FACETS OF

MODERN CEYLON HISTORY

THROUGH THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS

BY
MICHAEL ROBERT

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris (1829-1894)

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

FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY THROUGH

THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS

MICHAEL ROBERTS

HANSA PUBLISHERS LIMITED

COLOMBO - 3, SKI LANKA (CEYLON)
4975

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1975

This book is copyright. All rights reserved. No portion may be

reproduced by any process without the writer's permission.
Inquiries should be addressed to the Author.

ill

Printed at the Colombo Co-operative Printers' Society Ltd.,

60, Station Road, Homagama.

To
MR. W. J. F. LABROOY

CONTENTS
Part One
I

FACETS OF MODERN CEYLON HISTORY

Introduction

II Kith, Kin and Career

HI The Background of Social Change and Elite Formation in Nineteenth

Century Ceylon

12

IV Western Orientations

24

V The Highland Scene: Coffee Plantations vs Village Land?

VI Buffaloes, Cattle and Paddy Cultivation in the Central Highlands
VII

Epilogue

Part Two

44
49
57

THE LETTERS OF JERONIS PIERIS, 1853-1856

List of Letters

The Letters, 1853-1856.

62

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

85

Appendices
A.

Select Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris family.

89

B.

Genealogy of the Warusahannadige (de) Soysa family.

90

C.

Jeronis Pieris's Cash Crop Plantation Properties as listed in Ferguson's

Ceylon Directories, 1871-1891.

91

D.

Translation of a Memorial submitted by Certain Kandyan Chiefs and

Inhabitants calling for a Reform of the Kandyan Marriage Customs,
c. November 1858.

93

Bibliography
index

95

LIST OF PLATES & MAPS

1.

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris

2.

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris: a portrait

frontispiece
6

3.

Hannadige Engeltina Pieris: a portrait

4.

Susew & Engeltina de Soysa

5.

Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr.

6.

Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr., Engeltina and Louis Pieris

7.

Charles Henry de Soysa's and Lindamulage Catherine de Silva's

Wedding Photograph in 1863.

36

8.

Charles Henry de Soysa and his bride, Catherine de Silva

36

9.

Louis Pieris

36

10.

A Wedding Photograph: Louis Pieris and Cecilia de Fonseka

36

11.

Louis Pieris

58

12.

Mrs. Jeronis Pieris

58

13.

Richard Steuart Pieris

58

14.

Henry A. Pieris

58

15.

The Firm of S. C. Fernando & Bros.

58

16.

Facsimile of a letter from Jeronis Pieris

58

Map of Hanguranketa - Kandy - Kadugannawa Localities

72

PREFACE
In the course of journeys and meanderings arising from a project in which I was using
oral history techniques to build up a body of historical information on twentieth century Ceylon,
it became evident that a rich body of historical manuscripts remained in private hands. Neither
the commendable enterprise of James T. Rutnam nor the sporadic activities of the Historical
Manuscripts Commission had exhausted the vein of documents that lay hidden from the world,
so to speak, in private homes. Many of these documents pertain to the twentieth century.
A few, including the letters reprinted here, are of nineteenth century origin. Employing the
several opportunities that came my way, I have enjoyed the privilege and good fortune as a
historian to be able to unearth several such collections. In doing so, I have been greatly encouraged
by the generous cooperation afforded by those with whom such documents lay and by the
assistance of the staff officers in the Department of National Archives.
The copies of the letters dispatched by Hannadige Jeronis Pieris in the years 1853-56 were
in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Lynette Peries (nee de Soysa) wife of Mr. Herman
Peries, who lives at 18, de Fonseka Road, Colombo 5. A letter in Sinhalese written by Jeronis
Pieris on the 7th September 1877 was in the hands of Mr. L. D. Asoka Pieris and was secured
for me by Mr. Lankeswara S. D. Pieris. I gratefully acknowledge their generous assistance
in lending me the letters and permitting me to edit them.
The main object in reproducing these letters has been that of making them more widely
available to scholars and of providing interested laymen with some insights into developments
in mid-nineteenth century Ceylon. At the same time, I have used the information and the insights
supplied by these letters to illumine certain facets of nineteenth century Ceylonese history by
developing some of my own findings and theories. In brief, the letters have been variously
used at times as a point of departure for the investigation of various subjects on which
they throw some light, and at other times as a convenient show-case in which to display conclusions fashioned for the most part out of other evidence.
The decision to edit Jeronis Pieris's letters was also influenced by a subsidiary aim. I wish
to make possessors of similar materials alive to the value of such documents as they may have
in their possession and to encourage them to make them available to students, either by
donating them to the Archives or by making their existence known and intimating their
willingness to loan them for purposes of reproduction.
This monograph could not have been successfully completed without the cooperation
of several individuals, for whose assistance I am truly grateful. I am particularly indebted to
Mr. Lankeswara S. D. Pieris of the National and Grindlays Bank for his patient and under
standing assistance in numerous fields. My thanks are also extended to the following individuals
for the information they provided: Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, Messrs. Gustavus Jayawardene,
"Harry" Pieris, Marcus Pieris, Shanti Sri Chandrasekera, E. L. F. de Soysa Jnr., Patrick
Peebles, Shelton C. Fernando and Dr. G. C. Mendis as well as my colleagues Professor Gananath
Obeyes ekere, Drs. Vamadeva Kanapathypillai, C. R. de Silva, Vijaya Samaraweera, G. P. V.

kf

Somaratne and H. L. Seneviratne. As so often, Mr. W. J. F. Labrooy 'vetted' my drafts and

provided invaluable advice, a service he has rendered to many scholars and the benefit of
which only those whose manuscripts have been 'processed' by him can truly grasp. Needless
to say, he is not responsible for the views which I have expressed. I would also like to thank
Mr. M. Duraiswamy and Mrs. N. Hettiaratchi for typing the drafts with such diligence, and
to the staff attached to the Archives and the libraries at the Museum and the University of
Ceylon for their assistance.
Michael Roberts.
June 1970.

P.S.
Questions of finance, a visit abroad, and endemic problems in the publication trade
have delayed the appearance of this monograph. Pressure of work has not allowed me to
make any alterations to the text and it appears as it was written in June 1970.
M.R.
January 1973.

P. P. S. Administrative problems in which the Publishers became enmeshed after

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

Michael Roberts.
October 1974.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I convey my thanks to the following for having made available for

reproduction certain photographs or portraits in their possession:Mr. "Harry" Pieris (plates 1, 2, 12 and 14); Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya
(plate 13); Mr. C. V. H. de Soysa of Haragama estate (plates 3 and 8);
Mr. and Mrs. Shelton C. Fernando (plate 15); and Mr. Lankeswara
Pieris (the rest).

SPELLING

PIENS : In Sinhalese, of course, this proper name has only one spelling. The transliteration
into English has taken different forms however: "Peiris" and "Pieris" are the most common,
while "Peries" and "Peeris" also occur. In this instance I have followed the spelling that is
generally adopted by the descendants of Jeronis PieriF.
HANNADIGE : : The spelling is mine. In family circles the English renderings that seem to
be favoured are "Hannadigai" and "Hennedige". Since no consistency of usage has established
itself, I have preferred what I consider to be the more correct presentation in English. The
Sinhalese sound "a" as in "bad" has been rendered in a form suggested to me by Mr. Rajakaruna of the Department of Sinhalese, University of Ceylonone which is commonly used
by several of my colleagues in the Department of History who write on Ancient Ceylon.
The difficulty of obtaining diacritical marks has been such that it was not possible to
indicate the correct phonetic rendering for this and other words by such means. Our apologies
are extended to all readers for this omission.

PART ONE

FACETS OF MODERN
CEYLON HISTORY

Plate 1

HANNADIGE JERONIS PIERIS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Among the many categories of raw material on the history of British Ceylon the sources
most utilised to-date have been the despatches containing the correspondence between the
British authorities in Colombo and their official superiors in London, supplemented by printed
official sources in the sessional papers, administration reports, statistical blue books, command
papers issued by the House of Commons, addresses delivered by the Governors in the Legislative Council and the debates in the Legislative and State Councils. The fanfare associated
with the publication of Leonard Woolf's diaries has focussed attention on the diaries of govern.
ment agents, assistant government agents and other administrators. The use to which the diaries
of land settlement officers were put by Lal Jayawardena in his analysis of policy and practice
in the administration of "waste lands" in the twentieth century confirms the historical value
of these diaries.' The diaries, however, vary greatly in their degree of usefulness. The view
that Woolf's diaries are typical of the diaries maintained by administrators and the opposite
belief that Woolf's diary notes are exceptionally perceptive and valuable are both erroneous
opinions. It is premature to fix on this or that diary as "typical". Nor must one be misled by
Woolf's subsequent literary and intellectual eminence.
While some administrators penned
very pedestrian notes, a few others surpasS Woolf in the information their diaries supply, both
on local conditions and on administrative policy and practice. Be that as it may, no piece of
historical research worthy of the name could rely solely on the diaries.
Less talked of but equally fruitful is the internal correspondence between district officers
in the field and the Secretariat and departmental headquarters in Colomboa largely untouched
mass of source material. The correspondence itself is but a part of the vast body of source material
contained among the kachcheri records (which are also the repository of the diaries). A random
list of some of the different categories of source material among the kachcheri records of one
district, that of Colombo, is sufficient to indicate the variety and the potential value of these
records: correspondence on surveys; forest lands; breach of irrigation rules; plumbago (graphite) mines; shroff's receipts; appointments of headmen; lists of landowners; last will and
testament; applications to purchase crown lands; crown land sales; land deeds; land disputes;
village settlement; grain tax registers; (arrack and toll) rent ledgers; petitioners and reports;
register of rubber producers; N. D. P. Silva; Solomon Dias Bandaranaike's purchases.2

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

A. C. Lawrie's Gazetteer of the Central Province and the work done by Ralph Pierisl
indicate the possibilities inherent in a study of district court records,' another sphere that is
largely untouched. It is only in recent years that scholars have begun to move beyond the study
of policy-formulation and decision-making at the level of Colombo-London relationships and
to delve into the kachcheri and district court records.2 In the near future, therefore, there is
promise of studies on policy-implementation and policy-impact. These studies are bound to
provide a rich haul in detailed information besides presenting pictures of administrative policy
at the grassroots, or, more probably, at one notch above the grass-roots.) But the vein of
archival material is so rich that these sources will not be exhausted even decades hence.
Except for petitions or private letters enclosed among the official correspondence, the
information yielded by witnesses in the courts, and some of the statistical data, such sources
suffer from the bias of the administrator and the concepts and procedures within which he
worked. Sources of information originating from individuals outside the administrative sector
are therefore needed as a counter-balance. For nineteenth century Ceylon the most extensive
non-official source materials are the newspapers and journals, and the printed reports on the
proceedings in the Legislative Council.4 These can be supplemented by other types of material:
travellers' accounts in book or manuscript form; reminiscences, autobiographies and biographies; tracts or books written by non-officials on particular issues; directories, almanacs and
who's who (including the invaluable Ferguson's Ceylon Directories); minutes and other documents pertaining to associations, agency houses, companies and other institutions; diaries
and private correspondence of individuals outside the official sector; and the correspondence
and documents in Missionary archives and in certain temples in Ceylon.5 In weight and extent
these source materials do not match the official sources available. But the preponderance of
official material is such that the non-official source materials assume a great importance. They
serve as counter-weights. They provide different angles. They raise new queries.
1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

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

The non-official source material is not without shortcomings, both with reference to the
accuracy and veracity of information as well as its range. One weakness stems from its origins
in the educated classes, a tiny segment of the population in Ceylon in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. As such they do not reflect the attitudes and the experiences of the man in
the street or, more appropriately for Ceylon, the peasant in the field. Moreover, many of
these non-official source materials emanate from non-CeyloneseBritish journalists, planters,
merchants or wayfarers. This is particularly true for the nineteenth century. For instance,
one can count on the fingers of one hand the reminiscences and autobiographies written by
Ceylonese who lived the greater part of their lives in the nineteenth century; those by James
Alwisi, Tikiri Banda Panabokke2, Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan,3 and Frederick Dornhorst4 are the only works within the author's knowledge. There are, however, a greater number
of books and pamphlets on particular issues which have been written by Ceylonese.3
Autobiographies and reminiscences pose their own problems. One arises from the fact
that the lines are penned in the later stages of an individual's life. By which time his (or her)
attitude may have mellowed; or, in sharp contrast, gone very sour. By which time he would
have to depend on the soft sands of his memory in describing non-contemporaneous events.
This is an aspect in which the diaries and private correspondence of individuals surpass
autobiographies (unless the latter are based on diary notes). They are records of contemporaneous
thoughts and events. For nineteenth-century Ceylon one finds scarcely any material of this
nature written by Ceylonese. Among the rarities are the letters preserved in certain Buddhist
temples,2 the letters from Ceylonese in the William Digby MSS,6, the letters and documents
in the Coomaraswamy-Ramanathan - Arunachalam MSS,9 the de Swam letters,lo a few
1. A. C. Seneviratne (ed) Memoirs and Desultory Writings of the late James D' Alwis (Colombo: The Ceylon
Observer Press, 1947).
2. P. B. Panabokke & J. A. Halangode (ed) The Autobiography of Tikiri Banda Panabokke (Kandy: Miller
& Co., 19387). This work is only part autobiography up to page 33; the rest has been written by, the
editors. T. B. Panabokke's life-span was 1846-1902.
3. A typed (and partly printed) copy of Ramanathan's autobiography is in the hands of Mr. James
T. Rutnam of "Baron's Court", Guildford Crescent, Colombo 7. Consisting of six chapters,
It was written in 1889 and pertains solely to his ancestors. In this sense it is akin to a biography of Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar and Ponnambalam Mudaliyar, his grandfather and father respectively.
4. A typed copy of Frederick Dornhorst's autobiographical letter to his children, dated 22nd September
1895, is in the possession of Mr. Donovan Moldrich of 88/1, Stork Place, Colombo 10.
5. Among nineteenth-century books perhaps the most notable is Leopold Ludovici's Rice Cultivation: Its
Past History and Present Condition;with suggestions for its improvement(Colombo: J.Maitland &Co.,1868).
6. There is one pertaining to the late 18th century: P. E. Pieris (ed) Notes on Some Sinhalese Families Part
III Being the Diary of Adrian De Alwis Goonetilleke Samaranaike, Mudaliyar of Salpiti Korale for the
years 1777-1795 (Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd, 1911).
7. Generally speaking they consist of letters received by scholar-bhikkhus from other bhikkhus, from
theosophists and other individuals participating in the revival of Buddhism in the late nineteenth century
(such as Col. Olcott and the Anagarika Dharmapala), and from such Oriental scholars as T. W. RhysDavids and Hugh Nevill. Two examples of such collections are the letters and manuscripts of Revd.
Silakkhanda thero of Dodanduwa and of Revd. Waskaduwe Subhuti thero of Waskaduwa. For more
details on the latter collection see G. P. S. H. de Silva's article in a 1970 volume of a Sinhalese journal,
the Sanskruti (in press).
8. In the possession of Mr.James T.Rutnam. Photostats are available in the Archives. Among the letters are
some from James Alwis, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, R. F. Morgan and (Sir) Ponnambalam Arun achalam.
9. This collection is in the hands of Professor T. Nadaraja of the Faculty of Law, University of Ceylon,
Colombo. To quote an extract from a letter in which he kindly conveyed some information: "speaking
broadly, the manuscripts date back to about 1835, the time of Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar, member of
the first Legislative Council. Most of the documents relate to his son, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, and
his grandsons (P. Coomaraswamy), Sir P. Arunachalam and Sir P. Ramanathan and consist of various
letters despatched by and received by them as well as some diaries". The last-three individuals named
above were the sons of Ponnambidam Mudaliyar who married a sister of (Sir) Muttu Coomaraswamy.
10. See P. E. Pieris (ed) Notes on Some Sinhalese Families Part V The De Sarams in England 1811-1821 (The
Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd, n. d. ).

4
letters sent by (Sir) James Peiris to Jacob de Mel in the years 1879-86,1 the letters from
Ceylonese in the Gregory MSS and the Lord Stanmore MSS,2 and the diaries of (Sir) Richard
Francis Morgan,3 (Sir) Muttu Coomaraswatny,4 Edmund Rowland Gooneratne (1861-1868),5
and the Revd. John Simon de Silva (1897-1939).6 The letters written by Hannadige Jeronis Pieris
over the years 1853 to 1856 therefore present a welcome addition to this category of source
material. In fact, they lay claim to being unique.? They do not contain the thoughts of an
urbanite, whether lawyer or aristocrat; they are the lines of an entrepreneur resident in the
district of Kandy at the time he wrote them. They are letters and not diary extracts. Though
we have several such series of letters written by Britons sojourning in Ceylon,8 these seem to
be one of the few extant collections written by a Ceylonese. It is also unusual to have a collection
of letters written by one individual to several persons, including those who are not members
of the family. This arises from the fact that the letters are not originals but copies derived by
means of a press-copying machine; the procedure involved the use of a special indian-ink, insertion of the original into the machine which was then pressed down so as to reproduce the original
on wafer-thin tissue paper. As a result, they appear in Jeronis's own hand and contain his
signature. They also happen to be in a continuous series.
In order to grasp their historical significance, and before proceeding to highlight
some of the features which the letters reveal, it is necessary to provide details on Jeronis Peiris's
family connections and personal career.
1. The letters are in the hands of his son, Mr. Deva Suryasena of 10 Alwis Place, Colombo 3. The Archives
has photostats. There are also a few letters (of meagre historical value) he has received in the twentieth
century.
2. Sir William Gregory was Governor of Ceylon from March 1872 to May 1877 and Sir Arthur Gordon
(later Lord Stanmore) was Governor from 1883-1890. The Gregory Papers were with his grandson,
Major Richard Gregory, in Ireland till they were unearthed by Bertram Bastiampillai (Department of
History, University of Ceylon, Colombo), who should be consulted regarding their present location.
They include letters from (Sir) R. F. Morgan. See B. Bastiampillai, The Administration of Sir William
Gregory (Dehiwala: Tisara Prakasakayo, 1968) for further details.
The Stanmore Papers are in the British Museum and include letters from (Sir) Samuel Grenier, a
Ceylonese Attorney-General.
3. These are in the hands of Mr. Sam J.C.Kadirgamar, a lawyer whose address is Queen's Road, Colombo 3.
Extracts from the diaries have been printed in William Digby, Forty Years of Official and Unofficial
Life in an Oriental Crown Colony; being the life of Sir Richard Morgan, 2 vols. (Madras: Higginbotham
& Co., 1879).
4. These are also with Professor T. Nadaraja.
5. Poorly edited by P. E. Pieris as Notes on some Sinhalese Families Part VI Mid XIX Century From the
Diaries of E. R. Gooneratne (Colombo: The Times of Ceylon Ltd., n. el.). The manuscript diaries are
in the possession of Rowland H. Dias Abeyesinghe of Dickman's Road, Galle.
6. These are with Srian & Ratna de Silva, who could be reached through the Employer's Federation.
7. The letters preserved by the temples have their own brand of uniqueness.
B. For instance: the Fairholme letters which are with Mr. & Mrs. Graham of Saskatchewan House, Canada
and have been serialised by Mildred Wickrema in the Ceylon Daily News in late 1968; the James
Taylor MSS with Miss Mary Greig of Dundee; the Julia Margaret Cameron MSS discovered very recently in Britain (in private hands; it may be possible to reach the owners through Mr. Ralph St. L.
Deraniyagala of Racecourse Avenue, Colombo); the Norman MSS in the Kent County Archives Office
(largely re the C. H. Cameron family); the Hartwell Papers in the County of Buckingham Record
Office (including letters from George Lee and A. H. Roosmalecocq); the Clifford correspondence in
the Earl of Halsbury MSS; and a host of other collections recorded in A Guide to Western Manuscripts
and Documents in the British Isles relating to South and South East Asia compiled by M. D. Wainwright
Noel Mathews under the general supervision of J. D. Pearson (0. U. P. 1965).

CHAPTER TWO

KITH, KIN, AND CAREER

Hannadige Jeronis Pieris was born on the 15th June 1829, the second child and eldest
son of Hannadige Hendrick Pieris Jnr., of Nagalagam Street, Grandpass in Colombo. H.
Hendrick Pieris Jnr. was a younger brother of Francisca Pieris and H. Daniel Pieris (who died
on the 12th January 1843). They were the children of Hannadige Hendrick Pieris of Moratuwa.I
The Pierises were closely connected with the Warusahannadige de Soysas of Panadura and
Moratuwa and may even be considered part of the same clan because their ge name2 is sometimes rendered as Warusahannadige. In the first place. Francisca Pieris married Warusahannadige Joseph de Soysa (1764-1839), son of W. Bastian de Soysa of Nalluruwa, Panadura,
on the 16th August 1792.3 In the second place, Joseph de Soysa and Daniel Picris would
appear to have been associated in a business enterprise, which hired out bullock carts and
traded in tobacco!
If the basic details in that stage of the family history are known, the origins of the family
are shrouded in the mists of oblivion. One has to rely on unreliable and residuary oral traditions
maintained among descendants. The oral tradition which bears the greatest detail has been
conveyed by one of Jeronis Pieris's granddaughters, Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, nee Francesca
Pieris, supported by letters from her cousins, L. C. de S. and Asoka Pieris. I have, however
received a somewhat different version from one of Jeronis's grandnephews, Mr. Marcus Pieris
of Kandy.5 The very existence of differing versions raises uncertainties and doubts about the
accuracy of such traditions. Moreover, the tradition maintained by Mrs. Jayasuriya is confused
in its details about Jeronis Pieris's parents. Initially Mrs. Jayasuriya stated that his father's
name was "Hendrick" but subsequently amended it to "Ardris", a detail she maintains forcefully.6 Nor does her version explain the existence of two Hendrick Pierises in the biographical
details mentioned in the de Soysa Charitaya.7 As such, the whole of the oral tradition conveyed
by Mrs. Jayasuriya is called into question and cannot be considered historical fact. I repeat
it here, however, because of the illustration it affords of the types of oral traditions that are
cherished by Sinhalese families and because of one or two historical insights it affords.
1. These biographical details are based on a genealogical table that was kindly supplied by Mr. Gustavus
Jayawardene of Fern Bank, Moratuwa and on C. Don Bastian, The de Soysa Charitaya or The Life of
Charles Henry de Soysa, Esq. J. P. (Colombo: The "Sinhalese Daily News" Press, 1904) pp. 9, 182,
237 & 239. The former is largely based on church records.
2. Ge is the Sinhalese for "of-. It is a genitive. However official literature has perpetuated the erroneous
concept that it means "house" and refers to the unilinear house group. I am indebted to Professor
Gananath Obeyesekere for this clarification.
3. The de Soysa Charitaya, p. 9 and Jayawardene's genealogical table.
4. Centenary Souvenir of the Holy Emmanuel Church, Moratuwa (Moratuwa: D. P. Dodangoda & Co.,
1960) pp. 40-41; and The de Soysa Charitaya, p. 10. According to this account Joseph de Soysa was
evidently the junior partner and the business would appear to have been founded by Hendrick Pieris Snr.
5. For the connections of all members of the family whom 1 have consulted see the select genealogy of the
Pieris and de Soysa families in Appendices A and B.
6. In conversation, 5 December 1968 and subsequently in letters dated 5th & 22nd December 1968, and
11th February 1969.
7 See pages 9, 182, 237 & 239.

6
The tradition t runs as follows: Jeronis's father (erroneously called Ardris) was the son
of a Hindu from North India,2 a Rajput warrior named Vijay Vikram who came to Ceylon
with a body of troops in the eighteenth century to serve Kirti Sri Rajasinghe, the King of Kandy
(whose reign extended from 1747-82). He reached the Kandyan Kingdom via Seenigama, a
village near Hikkaduwa on the southwestern littoral. On completing his service he was
persuaded to remain in Kandy and was ordained high priest (kapuwa or kapurala) of the
Vishnu Dewale of the Dalada Maligawa.3 He adopted Kandyan dress and the Sinhalese name,
Samaranayake, but was referred to by the popular epithet "Malhamy Kapuwa".4 Intrigues in
the Kandyan court circles, however, induced him to send his son to reside with relatives in
Panadura. Ardris's (i. e. Hendrick Pieris Snr's) guardian in Panadura was one Anthonis Pieris
Goonevarnasuriya Patterbadi Hannadige, who resided at Ouru Valle Road, Dombegaswatte,
Panadura. Attending a Roman Catholic seminary for his education, Ardris (Hendrick) was
converted to that faiths In time, he became a "shipowner" and import-export trader of note.
He owned two-masted luggers and engaged in the coastal and Indian trade, having a "shipyard"
of his own near Grandpass (where he had several acres of land).6 His death was the result of an
accident in the "shipyard" which resulted in bloodpoisoning and occurred a few months before
his third child was born.7
The tradition betrays an attempt to claim Indian origins and kshatriya af1iliations8 that
is not uncommon among Karava families. That portion of it must be treated as altogether
unsubstantiated. The story of mercenary warrior origins, however, is within the realms of
possibility. Kirti Sri Rajasinghe fought against the Dutch in the period 1762-66 and his

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

Plate 2

HANNADIGE JERONIS PIERIS: a portrait

born: 15. June 1829
died: 8 July 1894

Plate 3

HANNADIGE ENGELTINA PIERIS: a portrait

1825-1893; She was Jeronis Pieris's elder sister.

Plate 4

Susew (1809-1881) was a younger

brother of Jeronis de Soysa and his
partner in business. He married
Hannadige Engeltina Pieris, Jeronis
Pieris's elder sister, on the 12th
December 1839.
SUSEW AND ENGELTINA DE SOYSA

Plate 5

MRS. HENDRICK PIERIS, JNR.

nee Sellaperumage Welmina Fernando (1803-1895): mother
of Engeltina, Jeronis, and Louis,

Plate 6

MRS. HENDRICK PIERIS, JNR.,

ENGELTINA AND Lou is PIERIS

7
Nayakkar conections could have induced him to import soldiers. But one is left wondering
how a foreigner from India serving the Nayakkar King of Kandy could have had relatives in
Panadura.
The reference to eighteenth century Indian origins bears the mark of relatively greater
authenticity. The oral traditions concerning both the Pieris and the de Soysa families are emphatic
on this point. It is unusual, moreover, for Sinhalese families to admit so recent Indian connections. While Jeronis's letters reveal hardly any information on his ancestry there is a wisp of
evidence which may be held out as indirect support on this point. In a letter to a friend he
inquires after "our old Coergu( ?)" and asks whether Coergu( ?) had any intentions of visiting
"his native land".1 This could only be India. The question remains whether Coergu( ?) was
a relative of some sort or a faithful employee or partner in one of Jeronis's (and his friend's)
for the same paragraph goes on to talk about rice supplies and indicates
trading concerns
that Coergu( ?) dealt in rice.
There is also little doubt that the Pieris family were an entrepreneurial family. By the
second and third decades of the nineteenth century, as noticed earlier, they were transport
contractors and traders in association with the de Soysas. It was at this stage that Hendrick
Pieris Jnr. married one Sellaperumage Welmina Fernando (1803-1895) from a long-established
and propertied family clan in Moratuwa. They had three children :2
1. Engeltina
2. H. Jeronis
3. Louis

born 15 December
born 15 June
born 19 March

1825
1829
1840

(died 11 May 1893).

(died 8 July 1894).
(died 16 June 1913).

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

1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

No. 10, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854. Infra, p. 67.

The details below are based on the following sources: Jayawardene's genealogical table; inscriptions
on tablets in the Kanatte cemetery; a printed death notice re Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. which is in the
possession of Mr. Marcus Pieris; obituary in the Lakrivikirana of 14 July 1894; the de Soysa Charitaya;
and an obituary in The Ceylon Morning Leader, 19 June 1913.
Interview with Mr. Henry ("Harry") Pieris Jnr, 3 December 1968. Mr. "Harry" Pieria is one of Henry
A. Pieris's sons and Jeronis's grandsons.
See infra, pp. 40-43.
No. 19, To Simon Perera, 3 December 1855. Infra, p. 79.

8
of the Reverend Dr. Barcroft Boake at the Academy and thought highly of his tutoring abilities!
The Colombo Academy was established at San Sebastian in Colombo in October 1836 with
the Reverend Joseph Marsh in charge. Boake arrived in Ceylon and became Principal of the
Academy in 1842.2 Jeronis must therefore have been a student at the Academy at some in the 1840's and may even have joined it in Marsh's time, (1836-39).
One of the oral traditions hesitantly contends that Jeronis completed his education in
England.; This is probably erroneous in that it may be the product of some confusion arising
from one of Jeronis's latter-day visits to Britain. It is also alleged that the British officials in
Ceylon were anxious to secure him for government service but that the two de Soysa brothers
saw to it that he joined their enterprise in a managerial capacity.4 There can be no doubt
on the latter point. When he wrote his letters in the period 1853-56 he was based in Kandy
and was helping the de Soysas to plant their properties and to farm arrack rents,5 his address
on several occasions being presented as "Arrack Godowns, Kandy". This is supported
by reference to the estates (plantations) of Hanguranketa and Haragama and a property in
Kadugannawa which were owned by Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa (most of these properties
have remained in the hands of the de Soysa family to the present day). The exact relationship
between the de Soysas and Jeronis Pieris is difficult to gauge. The Ceylonese entrepreneurial
ventures in the nineteenth century were largely family enterprises. The managerial and middleechelon executives were usually relatives. Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa made it a point to select
"young men.... from his native village" as managers of his estates.6 The de Soysas, would
have attached much value to a bright clansman. The question remains whether, at the outset
Jeronis was a hired and trusted manager, or a ward whose individual advancement was sponsored
in combination with the utilisation of his services, or even, perhaps, an equal partner. The
second suggestion is the more probable. For one thing, Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa (1797-1862)
willed some property to him and it is said that Susew also purchased some properties for him.i
For another, he appears to have been permitted to branch of on his own account while serving
with the de Soysas. It is not known whether the Pieris family maintained the trading establishment which Hendrick Pieris Jnr. is alleged to have owned, but the letters suggest that Jeronis
may have been trading on his own account in the 1850's.9 In any event, it is evident that his
relationship with the de Soysas developed into a status of equality. By 1868 he was associated
with them in the banking firm of "Soysa & J. Pieris" located in the Pettah, Colombo.9 In
1.
2.

Idem and No. 16, To C. H. de Soysa, 28 July 1855. Infra, pp. 79 v 76.
The History of Royal College (formerly called the Colombo Academy) written by the boys in the school

1931, (Colombo: H. W. Cave & Co., 1932) p. 56. Marsh left Ceylon in 1839.
Interview with Mr. "Harry" Pieris, 18 March 1969.
Conversation with Mrs. Jayasuriya, 5 December 1968.
No. 8, To C. H. de Soysa, 10 May 1854. Infra, p. 68.
6. Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870.
7. Certified application for a deed, No. L. 2943 of 4 November 1867, in the possession of Mr. Shanti
Sri Chandrasekera of Colombo, which shows that Jeronis Pieris received a portion of Babasingho Jeronis
de Soysa's property in Bagatelle Road, Colombo; and interview with Mrs. Jayasuriya, 30 December
1968.
8. Nos. 10 and 18, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854 and undated respectively. Infra, pp. 70v 88
9. A. M. Ferguson, The Ceylon Directory for 1866-68, Supplement, p.lxxxiv. Cf. Sir T. Villiers, Mercantile
Lore (Colombo: The Ceylon Observer Press, 1940?) p. 5, which refers to "The Bank of Kandy" founded
by the Pieris brothers and the de Soysas, but provides an obviously erroneous date. The Kandy bank
may well have been a branch of that in the Penal', or vice versa. The bank appears to have been wound
up by the 1880's.
3.
4.
5.

9
this venture the de Soysa-Pieris family may have profited from the banking experience gained
in England by Jeronis's younger brother, Louis,1 for Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72
indicates that Louis Pieris was a "partner" in Susew de Soysa's mercantile firm in Kandy.2
The de Soysa-Pieris banking agency was undoubtedly one of the first Ceylonese-owned banks,
though the distinction of having initiated the first Ceylonese bank appears to lie to the credit
of another family, that of Harmanis Soysa.3 At this stage, in the 1860's, the de Soysa enterprises were in the hands of Susew de Soysa (1809-1881). Susew had joined his elder brother,
Babasingho Jeronis, in the Kandyan Highlands in the 1830's and assisted him in managing his
interests (while establishing some of his own ventures as well). At this stage, too, the de Soysas
were one of the richest Ceylonese families, if not the richest. And fortune was soon to be stacked
upon fortune: Charles Henry (1836-1890) was Babasingho Jeronis's only son and heir; in
1862 he married an heiress i9 Catherine de Silva, the only daughter of one Jusey de Silva
who was reckoned by a contemporary to be second only to the de Soysas in wealth ;4 and he
was eventually to receive most of the childless Susew's inheritance.
While Jeronis Pieris profited from his service with the de Soysas it is clear that he provided
them witli considerable talent in return. The success of his own entrepreneurial ventures indicates
that he possessed as much commercial panache as the de Soysas had displayed in their pioneering
days. By 1868 he owned four properties in the Central Province, covering approximately 1630
acres, which were partially cultivated with coffee.5 By 1875 he had his own mercantile firm, which
stood with that of the de Soysas in lone splendour as the only Ceylonese mercantile firm among
those listed for Colombo in Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1875.6 Like the de Soysas he was
careful to spread his investments. He purchased several urban properties in Colombo and
invested in coconut plantations and arrack rents.? Table I depicts the extent of his plantation
properties (in acres) in the years 1871-72,1880-81 and 1890-91, and provides further evidence

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

10
TABLE I
I
Year

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
No. of Total Acreage Total Acreage Acreage Acreage Acreage Acreage
Proper- Extent Unculti- Acreage under under under under
under
ties
vated
Culticof fee coconut cinnatea rubber
vated
MOB

1871-72: 6 2,455 1,354 1,101 1,011

1880-81: 11 2,749 605 2,144 601 1,529 14
1890-91: 19 6,543 1,564 4,979
4,346 14 3814 2374

of his affluence.t It also shows that he began acquiring coconut properties in the
1870's and that he shifted his emphasis from coffee culture to coconut cultivation. The details2 also indicate that he had sold four of the coffee estates which he held in
1871-72 (Ambokka, Kent, Baddewella and Macoolussa) by 1880-81; all four were sold to
Europeans, who were thereby left the task of countering the coffee leaf disease and the attendant
decline of the coffee industry. Such measures would appear to have assisted Jeronis to weather
the depression of the late 1870's and early 1880's, as evidenced by his capacity to expand his
plantation holdings. As he appears to have been responsible for planting the 2374 acres
of rubber which the Maturata and Elbedde estates supported in 1890-91, he could also lay
claim to be one of the pioneer rubber planters in Ceylon. One can, on the basis of this evidence,
endorse the Lakrivikirana's opinion that he traded and planted intelligently and that he was
one of the most wealthy Ceylonese (pra-dhana dhana-va-thek) at the time of his death.3
Jeronis Pieris married a first-cousin-once-removed named Warusahannadige Caroline
Francisca Soysa, a daughter of Lewis Soysa and a niece of the de Soysa brothers, on the 13th
December 1856.4 Significantly, even by the time of her death in March 1903, Mrs. Caroline
Francisca Pieris (1842-1903) had acquired "nothing of English, beyond the ability to sign her
name in English characters".5 Sinhalese must have been the language of their home. They
had seven children:

1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

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

11

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Richard Steuart Pieris

Henry A. Pieris
Annie Pieris
Lambert Louis Pieris
George Theobald Pieris
Emily Hortensz Pieris
Caroline Lucille Pieris

1858-1918
1862-1919
1864-1891 who married Charles Peiris.
1867-1928
1871 ?
?
?
who married Francis James Mendis.
1875-1942 who married E.L.F. de Soysa (Snr.)I

A further measure of Jeronis's position and wealth is provided by the fact that Richard Steuart
Pieris was sent to Chiswick Collegiate School and to Cheltenham in England. It must have been
partly in connection with his son's welfare that Jeronis visited England (with Louis) in 1877.2
To Richard Steuart Pieris's education in Britain one may perhaps attribute the extravagant
tastes he developed later, tastes which his younger brothers are said to have been partial to as
well. If one is to rely on oral family traditions, such habits did not meet with Jeronis's approval.
Whether for this reason or not, Jeronis bequeathed his estate to his wife under a joint will,
dated 9th February 1894, five months before his death.3 Between July 1894 and the date of
her death (4 March 1903) Mrs. Pieris conveyed "a considerable amount of property" to her
children by deeds of gift. Her will was enacted on the 1st March 1903. The will dealt with
property valued at approximately Rs 2 million. All the children were provided for under the
will. Five of the surviving children, however, felt that the will and the previous deeds of gift
greatly favoured the sixth child, Henry A. Pieris, who was her favourite child and who not
only managed the family business for her but resided at the family house, "Elscourt". In consequence the bequest was contested both on technical grounds and on the grounds that the
testatrix (Mrs. Pieris) was not of sound mind on the day in which the will was executed and
that undue influence was exercised by Henry A. Pieris. The outcome was the famous Pieris
will case of 1903-04. Giving their judgement on the 18th July 1904, the Supreme Court
supported the verdict of the District Court and upheld the wili.4

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

CHAPTER THREE

THE BACKGROUND OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND ELITE FORMATION

IN NINETEENTH CENTURY CEYLON
Antecedents
Sinhalese society in the centuries immediately preceding the territorial intrusion of the
European powers, and subsequently in the Kandyan Kingdom, had an aristocracy at its apex.
This aristocracy possessed the characteristics of an elite. By "elite" is meant a leadership group
or social formation which possesses the attributes of (1) wealth, (2) status and esteem, (3)
power and influence, (4) authority, and (5) skill (as best reflected 'in one's oocupation), attributes
which may be held singly or in combination, though generally members of such a social formation combine at least a few of these attributes.'
Since the Sinhalese aristocracy or elite group was part of a society that isgenerally described
as a traditional society, and since one's vision, being retrospective, is conditioned by subsequent
transformation and modernisation, it is possible to label this particular social formation as the
traditional aristocracy or traditional elite.
In the Kandyan Period2 the "traditional social order was based on a complex of village
communities, knit together for purposes of revenue, government and defence through a hierarchy
ranging from village headmen through provincial governors, to the king who was at the apex
of the social pyramid."3 This social structure was girded and threaded by the caste system
on the one hand and an interrelated system of land tenure on the other. It has commonly
been suggested that the dominant principle in the formation of the traditional elite which this
framework supported was that of ascription.4 To quote Ralph Pieris:
1. In more modern and complex societies, it may be possible to classify elites on functional lines and to
speak of the political, bureaucratic, military, economic, and religious elites, for instance. Even on
this basis one can contend that these groups would constitute an elite in relation to the rest of the population; that is, an elite that was (is) an aggregate of the functionally defined elites could be identified.
Such functional classification makes little sense for traditional Sinhalese society where the political,
military, administrative and economic (and even religious)bases of power were fused in the same hands.
For some literature on the subject of elites which devotes particular attention to elites in more complex
societies see C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (0. U. P., 1956) and a critique by Paul M. Sweezy "Power
Elite or Ruling Class ?" a reprint (New York; Monthly Review Press, 1956); and Suzanne Keller,
Beyond the Ruling Class (New York: Random House, 1963). Also see T. B. Bottomore, Elites and
Society, new edn. (Penguin Books, 1967); Andre Beteille, Caste, Class and Power: Changing Pattern;
of Stratification in a Tanjore Village (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1965);
and Robert Eric Frykenberg, "Elite Groups in a South Indian District: 1788-1858", The Journal of
Asian Studies, Vol XXIV: 2 (February 1965).
2. The Kandyan Period refers to the period from 1591 to 1815, when the Kingdom of Kandy existed in the
central portion of Ceylon. However there was a semi-autonomous principality in Kandy dating from
around the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
3. Ralph Pieris, "New Elites in Ceylon" in Transactions of the Fifth World Congress of Sociology (Louvain
Belgium: International Sociological Association, 1964) p. 295.
4. Idem; and Marshall R. Singer, The Emerging Elite (Cambridge, Massachusetts: M. I. T. Press, 1964)
pp. 19-21; and P. T. M. Fernando, The Development of a New Elite in Ceylon with special reference
to educational and occupational background, (Oxford University: D. Phil. dissertation in Sociology,
1968) pp. 14-15. This is a view to which I myself subscribed initially, but about which my doubts
have tended to increase, particularly after discussions with Drs. V. Kanapathypillai, C. R. de Silva,
Vijaya Samaraweera and Mr. W. J. F. Labrooy.

12

13
A stratum of royal officials, radolan, is mentioned in tenth century inscriptions. By
the nineteenth century that stratum, known as radala, consisting of a powerful group
of intermarrying families, had been consolidated in the interior.'
Such a view is based on slender and fragmentary evidence, much of it pertaining to the early
nineteenth century. In the circumstances, the view that the traditional elite in the Kandyan
Kingdom was confined to a small group of interlocked radala families and rested on a hereditary and ascribed basis cannot be treated as an established fact and must be presented in tentative
fashion.2 When applied retrospectively to the several centuries preceding the Kandyan Period,
such an interpretation has an even flimsier base and carries all the perils of excessive oversimplification. In short, one must be doubly circumspect in applying this interpretation to the very
broad period of history which is said to have been featured by a "traditional society". Illustration of both the interpretation and the errors it might carry is provided in marshalling some
of the fragmentary evidence for and against the theory that ascription prevailed.
Writing of the Kandyan Kingdom in the mid-seventeenth century, Robert Knox in effect
suggested that the traditional elite was drawn largely from the radala sub-caste within the goyigama
caste, a caste which was the largest single caste group in the Sinhalese districts. Said Knox:
The king when he advanced any to be Dissauva's, or to any other great Office regards
not their ability or sufficiency to perform the same, only they must be persons of good
rank, and gentile extraction: and they are all naturally discreet and very solid
The elite was distinguished from the rest of the goyigama caste and the rest of the populace by
the authority conferred through high government office (such posts as adigars, disavas, basnayake
nilames, ratemahatmayas and korale vidanes); by their life-style, social status, and degree of
regional influence ;4 by the extent of their landholdings5; and by the fact that they had
emancipated themselves from direct cultivation of the soils

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

14
While the distinctiveness attached to the traditional elite is evident, there is much less
certainty about 'recruitment' patterns. On the basis of his work among British records of the
early nineteenth century, Ralph Pieris has evidently gained the impression that aristocratic
roles were restricted to a few radala families during the late Kandyan Period. On the basis
of evidence from vitti pot' G.P.V. Somaratne's impressionistic opinion also favours the view
that chief headmanships were largely decided on hereditary lines during the period of the Kotte
Kingdom (c. 1411-1521)2 But neither Pieris nor Somaratne have substantiated these
opinions through detailed analyses. One suspects that their's is an idealised picture which does
not fit the practices of the Kotte, Sitawaka and Kandyan. Kingdoms. Since the radala subcaste itself was probably a numerous or fairly numerous group, even if choice of personnel for
the top-level administrative posts was largely confined to the radala group, it does not follow
that aristocratic roles were monopolised by a few radala families on a hereditary and kinship
basis, or that social mobility was severely restricted. Knox's statement on this issue is merely
suggestive, and not conclusive. More crucially, the political and social flux that prevailed
in the island during the fifteenth, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries carries significant
implications. These centuries were characterised by a considerable intermingling of Sinhalese
and of Tamils from North Ceylon as well as India.3 Apart from mercenary elements,
Ceylon attracted a number of South Indian caste groups during this period. The royal
household itself furthered this process. It is suspected that Paralcramabahu VI was
a Tamil and it is known that Bhuvenaka Bahu VI was a Tamil named Sempahap
Perumal. The kings of Kotte generally chose their brides from either the
Sinhalese royal house of Kirivalla or from princely lines in South -India .4 Thus,
several officers drawn from outside the traditional elite are known to have risen to high
office in this period, among them the Alagakkonaras and Arittakeevendu Perumal.5 Bhuvenaka
Bahu VI brought along his henchmen (paddeittalewan) from India.6 Again, Rajasinghe I
of Sitawaka became a Hindu and is said to have dismissed or executed several members of the
existing aristocracy? The fluctuating fortunes of war between the Portuguese and the Sitawaka
and Kandyan Kingdoms would also have been conducive to some degree of social mobility
1.

2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.

Books of incidents, generally pertaining to various districts. For illustration of the type of evidence
conveyed by vitti pot, see Navulle Dhammananda (ed) Madyama Lanka Puravurthi (Colombo: Lake
House Investments, 1969) and A. J. W. Marambe (ed) Tri Sinhale Kadaim ha Vita Pot (Kandy: Lankapradipa Press, 1926).
Personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne, 5 June 1970. Dr. Somaratne has recently completed
a study on the "Political History of the Kingdom of Kotte from 1400-1521" (London University:
Ph. D. in History, 1969).
Evidence for this development in the south-west coast is provided by the Portuguese Thombo of Kotte
completed in 1614. The Mandaram Puwatha (Colombo: 1948) edited by Labugama Lankananda gives a
glimpse of the socio-political conflict attending this development in the Kandyan areas. A summarised
English translation of the Mandaram Puwatha is available in the JCBRAS (1952). For a description of
South Indian influences in this period see Tikiri (B.H.) Abeysinghe, Pruthugeeseen ha Lankava 15971658 (Colombo: Lake House investments, 1969) pp. 104-06. I am indebted to Dr. C. R. de Silva for
these references and also for the clarification of many of the points included in the text.
Both points above were personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne
History of Ceylon (Colombo; Ceylon University Press, 1960), Vol. I, Part II, pp. 653-59. T. B. H.
Abeyasinghe, Portuguese Rule in Ceylon 1594-1612 (Colombo: Lake House Investments, 1966) p. 14.
I owe these references to Dr. C. R. de Silva.
Personally communicated by Dr. G. P. V. Somaratne with his documentation being the RaJavaliya.
Abeyasinghe (1969) ; p. 106. Parakramabahu VI ruled Kotte from c. 1411-1467 and Bhuveneka Bahu VI
from c. 1469-1477, Rajasinghe I was king of Sitawaka from 1581-1592. Vidiye Bandara was the father
of Don Juan Dharmapala, the last king of Kotte. Promoted by Mayadunne, Antonio Barreto alias
Kuruwita Rata, led some insurrections against the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century and was
even proclaimed "King of Kotte" by the rebels.

l5
by providing a graveyard for aristrocratic families (who chose the wrong side) and by the opportunities they supplied to individuals with military prowess.1 The fact that the king Senarat's
father appears to have been a mere village headman and that such individuals as Antonio
Barrett) and Marcellus Bouchouwer rose to positions of great influence in the Kandyan Kingdom suggest that there was some scope for advancement based on personal skills in the
Kandyan Period as well.2
Granting that there was much less ascription in the 'recruitment' of the traditional elite than
hitherto believed, nevertheless, there is reason to think that a difference existed between the
practice and the theory; and that the social ideals continued to embody the principle of ascription.3 It is probable that those who rose from the ranks subscribed to such an ideology themselves once their position was secure, applying it against others less successful and thereby
legitimizing their role. It is not an infrequent phenomenon in social history that families which
have ascended the social rungs and entered a new estate are the most ferocious in maintaining
the symbolic values of their newly-adopted estate.4
When the maritime districts fell into the hands of the Portuguese, the power and influence
of the traditional elite in these districts diminished. The foreigners became the dominant group
or the ruling elite of Maritime Ceylon. The Portuguese, however, revealed a preference for
inexpensive forms of administration through indirect means and maintained the traditional
machinery of economic and political organisation, merely adapting it for their own exploitative
ends.. Such changes as they made were within the basic framework of the Sinhalese archetype.5
One of the changes effected by the Portuguese between 1597 and 1615 was the replacement of
all the important administrative officials by Portuguese personnel. 6 Another was the granting
of villages and tracts of land to Portuguese casados such as Lancarote de Seixas.7 Nevertheless,
the traditional elite remained as an intermediary social group that was distinct from the masses.
They continued to man the administrative infrastructure; and the perpetuation of the traditional
administrative archetype, in association with the Portuguese officials' -unfamiliarity with
ground-conditions, enabled them to maintain a significant degree of influence.

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

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

16
With the triumph of Dutch power, the traditional elite were able to improve their position
considerably; and there is room to suggest that in several ways they succeeded in carving out
for themselves privileges and positions of power which they had not enjoyed under the Sinhalese
kings.' Like the Portuguese, the Dutch2 maintained the traditional politico-economic
structure and made only minor adjustments. But in contrast to the Portuguese they did not
mix well nor were they adept at picking up the local languages. Their personnel were also
spread much more thinly over the ground. They also discovered that the land registers painfully
compiled by the Portuguese had been destroyed. In consequence the Dutch were forced to
rely on the indigenous elite. They attempted to secure the loyalty of the elite by upholding
their privileges and positions.3 The basis of their policy is underlined in the phrase: "The
richer they are, the trustier they must become as their wealth is like a security of their loyalty".4
As in Portuguese times,5 the indigenous officials got more chances of acquiring wealth at the
expense of the government as well as the villager. They appropriated services for their own
profit. They extended their landholdings. By the mid-eighteenth century, according to the
evidence presented by Kotelawele, several members of the well-to-do and high ranking Sinhalese
officialdom owned, "large estates" and had "considerable cash incomes.""
It would appear that the facets supporting a traditional elite (centred round officialdom)
continued to exist in Portuguese and Dutch Ceylon, albeit with changessome to the detriment,
and others to the advantage, of the traditional elite of the maritime districts. The questions
remain whether the composition of the traditional elite remained the same? and whether the
dominant ideals were based on ascribed status? The spadework which has been undertaken
on this problem is limited, and the historical foundations slender. The evidence that is available suggests that there was a certain amount of change in the personnel comprising the traditional
elite and that there was some degree of mobility. The implications of the warfare that prevailed
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been noticed earlier.7 Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka,

I. Cf. the situation in Malaya in the period 1870's to 1939: " ...change occurred within (or coexisted with)
a remarkable persistence of traditional patterns of social organization. British policy in the
peninsula throughout the period was based on a mutually profitable alliance with the
Malay ruling class... This symbiotic relationship ... certainly deprived the Malay Sultan
of much of his policy-making or decision-making power ... But ... within Malay society itself the rulers
not only remained supreme but had their position considerably strengthened by the improvement, under
the aegis of the British, of the centralized apparatus of government, by the reduction of previously competitive territorial chiefs to the status of titled pensioners or government-paid bureaucrats, and by the
strengthening of their customary but frequently unexercised control over religion". See William R. Roff,
The Origins of Malay Nationalism (New Haven - London: Yale University Press, 1967). p. 250. This
would be broadly in accord with the experience of several tropical colonies. Western overlordship, not
uncommonly, enabled the indigenous elites to build on their own petty despotisms within the area of
decision-making which did not go up to the higher levels of government and within the more crucial
arena of policy implementation.
2. I am indebted to Dr. V. Kanapathypillai for providing me with several insights into the nature of the
Dutch administration with special reference to the role of the principal headman. Particularly valuable
was his emphasis on the difference between the nature of Portuguese control and that of the Dutch.
3. S. Arasaratnam, Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1658-1687 (Amsterdam: 1958) pp. 121-22.
V. Kanapathypillai, "Dutch Agrarian Policy in Maritime Ceylon, 1766-1796," Ceylon Studies
Seminar, 1969/70 Series, No. 4, 17 January 1970 (mimeographed paper).
4. K. W. Goonewardena, The Foundation of Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1638-1658 (Amsterdam: 1958). p. 149.
5. Abeyasinghe (1966) pp. 82-83.
6. D. A. Kotelawele, "Agrarian Policies of the Dutch in South-West Ceylon, 1743-1767," A. A. G. BiJdragen
14 (1967) pp. 15-16.
7. Supra, pp. 14-15.

17
the Portuguese, and the Dutch dismissed, punished or exiled many chiefs.[ During the Dutch
wars with Kandy in the period 1760-66, many Low-Country Sinhalese chiefs fled to the
Kandyan Kingdom? Again, during the governorship of Schreuder (1757-62) a large number
of Sinhalese chiefs who were suspected of complicity in the uprisings of the 1760's were banished;
and their properties expropriated. Though the powers and positions of some of these chieftain
families were restored during Van Falck's time (1765-84), the changes in the 1760's and 1770's
were sufficient to create openings for a number of individuals. The new chiefs were chosen
"from families of proven loyalty". A few of these families had "hitherto not provided the
native officialdom of the Company". Others, such as the Dias Abeyesinghes of Galle, had served in the lower rungs of the native administrative hierarchy.3
Despite such flux in the composition of the traditional elite, the dominant ideals associated
with the traditional aristocracy appear to have persisted. The structure and attitudes of the
traditional elite in early British times, on which we have more evidence, suggest that this
was so. Conjecturally, several factors could be said to have contributed to this state of
affairs. For one thing, it does not appear that there was a complete overturn of the leading
Sinhalese families in Maritime Ceylon at any one time. The intrusion of new families into
t he ranks of the traditional elite would seem to have been sporadic, though not infrequent. Even
the changes occurring in the 1760's and 1770's did not result in a wholesale displacement of the
highest layers of the traditional elite. In the second place, the individuals whom the Dutch
chose as the principal headmen of territorial divisions appear to have been largely goyigama.5
In the circumstances, in conclusion it could be said that a traditional indigenous elite continued to exist in Maritime Ceylon in Portuguese and Dutch times. Though several of the
families within this group did not have Iong-standing roots in the elite, the features supporting
their elite status remained traditional in that they centred round the official administrative
hierarchy, the ownership of land, caste ranking, and, to some extent, ancestry. In short, the
facets of elite status were based on the traditional socio-economic and political organisation.
1. Abeyasinghe (1966) pp. 77-81; Kanapathypillai (1970), pp. 3-4.
2. Kanapathypillai (1970) p. 3.
3. Ibid., pp. 3-4; together with elaborations that were communicated personally. Note should be taken;
of the development in Dutch times of new categories of officers as competitors to the village headmen
namely, the school masters and thombo-keepers. However, Dr. Kanapathypillai informs me that their
range of powers was generally limited to the lower levelsof administration: that, even within these levels,
they may well have been subservient to the village headmen; but that general conclusions cannot be
reached on the latter point without detailed studies which pay attention to regional differences.
4. See, for instance, Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 14-36, 60-70, 127-33; (Maha Mudaliyar A. de Saram) "A
Description of the Castes on the Island of Ceylon, their trade and their services to Government, supplied
to Sir Robert Horton on the 24th Jan: 1832" published anonymously in the Colombo Journal; 23 June
1832 and subsequently under the author's name and with an expanded title by the Albion Press,Galle in 1888
under the sponsorship of one D. A. Tilakaratne; and C. J. R. Le Mesurier and T. B. Panabokke (ed.) Niti
Nighanduwa or Vocabulary of Law as it existed in the Last Days of the Kandyan Kingdom (Colombo; Govt.
Printer, 1880). The Colebrooke Cameron Commission received several petitions from the higher castes,
particularly from goyigamas in Kandyan areas, which complained of low-castes assuming the privileges
of higher castes. Such complaints illustrate the prevalence of an ideology attached to the caste system. The
"privileges" which the goyigamas sought to preserve included that of office. See C. 0. 416 29, nos. 101,
116, 125, 126, and 145. I owe this reference to Dr. Vijaya Samaraweera.
5. Personally communicated by Dr. V. Kanapathypillai. Also implied by the nature of the system in early
British times. See The Ceylon Almanacs of the 1830's. Though there were principal headmen from other
castes, they were "caste headmen" in that they represented particular caste groups in particular administrative divisions.

18
One of these facets was a value-system which was both a product of the traditional structure
and one of its supporting pillars. There is room to conjecture that the symbols, ideals, and
concepts constituting the value-system associated with the traditional elite approximated to
that of pre-Portuguese times and leaned towards ascriptive principles.

The Nineteenth Century

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

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

19

families with the opportunity of achieving and consolidating elite status through two broad
sets of factors : (a) new fields of economic enterprise and (b) educational acquirements ( especially
in the English medium) in an environment which gave scope, albeit with limitations, for such
acquirements. The two avenues of advance were not independent but closely intertwined.
The hard-earned wealth of the pioneer entrepreneurs enabled them to educate their sons in the
best schools ;and/or to send them to the inns of court in London to become fully-fledged barristers.
The second and third generations employed their education to consolidate their economic and
social position. In other instances, the professions provided a ladder to the ramparts of the
elite and acquisition of landed property from professional earnings, supported this ladder.
Strategic marriage alliances and the formation of family phalanxes or pelantiyasl were another
component in elite formation; but generally constituted a second stage or second step in
that the attainment of a suitable occupational and/or financial position was the primary stage
and the basis for the negotiation of such marriage contracts.
Within the indigenous population, in time one could identify at least two levels of politicoeconomic power and status amounting to two elite categories : the "national elite" and the "local
elite" as I would term them. Both these elites were, in effect, hierarchically situated and occupied
levels of power lying between the British ruling elite and the indigenous masses.2 The "national
elite" describes those individuals and families who possessed the attributes of elite status to
a greater degree than the local elite, and whose circle of influence could be said to have had a
nation-wide significance rather than a limited significance, regional or otherwise. Drawing
examples from newly-emergent families as well as traditional elite families who maintained their
elite status, it could be said that in nineteenth century Ceylon the national elite was typified
by such families and individuals as Jeronis and Susew de Soysa, the de Sarams and the de
Liveras, the Obeyesekeres of Talpe Pattu (Southern Province) and Veyangoda, the de Abrew
Rajapakses of Welitara, the Ilangakoons of Weligama, the Dunuwilles of Kandy, the Iddamalgodas and the Eknelligodas of Sabaragamuwa, the descendants of Francisco de Mel of Moratuwa, the Panabokkes of Udapalata, the descendants of Don Adrian Jayawardene of Grandpass,
the Senarat Mudalige Pereras of Kotte, the Nell family, Richard Francis Morgan, Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar and his descendants and kin, J. A. Perera, James Alwis, Dandris de Silva
Gunaratne, D. C. G. Attygalle and Hannadige Jeronis Pieris. The "local elite", on the other
hand, describes less influential individuals who were nevertheless set apart from the masses.
Within the indigenous Ceylonese population, they were literally an intermediate and link social
category. Their's was an intermediate station for upwardly and downwardly mobile families
and individuals. And they often functioned as intermediaries and links between the national
elite and the Citizens Perera, Tikiri Banda, and Velupillai. In British Ceylon the local elite
was exemplified by such individuals and families as Pedroe de Silva of Waskaduwa,3 the Bastian-

1. For a description of the manner in which pelantiya formation occurs at the subdistrict level, see
Gananath Obeyesekere (1967) pp. 214 ff.
2. The distinction between these two elites will be clarified in a work which I am preparing for publication.
A preliminary, less refined, attempt will be found in Roberts, (1970 c) pp. 7-10.
3.

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

20
koralage Rodrigo of Hendala-Pamunugama,1 C. Don Bastian,2 Hemendra Sepala Perera,i
P. H. Abraham Silva,4 and the Wijenayake pelantiya in Hinidum Pattu in the Southern Province which is described by Gananath Obeyesckere.5
The emerging national and local elites added significant new components to the social
structure of the island. They were not mere extensions of the traditional elite as in Indonesia.6
The power and status of the new elites was largely based on personal achievement.7 The new
elites included many individuals who would have found it very difficult to enter the ranks of
the traditional elite in former times, particularly the elite in the Kandyan Provinces. In the
long-run it was from the ranks of the newly-constituted national and local elites that the
challenge to British rule originated. Both in the short and Iong-run they, or rather, the waves
on which they advanced, presented a threat to the traditional elite. The latter were obliged
to adapt themselves to the changes taking place around them and to take on the new facets of
elite status; or else decline. It is known that several families (particularly Kandyan families)
that belonged to the traditional elite of late-Dutch and early-British times succumbed to the
new pressures.8 On the foundations of what is admittedly an impressionistic survey, however,
it is evident that significant segment of the traditional elite revealed powers of adaptation
and formed an important segment of the national elite that emerged with the social transformation of British times.9 In adapting themselves to changing times, 'traditional elite families were
aided by the continuance of a modified headman system. They were also assisted materially
by the persistence of traditional forms of status aspiration; among other tendencies, these norms
placed a high premium on the possession of government office and on forms of land ownership
which enabled an individual to emancipate himself from direct cultivation of the soil. 10 In
adapting themselves, too, traditional elite families were assisted by the fact that several new
avenues of economic advancement depended on the ownership of substantial land-holdings,
holdings that were suited to the culture of coffee, coconut, cinnamon or tea (and later'rubber),
or holdings that included gem deposits or rich veins of plumbago (graphite). Since the possession of significant extents of land in traditional Sinhalese society was largely restricted to members of the traditional elite,1 t they had a distinct advantage in having an economic base for further

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

r-

21
development.' Their local bases of influence and their know-how also assisted them in expanding
their lands and in pursuing other avenues of social ascent. To quote the Revd. Clough's
observation in 1830:
The wealth of the country is chiefly among the headmen and they possess
not only the positive riches of the country, but they exercise an influence over
the labours, time and little gettings of the lower classes such as no person can
at all understand but from living among them.2
While the traditional elite of the preceding centuries would seem to have been relatively
undifferentiated, the national and local elites were highly differentiated. Economic distinctions in the form of income-levels were more accentuated than before and provided lines of
division that were "horizontal", in the sense that stratification along levels of income are
horizontal. Such distinctions were compounded by "vertical" lines of cleavage imposed by
primordial communal and religious affiliations, vertical in the sense that such affiliations cut
across income-Ievels and included all strata under one ethnic or religious umbrella. Regional
differences such as that between the Kandyan and Low-Country Sinhalese_ provided further ,
differentiation.
The age-old distinctions of caste among the Sinhalese and the Ceylon Tamils caused additional and heated divisiveness. In the Sinhalese regions caste rivalry was accentuated by the
fact that numerically significant sections of the new elites were from the karava and salagama
castes.3 These two castes (together with the duravas) were relatively late infusions into the
Sinhalese social system: for the evidence, scanty and largely inferential, suggests that these
Low-Country Sinhalese caste groups migrated from South India in successive waves at various
times between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries,4 a hypothesis that is supported by the
oral traditions concerning the origins of the de Soysa and Pieris families.s In consequence,
it would appear that they were not completely enmeshed in the traditional system (which was
based on land tenure) and its concomitant behavioural patterns by the time of increasing Western
influence and increasing opportunities for personal advancement in the seventeenth and eight...,
eenth centuries.6 This contention is supported by the facts that, speaking broadly, they held
I. See supra, pp. 13-17. This point needs qualification. In the late eighteenth century the Dutch liberally
granted thunhavul lands to inhabitants on the understanding that one third of each grant was to be cultivated with cinnamon (Kanapathypillai (1970) pp. 18-19); and prior to the 1830's the British also
made numerous land grants, (Information supplied by Patrick Peebles on the foundation of a survey
of the Colombo Kachcheri records on the subject). Both developments would have provided individuals
outside the traditional elite with opportunities to improve themselves. Note that the headmen families
themselves were among the recipients of such grants.
2. Quoted in E. F. C. Ludowyk, The Modern History of Ceylon (London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, 1966),
p. 115.
3. This is generally acknowledged. Also see my "The Rise of the Karavas", Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1968/69
Series, No. 5, (4 March 1969) mimeographed paper, pp. 14-22.
4. Ibid., pp. 1-2. I am also supported in this view by (a) the opinion of Dr. G. C. Mendis, as communicated personally; (b) that of Bryce Ryan, Caste in Modern Ceylon (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutger University Press, 1953) pp. 11-12, 73, 107-1I; and (c) C. R. de Silva's opinion (communicated
personally) based on the fact that karava landholdings, especially in paddy land, were extremely limited
in the early sixteenth century. In an agrarian community this can be taken as a mark of recent arrival.
5. Supra, pp. 6-7.
6. Roberts, "The Rise of the Karavas" (1969) pp. 6-7. Also see Kenneth A. David, "Socio-Cultural
Change in the Sinhalese Section of Ceylon: Cultural Innovations by the Karava Caste" (University of
Chicago: M. A. Dissertation in Social Anthropology, August 1968) pp. 26 if.

22
very limited extents of paddy land during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries' and that they
had no role in the traditional Low-Country Sinhalese rituals. In further consequence, the
potential elite segments within the karava and salagama castes showed relatively greater elan
and dynamism than those of the more traditional castes. Their social advancement, particularly that of the nineteenth century, posed a threat to the numerically preponderant and
traditionally dominant caste, the goyigama. The main 'push' from the karavas, however,
appeared on the historical time-scale at an earlier date than that of the salagama. It also carried
more muscle.2 The `kara-ga conflict, therefore, was a significant phenomenon in the history
of British Ceylon. It was also attended and complicated by a hostility between the karavas
and salagamas of not insignificant proportions.
The national and local elites, therefore, were composed of dissimilar parts and possessed
a heterogeneous nature. At the same time, nevertheless, the different parts of the national
elite were linked by important common denominators. Whatever their caste or race or religion,
members of the national elite generally did not query the existence of private property or of
private enterprise. Their very existence as an elite rested (in part) on these pillars. Whatever
their origins, once they had consolidated their position as members of the national elite,
they became members of a single class the term "class" being used in the Marxian sense
of an aggregate of persons who perform the same functions in the organisation of production
and who possess a sense of group consciousness. In short, it was an elite that was representative
of the capitalist class which formed the upper crust of indigenous society. In this sense, all
its members had a certain community of interest with the British ruling elite) who were also
part (the dominant part) of the capitalist class. Their class situation provided the different
segments of the national elite with a degree of homogeneity. It might, perhaps, be possible
to depict this class situation as the basic framework within which they functioned, as a circumference, so to speak, which enveloped and linked the heterogeneous elements of the national
elite. But its walls were thin. The very heterogeneity of the national elite imposed numerous
strains which, every now and then, breached the community of interest engendered by class.
No study of major political and social developments in British Ceylon will be adequate which
does not recognise both the heterogeneity and the class homogeneity of the national elite.4
H. J. Pieris and the National Elite
Hannadige Jeronis Pieris rose to be a member of the national elite which has been described
in the foregoing pages. His career was a part of the process of elite formation in nineteenth
century Ceylon at an early stage when the coffee industry dominated the economy of the
1 Opinion personally communicated by C. R. de Silva on the basis of his study on the thombos of the Portuguese period as well as that of a land register or thombo of the late sixteenth century. For a study
based on these thombos see C. R. de Silva Some Comments on the Political and Economic Conditions of the Kingdom of Kotte in the Early Sixteenth Century", Ceylon Studies Seminar, 1969/70
Series, No. 10 (mimeographed paper, 9 July 1970).
2. Roberts, "The Rise of the Karavas" (1969) pp. 18-27.
3. "I do not think a distinction can be made between the members of this society(The Ceylon Social Reform
The interests
Society) and those people who are spoken of as the planters. Most of us are planters
of the Ceylonese planters are identical with those of the European planters", said James Peiris in the course
of his speech at an extraordinary general meeting of the Ceylon Social Reform Society on the 11th
January 1908 (The Ceylon National Review, No. 5 (February 1908) p. 169). I am grateful to Dr. K.
H. Jayasinghe for helping me to locate this reference.
4. The local elite have been excluded from this section so as to simplify the problems of description. They
could probably be included within the boundaries of the capitalist class. However, the very fact that (
have seen fit to distinguish between the local and the national elites illustrates another element of differentiation within the class.

23
island. It reflects the importance of both avenues of individual advance, educational qualifications and entrepreneurial talent, with the accent on the latter. Unlike the brothers Babasingho Jeronis and Susew de Soysa (but like Charles Henry de Soysa) he was English-educated,
and was probably more Westernised than either.[ Like them but in possibly less difficult
circumstances, he revealed considerable entrepreneurial ability. And in common with many
Sinhalese families, cross-cousin marriages preserved fortunes within family circles and thereby
bolstered the elite status of the Pieris family. The fact that the business and marriage alliances
of the Hannadige Pierises were with the Warusahannadige de Soysas naturally proved of material
benefit.
Jeronis Pieris's letters, therefore, provide interesting sidelights on the attitudes of the
national elite at the fledgling stages of its growth. One must, of course, beware of generalisations from one case-study, particularly when the social formation in question had multi-form
and varied features. Yet Jeronis's outlook can be held to represent one strand of thinking
in the new national elite. Since he was a Sinhalese it is arguable that his attitudes approximate
closer to those of the Sinhalese elite than to those of the other communities. Within the Sinhalese
national elite, Low-Countrymen noticeably predominated, numerically and otherwise, over
the Kandyans. Jeronis was a Low-Country Sinhalese. He was also a member of the karava
caste, one of the most powerful elements within the Low-Country Sinhalese elites and the
national elite as a whole. He was also a karava from the locality of Moratuwa on the littoral
immediately south of Colombo a locality which mothered a high proportion of the karava
dite.2
In summary, then, the letters of Hannadige Jeronis Pieris provide insights into the thinking
of a notable entrepreneur and a potential plantation and property owner, who was a LowCountry Sinhalese, a karava from Moratuwa and a representative of the emerging national elite.
The time at which the letters were penned is naturally of significance. The 1840's and 1850's
were formative years for both the national and local elites. In this period the national elite were
not seeking a share in the government and presenting demands for constitutional reform. It
was not a period characterised by any modernistic brand of nationalism. Potential and
ascending members of the Ceylonese national elite were concentrating on scaling the
socio-economic ladder.

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

CHAPTER FOUR

WESTERN ORIENTATIONS
An Emphasis on Education
A significant vein in Jeronis Pieris's letters is an emphasis on English education. This is
brought out very clearly in his letters to his younger brother, Louis, and his nephew-in-law,
Charles Henry de Soysa, who were approximately eleven and seven years younger to him and
students at the Colombo Academy in the 1850's. Jeronis's advice to Louis was aimed at improving Louis's attainments in English. Louis was required not merely "to become a diligent and
learned youth" but, explicitly and implicitly, one who was highly proficient in English. His
hopes for young C. H. de Soysa, too, were that he would "become a good classical scholar".1
In keeping with most contemporaries in the national elite, Jeronis Pieris clearly turned his face
towards Western learning. As a Methodist missionary observed in 1875 (in a communication
that may be exaggerated by its persuasive objectives): "English ! English! English! is all the rage
now".2
Jeronis also emphasised the virtues of education and industry. "The root of learning
is indeed bitter, but the fruits thereof sweet" ran one of his homilies to C. H. de Soysa. He
maintained a continuous stream of inquiry concerning the progress which young Louis and C. H.
de Soysa were making in their studies. Advice was accompanied by an insistence that both
should keep their shoulders to the wheel. In the case of Louis his insistence grew increasingly
agitated and soprano in tone. Louis, it would seem, remained in the bottom class, or one
but the last class, for several years.3 Solicitous admonitions were heaped on this line of pressure: You read English badly, I am afraid, Louis. Would you kindly rewrite your last letter,
herewith returned, in a better manner! Please improve your handwriting and spelling and do
not forget to "introduce stops to your writing". Your last letter showed no improvement
and was not in the least bit satisfactory.4 As if this was not enough, his letters to both Louis
and C. H. de Soysa complained of the briefness of their letters an incongruous complaint
from a man who himself admitted to being a bad correspondent due to pressure of business.5
Rooted in affection and interest though these instructions were, they amounted to a nagging
insistence which could well have got under Louis's skin. This would seem to be all the more
so when one notes that a letter from Louis to Jeronis in late 1853 was the first letter which Louis
had addressed to his brother in English.6 The letter in question was greeted with warmth
1. No. 9, To Louis Pieris, 10 June 1854 and No. 10, To S. C. Perera, 25 July 1854. Infra, pp. 69-70.
2. Quoted in Yasmine Gooneratne, English Literature in Ceylon 1815-1878 (Dehiwala, Ceylon: Tisara
Prakasakayo, 1968), p. 9. The missionary was trying to persuade his superiors in London to devote more
attention to advancing education in English rather than in the vernacular.
3. No. 22, To Louis Pieris, 22 March 1856. Infra, p. 834. Infra, pp. 65, 69, 72, 75, 77 and 83-84.
5. No. 16, To C. H. de Soysa, 28 July.1855 and No. 17, To Louis Pieris, 23 Sept 1855. Infra, pp. 75-77.
6. No. 1, To Louis Pieris, 30 October 1853. Infra, p. 62.

24

25
and encouragement. Holding extravagant hopes for Louis's performance, however, Jeronis's
impatience and concern led him to a nagging stance. Part explanation lies in the fact that
roughly eleven years separated the brothers. Jeronis was fulfilling the role of a big brother
on whom a great responsibility had been thrust by the early demise of their father, for family
responsibilities are taken seriously in Sinhalese society. Part explanation could also lie in the
influence of Protestantism. The virtue of industry was strongly favoured by certain brands
of Evangelical Christianity in the nineteenth century. In association with the Victorian social
values of decorum and scrupulous correctness, such influences could have produced the brand
of emphasis which Jeronis's letters reveal.
Jeronis Pieris's partiality for English education and the sense of urgency with which he desired
Louis Pieris to have a successful scholastic career suggest other important considerations.
Education was, as we have seen, one of the major channels of individual and familial advancement
in British Ceylon. It was regarded in such a light by several Ceylonese. To quote T. B.
Panabokke, Snr:
Then, as now, parents sought education for their children not for any cultural value,
but for advancement in life. They had greater reason to think of education in that
light. A knowledge of English meant so much: Power, office and a means of livelihood. The Kandyans were beginning to realise that their hold of the country and
people was gradually slipping out. Others alien by race and culture were being favoured and preferred in the Government appointments. My uncle had the sense to see
that it would help me in life and was only too pleased to send me to (the school run
by the Church Missionary Society in Cotta.)'
It is evident that Jeronis viewed an English education as such a career-investment. His
insistence suggests the possibility that these views were sharpened by a sense of competition.
As the situation stood in the 1850's, the fruits of an education in English were being enjoyed
largely by two segments of the Ceylonese populace. One group were the Burgher elite; their
preponderance in the more important subordinate posts in the administrative and judicial
services and in the newly emerging indigenous legal profession cannot be questioned.2 There
is room to think that a section of the traditional elite, the goyigama aristocracy, constituted
the second segment: the careers of such individuals as James Alexander Dunuwille, James
Alwis, the de Sarams, Frederick de Livera, John Graham Jayetilleke, Frederick Jayetilleke,

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

26
Albert de Alwis, D. J. F. W. Obeyesekere, "Harry" Dias, and Nicholas Dias Abeyesinghe,1
provide indications that this was so. The question, then, is whether such factors induced a
sense of urgency in Jeronis's concern for his brother's future. The age was undoubtedly characterised by powerful group antipathies, antipathies that even influenced the youth. Panabokke
provides another piece of evidence on this point in his description of life at the Cotta (Kotte)
Missionary School:
Though the Singhalese predominated there were Burghers and Tamils and boys of
others races. The Singhalese boys were divided into caste groups and the Karawe
community seemed to be more caste ridden and caste conscious than the others.. There
were a few Kandyans who instinctively came together not in antagonism to others
but from a sheer fellow feeling common to those who leave home behind.2
Jeronis's letters to C. H. de Soysa were less fatherly in tone than those to Louis and provide
the most information on his own literary interests. Despite his preoccupation with entrepreneurial tasks, his letters show that he found time for some reading. He professed himself
captivated by Addison's beauty of style, which he considered superior to any other. He also
read the Spectator and the Taller, and thought highly of Johnson. Among the works he
borrowed or purchased were Boswell's Life ofJohnson and Johnson's Rambler in three volumes.3
William Digby has recorded that the "Rambler" was regularly quoted by and "exercised
a marvellous influence" over the minds of the students at the school run by the Church Missional:), Society at Cotta (Kotte).4 Among the popular fare of the Ceylonese educated in the
English-medium, Yasmine Gooneratne has listed: Johnson's Rambler, Macauley's Essays and
other works, and such periodicals as Blackwood's Magazine, Brougham's Statesman, the
Edinburgh Review, the Illustrated London News and The Gentleman's Magazine.5 Besides
providing confirmation on several points, Jeronis's letters suggest a few additions: the Taller,
the Spectator, Addison and Boswell. Addison, in fact, would seem to have had the same
popularity among Ceylonese students as among the Indian students observed by Trevelyan.6
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

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

27
I am not certain how to read this evidence. Yasmine Gooneratne considers that the English
schools in Ceylon in this period "do not appear to have given the student much guidance in
literary matters beyond providing him with models for his imitation" and stresses that "the
student's aim was chiefly imitation." She also notes that educationists of the time offered
the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer as the best models of composition and that "generations of Ceylonese schoolboys were brought up with the Scriptures as their standard of literary
excellence") The letters are on more mundane and down-to-earth subjects than the largely
literary raw material on which Gooneratne has based her conclusions. Jeronis's style and
thought certainly betray strong scriptural influences. There is a suspicion that his is an earnest
and deliberate attempt to acquire an English culture which was at that stage Victorian. On
the other hand the flow of thinking seems natural and spontaneous.
However one may read this evidence, the end product is hardly in doubt. Hannadige
Jeronis Pieris modelled himself on his own conception of the proper Victorian gentlemen and
perhaps fancied himself as one already.
Collaboration: Christian and Anglophile
His Victorian traits were rounded of by affiliations to the Christian faith and the Church
of England, affiliations which probably contributed towards his Britishness. if the oral tradition which maintains that their father was a Catholic is correct, it is probable that Engeltina,
Jeronis and Louis were brought up as Catholics. But they shifted their allegiance to the Church
of England at some stage in the mid-nineteenth century. It is said that this occurred sometime
after Susew de Soysa had become an Anglican.2 However that may be, by the 1850's Jeronis
had the ardour of a new convert. Gratitude for the blessings provided by the Almighty forms
an integral part of his letters. This was not mere lip-service. A letter of condolence to C. H.
de Soysa following the death of one of the latter's uncles, and another to a friend who was at
death's door, were missionary in style, tone, and appeal.3 They advised the recipients to find
refuge in the bosom of the Lord and to seek strength from the Holy Spirit. To young C. H.
he advised recourse to the Bible as "the source
(of) all consolation" and ended his letter
with a reference to the 39th Psalm: "How beautifully does that holy Psalm the 39th read. Yea
how truly are we though in life yet in the midst of death". His attitude to death was one of
accepting the inevitable: "death pays not the least regard to the supplication of mortals
we must all die sooner or later," he remarked in sending a message of consolation to his mother
(through Louis) on the death of his (presumably maternal) grandfather.4 He was clearly determined to take death in his stride. In the meantime he would, to annotate our own observations,
build his own little material kingdom here on earth a kingdom which he drew on generously
and continuously to provide benefactions for the Church of England in Ceylon.5
1. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 19, 24 25, 27.
2. Letter from L. C. de S. Pieris to Mrs. Boyd Jayasuriya, 4 January 1969.
3. No. 23. To W. H. Wright, 12 June 1856. Infra, p. 84.
No. 20. To C. H. de Soysa, 22 December 1855. Infra, P. 81.
4. N. 22, To Louis Pieris, 22 April 1856. Infra, pp. 83-84.
5. The obituary in the Lakrivikirana (14 July 1894) noted that he had donated a house in Maradana and
an estate in Chilaw to the Anglican Church. The oral traditions on this aspect have also been supported
by Mr. Shelton C. Fernando (Letter to author, 15 March 1969) who was Chairman of the Incorporated
Trustees or the Church of England in Ceylon from 1963-67.

28
To a person cast in such a mould, the marriage practices of the Kandyans were simply
ghastly. The marital customs that prevailed in the Kandyan districts in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries were, in terms of conventional present-day norms, casual and lax:
divorce was by mutual consent and could be effected by the unilateral decision of the male
partner;' polygamy was not unknown; concubinage and temporary liaisons were widely
prevalent, for changing spouses often was not frowned upon; "being as they account never
the worse for wearing";2 and polyandry was common, with polyandrous marriages being
generally contracted with "brothers", which in Sinhalese kinship terminology included parallel
cousins and step-brothers.3 Such practices occasioned severe condemnation from Jeronis:
polygamous arrangements were "a brutal practice",; their customs as a whole were "barbarous"
and "nasty". He turned automatically (and with every good intention) to one solution: "Look
how barbarous the Kandyans are still! I wish all of them would soon turn Christians and leave
off their old nasty customs."4
Such traits were not uncommon in the history of British Ceylon. They can be seen with
some variation in James Alwis and in numerous members of the emerging national elite,
a social fcirmation which was predominantly Christian at this stage.5 "Marriage is regarded
by the natives (especially by the Kandians) as a matter of inconsiderable importance; they have
no notion of the sacredness of its institution. Even that portion of the Singhalese who in fact
In the interior parts of Ceylon,
are Christians, think it a matter of little or no consideration
`where white man's foot never trod' the people live in the rudest and most barbarous manner
possible," complained James Alwis.6 These Ceylonese were in step with contemporary
British opinion. In 1856, for instance, a journalist complained that no legislation had been
introduced to amend "the present immoral and licentious customs of the Kandyan country."7
Other journalists, the evangelically-oriented Fergusons, referred to "the hideous system of
polyandry" as a violation of "a clear physical law of our nature".8 Such views were typical
for that day. In echoing them, the members of the national elite illustrate their adoption of
new sets of values, Western values. In Jeronis, such opinions may have partly been the result
of the zeal which new converts, not uncommonly, show. They were certainly due in large part
to the weight and direction of education in English-medium schools of the era and the fact
that he matured in life at a time when Evangelical zeal was at its most aggressive and pervasive
height.9 Significantly, the guru he greatly admired, the Reverend Barcroft Boake, was one
1_ Generally speaking, this entailed the restoration of the marriage settlement (dowry).
2. Knox (1911) p. 149.
3. See kid, pp. 145-51; Ralph Pieris (1956) pp. 195-228; and S. J. Tambiah, "Polyandry in Ceylon"'
in Christoph Von Purer Haimendorf's Caste Kin in Nepal, India and Ceylon (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966) pp. 264-358.
4. No.12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854; and No.19, To Simon Perera,3 December 1855, Infra, pp.72-80.
5. This point is generally acknowledged. It was partly due to the preponderance of Burghers among the
administrative and professional elements of the elite; and the Burghers, almost without exception were
(and are) Christians. Note that the majority of individuals mentioned in fn. 1, supra, p. 26, were
Christians. Many members of the karava elite, especially those from Moratuwa, were also Christians.
In time however, the proportion of Christians in the national elite diminished. By the 1920's the elite
was "disproportionately Christian" rather than predominantly Christian.
6. James Aiwis, "Marriage. Customs of the Singhalese", Ceylon Magazine, Vol. 1:7, (March 1841), pp.
278 & 281.
7. The Examiner, 5 June 1856. At this stage The Examiner was in British hands.
8. The Colombo Observer, 10 April 1865. Also see 5 December 1859.
9. See K. M. de Silva, SocialPolicy and Missionary Organization in Ceylon, 1840-1855 (London: Lon gmans'
Green & Co., Ltd., 1965). chapters 1 - 4.

29
of the most unyielding and forceful of Evangelicals.1 As Yasmine Gooneratne has observed,
in his twenty seven years at the Academy "Boake stamped upon it the impress of a personality
in which religious dogmatism obscured all sense of proportion".2 Where it did not produce
reaction and rebellion, such influences as Boake exerted would have tended to create acceptance
of Western and Christian norms. kronis Pieris's path had clearly been one of acceptance.

The opposition to the Kandyan marriage customs was not confined to Britishers or members
of the Low-Country Sinhalese elite (who, after all, had been subject to the influences of Western Christendom for several centuries). Inthe 1850's, significantly, a segment of the Kandyan
elite sought a legal enactment which would prohibit their traditional practices, enforce monogamy
and the registration of marriages, and thereby render marriage "a highly important and solemn
engagement."3 The first request for a reform of the Kandyan marriage customs would appear
to have been presented by "the Kandyan Chiefs" at an interview with the Governor, Sir George
Anderson, in the early 1850's.4 There was apparently no response from the Government of
Ceylon. Though The Examiner attributed this lack of response to Anderson's indolence, it
could only have been, at best, a contributory factor. One may conjecture that the main reasons
for Anderson's policy lay in the after-effects of the so-called rebellion of 1848; though the
insurrection of 1848 offers no comparison in scale to the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 its influence
on government policy was not greatly dissimilar; previous innovationist tendencies were
soft-pedalled; for many years afterwards, the Government followed a cautious policy and
hesitated to disturb "ancierla landmarks" or meddle with traditional institutions.5 Undeterred,
"a large Deputation of Kandyan Chiefs" repeated their request in the course of an interview
(which lasted Oyer an hour) with a new Governor, Sir Henry Ward, in May 1858.6 Ward was
cautiously responsive. He wanted evidence of general support for such a proposal among
the Kandyan people. He was evidently unaware how easy it was for the Kandyan elite of
that day to conjure proofs of widespread support. By November the Government Agent
of Kandy (Philip Braybrooke) received a memorial signed by eight thousand "Kandyan Chiefs,
Headmen and people" from the districts of Kandy, Matale, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala
and Nuwarakalawiya.7 The requests presented by the memorial were supported by Braybrooke's findings during his circuits:
Ibid., pp. 117-21, 184.
B. Boake, A Brief Account of the origin and nature of the connexion between the British Government and
the idolatrous systems of religion prevalent in the island of Cey'lon and of the extent to which that connexion
still exists (Colombo: tk. d. probably 1855).
2. Gooneratne (1968) p. 13.
3. A petition from a group of Kandyans enclosed in C.O. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December
1858. See Appendix D. That I should review the implications of this request is an idea that lies entirely
to the credit of Mr. W. 3. F. LaBrooy. He is not, of course, responsible for the analysis that follows.
4. The Examiner, 22 October 1856: editorial.
5. See the author's "Some Aspects of Economic and Social Policy in Ceylon, 1840-1871" (Oxford: D.
Phil. dissertation in History, 1965) pp. 32 - 33; K. M. de Silva, Letters on Ceylon 1846-50, The Ad.
ministration of Viscount Torrington and the ' Rebellion' of 1848 (Colombo: K. V. G. de Silva & Sons,
1965) pp. 30 31. In a letter to R. F. Morgan, C. A, Lorenz referred to the senior civil servants W. C.
Gibson, Caulfield, and C. P. Layard (particularly the first two) as being generally "unwilling to disturb
ancient landmarks"(and therefore as reluctant supporters of Ward's first Kandyan Marriage Ordinance).
See Digby, Life of Morgan (1879) Vol. 1, pp. 243-44.
6. C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858.
7. Idem; and Enclosure, Letter from P. Braybrooke (G. A., Kandy) to Col. Sec., 1 November 1.858.
1.

30
I have heard the most unanimous expression given to the desire of the people for a
change in the present customs in regard to the Marriage Contract. I have no
hesitation in recording my opinion that the Kandyans of all ranks, but more
especially the poorer classes, feel the operation of the Existing Law to be an intolerable burden, as well as the source of great shame and annoyance. Wherever I went
I took great care to consult the people openly in regard to the proposed change in
the Law, but without any previous intimation of my intention to do so, and although
there was frequently a large concourse of persons present, I never heard a dissentient
voice nay more, I met with the most hearty approval of the project...1
(They also gain independent non-official support in a subsequent assertion of one Balangode
Siddharta Unnanse Thera to the effect that "a large portion of the Chiefs and intelligent inhabitants had entreated for a change" ).z On receiving Braybrooke's report and the petitions
in November 1858, characteristically, Ward swept into action. An Ordinance (No. 14 of 1858)
was hurriedly prepared and pushed through the Legislative Council. In despatching the bill
to Britain for approval, he stressed the need for immediate action because "delay might be construed into apprehension and doubt"s a point which he reiterated in a private letter: "It
is a golden opportunity which, I trust, will not be lost".4 He did not hide the fact that the
bill had raised a storm. The Chief Justice in Ceylon as well as two unofficial members of the
Legislative Council had opposed the measure with considerable energy, largely because of its
technical inadequacies, and possibly because of personal rivalry.5 The Colonial Office and
its legal advisers also found numerous imperfections and ambiguities in the form of the
Ordinance. But they were wholeheartedly in favour of its objectives. This placed them in a
dilemma. Proposing amendments would result in a considerable delay. In the interim, the
Legislative Council might change its mind, or the Kandyans might "waver in their good resolution."6 They therefore resorted to the unusual technique of sending Ward two despatches
of the same date in the same packet. One despatch stayed confirmation of the bill, suggested
amendments and enclosed a draft ordinance. The other ratified the bill sent by Ward while
indicating its imperfections. They favoured the former course of action but left Ward with
the discretion of opting for the latter despatch if he felt that the Legislative Council would create
difficulties, or that the Kandyans were likely to alter their views.? Wiser counsel prevailed
1. Ibid, Enclosure, Letter from Braybrooke to Col. Sec., 1 November 1858.
2. The Ceylon Times, 8 February 1870.
3. C. 0. 54/25, Executive Council Minutes, 13 November 1858.
C. 0. 54/338, Ward to Lytton, no. 163, 9 December 1858.
4. Private letter from Ward to Lytton, 13 December 1858 enclosed among the official despatches in C.O.
54/338.
5. Ibid, Enclosure 4 containing a Minute by C. A. Lorenz and George Wall. Also enclosed among these
papers is a private letter from the Chief Justice, W. C. Rowe, to H. Merivale, 29 December 1858. Also
see Digby, Life of Morgan (1879) Vol. I, pp. 243-44. The objections were partly to the manner in which
the Ordinance was promulgated, and partly against the repeal of Ordinance No. 6 of 1847. Lorenz
considered it an "extraordinary piece of patchwork", (Idem). Merivale observed that Rowe's objections
were "chiefly of form and not of substance", (CO 54/338, Ward to Lytton, No. 163, 9 December 1858,
Minute by H. Merivale, 25 March 1859).
6. Idem., Also see Minute by Frederic Rogers, 12 March 1859. In conclusion Rogers observed: "There
are other defects of drawing in the Ordn. which shew, I think, a little want of care. In the proposed despatch I have only gently hinted this. On the whole it will be so good a work that it seems a pity to find
more fault than is necessary."
7. Ibid. draft of a private letter, Lytton to Ward, 11 April 1859. The letter was drafted by Rogers. This
mode of meeting the dilemma was suggested by Merivale (Ibid., Minute of the 25th March 1859). Herman
Merivale was the Permanent Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. Rogers was an Emigration
Commissioner who eventually (1869) took Merivale's place.

31
in Ceylon. Ward employed the services of R. F. Morgan and the Chief Justice, Rowe, in
enacting a technically-adequate legal instrument which entered the statute books as Ordinance
No. 13 of 1859, the Kandyan Marriage Ordinance' a measure which Ward considered a
"novel, and curious, experiment in Eastern legislation," and the outcome of a "spontaneous
attempt" on the part of the Kandyans "to elevate and purify" their institution of marriage?
In attempting to implement this Ordinance in the 186a's, however, several district officers
found it difficult to secure registration of marriages (though several reported favourably or
remained optimistic.)3 A few asserted that the people had not been consulted. One officer
observed that the "enthusiasm with which the Ordinance was said to be received by the people...
was either factious, or a transient emotion."4 A Governor concluded from 'the results that there
had not been "any widespread desire amongst the mass of the population for the change and
that the proposal was not even generally understood."s It was also alleged that the request
for reform had been engineered by a clique of aged men who were no longer interested in cohabitation.6 The Ordinance was therefore replaced by a more realistic Ordinance, No. 3 of 1870.
Such evidence contradicts the conclusions drawn by Braybrooke and the Government in
1859. The evidence could be misleading however. The Kandyan Marriage Ordinance of
1859 had several major defects.1 The people may have been entirely rational in their reluctance to register marriages under such conditions.s On the other hand, the techniques which
Braybrooke appears to have used to elicit opinion in 1859 are suspect. In circumstances in
which a body of headmen and an imposing aura of authority separated the Government
Agent and the populace, and among a people who were, perhaps, not given to ostentatious
and direct expressions of opinion, it is very doubtful if dissent would have been revealed the more so if the audience divined that the "Agent hamuduruwo" would have liked them
to favour reform. The'final resolution of the conflicting evidence on the extent to which the

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

32
Kandyan masses were in favour of amendments to their marriage practices in 1859 will have to
await a study in depth. But the probability is that very few were in favour of a change.
Whether there was popular support or not, a segment of the Kandyan elite must have
been behind the deputations which waited upon Anderson and Ward in the 1850's. Who were
these men? Ward described the group as "a large Deputation of Kandyan Chiefs, comprising
men the most distinguished by their influence, and property."1 The suggestion is that they
were members of the traditional elite. Unfortunately, Braybrooke's letter enclosed an English
translation of the original memorial2 which does not include the names of the signatories.
Attempts on my part to locate the orginal petition among the archival material in Ceylon did
not achieve success.3 The intriguing question as to the identity of the "distinguished" persons4
who initiated this request for marriage reform must remain unanswered for the moment.
However, there is no lack of evidence on the reasons behind the request for marriage reform,
which is perhaps the most pertinent question for this study. The overt reason presented by
the deputation which met Ward was in complete contrast to the sentiments influencing such
individuals as A. M. Ferguson, Jeronis Pieris and James Aiwis. In Ward's words:
they stated distinctly that it was a question of property, not of Religion. They
said that the Litigation growing out of the present system was endless; that no
man could secure the rights of his children; that the largest properties were
dwindling away in Law expenses; that feuds, malicious injuries to property, and
murders were the consequence;5
Ward also believed that an additional and unstated motive existed. Though no member of
the deputation "hinted at the fact that contact with a more civilized Race had made them ashamed of the social status of their own wives, whom European ladies naturally avoid, while living
under this degrading system," Ward was certain that they wished to remove "what they felt
to be a stigma upon their Raee."6 For Ward, this was no doubt a comforting thought, confirming notions of Anglo-Saxon superiority and beliefs in a 'civilizing mission'.? It might
lead one to suspect his conclusion. But his opinion is supported by Braybrooke, by the traces

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

33
of such an attitude in the memorial, and by the fact that the European society in Ceylon was,
generally speaking, the reference group by which the Ceylonese national elite comported itself.'
The publicly-stated reason for requesting reform is novel. It suggests significant influences.
In the first place, it illustrates the degree to which some members of the Kandyan elite had
become attached to the concept of freehold rights and to the associated idea of acquiring
security of tenure by having a clear title to one's landed property. In several ways these were
principles that were alien to Kandyan society. In traditional Kandyan society land had been a
medium for various rights,2 the question of ownership did not arise because private rights and
political allegiance were entwined, and all rights emanated from the king.3 While the concept
of freehold rights which had to be secured by clarity of title was a novel concept for Kandyan
society, it would be erroneous to consider it as completely alien to the strands of thought
engendered by the traditional system. While traditional social and economic relations included
such practices as kaiyas or labour teams, cultivation on the bethma system,4 various forms
of undivided 'proprietorship' or control over parcels of land, and mutual labour services for
nikkan or nothing-in-return, the collectivism inferred is more apparent than real. Such forms
of cooperation were corporate forms akin to those prevailing among members of a joint-stock
company. The ideology was individualistic. This is indicated by the recognition afforded
to the concept of praveni (paraveni) or hereditary possession, by the fact that Kandyans were
inordinately attached to their praveni land,5 and by the contractual and finely-calculated form
of reciprocal labour services known as at tan. In other words, the traditional Kandyan
Sinhalese system of land tenure possessed a powerful strand of individualism within it.
The individualism, however, was balanced by other socio-centric features in the fabric:
by the fact that a custom of pre-emption operated which gave a kinship group or the
members of a village the first option in acquiring any property within the village that was
put on the market; that transfers of land were generally veiled mortgages;6 that rights
and duties were attached to the land and remained constant so that the new landholders were
obliged to render the attached service; that land transferred to outsiders (to the village) tended
to return circuitously to village hands; that a barter economy prevailed; and that mobility of
labour, surplus production, and achievemental-orientations were limited. In the result, the
individualistic motivations did not lead to atomistic results and create radical alterations in
the prevailing structure.l In consciously and unconsciously altering these features, in removing
1. The kernel of the Anagarika Dharmapala's criticisms.
2. Thus "different 'social persons' could simultaneously hold various rights over the same land," (See
S. B. W. Wickremasekera (Sunimal Fernando), The_Social and Political Organisation of the Kandyan
Kingdom (London University: M. A. dissertation in Anthropology, 1961) p. 147.
3. This summary and synthesis is based on the following sources: H. W. Codrington, Ancient Land Tenure
in Ceylon (Ceylon Govt. Press, 1938); Ralph Pieris "Title to Land in Kandyan Law" in the Sir Paul
Pieris Felicitation Volume (Colombo Apothecaries' Co. Ltd., 1956) pp. 92-113; U. Alex Gunasekara,
Land Tenure in the Kandyan Provinces of Ceylon (Oxford: B. Litt. dissertation in Social Anthropology,
1959); and Wickremasekera (1961).
4. An arrangement whereby the shareholders of a field, which cannot be cultivated in the normal pattern
because of a lack of water, agree to cultivate only a portion of that field and then share out the proceeds
among themselves on a proportionate basis.
5. Ralph Pieris, Title of Land, (1956) p. 101.
6. See particularly, ibid, pp. 95-103.
7. I am indebted to Professor Gananath Obeyesekere for confirming and elaborating tentative conclusions
I had arrived at regarding the nature of the Kandyan tenurial system. With reference to the customs
of nikkan and attan I also profited from a paper presented in Peradeniya in 1968 by Dr. Marguerite
Robinson.

34
several of the counterweights, in fostering monetization, and in providing scope for the extension of latent Kandyan individualism by establishing the principle of freehold ownership, the
British effected a radical transformation. Some Britishers were aware of this impact. The
opinions on this subject expressed in 1869 by a notable district judge, Thomas Berwick, are
worth mention, not the least because the extent of the impact is exaggerated by certain misconceptions concerning the nature of Asian polity that were common to British Civil Servants (and
other observers such as Karl Marx and James Mill) in Ceylon and India.
These archaic institutions (referring to polyandry, polygamy, and "community of
estate" or undivided proprietorship) which have as their key the conception of the
family instead of the individual as the unit of society, are but commencing in our
day to melt before the influence of commerce in land and individual industrial
enterprise, which seem to be destructive of at least the ancient and Asiatic form
of communism
The Kandyan Law required for every day application to the bulk of NATIVE
litigation is now tolerably settled by decisions, and the new questions that arise are
generally solvable by reference to certain principles and motives which underline the
whole system. The difficulty now consists in its application, and in finding within
itself law applicable to the altering and altered circumstances of the country and to
the social and industrial revolution which the people are voluntarily passing
through. The endeavour by the Courts must now be to expand and adapt the
law, without departing from it, and in fact to apply and develop its principles to
new combinations of facts and new habits.
In concluding this sketch of the present aspect of the great bulk of Kandyan
litigation, I cannot refrain from the observation that, while the-introduction of new
Marriage and Divorce Registration laws, and the substitution of a definite and
evidenced marriage tie for an archaic and almost promiscuous concubinage are
effecting one of the greatest social revolutions in the settlement of property
(viewing it wholly apart from moral considerations) that can be conceived, the
facility and quietness with which this organic change in the institutions of a
nation is being made under the simultaneous influences of legislative and industrial
progress, is, I believe, one of the most remarkable events in history. The change
is, in its ultimate root, no less than a complete alteration of the type and unit of
society, and infers in it a system of law which will expand instead of one which
cramps civilization.[
The outlook of the Kandyan deputation which sought marriage reform in 1858 was part of
a radical transformation in society which was characterised by some of the elements mentioned
by Berwick. It was also in keeping with the Utilitarian programme for British India (by implication meant for all British colonies in Asia) that was advocated by James Mill:
1. 1868 AR, Report of the District Judge, Kandy, Thomas Berwick, 16 July 1869, pp. 44-46. Berwick
went on to propose "a means of driving the new law of marriage and legitimacy into early and effectual
operation, without avoidable collision with the ... incorrigible feelings and habits of the natives on the
subject of Divorce," (p. 47.)

35
Mill proposed a legislative revolution in Indian society. The object of this
revolution would be the release of individual energy through the protection of
its efforts from the despotism of custom and communal ownership, and the
tyranny of the Brahmin and the landlord. Set at liberty in this way, Indian
society would be stirred out of its inveterate stagnation and set moving at a brisk
pace along the path of improvement. The individualistic and competitive society
which Mill wanted to create in India involved the definition and protection
of proprietary rights in land: a consummation which would act as a solvent of
the traditional joint-ownership and communal control, features which he regarded
as the characteristics of a primitive level of social organization.
Accordingly, the "agrarian legislation passed in India prior to the 1850's invested proprietary
rights in the soil at different social levels and was accompanied by the growth of a judicial system
which aimed at ensuring these rights and enforcing freedom of contract so that the ownership
of landed property would flow through a spontaneous process of exchange to the enterprising,
and vigorous sections of the community",1 in other words, to intermediary and collaborating
elites.2
Secondly, therefore, the views of the Kandyan deputation reflect the influence of one of
the agencies by which this social transformation was effected, that of an English-style legal
system. Though cognisance was taken of Kandyan law and of Roman-Dutch law, the British
had moved gradually towards an English system. To quote a Governor in 1840: "the very great
influx of British settlers will make it absolutely necessary to assimilate the laws of the Colony
to that of the Parent State as far as regards the disposition of their landed property."3 Englishstyle laws, English legal procedure, English forms of conveyancing, and the decisions of British
judges invariably served as instruments of change.4 One area of influence was that of property relations. One body of victims, it would seem, were the Kandyan marriage customs.
It is evident that a segment of the Kandyan elite felt that these customs were unsuitable and
burdensome under the conditions of British Ceylon.5 Contemporary Britishers held that it
`was so. Apart from Berwick, for instance, another civil servant remarked of polyandry: "This
state of social confusion gives rise to numberless law suits of a peculiarly intricate character..."6
Such individuals would probably have aided the dissemination of similar opinions among the
Kandyan elite.

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

36
In the third place, the reason presented by the deputation of 1858 probably reflects the extent
to which a segment of the Kandyan elite were investing in new land and taking to the culture
of peasant coffee or plantation coffee. It can be shown, for instance, that James Alexander
Dunuwille purchased at least 35 acres of Crown land (two properties) in Udunuwara in 1841;1
that Galagoda Basnaike Nilame acquired a Crown property of 540 acres in Maila.pitiya, Lower
Hewaheta in 1841 ;2 and that Wegodapala Ratemahatmaya purchased a highland of 89 amunams (roughly 178 acres) in Matale South from the villagers of Kaguwela in 1844.3
It
was also observed that, between 1853 and 1855, 32,000 coconut trees and 1,247 acres of peasant
coffee had been newly planted in the locality of Kandy;4 while the district officer in Badulla
reported that the indigenous peoples were "in many places planting in European Fashion."5
Then again, the Fergusons estimated that about 50,000 acres were under peasant coffee.6
Virtually all this coffee would have been cultivated in the Kandyan Highlands. The list of
proprietors of "native coffee gardens" in the Central Province provided in Ferguson's Ceylon
Directory for 1875 includes several individuals who could be identified as Kandyan.7 Again
a British coffee planter referred to "a Sinhalese gentleman", who was (allegedly) descended from
one of the oldest families and a man of standing in the neighbouring village, as the owner of
"several gardens, varying from one to ten acres" which he worked very cheaply and (supposedly) profitably.s
In the circumstances, the desire to change their prevailing marriage customs would seem to
have been a rational move on the part of those members of the Kandyan elite who were behind
the `agitation' of the 1850's. If the analysis of traditional society presented earlier in this essay
is correct it could also be viewed as a fruition, induced by a congenial change of atmosphere,
of individualistic seeds which existed within the traditional system of social and tenurial relations. Nevertheless the span of time within which this segment of the elite moved to such a
position elicits surprise.9 The maritime districts, from whence Jeronis Pieris hailed, had been
subject to European territorial subjugation and its influences since the late sixteenth century.
The Kandyan Provinces were subject to such influences largely from 1815; and in their full
force, from 1833 when the British abandoned the separate administration which they had
established for that area. In the final analysis, the thinking of this segment of the Kandyai
elite is more radical in its implications than the attitudes displayed by Jeronis Pieris. .
1. D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 7B/586/114-138. I am grateful to Patrick Peebles for leading me to this reference.
2. Lawrie (1898) p. 520.
3. Lawrie (1896) p. 392. These are not isolated instances. A cursory glance at land sales in the Central
Highlands listed in volumes 585 and 586 in Lot 7B (D. N. A. Cey.)., covering the years 1839 to 1841, ,
revealed that many other Sinhalese (several of them Low-Country Sinhalese) were purchasing properties
of varying extent. While the allotments were generally smaller than those purchased by Europeans in
this period, some of them were over 50 acres and were occasionally over 200 acres in extent.
4. The Examiner, 31 July 1856, Footnote to Season Report for Kandy from the G. A. Kandy.
5. D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 6/2435, "Annual Report of the A. G. A. of Nuere Ellia District", 18 May 1858.
6. Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1880-81, Vol. 1, Planting Review, no pagination. He presented a
similar estimate in 1868. Also see C.O. 54/335, Ward to Stanley, no. 63, 29 June 1858.
7. See pp. 761-75.
8. A. H. Duncan, The Private Life of a Ceylon Coffee Planter by Himself (Colombo: H. W. Cave & A. W.
Cave, 1881) p. 7.
9. Similar surprise is occasioned by the speed with which the Central Province appears to have adopted
a money economy, and by the amount of ready cash which some inhabitants seem to have possessed.
When a scheme for the redemption of the paddy tax was applied in the Central Province in the period
1835-42, redemptions were secured to the extent of 18,329. Redemption payments would seem to
have been in cash, (See D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 18/1340). For details of the redemption scheme see my
article "Grain Taxes in British Ceylon, 1832 - 1878: Theories, Prejudices and Controversies", Modern
Ceylon Studies, Vol. 1, 1 (January 1970), pp. 119-20.

xs

Plate 7
$

CHARLES HENRY DE SOYSA'S AND LINDAMULAGE CATHERINE DE SILVA'S WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH IN 1863
Standing left to right: Louis Pieris, Charles Henry de Soysa and his bride, Catherine

Seated:

Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr., Mrs. Jeronis de Soysa, Engeltina and Susew de Soysa.

Plate

CHARLES HENRY DE SOYSA AND HIS BRIDE,

CATHERINE DE SILVA
with his bestman, Louis Pieris, on his left.

Plate 9

Louis PIERIS
(pronounced "Lewis"): Jeronis Pieris's younger brother

Plate 10

A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH ON THE OCCASION OF THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN

LOUIS PIER IS AND CECILIA DE FONSEKA

Seated: Mudaliyar S. R. de Fonseka, Mrs. S. R. de Fonseka, Mrs. Hendrick Pieris Jnr. and Cecilia de Fonseka
Standing between lascorin guards are Charles Henry de Soysa, Peter Soysa and Louis Pieris

37

Yasmine Gooneratne has remarked that the form of English education in Ceylon "was
shaped by religious and political motives of a kind which tended to create disciples, rather than
thinkers or inquirers". Accordingly, "English was to be the classical language of the East
bringing about a new Renaissance through the access it gave to the technical inventions, the
liberal ideas and institutions, and the literary and artistic standards of the West." Reiterating
and elaborating a point that is commonly voiced today, she notes that the Colombo Academy
and St. Thomas's College set the standards for the larger English-medium schools and "had
the 'effect of isolating its (sic) products from the rest of their countrymen." An associated
. development was the "enthusiasm for the English way of life". In other words, the form of
education and the weight of foreign influence bifurcated Ceylonese society, separating the
English-educated Ceylonese from their indigenous background and leading them to adopt Western criteriaa process in which the Sinhalese socio-cultural structure is said to have been more
vulnerable than that of the Tamils.1 Jeronis reveals many of these features. His criteria
were Western and Christian. His intellectual fare was Western. His academic aspirations
were perfection in the use of the Queen's English and mastery of the Classics. His reference
group was the British elite, his cultural Mecca, Britain. His eldest son had, perforce, to be
provided with schooling in Britain once the monetary means of meeting the luxury had been
secured. And it was typical that Jeronis should consider "the anniversary of Her Majesty's
birthday" art important and prized event.2
There is more than enough reason to consider him thoroughly Anglophile. This suggests
that his life-style was also very Western, though we have no direct evidence on this point.
English wines and shirt fronts, varnish boots and cheese, backgammon and other such card
games, and English-style teas were quite the thing among the fledgling Ceylonese elite of the
period.; There is little cause to think Jeronis an exception. But some qualification might
be necessary. An extended family system, the semi-rural environment of Moratuwa, and
traditional social practices would have served to preserve some indigenous roots. Several
families retained their knowledge of the Sinhalese language as a mode of literary expression
no less than for its colloquial use. That of Louis Pieris, younger brother to Jeronis, certainly
did4 . Nor were the pioneer entrepreneurs so distant in point of time from their humble
origins as to let them recede to the back of their minds. Self-made men, some of them believed
in the dignity of labour and, unlike many of their latter-day progeny, were willing to "soil
their hands" even after they had achieved affluence and social status. Engaged in pioneering
business activity in the agricultural and poorly-roaded Kandyan districts, moreover, Jeronis
could hardly have been separated from his indigenous background in entirety. His position
was not that of an urban lawyer. In short, there is reason to think that his outlook and life-style
was not completely alien and Western, but an admixture though an admixture in which
the Western ingredients preponderated.
1. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 14, 16, 17, 36-38, and 50.
2. No. 8, To C. H. de Soysa, 10 May 1854 and No. 9, To Louis Pieris, 10 June 1854. Note however that
C. H. de Soysa's father, Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa, received a presentation from his friends on Her
Majesty's birthday, 24 May. 1854. This would have influenced Jeronis's reaction.
3. Gooneratne (1968) pp. 36-39.
4. Conversation with Mr. L. S. D. Pieris (a grandson) March 1969. Louis Pieris taught his sons, Louis
H. S. and L. E. 0. how to use carpenters' instruments and saw to it that they achieved competence in
Sinhalese through tuition at temples. L. E. 0. in turn maintained this tradition. Mr. L. S. D. Pieris.
is one of L. E. 0. Pieris's children.

38
In his Westernised orientation Jeronis was not an isolated example. His stance and outlook was in line with a prominent characteristic in the emerging national elite and fulfilled many
of the hopes held out by the British Commissioner, Lieutenant Colonel W. M. G. Colebrooke.
In presenting his reports on the Island of Ceylon in 1831-32, Colebrooke emphasised the need
for an infusion of European capital and example. But he also anticipated a chain reaction
of improvements in which the indigenous population would participate, because "the natives
were prepared to engage in any undertaking, the success of which had been sufficiently assured
by the example of others."' Perhaps as a corollary, perhaps in a compartmentalized manner,
there are suggestions that Colebrooke thought of improvements in other sectors which would
create a group of "natives" who were progressive in outlook, free of the prevailing caste distinctions and servility to the traditional elite, willing to improve themselves, their country,
and its institutions. Having observed the influence wielded by the headmen, he felt that "under
liberal encouragement, their influence could be exerted in support of the views of government
for the improvement of the country."2 In short, he wanted a group of "natives" who would
assist in transforming and improving both the institutional structure and the ethos of the island
an auxiliary, collaborating Ceylonese elite imbued with the ideas dominant in the Britain of
that day. In pursuing such an objective Colebrooke was in step with the Utilitarian and
Liberal programmes for India.3 He also anticipated Macaulay's effort to create, through the
dissemination of western education, a class "who may be interpreters between (the British and) the
millions whom (they governed)a class of persons Indians in colour and blood, but English
in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect."4 Towards this end, Colebrooke suggested:
(1) an impartial policy which refused to uphold caste and other distinctions in making appointments or promotions; (2) a public announcement that the Civil Service would no longer be
exclusive but would be open "to His Majesty's native subjects"; (3) the provision of the means
of education to the natives "whereby they might in time qualify themselves for holding some
of the higher appointments"; (4) an emphasis on education in English and a requirement that
"the principal native functionaries throughout the country" should be competent in English;
and (5) the diffusion of knowledge through publications so as "to diminish the influence of those
classes who were interested in upholding the ignorant prejudices of the people, and who retained
them in servile dependance on themselves" a policy he advocated from his observation that
the limited extent of published works in Ceylon tended "to check the progress of moral and
intellectual improvement" and to perpetuate the ignorance and prejudices of the people in those
localities which had little contact with Europeans, while obstructing "the improvement of the
country and the amelioration of its institutions."5
Not all these policies were adopted. Some suggestions were only pursued half-heartedly
or partially. But the outcome was in the direction of Colebrooke's thought. The social
transformation of the decades that followed saw to that. Entrepreneurial and occupational

1. G. C. Mendis (ed.) The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers, Vol. 1, (0. U. P., 1956) p. 69.
2. Ibid, p. 69.
3. See Kumar (1963) pp. 892. ff; Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1959) chapters 1-3; Raghavan Iyer, "Utilitarianism and All That," St. Antony's Papers VII, South
Asian Affairs, No. 1.
4. Macaulay's Minute on Education dated 2nd February 1835, quoted in Kumar (1963) .pp. 892-93.
5. A summary and synthesis from The Colebrooke-Cameron Papers (1956) Vol. I, pp. 65-76. Quo-

tations from pp. 68 & 75.

39
opportunities and the diffusion of education in English, albeit slowly, combined to create a
new indigenous elite, the "national elite" defined in this essay, (a) which was achievement-motivated and improvement-oriented to some degree; (b) which upheld the other Commissioner
C. H. Cameron's belief that Ceylon was a very good spot "in which to plant the germ of European civilization";1 and (c) which was an intermediary and collaborating elite in more ways
than one, especially in the early decades though, logically and more latterly, as Barnes forewarned,2 they also provided those elements who challenged the supremacy of the British.
Hannadige Jeronis Pieris reflects the outlook of such an auxiliary, collaborating elite.
It is only too easy to tilt at such an outlook, in polemical terms or otherwise. One must,
however, be cautious in applying twentieth century norms to an essentially different context.
To Jeronis, the new changes under British rule and they were new meant hitherto unmatched
opportunities of material advancement. Education in English opened his eyes to new vistas.
As an undoubtedly genuine adherent of the Christian faith, Christianity offered him succour
and a path to salvation. In the mid-nineteenth century there were too few dissenters, at least
among Ceylonese on the ascent, for one to cast Jeronis and the collaborating elite into the hell
of quislingdom.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
The data on Jeronis's entrepreneurial activities and successes presented in an earlier portion
of this essay were mostly assembled from sources other than his letters. The letters do not
provide these details. But they include a remarkable piece of evidence on his capitalistic spirit
and his partiality towards the improvement of properties through the application of capital
and improved technological methods. He was quick to perceive that the respectable Kandyan
farmers had "trifling capital" and, "therefore, slender means of improving their lands." And
while he noted that the Kandyans, generally the women, weeded their paddy fields adroitly, he
observed that they were ignorant of the advantages of irrigation and inundation under water
as a means of counteracting weeds.3
His modernistic orientation was accompanied by the profitable trait of industry. On two
different occasions he excused his failure in maintaining his correspondence by referring to
"the press of business"; while an unexpected business visit to Colombo had kept him so occupied
that he had not the time to call on a friend, Simon Perera, who resided in the city.4 These
references cannot be brushed aside as lame excuses. The whole spirit of his letters and the
impression they create, in their totality, support the conclusion that Jeronis was a hardworking
man.
So much so that he was not inclined to favour marriage at that stage of his life. Or so he
informed Simon Perera in December 1854 when the latter sought Jeronis's adviceas I infer
1. Mid, p. 186.
2. Ibid, Vol. 11, pp. 30-31.
3. No. 12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854. Infra, p. 72. Also see pp. 76-80.
4. No. 6, To C. H. de Soysa, 30 March 1854; No. 14, To Marcellus Perera, 8 January 1855; and No.
19, To Simon Perera, 3 December 1855; Infra, pp. 65, 74, 79.

40
on the question of taking a wife: a person leading a sedentary occupation in a town or village
was "better... coupled than... single"; not so an individual resident in hilly terrain "who
(was) obliged to be away from home for several months together"; to such a person, and Jeronis
was in this position, a wife was a "heavy load".1 Only the subject of a wife could explain the confidential letter he despatched to one Marcellus Perera shortly afterwards, in January 1855.2 This
was in response to a letter from Marcellus Perera which is not before us. But there is reason
to infer that Marcellus Perera had cast himself in the role of a broker presenting a marriage
proposal. Jeronis declined courteously: it was more than he deserved. He terminated his
reply with a wonderful line: "At my years, and with a trifling fortune, a man with a little
common sense, without philosophy may be indifferent about...";
He did not remain in this frame of mind for long. Within two years 'he married (13th
December 1856) Caroline Francisca Soysa, a lady who was his first-cousin-once-removed. Producing many offspring (as I have noted) he distinctly added to his "load" without, however,
diminishing his "trifling fortune."
The letters also provide useful tit-bits of information on the de Soysa brothers' entrepreneurial ventures. The data can be marshalled here. The de Soysas had arrack godowns in
Kandy, and functioned as arrack renters. In May 1854 when the arrack rents of the Central
Province were auctioned in small, separate units,4 they bid successfully for the right of farming
(renting) arrack.5 Besides the property in Hanguranketa, they had an estate in Haragama
(along the right bank of the Mahaweli in the district of Lower Hewaheta) and another in
Kadugannawa which may have been the same as the property named Didula.6 The properties
referred to as "Kottle", Udawatta, Alutwatta, and "Ratmateya" (Kirimetiya) were probably
owned by the de Soysas and may even have been sub-divisions of their estate in Hanguranketa.
Babasingho Jeronis de Soysa also had property at Mattagoda (near Homagama in Colombo
District) where coconut and sweet-potato were planted. And one of his brothers, probably
Susew, had plantations near Negombo in which cinnamon appears to have been the main crop.?
Jeronis Pieris, either in combination-with the de Soysas or on his own, also had a "trading line"
in rice supplies in which S.C. Perera of Grandpass, Colombo, served as the Colombo agents
The details illustrate the rapid expansion of the de Soysa fortunes. Jeronis de So ysa,
originally known as Babasingho Vedarala, is alleged to have been the first young man from
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.

No. 13, To Simon Perem, 12 December 1854. Infra, p. 73.

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

41

Moratuwa to have ventured to the Kandyan Highlands "to try the new field" which it presented.'
He set up business as a firewood contractor to the government around 1825. He soon extended
his business into that of a general merchant who undertook contracts to supply rice and paddy
in particular, and probably dealt with native coffee as well. He may also have been a transport
contractor.2 To these entrepreneurial lines he added that of farming out the arrack and toll
rents in the Central Province. "At first the arrack rents were limited to small divisions but
by degrees it extended to the entire Kandyan District, the rent of which was purchased for
many years successively" by Jeronis de Soysa.3 His fourth step was the purchase of potential
plantation properties from the Crown. On the I Ith April 1837, in collaboration with Aludaliyar "Harry" de Alwis of the Kandy Kachcheri, he purchased "the coffee garden called Diyatalakanda situated at Hanguranketa of Diyatilake Korale", which was 482 acres and 38 perches
in extent, as well as another"coffee garden called Kirimetiya" of approximately 38 acres in extent.
He paid 30 for the latter and outbid several European capitalists in paying 411.1.0
for Diyatalakanda "a price which was at the time considered much beyond the value."4 But
the property already had mature coffee trees, growing wild, within their boundaries and the
first crop apparently repaid his investment. These purchases have been described as the turning
point in Jeronis de Soysa's career.5 Thereafter, he continued to expand his trade and his
investments in arrack rents and plantation properties, competently assisted in his business by
his brother, Susew.6 In 1838 he purchased 23 small allotments ("fields") which covered about
24 amunams (say, 48 acres); and in 1842 he acquired two more plantations in Hewaheta.
Yakkuranguve at Haragama covering 115 acres 3 roods and 11.52 perches, and Newatenne
in Diyatilaka Korale covering 232 acres 2 roods for 92.13.2 and 90.1.10 respectively.?
In July 1841 and January 1842 he also bought two cinnamon gardens totalling nearly 30 acres
for the sum of 427.15.08 These statistics on some of his purchases reveal that in the fiveyear period 1837-1842 Jeronis de Soysa spent (at the very least) approximately 1200 to
acquire roughly 9081 acres; and that in every instance he paid more than the minimum upset
price of 5s. per acre, (which was raised to 1 in 1844). The extent of liquid capital in his
hands is witness to the profits in trade, in arrack and toll renting, and in the culture of coffee.
In 1849, following a court case, "Harry" (Hendrick) de Alwis's share in the coffee plantations of Diyatalakanda and Kirimetiya then valued at 2025 was put up for sale.9
Apparently receiving the option of first refusal, Jeronis de Soysa seems to have bought these
shares. At some stage in the 1840's and early 1850's the two de Soysa brothers are said to have
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.

Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870.

My own annotation founded on the fact that his father was a transport contractor in Moratuwa and
the fact that his trading ventures demanded the command (or hire) of transport services.
Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870. No reference is made to toll rents in this newspaper item. The information is derived from John Capper, The Duke of Edinburgh in Ceylon (London: Provost & Co., 1871)
chapter on "The Ceylon Rothschilds".
D. N. A. Ceylon, Lot 7B/585, p. 24, a reference supplied by Patrick Peebles; and the Ceylon Observer,
23 April 1870. Also see infra, p. 24.
Ceylon Observer, 23 April 1870 and Capper (1871).
The information above on Jeronis de Soysa has been founded on the Ceylon Observer item of the 23rd
April 1870, supplemented by: Capper (1871); The de Soysa Charitaya, pp. 9-11, 32, 38, 44-48;
P. E. Pieris (ed), Diaries of E. R. Gooneratne (n. d.) pp. 64-65; and a letter from the G. A. Kandy
to Col. Sec., 28 November 1837 enclosed in C. 0. 54/345, Ward to Newcastle, no. 46, 29 August 1859.
D. N. A. Ceylon. Lot 7B/585 pp. 136-40, 143, 144; and Lot 7B/586, pp. 217-18.
Details supplied by Patrick Peebles.
Ceylon Examiner, 3 February 1849, p. 74.

42
monopolized the arrack renting industry in the Central Province. By the late 1850's however,
they "gave way to new men" and concentrated their resources in the Central Highlands on the
cultivation of coffee.' Indeed, during the middle decades of the century both Jeronis and Susew
continued to invest in plantation properties, both in the Low Country (for cinnamon and coconut
culture) and the Highlands. In what is undoubtedly a partial picture pertaining to the situation
at about the time of Jeronis de Soysa's death (in 1862), the Ceylon Directory for 1863 lists the
following coffee plantations under the ownership of Jeronis and Susew de Soysa.2
Name of Estate

Planting District

Manager

Wyrley Grove
Hanguranketa
Goodlands
Amanapoora
Kuragalla
Hatelle
Marigold

Alagal la
Upper Hewaheta
Lower Hewaheta
Kadugannawa
Kadugannawa
"Kallibokka"
Mat urata

F. Perera
M. Soysa
Louis Perera
Bastian Cooray
John James
D. Pereira
Carolis Silva

Total Extent
of Property
218
480
425
100
80
400
332
total

2035

acres

It is known that the de Soysas enlarged the original properties in Hanguranketa from time
to time till they included the whole of Diyatalakanda and had about one thousand acres under
cultivation by the year 1870.3 It was reckoned that his Hanguranketa estate alone yielded
about 4000 a year.4 Indeed, by 1871-72 Jeronis's son and heir, C. H. de Soysa, would
appear to have owned twenty large properties covering 3986 acres, with 2516 acres under coffee
and 457 acres interplanted with coconut and cinnamon, while Susew de Soysa owned eight
estates covering 2391 acres, which had 933 acres under coffees
The pieces of information in Jeronis Pieris's letters are of value in supplementing the
information derived from other sources. Perhaps their most significant aspect is in the con1. See the Colombo Observer, 25 April 1859, letter to the editor from "Iota" in Kandy, dated 20 April.
He also noted that the rents for the various sub divisions of the Central Province for the year 1859-60
had been farmed out for 32,000.
2. See pp. lxix ff. Note that Haragama is not mentioned. This edition of Ferguson mistakenly lists the
de Soysa's as lessees of Kuragalla. Both this correction and the details for Goodlands are based on
the Ceylon Directory for 1866-68.
Since Jeronis de-Soysa died in 1862 the properties in fact belonged to C. H. de Soysa but they are
generally listed as "Modliar de Soysa" or "Heirs of J. Soysa".
3. Ceylon Observer, 23 Apil 1870; and Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72, p. clxiv, where the plantations named "Hanguranketa" and "Wevalenna" are noted as being 1700 acres in extent with 1000
acres under coffee.
4. The Examiner, 31 May 1862: news item.
5. Based on a compilation from Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1871-72 which was undertaken by Misses
R. Kaleel and Manel de Silva under my direction. In addition C. H. de Soysa and Bastian Fonseka ate
listed as the joint owners of 585 acres in Moratuwa while an "S. de Soysa" is listed as the owner of Kehatepatna estate (265 acres) in Hunasgiriya.
Further details are provided by a different source. A table supplied by the G. A. of Kandy which
depicts "the native coffee gardens in the Central Province" was reproduced in several editions of Ferguson's Ceylon Directories (from 1875 to 1882). A compilation from this table was undertaken for the
author by Mr. V. 0. Ranasinghe. C. H. de Soysa is listed as the owner of 27 properties covering 2786
acres. 16 of these properties can be identified among the 28 estates listed under the two de Soysas' names
by Ferguson in 1871-72. Of the other 12, several are small lots; the 12 total 940 acres.
It is also my impression that the Directory for 1871-72 does not contain a completelist of the coconut
and cinnamon properties owned by the de Soysas.

43
firmation they afford that the de Soysa's had multiple interests from an early date. To their
business interests as contractors and merchants, to coffee culture and the farming of arrack rents
the de Soysa brothers had added coconut and cinnamon properties in the maritime districts,
(besides extensive and valuable urban properties.) It was such foresight in spreading their
investments that largely explains their success in withstanding the coffee crash of the 1870's
and the 1880's. The nature of their success can only be understood by reference to the relative
decline of such houses as those of the Sellaperutriage Fernandos and Harmanis Soysa during
the 1880's.'

Similar little details provide some data on the circle - of business associates and friends
of the de Soysas and the Pierises. Harmanis Soysa, identified as a "renter", appears as an
acquaintance of Jeronis Pieris? In fact, he had some entrepreneurial associations with the
house of de Soysa. Oral tradition maintains that he began his career as a manager in the
service of the de Soysas. A firm in Kandy listed in Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1863 as
belonging to Susew de Soysa has Harmanis Soysa's name under the category "Partners etc.",
while "S.Soysa" was the Lessee or Agent" "of six estates owned by Harmanis Soysa in 1866-68.3
Harmanis Soysa appears to have run his own banking establishment in Kandy. Their relation
ship would seem to have been symbiotic. By 1871-72 Louis Pieris was also a "Partner" in
the Kandy firm of Susew de Soysa. By 1874 the partnership between Harmanis Soysa and
the de Soysa's had terminated possibly with the increasing influence of C. H. de Soysaand
the former ran his own establishment in Kandy.4 M. (Migel) Soysa, on the other hand, was
no more than a resident manager of the Hanguranketa properties in the 1860's and 1870's as
well as, by inference, in the 1850's. Of greater significance was the fact that Jeronis Pieris had
struck up an acquaintance with some European planters in Kandy District. George Pride("a
go-ahead, ill-tempered little fellow") of Naranghena estate in Lower Hewaheta had about a
thousand acres under coffee and more than twice as much forest land in 1854.5 Jeronis knew
him well enough to borrow a book from him but his letter shows that he (Jeronis) was not quite
of equal station.6 His acquaintance with W. H. Wright of Peradeniya estate (whose son joined
the Colombo Academy in 1855) obviously ran deeper. Wright would seem to have recovered
from the illness which drew Jeronis's consoling lines.) Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1863
lists W.H.Wright as owner of two estates, and part-owner of two others (one with de Saram
and Martensz, and the other with John Hamilton) in the planting district of Haputale in Uva.s
1. Following oral traditions and Shelton C. Fernando's pamphlet S. C. Fernando I Bros., op. cit. Another
family which did well at the start, P. B. Fernando & Sons, appears to have collapsed by the 1860's, well
before the main coffee depression.
2. No. 4, To C. H. de Soysa, 14 February 1854. Infra, p. 64.
3. Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1863, p. Ivii.
Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1866-68, Supplement, pp. xxxxviii, xxxix, xli & xlv. An "H. de Soysa
was also the "Lessee or Agent" of an estate (Goodlands) owned by S. de Sbysa in Lower Hewaheta
4.
5.

(p. xxx).

Ferguson, Ceylon Directories for 1863, 1864-65, 1866-68, 1871-72, 1874, 1875 and 1880-81.
Letters from James Taylor to his father, Michael Taylor, from Loolcondera, 23 June and 9 March 1854.
I am indebted to Mr. D. M. Forrest for his kindness in sending me typed copies of some of James Taylor's
letters. George Pride was Taylor's first employer.
6. No. 3, To George Pride, 13 December 1853. Infra, p. 60.
7. No. 23, To W. H, Wright, 12 June 1856. lira, p. 81.
8. pp. lxxiii iv. In all probability Wright was the Civil Servant named W. Henry Wright who at one time
acted as G. A., Central Province and ended his service as Auditor General. In December 1840 a Henry
Wright purchased the "Peradenia Government Coffee Plantation" and an allotment named Govinditenne, in extent 425 acres, for the sum of 486. He also held another property adjoining this purchase.
See D. N. A. Cey., Lot 7BI585, pp. 113-14.

. - '

CHAPTER FIVE

THE HIGHLAND SCENE: COFFEE PLANTATIONS VS VILLAGE LAND

Among the letters is one which describes a hill-trek and the scenery it disclosed.I This
is not an unusual feature for writings of that era. Among many examples, the books written
by Knighton, Skinner, Capper, Baker, and Tennent as well as the letters written by James Taylor
and William Fairholme provide such descriptions with those by Taylor unsurpassed for
detail. They must not be treated as mere scenic rhapsodies or pioneer adventure tales. Whether graphic verbal sketch or a more prosaic literary effort, the descriptions could contain a
historical detail of some value to a supporting line of inquiry on a major question: namely,
the question whether the expansion of coffee plantations was at the expense of forest, chena,
and pasture land that was essential to Kandyan village ecology. The purpose of this chapter
is to examine the extent to which verbal sketches are historically useful; and in doing so to
illustrate the supporting line of inquiry.
According to an opinion that is widely accepted, the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance
No. 12 of 1840 (and its successor Ordinance No. 1 of 1897) and the growth of coffee plantations
(later tea and rubber) resulted in large-scale expropriation of land utilised by the Kandyan
peasantry.2 This thesis is based on a mere reading of clause 6 of the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance of 1840 (the "Waste Lands Ordinance" as it is popularly called). Little or
no effort has been made to see how the Ordinance was administered, the prima facie evidence
of injurious results being treated as sufficient proof in this regard. The evidence of injurious
results presented so far has been: (1) an analysis of clause 6 of Ordinance 12 with evidence to
illustrate how the Kandyans could not have produced the proofs of ownership which it (the
letter of the law) demanded; (2) the evidence of several European witnesses before a British
Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on the insurrection of 1848;3 (3) one concrete instance
of appropriation of land belonging to the Aluwihare family of Matale District, as presented by
A. C. Lawrie ;4 (4) a powerful oral tradition continuing to dwell in the minds of long-standing
Kandyan families;5 and (5) present-day (mid-twentieth century) evidence of landlessness and
1. No. 6, To C. H. de Soysa, 30 March 1854. Infra, pp. 66-67.
2. I. R. Vandendriesen, "Land Sales Policy and Some Aspects of the Problem of Tenure 1836-1886:
Part II", UCR, Vol. XV (January-April 1957).
Ralph Pieris, "Society and Ideology in Ceylon during a 'Time of Troubles', 1796-1850, part HI", VCR,
Vol. X, (January 1952).
Sessional Paper XVIII of 1951, The Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission, pp. 69 - 77.
J. B. Kelegama, "The Economy of Rural Ceylon and the Problem of the Peasantry", The Ceylon Economist (September 1959).
W. Don Michael, "Some Aspects of Land Settlement", The Ceylon Economist, Vol. IV (January 1958).
N. K. Sarkar and S. J. Tarnbiah, The Disintegrating Village (Colombo: The Ceylon University Press
Board, 1957) pp. xi-xii.
3. Vandendriesen (1957) pp. 40-46.
4. A. C. Lawrie (1896) p. 30.
Pieris (1552) pp. 86-87.
5. It is illustrated in print in Panabokke and Halangode (1937?) pp. 22-24, in numerous speeches in the Legislative Council, State Council and House of Representatives reported in the Ceylon Hansard, and
in the Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission.

44

45
impoverishment in Kandyan areas.1 For an issue of great complexity, this evidence is inadequate. A long, hard road of probing in depth is called for, and greatly overdue.
One supplementary line of inquiry relates to the proximity of identified cash crop plantations
on the one hand and paddy fields and villages on the other. It proceeds on the following
assumption: if forest, chena and pasture land was expropriated in a particular locality, it is
likely that coffee or tea plantations on the one hand and cultivated or occupied village areas on
the other would be contiguous to each other; where contiguous to each other, there exists a
probability that the village lost (by processes unknown, in that several possibilities exist) land
to the plantation; where there is a wide area of "no man's land" in between, the probabilities
are weighted on the other side. Now, in a situation where one encounters a galaxy of estates
(plantations), it will be obvious that general conclusions cannot be reached in haste. But
each little piece, each conclusion pertaining to a specific locality, is of some assistance in building
up the puzzle.
It is largely on this sort of field evidence on a broadly impressionistic basis that B.H
Farmer concludes that the growth of plantations over the last 125 years led to some loss of
village land.2 His impressions, however, are based on the situation prevailing in the 1950's.
Such present-day evidence is not without significance but conceals a major pitfall in the timelag between the period in which the plantations were established and the period in which one
eyes the scene. Say, in locality A, the plantation M neighbours (at one spot) paddy fields R
belonging to certain individuals in a Kandyan village (X). This is the picture in 1970. According to Farmer's reasoning, expropriation or loss of village land has taken place in the past as
a result of the waste lands legislation. But it is also possible that other processes had taken
place, either severally or singly, since the plantation M was cleared for the first time. The
village population of X could have expanded. And either because of population increase,
new incentives, or other factors, the village could have expanded the land under perennial
culture climbing up the valleys and hill-sides, so to speak, till it met the restrictive boundary
created by the plantations. Such twentieth century evidence, therefore, must be treated as an
indication that loss of land and expropriation may have taken place. In other words, it must
be treated as an area for inquiry. Further investigation of survey plans and title deeds of plantations and other lands in the locality would, thereafter, clarify matters. Among other points,
such deeds and survey plans would indicate the process by which loss of land has occurred
whether through sale of Crown land to planters, or through sale of private land to planters by
villagers, landbrokers or other indigenous inhabitants. It will be evident that, even if visual
evidence of the present-day is treated as positive proof of the loss of village land, it does not
show how (and when) it occurred, Critics have invariably assumed that the losses have been
the result of Crown sales of land cruelly appropriated through the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance. They have rarely considered the impact of the private land market.3

1. Sarkar and Tambiah (1957) by implication.

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

46
In such a context nineteenth century descriptive accounts might add to our knowledge. In
contrast to visual evidence of the present day, they constitute visual evidences that are contemporaneous, or nearly contemporaneous, to the days in which the plantations were formed.
They might provide some indication of the village population and the extent of perennially cul--'
tivated land in a particular locality. To illustrate this category of evidence and to complement
Jeronis Pieris's brief description, I present extracts from James Taylor's letters of the year 1852
describing the vistas around Naranghena and Loolecondera estates which were located in the
administrative district of Lower Hewaheta and in the vicinity of the town, Deltota.
This estate Naranghena is at the head of a long den or deep hollow in the bottom of
which they grow rice the lower part of the estate is not at all steep, then there is a very
steep ascent of, then say, about 500 feet, there is a pretty level place at the back of
which rises a too steep ascent to be cultivated
I was employed clearing forest at Loolecondera with the Cinghalese natives from what
we call the village a pretty level place in the bottom of the Glen where the natives live
and cultivate Rice.2
About a stonecast in front of the Bungalow there are two cairns of rocks on the other
side of which is a perpendicular precipice of about 50 feet high among them are 2
or 3 nice small caves
A road goes through between the cairns of rocks or rather
blocks of stone for they go on depth below the surface of the ground. There are many
of these nice caves all over the estate. This is a much more rugged estate than the
other, Naranghena, round the corner of the hill. A stream of water runs past by the
end of the Bungalow
the stream turns right round these rocks before the Bungalow making a right angle at the corner there is a fall of about 20 feet down into
the bottom of the cut or ravine along which it runs. On the top of the bank
on the other side is jungle the boundary of the clearing about 2 stone casts from
the door. The Bungalow faces South East this stream passes by the west
end and then right before the Bungalow. There are three of these large
streams besides several small ones run through the estate and several enormous
springs of water on it. These streams are not like our streams at home.
They are just a quantity of water tumbling about amidst large rocks and deep
holes in the bottom of a deep cut about as much water runs in each of the two largest
of these as in the "Luther" at Denmill after a shower of rain and our ears are continually feasted by the noise of it. Across the stream on the west end of the Bungalow
is a steep ascent with a flat piece of land on the top this is cleared and we have a zigzag
road newly made that leads up it. At the back of this upper flat is a large hill on the
top of a perpendicular rock of an enormous height about four or five hundred feet
perpendicular which juts out like a round tower of a castle and on the south side is
a wall of perpendicular rock as far as we see on the north side it goes back a little
then turns and runs along east and north forming a rocky bill on southern side of which
is the castle so from the back of the Bungalow and all along eastward it is a steep ascent
and in some places perpendicular rock all the rest of the estate.; The other stream

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

47
as it enters the clearing from the jungle at the top has a fine fall of more than a hundred
feet down a perpendicular rock. A little farther on the slope of the hill makes nearly
a right angle and runs north. On that side it is nearly perpendicular rock with lots
of trees growing out of the clefts for many hundreds of feet from the top then there
is a flat with a less steep and rocky slope; below this is planted with coffee and is the
Naranghena estate. Through a narrow belt of jungle before our Bungalow is a patna
or piece of grass which we cut for the thatch to the Lines and Bungalow at a small
distance in front of the Bungalow through the jungle is a road leading to Neurallia
(sic) a town built on a hill at a great elevation which makes it very cool so that it is
much frequented by the Europeans here for their health. It is about 28 miles from
this I think to the westward or southwest. Across the Glen about a mile or not so
much is another estate on the other hill right over from us. This glen appears soon
to end to the west-ward but to the eastward it extends many miles across the country
to a range of lofty mountains running apparently about North and South. This
glen is joined by many others branching off from it and all along the bottom is native
villages and Rice fields or 'Paddy' as it is here called. I have not time to say more
just now of the appearance of the country it is very grand and awfully rugged not a
level bit of ground to be seen except sonic of the paddy fields from the top of the estate
there is a splendid view of what appears to be a tableland more level and mostly covered with Grass with patches of forest and belts here and there. Then I can see by the
steep slopes on the far corners of some small hills on the other side of this table and
that there appears to be a large valley on the other side; then in the distance it is
backed by this range of lofty mountains one of which is very curious it is a peak of
perpendicular rock almost to an enormous height filling up a gap in the range with a
very deep glen on each side. On the sides of these mountains we can see many coffee
estates. Their tops are almost constantly covered with clouds even the rock at the
top of this estate or the hill on top of it which is like a dome, on the top of a tower
has always clouds resting about it except in very clear weather of which we don't have
much just now and also the other hill opposite us which has also a castle of rock on
the top with a flat of many acres of grass on the top of it. It is they say inaccessible
all round.Adam's Peak and Neuraillia (sic) I believe lie up the glen through the forests
to westward of us. Kandy lies northward about 16 miles round the road but not nearly
so far in a line we hear the gun fired every morning if it is pretty quiet.'
These descriptions suggest that Loolecondera was a rugged property that is not likely to have
been used for chena cultivation and that both estates were way up the hillsides and not proximate
to the village lands below. But such conclusions are far from conclusive and must be used
cautiously. Taylor may not have been aware of the significance of forest, chena and pasture
for village economy. In any event, his accounts provide no indications of the exact location
of the paddy fields in relation to the boundaries of the estates. Moreover, it is significant that
the lower part of Naranghena was "not at all steep". The very name, Naranghena, suggests
that it was used for chenaing. For "hen" or "hena" is the Sinhalese for the form of shifting
cultivation that is commonly rendered as chena in the English used in Ceylon indeed, it
is the word from which "chena" was derived.
1. ldem.

48
One is led to the conclusion that, in itself, a verbal description has serious limitations. One
confronts a major obstacle in analysing such evidence. To what extent can words capture,
and depict, a scene? How much is left out? Without being in the writer's shoes, can one capture
the details of the scene details being what we are looking for? Would not the writer's overview be a generic, panoramic one? To grasp the dangers, one should attempt a similar
description while standing (sitting, if you like) on a mountain pass or atop a mountain say
the Ramboda Pass, Hunasgiriya, or Hantane. The tendency would be to paint the panorama
before one's eyes in sweeping and generic terms. With such a panoramic overview and an
emphasis on literary expression, the plantations and paddy fields might be described as neighbouring each other the clumps of scrubland and trees which lie interspersed or intervening
being omitted from one's purview. A verbal description, therefore, will not have the virtues
of a good photograph or sketch (sources which are not wholly non-existent). However even
the latter will be easily surpassed in usefulness by a good survey plan or village settlement plan.
Where verbal descriptions exist, therefore, their value is, at best, supplementary,) and it will
be necessary to use them in conjunction with other types of evidence, including the visual
evidence of maps and survey plans. Every little footpath has its uses and potentialities.

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

CHAPTER SIX

BUFFALOES, CATTLE, AND PADDY CULTIVATION IN THE CENTRAL

HIGHLANDS

Finally, one can take up an important subject on which Jeronis Pieris provides veritable gems
of information. In the course of a letter to his brother,f he described the agricultural practices
of the Kandyans. Some of these practices were strange to his eyes and compared unfavourably
with the methods employed in and around Colombo and Moratuwa. But it is his eyewitness
description, not his attitude, which concerns us here. Among other comments, he makes
three observations of some historical significance: (I) he had never- seen the Kandyans use
"bullocks" (i.e., neat cattle) in ploughing; (2) he had occasionally noticed them using buffaloes
to plough fields which were located at lower elevations and which not only included stretches
of level land but also were muddier; (3) generally, they tilled their fields with a hoe and did
not use draught animals. Taking the passage as a whole, the inference is that even- on the
relatively low-lying flatter stretches of fields buffaloes were seldom employed.
His description is of considerable relevance to a hypothesis which postulates that the waste
lands legislation and the associated expansion of plantations had injurious effects on the island's
agriculture. As an ancillary point to their main theses, S. B. D. de Silva2 and Buddhadasa
Hewavitharanaa have presented this hypothesis independently, but with a structure of argument
which is similar in its basic design. The theory, which can be labelled "the chain reaction hypothesis," runs as follows: the expansion of plantations under the protection of the Crown Lands
Encroachment Ordinances led to a loss of forest, chena, and pasture in de Silva's words,
"drastically curtailed the traditional access of cultivators to forest and waste land". Or, as
Hewavitharana phrases it, in the Wet Zone "the clearing of land deprived paddy of its handmaiden forest." Concurrently, the deterioration of the irrigation works in the Dry Zone
during the nineteenth century resulting from governmental neglect affected the cattle population
in that region. The limitation of pasture in turn led to a deterioration in the condition and
numbers of draught animals. Cattle murrain (rinderpest) also contributed towards this trend.4
As a result,paddy cultivation was seriously affected through loss of manure and animal power.
In the meantime, the population and the acreage under paddy continued to increase. The
scarcity of draught animals generated by these trends caused a rise in hire charges. All these
factors created a spiralling tendency for the paddy-growers to rely on manpower rather than
animal power in preparing their fields. Technology had taken a large step backward.

1. No. 12, To Louis Pieris, 18 October 1854. Infra, p. 72.

2. S. B. D. de Silva, Investment and Economic Growth in Ceylon (London University: Ph. D. dissertation in Economics, 1962) pp. 162-64.
3. B. Hewavitharana, Factors in the Planning and Execution of the Economic Development of Ceylon (London University: Ph. D. dissertation in Economics, 1964) pp. 222-23.
4. S. B. D. de Silva does not refer to rinderpest at all. Hewavitharana mentions it, referring to Leonard
Woolf's diaries as his documentation: but his emphasis is such as to place this factor in a secondary
causal category.

49

50
With its emphasis on a process ofchain reaction, it will be noticed that the hypothesis is built
brick upon brick, plank upon plank. It also has the virtues of simplicity and plausibility.
The evidence supplied by de Silva is brief but fairly powerful, being derived from the Administration Report of the Government Agent for the Central Province, H. S. 0. Russell, for 1869
(written in 1870) and Sessional Paper VI of 1908. Hewavitharana's evidence on the foundation points is negligible and is limited to a table which shows the number of cattle per hundred
of the "peasant population" in the census years 1881-1962 and which indicates a decline in
numbers. The peasant population has been calculated by subtracting the figures for "estate
population" from those for the "rural population" in the censuses. The cattle population
has been derived from the Ceylon Blue Books and Statistical Abstracts. His table can be reproduced here.
1881 : 67
1891 : 66
1901 : 79
1911 : 68
1921 : 59
1931 : 40
1946 : 32
1953 : 31
1962 : 29
Apart from the fact that the Ceylon Blue Book statistics have been used without any comment
on their reliability, in depicting the decline in the number of cattle in terms of a ratio Hewavitharana has introduced another variable into the computation, that of the rural population.
In slipshod fashion his table assumes that the growth-rate of the rural population was
constant. Even where the number of draught animals did not decline, it is possible for such a
table to suggest that there was such a decline if the rural population increased at a much faster
rate than the stock of cattle and buffalo. In short, it could produce a total fiction.
Nevertheless, the chain reaction hypothesis receives considerable support from other
quarters. H. S. 0. Russell's comments in the course of the years 1870-72 are particularly
noteworthy. In 1872 he remarked that he was:
trying to prevent the sale of common pasture land on account of Government, or by
underhand bargain of private parties, but that the evil of indiscriminate alienation of
such land had already been carried so far that in many places no pasturage was left
for villagers' cattle and in others beasts could be turned out to graze only at the risk of
their straying into neighbouring coffee estates, where they would be impounded or shot.'
Observing that the circumscribed pasture lands made it impossible for thebeasts to continue
living in herds, Russell argued that this factor was the main cause of the prevailing "degeneracy"
of the cattle, while "scanty food and exposure to weather!' also served as contributory causes.2
The observations of other administrators, such as T. W. Rhys-Davids and F. D'A. Vincent
1. 1871 AR (Kandy District and Central Province) H. S. 0. Russell, 23 March 1871, p. 41.
2. Idem and 1869 AR (Kandy District and Central Province), H. S. 0. Russell, 27 June 1870, p. 39.

51
provide circumstantial evidence in support of Russell's opinions.' The report of the Cattle
Disease Commission in 1869 also lends qualified support. While hearing evidence the Commission was informed by a group of Sinhalese headmen and cattle owners from Uva that it had
previously been the practice to drive their herds "to the higher lands in the hill ranges" after
the ploughing season, but that they had not been able to pursue this custom "to nearly the same
extent" after the establishment of coffee plantations.2 Conveying this type of evidence, the
Cattle Disease Commission concluded that "in many districts the cultivation of Coffee on lands
formerly covered by forest, had deprived the Natives of much of this means for grazing their
herds during seasons the most trying to animal life."3
In the circumstances the chain reaction hypothesis cannot be dismissed lightly. It is not
my intention to examine its main facets here.4 This chapter will be confined to a survey of
that part of the hypothesis on which Jeronis Pieris's description bears directly and significantly.
The chain reaction hypothesis carries two related and unspoken premises: (a) the premise
that, in the period before the late 1830's and before the intrusion of the allegedly injurious
forces which it describes, the paddy-growers relied largely on animalpower rather than manpower
in preparing their fields; and (b) the premise that there was an adequate number of draught
animals for the existing population in the pre-British era and the early decades of British rule.
Being unspoken no documentation is presented in support of these assumptions. It will be
at once evident that Jeronis's observations directly contradict the assumption that paddy-growers
(within his area of observation) largely depended on animalpower in the preparation of their
fields. The questions arise as to how valid Jeronis's description is for the pre-plantation period,
namely the early 1830's and the decades previous; and to what regions his witness might be
applied.
It is unlikely that the techniques of paddy culture which Jeronis witnessed would have
undergone much change in the two decades separating the year 1854 and the pre-plantation
period. Nor is it possible to claim that the extension of plantations had led to a large
reduction in the cattle and buffalo population and effected a radical change in agrarian
techniques within such a short span of time. Only about 80,000 acres had been brought under
coffee by 1856 while the extent of land which was in the hands of plantation interests was,
to hazard a guess, probably in the region of 280,000 to 320,000 acres at this stage.5 If his
witness is applicable to the early 1850's it could also apply to the 1820's and early 1830's.
1. See my article "The Impact of t he Waste Lands Legislation and the Growth of Plantations on the Techniques of Paddy Cultivation in British Ceylon : A Critique" in the Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol. 1:2 (June
1970).
2. S P XX of 1869, Appendix, Evidence of "Divitotavila Ratemahatmaya, Kosgahakumbere Korala,
Udakinda Korala and many other cattle owners" at Wilson's Bungalow on the 25th March 1868, p. 3.
3. Ibid., p. vii. Note a statement they make elsewhere (p. xxi): "It is not that a sufficiency of cattle for
all industrial purposes may not exist throughout the country, but it is their unequal distribution that
affects native agriculture so prejudicially. In some districts cattle are abundant and cheap, in others
extremely scarce and dear".
4. These aspects are considered in my essay in the Modern Ceylon Studies (June 1970) op. cit.
5. The acreage under coffee is derived from Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1875, Section on "The Plantation Enterprise", supported by C. 0. 54/332, W. Ferguson to Labouchere, 22 August 1857. W. Ferguson
was a surveyor and, as far as I know, no relation of the journalist Fergusons. Also see The Ceylon Times
15 August 1856 where the estimate is 60-70,000 acres.
The conjecture on the total acreage acquired by plantation interests by 1856 is based on the figure
of 280,000 acres for 1847 (with 52,722 acres under cultivation) and that of 380,883 acres in 1866-68. See
K. M. de Silva (1967) p. 9, fn. 27 and Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1866- 68, Supplement, pp. 31-32.

52
From the situation of the de Soysa properties in the Central Highlands it could be argued
that Jeronis Pieris was familiar with the locality around Hanguranketa and the areas contiguous
to the Kandy-Hanguranketa road (part of which Jeronis de Soysa had constructed). As a
manager of arrack rents and as a trader, it is reasonable surmise that he had wide travelling
experience throughout the administrative unit known as the Kandy District, and possibly in
the Central Province as a whole. Since he visited Colombo every now and then, he would also
have had some familiarity with the roadside localities between Kandy and Colombo.
Delineation of his range of regional experience is important. In Ceylon, agrarian activities
and their attendant probems were (and are) notable for their regional differentiation. No
account is adequate which is not aware of such regional diversity. The island's economic
historians have unfortunately tended to gloss over such differentiation while charting its agrarian
history. Jeronis Pieris's comments cannot be applied to the regional entity known as the
Central Highlands or even the smaller regional entity covered by the administrative unit called
the Central Province.' The maximum limits within which his description might be relevant
are most parts of lower Hewaheta, most parts of Kandy District, and the areas contiguous
to the Kandy-Colombo road in Kegalle District (the latter outside the Central Province but
within the Central Highlands). This happens to be a crucial area. It includes a greater part
of the plateau-like regions which constitute the second level of differential erosion,2 and
encompasses an area in which there was a relative concentration of people. It should be
remembered that in laying special emphasis on the detrimental effects arising from the
extension of plantations, the chain reaction hypothesis focuses attention on the Central
Highlands, where most coffee plantations are sited, rather than the Wet Zone Lowlands
and the Dry Zone Lowlands. The region which I have delimited as Jeronis's likely range
of observation covers a vital part of these Highlands. The question nevertheless remains
whether his comments were a valid generalization for the area delimited; or whether they were
random observations which were engendered in the course of reflections on cultivation
operations in a locality that had very rugged terrain.
In examining the validity of Jeronis Pieris's observations and in testing the foundation
premises in the chain reaction hypothesis, I will marshal! a body of evidence from sources that
are easily available and from documents that I have chanced upon. One can begin, as so often,
by turning to Robert Knox. In a detailed description of the arts of paddy cultivation among
the Kandyans and in the illustrations which he provides, Knox leaves no doubt that buffaloes
were used to prepare the fields, by dragging the plough as well as by puddling the mud with
their feet3. The possibility remains that buffhloes became scarce between the mid-seventeenth
century,when Knox was held captive in the Kandyan Kingdom,and the early nineteenth century.
One cannot discountenance the possibility that the scorched earth policy implemented by the
1. In the mid-nineteenth century the Central Province consisted of the administrative districts of Kandy,
Matale, Nuwara Eliya, and Badulla (Uva). The northern, eastern and south-eastern borders of the
Central Province contain Dry Zone lowlands but the greater part of its landmass can be said to constitute part of the Central Highlands. Portions of Kegalle District and Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura) District within the Western Province and a small segment of Kurunegala District formed the rest of the
Central Highlands.
2. In popular and incorrect parlance, "the second peneplain". For elaboration see Michael Roberts (June
1970) and D. N. Wadia, "The Three Super-imposed Peneplains of Ceylon" in Records of the Department of Mineralogy, Professional Paper No. 1 (Colombo: Ceylon Govt. Press, 1945), pp. 25.26.
3. An Historical Relation of Ceylon, Ryan's edn. (Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons, 1911) pp. 12-18.

53
British forces in suppressing the rebellion of 1817-18 might have produced a setback in the
buffalo population and in the technology of paddy culture with which it was associated. The
coffee planter, R. E. Lewis's account of cultivation operations in the district of Sabaragamuwa,
however, reveals that it was not uncommop for draught animals to be used in cultivation
operations!. The witness of the chief headmen who appeared before a committee on cattle
trespass in 1852-54 and the reports of the committees inquiring into rice cultivation and cattle
disease in the late 1860's provide further confirmation that draught animals were in use within
the Central Highlands.2 As a Governor observed in 1854, in resisting pressure from the
plantation interests for a more stringent law against cattle trespass, "the chief property of the
natives in many districts" consisted of cattle.3 Such evidence can be supported quantitively
by concentrating on the administrative unit known as the Central Province: The cattle and
buffalo population of-the province in the year 1851 was estimated at 100,000 by its Government
Agent when he provided statistical returns on the impact of a rinderpest epidemic in 1852.4
For what they are worth, the government returns show the following numbers of "horned
cattle" (i. e. presumably buffaloes and neat cattle) in the Central Province in the middle decades
of the century:
1846 : 76,253
1851 : 98,393
1856 : 118,168
1861 : 108,312
1866 : 113,510
Unfortunately such statistics do not distinguish between neat cattle and buffaloes. Their
significance is further reduced by the fact that they do not pertain to the early decades of
the nineteenth century but to a period which had seen some expansion of the cattle and
buffalo population as a result of the Central Highlands being opened up.6
The evidence against the general validity of Jeronis Pieris's eyewitness account and in
favour of the two inter-related premises in the chain reaction hypothesis would seem to be
conclusive. Jeronis's observations, however, do not stand isolated. Qualified but strong support
is available in the opinions expressed by certain Kandyan "Chiefs and Headmen" in the course
of an audience before the Governor in 1834. Their replies to certain queries,7 presumably
through a single spokesman and via an interpreter, are so valuable as to merit reproduction
in extenso :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

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

54
1st: What is the ordinary extent of the landed property of a Kandyan Inhabitant of
the middle class?
About a ammonam of Paddy ground; it is generally cultivated but once a year;
and yields about 10 ammonams at 5 parrahs per ammonam - 50 parrahsi.
2nd : Has he any other means of subsistence 7
He sometimes cultivates chenas, but this is by no means a certain means of
subsistence. He has a garden in general containing perhaps 10 coconut trees,
the produce of which may be reckoned at 12s; altogether, including the produce
of jaks and other fruits and vegetables, his garden may realise 1.10.0 or 2.
3rd : Has he no advantage from Cattle ?
Very little - milk is not sold excepting near towns, and very few people of
this Class possess Buffaloes which alone are used in ploughing. The average
profit from the sale of cattle will not exceed 6 shillings.
In a traditional society with relatively little economic differentiation the most notable
differentiation being that of caste and a basic social stratification between a small traditional elite
(drawn largely from the goyigama caste) and the rest of the populace one can read "a Kandyan
Inhabitant of the middle class" to refer to the large body of service tenants (paraveni nilakarayo)
who held their lands on a hereditary basis (subject to service) in the days of the Kandyan Kingdom and were in the category of owner-cultivators and landowners in 1834 after the changes
effected by the British in the former gabadagam (Crown villages)2, while remaining as secure
service tenants in the nindagam (chiefs' holdings or villages) and viharagam. It should also
be noted that this term may have referred largely to the goyigama landowners as distinct from
those of the so-called inferior castes. On this basis, the evidence of the chiefs supports Jeronis
Pieris's observation that buffaloes, and not neat cattle, were used for ploughing by the
Kandyans. On this reading, too, it contradicts one of the premises in the chain reaction
hypothesis by suggesting that there were few buffaloes in the Central Highlands. Thereby, it
leads to a further suggestion that, contrary to the other assumption in the chain reaction
hypothesis, Kandyan paddy-cultivators could not have relied greatly on draughtpower. These
suggestions cannot be held conclusive. Buffaloes can be hired and need not necessarily be in a
cultivator's possession. In Kandyan society some well-to-do landlords (including temples
perhaps) maintained their position and influence through the ownership of herds of buffaloes
which they loaned out.3
As neither Knox nor Lewis refer to cattle being used on the plough, one can accept the
evidence that Kandyans used buffaloes rather than neat cattle to plough their fields. The
distinction is of some relevance to the chain reaction hypothesis. The replacement of animal
power is predicated on the basis of a decline in the cattle population. To be valid it must distin-

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

55
guish between buffaloes and neat cattle, and prove that the quantity of buffaloes declined.
Such a distinction does not prevail in the British administrative literature. Both officials and
other observers often use the term "cattle" generically to include both buffaloes and neat cattle.I
This even applies to the phrasing of the third question that was put to the chiefs in 1834, to the
observations of Russell in 1870-72, and the statistical data presented earlier in this chapter.
The distinction is of some consequence in view of the uses to which cattle were put in transporting
goods. From bygone days it was the practice to transport commodities by means of pack-cattle
(and perhaps even pack-buffaloes) which were known as tavalam cattle. The system continued
to prevail in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in localities which lacked road and railway.
With the expanding influence of a market economy- in the Highlands (and the Wet Zone)
the numbers of tavalam cattle must have increased. At the same time the creation of a road
network and the demands of the plantation industry generated a demand for cattle to draw the
large number of bullock carts2 which were put into use. Therefore the period after the 1830's
witnessed an influx of cattle (and buffaloes perhaps) into the Central Highlands3 and a
general increase in the cattle population, within the limitations imposed by deaths through
disease and other causes. Equally, with the establishment of railway connections in the
Highlands during the nineteenth century and, more vitally, with the advent of the motor car
and the motor lorry in the twentieth century, the role of the cart, the cart-drawing cattle and
the tavalams have diminished though never to the point of extinction (as we, alas, witness
everyday). Hewavitharana's statistical proof must be appraised in this light.
The more crucial questions remain. To what extent were buffaloes used in ploughing
- operations in the Central Highlands ? Were buffaloes found in any significant quantity in the.
Highlands in pre-British and early British times? On both points there is a stark conflict of
evidence. On both points, and particularly on the former question, the weight of the evidence
leans towards a position which contradicts the assumptions attached to the chain reaction
hypothesis. Jeronis Pieris's experience was largely in Kandy District, the central core
of the Highlands, and it is a fair presumption that the chiefs involved in the audience of
July 1834 were drawn from that district. Whereas R. E. Lewis's knowledge pertains to the
outlying district of Sabaragamuwa which (while also being well-peopled) lies in the foothills and
contains greater extents of relatively flat lands. It is also evident that the use of buffaloes is
not a practical proposition in most terraced paddy fields. It is known that they cannot be used
in fields which become so soft and muddy that the buffalo tends to sink in too deeply. In
situations (localities) in which labour supplies were abundant,4 moreover, paddycultivators
(whether owners or tenants) who did not possess buffaloes would naturally have preferred
to resort to manpower, rather than to meet the hire of buffaloes, when cultivating their fields.
1. The word "cattle" refers to "beasts of pasture, especially oxen, bulls and cows" (Chambers' Twentieth
Century Dictionary p. 167), so perhaps this is not surprising. Some individuals even used the word
"bullock" in a generic sense though it refers to an ox or castrated bull.
2. In the period 1850-62 (both years inclusive) an average of 873 cart licenses was issued every year in the
Central Province, with 673 as the lowest figure and 1369 as the highest for an year, and with more issued
in the early 1850's than later on. This contrasts with the average of 10,961 cart licenses per year issued
in the Western Province. See Ferguson's Ceylon Directory for 1864-65, p. 187. It is probable that more
carts were in use than the registration figures indicate.
3. 'Concurrently with the rapid extension of coffee planting in the Island, cattle were more largely imported
from India for purpose of transport by tavekams (sic) and carts", (SP XX of 1869, Cattle Disease
Commission, p. vi).
4. It is not suggested that labour supplies were abundant but that it may well have been so in several parts
of the Highlands, and notably in Kandy District.

56
In any event the conflict of evidence is such as to call into question any facile acceptance
of the view that buffaloes were an integral part of Kandyan village economy in the decades
immediately preceeding the late 1830's and the 1840's. More incisive studies are needed to
resolve the conflict and to depict the regional differentiations as preliminary steps towards.
generalisation. Such studies will have to rest on the internal correspondence and other documents
among the records of the Secretariat in Colombo and the records of the various Kachcheries.
A statistical study of the lekanuniti pertaining to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries will probably be the most fruitful means of establishing a definitive answer.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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

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

57

Plate 12

MRS. JERONIS PIERIS

nee Warusahannadige Carolina Francesca Soysa (1842-1903). She was
a daughter of Lewis Soysa and a niece of Jeronis and Susew de Soysa.
She was married to Jeronis Pieris on the 33th December 1856.

LOUIS PTERIS at a later stage in his life-span (1840-1914), he eventually

settled down in Kandy and was among the first Sinhalese
Municipal Councillors in the town.

Plate 13

RICHARD STEUART PIER'S

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

Plate 14

HENRY

A. PIER'S

1862-1919; Jeronis and Carolina's second son.

Plate 15

THE FIRM OF S. C. FERNANDO & BROS.

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

in the centre.

Plate 16

Ite

Or r
os.

'

p s 1l

".11 -1":

sz,

al A

WI

fir ter;!.."
. ;

FACSIMILE: LETTER F RliERONIS PIERIS 'TO LOUIS P 'ERIS,

30 October 1853.

PART TWO

THE LETTERS OF
JERONI S PIER IS
1853-1856

61
LIST OF LETTERS
30 October,

1853.

2. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo.

24 November,

1853.

3. To George Pride, Naranherme, Kandy.

17 December

1853.

4. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo.

14 February

1854.

5. To Louis Pieris, Morottoo.

10 March

1854.

6. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo.

30 March

1854.

3 April

1854.

May

1854.

10 June

1854.

10. To S. C. Perera, Grand Pass.

25 July

1854.

11. To Johannes Salgado, Morottoo.

22 August

1854.

12. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo.

18 October

1854.

13. To Simon Perera, Colombo.

12 December

1854.

8 January

1855.

. 1. To Louis Pieris, Colombo.

7. To S. C. Perera, GrandPass, Colombo.

8. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo.

10

9. To Louis Pieris,

14. To Marcellus Perera, Colpetty, Colombo.

15. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo.

16 April

1855.

16. To C. H. de Soysa,

28 July

1855.

17. To Louis Pieris, GrandPass, Colombo.

23 September

1855.

18. To S. C. Perera, Colombo.

n. d. (Sept.

1855).

19. To Simon Perera, Colombo.

3 December

1855.

20. To C. H. de Soysa, Morottoo.

22 December

1855.

21. To C. H. de Soysa, Colombo.

10 March

22. To Louis Pieris.

22 ,April

1856.

23. To W. H. Wright

12 June

1856.

1856( ?).

62
Letter No. 1
Kandy. Oct. 30. 1853.
Mr. Louis Pieris,
Colombo.
My dear Louis,
I have received your last letter, which tho' very short and by no means satisfactory, yet
it gave me great pleasure in reading, being the first letter in English you wrote to me - 1 am
very glad for your endeavour in so doing, and hope that your next will be, thro' the blessing
of the Almighty, a much fairer and better one. Write to me now & then, as I am always delighted
to find myself not forgotten.
How comes it that you tell nothing about your School - write to me fully about your school
in your next letter ? Who is the head of your class? What lessons do you learn? Be regular
in attending School. Write letters to Mr. Chs. Soysa of Morottoo as well as to me. Let me
know what books you are in need of.
Make my compliments to Mr. Chs. Soysa,
to all at home & to all my friends.
I am, My dear Louis,
Yours affectionately,
Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 2
Kandy. Nov. 24th 1853.
Chs. H. de Soysa Esq.
Morottoo.
My dear Charles,
Be pleased to accept my sincere thanks for your letter of the 8th Inst., an answer to wh.
I am at last sat down to write to you, and should blame myself very much for having neglected
you so long, if I did not impute that, as well as many such failings, to want of health - and
much more on this occasion for want of health in holding my pen. I hope not to be so long
silent again.
You have not heard, I think, the severe shock I received by a fall from my bandy wh.
occasioned the slipping of a bone in my arm. I was obliged to call for surgical assistance, as
was instantly done. The Surgeon desired me not to move my arm for about 10 days, during

63
wit. time it was suspended in a sling - I am now by the mercy of God able to write a little, altho'
writing much pains my arm still and that is the only reason for not making this letter a longer
one. Tell nobody how I was severely hurt - let it be kept as a secret.
Let me tell you, my dear Charles, that I am very much satisfied with your progress; and
you should try to give up as many hours in the day, as you could conveniently spare, to study and spend not a single hour in vain. The root of learning is indeed bitter, but the fruits thereof
sweet.
Your books will be returned when I could find a fair opportunity - I am not using them.
They have been lying in my almirah - I'll try to find out some useful books for you.
I suppose you will find a safe place for my letters in your box preserve them - as I do take
much care of yours - They might be of use to us sometime after.
I shall hope to hear very often from you and every day better news & better. Your good
health is sincerely wished by
Most affectionately yours
Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 3
Kandy. Dec. 17th. 1853.
Geo. Pride Escir.,1
Naranhenne,
Kandy.
Sir,
I beg leave to state that I am very much obliged to you for lending me "Boswell's life of
Johnson". The 2 Vols. that remained with me I have herewith returned with many thanks.
Boswell's Johnson is truly an entertaining work - if I am so fortunate as to receive any
present from you, as a token of my obedience towards you, I wd. willingly prefer "BosweIl's
life of Johnson" to any thing else.
I am Sir,
With great respect,
Your most obedient and humble Servant,
Jeronis Pieris.

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

64
Letter No. 4
Arrack Godown,
Kandy. Feby. 14th. 1854.
C. H. de Soysa Esqr.,
Morottoo.
My dear Charles,
A report of the extreme illhealth of my grand-father made me visit home on the 6th Inst.
Although I did not expect, before I left Kandy that I wd. be fortunate to see him and converse
with him again, yet on my coming home I found him, by the aid of the Almighty wonderfully
recovered.
I am sorry that that short stay in Colombo (2 days) gave me no opportunity in (sic) coming
down to see you.
I suppose you are doing well at present and that my brother Louis will gain some
instructions from your teacher - Louis is rather fond of play. Please keep him almost confined
to his studies.
The package of books I sent you has, I dare say, reached you safe - it was delivered to
your father as 1 met him in Colombo. The Greek Testament though of little use to you at present, wd. I think, be of great use to you when you learn Greek, wh. I hope you will. A heap
of books were sold at Mr. Bullers, there had been but few books of use to us - and besides
the prices they were sold for were actually more than they are really worth.
Harmanis Soysa, renter, who intends to leave Kandy to-day, will bring down your
Silver watch - Please receive it from him. It keeps time well enough at present, but use it
carefully that there may be no trouble with it again.
Kandy is rather warm at present there having been but very little rain all round last month.
Do not forget me at your leisure hours.
Hoping to hear early from you and that you are in good health.
I am,
My dear Charles,
Most affectionately yours,
Jeronis Pieris.
P. S. Tell Louis that as I have received no letter from him in.January last, I did not take the
trouble just now to write him one.
P.

65
Letter No. 5
Mr. Louis Pieris.
Morottoo.
Kandy.
March 10th 1854.
My dear Louis,
By your last letter to me I was very glad to hear that you are and have been for sometime
residing at your godfather's in Morottoo.
I consider that it is advisable for you to make a longer stay at Morottoo, which I should
think is at present free from contagious distempers, rather than come up to Colombo as I hear
the place is not a bit better than what it was. You should, therefore, during your residence
at Morottoo, endeavour to pay a (sic) great attention to the instructions you receive from your
teacher, and get on with your lessons in English as fast as possible. Reading English, I am
sorry to say, you do it very badly. You should try to mind the stops when you read.
Let me know how many hours in the day you give up to your studies. I expect letters from
you every now & then.
Make my best compliments to Messrs. Chs. Soysa & Cuylenberg.
I am,
My dear Louis,.
Yours affectionately,
kronis Pieris.

Letter No. 6
Kandy.
March 30th 1854.
C. H. de Soysa Esq.
Morottoo.
My dear Charles,
There had been ample time I dare say, for you to answer my last letter, had you taken a ,
little more trouble and had been a little more considerate in putting a few words together on
paper for me. And I wd. always complain of having forgotten me if my letters are not answered
in time. Therefore, please write to me at your leisure hours, for I am much delighted to find
myself not forgotten. I wd. if I had time to spare, write to you a letter or two every week,
but I am sorry to say the press of business and the almost confined state in wh. I am at present
do not allow me to (sic) such sportive engagements.

66
As a piece of news I am glad to write to you of my visit to "Deyetalawe" neighbouring
HanguranKette wh. I visited with great pleasure, altho' with great difficulty. Early in the
morning of the 28th list, myself and seven others started from the Bungalow at HanguranKette;.
we reached Oodewatte about 7 in the morning and after a little refreshment wh. we kindly
received there from the Supt. we began to climb up the rocky hills. Two men with 2 fowling
pieces & two others with bill hooks were despatched before us, and myself, Mr. M(?) Soysa
& others followed them in our usual clumsy dress. The ascent was difficult. Having left Oodewatte Store (I suppose you know the place) about 7% a. m. nearly one full hour was spent to
cross the thick jungle adjoining the coffee Plantations. In traversing the jungle we were led
by our guide to a rocky mountain overgrown with mana grass. Our guide was rather a silly
man as he knew not wh. was the shorter course to take. The termination of the grassy mountain
led us to its summit which was a well formed rock on wh. we sat for about of an hour, well
seated there after crossing the jungle thoroughly wet and partly fatigued.
This seat favoured us with an inspection of the coffee estate, and enabled us to look at
the various paths and the situation of the stores, pulping houses & the cooly lines of the
Allotwatte, Kottle, Oodewatte & Ratmateyat of the latter place we saw nothing but the surrounding jungle.
Adjoining the huge stone on wh. we sat and lying towards the East of it is a dangerous
precipice, a stone left (sic) thrown on the top of it reaches the bottom wh. is, I think about a
mile & a half distance in less than five minutes. The rock is...(?)... from its base to the summit
as it is almost in a right(?) line.
Having taken a short and an imperfect survey of the coffee estate, the neighbouring paddy
lands & the leading foot-paths and laid down an irregular figure of the said view on paper
& as you will perceive in the plan wh. I have herein enclosed2 we started up to reach the top of
the 2nd and 3rd hills. We reached the upper plane of the 2nd hill about 10 o' clock and feeling
much more wearied and dry we descried a marshy pond wh. gave us drink although muddy
& not clear. On our way in climbing this rock, I forgot to tell you that the dogs accompanied
by us having run up to the thick jungle chased a deer and not being able to kill the animal, led
it towards us and we being in no way huntsmen had only to look at the sportive race as it ran
down the hill rather than endeavour in destroying the animal. One man, our guide, endeavoured to hurt the animal with his bill book, but fo no purpose. The deer ran just beside me,
the only weapon I had was my climbing staff and that did no good.
The highest point of Deyetalawe, under which is a cave naturally formed by loose and detached pieces of rock, we reached about 12 o' clock and that being the most dry part of the
1. The name which reads like "Ratmateya" could refer to the property of 38 acres 3 roods 2.94 perches
named "Kirimetya" situated in the village "Walliwallea" of Diyatilaka Karate which Jeronis de Soysa
had purchased on the 11th April, 1837. See D.N.A. Ceylon, Lot 7 B/585/24. (1 am indebted to Patrick
Peebles for this reference and the details). This property is depicted as "Kinmatiyawatte" in the list of "native coffee gardens" provided by the Government Agent, Kandy that is reproduced in Ferguson's Ceylon
Directories in the years 1875-82: and as "Keremetia" (with the Tamil rendering as "Ratmatra") in the
estate tables provided by Ferguson. The G. A.'s list also mentions a "Cottlewatte" and Udawatte among
the properties owned by C. H. de Soysa in Diyatilaka Karate.
2, This sketch does not appear to have survived; probably no copy was taken.

67
day we were seated on the rock with our umbrellas open to shelter us from the rays of the sun
which was then very powerful. We breakfasted on this rock and rested there for about I of
an hour, and after having carefully inspected the rocky caves, viewed the apparent water-falls,
the adjoining hills &c, we commenced to descend from the mountain which took us only
the time we had to ascend. We were now ourselves the guides,as our silly guide was set apart.
The shortest cut we made was to reach Allootwatte jungle thro' the newly cleared part of
the same plantation now fully covered with weeds, we came down to the Bungalow wh.
afforded us sufficient shelter.
My friend Mr. M. Soysa having found me much wearied & thirsty desired me to wait
there until morning & make no further journey, and I, of course, agreed. We took our tiffin
there and came to HanguranKette Bunglow (sic) in the morning.
You would, I dare say, make an attempt to visit the place on your next call at HanguranKette but I would not advise you to do so as it is not a very safe one.
On my way up the hill I picked up a few extraordinary plantsbotannical (sic) treasures.
They will be sent down to you, if they be not previously withered away, at the earliest
opportunity. The plant wh. I now speak of, is called in Singhalese "Goorooluraaje".
Please read this letter to my brother Lewis also - and it would save me the trouble of writing him another.
Johnson's "Rambler" in 3 Vols. is now with me. They were purchd. by me at one of
the Auction Sales here. It is an entertaining & instructive work. I will send them down to you
in a short time together with a few more of Addisons wh. I now intend to purchd. for you.
Make my best compliments to all my friends.
Your good health is sincerely wished
Most affectionately yours
Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 7
Kandy.
April 3rd 1854.
Mr. S. C. Perera
GrandPass
Colombo.
My dear Sir,
I have the pleasure to enclose herein a letter addressed to Mr. Chs. Soysa of llorottoo,
which you will please, read, seal & send to him at your earliest convenience.

68
I am at the same time very much obliged to you for your letters which I now acknowledge
to have duly received,and hope to be excused for my never answering them in time and answering them so late as this. I shall endeavour never to be so long silent again.
With my best regards to you
I remain,
Yours Faithfully,
Jeronis Pieris.

Letter No. 8
C. H. de Soysa Esq.
Morottoo.

Kandy May 10th. 1854.

My dear Charles,
I find the package of books alluded to in my last letter left here at the godown still. Your
father going to Colombo in the Coach desired me to send down his clothes Ste at the earliest
opportunity and I was surprised to find the books among them. Considering how I wd. send
the books to you before I wrote to you my last letter, I fear, the letter was scarcely legible and
was written in such haste.
I have no doubt but that you will find a great deal of amusement in reading Addison's
works. The beauty of his style surpasses that of any other author - when you are engaged in
reading his works you will perceive that he has taken particular care to write with accuracy and
precision. The several essays wh. make up the 'Spectator' and the 'Tatler' are not only instructive but wonderfully pleasing to the reader, and that, to such an extent that you will never
be tired of reading them.
I hope you are making some preparations against the 24th Inst. the anniversary of Her
Majesty's birthday, when I hear, your father is to receive a gold chain and a meddle (sic) as
a present from his friends. I wish I could be present on the occasion.
Let me know, please, how Louis is getting on.
Hoping to hear early from you,
I am
My dear Charles,
Yours sincerely,
J. P.
P. S. The arrack Farm of the Kandyan Provinces sold, in fact, resold in lots on the 19th inst.
realized but a very small amt. in comparison to the sale of that of the entire Province - We
expect to be renters for the ensuing year also.
J. P.

69
Letter No. 9

Kandy. June 10th 1854.

My dear Louis,
I am glad to hear that you have adopted my advice in residing till now at Morottoo. You
will very likely be told to come to Colombo after a short time, if the place is not very sickly.
It Seems to me, by your last letter, that although you have endeavoured to improve in
your hand writing, yet you have altogether forgotten to write accurately. In future, when you
write letters to me, recollect you draw some pencil lines on your paper before you begin to
write, spell your words correctly and introduce stops to your writing, which, I see, you have
altogether left out.
Will you write to me as I am anxious to hear out of what books you learn your daily lessons;
you should commit to memory a few lines of English poetry every day, if your teacher would
advise you to do so. Recollect, Louis, that you are no longer a little boy and that it is high
time for you to think to become a clever young man. In a year or two more you will have to
work for your living, and, therefore, keep in mind always that what I and everybody else would
wish you to do, is nothing else but to endeavour to become a diligent and learned youth.
I wish you would write to me at the end of every week, say every Saturday, about your
school lessons. In one of Charles' letters to me, he says, you get on pretty well in your studies.
I ought to hear something more than that from him, even these two words "very well".
When did you last see my mother? Is she continually troubled with the head-ache? or Is
she quite well ? Did you come to Colombo on the 24th May last, the anniversary of Her Majesty's
birthday ?
Your last letter to me is herewith returned; see if you could write it better and send (sic)
me enclosed in one of your letters to me.
I am at present in good health, and hope that all of you would enjoy that blessing.

I am,
My dear Louis
Most affectionately yours
Rronis Pieris

70
Letter No. 10
Mr. S. C. Perera
Grandpass.

Kandy.
July 25th 1854.

My dear Sir,
My last letter from home as well as yours of the 20th Inst. acquaints me that Mr. Chs.
de Soysa is now a college student and that Louis and the other lad are attending the college
school,which I am glad enough to hear.
Charles is, I think about 19 years old and as he is now getting on well as I could wish,
I am of opinion, that if he remain two full years in the college he will become a good classical
scholar. And that is what he should try to be. His being sickly always is unfortunately one'
circumstance that would prevent his taking pains to study, but Mutwal is a healthy spot, he
may very likely improve in his health just as he would in his learning. Do the two young lads
walk all the way from home to school?
Your letters to me are rather short; as you have ample time to write, I dare say you could
make them a little longer. Can you not? I expect your letters to me, will always tell me what
Louis is doing. Should you think that there is anything that he is in want and which I could
provide him with, lose no time, please, in informing me of it.
How is our old Coergu(?). Has he no intention of visiting his native land? If we were
to make some, arrangements here so as to enable us to sell a larger quantity of rice, that is to say,
an unusual quantity all round the yearDo you think Coergu(?) and you / by the way that is
carried on at present / will be able to send us from Colombo any rice that we may want, provided that the quantity may not exceed five hundred cart loads every month. The question is simply
are the carts easily procured and has Coergu(?) a large stock of rice in hand, or any at his
command? You will, please, answer this question yourself and let nobody else know anything
about it, as it is only a supposition and not anything that wd. have any immediate effect on our
trading line.
As a piece of news I could tell you that the long continued rains are at their close, 'and
we have had fair weather all this week. Hoping to hear early from you and all hopes of
success in your office.
I am my dear Sir,
Your's faithfully,
J. P.
P. S. Does Charles come home, or at least come to his uncle's at Grand Pass, every Saturday.
I will send a letter to his address enclosed in one of yours at the earliest opportunity. When
does Harmanis Soysa intend to come to Kandy. Do you know? May I send you "Johnson's
Rambler" to read. What has Charles done with the "Spectators" I sent him last. You can
borrow them from him. It is worth while trying to read them.
J. P.

71
Letter No. 11
Kandy.
Aug. 22nd 1854.
Mr. Johannes Salgado,
Morottoo.
My dear Sir,
1 have received your letter bearing no date requesting me to hand over to Mr. M
printing office I am sorry to say I have not yet got the letters you mean, nor is it likely that
I shall, for I think there must be some mistake in forwarding them to me or they must have
been lost. Very likely the gentleman to whose care you entrusted them has forgotten to pack
them with his letters to me.
Should you send me any papers I wd. be glad enough to send them up to Mr. M
and, at the same time permit me to tell you that I should think, the most secure and expeditious
mode of transmitting letters is through the Post Office.
Hoping you are in good health,
I am, dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Jeronis Pieris
P. S. Any letter to this address will reach me safe:
"Jcronis Pieris
Arrack Godowns
Kandy."

Letter No. 12
Arrack Godowns, Kandy,
October 18th 1854
Mr. Louis Pieris,
GrandPass,
Colombo.
My dear Louis,
I now sit down to answer your last letter, in wh. you seem very anxious to know about
my health. I am sorry I had written no letters to you for some time, and it is true that I was
unwell for a few days, but that wd. not be a sufficient excuse for not having written to you
when I was quite well.
1. The edges of the page being frayed, this word cannot be determined.

72

You have had plenty of time, I dare say, during your late holidays to write to me a long
letter about your School, wh., I see, you have not thought of; you may recollect that letterwriting will help you very much in becoming a good English Scholar. By so doing you will not
only imitate the good parts of the writings of others that may be put into your hands, but will
avoid the mistakes of your own, which you will yourself be able to find out from time to time.
Keep copies of the letters you write and read with care the letters you receive from others.
You should not he afraid of mistakes you are apt to commit in writing but should endeavour to
write one letter better than another. Do not be discouraged by the mere appearance of difficulty
but try to overcome it.
As a piece of news I am glad to tell you that a vast number of the poor intelligent Kandyan
farmers who have lost altogether their last wet crop, have taken a different method in cultivating
their paddy lands. These poor farmers, during the last rainy season have sown their paddy
fields several times but owing to the unevenness of their lands, the continued heavy showers
have washed all the grain away before they had time enough to take root. What they had to
do now is to sow the grain in some places sheltered from the rains and when the plants have
grown up to the height of 9 inches or one foot they have them transplanted in their proper places
just as we do in planting brinjal or chilli plants in our gardens.
Most of the paddy lands round about Kandy are situated on the bases of hills and consequently easily irrigated by the streams running down these hills which is not at all the case as
you will see in paddy fields round about Colombo. The agriculture of these mountain-like
paddy fields, if I may so call them, is not conducted by the bullock, nor the muddy parts by the
buffalo, but are tilled all over by the hoedifferently shaped from that in use among us; except
in a few instances where the fields are situated between hills or two ranges of hills and consequently sufficiently level to be worked on by the buffalo, I have never seen them use bullocks
in ploughing.
These respectable farmers, mostly with trifling capital to be sure, and therefore slender
means of improving their lands, are most of them ignorant of the advantages of irrigation,
the proper mode of clearing their lands from weeds. The clearing of weeds & noxious grasses,
which grow in abundance no sooner the fields become green, is carried on dexterously by the
Kandyan women. This they call "nalanawa" cs.nenE13( ?) and none of them are ignorant
of this practice. And it is well known among the Kandyans that should a young woman newly
married "in dega", understand not the above method of clearing weeds in the paddy fields,
the young man, her husband, would send her away to her father's house without making any
further question. Look how barbarous the Kandyans are still! I wish all of them would soon
turn Christians and leave off their old nasty customs.

Hoping you are in good health

I am my dear Louis,
Yours sincerely,
jefouis Pieris

73
Letter No. 13
Kandy. Dec. 12th 1854.
Mr. Simon Pererai
School Master
Colombo.
My dear Simon,
I feel myself obliged to you for the news you had the kindness to communicate to us by
your letter of the 1st. Inst., which letter came to my hands only on the 9th on my way to
Hungurankette (sic) about 11 miles from Kandy.
Before I proceed to tell you something of our hilly country, which is now so favorable
to us, permit me to answer those few questions proposed in your letter as fully as I can.
We have despatched to Colombo to be forwarded to the "Paris Universal Exhibition"
an Elephant cut out of a piece of rock as well as several Budhist (sic) idols of Vishnu, Maha
Brahma &c being also speciments (sic) of Kandyan Sculpture, a few implements of husbandry,
carvings in wood and ivory, a few ropes and whips prepared by the Rodiya &c.
But I am puzzled at your latter question, as I know very little about it, just as much as I
read in yours: a man who finds his/living in hilly country, who is obliged to be away from
home for several months together should prefer to be single rather than be coupled. It is for
no other reason but to avoid that heavy load which he would have to carry along with him
wherever he goesDon't you think so? But one who is living comfortably at home undergoing no such difficulty, who could be either in the Town or in the village just as he may choose,
and moreover who has a chance of following a sedentary occupation had better be coupled,
than be single. As the former is a social and the latter a lonely life.
You must have made a good progress in Sangscrit & Ellu as you have been studying them
for some time.
I intend coming down to Colombo if I find it convenient, a week or two previous to New
Year, say about the 20th Inst. and would be very glad to see you then. I'll leave behind the
news from this quarter mentioned in the beginning of this note as we will be able to talk to each
other very soon, if God would be pleased to grant us his special aid for so doing.
Hoping you are quite well,
I am,
My dear Simon,
Your faithed (sic) and obliged Friend,
Jeronis Pie ris

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

74
I dont think we will have any cabbages this time of the year from N. Ellia, as the late
severe frost had killed them all; we will I think get some from Matturatte; I will not forget to
order the people here to send down some, if procurable. I am sorry I could (sic) bring down
none with me when I come down as I intend to be about four days on the road.

P. S.

Letter No. 14
Kandy.
Jan. 8. 1855
Mr. Marcellus Pererat
Colpetty
Colombo.
My dear Sir,
I make haste to answer your kind letters in the hope of hearing again from you and you
are at the same time not to think of yourself forgotten or wilfully neglected, that you had yet
no correspondence from me. To tell you the truth, I was just projecting to write a long letter
to you and another to Mr.(?) S--- when your last obliging epistle came to hand; nor
would I have kept back writing to you had not the press of business laid that mind altogether
away from me.
But Sir, you will please excuse me, as I was eager to seek the very first opportunity to tell
you candidly that the favours you are willing to confer on me are surely more than I deserve.
Your kindness is so great, and my claim to any particular regard from -you so little, that
I am at a loss how to express my sense of your favours, but I must no doubt be very happy
to be thus favoured by you.
You wd., I fancy like to hear that I, ere I received your advice regarding
3 informing him just what you have suggested in your note.
had posted a letter to me

But I should think, that this is a property common to all and you will read better in these
few words of Cie.. "Commune autem animantium omnium est conjunctionis appetitus, procreandi causa, et cura quadam eorum, qua procreate sunt".4
1. Ferguson, Ceylon Directory for 1871-72 lists (p. cclxviii) an "M.. Perera" as "Retired Teacher of Academy...
Colpetty... Colombo."
2- These lines and the omission are Jeronis Pieris's.
3. As elsewhere dotted lines indicate undecipherable or torn sections. The length approximates to the portion
missing.
4. "The desire for copulation for the sake of procreation is common to all animals and (also) a certain care of
those that are procreated (there- by)". I am obliged to Dr. Merlin Peries for the clarification of the spelling
and for the translation of the Latin saying.

75
At my years, and with my trifling fortune, a man with a little common sense, without
philosophy, may be indifferent about
I am, Sir,
Your faithful Servant
J. P.
Pray keep all this secret.
J. P.

Letter No. 15
Kandy. April. 16 '55.
Mr. Louis Pieris.
GrandPass.
Colombo.
My dear brother,
I am anxious to hear of your health & at the same time how you get on in your studies.
What class do you now join at school ? Are you in the same class you were before, or are you
in a higher? Try to be the head of your class.
Let me know, please, what lessons you learn in English, Latin, Arithmetic &c. Write
to me fully respecting each.

to

How is Mr. Ch. Soysa, I have got

when convenient.

for a long time. Will you ask him

I am in good health - and hope you wd. likewise enjoy that blessing -And that is the earnest desire of,
Your truly affectionate brother.
Jeronis
Pieris.

Letter No. 16
C. H. de Soysa Esq.
Kandy July 28th 1855.
My dear Charles,
I ought to have written to you before now, and I cannot but confess the failures of my
correspondence but hope that your regard for me will incline you to excuse me on this
occasion as on every other.

AD,

76
I recollect having read in the papers that Mr.Boake of the Colombo Academy has become
a Tutor in the Bishop's College, if that is the case you should endeavour to get instructions
from him as long as you can. He will surely be the best Tutor you could find in the Island.
I will be exceedingly glad to hear, if you will kindly inform me, the progress you have made
in English and Laiin. Pray, what books in Latin do you read? Have you been in Morottoo
for some time leaving your abode in the college rooms? In the last letter I received from my
Sister on Thursday last she tells me that you are and have been in Morottoo for upwards of
two months, you should not have been at home surely for such length of time but for sickness.
Although you were unwell for some time, I fancy you are now all right and that you will
make haste to your college books.
A youngster by the name of Wright, a son of my friend Mr. Wright of the Peradenia Coffee
Estates is sent to the College lately. He is, I think, a promising lad. You will please write
to me about him when you do go to the college.
How is Louis? The letters he wrote to me lately are no better than those he did some
time ago. I suppose he is an idle little fellow and cares very little about his books.
As a piece of news from this quarter, I am glad to tell you that I have planted the remainder
of the Kadugannawe property belonging to your father It wd. in time be an excellent coffee
estate although the old plantation owing to its former mismanagement, is good for nothing.
The long continued drought has ruined most estates. Your father's Haragame property
is suffering dreadfully and it has some effect on the Hangurankette also. But the crop there
is now very nearly over.
We are all in good health.
Make haste to write to dear Charles,

Yours affectionately,
Jeronis Pieris

P.S. Please to make my compliments to Mr. Johannes Salgado and Mr. Marcellus Perera of
Colpetty.
J. P.
1. See supra, p. 43.

77
Letter No. 17

Kandy. Sep. 23rd 1855

Mr. Louis Pieris,

OrandPas s,
Colombo.

My dear Louis,
1 had the favour of yours, and I am extremely obliged to you; you have as I see your
with me in my desk, written to me twice or thrice ere this, for wh. I find no answer returned:
therefore, pray Louis, let this from your dear brother be an acknowledgement of them all.
Your letter sent to me last was a little better than the one you have previously sent, but in
no way satisfactory. This shows nothing else but that you take very little care about your
improvements.
How glad wd. I be to peruse a letter from you fairly and carefully written, explaining to me
all what you have learnt during the last half year. But, Sir, if you wd., ask for the aid of another
in writing a letter, and put down his words on paper for me instead of your own, am I to
understand that writing as yours. In fact such letters are not what I wd. wish to see; but rather
your own.
Never ask a favour of that kind from your friends, altho' they are willing to help you;
you may get your letters corrected by them, if you choose, but that_should be done after you
have drawn the letter out yourself.
Be thankful for your friends who are desirous to see you well getting on.
May I tell you a plan for lengthening your letters to me and in writing them out better than
what you generally do ? Get the letter written out at full length in Singhalese and then turn it
word by word into English. Make a fair copy, see if there are any grammatical mistakes wh.
you could correct and send me. This wd. be both learning to translate one language into the
other and at the same time letter-writing.
You have forgotten to write to me about our dear mother. Is she quite well? Is (sic)
our grandfather & Grandmother in good health? How did you forget to write to me about
them ? You should be blamed for so doing.
We have had a fresh shower of rain all round last week and I hope we will get some more
by and by.

78
Is there anything that I could do for you. If so please inform me.
Hoping that your next letter wd. bring me better news about your learning.
I am dear Louis,
Your most affectionately,
Jeronis Pier;s

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

J.P.

Letter No. 18

[no date]
Mr. S. C. Perera,
Colombo.
My dear Sir,
Enclosed is a letter to my brother Louis, you will please hand it over to him andassist him
in reading it should he find it difficult.
I shall be glad to hear from you whenever you shall be so kind as to write to,
dear Sir,
Yours most obediently,
Jeronis Pieris

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

P. S.

J.P.

1. The post.

79
Letter No. 19
Sunday
Evening.
Kandy. Dec. 3rd 1855
Mr Simon Perera,
Colombo.
My dear and much respected friend,
I think I am going to write a long letter to you as I took a whole sheet of paper to write on;
and first of all it .becomes my duty to thank you for your letter, an interesting one indeed,
to read wh. I found a great deal of pleasure, but let me assure you how unworthy I am, for
the great interest which you take in my welfare.
Do not blame me, my dear friend, for the failure of my correspondence, and particularly
in my non calling at your residence in Colombo (as I ought to have done) on my last visit to that
place, nor writing to you previously to my leaving Kandy, as I often did, of my intention
in paying a visit to my friends. But certain, I am, that you will not think me in any way unmindful or beginning to forget friendship, when I tell you candidly that my last trip to Colombo
was an unexpected one, and consequently did not allow me to stay there with convenience any
longer than three days, wh. I did. I was called up there to settle some of our affairs.
It is sorrowful indeed, that so much of our time is necessarily to be spent upon the care(?)
of living,' or at least we employ our time in that way, that we can seldom obtain ease(?) in
one(?) respect but by assigning it in another, yet, I fancy, it is our business not to give up
precious time, wh. will never return when it has once left us, solely to the pursuit of our wordly
living but devote the most and best part of it in meditation on that state of life wh. is a far more
pleasing and a happy one.
I wd. be exceedingly glad to hear, if you will inform me how you are getting on with your
school. Do you expect any promotion? How is it that you complain of the falling condition
of our old Academy. Is it owing to the absence of our worthy Mr. Boake, that laborious
man, who, I may say, spares no pains towards the improvement of his pupils.
A great many of our school fellows who have left the Academy are now in this Dist; they
are chiefly those of the orphan asylum. I have seen Atwell, Scoffield and some others to day.
They often call in at the Godowns to pay me a visit when they come down from the coffee
estates. Atwell is an assistant Superintendent of Veddihille Kadulla Estate. This was the place
where our late friend Mr. Lister had been. It is about 12 or 13 miles from the town.

The coffee plantations in this district are now in a flourishing state. The last severe drought.
wh. lasted here for upwards of three months, had such a severe effect on the trees that the crop
1. It could also be: "ease or Living."

80
wh. is now being gathered is but very little in comparison with the former one. T hope we may
expect a heavy crop in the next which will compensate the short crop of this year.
Although the inhabitants of this province are improving inwealth,yet they are not changing
may marry, at least marry in "dega" as many women as he
their old nasty customs. A
chooses. This is indeed a brutal practice. If the missionaries in this Province were a little
more active in spreading the Gospel in the interior and endeavour to teach them Christianity,
the natives will, no doubt, turn though gradually, a race of good and intelligent men.
I was told, I know not if that is the truth, that there was a certain individual in Hewahette
who had sixty seven wives one after another.
I wish all of them living in this Prov. wd. soon turn Christians and avoid their brutal habits.
As a piece of news I could tell you that Sir George Ward intends to have a look at Mr.
Tytler's Estates, where he is putting up a powerful and very expensive watering machine. This
machine, very likely the first in operation in Ceylon, wd. very likely cost him several thousands
of pounds not pounds weight but hard cash. Several thousands of pounds to be gathered
with profit from the crop of our coffee estates!
The young man who brought me your note is sent up to Hungurankette (sic). I will not
forget to write to you about him when I next hear from that place. I will very likely be up
there myself after a week or two.
This Town and some parts of the interior are sickly at present. The fever and some other
contageous (sic) distempers are rapidly increasing we have not had sufficient quantity of
rain this year.
I suppose I am beginning to tire you with my long letter and will therefore conclude it,
I wd. be very glad to hear from you if you will be so good as to write to,

Dear Simon,

Your faithful friend

J. P.

P.S.

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

81
Letters No. 20

Kandy.
Dec. 22 1855,

Chs. de Soysa Esq.

Morotto.
My dear Charles,
You have, as I am informed by my relations and friends, lost an excellent uncle, and one
who is dear to you I am sure. He is a loss to us all, as well as to you. He was esteemed by all
who knew him and many a Kandyan here wd. bemoan his death.
I read the letters of my friends in which the untimely end and his last funeral rites are mentioned, with sorrow, yea, I tell you, I read them with tears: but tears, Dear Charles, are of no
further use to you or to me when once the tribute of nature has been paid.
You must keep in mind that we are all mortals, and consequently subject to death, and more
so, we are ourselves miserable and helpless creatures.
I fancy, you have learned by this time, that death pays not the least regard to the convenience of mortals nor does he ever hear their supplications.
Therefore all what we could do is to ask the Almighty to grant us the aid of His Holy
Spirit to strengthen us to bear all afflictions and that we may ourselves be finally prepared and
not be in any way unfit to face death. Let our continual supplication to Him be this: "Lord
make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail
I am."
Remember the source from wh. we could derive all consolation is the Bible.
How beautifully does that holy Psalm the 39th read. Yea, how truly are we though in life
yet in the midst of death,
Believe me my dear Charles,
Yours,

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

t82
Letter No. 21.
Kandy.
March 10 1856 (?)
C. H. de Soysa Esq.
Colombo.
My dear Charles,

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

You are not, I hope, in a position to complain of the want of rain now. It had been an
universal complaint among you all ere this; had it not? We have had excellent rains here,
the ground is well Moistened, the inhabitants in the Town, who had a sour face during
the drought, look pleasant and in fact the country itself opens to us a new and a gay aspect.
That heavy shower which fell here on the 9th Inst. had somewhat injured our plantations
at Kadugannawe. It was a regular downpour there for about an hour and a half and consequently washed away a great many young coffee trees in the Didoola Estate, especially those
near the streams. These washings we could account, are partly owing to the soil in that
portion of the estate being rather too steep and soft, being covered with a thick layer of decomposed vegetable matter, and partly owing to the want of proper drains to convey the water
from the high hills to the lower flat ground.
Although I had occasion to complain of the injury done to us by the rains, yet it would
be better or in fact no injury at all when compared with the great profits we anticipate from
those refreshing showers. I am glad to say that we expect a very heavy crop from the Kadugannnawe old plantations (there are a few blossoms on the new trees too). It is not rather unusual to see coffee plants seven month old begin to blossom.
Nothing would have caught the eye of the beholder much more strongly than the odoriferous
snow-like blossoms of the coffee trees, which opened in a sudden as it were, all at once in the
morning of the 9th Inst. A visitor who had been in this hilly country during the blossoming
season of the coffee bushes would have hardly believed that these enchanting blossoms, if I
may so call them were natural and not artificial.
This is rather rare. I should think the severe drought of the month of February, and the
fine cool showers of March would account for it. I have never in my life witnessed more
blossoms on coffee trees than in this year.
We might, I fancy, come across some difficulty in gathering our next crop should there
be enough of rain for these crowded blossoms to come perfection. As the coffee will all at
one time come their maturity, the estates would require more hands to pick the ripe berries
than usual.

83

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

Letter No, 22
My dear Louis,

Kandy.

Ap. 22nd 1856.

I wish to hear from you about the health of our grand-mother &our mother as ourgrandfather is no more. Is our mother quite well? Tell her not to be very grievous as death pays
not the least regard to the supplications of mortals; & because we must all die sooner or later.
I was glad to read your letter wh. tells me something about your school. I am not at all
satisfied in your being the head of the fourth class as that is the last if not the 14 but one in
the whole school.

84
Persevere in your efforts, get on step by step. It shows nothing else but your carelessness
when I read that you continue so long in the fourth class. I fancy you are too lazy to study
your daily tasks: if that were the case 1 do not think you could ever be a good English scholar.
I wd. like to write a longer letter to you about your studies but as business calls me to leave
it be satisfied with this short letter for the present.
I am by the God's help in perfect good health
Give my Kind regards to Mr. S. C. Perera
as well as to all other friends,
I am, dear Louis,
Yours affectionately,
Jeronis Pieris

Letter No. 23
Kandy.
June 12th. 1856
My dear Sir,
In perusing yours of the 10th Instant I cannot but observe what a pleasure it is to feel
the symptoms of approaching death to one who is prepared and ready to face it. How
pleasing indeed it would be to lean on the bosom of our Saviour on our leaving this
tenement of clay.
I am indeed grieved for you and tenderly sympathise with you in the affliction our heavenly
Father has been pleased to exercise you with - But let me ask you, Dear Sir, that you would
never murmur at any affliction you may have been visited with, although you may complain.
Recollect that "All things work together for the good of those that love God."
I am rather pressed just now which prevents me from writing you a longer letter but permit
me to conclude this short note with this interesting advice And it is the best advice I could
recommend as the nearest and the surest way to comfort.
Look unto Jesus our Saviour through him direct your supplications. Trust in Him
with all your heart. Cast upon himself on his all suffering sufficiency and he would surely
give you all comfort.
When we thus see our dearest friends gliding away day by day before us, let us not forget
that we are ourselves subject to that universal law of mortality and shall soon be where our
doom will be fixed forever.
May God Almighty bless you and comfort you.
I am yours truly,
J. Pieris
To. W. H. Wright Esq.

85
TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM JERONIS PIERIS TO HIS SISTER AND MOTHER
September 18771
7th September, 1877
London.
Mrs. S. Soysa,
Panadura.
Being a letter to my beloved mother and sister having
asked for them the blessings of God,

I was glad to learn of your health. Richie and I are in good health here. We have been
travelling for one and a half months. Even if one travels for five years it is possible to travel
without seeing one area (property) twice. This is such a vast and excellent country. I never
thought it would be such a large country with so many houses.
Although Richie would like to spend some more time here, I am bringing him along because
I feel that this [ his staying on] might make him forget home altogether. If he so wishes, [ we]
could send him [to England] again later. It doesn't look as if he is going to be a very clever
person. But coming here hasn't done too much damage. Now he is a full-grown youth.
He is in good health as well. He has learnt about this country and its men (people). If necessary he can get about by himself. One has to learn to get about in this country. It is very
hard for someone [not used].
The food and drink are very different from ours.
For us to sail back to Colombo, we are getting the same ship in which we sailed here. We
have given our names to it. I believe the ship will leave here by the beginning of next month that is the 10th or a day or two this way or that way.
When we went to Scotland we met Mr. & Mrs. Robertson, who both were helpful. They
inquired after you in considerable detail. If we were going to stay on [in Scotland], we could
have stayed with the Robertsons for a week. But as we could not delay so long, we preferred
not to stay.
It is not possible to imagine that there is anything more splendid to see than the lakes of
Scotland. There are eleven lakes. About seven or eight are adjacent to each other. If one
takes a steamboat and travels with speed (without stopping) one could sail across them in
three days. If one were to stop here and there, the voyage would take eight days. On both
sides of the lakes are houses, shops, churches, schools, estates, esplanades, vegetable gardens,

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

86
harbours, wharves for the landing of goods, mansions of the wealthythese are innumerable.
It often rains in these lakes, almost incessantly. That country is very cold too. In summer
people come to these areas. In winter, the rich go to other countries.
It is very hard to describe these [features]. It is hard to understand, [for] only those who
have experienced them can do so.
Not even one tenth of the inhabitants of England would have seen these lakes. They do
not go [to the Lake-country] because of the cost and the difficulties involved. But in summer
no steamboat carries Iess of a passenger-load than four hundred. About ten large steamboats
constantly sail up and down [the lakes]. You can imagine what the extent of the crowd is.
Hoping that all of you are living according to God's Providence
Affectionately,
Jeron is Pieris

87
THE LETTER IN SINHALESE
MTS. S.

Soysa

Oece eastsieeZeLn ago

ezto etzvizss.r 0 003@603c
Tdc8e ec.33 60251 DnznB

1877 attintSatS 7 4s-)

ecatrIedbe

C,&030(6 Cti2i15 c753,23rs c..52r3e,tat.1 C25)3. 58 eus) 5eze aurae ezeklecse se na3, e18 eaet
11w? odede tft82s)03. rad qn6c. 44t:S cpt8<4ze dza s$6)52d evadozd em3ae3 r;t5e0 se5eDe.
e$ 60 ociam acme (425)n)xs 606. e50525) scoE)d erotii eenS 60= 6,03 ee ezzaezntie
80Seg.5 wee mixt.
se 5,0 =cow/ eats z156ez5-30 zotE4 z-3253 deed mtEtle8e to5to6 ea ew46 oto3q05
entz nta e325-.125)0 neati tfacza 50 eez= r.nc33 Me0 d2sfmo dzitib. ffi ZBC2M1251I0O 8ni2s-)8
q5ez-10 se.02S3. En 01,8 ea56Cerze ebn ezt5 edemeee 22ztat. zs)psi' eve er303F.tas? ea3
(mat:ooze 2nmz. c2s1 ee3z2g Teec5csa. czaSSorS eunc$. ea isea ezzacirach earn Elz9e13
cux.ortm. ant zn8 n29o5 c.ters-30 deass0 p60z3. oe 605,0 55e (.53e TecAG wezz0 &Mt.
chs ezmws)zo 063etoo 448613.

ns

23te 35 fled 600e0 E)3 ea3eezn5 eamcsa.

qoa eao ea az:beat1 @etto lt3 2snets ezesea. rimz.,- 253 4e3 /Bea25)03.
e5erosi cam 83ed dm8 10 V) ekeeme cetizd ec2E52cf ,Vdt..56 E5SO5C3 SedeCcs

563ena zo6m03.
8 eto0
q8 dezzaCceeD 600 acs e@eaeD e63aet6e centet325,1 einiand ecz-lan5 e
met
seazuze
ecs,aowe
e025)D3
sz-}Q
en36radt
eTts03.
c8
cor206 zzea, cre3 coin eaoetoae
02:5i2510Ned 000 25)/ve oteno aqaa. 25)2:4 ges0 oine4G smite eDema VD MO 25303 eieD
EZDt2g 2ntrOt.
deza3Ce2510 6e0 01.0 ee0 CED3 catsia qa-VSons e4.szs1 ac/eze 06D3 cptn 263(5) enem0
ate c)en)ermst 29eau3D. ecoa25-1 son egazd 6=0 6az (5305. 60 n635 ced tp-ne
mte0251 T2z3z1751' 63e453253 8630eam 43c, rot% 25)0253 Oecs3r1 ced et0m4 ez$E_:164esauf
aelnlei. Ott) rote nian5 GNecooene 4m6co owed e.s3e3 - od8 - TderaIe OttaiDtg
emetovatteed 5380300
80026:3 - ocaEm -mte061 - eabeJ @ter) an 800213 ays, cpEzsi
6 60e ea3etoa5 enc3.
eckc.na
60a2ne3.
cps)6
t3n65
63ed
e$03 co25)25)30zd 25Wt. oar otg
e003
&ea
rat6 atnetDme gando
2s13ec
dzz13.
ce.3251 21Doete 01Co4zssa o0 ciX)e0e0
ac3g
ezzamtta cema103
aaoiatOD
coez-3 6a 600e0 C125)53. gee* C9/257 EG5Z512510

Sea anzqD eakhzrr coma amt.

enoczrined f*t2ED3d8ziecati crDecze ez.:330c2dbre etp cazsmo nem/. enuoziezi.
E'L3ca ezm trecito 533c43.a1z3 eesya psfmtexaD253 St3e.38 to36aec=0 efn zni.6 n6 esim 2s5-lee
8:15e 23625103. uste 003Z:e63 ;m aw! oar) ifizzda eeaaed wen d2ne3. earna) d5z-)
ezzenD 8e 0:3.
8z-335 e4tEl 8i3e0,s3 6c.s3 Ecgr05ea zz65e aca,
deeto0en,
kronis Pieris

APPENDICES

Appendix A

Select Genealogy of the Hannadige Pieris Family

Appendix B

Genealogy of the Warusahannadige (De) Soysa Family

89

91
Appendix C
Jeronis Pieris's Cash Crop Plantation Properties as listed in Ferguson's Ceylon Directories,
1871-1891
I have not been able to ascertain the methods by which A. M. and J. Ferguson and their
assistants collected their plantation statistics. There is every reason to think that they relied on
data supplied by the proprietors and/or superintendents of estates (plantations). The absence
of an income tax was no doubt helpful in that it did not create inhibitions which may have
otherwise restricted or influenced such cooperation. The danger that one has to face is the
opposite one of exaggerated figures.
Nevertheless it is evident that Ferguson's Ceylon Directories do not provide comprehensive
statistics on the plantation properties in Ceylonese hands. The total acreage listed under
such crops as coconut and cinnamon fall very far short of what is suggested by other sources.
It is also clear that several members of the Ceylonese elite did not send in returns of their properties. Fortunately Jeronis Pieris did.
I cannot vouch for the comprehensiveness of the compilation presented in this Appendix.
Human error in failing to spot his name in the lists supplied by the Directories cannot be discounted. Furthermore, the Directories were not always precise in their spelling of Ceylonese
names nor consistent in the manner in which they named a single individual. Jeronis Pieris's
properties are sometimes listed under J. Pieris; while the name "Pieris" is spelt in numerous
ways. Since Pieris is a common name there is obviously room for error in compiling a table
of ownership. It is possible that properties which belonged to another H. J. Pieris or J. Pieris
(there was another notable entrepreneur named Henry Joseph Pieris) may have been entered
in our compilation. Fortunately, the use of statistics at ten year intervals provided some
degree of correction.
The following points must be kept in mind when consulting the statistics:
In general the acreage figures must be treated as only near approximations. In the
instance of coconut and cinnamon properties they were probably rough approximations. The statistics on coconut culture in Ceylon are notoriously unreliable.
Most entries in the directory section on coconut plantations do not distinguish the
extent cultivated and imply that the whole of the property was under coconut. This
is probably incorrect in the majority of instances. In other words, the extent under
column 9 (coconut) is exaggerated.
Much the same comment applies to column 10 (cinnamon).
Where coconut and cinnamon properties were included, column 7 on "Total Acreage
Cultivated" would also be exaggerated.

92
1
Year

Name of
Estate

Name of District

Arnbokka
Baddewella
Kent
Macoolussa
Oyanwatta
Rangalkelley
1871-72

Matale West, CP
Alagala, CP
Matale West, CP
Matale West, CP
Hunnasgiriya, CP
Rangalla, CP

Ilambalepitiya
Elbedde
Hortensz
Illokagalla
Karukkua
Katukande
Katukande
Agara
Laboogolla
Malakaduwa
Maturata
Oyanwatte
Perth
(Calupahene
Watte)

12
Rubber

900
530
270
410
85
260

490
304
170
125
5
260

410
226
100
285
80

410
226
100
285
80

2455

1354

1101

1101

Colombo, WP
Dimbula, CP
Madampe, NWP
Alagala, CP
Madampe, NWP
Henaratgoda, WP

14
276
200
170
59
80

14
41
235

200
120
50

59
80

235

50

200

59
80

14 I

Henaratgoda, WP
Alagalla, CP
Kurunegala, NWP,
New Maturata, CP.
Hunnasgiriya, CP

290
68
431
276
85

290
8
60
100
331
100
176
5
80

60

176
80

290

100

-
-

800

800

800

5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Total Acre- Total
No. of Extent age
Acreage
Coco- CinnaUncul- Culti- Coffee nut
mon Tea
Proper of
Property tivated vated
ties

Panadura

1880-81
Bambalepitiya Colombo, WP
Negombo, NWP
Dikkela
Elbedde
Dimbula, CP
Gregory Hill
Hewanawatte
Marawila, NWP
Hewanawatte Nattandiya, NWP
Madampe, NWP
Hortensz
Alagala, CP
Illokgala
Madampe, NW?
Kanikkus*
Alagala, CP
Laboogalle
Kurunegala, NWP
Malkaduwa
New Maturata, CP
Maturata
Megampaha
Medamahanuwara, CP
Oya
Gonawala, WP
Mudurugama
Hunnasgiriya, CP
Oyanwatta
Perth (Calupa
Panadura, WP
henewatte)
Kurunegala, NWP
Raglan
Kurunegala, NWP
Rockcane
Kegalle, Sab'wa
Serapis
1890-91 1
a. Abandoned.

601 1529

14

75

1880
135
30
200

400

400

14

116

116

100
211

800
128
150
100

800
60
150
100

68

6543 11564

4979

4346

14

3811

2371

12 2749

605

2144

14
75
276
2000
135
40
200
170
400
68
881
276

1
120

10

170

68
481

14
75
275
1880
135
30
200

400

400
276

318
116
85a

318

85

800
228
361
100

19

1371 1371

176 100

*. This may be the same property as that noted as "Karukkua" in 1880-81.

93
Appendix D

Translation of the Memorial Presented by the Kandyan Chiefs and People Calling for
Reform of their Marriage Customs, late 18581
To His Excellency
Henry George Ward
Governor of Ceylon.
The memorial of the undersigned Chiefs and others of the Kandian Nation
Respectfully Sheweth,
That the memorialists being fully aware and feeling perfectly assured that the government
of which your Excellency is the present head has the welfare and prosperity of the Memorialists
at heart, and knowing that the rights and duties of the Memorialists are regulated and controlled by the Laws enacted by this Government, and feeling that it is the duty of the Memorialists
from time to time, to bring to the notice of the Government the defects and imperfections of
those laws whenever they are discovered, and felt to exist, humbly pray that the defective state
of the Law of Marriages as respects the people of their nation, may be taken into the consideration of your Excellency and the two Councils.
(2) That at the period when these provinces were delivered over to the British Government, it was among other stipulations agreed that the Laws of the Kandyan Nation as regards
their succession to real property and other rights continue inviolate, and accordingly the Courts
of Law established by Her Majesty in these provinces, have in all cases, save those in [ which]
special provision is made by the Legislature, conformed themselves to those Laws and Customs
in adjudicating upon the rights and liabilities of the people, owing, however, to an altered constitution, the extension of education, the spread of commerce, and the change of people's
manners, customs and mode of thinking thereby induced, new laws and usages have from time
to time been introduced, and the beneficial change which has thereby resulted is a proof of
the good that has thus been achieved.
(3) That of all the Kandyan customs or usages which are accepted or recognised by the
constituted Courts of these provinces as laws, that relating to Marriage is a grievously wrong
custom, and one exceedingly unsuited to the present state of the Memorialists. That custom,
which has the force of law, sanctions not only a plurality of wives but of husbands, and although
the contract of marriage is by most nations esteemed a highly important and solemn engagement,
the prevalence of the former custom among the Kandians shows that by them it is held a ding
of no consequence.
(4) That the religion of Buddha, which is the national faith of the Memorialists, prescribes
no rules regarding marriage. Independently of the great difficulty experienced by the Courts
1. This translation was located in D. N. A. Cey., Lot 6/2436, Braybrooke (G. A. Kandy) to Col. Sec., 8
November 1851.

94
in these provinces in arriving at correct decisions in matters of fact brought before them, the
source of much litigation, and the great barrier which now exists against a deceased person's
rightful heirs succeeding to his Estate, can be traced to the lax state of the law of Marriage, and
all judges and magistrates conversant with the business of Kandyan Courts will bear ample
testimony to the truth of this statement.
(5) That in numerous instances parents are reduced to poverty solely in consequence
of their married daughters and their issue being thrown upon them for support and
maintenance, and this, the Memorialists submit, is the clear result of the existing Law regulating the marriage contract among them, as there is nothing whatever to prevent the
husbands of married daughters discarding their wives at any moment they choose and betaking
themselves to other women in their stead.
The Memorialists therefore most humbly pray that inconsideration of these premises your
Excellency may be graciously pleased to adopt some measures whether it be the establishment
of marriage Registers or Thombos, or other efficacious regulations, whereby the causes of the
present grievous state of things may be averted.
And the Memorialists, as in duty bound, shall ever pray-

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Beyond the Ruling Class, New York: Random House.

KNOX, Robert
1911 :

An Historical Relation of Ceylon, Ryan's edn., Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons.

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98
KUMAR, Dharma.
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Land and Caste in South India, C. U. P.

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1 948 :

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1 898
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1868 :

Rice Cultivation: Its Past History and Present Condition; with suggestions for its improvement, Colombo
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LUDOWYK, E. F. C.
1966:

The Modern History of Ceylon, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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1926:

Tri Sinhale Kadaim ha Vitti Pot, Kandy: Lankapradipa Press.

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1949:

Land, Law and Custom in the Colonies, 2zd edn., 0. U. P.

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1956 :

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99
NAVULLE DHAMMANANDA (ed)

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1967 : Land Tenure in Village Ceylon: a sociological and historical study, C. U. P.

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1964:

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INDEX
Abeyasinghe, T. B. 11. 12n., 15n., 17n., 14n.,
achievemental orientation, 38-40, 72, 80;
see also . Pieri S, 11. Jeronis
Adam's Peak, 47
Addison, 26, 67
Agent hantuduruwo, 31
Alagakkonaras, 14
Alagalla estate, 42; Alagalla locality, 92
Almighty God, 27, 62, 63, 64, 73, 81, 84, 85
Alutwatta estate, 40, 66-67
Aluwihare family of Mamie, 44
Alwis, James, 3, 3n., 25, 26n., 28
Amanapoora estate, 42
Ambokka estate, I0, 92
amunam, 41, 54.
Ancien Regime, 15n.,
"ancient landmarks," 29
Anderson, Sir George, 29
Andradi, W. M. D. D., 25n.
Anglican, 27; see Church of England
Anglophile, 27, 37
Anglo-Saxon superiority, 32
animal power, see ploughing paddy fields
Anthonis Pieris Goonevarnasuriya Patterbadi Hannadige, 6
Antonio Barrett), 14n., 15
appointments to the administration, 13, 13n., 17,
25-26, 38.
Arasaratnarn, S., 16n.
aristocracy, 13-18; also see elites, Kandyan Sinhalese, chiefs and headmen
Arithmetic, 75
Arittakeevendu Perumal, 14
Arrack Godowns, Kandy, 8, 40, 64, 71, 79
arrack renters, 23n., 41-42, 64, 68
arrack rents, 8-9, 41-43, 68
Arunachalam, Sir Ponnambalam 3
ascription in elite formation, 12-18
Asiatic communism, 34
attan labour services, 33
Attygalle, D. C. G., 19
Atwell, 79
autobiographies, 3-4

Berwick, Thomas, 31 n., 34, 34 n.,

Beteille, Andre, 12 n.
beihma system of cultivation, 33
Bhuvenalca Balm VI alias Sempahap Perumal, 14
Bible, 27, 81.
Blackwood's Magazine, 26
bloodpoisoning, 6
Boake, Revd. Barcroft, 8, 28-29, 76, 79
Book of Common Prayer, 27
Boswell, 26, 63
botanical treasures, 67
Bottomore, T. B., 12 n.
Bouchouwer, Marcellus, 15
Braybrooke, Philip, 29-32, 31 n.
Britain, 8, 37, 38; also see England
British, 3-4, 8, 16 n, 18, 20, 28, 28 n., 34, 35, 35 n,
37, 38, 39, 54; early British times, 7, 20, 51 f;
opinion,28; judges, '35; settlers, 35; authorities,
40 n.; coffee planters, 36; merchants, journalists,
travellers, 3-4; records, 1-2, 14; British
administrative literature, 55; British rule, 18,
39, 51; British ruling elite, 19, 22; British India
34; British Ceylon, 1, 18, 19, 22, 25, 28; British'
Commissioner, 38; Britishness, 27; British
Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry, 44
Brougham, 26
Buddha and Buddhist, 73
buffaloes, 49-56;. 72; in paddy cultivation, 49-56,
72; buffalo population, 50, 51, 53, 54; distinction between buffaloes and neat cattle, 54-55; hiring buffaloes, 49, 54, 55; herds of, 50, 51, 54
Buller, Mr. (C. R.), 64
bullock carts, 5, 55, 70
bullocks, 55, 55 n. 72
Burghers, 25, 25 n., 26, 28 n., Burgher elite, 25
business enterprise, 5-10, 23 n., 39-43, 70, 78
Calcutta, 6 n.
Cameron, C. H., 4 n., 39
Cameron, Julia Margaret, 4 n.
Canada, 4 n.
capital, supply of, 23, 38, 39, 41, 72, 80
Capper, John, 41 n., 44
carpenters, 37 n.
cart licenses, 55 n.
cart loads, 70
caste system and castes, 12-14, 17, 17 n., 21-22,
38; caste loyalties and rivalries, 25-26; caste
headmen, 17 n.
Catholic, 6, 27
cattle, 49--56, 55 n., in paddy cultivation, 49-56,
cattle population. 49-56, 51 n., scarcity of
cattle, 49 f.; neat cattle 53, 54-55; degeneration
of, 50-51; taralam cattle, 55; import of cattle,
55 n.; cattle disease, 49, 53
Cattle Disease Commission, 51, 53, 55 n.
cattle murrain, see rinderpest
Caulfield, 29 n.
Central Highlands, 36n., 49 f., see Kandyan Highlands
Central Province, 9, 36, 36 n., 40, 42, 50, 52-53,
55 n., 92
Ceylon Blue Books, 50

Babasingho Vedarala, 40; see Babasingho Jeronis

de Soysa
Baddewella estate,
92
Badulla, 29, 36, 40 n., 52 n.
Bailey, John, 18
Baker, Samuel W., 44
Balangode Siddharta Unnanse thero, 30
Baldeaus, P., 15 n.,
Bambelepitiya (sk) estate, 92
Bandaranaike, Solomon Dias, 1
banking firms,,8-9, 43
Barnes, Sir Edward, 39
Bastiampillai, Bertram. 4 n.
Bastian, C. Don, 5 n., 20
Bastiankoralage Rodrigos of Henclata-Pamunugama,
20
Bastin, John, 18 n..
Behrens, C. B. A., 15 n.
101

102
Ceylon Civil Service, 26 n., 38; civil servants 31 n.;
also see administrators
Ceylonese, 3-4, 19, 25, 25 n., 27, 28, 37; banks,
8-9; elites, 18 f., 22-23, 37-39; planters
22 n.; society, 37; schoolboys, 25, 27
Ceylon Rothschilds, 41 n.
Ceylon Social Reform Society, 22 n.
chain reaction hypothesis, 49-56
Chapman, James, 26 n.
Cheltenham, 1I
chena, 44-45, 46, 54
Chief Justice, 30-31
chiefs and headmen, 13, 13 n., 16-18, 29 f., 38,
53-54; British policy of reducing their powers,
18; deputation of Kandyan Chiefs, 29, 32, 34,
audience with the Governor in 1834, 53
Chilaw, 2 n., 27 n.
Chiswick Collegiate School, 11
Christianity and Christians, 27, 28, 29, 39, 72, 80
Church of England, 27
cinnamon, 10, 20, 40, 42, 83, 91-92
civilizing mission, 32
class, 22, 23 n.; capitalist class, 22, 23 n.; class homogeneity, 22; class heterogeneity, 22
Clough, Revd. Benjamin, 21
coconut, 9-I0, 20, 36, 40, 42, 54, 83, 91-92
Coergu (?), 7, 70
coffee and coffee plantations, 8-10. 20, 22, 35,
36, 40-43, 48 n., 50-52, 63-64, 76, 79-80
82, 91-92; extent of coffee land, 51; European
methods of cultivation, 36; native coffee36,41,42n :
elevation of coffee gardens, 45-48, 48 n; the
coffee depression of the 1870's & 1880's, 10,43
Colebrooke, Lt. CoI. W. M. G. (i.e. William), 38-39
Colebrooke's objectives, 38 f.
Colombo, 2, 5, 7, 8, 8 n., 9, 39, 49, 52, 56, 61, 62 f
Colombo Academy, 7-8, 23 n., 24, 25 n., 29, 3.7,
43, 73 n., 74, 76, 79
Colombo District, 1, 20 n., 40
Colonial Office, 30
Colpetty, 74, 76
compulsory services, 18
contiguity of plantations and paddy fields, 45 f.
contractors, 41-42, also see trade
contractual relations, 18, 35
Coomaraswamy Mudaliyar, 3, 19
Coomaraswamy, Sir Muttu, 3 n., 4
Coomaraswamy, P., 3 n.,
Cooray, Bastian, 42, 83
Cotta, 25-26
Cotta Missionary School, 25-26
Cowasjie, Eduljie, 9 n.
Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance or Ordinance no. 12 of 1840., 44-45, 49; also see land
sales
Cuylenberg, 65
Dalada Maligawa, 6, 6 n.
David, Kenneth A., 21 n.
de Abrew, E., 26 n.
de Abrew Rajapakses of Welitara, 19
de Alwis, Albert, 26
de Alwis, Hendrick ("Harry"), 41
de Fonseka, Major E. C 23 n.
Dehiwala, 20 n.
de Livera, Frederick, 25
de Liveras, 19
de Mel, Francisco of Moratuwa, 19, 23 n.
de Mel, Jacob, 4, I 1 n.

Department of National Archives, 1, 2 n.

Deraniyagala, Ralph St. L., 4 n.
de Saram, A. J., 26 n.
de Saram, Christoffel H., 26 n.
de Saram, David Ernest, 26 n.
de Saram, F. J,, 26 n.
de Saram, John A. Henry, 26 n.
de Saram letters, 3
de Saran's, 19, 25
de Seixas, Lancarote, 15
de Silva, Catherine, 23
de Silva, C. R., 12 n., 14 n., 15 n., 21 n., 22 n.,
de Silva, D, S., 26 n.
de Silva, G. A., 26 n.
de Silva, G. P. S. H. (Haris), 2 n., 3n.
de Silva, Revd. John Simon, 4
de Silva, K. M., 2 n., 28 n., 29 n., 48 n., 51 n.
de Silva, Lindemullege Jusey, 9, 23 n.
de Silva, Miss Mane!, 10 a., 42 n.
de Silva, M. U., 2 n.
de Silva, Pedroe, 19
de Silva, S. B. D., 49 f., 49 n.
de Silva, Srian and Ratna, 4 n.
de Silva Gunaratne, Dandris, 19
de Soysa, A. C. H., 9 n.
de Soysa, Babasingho Jeronis. 7, 8, 8 n., 9, 11 n.,
23, 37 n., 40-43. 68, 76, 83
de Soysa, brothers, 7-10, 23, 40-43; managers
of their plantations, 8, 42; plantations, 40-.43
73, 79-80; business ventures, 8-9, 40-43,
65.
de Soysa, Charles Henry, 9, 11 n., 23, 23 n.,
24, 26-27, 37 n., 42-43, 42 n., 58 f.
de Soysa, E. L. F. Snr., 11, 11 n.
de Soysa, H., 43 n; see Harmanis Soysa
de Soysa, Jeronis, see Babasingho Jeronis de
Soysa,
de Soysa, "Modliar", 42 n; see Babasingho
Jeronis de Soysa
de Soysa, Susew, 7-9, 9 n., 23, 40-43
de Soysa, Warusahannadige, 5, 7-8, 10,
21, 23, 40-43, 81; from Panadura and Moratuwa,
5; Devinuwara connection, 6 n; relationship
to the Hannadige Pieris family, 5, 8-9; relationship to Harmanis Soysa's family, 9, 9 n.
de Soysa, Warusahannadige Bastian, 5
de Soysa, Warusahannadige Joseph, 5, 5 n.,
'7, 9 n.
de Soysa, 7-9, 21, 40-43
de Soysa Charitaya, 5, 5 n., 7 n., 41 a.
Devinuwara temple, 6 n.
Dewaraja, Mrs. Lorna, 13 n.
de Zilva, 26 n.
Dharmapala, Anagarika, 3 n., 33 n.
Dias, 'Harry," 26
Dias, J. C., 26 n.
Dias, Ponnahannadige Manuel of Panadura, 23 n.
Dias Abeyesinghe, Nicholas, 26
Dias Abeyesinghe, Rowland H. 4 n.
Dias Abeyesinghes of Galle, 17
Didoola (Didula) estate, 40, 82
differential erosion, 52
Digby, William, 3, 4 n., 26, 29 n., 30 n., 31 n., 32 n.
Dikkela estate, 92
Dimbula, 92
disavas, 13
Divitotavila Ratemahattnava, 51 n.
Diyatilakakanda, 41-42, 66
Diyatitaka Korale, 41, 66 n.

103
Dodanduwa, 3 n., 20n.
Dorn begaswat t a , 6
Dornhorst, Frederick, 3
draught animals, 49-56, 69; hire of, 49, 54 ;exposure
to weather, 50
Dry Zone, 49, 52
Dumbara, 40 n.
Duncan, A. H. 36 n.
Dunuwille, James Alexander, 25-26, 32 n., 36
Dunuwilles of Kandy, 19
durava, 21-22
the Dutch, 6, 16-18
Earl of Halsbury MSS, 4 n.
the Edinburgh Review, 26
educated classes, 3, 37-39
Eknelligodas of Sabaragamuwa, 19
Elbedde estate, 10, 92
elevation of coffee plantations, 45--48, 48 n.
elites, 12 f., I SE, 33, 35, 38-39 ;
traditional elites, 12f., 20, 54;
recruitment into, 14-15, 18-19.,
value-system of the traditional elite, 15, 17-18;
elites in the 19th century, 18 f;.avenues of elite
formation, 1$-19 ; national elite, 19 f.,
22-23, 33, 39; local elite, 19 I; Burgher elite,
26-27; collaborating elites, 35, 38-39;
Kandyan elite, see Kandyan Sinhalese
Ellu, 70.
Elscourt, 1 I
emancipation from cultivation of the soil, 20-21
England, 8, 9, 11, 18 n, 85-86
English education, 19, 23;24 1., 37-39,591., English
language, 10, 23 n., 24-25, 32, 35, 38-39, 62,
65, 69, 72, 77, 84; English poetry, 69; competition
for jobs, 25-26; English tutor, 23 n.; English
style teas, 37; influence of the English legal
system, 34-35
entrepreneurs, 4, 5, 7-9, 23, 23 n., 40-43
entrepreneurship, 9, 37, 39-43
estate population, 50
estates, see plantations
Europeans, and Europeans 10, 36, 36 n.. 38;
European society in Ceylon, 33; European
capital and capitalists. 38: European example
36, 38; European civilization, 93; European
witnesses, 44; European planters, 22 n., 43
Evangelical influences, 28, 29, 69, 80
The Examiner, 29
expropriation of peasant land, 44-45, 49-50
Fairholme letters, 4 n.
Fairhohne, William, 4 n., 44
Farmer, B. H., 45, 45 n.
Ferguson, A. M., 32
Ferguson, A. M. & J., 91
Ferguson, W., 51 n.
the Fergusons, 10 n., 28, 51 n.
Ferguson's Ceylon Directories, 2, 9, 36, 42, 42 II.,
43, 55 n., 91-92
Fernando, Hettiakandage Bastian, 23 n.
F,ernando, Mrs. M. A., 23 n.
Fernando, P. B., 9 n., 43 n.
Fernando. P. T. M., 12 n., 20 n.
Fernando, Sellaperumage, 43
Fernando, Sellaperumage Welmina (later Mrs.
H. Jeronis Pieris), 7
Fernando, Shelton C., 27 n., 43 n.
Fernando, S. C., & Brothers, 43 n.

Fernando, Wannacuwattewaduge Andris, 23n.

Fernando, W. J., 23 n.
Fernando, Sri Chandrasekera, Simon, 23 n.
Fonseka, Bastian 42
forest, 1,44-45, 64, 48 n., 51, 66-67,
Forrest, D. M., 43 n., 46 n.
fortunes of war, 14, 15
France, 15
freehold rights in the land, 18, 33, 34, 35
Frykenberg, Robert Eric, 2 n., 12 n., 57 n.
gabadagam, 54
Galagoda Basnaike Nilame, 36
Galle, 2 n., 4 n., 17
Carnage, M., 30 n.
gardens, 36, 54
gems, 20
ge name, 5
gentlemen, 13, 13 n., 27; Sinhalese gentleman, 36
Gibson, W. C., 29 n.
Gonawela estate, 92
Goodlands estate, 42, 42 n.
Gooneratne, Edmund Rowland, 4, 41 n.
Gooneratne, Yasmine, 24 n., 25 n., 26, 27, 28, 37
Goonewardena, K. W., 2 n., 16 n.
Gospel, 80
Government Agent, Kandy & Central Province
29-31, 50, 53
goyigarna, 13, 17, 17 n., 22, 25, 26., 54
Graham, Mr. & Mrs., 4 .n
Grandpass, 5, 6, 9 n., 19, 40, 61f.
Greek Testament, 6
Gregory MSS, 4
Gregory, Major Richard, 4 n.
Gregory, Sir William, 4 n.
Gregory Hill estate, 92
Greig, Miss Mary, 4 n.
Grenier, Sir Samuel, 4 n.
Gunaratne, Dandris de Silva, 19
Gunasekera, U. Alex, 33 n.
Gunasekera, U. D. S., 23 n.
Halangode, J. A., 3 n. 13 n., 25 n.
Hanguranketa, 8, 40--:13, 51, 66, 67, 73, 76, 80
Hannadige, 7 n.
Hannadige Pieris family, 5-II; see also Pieris
& Pieris, Hannadige Jeronis
Hantane, 48
Haputale, 43
Haragama estate, 8. 40. 41. 42, n., 76
Harispattuwa, 40 n.
Hartwell .Papers, 4 n.
Hatelle estate, 42
headmen system, 19-18, 17n,. 20-21, 26 n., 38;
also see chiefs and headmen
Henaratgoda locality, 92
Hendala-Pamuntigama, 20
henlekammiti, 1 n., 13 n.
Hettigedera Ranhamy, 26 n.
Hewaheta, 4, 42
diewanawatta estate, 92
Hewavitarana, Buddhadasa, 49 1., 49 n.
Hikkaduwa, 6
hilekamnriii, I n., 13 n.
hillcountry, favourable locality, 73
hillcountry scenery, 44, f., 66- 67
Hindu, 6, 6 n., 14
Hinidum Pattu, 20
Her Majesty's Anniversary, 37. 68, 69

104
Holy Emmanuel Church, 10 n.
Holy Spirit, 27, 28
Homagama, 40
Hortenz estate, 92
House of Commons. 1, 44
Hunasgiriya, 42 n., 48, 92
Iddamalgodas of Sabaragirouwa, 19
Ilangakoons of Weligama, 19
Illokgalla estate, 92
Illustrated London News, 26
India or Indian, 6-7, 14 f., 21, 26, 34-35, 38;
South Indian, 14, 21; North Indian, 6; Indian
origins, 6
indigenous officials, 15-16
individualism, 33, 36; also see traditional socioeconomic relations
insurrection of 1797-98, 18
irrigation works, 49
Iyer, Raghavan, 38 n.
James, John, 42
Jayasinghe, K. H., 22 n.
Jayasuriya, Mrs. Boyd (nee Francesca Pioris), 5-6
8 n., 9 n.
Jayatilleke, Frederick, 25, 26 n.
Jayatilleke, John Graham, 25, 26 n.
Jayatilleke, W., 26 n.
Jayawardena, Lal, 1, 1 n.
Jayawardene, Gustavus, 5 n., 6 n., 10 n.
Jayaweera Bandara, C. D. R. B., 20 n.
Jayawardene, Don Adrian of Grandpass, 19
Jesus, the Saviour, 84
Johnson, Samuel, 26, 67, 70; Life of Johnson, 26, 63
Julia Margaret Cameron MSS, 4 it
Kadirgamar, Sam J. C., 4 n.
Kadugannawa, 8, 42, 76, 82
Kaguwela, 36
Kaleel, Miss R., 10 n., 42 n.
Kallibokka, 4 Kalupahenewatte estate, 92
Kalutara, 2 n.
Kanapathypillai, V., 12 n., 16 n., 17 n., 21 n.
Kanatte, 7 n.
Kandian Nation, 93
Kandy, 5, 8, 9, 17, 19, 29, 36, 36 n., 40, 40 n., 42 n.,
43, 47, 52 n., 62 f.
Kandy-Colombo Road, 52
Kandyan chiefs, 13, 29-30, 32-34; deputations
of Kandyan chiefs, 29, 32, 34; memorial from,
29, 93-94; audience with the Governor in
1834, 53-54
Kandyan Highlands, 9, 41, 42, 44 f., 49-56
"Kandyan Inhabitant of the middle class," 54
Kandyan Kingdom, 6, 13 f., 17 n., 52, 54
Kandyan marriages, 28 f., 34, 69, 77, 93-94; reform
of, 29 f., 93-94; Ordinance no. 14 of 1858, 30;
Ordinance no. 13 of 1859, 31; Ordinance no. 3
of 1870, 31; degree of support for reform,
29-32; defects in the 1859 Ordinance, 31;
motives of the Kandyan reformists, 32-36,
93-94
Kandyan Period, 12-15, 12 n.
Kandyan Provinces, I n., 13 n., 17 n., 18, 20, 36-37,
41, 68 n., Kandyan country or areas, 28, 44-48,
73; also see Central Province, Central Highlands,
Kandy District and Kandyan Highlands
Kandyan rebellion of 1817-18, 18, 20

Kandyan Sinhalese, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28-36, 44,

49, 59, 72, 80, 93-94; Kandyan people,
29-32, 31 n., Kandyan elite, 18, 29-36;
headmen, 13, 13 n., 29, 53; farmers and paddy
cultivators, 54, 72; agricultural practices, 4956, 72; system of tenure, 33 n., 33-34; village
economy, 44, 49-56; village, 45; society, 33,
51; women, 72; sculpture, 73; litigation, 32,
34; families, 20, 25 n., 44; Kandyan law, 34-35
Kandy District, 4, 29, 41, 43, 52, 55, 55 n.
Kanikkus estate, 92
Kannangara, - P. D., 18 ,
kapurala, 6; also see Malhamy
Karagarnpitiya. 20 n.
kara-goi conflict, 22
karava, 6, 21-23, 21 n., 26, 28 n.
Karukkua estate, 92
Katukande Agara estate, 92
Katukande estate, 92
Kegalle District 6 n., 52, 92
Kehatepatna estate, 42 n.
Kelegama, J. B., 44 n.
Keller, Suzanne, 12 n.
Kent estate, 10
Kessinger; Tom, 57 a.
King of Kandy, 6-7
Kingdom of Kotte, 14 f., 14 n.
Kingdom of Sitawaka, 14 1., 14 n.
Kirimatiyawatte, 66 n.
Kirimetiya estate, 40, 41, 66 n.
Kirivalla, 14
Kirti Sri Rajasing,he, 6-7
Knighton, W., 44
Knox, Robert, 13, 13n., 14, 52, 52 n., 54
Kosgahakumbure Korale, 51 n.
Kotelawele, D. A., 16
Kotte, 19
Kottle estate, 40
kshatriya, 6
Kumar, Dharma, 2 n., 57 n.
Kumar, Ravinder, 2 n., 35 n., 38 n.
Kuragalla estate, 42
Kurunegala, 29, 92
Laboogolla estate, 92
Labrooy, W. J. F., 12 n., 29 n., 32 n.,
Lakriviklrana, 7 n., 9, 9 n., 27 a.
land grants and land sales, 1, 20 n., 21 n., 36, 36 a.,
' 45, 50, 66 n.,
landlessness, 44-45
large landholdings, 10, 15, 20, 36, 42, 91-92
Latin, 74, 75, 76
Lawrie, A. C., 2, 20 n., 36 n., 44, 44 n.
Layard, C. P., 29 a.
Lee, George, 4 n.
legal profession, 19, 25
Legislative Council, 1, 2, 2 n., 3 n., 30, 44 n.
lekanvniti, 1 n., 13 n., 56
Le Mesurier, C. J. R., 17 a.
Lewis, R. E., 53-55, 55 n.
Liberal programme, 34-35, 38
Lister, Mr., 79
litigation, 32-34
local influence, 20-21
London, 1-2, 19, 24 n., 85, 87
Loolecondera estate, 46-47
Lorenz, C. A., 29 n., 30 n.
Low-Country Sinhalese, 13 n., 17-18, 21, 23;
traditional rituals, 22; elite, 18; caste groups, 21

105
Lower Hewaheta, 36, 40, 40 n., 43, 52
Ludovici, Leopold, 3 n.,
Ludowyk, F. C., 21 n.
Macauley, U, 38 n.
Mackenzie, Stewart, 35
Macoolussa estate, 10, 92
Madampe, 92
"Mafia Brahma" 73
Mahaweli river, 40
Mailapitiya, 36
Malakaduwa estate, 92
Malaya, 16 n.
Malay ruling class, 16 n.
Malhamy Kapuwa, 6
manpower, see ploughing paddy fields,
manual labour, 13, 13 n., 20-21, 37
Maradana, 27 n.
Marambe, A. J. W., 14 n.
Marawila, 92
Marigold estate, 42
Mario Anthony, 6 n.
Maritime Ceylon, 15-17
maritime districts, 15-17, 18, 36, 43
Maritime Provinces, 18
market society, 18, 34-36, 38-39
marriage alliances, 19, 23
marriage practices of the Kandyans, 28-36, 72,
80, 93-94; cligai 80
Marsh, Revd. Joseph, 8, 25 n.
Martensz, 43
maruvena nilakarayo, 54 n.
Marxian, 22, 34
Matale, 29, 52 n.
Matale District, 44, 92
Matale South, 36
Matara, 6 n.
Mattagoda estate, 40, 83
Maturata, 10, 42, 71, 92
Medamahanuwara, 92
Meek, C. K., 35 n.
Megampaha Oya, 92
Mendis, Francis James, 11
Mendis, G. C., 18 n., 21 n.,
Mendis, Revd. J. G. C., 11 n.
mercenary warriors, 6, 14
Merivale, Herman, 30 n.
Metcalf, Thomas, 2 n.
Methodist missionary, 24
Michael, W. Don. 44 a.
Mill, James, 34-35, 35 a.
Mills, C. Wright, 12 n.
Mills, Lennox A., 18 a.
modern nationalism, 23
money economy, 18, 36 n., 33, 34 n.
moral and intellectual improvement, 38
Moratuwa, 5, 7, 10 a., 19, 23, 28 n., 37, 41 a.,
42 n., 49, 61, 62 f.
Morgan, Sir Richard F., 3 n., 4, 4n., 19, 26 n., 29 0,
30 n., 31
"motive machinery," 31 n.
'Mudurugama estate, 92
Muslims, 6 n.
Mutwal, 70
Nadaraja, Prof. T., 3 n., 4 n.
Nagalagam Street, Grandpass, 5
Nagore, 6 n.
malluruwa, 5.

Nanytamby, E., 9 n.
Naranghena estate, 43, 46 -47, 63
native coffee, see coffee
native products, 48 n.
Nattandiya locality, 92
Navulle Dhammananda, 4 n.
Negapatam, 6 n.
Negombo, 40, 83, 92
Nell family, 19
Nevill, Hugh, 3 n.
Newatenne estate, 4
nikkan labour services, 33
nindagam, 13 n.
Norman MSS, 4 n.
North Ceylon, 14
North Western Province, 82
Nuwara Eliya, 29, 40 a., 47, 52. n., 74
Nuwarakalawiya, 29
Obeyesekere, D. J. F. W.. 26, 26 n.
Obeyesekere, Gananath, 5 n., 13 n., 19 n., 20, 33 a.
Obeyesekeres of Talpe Pattu and Veyangoda, 19
Olcott, Col., 3 n.
Ooru Valle Road, 6
oral traditions, 5-7, 9 n., 11, 21, 43 n., 44
Ordinance, see Kandyan Mart iage Ordinance and
Waste Lands Ordinance
Ordinance no. 6 of 1847, 30 n.
Oriental scholars, 3 n.
Oyanwatte estate, 92
paddeittalewan, 14
paddy land or paddy cultivation, 21, 39, 46-47,
48, 49-56, 72; use of draught animals to plough,
49-56, 72; use of the hoe to plough, 49, 72;
forms of paddy cultivation among the Kandyans,
39, 49-56,72: weeding paddy fields (nelanawa),
39, 72; irrigation of paddy fields, 39, 72; bad
harvests due to rain, 72; transplanting, 72
Panabokke, P.B., 3 a., 25 n., 44 n.
Panabokke, Tikiri Banda
, 3, 13 n., 17 n., 25, 26
Panabokkes of Udapalata, 19
Panadura, 5-7, 9 n., 23 n., 85, 87, 92
Paranagarria Mudlyanse, 26 n.
Paranavidana, Mrs. Ellen, 6 n.
paraveni nilakarayo, 54
paraveni (prareni) possession, 33
parrah, 54
Passe, 6 n.
pasture land 44, 49, 50; circumscribed pasture land,
49-52.
peasantry, 44-48, 50; peasant landlessness and
impoverishment, 44-45; peasant population,
45, 50
Peebles, Patrick, 20 n., 21 n., 36 n., 41 n.
Peiris, Charles, 11
Peiris, James, 4, 22 n.
pelantiya, 19-20
peneplains, see differential erosion
Peradeniya estate, 43, 76
Pereira, D., 42
Perera, F., 42
Perera, Hemendra Sepala, 20
Perera, J. A., 19
Perera, J. G. J. C., 26 n.
Perera, Louis, 42
Perera, Marcellus 40, 61, 74-75, 76
Perera, M., 26 n.
Perera, Simon, 39, 61, 73 73 n. 79- 80
Perera, S. C., 40, 61,64, 68, 70, 78,84

106
Peries, Merlin, 74 n.
Perth estate, 92
Pieris, Annie, 11
Pieris, Ardris (i.e. H. Hendrick Jnr.), 5-9
Pieris brothers, 8 n.
Pieris, Caroline Francisca (Mrs. Jeronis Pieris nee
de Soysa), 10-11, 40
Pieris, Caroline Lucille, 11
Pieris, Emily Hortensz, II
Pieris, Engeltina, 7, 11, n., 85-87
Pieris, Mrs. Francesca, 5
Pieris, Francisca, 5
Pieris, George Theobald, 11
Pieris, Hannadige Daniel 5
Pieris, Hannadige Hendrick Snr. 5-.-6
Pieris, Hannadige Hendrick Jar., 5-6 7 n.
Pieris, Hannadige Jeronis, 5 f., 22-23, 24-.28,
36, 37..-43, 49, 51, 52-54, 57, 61 f., his education, 7-8, his career, 7-11, 22-23; his mother
7, 11, 69, 83, 85-87; his grandparents, 27,
77, 83; his children, 11, 85; his schoolfellows,
76; last wilt, 11; injury to arm, 62; urban properties, 9, 27 n; his plantations, 9-10, 91-92;
arrack rents, 9, 68; his trading interests, 7,
8-10, 68, 70, 78; mercantile firm, 9; banking
house, 8-9, 9 n; hill-trek, 66-67; visit to
U. K. and travels in Scotland, 85-87; on
friends and friendship, 43-44, 79, 81, 84;
attitude to death, 27, 81, 83-84; material goods
and wellbeing,27; emphasis on study and learning, 24-25,62-65,69--70,72,75-76, 78; schools
and schooling, 24-25, 26, 62-65, 69, 70, 72,
75-76, 83-84, books; 26-27, 63-64, 67-70,
75-76; correctness in penmanship, 24, 69, 72,
77; Anglo-phile and Western orientations,
24-28, 37-39, 62 f; emphasis on industry,
24-25, 39, 40, 62-64, 72,84; gathering capital,
39, 69, 73, 81, 79-80, 82-83; achievemental
attitudes, 24-25, 39-40, 69, 76, 80; relationship with the de Soysa brothers, 8-9, 76, 81,
83; admiration for Boake, 28, 79; attitude
towards Kandyan marriage practices, 28, 69,
80; on marriage, 39-40, 73-75; religion,
27, see also Almighty God
Pieris, Harold, 9 n
Pieris, Harry, 7 n., 8 n,
Pieris, Mrs' Hendrick Jnr., 7 n.
Pieris, Henry A., 7 n., 11
Pieris, H. J. letters, 7
Pieris, Lambert Louis, 11
Pieris, Lankeswara S. D., 37 n.
Pieris, Louis, 7, 9, 24, 26, 27, 37, 43, 61, 64, 65,
68-72, 75, 77-78, 80, 83-84
Pieris, L. C. de S., 5, 6 n.
Pieris, L. D. Asoka, 5, 6 n.
L. E 0, -37 n.
Pieris, L. H. S., 37 n.
PieriS, Marcus, 5, 7 n., 9 n.
Pieris, P. E., 3 n., 4 n., 26 n., 41 n.,
Pieris, Ralph, 2, 12 n., 13 n., 14, 15n., 17 n., 28 n.,
33 n., 35 n., 44 n.
Pieris, Richard Steuart, 10 n., II, 85-87
Pieris will case, 11
pioneer rubber planter, 10
plantations, 8-10, 36, 41-42, 44-48, 49, 66-.67,
66 n., 76, 79, 82, 91-92
ploughing paddy fields, 49-51; animal power in.
49-56; use of manure, 49
plumbago, 1, 20; mineowners, 23 n.

policy-formulation, 1-2, 57
policy-impact, 2 57
policy-implementation, 2, 57
polyandry, see marriage practices of Kandyans
Ponnambalam Mudaliyar, 3
Portuguese, 14 n., 14 f.
postal service, 71, 78
pre-British times, 16-17, 51, 55
pre-plantation period, 51 f.
press-copying machine, 4
private land market, 44-45, 50
Protestantism, 25
Psalms, 27, 91
publications to diffuse knowledge, 38
radala, pl. radolan, 13-14
Raghavan, M. D., 6 n.
Raglan estate, 92
Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka, 14, 16-17
Rarnanathan, Sir Ponnambalam, 3
the Rambler, 26, 67, 70
Ramboda Pass, 48
Rambukkana, 20 n.
Ranasinghe, V. 0., 42 n.
Rangalkelley estate, 92
Ratmateya estate, 40, 63. see Kirimetiya
rebellion of 1848, 29
redemption of the paddy tax, 36 n
regional differentiation, 52
regression in technology, 49
Rhys-Davids, T. W., 3 n., 50-51
rinderpest, 49, 53
road and railway connections, 55
Roberts, Michael, 2 n., 20 n., 21 n., 22 n., 23 n...
36 n., 48 n., 51 n., 52 n.,
Robertson, Mr. & Mrs., 85, 87
Robinson, Marguerite, 33 n.
Rockcane estate, 92
Rodiya, 73
Roff, William, 16 n.
Rogers, Frederic (Lord Blachford), 30 n.
Roman-Dutch law, 35
Roosrnale-Cocq, A. H., 4 n.
Rowe, W. C. (Chief Justice), 30 n., 31
Royal College, 26 n.
rubber, 10-11, 91-92
rural population, 50
Russell, H. S. 0., 50, 50 n., 55
Rutnam, James T., 3 n
Ryan, Bryce, 21 n.
Sabaragamuwa, 19, 52 n., 53, 55
St Thomas' College, 26 n., 37
satagama, 21-22
Salgado, Johannes, 58, 68, 76, 83
Salgado, J., 83
Samaranayake, 6
Samaraweera, Vijaya, 12 n., 17 n.,
Sannadhige, 7 n.
San Sebastian (in Colombo), 8
Sanskrit, 73
Santiago, 6 n.
Sarkar and Tambiah, 44 n., 45 n.
Saunders, Frank, 31 n.
Savory Mootoo, 6 n.,
schoolmasters, 17 n.
Schreuder (Governor). 17
Scoffield,79
scorched earth policy, 52

107

Scriptures, 27
Seenigama, 6
self-sufficient village communities, 34-35, 35 rt.
Senanayake, Don Spates, 23 n.
Senarat, 15
Senarat Mudalige Pereras, 19
Seneviratne, A. C., 3 n.
Seneviratne, H. 9,L.6 n., 85 n.
Serapis estate, 2
service tenants, 54
servility to headmen, 38
Sessional Paper VI of 1908, 5
Sharpe, W. E. T., 31 n.
shipowner, 6
Silakkhanda thero of Dodanduwa, 3 a.
Silva, Carolis, 42
Silva, N. D. P., 1, 23 n.
Silva, P. H. Abraham, 20
Simms, Col. W. H., 48 n.
Singer, Marshall R., 12 n.
Sinhalese, 14-15, 23, 26, 28, 36 n., 37, 45; royal
house, 14; kings, 14, 16; chiefs, 17; officialdom,
16; families, 7, 17, 19, 23; headmen and
cattle-owners, 51; society, 25; kinship, 28;
regions, 21; also see Low Country Sinhalese,
Kandyan Sinhalese, Sinhalese land, and traditional Sinhalese society
Sinhalese land tenure, 12, 33-34, 36
Sinhalase language, 5 n., 10, 37, 47, 77
Skinner, Thomas, 44
social mobility, 13-17, 18-19, 22-23
Somaratne, G. P. V., 14, 14 n.,
sources, 1-4, 5-7, 21, 42, 42 n., 48, 56, 57; diaries,
1, 2, 4, 49 n.; kachcheri records, 1-2, 21 n,
56; district court records, 2; non-official
2 f; letters, 3-4; autobiographies, 3; Church
records, 5 n. missionary archives, 2; private
correspondence, 2-4, 44; temple records,
2-3; also see oral traditions and Ferguson's
Ceylon Directories
Southern Province, 19, 20
Soysa, Arnold Cornelius, 9 n.
Soysa, A. C. H., 9 n.
Soysa, Elliot, 9 n.
Soysa, George Francis, 9 n.
Soysa, Harmanis, 9, 9 n., 43, 64, 70
Soysa, H. J. A. J., 9 n.
Soysa, J., 42 n.
Soysa, J. J., 9 n.
Soysa, Lewis, 10
Soysa, Migel, 42, 43, 66-67
Soysa, M., 32, 66-67
Soysa, Susew, see de Soysa
Soysa, S., 43
Soysa, Mrs, S. (nee Engeltina Pieris), 85-87
Soysa, Warusahannadige Caroline Francisca (Mrs.
Jeronis Pieris), 10, 40
the Spectator, 26, 68, 70
Sri Chandrasekera, Shanthi, 8 n.
Stanmore MSS, 4; Gordon, Sir Arthur, 4 n.
Statesman, 26
statistical methodology, 57
Stokes, Eric, 38 n.
stratification, 12, 21-22, 54
survey plans, 45, 48
Suryasena, Deva, 4 n.
sweet potatoes 40, 80
Sweezy, Paul M., 12n.

Talpe Pattu, 19
Tambiah, S. J., 28 it
Tamils, 14, 18, 21, 37; Tamil traditional elite.
18; Ceylon Tamils, 21
Tangalle, 2 n.
the Tatler, 26, 68
Taylor, James, 4 n., 43 n., 44 f; James Taylor
MSS, 4 n.
Taylor Michael, 43 n., 37 n.,
temples; 2-3, 20n., 37n., 54; correspondence
re temple lands, 1 n; records and letters, 3
Tennent, J. E., 44
thombo-keepers, 17 n.s
thombos, 22 n.
thanhavol, 21 n.
tobacco trading, 5
trade, 5-9, 40-43, 70, 78; coastal trade; 6; trading
5, 8, 40-43, 70, 78; firewood contracts, 41;
transport contracts, 5, 7, 41; trade in rice, 7,
41, 70; hoop iron, 78; import-export trade,
6; tobacco trade, 5
traditional aristocracy or ttadirional elites, 12-18
20, 36, 54; also see elites
traditional ethos, alteration of, 34-36, 38 f.
traditional politico-economic structure, 15, 16
traditional society, 12--13, 20-21, 33--34, 38--39, 54
traditional socio-economic relations, 33-34, 36,
54; corporate practices, 33; individualist ideology, 33, 36; self-sufficiency, 34-35, 35 n;
Asiatic communism, 34; transfers of land, 33;
socio-centric features, 33; kaivas or labour
teams, 33; nikkan and attan, 33
Trevelyan, 26
Trincomalee, 6 n.
Tumpane, 40 n.
Tuticorin, 6 n.
twentieth-century field evidence, 44-45
Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon, 9 n., 10 n,.
11 n., 20 n., 26 n.
Tytler, (Robert), 80
Udakinda Korale, 51 n.
Udapalata, 10, 40 n.
Udawatta estate, 40, 67
Udunuwara, 36, 40 n.
undivided proprietorship, 33--44
urban 4, 37
Utilitarian ideas, 34-35, 38
Uttar Pradesh, 2 n.
Uva, 43; also see Badulla
value-system, 15, 17-18, 22, 25, 24, 36, 37-39
Vandendriesen, Ian H., 44 n.
Van Falck, 17
Van Neil, Robert, 20 n.
Veddihille Kadulla estate, 79
veiled mortgages, 33
vernacular, 24 n., also see Sinhalese
Veyangoda, 19
Victorian, 25, 27
viharagam, 54,
Vijay Vikram, 6
village ecology, 44
village economy, 47, 56
Villiers, Sir T., 8 n.
Vincent, F. D'A., 48 n., 50-51
Vishnu, 70
Vishnu Devale, 6

108
visual evidence, 44 f; 48 n., 66-67
vitt! pot, 14
Wadia, D. N., 52 n.
Wainwright, M. D., 4 n.
Wall iwallea, 66n.
Ward, Sir Henry George, 29-32, 80, 93
Waskaduwa, 3 n.; 19
Waskaduwe Subhuti thero, 3 n.
waste lands, 1, 44 f., 49-56
Waste Lands Ordinances, 44-45, 49
watering machine, 80
weather in Kandy, 64, 70, 72,, 76-77, 79-80, 82
Wegodapola Ratemahatmaya, 36
Weligama, 19
Wel i tara, 19

Western forms of administration, 18

Westernization, 23, 24 f., 37 f.,
Western Province, 52 n., 92
Wet Zone, 49, 52, 55
Wevalenna estate, 42 n.
Wickrema, Mildred, 4 n.
Wickremasekera, S. B. W., 33 n.
Wilson's Bungalow, 51 n.
Wolfendhal Church, 7
Woolf, Leonard, 1; his diaries, 1, 49 n.
Wright, Arnold, see Twentieth Century Impressions
Wright, W. H.; 43., 43 n., 76, 84.
Wright, W. Henry, 43 n., 76, 84
Yakkuranguve, 41

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

about this monograph

Printed within these covers are 23 letters written by Hannadig; Jeronis Pieris
in the period 1853-1856 and another letter of his, in Sinhala, sent from Britain
in the year 1877. Jeronis Pieris (1829-1894) was from a merchant family with
roots in Colombo and N46ratuwa and with marriage and business connections with the Warusakannadige de Soysas of Panadura and Moratuwa.
Educated at the Colombo Academy, he joined Jeronis and Susew de Soysa
as an executive and aide in their entrepreneurial activities in the Kandyan
highlands. His talents led him to an independent fortune in a little while
and he was one of the outstanding entrepreneurs and property owners (both
urban land and plantations) of the late 19th century; so much so, that he was
sponsored for nomination to the Legislative Council in 1888. Merchant and
arrack renter, planter and plantation owner, philanthropist and man of letters,
his career provides fascinating sidelights on the social and economic history
of British Ceylon. The editor and author, therefore, does not confine himself
to a biography of the Hannadigi Pierises and Warusahannadige de Soysgs.
He analyses or touches on several facets of colonial history: the foundations
of social dominance within indigenous society in pre-British times, the
processes of elite formation in the nineteenth century; the entrepreneurial
spirit; the adoption of Western mores; the role of indigenous elites as
supports for colonial power; the events leading to the Kandyan Marriage
Ordinance of 1859; an aspect pertaining to the conflict for land between
coffee planters and villagers in the Kandyan hill country; and the question
whether the intrusion of plantations had a disastrous impact on the cattle
population, and thereby on paddy cultivation, in the Kandyan districts.
Attention is also devoted to the various types of source material available
to the historians of 19th century Lanka.
The description is illustrated by 16 photographs, 2 genealogical charts, one
map of the Hanguranketa-Kandy locality, and an appendix reproducing
a petition of some Kandyan chiefs regarding the reform of their marriage
practices.

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H. W. CAVE & CO. LTD.,

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Colombo
Sri Lanka.

Cover designed and printed by H. W. Cave & Co., Ltd. Colombo-I.