Caste in Sri Lanka-From Ancient Times to the Present Day

Caste in Sri Lanka
From Ancient Times to the Present Day
Asiff Hussein
B.A. (Social Sciences)
PGr.Dip (Archaeology)

Caste in Sri Lanka.
From ancient Times to the Present Day
1st
Edition: September 2013
© Asiff Hussein
ISBN 978-955-0028-35-1
Printed by: Printel (Pvt) Ltd
Published by: Neptune Publications

CONTENTS
Introductory Note
Introduction
Casteism in Sri Lanka
Chapter 1
Caste in Sinhalese Society
Chapter 2
Caste in Tamil Society
Chapter 3
Caste in Moor Society

Introductory Note
The subject matter dealt in the present work, namely, casteism, is
rather sensitive even in these enlightened times and works dealing with
it are rather scarce. There are a few notable works such as Bryce
Ryan’s Caste in Modern Ceylon (1953) and Bryan Pfaffenberger’s
Caste in Tamil Culture (1982), but these are rather limited in scope,
dealing with the social aspects of the caste system as it obtained at the
time these writers undertook their studies and did not so much take into
consideration the history of these caste groups, their origins and
affinities, settlements, family names etc. It is this void that the author of
the present study intends to fulfill.
We have for this purpose relied not only on the well known textual
sources such as the Mahāva sa, Cūlava sa, Janava sa and
Mandārampura Puvata, but also lesser known and rarer works dealing
with various caste groups published by interested organizations which
we have had the fortune to peruse. Other sources such as lithic
inscriptions and colonial period registers known as the tombos have
also been made good use of. Much information on the various castes’
settlements, family names etc were also gathered from numerous
individuals whom we interviewed during the course of this study.
As for casteism in Tamil society, we have made good use of ancient
literary works such as the Cilappatikāram and other literature of the
epic Sangam age, as well as more recent works such as the Yālppāna
Vaipava Malai. Other works cited include Dutch and British period
records as well as more recent publications such as James Cartman’s
Hinduism in Ceylon (1957), M.D.Raghavan’s Tamil culture in Ceylon
(1971), Robert Holmes’ Jaffna (1980), Bryan Pfaffenberger’s Caste in
Tamil Culture (1982) and Dennis Mc.Gilvray’s Crucible of Conflict.
Tamil and Muslim Society on the east coast of Sri Lanka (2008).
With regard to casteism in Sri Lankan Moor society, we find only
one such group, namely, the Osta or Barber community who could be
characterized as a caste based on the lack of inter-marriage and inter-
dining with the rest of the Moor community. Much of the information
relating to this group was gathered by the author’s own inquiries, a
good part of which has already been published in his work Sarandib.
An Ethnological Sudy of the Muslims of Sri Lanka (2007, 2011) with
supporting evidence gathered from the Portuguese and Dutch tombos as

well as British period records. Mc.Gilvray’s recent 2008 work has also
been employed to some extent.
The system of transliteration employed in the text, save for citations,
is the standard method. Thus dots below letters represent retroflex
sounds while c represents the voiceless palatal affricate (as sounded in
the English church) and ś the palatal sibilant (as sounded in English
show). The initial c occurring in certain Tamil words cited from various
authorities may however not necessarily reflect the actual
pronunciation, but rather be pronounced as ś or even s.
Similarly, intervocalic t given by these authorities is pronounced as d
and intervocalic k as g or a guttural h. This however may not apply to
the older works such as those of the Sangam age which were probably
written in the forms that faithfully represented the actual pronunciation
at the time. Ligatures placed over vowels represent long vowels, though
the long e and o of Sanskrit and Pali vocables are not represented as
such in keeping with the standard practice.
We have as far as possible endeavoured to retain the original
spellings such as of caste names and place names as given by the
writers themselves when citing their works. As such the spellings of
caste names may differ from place to place, though in other contexts we
have employed the proper usage.
Geographical references to India refer to the historical India including
those parts of the subcontinent today known as Pakistan and
Bangladesh and may not necessarily be restricted to the region
encompassed by the modern-day Indian Republic.

Abbreviations
(Literary works, newspapers, journals, archives)
AE – American Ethnologist
AL- Anthropological Linguistics
ARGB – Archiv fur Rassen und Gesellschaft Biologie
BMOM- British Museum Oriental Manuscripts
CAJ – Cambridge Archaeological Journal
CLR – Ceylon Literary Register
CALR – Ceylon Antiquary and Literary Register
CAR - Ceylon Administration Reports
CDN – Ceylon Daily News
CHJ – Ceylon Historical Journal
Clp – Cilappatikāram
CV - Cūlava sa
DAG – Dhampiyā Aṭuvā Gätapadaya
DmbAs – Dambadeni Asna
IA – Indian Antiquary
JBORS – Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society
JRASB – Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal
JRASSL- Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka
JSK – Janaśruti Śabda Kōṣaya
JV- Janava sa
Mbh – Mahābhārata
MCS – Modern Ceylon Studies
MLR – Monthly Literary Register
MV – Mahāva sa
MVV – Mahaväli Va saya
NKMS – Newsletter of the Kshatriya Maha Sabha
PjV - Pūjāvaliya
PRO.CO – Public Record office, London, Colonial Office
RV – Rg Veda
Rjv – Rājavaliya
SBV- Si hala Bōdhi Va śaya
Sdl- Saddharmala kāraya
SdR – Saddharma Ratnāvaliya
SO – Sunday Observer
SKBGW – Sitzungsberichte Königlich Böhmischen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften
SLNA – Sri Lanka National Archives

SSK- Si hala Śabda Kōṣaya, Sinhala Dictionary Ed. D.E.Hettiarachchi,
P.B.Sannasgala
SZ – Spolia Zeylanica
UCHC – University of Ceylon History of Ceylon
UMTL – University of Madras Tamil Lexicon
VP- Va sattappakāsini
Yvm – Yālppāna Vaipava Malai
ZDMG – Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft
Abbreviations
(General)
A.C. – After Christ B.C. – Before Christ
C. – Circa, around Cf. – Confer, compare
c.- century Ed.- Edited by
e.g.- exempli gratia, for example Fr. – from
i.e – id est, that is Ibid – ibidem, same place
lit.- literally Pr.- probably
Abbreviations
(Languages)
Gk. – Greek L. – Latin
MIA – Middle Indo-Aryan OIA – Old Indo Aryan
P. – Pali PIE – Proto-Indo-European
Pkt. – Prakrit Sinh. – Sinhala
Skt. – Sanskrit T. – Tamil

INTRODUCTION
Casteism in Sri Lanka
A caste may basically be defined as a largely homogeneous group of
people who are almost or invariably endogamous and who claim
descent from a common ancestor or a close association from the distant
past. A caste also professes to follow a common hereditary calling.
Since caste is hereditary and determined by birth alone, one cannot
move out of it. Nor does one have any opportunity for social mobility.
One’s place in the overall social structure is fixed, and it is this feature
that distinguishes caste from other forms of social stratification.
Today, perhaps more than ever before, free and open discourse on
matters relating to caste is regarded with caution and sometimes even
contempt, mainly due to the sensitive nature of the topic. On the one
hand it is divisive as discussion or debate on the topic among members
of different caste groups can lead to unpleasantness and ill-feeling,
particularly when one group attempts to arrogate to itself claims of
superiority to the exclusion of others. Such sentiment is considered
detrimental to the formation of a national identity which is greatly
desired at the present day.
At the same time, however, one cannot doubt that caste sentiment
also provides a sense of cohesiveness among members of a particular
caste, giving it a sense of identity, belonging and community feeling
akin to that of a family, clan or tribe. This has led to a somewhat
paradoxical situation in society, at one time being considered extremely
impolite to be mentioned in the public domain and at another very
much a matter for discussion in private conversation in hushed tones or
in connection with matrimonial matters when it assumes sudden
respectability. This becomes apparent the moment one peruses the
matrimonial columns of the national newspapers where the castes of
prospective brides and grooms find mention in very frank terms. It
therefore needs no stretch of imagination to conclude that casteism is
deeply rooted and firmly entrenched in Sri Lankan society. How far
this situation will continue only time will tell, but for the present it still
very much remains a social reality.
Available evidence suggests that casteism was introduced to the
Indian subcontinent by its Aryan conquerors around four millennia ago.

It still exists in the Indian subcontinent in a more or less rigid form,
particularly among the followers of Hinduism, a religion that has its
origins in the beliefs of the ancient Aryans. However it cannot be said
to be altogether absent among the Muslims of the subcontinent who in
spite of the egalitarianism laid down in the Islamic faith, are also
known to have zāts or distinct caste-like groups that marry among
themselves.
Casteism also exists in Sri Lanka among the majority Sinhalese, a
largely Buddhist people who form over 70 percent of the total
population of the island, and the minority Tamils who are largely
Hindus and who constitute about 20 percent of the population. It is also
known to exist among the Moors, a Muslim minority comprising of
around 10 percent of the population, in the form of a solitary
endogamous group known as the Osta.
That casteism should exist among the Sinhalese is not surprising
considering the proximity of Sri Lanka to India and the fact that the
Sinhalese constitute the descendants of various ethnic groups
originating in India that crossed over to Sri Lanka at various periods of
time. The unifying factors of these otherwise diverse Sinhalese groups
has been a common language, namely, Sinhala, and to a lesser extent
religion, namely, Buddhism, introduced from India during the reign of
Emperor Asoka around the third century B.C. Indeed, the true socio-
cultural unity of the Sinhalese as an ethnos on the basis of language and
shared cultural traditions is a relatively recent phenomenon. The fact is
that the Sinhalese of today are a conglomerate of different groups that
hailed from the Indian subcontinent at different periods of time. Such
groups may even be regarded as distinct races rather than castes per se.
The island’s Tamils likewise constitute diverse groups that share a
common language, namely, Tamil, and to a lesser extent a common
religion, namely, Hinduism. These groups like the Sinhalese seem to
have migrated to Sri Lanka at different periods. However, unlike many
of the Sinhalese groups that appear to have hailed from the northern
parts of India and claim Aryan descent, the Tamil groups seem to have
originated from Southern India, and consequently claim Dravidian
ancestry.
The situation of the Moors is however somewhat different. This
Muslim community seems to have its origins from Arab settlers in the

island hailing from different parts of the Arab world who intermarried
with local Sinhalese and Tamil women, later to be supplemented by
Indo-Arab immigrants from the southern parts of India. Although they,
do not recognize casteism among themselves, there is the solitary
instance of a minor occupational group with whom they disdain to
intermarry or interdine, namely, the Osta or Barbers, an occupational
group which performs ritual tonsure and circumcision, activities that
are considered rather polluting, not due to the influence of Islam, but
rather due to Hindu and Dravidian ideas that have influenced the
community for some time past.
The Indian Origin of Casteism
Despite the fact that casteism has been in existence in Sri Lanka for
over two millennia, there can be little doubt that it is in fact a spillover
from the Indian subcontinent whence most of its people originated.
Although it is true that human societies have throughout history been
divided into distinct social strata based on power and wealth, none of
these have been so pervasive as India’s caste system. Casteism however
did not arise overnight, but appears to have been the product of a long
process of historical development, beginning with the arrival in India of
an Indo-European people known as the Aryans who had moved
southwards towards Iran and India from their original homeland in
Ukraine or Southern Russia 1
.
These Aryans, it would appear, were originally organized into three
distinct social groups, the Brāhma s or Priestly class, the K atriyas or
Warrior class and the Vaiśyas or the commonalty, while a fourth group,
1
The appellation ārya means ‘noble’ ‘honourable’ in Sanskrit, an early Indo-Aryan
language spoken in Northern India C.2000-1000 BC. It is connected to the Avestan Airya
and the very name Irān derives from the Avestan genitive plural airyanam meaning
‘(land) of the Aryans’. The Ossets, a largely Christian people of the Caucasus region also
termed themselves iron meaning ‘Aryan’. J.P.Mallory and D.Q.Adams (Encyclopedia of
Indo-European Culture 1997) give as its origin the PIE protoform *heros ‘member of
one’s own (ethnic) group, peer, freeman’ to which they connect Hitt.arā ‘member of
one’s own group’, ‘peer’, ‘companion’, ‘friend’ and arawanni ‘free’ ‘freeman’, Lycian
arawa ‘free’ and arus ‘citizens’ and O.Ir. aire ‘freeman’ (whether commoner or noble)
‘noble’ (as distinct from commoner). David Anthony (The Horse, the Wheel and
Language. How Bronze-age riders from the Eurasian Steppes shaped the modern world
2008) avers that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had a group identity above the level of a clan,
probably tribe, which was known as *heros and which root developed into Aryan in the
Indo-Iranian branch.

the Śūdras or Servile class was constituted to accommodate the peoples
whom the Aryans conquered shortly after their arrival in the Sind and
Punjab around 2000 B.C.
A somewhat similar division existed among the ancient Iranians who
were closely related to the Aryans who had entered India as borne out
by their national appellation Airya by which they termed themselves.
These Iranian Aryans were initially divided into three social classes,
viz. Āthravan or priests, Rathaeshtār or warriors and Vāstryosh or
husbandmen to which was later added a fourth class, the Hutokhsha or
manual-workers who were probably constituted of some enslaved
people or peoples.
There can however be little doubt that the original social division
among these kindred Aryan peoples was a three-fold one comprising of
priests, warriors and commoners, an arrangement which finds parallels
among other Indo-European peoples as well. This three-fold division of
warriors, priests and commoners is also seen in the Milites, Flamines
and Quirities of Roman society and the Equites, Druides and Plebes of
Celtic society. Although this tripartite division is an obvious enough
division of responsibilities within a community, its formal recognition
is characteristically Indo-European as contended by Stuart Piggott 2
.
Georges Dumézil 3
has proposed a grand tripartite scheme for the
organization of Indo-European society. Dumézil, basing his thesis on
the Vedic evidence and parallels in other early Indo-European cultures,
contends that there existed a tendency for the men to organize
themselves into a triad or three classes comprising of priests, warrior-
nobles and providers, i.e. the rest of the community including farmers,
merchants and artisans.
Proto-Indo-European society evidently knew of rulers or monarchs as
borne out by Vedic rāj, Latin rēx and Gaulish rīx (PIE *rēĝs) though
what their powers were and whether they were hereditary leaders
cannot be said for certain. The term seems to have originally meant
‘one who determines what is right’, suggesting a leader more concerned
about maintaining moral or social order than a despotic secular ruler.
Indeed, based on the correspondence between Sanskrit rājan and Greek
2
Prehistoric India (1950)
3
L’ideologie des trios functions dans les épopées des peoples indo-européens (1958)

aregon, it has been suggested that the term could have simply meant
‘protector’ or ‘charismatic or powerful personality’, but not ‘king’ in
the sense we commonly understand it.
It is however not unreasonable to suppose that with time, when this
society had evolved a warrior tradition and were constantly on the
warpath against other peoples, the leader would have assumed the role
of a monarch in the sense we understand it, enjoying wide powers with
the support of the leading warriors who would have constituted
themselves into an exclusive class of military aristocrats. Local leaders
of clans, tribes or communities also seem to have been known as borne
out by the Vedic viśpati, Avestan vispaiti ‘king’, ‘clan chief’ and
Lithuanian vëszpatis ‘lord, ‘king’, formerly ‘clan-chief’ (PIE * wik-
potis). This would suggest that Proto-Indo-European society was
constituted into clan or tribal groups based on patriarchal authority.
There is also reason to believe that Indo-European society had a
distinct priestly class as seen in the correspondences between
Skt.Brāhma and L.flamen which appear to be not only structurally,
but also linguistically related. Besides these warrior rulers and priestly
class were the vast mass or ordinary folk, the commonalty who could
be regarded as having constituted the backbone of the community and
the real economic contributors to society. These folk would have been
engaged in a variety of productive occupations such as agriculture and
livestock breeding that formed the mainstay of the community.
Whether these distinct social groups had already become hereditary,
that is, inherited their position by virtue of birth in a particular group,
we cannot say for certain. We can however postulate that at some stage
of its development, Proto-Indo-European society had begun to undergo
some form of stratification with the stronger and evidently more
intelligent sections assuming power and consolidating it; the more
religiously inclined opting for a priestly function that also gave them
prestige in the eyes of the larger society and the rest of the community
contenting themselves with their usual lot. We might suppose for
instance that while the leader of this community who had proved
himself as a man of extreme intelligence and valour in battle was
bestowed with kingship, those other leading warriors on whose support
he depended would have constituted themselves into an exclusive class
of military aristocrats much like the knights of mediaeval Europe.With
time, these roles would have assumed a more or less hereditary

character as those enjoying a more privileged position such as the
ruling warriors and those exerting priestly functions sought to confine
such positions to members of their own families. This development
which would appear quite natural in a society that was fast becoming
organized and considering expanding its sphere of influence over other
regions would have little doubt had far-reaching implications for the
entire community, for with it came a formalised system of social
differentiation determined by birth and not merit as was likely the case
at an earlier period.
Whether this development had already taken place in the Proto-Indo-
European homeland anterior to the dispersal of this people to the
different parts of Europe and Asia or subsequent to it we cannot say.
What we can say for certain however is that this primitive three-fold
division had become fixed and formalized among the ancient Aryans
who entered India from the North-West at about the beginning of the
second millennium B.C. Indeed, so obsessed were the Indo-Aryans
with this division of human society that they even thought it fit to
include a fourth class comprised of some native peoples of the
subcontinent whom they had conquered and whom they variously
termed Dāsa or Dasyu.
The Rg Veda, the earliest known religious composition of these
Aryans however hardly mentions this division of society, though it
commonly knows of the Aryans as a fair-skinned conquering people as
distinct from the darker-skinned autochthonous peoples whom they
fought. It is only in a relatively late hymn of the RV, the Puru asūkta
that we find any mention of this four-fold division. According to the
hymn, the four varnas emerged from the Cosmic Being (Puru a) whom
the gods sacrificed as an offering in a primordial sacrifice that
constituted the very act of creation. “The Brāhma ” it says “was his
mouth; of both his arms was the Rajanya made; his thighs became the
Vaisya; from his feet the Sudra was produced”.
This four-fold caste system (caturvarnya) was also given religious
sanction and remains an essential part of orthodox Hinduism. We read
in the Mahābhārata that the deity Isvara created the four varnas and
assigned to the Brāhmaṇs as their duty, the protection of the Dharma, to
the Kṣatriyas, the protection of the people, to the Vaiśyas, support of
the three Aryan varnas by wealth, and to the Śūdras service to the
others. The Yajñavalkya Smrti which elaborates on the duties of the

various varnas, states that the chief duties of the Brāhmaṇ are teaching
and sacrificing, that of the Kṣatriya, protection of the subject, that of
the Vaiśya, trade, agriculture, cattle rearing and that of the Śūdra,
serving the twice-born or Aryan castes. It adds that if he is unable to
live by such means, the Śūdra may become a trader, or may live by
various arts, promoting the good of the ‘twice-born’.
Closely associated with this four-fold division of society and the idea
of divinely allocated duties to each of these groups was the concept of
varna or colour. Each of these groups was assigned a distinct colour or
varna – white for the Brāhmaṇs, red for the Kṣatriyas, yellow for the
Vaiśyas and black for the Śūdras. Indeed so closely associated was
colour with these caste groups that they became more or less
synonymous, hence the term caturvarnya (lit.the four colours)
employed in the old Hindu texts to denote this system. In the Mbh, we
find that these four great castes are assigned a varna or colour; white to
the Brāhmaṇs, red to the Kṣatriyas, yellow to the Vaiśyas and black to
the Śūdras. The Sage Bhrgu is cited in the work as saying that the
Creator Deity, Brahmā Prajāpati originally created only Brāhmaṇs, but
that those who were short-tempered and violent left their varna, turned
red and became Kṣatriyas; those who took to cattle-rearing and
agriculture turned yellow and became Vaiśyas , and those who in their
delusion took to injury and falsehood turned black and became Śūdras.
This mythological explanation as to the existence of colour
assignment to these various groups would have arisen in later times,
when the real meaning of the colour-based scheme of human division
had been lost. Rather, it would appear that the varna scheme had its
origins in skin colour, or as some would contend, clothing. The Indo-
Aryans who invaded India C.2000 B.C. were no doubt a fair-skinned
people as evidenced by their ancient literature such as the Rg Veda and
the fair complexion of their modern-day descendants, the peoples of
northern India such as the Sind, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. There
existed significant physical differences between the Aryans and the
native folk of the Indian subcontinent, especially with regard to skin
colour. According to the Rg Veda, the Aryan men and women had
lustrous complexions like the sun (sūrya tvac) while the native peoples
were characterized by dark skin (tvacam kr nām). The tawny-bearded
Aryan war god Indra was constantly invoked for help in the fight
against the dusky native folk. One Rg Vedic passage has it that “Indra,
the breaker of the fort, has torn open (the forts) of Dāsas, which in

their wombs hid the black folk”, while another Rg Vedic passage says
of Indra: “Slaying the Dasyus, he promoted the Aryan colour”.
This fair complexion of the early Indo-Aryans as opposed to the dark
skin of the native peoples whom they had subjected could have well
formed the basis of a colour differentiation which would henceforth
characterize Hindu society. White for the Brāhmaṇs at one end of the
spectrum and black for the Śūdras at the other end certainly makes
sense. The red assigned for the Kṣatriyas, the Aryan warrior class, it is
possible, was derived either from the ruddy hue that would have
characterized these hot-blooded warriors or the colour of blood which
they were accustomed to shed. The yellow colour assigned to the
Vaiśyas, the Aryan commoners accustomed to livestock breeding
would have derived from the colour of their primary sources of
livelihood, wheat or cattle.
Another likely explanation perhaps lies in J.W.Barber’s 4
contention
that there was a tendency for dress in Indo-European culture to consist
of three basic colours, viz., white, red and dark blue or black – just the
three colours we can reconstruct for the PIE language, and the three
that languages of the world distinguish, if they distinguish no more than
three. Barber who relates this three-colour scheme in clothing to
Dumezil’s tripartite division of society, contends that this schema
persisted among an Iranian folk known as the Sarts until fairly recent
times. He draws our attention to the observations of a Swiss adventurer
named Henri Moser 5
who having traveled into the area between the
Caspian and Pamirs in the 1870s encountered in the town of Hazreti-
Timour the Sarts, the men of whom wore on important occasions
turbans ‘of white linen for the mullahs or priests, of blue wool or cotton
for the merchants, and red for the warriors’.
He also notes that this scheme pervades Slavic folk costumes, where
both men and women wear all three at once. Red, he says, is seen as
iconic for blood, black as iconic for the black earth, and white as a
symbol for purity and sanctity. “Such an interpretation suggests that
the three colours may once have represented the postulated three
classes of male society. Red as a colour for a warrior’s clothing has a
strong practicality, of course, because it prevents friend and foe alike
4
Colour in Early Cloth and Clothing.CAJ. April 1999
5
A Travers l’Asie Centrale (1885)

from seeing when one is wounded – a realization which could
adversely discourage one’s companions and hearten the enemy. This is
camouflage of another sort”.
We have seen above that it were the Indo-European invaders of India
known as the Aryans who introduced to the subcontinent the varna or
caste system. These Aryans, it would appear, were divided into three
social groups, namely, Brāhmaṇs, Kṣatriyas and Vaiśyas at the time of
the Aryan penetration into India C.2000 B.C. The Śūdras or fourth
group, it is very likely were a later addition, being drawn from the
subjected native peoples of India shortly after the Aryans had
established themselves in India.
These early Aryans, like other ancient conquerors were no doubt a
proud lot. That a good part of them thought themselves to be racially
superior to other peoples, especially the darker skinned natives, there
can be little doubt. It would appear that it was primarily with the
support of these ethnocentric Aryan elements that the caste system
evolved into a rather rigid one with time, confining connubium
(marriage) and commensality (dining) to one’s own social group on
pain of exclusion from society and various other penalties.
That the system should have evolved into such a rigid one when
compared with the social systems found amongst other ancient Indo-
European peoples is little doubt due to a singular cause, and that is the
inclusion of the native peoples into society by way of a fourth caste.
Although it is true that other Indo-European conquerors too had come
into contact and admitted other subjected peoples into their pale, such
as for instance, the ancient Greeks, Romans and Persians, in India, the
physical differences between the tall, fair-skinned and fine-nosed Indo-
Europeans and the shorter, dark-skinned and broad- or snub-nosed
native peoples would have been considerably greater as to exclude any
close relationship between the two.
These differences in physical appearance between the Aryans and the
native peoples known as the Dāsas and Dasyus are borne out by
numerous passages occurring in the earliest extant composition of the
Aryans in India, the Rg Veda composed C.2000-1800 B.C. According
to the RV as we have seen earlier, the Aryan men and women had
lustrous complexions like the sun (sūrya tvac) while the native folk
were characterized by dark skin (tvacam kr nām). The tawny-bearded

Aryan war god Indra was constantly invoked to help in the fight against
the dusky native folk. One such passage says of Indra: “Slaying the
Dasyus, he promoted the Aryan colour”. Another has it: “Fifty
thousand blacks you defeated. You slit up the forts like age (slits up) a
garment (pañcāsat k a ni vapah sahasrā atkam na puro jarimā vi
dardah)” while yet another declares: “Out of fear of you the black
tribes moved away, leaving behind their possessions without fight (tvad
bhiya viśa ayann asiknīr asamana jahatīr bhojanāni)”. It seems likely
that Indra was originally a heroic warrior who led the Aryans in their
wars against the Dāsas and Dasyus and was later deified on that
account. Yet another Aryan warrior who finds mention in the RV bears
the name Dasyave Vrka (Lit.Wolf to the Dasyu).
It was however not long before the Aryans, with their superior
physical prowess, advanced metallurgy and swift horses and chariots
subjected the native peoples and brought them under their yoke. The
swift horse-drawn war chariot of the Aryans driven by a charioteer and
conveying a warrior armed with a bow proved to be a deadly weapon in
the struggle against the autochtones. As one Rg Vedic hymn has it:
“Armed with the bow, may we subdue all regions”. With this, the
campaign of conquest and extermination against the native peoples
would have ceased, giving way to co-existence. However this co-
existence was not one that would be on equal terms. The subjected
peoples had to content themselves with a decidedly inferior position,
not very different from the slaves of ancient Rome.
The colour bar between the Aryans and the native races was
undoubtedly a major contributory factor to the evolution of casteism as
is evident in the Old Indo-Aryan or Sanskritic term for caste, varna
(li.colour). That there originally existed only two varnas, viz. the Ārya
varna and the Dāsa varna is borne out by the RV. It was the later Hindu
texts that came to speak of the four varnas, classing Brāhmaṇs as white
(sita), Kṣatriyas as red (lohita), Vaiśyas as yellow (pītaka) and Śūdras
as black (asita).
It would however appear that even in those remote times,
intermarriage or sexual relations between Aryan men and non-Aryan
women was not unknown, for we find in the RV, the Aryans praying
that they be granted fair-complexioned (piśañgarūpa) sons only. This
suggests that although the early Aryans cohabited with aboriginal

women, they nevertheless feared begetting dark offspring by these
women.
Even in later times, after the caste system had become rigid and
formalized, intermarriage or co-habitation with the native populations
did not altogether cease since anuloma or hypergamy, that is, the
marriage of a man with a woman belonging to a lower caste was
recognized by the Hindu jurists in contrast to pratiloma marriages or
hypogamy, the marriage or union of a lower caste man with a woman
of higher caste which was severely penalized. Says the Manusmrti: “A
person born to a non-Aryan female from an Aryan man may become an
Aryan through his virtues. However it is determined that a person born
to an Aryan female from a non-Aryan man is indeed a non-Aryan”
(jāto nāryām anaryāyām āryād āryo bhaved gu aih / jāto py anāryād
āryāyam anārya iti niścayah). This could be said to conform to the
Indo-European idea of patrilineality which recognized the son of an
ethnically Aryan man to be Aryan, regardless of the identity of the
mother.
In a rigidly patriarchal society where descent was reckoned through
the male line, pratiloma marriages, if it were to be permitted, would
have meant that the women of the Aryan varnas would have borne
issue that would have been considered inferior in blood to themselves
and their patri-kin, an event that could not take place in the case of an
anuloma marriage. In anuloma marriages the offspring could not have
been considered debased as they would have taken after the father.
Of the four varnas that prevailed among the ancient Indo-Aryans, the
Brāhmaṇs or priestly class enjoyed the foremost place. They zealously
preserved their arcane rituals centred on the worship of nature
elements. They also jealously preserved their bloodlines, marrying
among themselves, and this perhaps explains why the Brāhmaṇs, more
than any other Aryan group, were able to preserve their Indo-European
features such as blond hair. The Grammarian Patanjali declares in the
Mahābhāṣya Ad Pānini (C.2nd
century B.C) that blond or red brown
hair (kapilah pi galakeśa) is one of the essential qualities of a
Brāhmaṇa. Another Indo-European trait, light eyes, is known to have
survived among a minority of Brāhmaṇs until fairly recent times, for
we have Herbert Risley 6
observing: “Occasional instances of grey eyes
6
The People of India (1915)

are found among the Konkanasth Brahmans of Bombay and the
combination of blue eyes, auburn hair and reddish blond complexion is
met with on the north-western frontier”. Thus we may suppose that the
early Brāhmaṇs, like their Indo-European brethren of northern Europe
had light hair and eyes and that these traits were lost over time due to
environmental factors such as the influence of the Indian climate.
As for the appellation by which this varna was known, Brāhma
appears to have denoted the sacerdotium or spiritual power. The term
has also been connected to the Avestan barasman meaning ‘a bundle of
grass’ used mainly as sacrificial straw which might suggest that the
appellation had its early origin in an Old Aryan term for grass or straw
used in the sacrificial fires which figured prominently in ancient Aryan
ritual.
Next came the Kṣatriyas or Aryan warrior caste who led the vanguard
of the Aryan conquest of northern India. It was mainly as a result of the
Kṣatriya effort that India came under the Aryan sway. The Kṣatriyas
though ritually inferior to the Brāhmaṇs were in secular affairs a most
superior class exercising authority as rulers even over their Brāhmaṇ
subjects. It was from the Kṣatriyas that the royalty and aristocracy of
ancient India was drawn. They constituted the ruling class and as such
were widely respected. Indeed, even in the older portions of the Rg
Veda, we find the Ksatriyas being connected with kingship (rā ra
k atriyasya). Kingship devolving to one other than of Kṣatriya lineage
was unthinkable and this was even so in countries where Aryan
influence was strong like Sri Lanka.
K atram, from which the appellation K atriya is derived denotes the
temporal power or Imperium as distinguished from Brāhma , the
Sacerdotium or spiritual power. It appears to have originated from the
root k meaning ‘to possess’, ‘to rule’. A cognate term with a similar
meaning is found in an Old Iranian language known as Avestan where
we have ksathra ‘imperium or rule’ and ‘ruler’s domain, province etc’.
Also related to it is the Greek ktāomai ‘to acquire, possess, hold’
leading us to believe that its original primitive sense was ‘to acquire or
possess’ which later acquired, with the progress of Aryan or Indo-
Iranian culture, the sense of ‘possessed or conquered territory’ before in
turn coming to mean ‘dominion’. Kṣatriya (i.e. related to or belonging
to the kṣatra) could therefore be taken to mean ‘one who possesses

dominion’ or even in its more primitive sense of ‘one who took part in
the acquisition of (non-Aryan) territory (by force of arms)’
The Vaiśyas who ranked third in the ancient Aryan social scheme,
comprised the commonalty who were engaged in settled occupations
and who led economically productive lives, as farmers, pastoralists and
merchants. Though inferior to both Brāhmaṇ and Kṣatriya, they
nevertheless held a respectable position in Aryan society contributing
to its economic life in no small way. The term from which Vaiśya is
thought to be derived viś means in Sanskrit ‘clan, tribe’ group of
families and their settlement or place of habitation’ (Cf.L.vicus,
Goth.weihs ‘village’, Gk.(w)oikos ‘house’). The PIE term * wiks seems
to have meant a small settlement whose members were related,
anything from a cluster of houses belonging to an extended family up
to a clan. Thus the appellation Vaiśya would have primarily meant
settlers or in other words the common Aryan masses who followed in
the wake of the conquests of the Kṣatriyas or Aryan military class,
taking to a settled life in these newly acquired lands.
The Śūdras or fourth varna comprised of the conquered peoples
whom the Aryans had subjugated in the course of their conquests in the
subcontinent. These Śūdras appear to have been largely drawn from
peoples whom the ancient scriptures know as Dāsa and Dasyu. The
appellation Śūdra is unknown to the early Vedic era and appears only
once in the Rg Veda in a hymn probably dating from the period when
the four castes had come into being according to the Brāhmaṇical
system. Indeed what we find throughout much of the later Hindu
literature is that Śūdra had taken the place of the early Vedic Dāsa and
Dasyu, mention of whom disappears in post-Vedic times 7
.
7
The terms dāsa and dasyu are believed to have been primarily ethnic terms, the former a
tribal name and the latter a generic term for non-Aryans which seems to have derived
from the Sanskritic root das ‘to lay waste’ which would have denoted the eventual fate of
these folk, the dwellers of the waste land following conquest by the Aryans. These later
came to assume the meaning of ‘slave’ and ‘brigand’ respectively. Dāsa was probably
the tribal name of a people north of India which was later expressed in the Persian form
Daha which is found as an ethnic term in the Persepolis inscription of Xerxes (C.5th
century BC). Strabo tells us in his Geographica (1st century AC) that most of the
Scythians, beginning from the Caspian Sea, are called Dahae. It was very likely this tribe
that gave its name to Dahistan, a province on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Although it would appear that in Vedic times, those peoples who
were subdued or surrendered to the Aryans were not harshly treated so
long as they offered some form of tribute or service 8
, in later times,
with the absorption of these peoples into Aryan social and economic
life, they were given an inferior position. The Śūdras who seem to have
been constituted from the Dāsa and Dasyu of old as well as other non-
Aryan peoples who entered Aryan society were decidedly inferior to
the three Aryan varnas. They held a very low position in society,
serving as slaves, servants and labourers involved in a variety of lowly
occupations.
The term by which these folk were known Śūdra seems originally to
have been a tribal name borne by a non-Aryan people of Northern
India. The Indian epic Mahābhārata compiled in the latter part of the
second millennium or early part of the first millennium BC mentions
the Śūdras as a tribe along with the Ābhīras and Tukhāras. Diodorus,
the author of the historical treatise Bibliotheca Historica (C.1st
century
BC) records the advance of Alexander the Great against a tribe known
as Sodrai who occupied portions of modern-day Sind while Ptolemy,
the author of the Geographike Hyphegesis (C.2nd
century AC) mentions
a tribe called Sydroi inhabiting northern Arachosia (Eastern
Afghanistan).
By the time of the Atharva Veda which marked the ascendancy of the
Brāhmaṇ priesthood, we notice a marked change in the attitude towards
the Śūdras. Brāhmaṇ arrogance was especially marked during the
period the Brāhmaṇas were being composed (C.800-500 B.C.) and
reached its peak with the compilation of the Laws of Manu. The
Aitareya Brāhmaṇa went so far as to declare that a Śūdra is one who
could be killed (or beaten) at will (yathākāmavadhya) while Manu, the
Hindu lawgiver declared that the Śūdra was created the slave of the
Brāhmaṇ and could be compelled to do servile work by the latter. Such
was the low status given to the Śūdras by ancient Aryan society.
The question however arises from which ethnic stock the Śūdras were
primarily drawn from. This is no easy task, since the pre-Aryan
inhabitants of India we know would have comprised of two great ethnic
stocks, namely the Dravidians who would have been comprised of both
8
We learn from the RV that at least one Dāsa chief, Bālbutha had adopted Aryan culture
even going to the extent of patronizing Brāhmana singers.

Mediterranean and Armenoid elements and the Munda peoples who
were of Austro-Asiatic origin. To this we may possibly add a third
group, the Negritoes who there is reason to believe also lived in ancient
India.
That the early Aryan conquerors of India encountered a Dravidian
people or peoples is borne out by literary evidence. For instance, a Rg
Vedic epithet for the non-Aryan Dasyus anāsa (noseless) is perhaps a
derogatory allusion to the squat or snub noses that to this day
characterize some Dravidian peoples. The reference in the RV to the
Dāsas being v aśipra (bull-lipped) may well refer to the thick lips
found among certain Dravidian folk. We further have a Vedic hymn
referring to the adversaries of the Aryans as those ‘whose god is the
phallus’ (śiśna-deva) which again points to a Dravidian connection,
phallic or lingam worship being a characteristic feature of Dravidian
religion from very early times.
The sudden demise of the Indus Valley civilization of Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro which was very likely peopled by a Dravidian folk also
suggests that it were the Aryan invaders who were responsible for its
downfall and that they had indeed encountered a settled Dravidian
population whom they would have eliminated or enslaved, which again
suggests that the Śūdras or a good part of them were drawn from a
Dravidian stock.
It is also possible that the less solidly organized and more widely
dispersed Austro-Asiatic peoples of India today represented by the
Munda peoples of Central and Eastern India such as the Hos and
Birhors were also enslaved by the Aryans and constituted as Śūdras.
Indeed, linguistic evidence suggests the prevalence of a Mundic stock
in India for a very long period 9
and to this day the Austro-Asiatic type
is widely prevalent in many parts of Central, Eastern and Southern
India, particularly among the lower castes and humbler classes of
society. It is therefore quite possible that a fair number of Austro-
Asiatics who had come under the Aryan sway were absorbed as Śūdras.
9
Neue Literature zu den Substraten im Alt-Indischen. Manfred Mayrhofer. Archiv
Orientalni.1950

Besides the Dravidians and Austro-Asiatics, certain primitive tribes
of mixed blood and considerable Negrito admixture also seem to have
been absorbed as Śūdras. Ancient Hindu literature knows of a people
known as Niṣādas who were equaled to Śūdras. The Kauṣitaki
Brāhmana for instance makes mention of a Naiṣāda, Vaiśya, Kṣatriya
and Brāhman where in the sequence of varnas from the lowest to the
highest, the Naiṣāda takes the place of the Śūdra. Further, Manu states
that the son of a Brāhman father and a Śūdra mother is a Niṣāda, the
son taking the status of the mother, suggesting again that Śūdra was
synonymous with Niṣāda.
Now, who were these Niṣādas ? Hindu literature gives us some clues.
The Mahābhārata describes a Niṣāda prince Ekalavya as of dark hue,
and having matted locks on his head. The MBh also states that Niṣida,
the ancestor of the Niṣāda was short-limbed, resembled a charred brand
and had blood-red eyes and black hair. The Viṣnupurāna states that he
had a complexion like that of a charred stake, flattened features, and a
dwarfish stature, while the Bhāgavata Purāna describes him as being
black as a crow, of short stature, arms and legs, with high cheek bones,
a broad and flat nose, red eyes and tawny hair. These various
descriptions, though rather disparate in certain particulars are clear on
certain points such as black complexion, flat nose and short stature,
features still borne by some primitive tribes of India such as the Bhils
whom literary sources indicates are the descendants of the ancient
Niṣādas. The commentator Mahidhara for instance explains Niṣāda in
the Vājasaneyisamhitā as meaning a Bhil, and the typical Bhil we know
is described as “Small, dark, broad-nosed and ugly” 10
.
It would therefore appear that the Śūdras were drawn from various
non-Aryan populations of the subcontinent in different localities and at
different times before being eventually subsumed under the Śūdra
varna. Although this Śūdra varna could never aspire to become an Ārya
varna, there are instances in the early literature to show that the varnas
of the Aryans were at times nebulous, so that there are instances of
members of one Ārya varna changing over to another. For instance,
purānas such as Vāyu, Matsya and Hariva śa know of instances of
Kṣatriyas becoming Brāhmaṇas while there exists evidence in the
Brahma Purana and Hariva śa to show that Vaiśyas could also become
10
See for instance The Rajputana Gazetteer (1908)

Brāhmaṇas. Thus it is evident that even in the time of the early purānas,
caste barriers were not as rigid as in later times.
Furthermore, there is evidence to show that kindred Indo-European or
perhaps other Aryan-speaking peoples outside the pale of the Vedic
Brāhmaṇical fold, especially those in the eastern regions such as
Magadha, were gradually absorbed into the Vedic fold by means of the
Vrātyastoma ceremony which sought to secure to the Vratyas or those
Indo-European or Aryan peoples outside the Vedic fold the rights and
privileges of the twice-born castes, namely the Brāhmaṇs, Kṣatriyas
and Vaiśyas as evident from the Tānḍya-Pañcavi śa Brāhmaṇa of the
Sāma Veda and the Lātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra, the latter of which clearly
states that the Vrātyastoma transformed the Vrātyas into dvijas (i.e the
three Aryan or twice-born castes). The Vrātyastomas however appear
to have become obsolete fairly early, for we hear of no such ceremony
in later literature. At any rate, the process seems to have been
completed by about the early centuries of the Christian era.
As to who these Vrātyas were, we could infer from available literary
evidence such as gathered from the Pancavi sa Brāhmaṇa that they
had a different speech characterized by peculiarities not found in the
Vedic Aryan speech, perhaps an aversion to the r sound and conjunct
consonants so characteristic of Vedic Sanskrit. As for their physical
type, it is likely that unlike the Vedic Aryans who were dolicocephalic
or long-headed Nordics, these Vratyas derived from a brachycephalic
or broad-headed Alpine stock that seems to have evolved in Central
Asia many millennia ago. That they were a fair-skinned, narrow-nosed
people who had derived from the Proto-Indo-European community
there can be little doubt. Their speech too appears to have been Aryan
or at any rate Indo-European which along with their fair colour and
certain aspects of their social and cultural life would indicate why the
Vrātyastoma was extended to them. Thus it is likely that the Arhants or
priestly class of the Vrātyas were absorbed as Brāhmaṇs while the
Yaudhas or ruling warrior class were absorbed as Kṣatriyas and the
common masses as Vaiśyas. It is little doubt these Vrātyas who
eventually went on to give rise to the modern Bengali castes such as the
Bengali Brāhmaṇ, Kāyastha, Sadgop and Goala as well as the Nāgar

Brāhmaṇs of Gujarat, all of whom are brachycephalic or show a
marked tendency towards brachycephaly 11
.
This same brachycephalic stock also seems to have found its way to
Sri Lanka by about the middle part of the first millennium B.C. leading
to the establishment in the island of the Indo-Aryan-speaking Sinhalese
nation whose ancestors ancient chronicles such as the Mahāva sa state
hailed from the Lāla country or West Bengal, a contention borne out by
anthropometric and linguistic evidence. The predominant Sinhalese
caste in the island, the Govi who constitute over 50 percent of the
Sinhalese population and are representative of the early Sinhalese
settlers in the island have preserved this trait to a certain extent, despite
intermarriage with the dolichocephalic aborigines of the island, the
Veddas12
.
11
The fact that castes such as the Kāyasthas and Nāgar Brāhmaṇs appear to represent a
curious blend of Brāhmaṇic and non-Brāhmaṇic elements also suggests that these were
sprung from the Vrātyas who at the time of the Vrātyatoma we may suppose were
absorbed as different Aryan varnas depending on their social status at the time. For
instance, the Nāgar Brāhmaṇ sarman (family name) Deva (Bengali Deb) is a name suffix
of Brāhmaṇs while Varman (Bengali Barma) is that of Kṣatriyas and Datta and Gupta
those of Vaiśyas (see Foreign elements in the Hindu Population. D.R.Bhandarkar. I A.
1911)
12
See Zeylanica. A Study of the Peoples and Languages of Sri Lanka. Asiff Hussein
(2009)

CHAPTER 1
Caste among the Sinhalese
Casteism among the Sinhalese does not ever appear to have been as
rigid as in Hindu India. This is very probably due to the benign
influence of Buddhism which has since at least the 3rd
century B.C.
exerted a considerable influence on Sinhalese society as a whole,
though at the same time one cannot deny the fact that many of the
tenets of the faith have been misused to justify the existence of caste
strictures and so perpetuate the existing social order with its various
restrictions on the free exercise of certain civil liberties.
Casteism in Sinhalese society very likely had its origins with the
Aryan invasion of Sri Lanka about the 5th
century B.C. when a group of
Aryan-speaking migrants who hailed from West Bengal vanquished the
country’s aboriginal inhabitants and established permanent settlements
here. According to an ancient Sinhalese chronicle, the Mahāva sa
compiled C.5th
century A.C., the Sinhalese race was founded by Prince
Vijaya and his 700 compatriots who having been banished from their
homeland, the Lāḷa country or West Bengal, landed upon the shores of
La kā at about the same time of the death of the Buddha which is
variously assigned to the 6th
-4th
centuries B.C.
These early Aryan settlers were very probably Hindus as there is
nothing in the MV to suggest that they were Buddhists at the time and
this is further corroborated by the statement in the chronicle that
Buddhism was introduced among the Sinhalese only during the reign of
King Devanampiya Tissa, a contemporary of Emperor Asoka of India
who reigned C. 3rd
century B.C. As such these early settlers would have
adhered to the four-fold caturvarna system that characterized Indian
society at the time, though at the same time there is reason to believe
that distinct inter-marrying occupational groups, albeit under the
caturvarna scheme, had already arisen or arose shortly afterwards.
That the ancient Sinhalese had an idea of the caturvarna scheme is
suggested by the sequel to the MV, the Cūlava sa, which tells us that
General Āyasmanta who administered the government during the reign
of Queen Kalyānavatī (early 13th
century) “scrupulously separated the
four varnas (catubbana) who had become impure through mixture”.
The Gaḍalādeniya rock inscription of the reign of King Bhuvanekabāhu

IV (14th
century) similarly refers to ‘high and low folk such as
Kṣatriyas, Brāhmaṇas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras’. We similarly have the 13th
century Pūjāvaliya authored by Mayurapada Buddhaputra mentioning
the four castes of Raja, Govi, Bamunu and Velaňda.
As to the origins of these groups, we have literary evidence to show
that some originated with the Vijayan migration while other groups
migrated afterwards. We learn from the MV that Vijaya himself was a
Kṣatriya as he declined consecration as king without a Kṣatriya maiden
(khattiya-kañña) as his consort. The Janava sa, a C.15th
century
account of the various Sinhalese castes by Buddha-Rakhita 13
traces the
origins of the Govi and Vahumpura to Vijaya’s followers and the
origins of the various service castes such as the Hannāli, Radavā and
Ämbättayō to occupational groups obtained by Vijaya from the
Pandyan country (Pāndi ra a) of South India. This work probably
reflects the prevailing views as to the origins of the early Sinhalese
castes and on the whole may be taken as reliable.
Although we have no means of ascertaining the exact status of these
caste groups in those early days, later writers do give us schemes where
castes are assigned a particular rank in the social hierarchy. Robert
Knox14
who deals with the Sinhalese social system of the upcountry,
mentions the following castes as preceding one another : Firstly, the
Hondrews or Govi ; Secondly, Artisans such as Goldsmiths,
Blacksmiths, Carpenters and Painters ; Thirdly, Barbers ; Fourthly
Potters ; Fifthly Raddaughs or Washers ; Sixthly, Hungrams or
Jaggery-makers ; Seventhly, Poddas ; Eighthly, Weavers ; Ninthly,
Kiddeas or Basket-makers ; tenthly, Kinnerahs, followed by the
Couratto or Elephant-men and the Roudeahs or Beggers.
James Cordiner 15
who enumerates nineteen distinct Sinhalese castes,
says that “the first or highest cast” is that of the handerooas “who
follow the occupation of agriculture” followed by the Gopelooas or
“keepers of cattle”. The third, he says, are the Carawas or “fishers”,
and the fourth Doorawas or “drawers of toddy”, the fifth, the
13
See The Janawansa. Ed. & Trans. Hugh Nevill. The Taprobanian.Feb.1886
14
Historical Relation of Ceylon (1681)
15
A Description of Ceylon (1807)

Cambooas or “mechanics” such as carpenters, goldsmiths, and sixth,
the Somerooas or “tanners”; seventh Coombelooas or potters, eighth
Radewas or washers; ninth Chalias or “cinnamon peelers”, tenth,
Jagherers or “porters”, eleventh, Hirawas or “sieve makers” ; twelfth,
Pannikias or barbers; thirteenth Hoonas or “lime-burners”, fourteenth,
Berawayas or “drummers”, fifteenth, Olias “makers of charcoal”,
sixteenth, Padooas “palaquin bearers”; seventeenth, Kinereeas
“weavers of matts” ; eighteenth, Gahalegan Badeas “executioners” and
nineteenth, Rodi or “persons who touch and eat dead animals”.
We find in these notices, the absence of any mention of the varnas.
However, this does not mean that the varna scheme was absent or had
been discarded by the Sinhalese, for we have evidence to the contrary,
showing that these caste groups were subsumed under one varna or
another. For instance, we have John Davy 16
listing the Goewanse
(cultivators) and Nillemakereya (shepherds) as belonging to the
Wiessia Wanse (i.e.Vaiśyas). He gives as belonging to the Kshoodra
Wanse (Śūdras) a variety of castes including not only the service castes
such as the Rada (washermen), Hannāli (tailors), Badahela (potters) and
Ambattea (barbers), but also the Carawe, Chandos, Halee, Paduas,
Hakooro, Pannayo, Paḷḷaroo, Kinnera, Villedurai and Dodda Weddahs.
For ‘out-castes’ he gives Gattaroo and Rhodees.
What all this shows is that the Sinhalese of old (particularly the more
learned sections such as the clerical establishment who served as the
repository of ancient knowledge) did preserve a memory of the four-
fold varna scheme, though the strict application of such a scheme
would have been somewhat attenuated by the absence of a strong
religious sanction for perpetuating it as in the case of the Hindus, the
Sinhalese being for the most part a Buddhist people to whom the strict
tenets of Hinduism regarding the caste hierarchy did not apply in a
religious sense.
In more recent times, beginning from about the latter part of the
nineteenth century or the early part of the twentieth century, we find
that the emphasis on varna classification had considerably declined or
had altogether died out, so much so that Bryce Ryan could observe in
his Caste in Modern Ceylon (1953) that “The Sinhalese in modern
times have recognized no Brahmin peoples, nor K atriya, and have
16
An Account of the Interior of Ceylon (1821)

been scarcely conversant with such concepts as Vaiśya and Śūdra. The
conventional fourfold hierarchy would appear to be but a memory of
the ancient past”. He however also notes that there is some basis for
believing that Sinhalese caste “rather than being a pale expression of a
classical, rigidly defined hierarchy of ancient times, is instead the
modern expression of a primitive Indian system”.
What is however interesting is that although modern Sinhalese
society in general has not formally recognized the caturvarna scheme,
the educated elite of various caste groups, had, by about the early part
of the twentieth century begun to claim a status based on such a
scheme, prompted largely by an increased awareness of caste identity
as a result of upward social mobility facilitated by colonial policy and a
new found fascination for the old Indian worldview with its emphasis
on Aryan supremacy.
Surprisingly such claims were not made by the traditionally
predominant caste, the Govigama, whose educated elite would not have
dared to claim a status higher than that of Vaiśya, the third ranking in
the varna scheme of things, but by those who had thus far been
considered lower on the social scale, including the Karāva, Durāva and
Vahumpura, all of whom claimed Kṣatriya status, and the Salāgama
who claimed Brāhmaṇ status. This is not to say that such claims are
without any basis, for there is evidence to show that much of it does
have a basis that in the least could be regarded as tenable. We will now
proceed to deal with the various Sinhalese caste groups that have
inhabited Sri Lanka from ancient times, beginning with the two primary
varnas, the Brāhmaṇs and Kṣatriyas.
The Brāhma s
The Brāhmaṇs of ancient and mediaeval Lanka seem to have figured
prominently in the social, cultural and religious life of olden day
Sinhalese society. They benefited considerably from the munificence of
royalty, who though Buddhists, regarded them with great deference.
Besides serving as chaplains, they also held a number of other
important posts.
The ancient Brahmi inscriptions in Sinhala Prakrit assigned to C.3rd
century B.C.-1st
century A.C. refer to no less than 18 Brāhmaṇs. These
Brāhmaṇs or Bamaṇa as they are called in the inscriptions are said to

have donated caves such as at Haňdagala, Maňdagala and Piccanḍiyāva
to the Sangha (Buddhist clergy). This suggests that these Brāhmaṇs
were either supportive of Buddhism or would have embraced it while at
the same time retaining their traditional title as Brāhmaṇs. One
Brāhmaṇ, Gobuti was evidently very close to the reigning monarch of
the time as seen in the following inscription at Piccanḍiyāva:
Maharajhaśa Devanapiyaśa Gamini-Tiśaśa vejha Bama a Gobutiya
lene śagaśa (The cave of the Brāhmaṇ Gobuti, physician of the great
King Gamini Tisa is given to the Sangha). The same Brāhmaṇ is also
called a teacher (aciriya) of the great King.
The occurrence of these inscriptions referring to Brāhmaṇs who had
donated caves in different parts of the island, from Rohana and the
Malaya country as well as from districts close to the Capital
Anuradhapura suggest that they were a widely dispersed group. The
names borne by these Brāhmaṇs were typically Indo-Aryan. These
included names such as Tiśa, Śuma, Vaca, Gotama, Vaśakani, Puśaka,
Kośika, Megali and Siha. Many of these suggest a Brāhmaṇical clan
nomenclature. For instance Kosika (Skt.Kauśika), the name of the gotra
to which Viśvamitra belonged. Ati-Mataka seems to have been so-
called as his mother was of the Atreya-gotra, another Brāhmaṇ gotra
that had produced some well known sages. Vaśakani probably stood for
the Vārṣaganya gotra while the son of Vaśakani, Somadeva bore a
name very appropriate for a Brāhmaṇ. Gotama is the name of a gotra in
which was born the famous Kapila and it is said that it was the name of
this Brāhmaṇ gotra that was adopted by the Kṣatriya clan of Sakyas in
which the Buddha was born 17
.
The Brāhmaṇs also figure prominently in the MV, particularly during
the reigns of the early kings such as Paṇḍuvāsudeva (C.5th
century
B.C). The chronicle tells us that the king’s daughter, Princess Cittā, was
confined to a tower in order to prevent her having intercourse with a
male, as the Brāhmaṇs had predicted that the son born to her would kill
his uncles for the sake of sovereignty. Cittā’s son Paṇḍukābhaya
secretly sired by Prince Dīghagāmani, eventually killed eight of his
uncles and obtained sovereignty over the entire country, resulting in the
fulfillment of the prophesy. This would imply that the Brāhmaṇs of
ancient Sri Lanka had earned a reputation as soothsayers and
practitioners of astrology.The MV also tells us that a rich Brāhmaṇ
17
See Inscriptions of Ceylon. S.Paranavitana (1970)

named Paṇḍula, well versed in the Vedas and residing in the south,
helped Paṇḍukābhaya, then a rebel prince, with money for the purpose
of enrolling soldiers in his campaign to oust his uncles. Paṇḍula’s son
Canda subsequently held the office of chaplain under Paṇḍukābhaya.
Even in later times, well after the Sinhalese had embraced Buddhism
around the 3rd
century B.C., we find the Brāhmaṇs being paid great
consideration, especially by royalty. Particularly interesting is the
statement in the MV that Emperor Asoka of India assigned for the
protection of the Bodhi Tree eight persons from Brāhmaṇ families,
suggesting that even this staunch Buddhist monarch thought it fit to
involve the Brāhmaṇs in religious rituals to protect the tree. This was
also true of Sinhalese royalty who despite being Buddhists seem to
have looked upon Brāhmaṇs as men of great learning and religious
devotion who were well suited for the conduct of Brāhmaṇical rites
from whose hold they could not extricate themselves. As such they
came to play an important role in court life and ritual. The CV for
instance has it that Prince Mānābharaṇa had Brāhmaṇical rites such as
the Homa sacrifice performed by the house priest and other Brāhmaṇas
versed in the Veda and Vedangas upon learning that his queen was
about to give birth to a son. The work also states that the Prince
summoned those Brāhmaṇas versed in the lore of body marks, and
charged them with the determination of the body marks of the boy,
whereupon they declared “Apart from the island of La kā he is able to
unite under one umbrella and to rule even the whole of Jambudīpa”.
These Brāhmaṇs seem to have been well treated and bestowed with
numerous gifts by royalty. Thus the CV tells us that King Mahinda II
(8th
century) gave the Brāhmaṇas delicious foods such as the king
receives and milk with sugar to drink in golden goblets. The Oruvala
Sannasa of the village of Oruvaḷa in the Hēvāgam Kōralē (15th
century)
records the grant of land to two Brāhmaṇs (Bamu u) named Potā
Ojjhalun and Avunhaḷa Ojjhalun of the Śāňḍīḷya gōtra who served as
purōhitas or chief chaplains in the court of Parākrama Bāhu VI. The
Elamalpē Sannasa (16th
century) likewise records the grant of a village
known as Elamalpē in the Sabaragamuva Province to a Brāhmaṇ
named Elasamunu Brāhmaṇa from the Uttrabadda dēsa.
Many such Brāhmaṇs would have later embraced Buddhism, thus
facilitating their absorbtion into Sinhalese society. The Mātale Kadaim
Pota compiled by Niyerepola Alahakon makes mention of several

Brāhmaṇs who having arrived with the sacred Bodhi tree settled in the
Matale area including Śrī Viṣṇu Brāhmaṇarāla of Aluvihāra, Sola ga
Śrī Brāhmaṇarāla of Hula gamuva and Śrī Danta Brāhmaṇarāla of
Monaruvila. The fact that these Brāhmaṇs arrived with the Bodhi tree
would suggest that they arrived here to perform some religious rituals
in connection with this object of veneration to Buddhists, and that they
themselves would have embraced Buddhism. We also find that
Moratoṭa Dhammakkhanda, the chief monk of the Malvatta Vihāra
from 1787-1811 is said to have been of Brāhmaṇ ancestry, being the 7th
descendant of a Brāhmaṇ named Bālakṛṣna 18
.
There is considerable evidence to show that many of these Brāhmaṇs
merged into the Govi caste. For instance we find the composer of a
poem known as Devidat Katāva stating in the introductory verses to be
Karagahagedara Vanijasūriya Mudiyanse, whose family, once
Brāhmaṇs, had become of Govi caste 19
. Likewise we find that the well
known Bandaranaike family, traditionally considered as Govi, is
descended from a 15th
century personage named Nīlaperumāl, a
grandson of the Brāhmaṇ Ārya Kāmadēva who was given the title of
Baṇḍaranāyaka by King Sri Parākramabāhu VI who served as high
priest of Saman Devale in Sabaragamuva Province 20
. In 1631, King
Senarat is said to have given lands to one Bamunu Mudali for loyal
service 21
, the title Mudali suggesting a title of the Govi. Although the
title would have been given due to prevalent usage, for high ranking
officials, it is possible that with time such a title would have prompted
the Govi aristocracy to look upon him or his offspring as of theirs.
Evidence from the Dutch registers of the local populace known as the
tombos (C.1760-1770) also indicate that the Brāhmaṇs had been
absorbed into the Govi fold. For instance we find Bammoenoeatjege
Lokoe Appoe and Bammoena Atjege Don Pasqual given as Bell(ale) a
common term the Dutch employed for the Govi 22
. We also come
18
See Moratoṭa Vata. Charles De Silva (1959)
19
See Sinhala Verse. Hugh Nevill (1954)
20
See Saparagamuvē pärani liyavili. Kiriälle Jnānavimala (1946)
21
HMC.III. 1951
22
SLNA 1/3728 and 1/3846

across Bammoenoege Nainde Samy who is likewise given as Bell (ale)
23
. One also finds mention of a Brammenege Poentie Appoe who is
given as Bell (ale) 24
. Moreover, Govi folk with the patronymic ge-
name Bamuṇugedara are found in the Kurunegala district and are
known to officiate at religious rites such as the Kaḍavara Ka kāriya 25
.
Modern-day Sinhalese ge-names like Bamuṇugē, Brāhmaṇagē,
Bamuṇu Āraccigē provide us with further evidence of Brāhmaṇ
assimilation into Sinhalese society.
Villages largely if not entirely peopled by Brāhmaṇs were also known
in the olden days. The 14th
century Saddharmalankāraya of Dharmakīrti
mentions a Brāhmaṇ from a Brāhmaṇ village named Dikhuna in
Gonagama (gō agama dikhuna nam bamu ugama bamu aku) in the
days of King Kāvantissa (C.2nd
century BC). Among the place names
which recall Brāhmaṇ settlements are Brāhmaṇagama (Brāhmaṇ
village) found in both the Western and North Western Provinces and
Brāhmaṇayagama (Brāhmaṇ’s village) of which there are three in the
North Western Province and one in the Southern Province. Among the
other place names indicative of a former Brāhmaṇ settlement are
Bamuṇugama (Brāhmaṇ village) of which there are no less than ten in
the North Western Province, two in the North Central Province, one in
the Southern Province in the Matara District and one in Gandolaha
Pattuva of Beligal Korale in Kegalle District of the Sabaragamuva
Province; Bamuṇākoṭuva (Brāhmaṇ Fort) of which there are two in the
North Western Province, near Variyapola in the Kurunegala District
and in the Däduru Oya area; Bamuṇumulla (Brāhmaṇ quarter), of
which there is one each in the Southern, Western and North Western
Provinces; Bamuṇugedara (Brāhmaṇ house) of which there are three in
the North Western Province. Other place names that seem to have been
associated with Brāhmaṇs include Bamuṇuvala (Brāhmaṇ pit) in the
North Western Province, Bamuṇagammāna (Brāhmaṇ village) in the
Sabaragamuva Province and Bämiṇigalla (Rock of the She-Brāhmaṇ)
in Anukkane in Kuliyāpiṭiya.
23
SLNA 1/3734
24
SLNA 1/3738
25
See Demaḷa hat pattuvē ädahili viśvāsa hā śāntikarma. Mudiyanse Dissanayake (1996)

What all this suggests is that the highest concentration of Brāhmaṇs
in former times was in the North Western Province and it is quite
possible that the lineal descendants of these Brāhmaṇs of yore are still
found in this region, though nevertheless assimilated with surrounding
Sinhalese communities.
That the Brāhmaṇs who had made Sri Lanka their home were a fair-
skinned folk who had preserved their typical Aryan features is borne
out by a traditional Sinhala saying kalu bamu at sudu parayat viśvāsa
karanna epā (Never trust a black Brāhmaṇ or a white Pariah), impying
that a dark-complexioned Brāhmaṇ was an oddity as they were usually
fair-complexioned and that a dark-skinned one among them was
something in the nature of a prodigy and therefore to be avoided 26
.
The K atriyas
The Kṣatriya presence in Sri Lanka is as old as the legendary Vijaya
who himself was a Kṣatriya as suggested by literary evidence. The MV
clearly implies that Vijaya, the founder of the Sinhalese nation, was a
Kṣatriya as he declined consecration as king without a Kṣatriya maiden
(khattiya kañña)) as his consort. Vijaya’s previous union with a native
Yakkhini (probably aboriginal Vedda woman) had produced two
children, a son and a daughter, but he repudiated them for a Kṣatriya
princess from the Pāndya country of South India, a reprehensible deed
no doubt, but one nevertheless intended to establish a truly Aryan
polity in the island.
Although Vijaya died heirless, he was succeeded by his nephew
Paṇḍuvāsudeva, the son of his brother Sumitta, who arrived in the
country with 32 followers from Sīhapura, a city in the Lāḷa country
established by Vijaya’s father Sīhabāhu. Paṇḍuvāsudeva having
espoused a Sākya princess from India named Bhaddakaccānā reigned
for several years before being succeeded by his son Abhaya and his
daughter’s son through a Sākya prince – Paṇḍukābhaya, thus
establishing the Sinhalese royal line.
The Sinhalese chronicles as well as lithic inscriptions constantly
ascribe Kṣatriya descent to Sinhalese royalty. The MV calls
Paṇḍuvāsudeva, the nephew of Vijaya, and his grandson Paṇḍukābhaya
26
See Dictionary of Proverbs of the Sinhalese. John M.Senaveratna (1936)

Kṣatriyas. The other monarchs whom it specifically calls Kṣatriyas
include King Uttiya, the brother of Devanampiya Tissa, and
Duṭṭhagāmani. In 10th
century inscriptions , kings like Kassapa IV and
Dappula IV are called the pinnacle of the Kṣatriya clans (kät-kula-kot).
Kings such as Kassapa V and Udaya III (both of the 10th
century) even
boast of having made the other Kṣatriya clans their vassals (an kät-kula
pāmili ka a). The Dambulla rock inscription of King Niśśa ka Malla
(12th
century) states that the king is lord by lineal descent from the
lords of the soil of the island of Lanka who were descended from the
race of King Vijaya, that threw into shade the other Kṣatriya races of
India, and that made Lanka a habitation for man by extirpating the
Yaksas (Dambadivuhi an kät-kula pāmili ka a yak a pra aya ko ä
la kāva manu yāvāsa ka a vijaya rāja paramparāyen ā lak-div-
po oyon-parapuren himi).
These Kṣatriyas were by no means a pure race as some of them seem
to have intermarried with aboriginal or non- Aryan women, begetting
dark-skinned offspring who were nevertheless considered Kṣatriyas.
Kākavaṇṇatissa, son of Goṭhābhaya is called a Kṣatriya in the MV,
despite the fact that he was of dark complexion as indicated by his
epithet, Kākavaṇṇa or ‘crow-coloured’. The MV also has it that a
nigantha named Giri called King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi, a nephew of
Duṭṭhagāmaṇi and a Kṣatriya ‘the great black Sinhalese’
(mahākālasīha o).
The majority of the royal clans that ruled ancient and mediaeval Sri
Lanka, viz. the Kāli ga, Lambakaṇṇa and Moriya dynasties, claimed
to be of the Sūrya-va sa (Solar dynasty) 27
, though intermarriage with
the Candra-va sa (Lunar dynasty) 28
- the clan to which the royal
family of the Panḍus belonged –were a frequent occurrence, beginning
from the time of the legendary Vijaya 29
.
27
The Sūrya-va sa were originally based in North India, in strongholds such as Ayodhya
(Oudh) as attested in the Rāmāyana. The dynasty traced its origins to the legendary
Ikṣvāku, the eldest son of Manu and the first king of Ayodhya.
28
The Candra-va sa also seem to have been originally based in North India, in
strongholds such as Hastināpura (Delhi) as evident in the Mahābhārata. An offshoot of
this dynasty appears to have invaded South India C.800 – 600 B.C. giving rise to the
Pandyan kingdom in the extreme south. The dynasty traced its origins to Purūravas.
29
For instance, in the CV we have queen Ratanāvali who is described as an ornament of
the Solar dynasty telling the powerful Sirivallabha who was keen that her daughter Mitta

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The Kṣatriyas of ancient and mediaeval Lanka evidently never
encompassed a substantial number of inhabitants and as we shall see
eventually died out or were absorbed into the higher castes, particularly
into the higher rungs of the Govi such as the Baṇḍāra and the Radaḷa.
In the early days however, they played a very important role in the
army, in pioneering colonization and in the administration of the
country.
With the passage of time and especially as a result of recurrent
Dravidian invasions and western colonialism, the Kṣatriyas gradually
declined, eventually being absorbed into the Govi fold. There is
considerable evidence to show that members of the royal family
including kings and princes cohabited with women of the Govi caste.
These women who served as concubines of the rulers were known as
yaka a-dōli (iron palanquin) in contrast to the queen consorts of equal
royal status who were known as ran-dōli (golden palanqin). For
instance, King Narendra Si ha is said to have had a son, Unambuve
Baṇḍāra from a relationship with a Govi woman of the famous
Unambuve family. Indeed, the Unambuve family is said to have
intermarried with royalty from the time of Vijayabāhu III in the 13th
century 30
.
It is also probable that not only the reigning monarchs, but also their
brothers, cousins and other princes of the royal house wed or cohabited
with Govi women drawn from families such as the Unambuves of
Udapalata, Dunuvilas of Harispattuva and Rambukwellas of Uda
Dumbara 31
thus giving rise to the Bandara sub-caste of the Govi. This
is supported by the Mandārampura Puvata (C.17th
century) which has it
that the Baṇḍāravali became powerful due to the intermixture of kings
of the Sūriyava sa with Brāhmana and Gahapati families (āriya
bamunu gahapati kula maha sāra, sūriya va sa rajakula musa viya).
The Radaḷa, another important sub-caste of the Govi who
constituted the aristocracy of Kandyan society also seem to have had a
considerable infusion of Kṣatriya blood, for the very term appears to
have derived from the Sanskrit Rāja-kula or ‘Royal-clan’. Epigraphic
30
Unambuve parapura, a manuscript written around the 16th
or 17th
century and found by
Hugh Nevill in the village of Unambuve (BMOM 6605)
31
See Family genealogies in the study of pre-colonial Kandyan society and Polity.
K.P.Vimaladharma. JRAASL. 2000

evidence such as the Vessagiri inscription assigned to the reign of
Mahinda IV (10th
century) knows them as rad-kol-sam-daruvan (lit.
children or descendants of lords of royal lineage). Finally we come
across the rare ge-name Kattrigē borne by some Govi folk in the olden
days and perhaps even today which suggests a Kṣatriya connection. For
instance in the Dutch tombos dealing with the Kalutara District and
Salpiti Korale we come across Cattrige Don Joan who is given as
Bellale and Kattriatjege Don Joan who is likewise described as bell
(ala)32
. Another Govi name suggesting a princely connection is
Kumāragē (House of the Prince) which is attested in the Dutch records,
where for instance we find one Kumarege Don Phillippoe 33
.
All this would suggest that the Kṣatriyas of old had ceased to exist as a
distinct caste due to political changes brought about as a result of
Dravidian invasions and western colonialism among other factors, and
that the remnants of those who had managed to survive, through
intermarriage with high-born women of the Govi caste, were able to
constitute themselves as the dominant elite of this group, which due to
its numerical strength was on the ascendancy and emerging as a
formidable force to be reckoned with by all concerned. The role of the
Radaḷa as kingmakers as was seen in Kandyan times clearly bear this
out.
The Govigama
The Govigama who constitute the predominant Sinhalese caste of the
country are by no means a homogeneous group, but rather formed out
of the assimilation of various groups of people who arrived from the
subcontinent at different periods of time beginning with the early
Vaiśya settlers who arrived with the Vijayan migration C.6th
-5th
century
B.C.
Although we have no early records to show that this was indeed the
case, later records certainly testify to it. For instance we have the
Janava sa of Buddha-Rakhita (C.15th
century) tracing the origins of
the Govi to Vijaya’s followers. The work has it that Vijaya appointed
for cultivation those possessed of skill, energy and strength from
32
SLNA 1/3728
33
SLNA 1/ 3761

among the seven hundred heroes who reached Lakdiva with him. This
is supported by Davy (1821) who records that the Sinhalese maintain
that “their island was colonized from the eastward about 2363 years
ago” and that “the first settlers, with the exception of their leader of
royal descent, were of the Goewanse”.
The appellation Govi is probably derived from the Prakritic Gahapati
which literally means ‘householder’ 34
. We find in the 13th
century
Saddharma-Ratnāvaliya of Dharmasena, the Pali term gahapati being
rendered as Govi (gahapatika = Govi kulehi upan tänättō). Gahapati
occurs in ancient Pali literature as the third ranking caste after the
Khattiya and Brāhmaṇa and appears to have been synonymous with the
Vessakula i.e. Vaiśya. This is also supported by the fact that the
Govigama have been traditionally subsumed under the Vaiśya varna
which is the third ranking Aryan caste after the Brāhmaṇ and Kṣatriya.
For instance we find Davy (1821) giving the Goewanse (cultivators) as
belonging to the Wiessia Wanse (Vaiśya va sa). The traditional
occupation of the caste as cultivators 35
also suggests a Vaiśya origin.
Thus it would appear that it were the Vaiśya ancestors of the
Govigama who were largely representative of the early Sinhala-
speaking Aryan element that introduced the Sinhala language and
Sinhalese culture and civilization to the island. In fact, available
evidence would suggest that the ethnic term Sinhala was originally
applied to the early Kṣatriyas who ruled the island as well as to the
Govigama and not the other Sinhalese castes such as the Karāva,
Durāva or Salāgama.
34
As noted by Paranavitana (1970) the word gahapati in the local context appears to have
been specialized to denote the Vaiśya caste “for govi, now in use to designate the class
corresponding to the Vaiśya, is derived from gahapati”.
35
So much so that today the term Govi is synonymous with farmer. The term goviyā
denotes a farmer irrespective of caste or nationality. It would seem from the 13th
century
Pūjāvaliya that the appellation govi had already acquired the meaning of farmer as seen in
the expression govihu nam nikam hidina davasak näta (There is not a day when farmers
do nothing). We also find the 14th
century Saddharmālankāraya referring to farming as
govitän. The more specific term used to denote the caste is Govigama where the suffix –
gama, a derivative from the Old Indo-Aryan grāma seems to have retained the original
sense of ‘horde’, ‘multitude’ and not village as is commonly understood in modern
Sinhala. The caste is also known as Goyi or Goyigama, obviously a corruption of Govi or
Govigama.

According to the MV, all those who are connected with Sīhabāhu, the
father of Vijaya who captured his leonine father are called Sīhaḷa 36
.
The commentary of the MV, the Va sattappakāsini elaborates on this
further when it states that the 700 members of Vijaya’s retinue and all
their descendants “up to the present day” are called Sīhaḷas because of
the association with the prince called Sīhaḷa, who is evidently Sīhabāhu
as he had caught the lion (sīha gahitva iti). As such the appellation
would have applied to the early Kṣatriya rulers of the Sinhalese as well
as to their Vaiśya subjects who formed the vanguard of the early Aryan
colonization of the island. As seen earlier, the JV traces the origins of
the Govi to Vijaya’s followers whom we can reliably infer from the VP
were also called Sīhaḷa on account of their association with Sīhaḷa or
Sīhabāhu.
This is also supported by the fact that the Veddas, the country’s
aboriginal inhabitants have traditionally applied the ethnic term
Sinhalese solely to the Govi caste. Says Hugh Nevill 37
: “Vaeddas
apply the name Sinhalese, in the form Singala, to the Goyiya caste
alone”. Physical anthropology also suggests that the Govi originally
hailed from Bengal and that despite substantial admixture with the
aboriginal Veddas they have managed to retain to a great extent their
original physical characters including a tendency towards
brachycephaly or broad-headedness 38
and relatively fair skin 39
, an
inheritance probably from an Indo-European-speaking Alpine stock of
36
The term appears to have literally meant ‘(one who) seized the lion’, a compound
formed from the Old Sinhala * si-ha a where si meant ‘lion’ (Skt.si ha, P.sīha) and
ha a ‘seized’ (Skt.hrta, P.ha a). Such a term however could have also denoted ‘lion-
heart’ (si-ha a) in Old Sinhala.
37
Notes and Queries. The Taprobanian. Dec.1885
38
See Hussein (2009)
39
Hugh Nevill in his contribution on the Vaeddas of Ceylon to the Taprobanian of April
1888 observed that the natural skin colour of the Govi Sinhalese was light. He pointed
out that “when a Sinhalese of Goyi race wears clothes from youth his body is usually very
light in colour, far lighter than his face and neck or hands. This proves that the natural
colour is light”. We also have Cordiner (1807) who observes: “The Cingalese, in general,
are of slender make and rather below the middle stature. Their limbs are slight but well
shaped: their features regular, as the same form as those of Europeans: and their colour
of various shades”. He adds: “Many of the higher classes of people who are not exposed
to the rays of the sun have complexions so extremely fair, that they seem lighter than the
brunetts of England”.

Bengal that had found its way to India’s northeast from Central Asia
and were absorbed as Aryans after undergoing the Vrātyastoma
ceremony 40
.
The Govi or rather their Gahapati antecedents evidently comprised an
important class in ancient Sinhalese society. A class known as Gapatis
(The Old Sinhala or Sinhala Prakrit equivalent of Pali Gahapati) figure
prominently in the country’s Brahmi inscriptions dated to C.3rd
century
B.C.-1st
century A.C. For instance, the son of a Gapati named Avirada,
Deva had even risen to the position of a chief (Parumaka). Others held
such positions as Dutaka (Diplomat) while yet others were engaged in
lesser occupations such as Manikara (Lapidary) and Naṭa (Actor or
Dancer).
Later mediaeval records indicate that the Govi had grown extremely
powerful and were regarded as a potential threat to Kṣatriya claims to
the Sinhalese throne. It was evidently such a development that led King
Nissanka-Malla in his Polonnaruva Slab Inscription to vehemently
denounce the aspirations of the Govi caste to the Sinhalese throne in
the following terms: “People of the Govi caste (Govi kulehi ättan)
should never aspire to the dignity of kingship (rāja-līlāva a no-pätuva
mänäva), for this would be like the crow (kākayā) aping the swan
(ha sa), or the donkey (ko aluvā) the Saindhava Steed (saindhavaya),
or the worm (gäň ahulā) the Cobra King (nāga-rājaya), or the firefly
(kanamandiri) the sun (sūryya), or the snipe (va u) the elephant
(hastīn), or the jackal (känahilā) the lion (si haya). However powerful
the people of the Govi caste may be (kese balavat vuva-da), they
should not be elected to rule the kingdom (rājyaya a balā no-gata
yuttāha)”.
The strong language used by the reigning monarch shows to what
extent the Govi caste were considered a threat to the claims of the
Kṣatriyas. By Kandyan times, beginning from about the 16th
century,
the Govi had established themselves as the most powerful caste in
Sinhalese society, even to the exclusion of the traditional Kṣatriyas
whom they seem to have absorbed, save for a very few members of the
ruling class.
40
See Hussein (2009)

Says Knox (1681): “The highest are their noblemen called
Hondrews, which I suppose comes from the word Hondrewne, a title
given to the King, signifying Majesty: these being honourable people.
‘Tis out of this sort alone, that the King chooseth his great officers and
whom he imploys in his Court and appoints for Governors over his
Countrey”. He also relates a Kandyan proverb: “Take a ploughman
from the plough, and wash off his dirt, and he is fit to rule a Kingdom”
and explains that it is spoken of “the people of Cande Uda, where there
are such eminent persons of the Hondrew rank”.
The term Hondrew used for the Govi by Knox is probably the same
as the Sinhala expression Hāmuduruvane which literally means
‘children of lords’, but generally conveys the meaning of ‘Honoured
Sir’. The term which is today an exalted honorific applied to a Buddhist
monk, is no longer applied to the Govigama or even their high sub-
caste Radaḷa, save perhaps by a very few regional groups where caste
consciousness still remains strong. The term hāmu which may well be a
shortened form of hāmuduruvane may still be used by servants when
addressing their Radaḷa masters though an earlier form hāmi as all but
died out 41
.
Another observer who refers to the high status of the Govi is Davy
(1821) who describes the Goewanse as being “raised by caste above
the rest of the people”. The Goewanse, he says, are a privileged people
and monopolise all the honours of church and state, and possess all the
hereditary rank in the country.
This is not to say that the Govigama were considered a homogeneous
whole or that all of its members were considered equal in status. There
did exist - and still exist- various sub-castes among the Govi, some of
them higher in status than others. Knox (1681) could identify only two
broad groups when he observed: “of these Hondrews, there be two
sorts, the one somewhat inferior to the other as touching marriage; but
not in other things”. These two broad groups mentioned by Knox were
little doubt the aristocrats comprising of the Bandara and Radaḷa and
the commonalty comprising of such sub-castes as the Mudali-pēruva,
Nilamakkāra, Patti-vala, Katupulle and Porovakāra.
41
One would notice in the Dutch Tombos of the 18th
century that names ending in hamy
such as Imeage Gelloe Hamy (SLNA 1/3737) invariably belong to the Govi. The term
has its origins in the Sanskritic svāmi ‘lord’.

A more detailed account is given by Francois Valentijn 42
who says
that among the Goy caste are different sorts, namely Bandares or
Adassing (Those who are at court as courtiers, counts or even princes
of the royal family), Maendellyperoe (Who become Modeljaars,
Adigars and Dessaves, though they are mostly in the militia) and
Goyperoe (Who are found both in the militia and as cultivators).
Ryan (1953) found several Govi sub-castes in the Kandyan areas,
though these ranged from high differentiation to non-existence. He
gives as Govi sub-castes Radaḷa, Mudali, Nilamakkāra, Paṭṭi and
Kaṭupulle and observes that the recognized Govi subgroups occur
mainly in areas surrounding the city of Kandy, long the seat of the
interior monarchs, who ruled even into the British period with their
feudal-caste system of organization. “Within a fifteen – or twenty-mile
radius of Kandy the subcastes are prevalent today, particularly toward
the north and east. They are found elsewhere, as in parts of
Sabaragamuwa and Uva, and in the north-central jungles, but they are
more the exception than the rule”. He notes that almost everywhere the
subcastes are found, there is a reluctance, except by the Radaḷa, to
admit a subcaste title even though it may be evident in the name of the
village itself or in the Gē-names of the people. However, as noted by
Ryan, the formal division of the cultivator caste is strictly a Kandyan
phenomenon. He observes: “Functionally the Kandyan system is
closely related to manorial feudalism, and status services abound. The
Low Country is remote from the feudal aspects of caste”. However this
does not mean that the Govi sub-castes did not exist in the low country.
They very probably did at least in the cases of the higher sub-castes
such as the Bandara and Mudali. However, sub-caste differentiation
seems to have been minimal when compared to Kandyan society due to
the socio-economic changes brought about as a result of colonial rule
beginning with the Portuguese in the 16th
century.
The highest sub-caste among the Govi were no doubt the Baṇḍāra,
the offspring of royalty by high-born Govi women of distinguished
families. The Baṇḍāras of Kandyan times who constituted the elite
among the nobility it is established were the offspring of royalty 43
42
Naamen der Inlandsche Bedienden Inde Dorpen op Ceylon in oud en Nieuw Oost-
Indien (1726)
43
Reigning monarchs, their brothers and cousins and perhaps even other princes of the
royal house.

through the Yakadadolis or non-Kṣatriya concubines drawn from such
families like the Rambukvellas of Uda Dumbara, Amunugamas of Pata
Dumbara, Mampitiyes of Udunuvara, Dunuvilas of Harispattuva,
Monaravilas of Matale and Unambuves of Udapalata who comprised
the native gentry 44
.
We find that even in earlier times, the Baṇḍāras were an influential
and powerful group though the power of some of these Baṇḍāras was
curtailed by King Vikramabāhu IV in the 14th
century, probably
because he feared their growing influence and power. According to the
Siḍuruvāna Kaḍaim-Pota, an account of the great Baṇḍāras who ruled
much of the present-day Kandy district during the Gampola period, the
Baṇḍāras were deprived of their umbrellas and shields and given
Mudali titles by Vikrama Bāhu. In other words, they ceased to be semi-
independent princes. However this does not mean that all Baṇḍāras of
old suffered a similar fate. Many no doubt thrived and it would appear
that by the 16th
century the term Baṇḍāra had come to denote the
royalty and nobility not only of the Kandyan Kingdom, but also of the
kingdoms of Kōṭṭe and Sītāvaka.
As for the appellation Baṇḍāra, it is likely that the term is derived
directly from the Sanskrit bhā āra meaning a ‘treasury’ so that a
person maintained out of treasury funds would be called a Baṇḍāra,
hence applying to the offspring of royalty. It is also possible however
that the appellation has its origins in the Malay Bendahāra or Javanese
Bendara ‘lord’ or ‘chief'’ used of higher ministers of state. For
instance, we have Mendez Pinto 45
stating: “There the Bandara of
Malacca who is as it were the Chief Justice among the Mahometans
was present in person”. Godinho de Eredia 46
refers to the native
Bendara of Malacca in charge of the government of the lower class of
subjects and foreigners. In the Divehi language of the Maldives the
term bandarāin meant ‘king’, ‘sultan’ 47
. Interestingly we also have
44
See Vimaladharma (2000)
45
Peregrinação (1614)
46
Malaca, L’Inde Meridionale et le Cathay (1882)
47
See A Concise Etymological Vocabulary of Dhivehi Language. Hassan Ahmed
Maniku (2000)

Knox (1681) giving the term Bonder as ‘implying something relating to
the King’ when discussing a place known as Bonder Cooswat.
Dewaraja (1988) however suggests that it is more likely that the title
was borrowed from the Tamil Paṇṭārams, priests of the Vellala caste
who officiated in Siva temples in South India and who immigrating to
Sri Lanka were absorbed into the Govikula. In support, she notes that
such a process would not have been difficult as the Paṇṭārams belonged
to the Vellāla or high agricultural caste of South India. For instance,
she cites a descendant of one particular Paṇṭāram who helped Rājasi ha
I (1581-1593) in his wars against the Portuguese being rewarded for his
bravery with the title of Mārasi ha Mudiyanse, the latter being a title
suggesting a high sub-caste of the Govikula. She adds that by the 17th
and 18th
centuries, the Paṇṭārams had become part and parcel of the
Kandyan nobility, and their title too became popular among the nobles
of high rank.
This is however unlikely given the historical and genealogical
evidence cited earlier. Besides, it is difficult to imagine how the Tamil
Paṇḍāram could have become Sinhala Baṇḍāra as we have no cases of
the Tamil voiceless labial p ever turning into its voiced equivalent b
when adopted as loan-words into Sinhala. Rather, it would appear that
the Tamil Paṇḍāram was itself derived from the Sanskritic bhā āra or
‘treasury’ as these priests were maintained by funds donated to the
temples by royalty and others.
Next in rank to the Baṇḍāra were the Radaḷa or native aristocracy
who comprised of courtiers, ministers and governors, particularly
during the period of the Kandyan Kingdom. The Adikāram or Adigars,
the chief officers of state under the kings of Kandy were drawn from
the Radaḷa, as were the Disāvas or provincial chiefs. Although it is
possible that the Radaḷa like the Baṇḍāra had their origins in the royal
families of old as is suggested by linguistic and epigraphic evidence,
they do not seem to have been regarded as such in later times such as
during the Kandyan period when any pretensions to a royal origin were
unheard of.
It is not unlikely that the very term Radaḷa has its origins in the
Sanskritic and Prakritic rāja-kula or ‘royal-clan’ through the
intermediate forms rad-kola and *raddola as suggested by Don

Martino De Zilva Wickremasinghe 48
. A Vessagiri inscription assigned
to Mahinda IV (C.10th
century) refers to lords of royal blood (rad-kol-
sam-daruvan, lit. children or descendants of lords of royal lineage) who
functioned as officials of royal parks (ma gul-maha-uyan- kämi) while
a Kataragama inscription assigned to the reign of Dappula V (10th
century) mentions rad-kol-kämiyan in the sense of ‘officers or workers
of the royal household’, suggesting that rad-kol denoted the royal
household.
We also come across in the Puliyankulam inscription of Udā Mahayā
(early 11th
century) a reference to royal officers known as radolan. If
this be the case however, it is surprising why the term denoting the
Sinhalese aristocracy should be spelled with a retroflex rather than the
dental l in literature posterior to the above inscriptions and indeed even
in modern-day usage. It is possible therefore that the term may have a
different origin from rāja-kula and may perhaps have its origins in a
form such as rāja-ha a or ‘royal-heart’, meaning those who had ‘royal
hearts’ or those ‘beloved by royalty’. Be it as it may, there can be little
doubt that the term Radaḷa is somehow connected to rāja or ‘king’,
‘royal’.
The Radaḷa appear to have had diverse origins with some even
claiming a Brāhmaṇ ancestry. For instance, the Ähälepolas are said to
have a Brāhmaṇ origin as vouchsafed by the Mahabedda land grant.
Likewise the origin of the Käppetipolas is traced to a Brāhmaṇ who
settled down in Navagamuva village near Rambukkana in Kegalle
District. Similarly, the Kegalle chieftains, the Edanduvave and
Tudugala Disavas and Leuke Disavas are said to have been of Brāhmaṇ
origin 49
. Many others probably had some remote Kṣatriya origin as
suggested by their appellation Radaḷa which little doubt derived from
rāja or ‘king’ ‘royal’, rāja being synonymous with Kṣatriya.
The Radaḷa were no doubt an influential lot in Kandyan society.
Most senior officials, both at the court and in the districts, were drawn
48
Epigraphia Zeylanica Being Lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon. Vol I (1912). The
Sinhala language regularly turns the OIA and MIA voiced palatal j into the dental d as in
evident in such forms as diva ‘tongue’ (P.jivhā, Skt. jihvā) and däla ‘net’ (P.Skt. jāla).
The change had evidently taken place by the 10th
century as borne out by epigraphic
records.
49
See Vimaladharma (2000)

Caste in Sri Lanka-From Ancient Times to the Present Day

Caste in Sri Lanka-From Ancient Times to the Present Day

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