Wahumpura

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Also Hakuru. A significant Sri Lankan caste predominatly from the Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces. The traditional occupation of this caste was the cultivation of rice paddy. In addition they were the confectioners of Sri Lanka’s past.

[edit] History

As with most other occupational castes in Sri Lanka, the traditional occupation of this caste too was agriculture under Sri Lanka’s feudal land tenure system. In addition, they were the confectioners of Sri Lanka’s past. They provided jaggery, a sweet confection made from palm sap, to their landlord as and when required by custom. Ratnapura a Sri Lankan town with a large Wahumpura population derives its name from the Portuguese word for such traditional candy Rapadura.

The community claims descent from the attendants of Mahinda, the son of the Indian emperor Ashoka, who came to Sri Lanka as a Buddhist missionary in the third century B.C. This community has escaped the British period consolidation of several cultivator communities as one Govigama caste and exists as an independent, economically and politically influential caste.

The late British period saw the proliferation of native headmen and a Mudaliyars class drawn from natives who were most likely to serve the British masters with utmost loyalty. (Mudaliyar is a South Indian and Tamil name for ‘first’ and a person endowed with wealth.) This class resembled English country squires, complete with large land grants by the British, residences of unprecedented scale (Referred to by the Tamil word Walauu or Walawoo) and British granted native titles.

The British Governor Gordon (1883 – 1890) and his predecessors effectively used divide and rule policies and created caste animosity among the native elite and finally confined all Native Headmen appointments only to the Govigama caste. The British Government Agent Layard was advocating this as an effective policy for easy governance. Mahamudliar Louis De Saram’s family of Dutch and Malay ancestry had Sinhalised and Givigamised itself during the Dutch period and had a strong network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. This “Govigama” Anglican Christian network expanded further with the preponderance of native headmen as Mudaliyars, Korales and Vidanes from the Buddhist Govigama section of the community.

The creation of the above Mudaliyar class by the British in the 19th century, it’s restriction only to the Govigama caste, production of spurious caste hierarchy lists by this class and changes to the land tenure system, resulted in this caste too being placed at the lower end of the hierarchy during this period. Although contrary to history, some modern Govigama historians even go to the extent to now suggest that this caste was traditionally bound to serve the Govi caste.

The influential Mudaliyar class attempted to keep this caste and all other Sri Lankan castes out of colonial appointments. They also used all possible means to economically and socially marginalise and subjugate all other communities. The oppression by the Mudaliars and connected headmen extended to demanding subservience, service, appropriation of cultivation rights and even restrictions on the type of personal names that could be used by this community.

Despite the above setbacks, several members of this caste emerged as successful entrepreneurs in the British colonial market economy and were recognised as members of the local elite. They were involved in the freedom movement, early political reforms and have an influential say in modern Sri Lankan politics.

[edit] A few prominent members of the community

• Gongalegoda Banda the freedom fighter
• The late Cyril Mathew (An extremely powerful Minister in the J. R. Jayewardene government)
• Former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka [1]H. N. S. Karunatillake