although I did not expect, before I left Kandy that I wd. be fortunate to see him and converse with him again, yet on my coming home I found him, by the aid of the Almighty wonderfully recovered.

I am sorry that that short stay in Colombo (2 days) gave me no opportunity in (sic) coming down to see you.

I suppose you are doing well at present and that my brother Louis will gain some instructions from your teacher - Louis is rather fond of play. Please keep him almost confined to his studies.

The package of books I sent you has, I dare say, reached you safe - it was delivered to your father as 1 met him in Colombo. The Greek Testament though of little use to you at present, wd. I think, be of great use to you when you learn Greek, wh. I hope you will. A heap of books were sold at Mr. Bullers, there had been but few books of use to us - and besides the prices they were sold for were actually more than they are really worth.

Harmanis Soysa, renter, who intends to leave Kandy to-day, will bring down your Silver watch - Please receive it from him. It keeps time well enough at present, but use it carefully that there may be no trouble with it again.

Kandy is rather warm at present there having been but very little rain all round last month. Do not forget me at your leisure hours.

Hoping to hear early from you - and that you are in good health.

I am, My dear Charles, Most affectionately yours, Jeronis Pieris.

P. S. Tell Louis that as I have received no letter from him in. January last, I did not take the trouble just now to write him one.

P. 65

Letter No. 5 Mr. Louis Pieris. Morottoo. Kandy. March 10th 1854. My dear Louis,

By your last letter to me I was very glad to hear that you are and have been for sometime residing at your godfather's in Morottoo.

I consider that it is advisable for you to make a longer stay at Morottoo, which I should think is at present free from contagious distempers, rather than come up to Colombo as I hear the place is not a bit better than what it was. You should, therefore, during your residence at Morottoo, endeavour to pay a (sic) great attention to the instructions you receive from your teacher, and get on with your lessons in English as fast as possible. Reading English, I am sorry to say, you do it very badly. You should try to mind the stops when you read.

Let me know how many hours in the day you give up to your studies. I expect letters from you every now & then.

Make my best compliments to Messrs. Chs. Soysa & Cuylenberg.

I am, My dear Louis, . Yours affectionately, kronis Pieris.

Letter No. 6

Kandy. March 30th 1854. C. H. de Soysa Esq. Morottoo.

My dear Charles,

There had been ample time I dare say, for you to answer my last letter, had you taken a , little more trouble and had been a little more considerate in putting a few words together on paper for me. And I wd. always complain of having forgotten me if my letters are not answered in time. Therefore, please write to me at your leisure hours, for I am much delighted to find myself not forgotten. I wd. if I had time to spare, write to you a letter or two every week, but I am sorry to say the press of business and the almost confined state in wh. I am at present do not allow me to (sic) such sportive engagements. 66

As a piece of news I am glad to write to you of my visit to "Deyetalawe" neighbouring HanguranKette wh. I visited with great pleasure, altho' with great difficulty. Early in the morning of the 28th list, myself and seven others started from the Bungalow at HanguranKette;. we reached Oodewatte about 7 in the morning and after a little refreshment wh. we kindly received there from the Supt. we began to climb up the rocky hills. Two men with 2 fowling pieces & two others with bill hooks were despatched before us, and myself, Mr. M(?) Soysa & others followed them in our usual clumsy dress. The ascent was difficult. Having left Oode- watte Store (I suppose you know the place) about 7% a. m. nearly one full hour was spent to cross the thick jungle adjoining the coffee Plantations. In traversing the jungle we were led by our guide to a rocky mountain overgrown with mana grass. Our guide was rather a silly man as he knew not wh. was the shorter course to take. The termination of the grassy mountain led us to its summit which was a well formed rock on wh. we sat for about of an hour, well seated there after crossing the jungle thoroughly wet and partly fatigued.

This seat favoured us with an inspection of the coffee estate, and enabled us to look at the various paths and the situation of the stores, pulping houses & the cooly lines of the Allotwatte, Kottle, Oodewatte & Ratmateyat of the latter place we saw nothing but the sur- rounding jungle.

Adjoining the huge stone on wh. we sat and lying towards the East of it is a dangerous precipice, a stone left (sic) thrown on the top of it reaches the bottom wh. is, I think about a mile & a half distance in less than five minutes. The rock is...(?)... from its base to the summit as it is almost in a right(?) line.

Having taken a short and an imperfect survey of the coffee estate, the neighbouring paddy lands & the leading foot-paths and laid down an irregular figure of the said view on paper & as you will perceive in the plan wh. I have herein enclosed2 we started up to reach the top of the 2nd and 3rd hills. We reached the upper plane of the 2nd hill about 10 o' clock and feeling much more wearied and dry we descried a marshy pond wh. gave us drink although muddy & not clear. On our way in climbing this rock, I forgot to tell you that the dogs accompanied by us having run up to the thick jungle chased a deer and not being able to kill the animal, led it towards us and we being in no way huntsmen had only to look at the sportive race as it ran down the hill rather than endeavour in destroying the animal. One man, our guide, endeavoured to hurt the animal with his bill book, but fo no purpose. The deer ran just beside me, the only weapon I had was my climbing staff and that did no good.

The highest point of Deyetalawe, under which is a cave naturally formed by loose and deta- ched pieces of rock, we reached about 12 o' clock and that being the most dry part of the

1. The name which reads like "Ratmateya" could refer to the property of 38 acres 3 roods 2.94 perches named "Kirimetya" situated in the village "Walliwallea" of Diyatilaka Karate which Jeronis de Soysa had purchased on the 11th April, 1837. See D.N.A. Ceylon, Lot 7 B/585/24. (1 am indebted to Patrick Peebles for this reference and the details). This property is depicted as "Kinmatiyawatte" in the list of "native coffee gardens" provided by the Government Agent, Kandy that is reproduced in Ferguson's Ceylon Directories in the years 1875-82: and as "Keremetia" (with the Tamil rendering as "Ratmatra") in the estate tables provided by Ferguson. The G. A.'s list also mentions a "Cottlewatte" and Udawatte among the properties owned by C. H. de Soysa in Diyatilaka Karate. 2, This sketch does not appear to have survived; probably no copy was taken. 67 day we were seated on the rock with our umbrellas open to shelter us from the rays of the sun which was then very powerful. We breakfasted on this rock and rested there for about I of an hour, and after having carefully inspected the rocky caves, viewed the apparent water-falls, the adjoining hills &c, we commenced to descend from the mountain which took us only the time we had to ascend. We were now ourselves the guides,as our silly guide was set apart. The shortest cut we made was to reach Allootwatte jungle thro' the newly cleared part of the same plantation now fully covered with weeds, we came down to the Bungalow wh. afforded us sufficient shelter.

My friend Mr. M. Soysa having found me much wearied & thirsty desired me to wait there until morning & make no further journey, and I, of course, agreed. We took our tiffin there and came to HanguranKette Bunglow (sic) in the morning.

You would, I dare say, make an attempt to visit the place on your next call at Hanguran- Kette but I would not advise you to do so as it is not a very safe one.

On my way up the hill I picked up a few extraordinary plants—botannical (sic) treasures. They will be sent down to you, if they be not previously withered away, at the earliest opportunity. The plant wh. I now speak of, is called in Singhalese "Goorooluraaje".

Please read this letter to my brother Lewis also - and it would save me the trouble of writing him another.

Johnson's "Rambler" in 3 Vols. is now with me. They were purchd. by me at one of the Auction Sales here. It is an entertaining & instructive work. I will send them down to you in a short time together with a few more of Addisons wh. I now intend to purchd. for you.

Make my best compliments to all my friends.

Your good health is sincerely wished Most affectionately yours Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 7 Kandy. April 3rd 1854. Mr. S. C. Perera GrandPass Colombo.

My dear Sir,

I have the pleasure to enclose herein a letter addressed to Mr. Chs. Soysa of llorottoo, which you will please, read, seal & send to him at your earliest convenience. 68

I am at the same time very much obliged to you for your letters which I now acknowledge to have duly received,and hope to be excused for my never answering them in time and answering them so late as this. I shall endeavour never to be so long silent again.

With my best regards to you

I remain, Yours Faithfully, Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 8

C. H. de Soysa Esq. Kandy May 10th. 1854. Morottoo.

My dear Charles,

I find the package of books alluded to in my last letter left here at the godown still. Your father going to Colombo in the Coach desired me to send down his clothes Ste at the earliest opportunity and I was surprised to find the books among them. Considering how I wd. send the books to you before I wrote to you my last letter, I fear, the letter was scarcely legible and was written in such haste.

I have no doubt but that you will find a great deal of amusement in reading Addison's works. The beauty of his style surpasses that of any other author - when you are engaged in reading his works you will perceive that he has taken particular care to write with accuracy and precision. The several essays wh. make up the 'Spectator' and the 'Tatler' are not only instructive but wonderfully pleasing to the reader, and that, to such an extent that you will never be tired of reading them.

I hope you are making some preparations against the 24th Inst. the anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday, when I hear, your father is to receive a gold chain and a meddle (sic) as a present from his friends. I wish I could be present on the occasion.

Let me know, please, how Louis is getting on. Hoping to hear early from you, I am My dear Charles, Yours sincerely, J. P.

P. S. The arrack Farm of the Kandyan Provinces sold, in fact, resold in lots on the 19th inst. realized but a very small amt. in comparison to the sale of that of the entire Province - We expect to be renters for the ensuing year also. J. P. 69

Letter No. 9

Kandy. June 10th 1854.

My dear Louis,

I am glad to hear that you have adopted my advice in residing till now at Morottoo. You will very likely be told to come to Colombo after a short time, if the place is not very sickly.

It Seems to me, by your last letter, that although you have endeavoured to improve in your hand writing, yet you have altogether forgotten to write accurately. In future, when you write letters to me, recollect you draw some pencil lines on your paper before you begin to write, spell your words correctly and introduce stops to your writing, which, I see, you have altogether left out.

Will you write to me as I am anxious to hear out of what books you learn your daily lessons; you should commit to memory a few lines of English poetry every day, if your teacher would advise you to do so. Recollect, Louis, that you are no longer a little boy and that it is high time for you to think to become a clever young man. In a year or two more you will have to work for your living, and, therefore, keep in mind always that what I and everybody else would wish you to do, is nothing else but to endeavour to become a diligent and learned youth.

I wish you would write to me at the end of every week, say every Saturday, about your school lessons. In one of Charles' letters to me, he says, you get on pretty well in your studies. I ought to hear something more than that from him, even these two words "very well".

When did you last see my mother? Is she continually troubled with the head-ache? or Is she quite well ? Did you come to Colombo on the 24th May last, the anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday ?

Your last letter to me is herewith returned; see if you could write it better and send (sic) me enclosed in one of your letters to me.

I am at present in good health, and hope that all of you would enjoy that blessing.

I am, My dear Louis Most affectionately yours

Rronis Pieris 70

Letter No. 10

Mr. S. C. Perera Kandy. Grandpass. July 25th 1854.

My dear Sir,

My last letter from home as well as yours of the 20th Inst. acquaints me that Mr. Chs. de Soysa is now a college student and that Louis and the other lad are attending the college school,which I am glad enough to hear.

Charles is, I think about 19 years old and as he is now getting on well as I could wish, I am of opinion, that if he remain two full years in the college he will become a good classical scholar. And that is what he should try to be. His being sickly always is unfortunately one' circumstance that would prevent his taking pains to study, but Mutwal is a healthy spot, he may very likely improve in his health just as he would in his learning. Do the two young lads walk all the way from home to school?

Your letters to me are rather short; as you have ample time to write, I dare say you could make them a little longer. Can you not? I expect your letters to me, will always tell me what Louis is doing. Should you think that there is anything that he is in want and which I could provide him with, lose no time, please, in informing me of it.

How is our old Coergu(?). Has he no intention of visiting his native land? If we were to make some, arrangements here so as to enable us to sell a larger quantity of rice, that is to say, an unusual quantity all round the year—Do you think Coergu(?) and you / by the way that is carried on at present / will be able to send us from Colombo any rice that we may want, provided that the quantity may not exceed five hundred cart loads every month. The question is simply are the carts easily procured and has Coergu(?) a large stock of rice in hand, or any at his command? You will, please, answer this question yourself and let nobody else know anything about it, as it is only a supposition and not anything that wd. have any immediate effect on our trading line.

As a piece of news I could tell you that the long continued rains are at their close, 'and we have had fair weather all this week. Hoping to hear early from you and all hopes of success in your office. I am my dear Sir, Your's faithfully, J. P.

P. S. Does Charles come home, or at least come to his uncle's at Grand Pass, every Saturday. I will send a letter to his address enclosed in one of yours at the earliest opportunity. When does Harmanis Soysa intend to come to Kandy. Do you know? May I send you "Johnson's Rambler" to read. What has Charles done with the "Spectators" I sent him last. You can borrow them from him. It is worth while trying to read them. J. P. 71

Letter No. 11 Kandy. Aug. 22nd 1854.

Mr. Johannes Salgado, Morottoo.

My dear Sir,

1 have received your letter bearing no date requesting me to hand over to Mr. M printing office — I am sorry to say I have not yet got the letters you mean, nor is it likely that I shall, for I think there must be some mistake in forwarding them to me or they must have been lost. Very likely the gentleman to whose care you entrusted them has forgotten to pack them with his letters to me.

Should you send me any papers I wd. be glad enough to send them up to Mr. M and, at the same time permit me to tell you that I should think, the most secure and expeditious mode of transmitting letters is through the Post Office.

Hoping you are in good health, I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, Jeronis Pieris P. S. Any letter to this address will reach me safe: "Jcronis Pieris Arrack Godowns Kandy."

Letter No. 12

Arrack Godowns, Kandy, October 18th 1854 Mr. Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo.

My dear Louis,

I now sit down to answer your last letter, in wh. you seem very anxious to know about my health. I am sorry I had written no letters to you for some time, and it is true that I was unwell for a few days, but that wd. not be a sufficient excuse for not having written to you when I was quite well.

1. The edges of the page being frayed, this word cannot be determined. 72

You have had plenty of time, I dare say, during your late holidays to write to me a long letter about your School, wh., I see, you have not thought of; you may recollect that letter- writing will help you very much in becoming a good English Scholar. By so doing you will not only imitate the good parts of the writings of others that may be put into your hands, but will avoid the mistakes of your own, which you will yourself be able to find out from time to time. Keep copies of the letters you write and read with care the letters you receive from others. You should not he afraid of mistakes you are apt to commit in writing but should endeavour to write one letter better than another. Do not be discouraged by the mere appearance of difficulty but try to overcome it.

As a piece of news I am glad to tell you that a vast number of the poor intelligent Kandyan farmers who have lost altogether their last wet crop, have taken a different method in cultivating their paddy lands. These poor farmers, during the last rainy season have sown their paddy fields several times but owing to the unevenness of their lands, the continued heavy showers have washed all the grain away before they had time enough to take root. What they had to do now is to sow the grain in some places sheltered from the rains and when the plants have grown up to the height of 9 inches or one foot they have them transplanted in their proper places just as we do in planting brinjal or chilli plants in our gardens.

Most of the paddy lands round about Kandy are situated on the bases of hills and consequently easily irrigated by the streams running down these hills which is not at all the case as you will see in paddy fields round about Colombo. The agriculture of these mountain-like paddy fields, if I may so call them, is not conducted by the bullock, nor the muddy parts by the buffalo, but are tilled all over by the hoe—differently shaped from that in use among us; except in a few instances where the fields are situated between hills or two ranges of hills and consequently sufficiently level to be worked on by the buffalo, I have never seen them use bullocks in ploughing.

These respectable farmers, mostly with trifling capital to be sure, and therefore slender means of improving their lands, are most of them ignorant of the advantages of irrigation, the proper mode of clearing their lands from weeds. The clearing of weeds & noxious grasses, which grow in abundance no sooner the fields become green, is carried on dexterously by the Kandyan women. This they call "nalanawa" cs.nenE13( ?) and none of them are ignorant of this practice. And it is well known among the Kandyans that should a young woman newly married "in dega", understand not the above method of clearing weeds in the paddy fields, the young man, her husband, would send her away to her father's house without making any further question. Look how barbarous the Kandyans are still! I wish all of them would soon turn Christians and leave off their old nasty customs.

Hoping you are in good health

I am my dear Louis,

Yours sincerely, jefouis Pieris 73

Letter No. 13

Kandy. Dec. 12th 1854. Mr. Simon Pererai School Master Colombo.

My dear Simon,

I feel myself obliged to you for the news you had the kindness to communicate to us by your letter of the 1st. Inst., which letter came to my hands only on the 9th on my way to Hungurankette (sic) about 11 miles from Kandy.

Before I proceed to tell you something of our hilly country, which is now so favorable to us, permit me to answer those few questions proposed in your letter as fully as I can.

We have despatched to Colombo to be forwarded to the "Paris Universal Exhibition" an Elephant cut out of a piece of rock as well as several Budhist (sic) idols of Vishnu, Maha Brahma &c being also speciments (sic) of Kandyan Sculpture, a few implements of husbandry, carvings in wood and ivory, a few ropes and whips prepared by the Rodiya &c.

But I am puzzled at your latter question, as I know very little about it, just as much as I read in yours: a man who finds his/living in hilly country, who is obliged to be away from home for several months together should prefer to be single rather than be coupled. It is for no other reason but to avoid that heavy load which he would have to carry along with him wherever he goes—Don't you think so? But one who is living comfortably at home under- going no such difficulty, who could be either in the Town or in the village just as he may choose, and moreover who has a chance of following a sedentary occupation had better be coupled, than be single. As the former is a social and the latter a lonely life.

You must have made a good progress in Sangscrit & Ellu as you have been studying them for some time.

I intend coming down to Colombo if I find it convenient, a week or two previous to New Year, say about the 20th Inst. and would be very glad to see you then. I'll leave behind the news from this quarter mentioned in the beginning of this note as we will be able to talk to each other very soon, if God would be pleased to grant us his special aid for so doing.

Hoping you are quite well, I am, My dear Simon, Your faithed (sic) and obliged Friend, Jeronis Pie ris

1. Mr. Simon Perera would seem to have been a former schoolmate of Jeronis Pieris's who was employed as a schoolmaster at the Colombo Academy. 74

P. S. I dont think we will have any cabbages this time of the year from N. Ellia, as the late severe frost had killed them all; we will I think get some from Matturatte; I will not forget to order the people here to send down some, if procurable. I am sorry I could (sic) bring down none with me when I come down as I intend to be about four days on the road.

Letter No. 14

Kandy. Jan. 8. 1855 Mr. Marcellus Pererat Colpetty Colombo.

My dear Sir,

I make haste to answer your kind letters in the hope of hearing again from you and you are at the same time not to think of yourself forgotten or wilfully neglected, that you had yet no correspondence from me. To tell you the truth, I was just projecting to write a long letter to you and another to Mr.(?) S--- when your last obliging epistle came to hand; nor would I have kept back writing to you had not the press of business laid that mind altogether away from me.

But Sir, you will please excuse me, as I was eager to seek the very first opportunity to tell you candidly that the favours you are willing to confer on me are surely more than I deserve.

Your kindness is so great, and my claim to any particular regard from -you so little, that I am at a loss how to express my sense of your favours, but I must no doubt be very happy to be thus favoured by you.

You wd., I fancy like to hear that I, ere I received your advice regarding 2 had posted a letter to me 3 informing him just what you have suggested in your note.

But I should think, that this is a property common to all and you will read better in these few words of Cie.. "Commune autem animantium omnium est conjunctionis appetitus, pro- creandi causa, et cura quadam eorum, qua procreate sunt".4

1. Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1871-72 lists (p. cclxviii) an "M.. Perera" as "Retired Teacher of Academy... Colpetty... Colombo." 2- These lines and the omission are Jeronis Pieris's. 3. As elsewhere dotted lines indicate undecipherable or torn sections. The length approximates to the portion missing. 4. "The desire for copulation for the sake of procreation is common to all animals and (also) a certain care of those that are procreated (thereby)". I am obliged to Dr. Merlin Peries for the clarification of the spelling and for the translation of the Latin saying.

At my years, and with my trifling fortune, a man with a little common sense, without philosophy, may be indifferent about

I am, Sir, Your faithful Servant J. P. Pray keep all this secret. J. P.

Letter No. 15

Kandy. April. 16 '55. Mr. Louis Pieris. GrandPass. Colombo.

My dear brother,

I am anxious to hear of your health & at the same time how you get on in your studies. What class do you now join at school ? Are you in the same class you were before, or are you in a higher? Try to be the head of your class.

Let me know, please, what lessons you learn in English, Latin, Arithmetic &c. Write to me fully respecting each.

How is Mr. Ch. Soysa, I have got for a long time. Will you ask him to when convenient.

I am in good health - and hope you wd. likewise enjoy that blessing -And that is the earnest desire of,

Your truly affectionate brother. Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 16 C. H. de Soysa Esq. Kandy July 28th 1855. My dear Charles,

I ought to have written to you before now, and I cannot but confess the failures of my correspondence but hope that your regard for me will incline you to excuse me on this occasion as on every other.

AD, 76

I recollect having read in the papers that Mr.Boake of the Colombo Academy has become a Tutor in the Bishop's College, if that is the case you should endeavour to get instructions from him as long as you can. He will surely be the best Tutor you could find in the Island.

I will be exceedingly glad to hear, if you will kindly inform me, the progress you have made in English and Laiin. Pray, what books in Latin do you read? Have you been in Morottoo for some time leaving your abode in the college rooms? In the last letter I received from my Sister on Thursday last she tells me that you are and have been in Morottoo for upwards of two months, you should not have been at home surely for such length of time but for sickness.

Although you were unwell for some time, I fancy you are now all right and that you will make haste to your college books.

A youngster by the name of Wright, a son of my friend Mr. Wright of the Peradenia Coffee Estates is sent to the College lately. He is, I think, a promising lad. You will please write to me about him when you do go to the college.

How is Louis? The letters he wrote to me lately are no better than those he did some time ago. I suppose he is an idle little fellow and cares very little about his books.

As a piece of news from this quarter, I am glad to tell you that I have planted the remainder of the Kadugannawe property belonging to your father — It wd. in time be an excellent coffee estate although the old plantation owing to its former mismanagement, is good for nothing.

The long continued drought has ruined most estates. Your father's Haragame property is suffering dreadfully and it has some effect on the Hangurankette also. But the crop there is now very nearly over.

We are all in good health.

Make haste to write to — dear Charles,

Yours affectionately, Jeronis Pieris

P.S. Please to make my compliments to Mr. Johannes Salgado and Mr. Marcellus Perera of Colpetty.

J. P.

1. See supra, p. 43. 77

Letter No. 17

Kandy. Sep. 23rd 1855

Mr. Louis Pieris, OrandPas s, Colombo.

My dear Louis,

1 had the favour of yours, and I am extremely obliged to you; you have as I see your with me in my desk, written to me twice or thrice ere this, for wh. I find no answer returned: therefore, pray Louis, let this from your dear brother be an acknowledgement of them all.

Your letter sent to me last was a little better than the one you have previously sent, but in no way satisfactory. This shows nothing else but that you take very little care about your improvements.

How glad wd. I be to peruse a letter from you fairly and carefully written, explaining to me all what you have learnt during the last half year. But, Sir, if you wd., ask for the aid of another in writing a letter, and put down his words on paper for me instead of your own, am I to understand that writing as yours. In fact such letters are not what I wd. wish to see; but rather your own.

Never ask a favour of that kind from your friends, altho' they are willing to help you; you may get your letters corrected by them, if you choose, but that_should be done after you have drawn the letter out yourself.

Be thankful for your friends who are desirous to see you well getting on.

May I tell you a plan for lengthening your letters to me and in writing them out better than what you generally do ? Get the letter written out at full length in Singhalese and then turn it word by word into English. Make a fair copy, see if there are any grammatical mistakes wh. you could correct and send me. This wd. be both learning to translate one language into the other and at the same time letter-writing.

You have forgotten to write to me about our dear mother. Is she quite well? Is (sic) our grandfather & Grandmother in good health? How did you forget to write to me about them ? You should be blamed for so doing.

We have had a fresh shower of rain all round last week and I hope we will get some more by and by. 78

Is there anything that I could do for you. If so — please inform me.

Hoping that your next letter wd. bring me better news about your learning.

I am dear Louis,

Your most affectionately, Jeronis Pier;s

P. S.. Mr. S. C. Perera wd. read this letter for you, if you cannot do it yourself — no time to write out one fairly, as then, I would be too late for the tappal.1

J.P.

Letter No. 18

[no date]

Mr. S. C. Perera, Colombo.

My dear Sir,

Enclosed is a letter to my brother Louis, you will please hand it over to him andassist him in reading it should he find it difficult.

I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you shall be so kind as to write to,

dear Sir,

Yours most obediently, Jeronis Pieris

P. S. Three bundles of hoop iron of the cost I have written to you last wd. answer me better than two.

J.P.

1. The post. 79

Letter No. 19

Sunday Evening. Kandy. Dec. 3rd 1855

Mr Simon Perera, Colombo.

My dear and much respected friend,

I think I am going to write a long letter to you as I took a whole sheet of paper to write on; and first of all it .becomes my duty to thank you for your letter, an interesting one indeed, to read wh. I found a great deal of pleasure, but let me assure you how unworthy I am, for the great interest which you take in my welfare.

Do not blame me, my dear friend, for the failure of my correspondence, and particularly in my non calling at your residence in Colombo (as I ought to have done) on my last visit to that place, nor writing to you previously to my leaving Kandy, as I often did, of my intention in paying a visit to my friends. But certain, I am, that you will not think me in any way un- mindful or beginning to forget friendship, when I tell you candidly that my last trip to Colombo was an unexpected one, and consequently did not allow me to stay there with convenience any longer than three days, wh. I did. I was called up there to settle some of our affairs.

It is sorrowful indeed, that so much of our time is necessarily to be spent upon the care(?) of living,' or at least we employ our time in that way, that we can seldom obtain ease(?) in one(?) respect but by assigning it in another, yet, I fancy, it is our business not to give up precious time, wh. will never return when it has once left us, solely to the pursuit of our wordly living but devote the most and best part of it in meditation on that state of life wh. is a far more pleasing and a happy one.

I wd. be exceedingly glad to hear, if you will inform me how you are getting on with your school. Do you expect any promotion? How is it that you complain of the falling condition of our old Academy. Is it owing to the absence of our worthy Mr. Boake, that laborious man, who, I may say, spares no pains towards the improvement of his pupils.

A great many of our school fellows who have left the Academy are now in this Dist; they are chiefly those of the orphan asylum. I have seen Atwell, Scoffield and some others to day. They often call in at the Godowns to pay me a visit when they come down from the coffee estates. Atwell is an assistant Superintendent of Veddihille Kadulla Estate. This was the place where our late friend Mr. Lister had been. It is about 12 or 13 miles from the town. • The coffee plantations in this district are now in a flourishing state. The last severe drought. wh. lasted here for upwards of three months, had such a severe effect on the trees that the crop

1. It could also be: "ease or Living." 80

wh. is now being gathered is but very little in comparison with the former one. T hope we may expect a heavy crop in the next which will compensate the short crop of this year.

Although the inhabitants of this province are improving inwealth,yet they are not changing their old nasty customs. A may marry, at least marry in "dega" as many women as he chooses. This is indeed a brutal practice. If the missionaries in this Province were a little more active in spreading the Gospel in the interior and endeavour to teach them Christianity, the natives will, no doubt, turn though gradually, a race of good and intelligent men.

I was told, I know not if that is the truth, that there was a certain individual in Hewahette who had sixty seven wives one after another.

I wish all of them living in this Prov. wd. soon turn Christians and avoid their brutal habits.

As a piece of news I could tell you that Sir George Ward intends to have a look at Mr. Tytler's Estates, where he is putting up a powerful and very expensive watering machine. This machine, very likely the first in operation in Ceylon, wd. very likely cost him several thousands of pounds — not pounds weight — but hard cash. Several thousands of pounds to be gathered with profit from the crop of our coffee estates!

The young man who brought me your note is sent up to Hungurankette (sic). I will not forget to write to you about him when I next hear from that place. I will very likely be up there myself after a week or two.

This Town and some parts of the interior are sickly at present. The fever and some other contageous (sic) distempers are rapidly increasing — we have not had sufficient quantity of rain this year.

I suppose I am beginning to tire you with my long letter and will therefore conclude it,

I wd. be very glad to hear from you if you will be so good as to write to,

Dear Simon,

Your faithful friend

J. P.

P.S. Pray did you see my brother Lewis lately. how is he getting on.

J. P. 81

Letters No. 20

Kandy. Dec. 22 1855,

Chs. de Soysa Esq. Morotto.

My dear Charles,

You have, as I am informed by my relations and friends, lost an excellent uncle, and one who is dear to you I am sure. He is a loss to us all, as well as to you. He was esteemed by all who knew him and many a Kandyan here wd. bemoan his death.

I read the letters of my friends in which the untimely end and his last funeral rites are mentioned, with sorrow, yea, I tell you, I read them with tears: but tears, Dear Charles, are of no further use to you or to me when once the tribute of nature has been paid.

You must keep in mind that we are all mortals, and consequently subject to death, and more so, we are ourselves miserable and helpless creatures.

I fancy, you have learned by this time, that death pays not the least regard to the convenience of mortals nor does he ever hear their supplications.

Therefore all what we could do is to ask the Almighty to grant us the aid of His Holy Spirit to strengthen us to bear all afflictions and that we may ourselves be finally prepared and not be in any way unfit to face death. Let our continual supplication to Him be this: "Lord make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am."

Remember the source from wh. we could derive all consolation is the Bible.

How beautifully does that holy Psalm the 39th read. Yea, how truly are we though in life yet in the midst of death,

Believe me my dear Charles,

Yours,

1. This letter occurs on a separate sheet of paper and is not part of the continuous series which the other letters form, t82

Letter No. 21.

Kandy. March 10 1856 (?)

C. H. de Soysa Esq. Colombo.

My dear Charles,

Do not blame me for not having written to you a letter or two during the last few weeks_ I not certainly have said why I have not done it.

You are not, I hope, in a position to complain of the want of rain now. It had been an universal complaint among you all ere this; had it not? We have had excellent rains here, the ground is well Moistened, the inhabitants in the Town, who had a sour face during the drought, look pleasant and in fact the country itself opens to us a new and a gay aspect.

That heavy shower which fell here on the 9th Inst. had somewhat injured our plantations at Kadugannawe. It was a regular downpour there for about an hour and a half and consequently washed away a great many young coffee trees in the Didoola Estate, especially those near the streams. These washings we could account, are partly owing to the soil in that portion of the estate being rather too steep and soft, being covered with a thick layer of decom- posed vegetable matter, and partly owing to the want of proper drains to convey the water from the high hills to the lower flat ground.

Although I had occasion to complain of the injury done to us by the rains, yet it would be better or in fact no injury at all when compared with the great profits we anticipate from those refreshing showers. I am glad to say that we expect a very heavy crop from the Kadu- gannnawe old plantations (there are a few blossoms on the new trees too). It is not rather unusual to see coffee plants seven month old begin to blossom.

Nothing would have caught the eye of the beholder much more strongly than the odoriferous snow-like blossoms of the coffee trees, which opened in a sudden as it were, all at once in the morning of the 9th Inst. A visitor who had been in this hilly country during the blossoming season of the coffee bushes would have hardly believed that these enchanting blossoms, if I may so call them were natural and not artificial.

This is rather rare. I should think the severe drought of the month of February, and the fine cool showers of March would account for it. I have never in my life witnessed more blossoms on coffee trees than in this year.

We might, I fancy, come across some difficulty in gathering our next crop should there be enough of rain for these crowded blossoms to come perfection. As the coffee will all at one time come their maturity, the estates would require more hands to pick the ripe berries than usual. 83

The trees of Hangurancutte (sic), I hear, are beautiful, although they have not had so heavy a blossom as those of Kaduganawe (sic).

This is the "Yalta" crop, that is blossoming at Hangurancatte (sic), but the "Maha" there will be a loaded one. I hope you are by this time aware of the distinction between "Yalla" and "Malta." The Yalta is gathered in September and October, whereas the Maha in the months of February and March. What do you hear of the plantations of your uncles round about Negombo. The price of Cinnamon is rising, that would do justice to our sweet-scented forests. What news about Mattagode? Do you expect a good sweet potato crop. Is your father going on with his coconut plantations up there. Would you not like to take a trip to hilly country during the midsummer vacation. Pray how many days are allowed for midsummer in the College- If you will let me know that you would wish to be up here during the holidays, I would lose no time to come down to Colombo to accompany you hither. How is Louis ? You write to me but very little about him. I have to complain over and over of your letters to me being very, very short. Do try and make them a little longer. Give a full detail about your village and about School, that will make a long letter and an extensive one of no doubt. Are you satisfied with the Polygar (?) I sent you. Do you want a better one. Is Mr. J. Salgado going on with his school as yet or is it discontinued? How is your friend Bastian Cooray?

During your idle hours do not forget yours Ever truly J. pieris

Letter No, 22

My dear Louis, Kandy. Ap. 22nd 1856.

I wish to hear from you about the health of our grand-mother &our mother as ourgrand- father is no more. Is our mother quite well? Tell her not to be very grievous as death pays not the least regard to the supplications of mortals; & because we must all die sooner or later.

I was glad to read your letter wh. tells me something about your school. I am not at all satisfied in your being the head of the fourth class as that is the last if not the 14 but one in the whole school. 84

Persevere in your efforts, get on step by step. It shows nothing else but your carelessness when I read that you continue so long in the fourth class. I fancy you are too lazy to study your daily tasks: if that were the case 1 do not think you could ever be a good English scholar. I wd. like to write a longer letter to you about your studies but as business calls me to leave it be satisfied with this short letter for the present.

I am by the God's help in perfect good health Give my Kind regards to Mr. S. C. Perera as well as to all other friends,

I am, dear Louis, Yours affectionately, Jeronis Pieris

Letter No. 23 Kandy. June 12th. 1856 My dear Sir,

In perusing yours of the 10th Instant I cannot but observe what a pleasure it is to feel the symptoms of approaching death to one who is prepared and ready to face it. How pleasing indeed it would be to lean on the bosom of our Saviour on our leaving this tenement of clay.

I am indeed grieved for you and tenderly sympathise with you in the affliction our heavenly Father has been pleased to exercise you with - But let me ask you, Dear Sir, that you would never murmur at any affliction you may have been visited with, although you may complain. Recollect that "All things work together for the good of those that love God."

I am rather pressed just now which prevents me from writing you a longer letter but permit me to conclude this short note with this interesting advice — And it is the best advice I could recommend as the nearest and the surest way to comfort.

Look unto Jesus our Saviour — through him direct your supplications. Trust in Him with all your heart. Cast upon himself on his all suffering sufficiency and he would surely give you all comfort.

When we thus see our dearest friends gliding away day by day before us, let us not forget that we are ourselves subject to that universal law of mortality and shall soon be where our doom will be fixed forever.

May God Almighty bless you and comfort you. I am yours truly, J. Pieris To. W. H. Wright Esq. 85

TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM JERONIS PIERIS TO HIS SISTER AND MOTHER September 18771

7th September, 1877 London.

Mrs. S. Soysa, Panadura.

Being a letter to my beloved mother and sister having asked for them the blessings of God,

I was glad to learn of your health. Richie and I are in good health here. We have been travelling for one and a half months. Even if one travels for five years it is possible to travel without seeing one area (property) twice. This is such a vast and excellent country. I never thought it would be such a large country with so many houses.

Although Richie would like to spend some more time here, I am bringing him along because I feel that this [ his staying on] might make him forget home altogether. If he so wishes, [ we] could send him [to England] again later. It doesn't look as if he is going to be a very clever person. But coming here hasn't done too much damage. Now he is a full-grown youth. He is in good health as well. He has learnt about this country and its men (people). If necessary he can get about by himself. One has to learn to get about in this country. It is very hard for someone [not used].

The food and drink are very different from ours.

For us to sail back to Colombo, we are getting the same ship in which we sailed here. We have given our names to it. I believe the ship will leave here by the beginning of next month - that is the 10th or a day or two this way or that way.

When we went to Scotland we met Mr. & Mrs. Robertson, who both were helpful. They inquired after you in considerable detail. If we were going to stay on [in Scotland], we could have stayed with the Robertsons for a week. But as we could not delay so long, we preferred not to stay.

It is not possible to imagine that there is anything more splendid to see than the lakes of Scotland. There are eleven lakes. About seven or eight are adjacent to each other. If one takes a steamboat and travels with speed (without stopping) one could sail across them in three days. If one were to stop here and there, the voyage would take eight days. On both sides of the lakes are houses, shops, churches, schools, estates, esplanades, vegetable gardens,

1. The letter was written on notepaper with a letter-head comprising his personal initials, "J. P." See photo- stat. His sister was Engeltina de Soysa, wife of Susew de Soysa. His signature was in English. Parenthesis indicate alternative meanings. Square brackets are extrapolations intended to bring out the sense better. 1 am grateful to Mr. H. L. Seneviratne for helping me to translate this letter. 86

harbours, wharves for the landing of goods, mansions of the wealthy—these are innumerable. It often rains in these lakes, almost incessantly. That country is very cold too. In summer people come to these areas. In winter, the rich go to other countries.

It is very hard to describe these [features]. It is hard to understand, [for] only those who have experienced them can do so.

Not even one tenth of the inhabitants of England would have seen these lakes. They do not go [to the Lake-country] because of the cost and the difficulties involved. But in summer no steamboat carries Iess of a passenger-load than four hundred. About ten large steamboats constantly sail up and down [the lakes]. You can imagine what the extent of the crowd is.

Hoping that all of you are living according to God's Providence

Affectionately, Jeron is Pieris 87

THE LETTER IN SINHALESE

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deeto0en, kronis Pieris APPENDICES

Appendix A

Select Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris Family

Appendix B

Genealogy of the Warusahannadige (De) Soysa Family

89 91

Appendix C

Jeronis Pieris's Cash Crop Plantation Properties as listed in Ferguson's Ceylon Directories, 1871-1891

I have not been able to ascertain the methods by which A. M. and J. Ferguson and their assistants collected their plantation statistics. There is every reason to think that they relied on data supplied by the proprietors and/or superintendents of estates (plantations). The absence of an income tax was no doubt helpful in that it did not create inhibitions which may have otherwise restricted or influenced such cooperation. The danger that one has to face is the opposite one of exaggerated figures.

Nevertheless it is evident that Ferguson's Ceylon Directories do not provide comprehensive statistics on the plantation properties in Ceylonese hands. The total acreage listed under such crops as coconut and cinnamon fall very far short of what is suggested by other sources. It is also clear that several members of the Ceylonese elite did not send in returns of their properties. Fortunately Jeronis Pieris did.

I cannot vouch for the comprehensiveness of the compilation presented in this Appendix. Human error in failing to spot his name in the lists supplied by the Directories cannot be dis- counted. Furthermore, the Directories were not always precise in their spelling of Ceylonese names nor consistent in the manner in which they named a single individual. Jeronis Pieris's properties are sometimes listed under J. Pieris; while the name "Pieris" is spelt in numerous ways. Since Pieris is a common name there is obviously room for error in compiling a table of ownership. It is possible that properties which belonged to another H. J. Pieris or J. Pieris (there was another notable entrepreneur named Henry Joseph Pieris) may have been entered in our compilation. Fortunately, the use of statistics at ten year intervals provided some degree of correction.

The following points must be kept in mind when consulting the statistics:

• In general the acreage figures must be treated as only near approximations. In the instance of coconut and cinnamon properties they were probably rough approximations. The statistics on coconut culture in Ceylon are notoriously unreliable.

• Most entries in the directory section on coconut plantations do not distinguish the extent cultivated and imply that the whole of the property was under coconut. This is probably incorrect in the majority of instances. In other words, the extent under column 9 (coconut) is exaggerated.

• Much the same comment applies to column 10 (cinnamon).

• Where coconut and cinnamon properties were included, column 7 on "Total Acreage Cultivated" would also be exaggerated. 92 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total Acre- Total Name of No. of Extent age Acreage Coco- Cinna- Rub- Year Estate Name of District Proper of Uncul- Culti- Coffee nut mon Tea ber ties Property tivated vated Arnbokka Matale West, CP — 900 490 410 410 — — — — Baddewella Alagala, CP — 530 304 226 226 — — -- - Kent Matale West, CP — 270 170 100 100 — — — — Macoolussa Matale West, CP — 410 125 285 285 — — — — Oyanwatta Hunnasgiriya, CP — 85 5 80 80 — — Rangalkelley Rangalla, CP 260 260 — — — — — _

1871-72 I 6 2455 1354 1101 1101 — — — — i Ilambalepitiya Colombo, WP — 14 — 14 — — 14 I — — Elbedde Dimbula, CP — 276 41 235 235 — — — — Hortensz Madampe, NWP — 200 — 200 — 200 — — — Illokagalla Alagala, CP — 170 120 50 50 — — — - Karukkua Madampe, NWP 59 — 59 — 59 — — — Katukande Henaratgoda, WP — 80 — 80 — 80 — — — Katukande Agara Henaratgoda, WP — 290 — 290 — 290 — — — Laboogolla Alagalla, CP 68 8 60 60 — — — — Malakaduwa Kurunegala, NWP, 431 331 100 — 100 — — -- Maturata New Maturata, CP. 276 100 176 176 — — — — Oyanwatte Hunnasgiriya, CP — 85 5 80 80 — — - Perth (Calupahene Watte) Panadura 800 — 800 — 800 — —

1880-81 12 2749 605 2144 601 1529 14 — —

Bambalepitiya Colombo, WP — 14 — 14 -- — 14 — — Dikkela Negombo, NWP — 75 — 75 — 75 — — — Elbedde Dimbula, CP — 276 1 275 — — — 1371 1371 Gregory Hill — 2000 120 1880 — 1880 — — — Hewanawatte Marawila, NWP — 135 — 135 — 135 — — — Hewanawatte Nattandiya, NWP — 40 10 30 — 30 — — — Hortensz Madampe, NWP 200 — 200 — 200 -- — — Illokgala Alagala, CP — 170 170 — — — — — — Kanikkus* Madampe, NW? — 400 — 400 — 400 — — — Laboogalle Alagala, CP — 68 68 — — — — — — Malkaduwa Kurunegala, NWP — 881 481 400 — 400 — — - Maturata New Maturata, CP — 276 — 276 — — — 176 100 Megampaha Oya Medamahanuwara, CP — 318 318 — — — — — — Mudurugama Gonawala, WP — 116 — 116 — 116 — — — Oyanwatta Hunnasgiriya, CP — 85a 85 — — — — — - Perth (Calupa henewatte) Panadura, WP — 800 — 800 800 — — - Raglan Kurunegala, NWP — 228 100 128 — 60 — 68 — Rockcane Kurunegala, NWP — 361 211 150 — 150 — — — Serapis Kegalle, Sab'wa — 100 — 100 — 100 — — —

1890-91 1 19 6543 11564 4979 4346 14 3811 2371 a. Abandoned. *. This may be the same property as that noted as "Karukkua" in 1880-81. 93

Appendix D

Translation of the Memorial Presented by the Kandyan Chiefs and People Calling for Reform of their Marriage Customs, late 18581

To His Excellency Henry George Ward Governor of Ceylon.

The memorial of the undersigned Chiefs and others of the Kandian Nation

Respectfully Sheweth,

That the memorialists being fully aware and feeling perfectly assured that the government of which your Excellency is the present head has the welfare and prosperity of the Memorialists at heart, and knowing that the rights and duties of the Memorialists are regulated and controll- ed by the Laws enacted by this Government, and feeling that it is the duty of the Memorialists from time to time, to bring to the notice of the Government the defects and imperfections of those laws whenever they are discovered, and felt to exist, humbly pray that the defective state of the Law of Marriages as respects the people of their nation, may be taken into the consideration of your Excellency and the two Councils.

(2) That at the period when these provinces were delivered over to the British Govern- ment, it was among other stipulations agreed that the Laws of the Kandyan Nation as regards their succession to real property and other rights continue inviolate, and accordingly the Courts of Law established by Her Majesty in these provinces, have in all cases, save those in [ which] special provision is made by the Legislature, conformed themselves to those Laws and Customs in adjudicating upon the rights and liabilities of the people, owing, however, to an altered con- stitution, the extension of education, the spread of commerce, and the change of people's manners, customs and mode of thinking thereby induced, new laws and usages have from time to time been introduced, and the beneficial change which has thereby resulted is a proof of the good that has thus been achieved.

(3) That of all the Kandyan customs or usages which are accepted or recognised by the constituted Courts of these provinces as laws, that relating to Marriage is a grievously wrong custom, and one exceedingly unsuited to the present state of the Memorialists. That custom, which has the force of law, sanctions not only a plurality of wives but of husbands, and although the contract of marriage is by most nations esteemed a highly important and solemn engagement, the prevalence of the former custom among the Kandians shows that by them it is held a ding of no consequence.

(4) That the religion of Buddha, which is the national faith of the Memorialists, prescribes no rules regarding marriage. Independently of the great difficulty experienced by the Courts

1. This translation was located in D. N. A. Cey., Lot 6/2436, Braybrooke (G. A. Kandy) to Col. Sec., 8 November 1851. 94 in these provinces in arriving at correct decisions in matters of fact brought before them, the source of much litigation, and the great barrier which now exists against a deceased person's rightful heirs succeeding to his Estate, can be traced to the lax state of the law of Marriage, and• all judges and magistrates conversant with the business of Kandyan Courts will bear ample testimony to the truth of this statement.

(5) That in numerous instances parents are reduced to poverty solely in consequence of their married daughters and their issue being thrown upon them for support and maintenance, and this, the Memorialists submit, is the clear result of the existing Law re- gulating the marriage contract among them, as there is nothing whatever to prevent the husbands of married daughters discarding their wives at any moment they choose and betaking themselves to other women in their stead.

The Memorialists therefore most humbly pray that inconsideration of these premises your Excellency may be graciously pleased to adopt some measures whether it be the establishment of marriage Registers or Thombos, or other efficacious regulations, whereby the causes of the present grievous state of things may be averted.

And the Memorialists, as in duty bound, shall ever pray- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED

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Abeyasinghe, T. B. 11. 12n., 15n., 17n., 14n., Berwick, Thomas, 31 n., 34, 34 n., achievemental orientation, 38-40, 72, 80; Beteille, Andre, 12 n. see also . Pieri S, 11. Jeronis beihma system of cultivation, 33 Adam's Peak, 47 Bhuvenalca Balm VI alias Sempahap Perumal, 14 Addison, 26, 67 Bible, 27, 81. • Agent hantuduruwo, 31 Blackwood's Magazine, 26 Alagakkonaras, 14 bloodpoisoning, 6 Alagalla estate, 42; Alagalla locality, 92 Boake, Revd. Barcroft, 8, 28-29, 76, 79 Almighty God, 27, 62, 63, 64, 73, 81, 84, 85 Book of Common Prayer, 27 Alutwatta estate, 40, 66-67 Boswell, 26, 63 Aluwihare family of Mamie, 44 botanical treasures, 67 Alwis, James, 3, 3n., 25, 26n., 28 Bottomore, T. B., 12 n. Amanapoora estate, 42 Bouchouwer, Marcellus, 15 Ambokka estate, I0, 92 Braybrooke, Philip, 29-32, 31 n. amunam, 41, 54. Britain, 8, 37, 38; also see England Ancien Regime, 15n., British, 3-4, 8, 16 n, 18, 20, 28, 28 n., 34, 35, 35 n, "ancient landmarks," 29 37, 38, 39, 54; early British times, 7, 20, 51 f; Anderson, Sir George, 29 opinion,28; judges, '35; settlers, 35; authorities, Andradi, W. M. D. D., 25n. 40 n.; coffee planters, 36; merchants, journalists, Anglican, 27; see Church of England travellers, 3-4; records, 1-2, 14; British Anglophile, 27, 37 administrative literature, 55; British rule, 18, Anglo-Saxon superiority, 32 39, 51; British ruling elite, 19, 22; British India animal power, see ploughing paddy fields 34; British Ceylon, 1, 18, 19, 22, 25, 28; British' Anthonis Pieris Goonevarnasuriya Patterbadi Hann- Commissioner, 38; Britishness, 27; British adige, 6 Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, 44 Antonio Barrett), 14n., 15 Brougham, 26 appointments to the administration, 13, 13n., 17, Buddha and Buddhist, 73 25-26, 38. buffaloes, 49-56;. 72; in paddy cultivation, 49-56, Arasaratnarn, S., 16n. 72; buffalo population, 50, 51, 53, 54; distinc- aristocracy, 13-18; also see elites, Kandyan Sin- tion between buffaloes and neat cattle, 54-55; - halese, chiefs and headmen hiring buffaloes, 49, 54, 55; herds of, 50, 51, 54 Arithmetic, 75 Buller, Mr. (C. R.), 64 Arittakeevendu Perumal, 14 bullock carts, 5, 55, 70 Arrack Godowns, Kandy, 8, 40, 64, 71, 79 bullocks, 55, 55 n. 72 arrack renters, 23n., 41-42, 64, 68 Burghers, 25, 25 n., 26, 28 n., Burgher elite, 25 arrack rents, 8-9, 41-43, 68 business enterprise, 5-10, 23 n., 39-43, 70, 78 Arunachalam, Sir Ponnambalam 3 ascription in elite formation, 12-18 Calcutta, 6 n. Asiatic communism, 34 Cameron, C. H., 4 n., 39 attan labour services, 33 Cameron, Julia Margaret, 4 n. Attygalle, D. C. G., 19 Canada, 4 n. Atwell, 79 capital, supply of, 23, 38, 39, 41, 72, 80 autobiographies, 3-4 Capper, John, 41 n., 44 carpenters, 37 n. Babasingho Vedarala, 40; see Babasingho Jeronis cart licenses, 55 n. de Soysa cart loads, 70 Baddewella estate, 92 caste system and castes, 12-14, 17, 17 n., 21-22, Badulla, 29, 36, 40 n., 52 n. 38; caste loyalties and rivalries, 25-26; caste Bailey, John, 18 headmen, 17 n. Baker, Samuel W., 44 Catholic, 6, 27 Balangode Siddharta Unnanse thero, 30 cattle, 49--56, 55 n., in paddy cultivation, 49-56, Baldeaus, P., 15 n., cattle population. 49-56, 51 n., scarcity of Bambelepitiya (sk) estate, 92 cattle, 49 f.; neat cattle 53, 54-55; degeneration Bandaranaike, Solomon Dias, 1 of, 50-51; taralam cattle, 55; import of cattle, banking firms,,8-9, 43 55 n.; cattle disease, 49, 53 Barnes, Sir Edward, 39 Cattle Disease Commission, 51, 53, 55 n. Bastiampillai, Bertram. 4 n. cattle murrain, see rinderpest Bastian, C. Don, 5 n., 20 Caulfield, 29 n. Bastiankoralage Rodrigos of Henclata-Pamunugama, Central Highlands, 36n., 49 f., see Kandyan Highlands 20 Central Province, 9, 36, 36 n., 40, 42, 50, 52-53, Bastin, John, 18 n.. 55 n., 92 Behrens, C. B. A., 15 n. Ceylon Blue Books, 50

101 102

Ceylon Civil Service, 26 n., 38; civil servants 31 n.; Department of National Archives, 1, 2 n. also see administrators Deraniyagala, Ralph St. L., 4 n. Ceylonese, 3-4, 19, 25, 25 n., 27, 28, 37; banks, de Saram, A. J., 26 n. 8-9; elites, 18 f., 22-23, 37-39; planters de Saram, Christoffel H., 26 n. 22 n.; society, 37; schoolboys, 25, 27 de Saram, David Ernest, 26 n. Ceylon Rothschilds, 41 n. de Saram, F. J,, 26 n. Ceylon Social Reform Society, 22 n. de Saram, John A. Henry, 26 n. chain reaction hypothesis, 49-56 de Saram letters, 3 Chapman, James, 26 n. de Saran's, 19, 25 Cheltenham, 1I de Seixas, Lancarote, 15 chena, 44-45, 46, 54 de Silva, Catherine, 23 Chief Justice, 30-31 de Silva, C. R., 12 n., 14 n., 15 n., 21 n., 22 n., chiefs and headmen, 13, 13 n., 16-18, 29 f., 38, de Silva, D, S., 26 n. 53-54; British policy of reducing their powers, de Silva, G. A., 26 n. 18; deputation of Kandyan Chiefs, 29, 32, 34, de Silva, G. P. S. H. (Haris), 2 n., 3n. audience with the Governor in 1834, 53 de Silva, Revd. John Simon, 4 Chilaw, 2 n., 27 n. de Silva, K. M., 2 n., 28 n., 29 n., 48 n., 51 n. Chiswick Collegiate School, 11 de Silva, Lindemullege Jusey, 9, 23 n. Christianity and Christians, 27, 28, 29, 39, 72, 80 de Silva, Miss Mane!, 10 a., 42 n. Church of England, 27 de Silva, M. U., 2 n. cinnamon, 10, 20, 40, 42, 83, 91-92 de Silva, Pedroe, 19 civilizing mission, 32 de Silva, S. B. D., 49 f., 49 n. class, 22, 23 n.; capitalist class, 22, 23 n.; class homo- de Silva, Srian and Ratna, 4 n. geneity, 22; class heterogeneity, 22 de Silva Gunaratne, Dandris, 19 Clough, Revd. Benjamin, 21 de Soysa, A. C. H., 9 n. coconut, 9-I0, 20, 36, 40, 42, 54, 83, 91-92 de Soysa, Babasingho Jeronis. 7, 8, 8 n., 9, 11 n., Coergu (?), 7, 70 23, 37 n., 40-43. 68, 76, 83 coffee and coffee plantations, 8-10. 20, 22, 35, de Soysa, brothers, 7-10, 23, 40-43; managers 36, 40-43, 48 n., 50-52, 63-64, 76, 79-80 of their plantations, 8, 42; plantations, 40-.43 82, 91-92; extent of coffee land, 51; European 73, 79-80; business ventures, 8-9, 40-43, methods of cultivation, 36; native coffee36,41,42n : 65. elevation of coffee gardens, 45-48, 48 n; the de Soysa, Charles Henry, 9, 11 n., 23, 23 n., coffee depression of the 1870's & 1880's, 10,43 24, 26-27, 37 n., 42-43, 42 n., 58 f. Colebrooke, Lt. CoI. W. M. G. (i.e. William), 38-39 de Soysa, E. L. F. Snr., 11, 11 n. Colebrooke's objectives, 38 f. de Soysa, H., 43 n; see Harmanis Soysa Colombo, 2, 5, 7, 8, 8 n., 9, 39, 49, 52, 56, 61, 62 f de Soysa, Jeronis, see Babasingho Jeronis de Colombo Academy, 7-8, 23 n., 24, 25 n., 29, 3.7, Soysa, 43, 73 n., 74, 76, 79 de Soysa, "Modliar", 42 n; see Babasingho Colombo District, 1, 20 n., 40 Jeronis de Soysa Colonial Office, 30 de Soysa, Susew, 7-9, 9 n., 23, 40-43 Colpetty, 74, 76 de Soysa, Warusahannadige, 5, 7-8, 10, compulsory services, 18 21, 23, 40-43, 81; from Panadura and Moratuwa, contiguity of plantations and paddy fields, 45 f. 5; Devinuwara connection, 6 n; relationship contractors, 41-42, also see trade to the Hannadige Pieris family, 5, 8-9; relation- contractual relations, 18, 35 ship to Harmanis Soysa's family, 9, 9 n. Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar, 3, 19 de Soysa, Warusahannadige Bastian, 5 Coomaraswamy, Sir Muttu, 3 n., 4 de Soysa, Warusahannadige Joseph, 5, 5 n., Coomaraswamy, P., 3 n., '7, 9 n. Cooray, Bastian, 42, 83 de Soysa, 7-9, 21, 40-43 Cotta, 25-26 de Soysa Charitaya, 5, 5 n., 7 n., 41 a. Cotta Missionary School, 25-26 Devinuwara temple, 6 n. Cowasjie, Eduljie, 9 n. Dewaraja, Mrs. Lorna, 13 n. Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance or Ordi- de Zilva, 26 n. nance no. 12 of 1840., 44-45, 49; also see land Dharmapala, Anagarika, 3 n., 33 n. sales Dias, 'Harry," 26 Cuylenberg, 65 Dias, J. C., 26 n. Dias, Ponnahannadige Manuel of Panadura, 23 n. Dalada Maligawa, 6, 6 n. Dias Abeyesinghe, Nicholas, 26 David, Kenneth A., 21 n. Dias Abeyesinghe, Rowland H. 4 n. de Abrew, E., 26 n. Dias Abeyesinghes of Galle, 17 de Abrew Rajapakses of Welitara, 19 Didoola (Didula) estate, 40, 82 de Alwis, Albert, 26 differential erosion, 52 de Alwis, Hendrick ("Harry"), 41 Digby, William, 3, 4 n., 26, 29 n., 30 n., 31 n., 32 n. de Fonseka, Major E. C„ 23 n. Dikkela estate, 92 Dehiwala, 20 n. Dimbula, 92 de Livera, Frederick, 25 disavas, 13 de Liveras, 19 Divitotavila Ratemahattnava, 51 n. de Mel, Francisco of Moratuwa, 19, 23 n. Diyatilakakanda, 41-42, 66 de Mel, Jacob, 4, I 1 n. Diyatitaka Korale, 41, 66 n. 103

Dodanduwa, 3 n., 20n. Fernando, Wannacuwattewaduge Andris, 23n. Dorn begaswat t a , 6 Fernando, W. J., 23 n. Dornhorst, Frederick, 3 Fernando, Sri Chandrasekera, Simon, 23 n. draught animals, 49-56, 69; hire of, 49, 54 ;exposure Fonseka, Bastian 42 to weather, 50 forest, 1,44-45, 64, 48 n., 51, 66-67, Dry Zone, 49, 52 Forrest, D. M., 43 n., 46 n. Dumbara, 40 n. fortunes of war, 14, 15 Duncan, A. H. 36 n. France, 15 Dunuwille, James Alexander, 25-26, 32 n., 36 freehold rights in the land, 18, 33, 34, 35 Dunuwilles of Kandy, 19 Frykenberg, Robert Eric, 2 n., 12 n., 57 n. durava, 21-22 the Dutch, 6, 16-18 gabadagam, 54 Galagoda Basnaike Nilame, 36 Earl of Halsbury MSS, 4 n. Galle, 2 n., 4 n., 17 the Edinburgh Review, 26 Carnage, M., 30 n. educated classes, 3, 37-39 gardens, 36, 54 Eknelligodas of Sabaragamuwa, 19 gems, 20 Elbedde estate, 10, 92 ge name, 5 elevation of coffee plantations, 45--48, 48 n. gentlemen, 13, 13 n., 27; Sinhalese gentleman, 36 elites, 12 f., I SE, 33, 35, 38-39 ; Gibson, W. C., 29 n. traditional elites, 12f., 20, 54; Gonawela estate, 92 recruitment into, 14-15, 18-19., Goodlands estate, 42, 42 n. value-system of the traditional elite, 15, 17-18; Gooneratne, Edmund Rowland, 4, 41 n. elites in the 19th century, 18 f;.avenues of elite Gooneratne, Yasmine, 24 n., 25 n., 26, 27, 28, 37 formation, 1$-19; national elite, 19 f., Goonewardena, K. W., 2 n., 16 n. 22-23, 33, 39; local elite, 19 I; Burgher elite, Gospel, 80 26-27; collaborating elites, 35, 38-39; Government Agent, Kandy & Central Province Kandyan elite, see Kandyan Sinhalese 29-31, 50, 53 Ellu, 70. goyigarna, 13, 17, 17 n., 22, 25, 26., 54 Elscourt, 1 I Graham, Mr. & Mrs., 4 .n emancipation from cultivation of the soil, 20-21 Grandpass, 5, 6, 9 n., 19, 40, 61f. England, 8, 9, 11, 18 n, 85-86 Greek Testament, 6 English education, 19, 23;24 1., 37-39,591., English Gregory MSS, 4 language, 10, 23 n., 24-25, 32, 35, 38-39, 62, Gregory, Major Richard, 4 n. 65, 69, 72, 77, 84; English poetry, 69; competition Gregory, Sir William, 4 n. for jobs, 25-26; English tutor, 23 n.; English Gregory Hill estate, 92 style teas, 37; influence of the English legal Greig, Miss Mary, 4 n. system, 34-35 Grenier, Sir Samuel, 4 n. entrepreneurs, 4, 5, 7-9, 23, 23 n., 40-43 Gunaratne, Dandris de Silva, 19 entrepreneurship, 9, 37, 39-43 Gunasekera, U. Alex, 33 n. estate population, 50 Gunasekera, U. D. S., 23 n. estates, see plantations Europeans, and Europeans 10, 36, 36 n.. 38; Halangode, J. A., 3 n. 13 n., 25 n. European society in Ceylon, 33; European Hanguranketa, 8, 40--:13, 51, 66, 67, 73, 76, 80 capital and capitalists. 38: European example Hannadige, 7 n. 36, 38; European civilization, 93; European Hannadige Pieris family, 5-II; see also Pieris witnesses, 44; European planters, 22 n., 43 & Pieris, Hannadige Jeronis Evangelical influences, 28, 29, 69, 80 Hantane, 48 The Examiner, Haputale, 43 29 Haragama estate, 8. 40. 41. 42, n., 76 expropriation of peasant land, 44-45, 49-50 Harispattuwa, 40 n. Fairholme letters, 4 n. Hartwell .Papers, 4 n. Fairhohne, William, 4 n., 44 Hatelle estate, 42 Farmer, B. H., 45, 45 n. headmen system, 19-18, 17n,. 20-21, 26 n., 38; Ferguson, A. M., 32 also see chiefs and headmen Ferguson, A. M. & J., 91 Henaratgoda locality, 92 Ferguson, W., 51 n. Hendala-Pamuntigama, 20 the Fergusons, 10 n., 28, 51 n. henlekammiti, 1 n., 13 n. Ferguson's Ceylon Directories, 2, 9, 36, 42, 42 II., Hettigedera Ranhamy, 26 n. 43, 55 n., 91-92 Hewaheta, 4, 42 Fernando, Hettiakandage Bastian, 23 n. diewanawatta estate, 92 F,ernando, Mrs. M. A., 23 n. Hewavitarana, Buddhadasa, 49 1., 49 n. Fernando, P. B., 9 n., 43 n. Hikkaduwa, 6 Fernando. P. T. M., 12 n., 20 n. hilekamnriii, I n., 13 n. Fernando, Sellaperumage, 43 hillcountry, favourable locality, 73 Fernando, Sellaperumage Welmina (later Mrs. hillcountry scenery, 44, f., 66- 67 H. Jeronis Pieris), 7 Hindu, 6, 6 n., 14 Fernando, Shelton C., 27 n., 43 n. Hinidum Pattu, 20 Fernando, S. C., & Brothers, 43 n. Her Majesty's Anniversary, 37. 68, 69 104

Holy Emmanuel Church, 10 n. Kandyan Sinhalese, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28-36, 44, Holy Spirit, 27, 28 49, 59, 72, 80, 93-94; Kandyan people, Homagama, 40 29-32, 31 n., Kandyan elite, 18, 29-36; Hortenz estate, 92 headmen, 13, 13 n., 29, 53; farmers and paddy House of Commons. 1, 44 cultivators, 54, 72; agricultural practices, 49- Hunasgiriya, 42 n., 48, 92 56, 72; system of tenure, 33 n., 33-34; village economy, 44, 49-56; village, 45; society, 33, Iddamalgodas of Sabaragirouwa, 19 51; women, 72; sculpture, 73; litigation, 32, Ilangakoons of Weligama, 19 34; families, 20, 25 n., 44; Kandyan law, 34-35 Illokgalla estate, 92 Kandy District, 4, 29, 41, 43, 52, 55, 55 n. Illustrated London News, 26 Kanikkus estate, 92 India or Indian, 6-7, 14 f., 21, 26, 34-35, 38; Kannangara, - P. D., 18 , South Indian, 14, 21; North Indian, 6; Indian kapurala, 6; also see Malhamy origins, 6 Karagarnpitiya. 20 n. indigenous officials, 15-16 kara-goi conflict, 22 individualism, 33, 36; also see traditional socio- karava, 6, 21-23, 21 n., 26, 28 n. economic relations Karukkua estate, 92 insurrection of 1797-98, 18 Katukande Agara estate, 92 irrigation works, 49 Katukande estate, 92 Iyer, Raghavan, 38 n. Kegalle District 6 n., 52, 92 Kehatepatna estate, 42 n. James, John, 42 Kelegama, J. B., 44 n. Jayasinghe, K. H., 22 n. Keller, Suzanne, 12 n. Jayasuriya, Mrs. Boyd (nee Francesca Pioris), 5-6 Kent estate, 10 8 n., 9 n. Kessinger; Tom, 57 a. Jayatilleke, Frederick, 25, 26 n. King of Kandy, 6-7 Jayatilleke, John Graham, 25, 26 n. Kingdom of Kotte, 14 f., 14 n. Jayatilleke, W., 26 n. Kingdom of Sitawaka, 14 1., 14 n. Jayawardena, Lal, 1, 1 n. Kirimatiyawatte, 66 n. Jayawardene, Gustavus, 5 n., 6 n., 10 n. Kirimetiya estate, 40, 41, 66 n. Jayaweera Bandara, C. D. R. B., 20 n. Kirivalla, 14 Jayawardene, Don Adrian of Grandpass, 19 Kirti Sri Rajasing,he, 6-7 Jesus, the Saviour, 84 Knighton, W., 44 Johnson, Samuel, 26, 67, 70; Life of Johnson, 26, 63 Knox, Robert, 13, 13n., 14, 52, 52 n., 54 Julia Margaret Cameron MSS, 4 it Kosgahakumbure Korale, 51 n. Kotelawele, D. A., 16 Kadirgamar, Sam J. C., 4 n. Kotte, 19 Kadugannawa, 8, 42, 76, 82 Kottle estate, 40 Kaguwela, 36 kshatriya, 6 Kaleel, Miss R., 10 n., 42 n. Kumar, Dharma, 2 n., 57 n. Kallibokka, 4 - Kumar, Ravinder, 2 n., 35 n., 38 n. Kalupahenewatte estate, 92 Kuragalla estate, 42 Kalutara, 2 n. Kurunegala, 29, 92 Kanapathypillai, V., 12 n., 16 n., 17 n., 21 n. Kanatte, 7 n. Laboogolla estate, 92 Kandian Nation, 93 Labrooy, W. J. F., 12 n., 29 n., 32 n., Kandy, 5, 8, 9, 17, 19, 29, 36, 36 n., 40, 40 n., 42 n., Lakriviklrana, 7 n., 9, 9 n., 27 a. 43, 47, 52 n., 62 f. land grants and land sales, 1, 20 n., 21 n., 36, 36 a., Kandy-Colombo Road, 52 ' 45, 50, 66 n., Kandyan chiefs, 13, 29-30, 32-34; deputations landlessness, 44-45 of Kandyan chiefs, 29, 32, 34; memorial from, large landholdings, 10, 15, 20, 36, 42, 91-92 29, 93-94; audience with the Governor in Latin, 74, 75, 76 1834, 53-54 Lawrie, A. C., 2, 20 n., 36 n., 44, 44 n. Kandyan Highlands, 9, 41, 42, 44 f., 49-56 Layard, C. P., 29 a. "Kandyan Inhabitant of the middle class," 54 Lee, George, 4 n. Kandyan Kingdom, 6, 13 f., 17 n., 52, 54 legal profession, 19, 25 Kandyan marriages, 28 f., 34, 69, 77, 93-94; reform Legislative Council, 1, 2, 2 n., 3 n., 30, 44 n. of, 29 f., 93-94; Ordinance no. 14 of 1858, 30; lekanvniti, 1 n., 13 n., 56 Ordinance no. 13 of 1859, 31; Ordinance no. 3 Le Mesurier, C. J. R., 17 a. of 1870, 31; degree of support for reform, Lewis, R. E., 53-55, 55 n. 29-32; defects in the 1859 Ordinance, 31; Liberal programme, 34-35, 38 motives of the Kandyan reformists, 32-36, Lister, Mr., 79 93-94 litigation, 32-34 Kandyan Period, 12-15, 12 n. local influence, 20-21 Kandyan Provinces, I n., 13 n., 17 n., 18, 20, 36-37, London, 1-2, 19, 24 n., 85, 87 41, 68 n., Kandyan country or areas, 28, 44-48, Loolecondera estate, 46-47 73; also see Central Province, Central Highlands, Lorenz, C. A., 29 n., 30 n. Kandy District and Kandyan Highlands Low-Country Sinhalese, 13 n., 17-18, 21, 23; Kandyan rebellion of 1817-18, 18, 20 traditional rituals, 22; elite, 18; caste groups, 21 105

Lower Hewaheta, 36, 40, 40 n., 43, 52 Nanytamby, E., 9 n. Ludovici, Leopold, 3 n., Naranghena estate, 43, 46 -47, 63 Ludowyk, F. C., 21 n. native coffee, see coffee native products, 48 n. Macauley, U, 38 n. Nattandiya locality, 92 Mackenzie, Stewart, 35 Navulle Dhammananda, 4 n. • Macoolussa estate, 10, 92 Negapatam, 6 n. Madampe, 92 Negombo, 40, 83, 92 "Mafia Brahma" 73 Nell family, 19 Mahaweli river, 40 Nevill, Hugh, 3 n. Mailapitiya, 36 Newatenne estate, 4 Malakaduwa estate, 92 nikkan labour services, 33 Malaya, 16 n. nindagam, 13 n. Malay ruling class, 16 n. Norman MSS, 4 n. Malhamy Kapuwa, 6 North Ceylon, 14 manpower, see ploughing paddy fields, North Western Province, 82 manual labour, 13, 13 n., 20-21, 37 Nuwara Eliya, 29, 40 a., 47, 52. n., 74 Maradana, 27 n. Nuwarakalawiya, 29 Marambe, A. J. W., 14 n. Marawila, 92 Obeyesekere, D. J. F. W.. 26, 26 n. Marigold estate, 42 Obeyesekere, Gananath, 5 n., 13 n., 19 n., 20, 33 a. Mario Anthony, 6 n. Obeyesekeres of Talpe Pattu and Veyangoda, 19 Maritime Ceylon, 15-17 Olcott, Col., 3 n. maritime districts, 15-17, 18, 36, 43 Ooru Valle Road, 6 Maritime Provinces, 18 oral traditions, 5-7, 9 n., 11, 21, 43 n., 44 market society, 18, 34-36, 38-39 Ordinance, see Kandyan Mart iage Ordinance and marriage alliances, 19, 23 Waste Lands Ordinance marriage practices of the Kandyans, 28-36, 72, Ordinance no. 6 of 1847, 30 n. 80, 93-94; cligai 80 Oriental scholars, 3 n. Marsh, Revd. Joseph, 8, 25 n. Oyanwatte estate, 92 Martensz, 43 paddeittalewan, 14 maruvena nilakarayo, 54 n. paddy land or paddy cultivation, 21, 39, 46-47, Marxian, 22, 34 48, 49-56, 72; use of draught animals to plough, Matale, 29, 52 n. 49-56, 72; use of the hoe to plough, 49, 72; Matale District, 44, 92 forms of paddy cultivation among the Kandyans, Matale South, 36 39, 49-56,72: weeding paddy fields (nelanawa), Matara, 6 n. 39, 72; irrigation of paddy fields, 39, 72; bad Mattagoda estate, 40, 83 harvests due to rain, 72; transplanting, 72 Maturata, 10, 42, 71, 92 Panabokke, P.B., 3 a., 25 n., 44 n. Medamahanuwara, 92 Panabokke, Tikiri Banda, 3, 13 n., 17 n., 25, 26 Meek, C. K., 35 n. Panabokkes of Udapalata, 19 Megampaha Oya, 92 Panadura, 5-7, 9 n., 23 n., 85, 87, 92 Mendis, Francis James, 11 Paranagarria Mudlyanse, 26 n. Mendis, G. C., 18 n., 21 n., Paranavidana, Mrs. Ellen, 6 n. Mendis, Revd. J. G. C., 11 n. paraveni nilakarayo, 54 mercenary warriors, 6, 14 paraveni (prareni) possession, 33 Merivale, Herman, 30 n. parrah, 54 Metcalf, Thomas, 2 n. Passe, 6 n. Methodist missionary, 24 pasture land 44, 49, 50; circumscribed pasture land, Michael, W. Don. 44 a. 49-52. Mill, James, 34-35, 35 a. peasantry, 44-48, 50; peasant landlessness and Mills, C. Wright, 12 n. impoverishment, 44-45; peasant population, Mills, Lennox A., 18 a. 45, 50 modern nationalism, 23 Peebles, Patrick, 20 n., 21 n., 36 n., 41 n. money economy, 18, 36 n., 33, 34 n. Peiris, Charles, 11 moral and intellectual improvement, 38 Peiris, James, 4, 22 n. Moratuwa, 5, 7, 10 a., 19, 23, 28 n., 37, 41 a., pelantiya, 19-20 42 n., 49, 61, 62 f. peneplains, see differential erosion Morgan, Sir Richard F., 3 n., 4, 4n., 19, 26 n., 29 0, Peradeniya estate, 43, 76 30 n., 31 Pereira, D., 42 "motive machinery," 31 n. Perera, F., 42 'Mudurugama estate, 92 Perera, Hemendra Sepala, 20 Muslims, 6 n. Perera, J. A., 19 Mutwal, 70 Perera, J. G. J. C., 26 n. Perera, Louis, 42 Nadaraja, Prof. T., 3 n., 4 n. Perera, Marcellus 40, 61, 74-75, 76 Nagalagam Street, Grandpass, 5 Perera, M., 26 n. Nagore, 6 n. Perera, Simon, 39, 61, 73 73 n. 79- 80 malluruwa, 5. Perera, S. C., 40, 61,64, 68, 70, 78,84 106

Peries, Merlin, 74 n. policy-formulation, 1-2, 57 Perth estate, 92 policy-impact, 2 57 Pieris, Annie, 11 policy-implementation, 2, 57 Pieris, Ardris (i.e. H. Hendrick Jnr.), 5-9 polyandry, see marriage practices of Kandyans Pieris brothers, 8 n. Ponnambalam Mudaliyar, 3 Pieris, Caroline Francisca (Mrs. Jeronis Pieris nee Portuguese, 14 n., 14 f. de Soysa), 10-11, 40 postal service, 71, 78 Pieris, Caroline Lucille, 11 pre-British times, 16-17, 51, 55 Pieris, Emily Hortensz, II pre-plantation period, 51 f. Pieris, Engeltina, 7, 11, n., 85-87 press-copying machine, 4 Pieris, Mrs. Francesca, 5 private land market, 44-45, 50 Pieris, Francisca, 5 Protestantism, 25 Pieris, George Theobald, 11 Psalms, 27, 91 Pieris, Hannadige Daniel 5 publications to diffuse knowledge, 38 Pieris, Hannadige Hendrick Snr. 5-.-6 Pieris, Hannadige Hendrick Jar., 5-6 7 n. radala, pl. radolan, 13-14 Pieris, Hannadige Jeronis, 5 f., 22-23, 24-.28, Raghavan, M. D., 6 n. 36, 37..-43, 49, 51, 52-54, 57, 61 f., his educa- Raglan estate, 92 tion, 7-8, his career, 7-11, 22-23; his mother Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka, 14, 16-17 7, 11, 69, 83, 85-87; his grandparents, 27, Rarnanathan, Sir Ponnambalam, 3 77, 83; his children, 11, 85; his schoolfellows, the Rambler, 26, 67, 70 76; last wilt, 11; injury to arm, 62; urban pro- Ramboda Pass, 48 perties, 9, 27 n; his plantations, 9-10, 91-92; Rambukkana, 20 n. arrack rents, 9, 68; his trading interests, 7, Ranasinghe, V. 0., 42 n. 8-10, 68, 70, 78; mercantile firm, 9; banking Rangalkelley estate, 92 house, 8-9, 9 n; hill-trek, 66-67; visit to Ratmateya estate, 40, 63. see Kirimetiya U. K. and travels in Scotland, 85-87; on rebellion of 1848, 29 friends and friendship, 43-44, 79, 81, 84; redemption of the paddy tax, 36 n attitude to death, 27, 81, 83-84; material goods regional differentiation, 52 and wellbeing,27; emphasis on study and learn- regression in technology, 49 ing, 24-25,62-65,69--70,72,75-76, 78; schools Rhys-Davids, T. W., 3 n., 50-51 and schooling, 24-25, 26, 62-65, 69, 70, 72, rinderpest, 49, 53 75-76, 83-84, books; 26-27, 63-64, 67-70, road and railway connections, 55 75-76; correctness in penmanship, 24, 69, 72, Roberts, Michael, 2 n., 20 n., 21 n., 22 n., 23 n... 77; Anglo-phile and Western orientations, 36 n., 48 n., 51 n., 52 n., 24-28, 37-39, 62 f; emphasis on industry, Robertson, Mr. & Mrs., 85, 87 24-25, 39, 40, 62-64, 72,84; gathering capital, Robinson, Marguerite, 33 n. 39, 69, 73, 81, 79-80, 82-83; achievemental Rockcane estate, 92 attitudes, 24-25, 39-40, 69, 76, 80; relation- Rodiya, 73 ship with the de Soysa brothers, 8-9, 76, 81, Roff, William, 16 n. 83; admiration for Boake, 28, 79; attitude Rogers, Frederic (Lord Blachford), 30 n. towards Kandyan marriage practices, 28, 69, Roman-Dutch law, 35 80; on marriage, 39-40, 73-75; religion, Roosrnale-Cocq, A. H., 4 n. 27, see also Almighty God Rowe, W. C. (Chief Justice), 30 n., 31 Pieris, Harold, 9 n Royal College, 26 n. Pieris, Harry, 7 n., 8 n, rubber, 10-11, 91-92 Pieris, Mrs' Hendrick Jnr., 7 n. rural population, 50 Pieris, Henry A., 7 n., 11 Russell, H. S. 0., 50, 50 n., 55 Pieris, H. J. letters, 7 Rutnam, James T., 3 n Pieris, Lambert Louis, 11 Ryan, Bryce, 21 n. Pieris, Lankeswara S. D., 37 n. Pieris, Louis, 7, 9, 24, 26, 27, 37, 43, 61, 64, 65, Sabaragamuwa, 19, 52 n., 53, 55 68-72, 75, 77-78, 80, 83-84 St Thomas' College, 26 n., 37 Pieris, L. C. de S., 5, 6 n. satagama, 21-22 Pieris, L. D. Asoka, 5, 6 n. Salgado, Johannes, 58, 68, 76, 83 L. E 0, -37 n. Salgado, J., 83 Pieris, L. H. S., 37 n. Samaranayake, 6 PieriS, Marcus, 5, 7 n., 9 n. Samaraweera, Vijaya, 12 n., 17 n., Pieris, P. E., 3 n., 4 n., 26 n., 41 n., Sannadhige, 7 n. Pieris, Ralph, 2, 12 n., 13 n., 14, 15n., 17 n., 28 n., San Sebastian (in Colombo), 8 33 n., 35 n., 44 n. Sanskrit, 73 Pieris, Richard Steuart, 10 n., II, 85-87 Santiago, 6 n. Pieris will case, 11 Sarkar and Tambiah, 44 n., 45 n. pioneer rubber planter, 10 Saunders, Frank, 31 n. plantations, 8-10, 36, 41-42, 44-48, 49, 66-.67, Savory Mootoo, 6 n., 66 n., 76, 79, 82, 91-92 schoolmasters, 17 n. ploughing paddy fields, 49-51; animal power in. Schreuder (Governor). 17 49-56; use of manure, 49 Scoffield,79 plumbago, 1, 20; mineowners, 23 n. scorched earth policy, 52 107

Scriptures, 27 Talpe Pattu, 19 Seenigama, 6 Tambiah, S. J., 28 it self-sufficient village communities, 34-35, 35 rt. Tamils, 14, 18, 21, 37; Tamil traditional elite. Senanayake, Don Spates, 23 n. 18; Ceylon Tamils, 21 Senarat, 15 Tangalle, 2 n. Senarat Mudalige Pereras, 19 the Tatler, 26, 68 Seneviratne, A. C., 3 n. Taylor, James, 4 n., 43 n., 44 f; James Taylor Seneviratne, H. 9,L.6 n., 85 n. MSS, 4 n. Serapis estate, 2 Taylor Michael, 43 n., 37 n., service tenants, 54 temples; 2-3, 20n., 37n., 54; correspondence servility to headmen, 38 re temple lands, 1 n; records and letters, 3 Sessional Paper VI of 1908, 5 Tennent, J. E., 44 Sharpe, W. E. T., 31 n. thombo-keepers, 17 n.s shipowner, 6 thombos, 22 n. Silakkhanda thero of Dodanduwa, 3 a. thanhavol, 21 n. Silva, Carolis, 42 tobacco trading, 5 Silva, N. D. P., 1, 23 n. trade, 5-9, 40-43, 70, 78; coastal trade; 6; trading Silva, P. H. Abraham, 20 5, 8, 40-43, 70, 78; firewood contracts, 41; Simms, Col. W. H., 48 n. transport contracts, 5, 7, 41; trade in rice, 7, Singer, Marshall R., 12 n. 41, 70; hoop iron, 78; import-export trade, Sinhalese, 14-15, 23, 26, 28, 36 n., 37, 45; royal 6; tobacco trade, 5 house, 14; kings, 14, 16; chiefs, 17; officialdom, traditional aristocracy or ttadirional elites, 12-18 16; families, 7, 17, 19, 23; headmen and 20, 36, 54; also see elites cattle-owners, 51; society, 25; kinship, 28; traditional ethos, alteration of, 34-36, 38 f. regions, 21; also see Low Country Sinhalese, traditional politico-economic structure, 15, 16 Kandyan Sinhalese, Sinhalese land, and tradi- traditional society, 12--13, 20-21, 33--34, 38--39, 54 tional Sinhalese society traditional socio-economic relations, 33-34, 36, Sinhalese land tenure, 12, 33-34, 36 54; corporate practices, 33; individualist ideo- Sinhalase language, 5 n., 10, 37, 47, 77 logy, 33, 36; self-sufficiency, 34-35, 35 n; Skinner, Thomas, 44 Asiatic communism, 34; transfers of land, 33; social mobility, 13-17, 18-19, 22-23 socio-centric features, 33; kaivas or labour Somaratne, G. P. V., 14, 14 n., teams, 33; nikkan and attan, 33 sources, 1-4, 5-7, 21, 42, 42 n., 48, 56, 57; diaries, Trevelyan, 26 1, 2, 4, 49 n.; kachcheri records, 1-2, 21 n, Trincomalee, 6 n. 56; district court records, 2; non-official Tumpane, 40 n. 2 f; letters, 3-4; autobiographies, 3; Church Tuticorin, 6 n. records, 5 n. missionary archives, 2; private twentieth-century field evidence, 44-45 correspondence, 2-4, 44; temple records, Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon, 9 n., 10 n,. 2-3; also see oral traditions and Ferguson's 11 n., 20 n., 26 n. Ceylon Directories Tytler, (Robert), 80 Southern Province, 19, 20 Soysa, Arnold Cornelius, 9 n. Udakinda Korale, 51 n. Soysa, A. C. H., 9 n. Udapalata, 10, 40 n. Soysa, Elliot, 9 n. Udawatta estate, 40, 67 Soysa, George Francis, 9 n. Udunuwara, 36, 40 n. Soysa, Harmanis, 9, 9 n., 43, 64, 70 undivided proprietorship, 33--44 Soysa, H. J. A. J., 9 n. urban 4, 37 Soysa, J., 42 n. Utilitarian ideas, 34-35, 38 Soysa, J. J., 9 n. Uttar Pradesh, 2 n. Soysa, Lewis, 10 Uva, 43; also see Badulla Soysa, Migel, 42, 43, 66-67 Soysa, M., 32, 66-67 value-system, 15, 17-18, 22, 25, 24, 36, 37-39 Soysa, Susew, see de Soysa Vandendriesen, Ian H., 44 n. Soysa, S., 43 Van Falck, 17 Soysa, Mrs, S. (nee Engeltina Pieris), 85-87 Van Neil, Robert, 20 n. Soysa, Warusahannadige Caroline Francisca (Mrs. Veddihille Kadulla estate, 79 Jeronis Pieris), 10, 40 veiled mortgages, 33 the Spectator, 26, 68, 70 vernacular, 24 n., also see Sinhalese Sri Chandrasekera, Shanthi, 8 n. Veyangoda, 19 Stanmore MSS, 4; Gordon, Sir Arthur, 4 n. Victorian, 25, 27 • Statesman, 26 viharagam, 54, statistical methodology, 57 Vijay Vikram, 6 Stokes, Eric, 38 n. village ecology, 44 stratification, 12, 21-22, 54 village economy, 47, 56 survey plans, 45, 48 Villiers, Sir T., 8 n. Suryasena, Deva, 4 n. Vincent, F. D'A., 48 n., 50-51 sweet potatoes 40, 80 Vishnu, 70 Sweezy, Paul M., 12n. Vishnu Devale, 6 108 visual evidence, 44 f; 48 n., 66-67 Western forms of administration, 18 vitt! pot, 14 Westernization, 23, 24 f., 37 f., Wadia, D. N., 52 n. Western Province, 52 n., 92 Wainwright, M. D., 4 n. Wet Zone, 49, 52, 55 Wall iwallea, 66n. Wevalenna estate, 42 n. Ward, Sir Henry George, 29-32, 80, 93 Wickrema, Mildred, 4 n. Waskaduwa, 3 n.; 19 Wickremasekera, S. B. W., 33 n. Waskaduwe Subhuti thero, 3 n. Wilson's Bungalow, 51 n. waste lands, 1, 44 f., 49-56 Wolfendhal Church, 7 Waste Lands Ordinances, 44-45, 49 Woolf, Leonard, 1; his diaries, 1, 49 n. watering machine, 80 Wright, Arnold, see Twentieth Century Impressions weather in Kandy, 64, 70, 72,, 76-77, 79-80, 82 Wright, W. H.; 43., 43 n., 76, 84. Wegodapola Ratemahatmaya, 36 Wright, W. Henry, 43 n., 76, 84 Weligama, 19 Wel i tara, 19 Yakkuranguve, 41 THE AUTHOR

Born and bred in the town of Galle, Michael Roberts received his education at St. Aloysius College, Galle. He graduated with honours in History from the University of Ceylon in 1961 after four years at the Peradeniya campus. Proceeding to Merton Coll- ege on a Rhodes Scholarship he received his doctoral degree in History from Oxford in 1965. He has since been a teacher at the Department of History, University of Sri Lanka, and is presently a Senior Lecturer in History at Peradeniya. He has written several articles on the modern history of the island. His initial field of interest was the economic history of the nineteenth century. More recently, he has been working on the processes of elite formation and the ideology and politics of nationalism within the island, largely with reference to the period of British occupation. about this monograph

Printed within these covers are 23 letters written by Hannadig; Jeronis Pieris in the period 1853-1856 and another letter of his, in Sinhala, sent from Britain in the year 1877. Jeronis Pieris (1829-1894) was from a merchant family with roots in Colombo and N46ratuwa and with marriage and business connections with the Warusakannadige de Soysas of Panadura and Moratuwa. Educated at the Colombo Academy, he joined Jeronis and Susew de Soysa as an executive and aide in their entrepreneurial activities in the Kandyan highlands. His talents led him to an independent fortune in a little while and he was one of the outstanding entrepreneurs and property owners (both urban land and plantations) of the late 19th century; so much so, that he was sponsored for nomination to the Legislative Council in 1888. Merchant and arrack renter, planter and plantation owner, philanthropist and man of letters, his career provides fascinating sidelights on the social and economic history of British Ceylon. The editor and author, therefore, does not confine himself to a biography of the Hannadigi Pierises and Warusahannadige de Soysgs. He analyses or touches on several facets of colonial history: the foundations of social dominance within indigenous society in pre-British times, the processes of elite formation in the nineteenth century; the entrepreneurial spirit; the adoption of Western mores; the role of indigenous elites as supports for colonial power; the events leading to the Kandyan Marriage Ordinance of 1859; an aspect pertaining to the conflict for land between coffee planters and villagers in the Kandyan hill country; and the question whether the intrusion of plantations had a disastrous impact on the cattle population, and thereby on paddy cultivation, in the Kandyan districts. Attention is also devoted to the various types of source material available to the historians of 19th century Lanka.

The description is illustrated by 16 photographs, 2 genealogical charts, one map of the Hanguranketa-Kandy locality, and an appendix reproducing a petition of some Kandyan chiefs regarding the reform of their marriage practices.

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