Sri Lankan Mudaliyars
Encyclopedia
Mudali was a colonial title & office in Sri Lanka
. The Portuguese
colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of different castes form the coastal areas, who were most likely to serve the Portuguese masters with utmost loyalty. The Dutch
continued the practice of the Portuguese. This class used the Mudali as a hereditary title; however, the British re-established a Mudaliyar class, with appointments that had the title of Mudali, this process was stopped in the 1930s when the Native Department of the British government of Ceylon was closed down. All appointments of Mudaliyars were made by the Governor of Ceylon.
name for ‘first’ and a person endowed with wealth. It was created in the 17th century by the Portuguese function as a link between the colonial administration and the local populous, as they had done in South India. They received payment in form of land grants and use of tenured service (Rajakariya) of the local population which they extracted for their own estates.
The 18th century Dutch rulers appointed a few Mudaliyars from the Tamil
Vellalar
caste. The British who succeeded the Dutch appointed large numbers of Mudaliyars from several castes and communities in the 19th century by enlisting natives who were most likely to serve the British masters with utmost loyalty. Most of them eventually claimed that they were from Salagama
or Govigama
castes Sinhalese caste
.
This class resembled English country squires, complete with large land grants from the British, residences of unprecedented scale - referred to by the Tamil word Walauu or Walvoo and the Sinhala word Walauwa
- such as Richmond Castle in Kalutara
- one of the largest mansions in Sri Lanka. The British also granted privileges to the Mudaliyars of Ceylon.
In the north of Sri Lanka, in the city of Jaffna, there are least two or three clans from Thondaimandalam with the surname of 'Mudali.' Irumarapum Thooya Thaninayaga Mudali from Seyyoor and Mannadukonda Mudali whose clan has been quoted even during the time of the famous poet Kambar. The British gave the title of 'Mudaliyar 'to Ceylonese who served them until the closure of the Native Department of the British government of Ceylon in 1938.
itself in the late 18th century by posing as the representatives of the masses and subsequently convincing the British rulers that they were from the numerous Govigama
caste. This was a strategic move as it gave the British masters the impression that the De Saram family had the backing of a large body of natives. It was also the easiest route to Sinhalisation
as the peasant community was widely dispersed, still unstructured and without inter-community networks or leaders.
The first notable ancestor of the De Saram family was an interpreter who accompanied the Dutch Embassy to Kandy 1731–1732. Despite his advanced age of 71 years, this early De Saram had to make the entire journey by foot as his social status did not warrant travel in a palanquin (JRASCB XXI 197). From there, the De Saram family progressively gained power and position by loyalty, switching religions from Dutch Protestantism to British Anglicanism and benefitting from the preference of British rulers to appoint individuals of unknown ancestry to high positions. By respectively collaborating with the Dutch and British rulers, the De Sarams succeeded in marginalizing the traditional ruling class. The erroneous British notion of an inverted caste hierarchy in Sri Lanka is easily traceable to the documents on 'local customs' produced by this family. (See - The development and promotion of the Govi Supremacy Myth by these families).
The British naturally favored the subservient and cooperative De Saram family against the belligerent traditional elite. The De Saram family was given increasing patronage and chiefly appointments and it grew in power and influence during the British period.
Governors Maitland (1805–1811), Gordon (1883–1890) and others effectively used divide and rule
policies and created caste animosity among the native elite and finally confined all Native Headmen appointments only to the Govigama
caste in 1897. A leading newspaper of the day ‘The Examiner’ stated in a letter on 30 March 1870 that the Muhandiram of Siyana Korale West was low in ability but was purely appointed for rendering domestic service to Mrs. Layard, the British Government Agent’s wife, for eight years, getting good meat for her from the public market.
The De Saram family eventually had a strong and exclusive network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. Later, through marriage alliances the network extended to the Obeyesekere, Dias-Bandaranaike, Ilangakoon, de Alwis, de Livera, Pieris, Siriwardena and Senanayake families. This Anglican Christian, so called “Govigama”, network expanded further with the preponderance of native headmen appointments by the British as Mudaliyars, Korales and Vidanes from the Buddhist Govigama section of the community.
The creation of the above Mudaliyar class by the British in the 19th century, its restriction only to the Govigama
caste in the 1890s, production of spurious caste hierarchy lists by this group (See creation of the Govi Supremacy Myth )and changes to the land tenure
system, resulted in all other Sri Lankan castes being classified as low castes during this period.
The influential Mudaliyar class attempted to keep other Sri Lankan castes out of colonial appointments. The oppression by the Mudaliars and connected headmen extended to demanding subservience, service and even restrictions on the type of personal names that could be used by other castes.
caste, the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy Family was responsible for the 20th century, rise of the Tamil
Vellala
caste. The ascendance of the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family commences with a Coomaraswamy (1783–1836) from Point Pedro
joining the seminary that Governor North started for producing interpreters. Coomaraswamy passed out and served as an interpreter from 1805.
He was rewarded by the Governor with a Mudaliyar position at the age of 26 and became the Jaffna Tamil
with the highest government appointment. He played a critical role as the Tamil-English interpreter when the Kandyan king Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe was captured in 1815. He was rewarded with a gold chain and medal by Governor Brownrigg in 1819 for loyal service to the British crown. (Vythilingam 36-43)
There were allegations that he was not from the Vellala
caste. (Jayawardena 209). James Rutnam's research has shown that Coomaraswamy's Father was Arumugampillai, a South Indian, who had migrated to Gurudavil in Jaffna. (Tribune 1957)
Arunachalam Ponnambalam’s (1814–87) step Father Ariyaputhira was Coomaraswamy’s brother-in-law and in 1844 Ponnambalam married Coomaraswamy’s daughter Selachchi.
Ponnambalam was appointed cashier of the Colombo Kachcheri in 1845 and deputy Coroner for Colombo in 1847. Many leading Englishmen were his friends and it transpired in the 1849 Parliamentary Commission that he used to lend money to government officials. (Vythilingam 58)
His three sons P. Coomaraswamy (1849–1905), P. Ramanathan (1851–1930) and P. Arunachalam (1853–1926) were national figures and two of them, P. C. and P. A. married two daughters of Namasiyayam, an extremely successful Broker from Manipay
. This closely related and endogamous clan emerged as the pre-eminent Tamil family of the country and rose to national elite status. (Jayawardena 210-212)
Despite their anglicized background which propelled their rise, the family presented a staunch Hindu appearance and assumed the role of ‘Patrons of the Vellalas in Colombo. However many of its members; Muttu Coomaraswamy, P. Coomaraswamy, P. Ramanathan married western women. Ananda Coomaraswamy
was married four times to western women.
They helped many young Tamils to secure employment in English Banks and Mercantile establishments. On the death of Mudaliyar Coomaraswamy’s wife in 1897, the leading daily, ‘The Ceylon Independent’ wrote “to her and her husband, almost every important Hindu family in the city owes its rise”.
, Wijewardene, Corea
, Kotelawala, Jayewardene and Dias Bandaranaike families in the West and Southern parts of the country and to interconnected Vellala
families in the north of Sri Lanka.
Despite their Anglican Christian background, these families were respectively accepted by the Sinhala
Buddhist mass vote-base and the Tamil voters as their communal democratic leaders and representatives. Since the grant of independence by the British in 1948, Sri Lanka’s political power has rarely slipped away from this closely connected group and even so only for short periods.
However, it has always been the Catholic Church and not the Anglican denomination that has been at the receiving end of the religious antipathy of the Sinhala masses. Similarly the Sinhala
Buddhists of Sri Lanka are the target of Tamil hostility for the atrocities perpetrated on them by this Anglican minority.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. The Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of different castes form the coastal areas, who were most likely to serve the Portuguese masters with utmost loyalty. The Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
continued the practice of the Portuguese. This class used the Mudali as a hereditary title; however, the British re-established a Mudaliyar class, with appointments that had the title of Mudali, this process was stopped in the 1930s when the Native Department of the British government of Ceylon was closed down. All appointments of Mudaliyars were made by the Governor of Ceylon.
History
Mudaliyar is a South Indian and TamilTamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
name for ‘first’ and a person endowed with wealth. It was created in the 17th century by the Portuguese function as a link between the colonial administration and the local populous, as they had done in South India. They received payment in form of land grants and use of tenured service (Rajakariya) of the local population which they extracted for their own estates.
The 18th century Dutch rulers appointed a few Mudaliyars from the Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
Vellalar
Vellalar
Vellalars were, originally, an elite caste of Tamil agricultural landlords in Tamil Nadu, Kerala states in India and in neighbouring Sri Lanka; they were the nobility, aristocracy of the ancient Tamil order and had close relations with the different royal dynasties...
caste. The British who succeeded the Dutch appointed large numbers of Mudaliyars from several castes and communities in the 19th century by enlisting natives who were most likely to serve the British masters with utmost loyalty. Most of them eventually claimed that they were from Salagama
Salagama
Salagama is the name of a caste in Sri Lanka. The community was traditionally associated with the cultivation and management of cinnamon, and also as soldiers,and are found mostly in Southern coastal areas, especially in the villages around Rathgama , Boossa and Balapitiya in Galle...
or Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
castes Sinhalese caste
Caste system in Sri Lanka
The Caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, differing somewhat from the classic Varnas of North India but is similar in nature to the Jāti system found in South India...
.
This class resembled English country squires, complete with large land grants from the British, residences of unprecedented scale - referred to by the Tamil word Walauu or Walvoo and the Sinhala word Walauwa
Walauwa
Walauwa is the name given to a feudal/colonial manor house in Ceylon built by native headmen. It is also reference to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era.-Kandyan Walauwas:...
- such as Richmond Castle in Kalutara
Kalutara
Kalutara is a resort town located approximately 40 km south of Colombo in Sri Lanka.- Overview :Once an important spice-trading center, the city's name is derived from the Kalu Ganga River . In the 11th Century, the town was temporarily made a capital on the orders of a South Indian Prince...
- one of the largest mansions in Sri Lanka. The British also granted privileges to the Mudaliyars of Ceylon.
In the north of Sri Lanka, in the city of Jaffna, there are least two or three clans from Thondaimandalam with the surname of 'Mudali.' Irumarapum Thooya Thaninayaga Mudali from Seyyoor and Mannadukonda Mudali whose clan has been quoted even during the time of the famous poet Kambar. The British gave the title of 'Mudaliyar 'to Ceylonese who served them until the closure of the Native Department of the British government of Ceylon in 1938.
The De Saram Family
A De Saram family of Dutch and Malay ancestry had SinhalisedSinhalisation
Sinhalisation is a term that has number of meanings in Sri Lanka. Etymologically it is derived from Sinhala.-Sociological:From a sociological point of view it could mean the assimilation of ethno cultural minorities in Sri Lanka such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, Colombo Chetties and indigenous Veddas...
itself in the late 18th century by posing as the representatives of the masses and subsequently convincing the British rulers that they were from the numerous Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste. This was a strategic move as it gave the British masters the impression that the De Saram family had the backing of a large body of natives. It was also the easiest route to Sinhalisation
Sinhalisation
Sinhalisation is a term that has number of meanings in Sri Lanka. Etymologically it is derived from Sinhala.-Sociological:From a sociological point of view it could mean the assimilation of ethno cultural minorities in Sri Lanka such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, Colombo Chetties and indigenous Veddas...
as the peasant community was widely dispersed, still unstructured and without inter-community networks or leaders.
The first notable ancestor of the De Saram family was an interpreter who accompanied the Dutch Embassy to Kandy 1731–1732. Despite his advanced age of 71 years, this early De Saram had to make the entire journey by foot as his social status did not warrant travel in a palanquin (JRASCB XXI 197). From there, the De Saram family progressively gained power and position by loyalty, switching religions from Dutch Protestantism to British Anglicanism and benefitting from the preference of British rulers to appoint individuals of unknown ancestry to high positions. By respectively collaborating with the Dutch and British rulers, the De Sarams succeeded in marginalizing the traditional ruling class. The erroneous British notion of an inverted caste hierarchy in Sri Lanka is easily traceable to the documents on 'local customs' produced by this family. (See - The development and promotion of the Govi Supremacy Myth by these families).
The British naturally favored the subservient and cooperative De Saram family against the belligerent traditional elite. The De Saram family was given increasing patronage and chiefly appointments and it grew in power and influence during the British period.
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
policies and created caste animosity among the native elite and finally confined all Native Headmen appointments only to the Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste in 1897. A leading newspaper of the day ‘The Examiner’ stated in a letter on 30 March 1870 that the Muhandiram of Siyana Korale West was low in ability but was purely appointed for rendering domestic service to Mrs. Layard, the British Government Agent’s wife, for eight years, getting good meat for her from the public market.
The De Saram family eventually had a strong and exclusive network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. Later, through marriage alliances the network extended to the Obeyesekere, Dias-Bandaranaike, Ilangakoon, de Alwis, de Livera, Pieris, Siriwardena and Senanayake families. This Anglican Christian, so called “Govigama”, network expanded further with the preponderance of native headmen appointments by the British as Mudaliyars, Korales and Vidanes from the Buddhist Govigama section of the community.
The creation of the above Mudaliyar class by the British in the 19th century, its restriction only to the Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste in the 1890s, production of spurious caste hierarchy lists by this group (See creation of the Govi Supremacy Myth )and changes to the land tenure
Land tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
system, resulted in all other Sri Lankan castes being classified as low castes during this period.
The influential Mudaliyar class attempted to keep other Sri Lankan castes out of colonial appointments. The oppression by the Mudaliars and connected headmen extended to demanding subservience, service and even restrictions on the type of personal names that could be used by other castes.
The Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy Family
As much as the De Sarams family was responsible for the rise of the GovigamaGovigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste, the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy Family was responsible for the 20th century, rise of the Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
Vellala
Vellala
Vellala is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is near the town of Proddutur in the Kadapa District.The village got its name from the locally famous "Vellala sanjevaraswami ", a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman....
caste. The ascendance of the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family commences with a Coomaraswamy (1783–1836) from Point Pedro
Point Pedro
Point Pedro is the northernmost town of the island of Sri Lanka. The agriculturally active area around Point Pedro with fertile calcic red latosols is known for its cotton production. The eastern coast of Point Pedro is a 3-mile-broad beach with huge sand dunes up to 100 feet height, extending...
joining the seminary that Governor North started for producing interpreters. Coomaraswamy passed out and served as an interpreter from 1805.
He was rewarded by the Governor with a Mudaliyar position at the age of 26 and became the Jaffna Tamil
Jaffna Tamil
Jaffna Tamil could mean*Jaffna Tamil person of Jaffna, in Sri Lanka origin.*Jaffna Tamil dialect used by a person of Jaffna Tamil origin...
with the highest government appointment. He played a critical role as the Tamil-English interpreter when the Kandyan king Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe was captured in 1815. He was rewarded with a gold chain and medal by Governor Brownrigg in 1819 for loyal service to the British crown. (Vythilingam 36-43)
There were allegations that he was not from the Vellala
Vellala
Vellala is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is near the town of Proddutur in the Kadapa District.The village got its name from the locally famous "Vellala sanjevaraswami ", a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman....
caste. (Jayawardena 209). James Rutnam's research has shown that Coomaraswamy's Father was Arumugampillai, a South Indian, who had migrated to Gurudavil in Jaffna. (Tribune 1957)
Ponnambalam was appointed cashier of the Colombo Kachcheri in 1845 and deputy Coroner for Colombo in 1847. Many leading Englishmen were his friends and it transpired in the 1849 Parliamentary Commission that he used to lend money to government officials. (Vythilingam 58)
His three sons P. Coomaraswamy (1849–1905), P. Ramanathan (1851–1930) and P. Arunachalam (1853–1926) were national figures and two of them, P. C. and P. A. married two daughters of Namasiyayam, an extremely successful Broker from Manipay
Manipay
Manipay or Maanippaai is an affluent town in the northern Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. The original name of Manipay is Periya pulam. It was a mission location when the American Ceylon Mission came to Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Dr. Samuel Fisk Green founded the Green Memorial Hospital in 1864...
. This closely related and endogamous clan emerged as the pre-eminent Tamil family of the country and rose to national elite status. (Jayawardena 210-212)
Despite their anglicized background which propelled their rise, the family presented a staunch Hindu appearance and assumed the role of ‘Patrons of the Vellalas in Colombo. However many of its members; Muttu Coomaraswamy, P. Coomaraswamy, P. Ramanathan married western women. Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West...
was married four times to western women.
They helped many young Tamils to secure employment in English Banks and Mercantile establishments. On the death of Mudaliyar Coomaraswamy’s wife in 1897, the leading daily, ‘The Ceylon Independent’ wrote “to her and her husband, almost every important Hindu family in the city owes its rise”.
The 19th century Radalas
See The British Radalas for the class of ‘New Radalas’ created by 19th century British administrators in the Kandyan provinces of Sri Lanka.The 20th century
The introduction of democracy in the early 20th century transferred political power to the above affiliated SenanayakeSenanayake
Senanayake may refer to:*Don Stephen Senanayake *Dudley Shelton Senanayake...
, Wijewardene, Corea
Corea
Corea may refer to:*Korea, the term for the civilization and culture composed currently of two countries, for which Corea is an alternate spelling in many languages other than English**Korean Peninsula, the land area which Korea occupies...
, Kotelawala, Jayewardene and Dias Bandaranaike families in the West and Southern parts of the country and to interconnected Vellala
Vellala
Vellala is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is near the town of Proddutur in the Kadapa District.The village got its name from the locally famous "Vellala sanjevaraswami ", a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman....
families in the north of Sri Lanka.
Despite their Anglican Christian background, these families were respectively accepted by the Sinhala
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
Buddhist mass vote-base and the Tamil voters as their communal democratic leaders and representatives. Since the grant of independence by the British in 1948, Sri Lanka’s political power has rarely slipped away from this closely connected group and even so only for short periods.
However, it has always been the Catholic Church and not the Anglican denomination that has been at the receiving end of the religious antipathy of the Sinhala masses. Similarly the Sinhala
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
Buddhists of Sri Lanka are the target of Tamil hostility for the atrocities perpetrated on them by this Anglican minority.
Ranks of British Mudaliyars
- Head Mudaliyar of the Governors Gate / Gate Mudaliyar
- Mudaliyar of the Governors Gate
- Gate Mudaliyar
- Mudaliyar of the Attepattu
- Mudaliyar
List of prominent Mudaliyars
- Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranike - Head Mudaliyar of the Governors Gate
- Abraham Mendis GunasekeraAbraham Mendis GunasekeraGate Mudaliyar Abraham Mendis Gunasekera was a leading literary figure in Ceylon. Gunasekera produced a Sinhalese grammar as well as Sinhalese-English and English-Sinhalese dictionaries. He is the grandfather of the famous Sri Lankan construction engineer U.N. Gunasekera.-Sources:...
- Gate Mudaliyar - L. M. W. Senanayake - Gate Mudaliyar
- Gate Mudaliyar James Edward CoreaGate Mudaliyar James Edward Corea-Early life:Gate Mudaliyar James Edward Corea was born in Chilaw, on the west coast of Sri Lanka, on the 2nd of December 1865. His father was Johannes Christoffel Corea who was a Mudaliyar of the Chilaw District....
- Gate Mudaliyar of Chilaw