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Indian Tamils and the Kandyan peasantry
By Citizen - DMy two articles on the above subject (Island; 14.10.98 and 2.11.98) seem to have caused several Tamil racists to raise their hackles in consternation as well as in confusion. Tea Puthra’s and E. A. V. Naganathan’s canards on this issue (Island; 10.11.98 and 14.11.98 respectively) consist of the usual emotional rigmarole, totally devoid of fact or logic. To solve the real problems of the Kandyan Sinhala peasantry as well as to work out a proper deal for the Indian workers and at the same time, to plan out an extensive environmental conservation programme for the hill country watershed, there is absolutely no need to depend on canards. The fact that some racist Tamils keep repeating such canards reveal the fact that there is a hidden agenda to destabilize the Sinhalese in the hill-country. Goebbels does seem to be working overtime.
The usual canards being repeated are:—
1. The British took over only virgin land in the hills and the Sinhalese who were simple nomads, did not lose anything. In fact, these nomads got ‘civilized’ in the process (they were introduced to settled agriculture as against the "slash and burn chena cultivation" they practiced earlier) by the colonials taking over the territory and teaching them table manners.
2. Indian Tamils were imported because these lazy nomads did not want to work in the "cold, rain drenched" environment and get ‘civilized’ in the process.
3. The British masters gave these nomads that wonderful legacy-lush tea gardens, a nice network of roads, a railway system and of course the Bible. These ungrateful wretches are rejecting such true Christian charity.
4.While us nomads were being ‘civilized’, those Jaffna Tamil knights were strutting high in their exclusive Jaffna ‘kingdom’. It is quite strange that the colonials did not recognize this glorious dravidian kingdom.
5. The Indian Tamils had lived and worked here for over 150 years. They came and they stayed and they procreated here. But after 150 years of ‘citizenship’, they were suddenly ‘disenfranchised’ and made ‘stateless’ by "one stroke of the pen" in 1948. How unfair.
Non of these canard writers can provide a single fact or figure. When evidence is asked for, they remain silent for a couple of months and then quietly raise their Goebbelsian heads once again. Meanwhile, a poet of sorts, calling himself O. T. B. Kahawatta of Colombo, struggles hard and finally lays a rather miserable looking egg in the form of a few third-rate verses (Island; 15.11.98). He too seems to have been indentured into this game of repeating canards. The reader could easily judge for himself/herself how many facts appear in the above articles or whether statements are supported by evidence or by authoritative sources.
I must congratulate Arunasiri Dias of Colombo for nailing some of the canards of Tea-Puthra (Island; 17.11.98). I only need to add a few embellishments to his factual report.
Dr. Colvin R. De Silva in his book, ‘Ceylon Under the British Occupation’ (Vol. I, 1942. p. 171) states thus, while referring to the great war of liberation (Uva Rebellion) of 1817-18 and quoting a colonial office dispatch by Governor Brownringg dated 11.11.1817:
"But the rebels (Sinhala peasants) are not get-at-able. So we are reduced to burning and laying waste the property of the headmen, their leaders". (Brackets mine).
Dr. De Silva continues, stating that the British brought in reinforcements from India and they were:
".... authorized to burn, ravage, destroy and put to death all who made opposition or were found with arms...." (Ibid. p. 178).
John Davy has estimated the Sinhalese casualties at over 10,000. Beginning 1818, large number of proclamations were promulgated in order to expropriate all the lands in the hill-country. These were first given free and later sold to British prospectors (individuals and companies). Most British officials including Governors (Governor Barnes), GA’s, AGA’s, Judges, and Army officers bought these lands. Initially, it became a free-for-all. Finally, in 1844, Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for Colonies, ordered a stop to civil servants owning properties.
During feudal times, villagers did own properties in the villages. Except for forest reservations ("thahanchi kelles"), all forests around villages were under "user rights" where grazing, timber and firewood collection and collection of forest products (medicinal herbs, bees honey, bark etc.) was allowed. Systematic chena cultivation was practiced. The system of land use and ownership was well organized (Prof. Ralph Peiris: Sinhala Social Organization. 1956.) The villagers were never "serfs" who did forced labour for the King (canard by O. T. B. Kahawatta). Those who think these lands were "Virgin forests", should refer to Prof. Peiris’ book.
There were no written deeds in general. Only some villagers were in possession of ola leaf deeds which generally did not last long. Most land grants were on oral orders of the King or Chiefs. Viharagam and Devalagam (of temples and devales) as well as land grants to chieftains etc., were engraved on copper plates. When land acquisition by the British commenced, the peasants were unable to produce documentation and lost everything. It is on record that the court house in Kandy was clogged with such land dispute cases.
The Private Roads Ordinance No. 17 of 1861, enabled planters to forcibly take over village lands for estate access roads because earlier, villagers had refused to give their lands for roads. Thus, this new ordinance was passed to overcome such protests. First Coffee planter, George Ackland (Ackland House of Colombo), Governor Torrington, Leopold Ludovici (1867), P. D. Miller (British Surveyor), Governor Colin Cambell, Colonel Watson (who traced some estate roads), Emerson Tenant (Colonial Secretary), John F. Dickson (GA, Central Province, 1882), C. J. R. LeMesurier (AGA, N’Eliya, 1886) and many others have written on the vast acres of land belonging to the Sinhalese that were acquired and of the many peasants who were ejected from their ancestral lands and the thousands who died as a result (due to starvation and exposure) and of the abominable grain-tax which rendered everybody destitute.
The following two incidents are significant:
British Surveyor P. D. Miller has described how villagers of Pundaluoya in N’Eliya obstructed him when he arrived there to survey land in the village for take over for a tea estate.
J. White Ford (Secretary, Uda Pussellawa Planters’ Association) stated in June 1889: "I can give the names of scores of villagers who have died of want and destitution within a short distance of this estate, after being turned out of their ancestral lands".
B. H. Farmer of Cambridge University, who functioned as Land Commissioner (1955) describes in his book, the serious problems of the peasantry due to take over of ancestral lands by the estates. Pastures, Chenas and village forests had been taken over as "Waste lands" under the many ordinances. The villagers who suffered most were from N’Eliya, Badulla and Ratnapura districts.
All the above evidence puts paid to Tea-Puthra’s canards that Sinhala villagers were nomads , that they did not actually own any land and that all lands taken over for tea were virgin lands. He and his ilk should take the trouble to study the voluminous colonial records and books by experts such as Colvin R. De Silva, Prof. Peiris, B. H. Farmer and others. Instead, Tea Puthra recommends a book called "Undesirables" by so called "Highly respected" (to use his very words) Swedish sociologists, Yvonne Fries and Thomas Bibins. This book was written in the aftermath of the 1983 riot and the two authors are unheard of characters who probably did not know where Sri Lanka was before being brought here at the insistence of some Tamil separatists to write this book. Their sources of information (apart from some Scandinavians who would have been equally ignorant of Sri Lanka) happens to be four well known Tamil separatist sympathizers. The book is a cheap Indian publication, full of distortions and separatist propaganda.
Another canard by Tea Puthra is that the original systematic chena system practiced in the hills was, "...the notoriously soil depleting slash and burn chena cultivation...".
The original chena system as well as the Kandyan home garden system practiced in feudal times are held up as examples of good agricultural practice even today by agricultural scientists.
It were the Kandyan peasants and not the Indian Tamils, who were forced to cut and build roads and bridges and open up forests for coffee and tea. The British enforced slave labour laws. Major Forbes commented adversely on this practice, stating that the poor villager had to pay grain-tax on top of doing forced labour, while it were their wives who saved them from starvation by their meagre incomes from pounding paddy.
Religion
Pancavudha Jataka"When no Attachment."—This story was told by the Master while at Jetavana, about a Brother who had given up all earnest effort.
Said the Master to him, "Is the report true, Brother, that you are a back-slider?"
"Yes, Blessed One."
"In bygone day’s, Brother," said the Master, "the wise and good won a throne by their dauntless perseverance in the hour of need."
And so saying, he told this story of the past.
Once up on a time when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, it was as his queen’s child that the Bodhisatta came to life once more. On the day when he was to be named, the parents enquired as to their child’s destiny from eight hundred brahmins, to whom they gave their hearts’ desire in all pleasures of sense. Marking the promise which he showed of a glorious destiny, these clever soothsaying brahmins foretold that, coming to the throne at the king’s death, the child should be a mighty king endowed with every virtue; famed and renowned for his exploits with five weapons, he should stand peerless in all Jambudipa’. (This was one of the four islands, or dipa, of which the earth as supposed to consist; it included India, and represented the inhabited world to the Indian mind). And because of this prophecy of the brahmins, the parents named their son Prince Five- Weapons.
Now, when the prince was come to years of discretion, and was sixteen years old, the king bade him go away and study.
"With whom, sire, am I to study?" asked the prince.
"With the world-famed teacher in the town of Takksila in the Gandhara country. Here is his fee," said the king, handing his son a thousand pieces.
So the prince went to Taksila and was taught there. When he was leaving, his master gave him a set of five weapons, armed with which, after bidding adieu to his old master, the prince set out from Takasila for Benares.
On his way he came to a forest haunted by an ogre named Hairy-grip; and, at the entrance to the forest, men who met him tried to stop him, saying:—" Young brahmin, do not go through that forest; it is the haunt of the ogre Hairy-grip, and he kills every one he meets." But, bold as a lion, the self-reliant Bodhisatta pressed on, till in the heart of the forest he came on the ogre.
The monster made himself appear in stature as tall as a palm-tree, with a head as big as an arbour and huge eyes like bowls, with two tusks like turnips and the beak of a hawk; his belly was blotched with purple; and the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet were blue-black ! " Whither away?" cried the monster. " Halt ! you are my prey." " Ogre," answered the Bodhisatta, "I knew what I was doing when entering this forest. You will be ill-advised to come near me for with a poisoned arrow I will slay you where you stand."
And with this defiance, he fitted to his bow an arrow dipped in deadliest poison and shot it at the ogre. But it only stuck on the monsters shaggy coat. Then he shot another and another, till fifty were spent, all of which merely stuck on to the ogre’s shaggy coat. Hereon the ogre, shaking the arrows off so that they fell at his feet, came at the Bodhisatta and the latter, again shouting defiance, drew his sword and struck at the ogre. But, like the arrows, his sword, which was thirty-three inches long, merely stuck fast in the shaggy hair. Next the Bodbisatta hurled his spear, and that stuck fast also. Seeing this, he smote the ogre with his club; but, like his other weapons, that too stuck fast. And thereupon the Bodhisatta shouted, " Ogre, you never heard yet of me, [274] Prince Five-Weapons. When I ventured into this forest, I put my trust not in my bow and other weapons, but in myself! Now will I strike you a blow which shall crush you into dust." So saying, the Bodhisatta smote the ogre with his right hand; but the hand stuck fast upon the hair. Then, in turn, with his left hand and with his right hand and left feet, he struck at the monster, but hand aud feet alike stuck to the hide. Again shouting " I will crush you into dust! " he butted the ogre with his head, and that too stuck fast.
Yet even when thus caught and snared in fivefold wise, the Bodhisatta, as he hung" upon the ogre, was still fearless, still undaunted. And the monster thought to himself, "this is a very lion among men, a hero without a peer, and no mere man. Though he is caught in the clutches of an ogre like me, yet not so much as a tremor will he exhibit. Never, since I first took to slaying travellers upon this road, have I seen a man to equal him. How comes it that he is not frightened?" Not daring to devour the Bodhisatta offhand, he said, " How is it, young brahmin, that you have no fear of death?"
"Why should I?" answered the Bodhisatta. " Each life must surely have its destined death. Moreover, within my body is a sword of adamant, which you will never digest, if you eat me. It will chop your inwards into mincemeat, and my death will involve yours too. Therefore it is that I have no fear." (By this, it is said, the Bodhisatta meant the Sword of Knowledge, which was within him.)
Hereon, the ogre fell a-thinking. "This young brahmin is speaking the truth and nothing but the truth," thought he. "Not a morsel so big as a pea could I digest of such a hero. l’ll let him go." And so, in fear of his life, he let the Bodhisatta go free, saying, "Young brahmin, you are a lion among men; I will not eat you. Go forth from my hand, even as the moon from the jaws of Rahu, and return to gladden the hearts of your kinsfolk, your friends, and your country."
"As for myself, ogre," answered the Bodhisatta, " I will go. As for you, it was your sins in bygone days that caused you to be reborn a ravening, murderous, bash-eating ogre; and, if [216] you continue in sin in this existence, you will go on from darkness to darkness. But, having seen me, you will be unable thenceforth to sin any more. Know that to destroy life is to ensure re-birth either in hell or as a brute or as a ghost or among the fallen spirits. Or, if the re-birth be into the world of men, then such sin cuts short the days of a man’s life."
In this and other ways the Bodhisatta shewed the evil consequences of the five bad courses, and the blessing that comes of the five good courses; and so wrought in divers ways upon that ogre’s fears that by his teaching he converted the monster, imbuing him with self-denial and establishing tail‘, in the Five Commandments. Then making the ogre the fairy of that forest, with a right to levy dues’, and charging him to remain stedfast, the Bodhisatta went his way, making known the change in the ogre’s mood as he issued from the forest. And in the end he came, armed with the five weapons, to the city of Benares, and presented himself before his parents. In later days, when king, he was a righteous ruler; and after a life spent in charity and other good works he passed away to fare thereafter according to his deserts.
----------------------------
This lesson ended, the Master, as Buddha, recited this stanza:—
When no attachment hampers bears or mind,
When righteousness is practised peace to win,
He who so walks, shall gain the victory
And all the Fetters utterly destroy.
When he had thus led his teaching up to Arahatship as its crowning point, the Master went on to preach the Four Truths, at the close whereof that Brother won Arahatship. Also, the master shewed the connexion, and identified the Birth by saying, "Angulimala was the ogre of those days, and I myself Prince Five-Weapons.
l Or, perhaps, "to whom sacrifices should be offered." The translation in the text suggests a popular theory of the evolution of the tax-collector. See also No. 155.
2 See Nos. 56 and 156.
3 Angulimala, a bandit who wore a necklace of his victims’ fingers, was oonverted by the Buddha and became an Arahat. Cf. Majjhima Nikaya No. 86.
City as a Social Space
Social aspects of the emerging urban landscape in Colombo(Continued from yesterday)
by S. T. Hettige
Professor of Sociology University of ColomboToday, its physical and social space in being appropriated and made use of by different institutions, interest groups and individuals for diverse purposes. It is these interest groups and individuals who contribute to the changes in the urban landscape in keeping with their interests, desires, tastes and ideas.
Rapid transformation of the landscape of Colombo and its environs over the last two decades is too obvious to require any elaborate description. It is mostly a reflection of the changes that are taking place in the country’s economy. A protectionist economic policy that favoured import substitution industrialization, rural agriculture, redistribution of productive assets and greater state control over production and exchange of goods and services, gave way to a liberal policy package that facilitated export - oriented’ industries, mobility of labour, importation of various goods services, the operation of the market, and private investment and consumption.
The importance of Colombo as the main transit point for the export-import trade has increased tremendously over the last two decades. This is understandable because the garment industry has become the largest export oriented industry. Its rapid expansion has led to an unpredented increase in export- import trade. Establishment of FTZ’s in the country has also contributed to the above increase in external trade. Migration of labour to the Middle -East and elsewhere has resulted in the mushrooming of recruitment agents, travel agents. etc. Today, many of the passengers using the International Airport at Katunayake are migrant workers.
Liberalization of imports has led to an unpreceden expansion of retail trade in the city and outside it. It is against this background that various service - sector enterprises have been established in Colombo in order to provide financial and other services to both institutions and individuals. i.e. banks, finance companies, insurance, forwarding agents, travel agents, super-markets, motor vehicle dealers, telecommunication services, computer suppliers, etc. These various activities have provided lucrative employment and income opportunities to a large number of people who have acquired the necessary skills and qualifications. Given the high disposable incomes of the emerging entrepreneurs, their overseas collaborators and top-level employees, the demand for consumer goods and services has also increased rapidly. Hotels, restaurants, apartments, clubs, private hospitals, private taxi services, supermarkets, etc. that have come up over the last decade or so are signs of the rapidly increasing private consumption of the emerging New Urban Middle Class (NUMC) (Hettige, 1995).
The demand for urban space in Colombo has increased rapidly over the years leading to an unprecedented upsurge in the market value of urban property. It is partly in response to this demand that many government offices have already been shifted to the newly developed suburb of Sri Jayawardanapura. Land values have appreciated so much in the city and its immediate environs, that non-affluent people who were not already in possession of urban property could no longer compete in the urban property market. The only exception have been the squatters who were occupying marginal urban land. They continued to remain in the city at least partly with the blessings of their political patrons. Yet, they are mostly confined to certain parts of the city where the urban poor have traditionally been concentrated. Due to the high concentration of disadvantaged groups there, demand for residential accommodation in these areas from affluent groups has remained low. In fact, they are not the most favoured residential quarters in the city.
While it is true that the market forces play a crucial role in the allocation and use of urban space, it is important to note that political and other non-market considerations also play an important part. For instance, the allocation of land belonging to state institutions is often guided by political considerations. Moreover, the eviction of illegal settlers from public property is a highly sensitive political issue. People occupying such land usually mobilize political support to resist any attempt by Municipal and other authorities to remove them. They also tend to ignore building regulations and construct housing or commercial structures without obtaining permits from the relevant authorities. Such people also try to seek protection from political patrons ranging from Municipal ward members to cabinet ministers.
So, in a Third World city like Colombo, allocation of urban space is not simply guided by market forces alone. This is partly because the market forces are prevented from penetrating certain parts of the city by a whole range of non-market forces such as urban politics, and organized crime. So, the city’s landscape is not simply a product of the market forces but reflects the inter-play of a whole range of complex historical and contemporary factors.
It is these factors which are behind the diversity and the complexity of the city’s landscape. It is due to the same reason that we treat the city as a social space. The city is what its constituent social actors make it to be. Since these various actors are not just a mass of atomized individuals but belong to a complex array of social groups with diverse interests, ideas, desires and aspirations, the continuity and change of the urban landscape reflects the constant interplay among these groups. In the remaining few pages of the paper, an attempt is made to examine the recent changes in the city landscape in terms of the major social forces that appear to guide the processes of change.
Globalization and the making of a dependent
Third World City: ColomboIt was already pointed out that the city of Colombo, like many other Third World capitals, was characterized by a dual economy. It appears that the recent economic changes have not led to a drastic change in this dual character of the urban economy. If at all, these changes have reinforced the pre-existing duality of the city economy. This has led to a further polarization of the city. While the formal, firm - centered segment of the city economy has become more globally - oriented, thereby more and more dependent on global capital, the informal economy has been further reinforced due to the expansion of the cheaper goods and services demanded by an expanding low income population. In fact, the rapidly growing income inequalities, particularly in urban areas have created more income earning opportunities in the urban informal sector (Hettige, 1995). Today’s city landscape vividly demonstrates the socio - economic polarization that is taking place. The demarcation of politico - economic and sociocultural boundaries within the city and its immediate environs points to this polarization.
Though this demarcation is not neat, and that there are frequent "Incursions" across such boundaries, there is a strong tendency for the convergence of elements that ‘naturally’ go together. Modern, multi-story office complexes, blocks of luxury apartments, posh restaurants, up-market residential areas, health clubs, rock cafe’s, cyber cafe’s, five star hotels, super markets, fashion stores, beer gardens, international banks, etc. tend to congregate in certain parts of the city. On the other hand, slums, squatter settlements, cheap eating houses, pavement hawkers, cycle repairs shops, open bathing and washing sports, open - air markets, small boutiques, etc. tend to concentrate in areas where the low income groups reside.
Between these two extremes can be found a range of socio - economic conditions which, in fact constitute the intermediate zone. It is people belonging to the lower - middle and middle class who mostly congregate in this zone. Given the very high property prices that have persisted for nearly two decades now, most of them are not new commers to the city; many of them have been living in the city for many years, if not for generations Some occupy upgraded or newly build public housing allocated to them largely on non-commercial criteria. Some have built their own houses on encroached or state land.
The diversity and the complexity of the urban land use pattern points to the fact that the market forces alone do not determine the patterns of allocation and utilization of urban space. The role of the state and Municipal authorities continues to be an important factor behind both the change and continuity of land use patterns. The decision makers often cannot resist political pressures or ignore demands of various pressure groups, be they ethnic groups, public officials, or supporters of political parties. Many actions and inactions of political authorities both in the past and at present have been responsible for certain features of the urban landscape.
These range from the allocation of state land in minute parcels to landless inhabitants in the city to build their own small cottages to transport policy or the absence of a clear transport policy. What is important to note here is that the state and Municipal authorities, while facilitating the penetration of the city’s landscape by the market forces, both global and national, have also been a moderating influence on the same forces.
Their readiness to exchange urban landed property for popular support combined with and in capacity or unwillingness to invest in public housing has influenced the patterns of utilization of urban space with significant social and environmental consequences.
Continued tomorrow
