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| Sunday, 23 May 2004 |
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The story of the 'plundered land' by Carol Aloysius
Once upon a time the drab and highly commercialised city of Colombo was a 'Green City'. Each of its zones resembled a mini village, consisting of cinnamon or coconut plantations through which narrow cart roads ran. Kollupitiya was no exception. "In those days Kollupitiya was known as Baradeniya. It was anurban village with some beautiful villas in gardens shaded by trees. The roads which ran through fertile cinnamon and coconut gardens were narrow cart-tracks. The people were just a few . There was a small market place where people could buy and sell. Bullock carts, horse drawn carriages and rickshaws were there to give that simple place an air of complexity". So writes H. M. Mervyn Herath, whose recently published book Colonial Kollupitiya and its Environs dips into a past when our Colonial masters , the Portuguese, Dutch and the British reigned supreme, and Lankan society was largely feudal. During that nostalgic journey into the past, the writer also reveals a host of little known facts and anecdotes that add to the historical importance of his book. Take the name 'Kollupitiya'. How many of us know for instance that 'Kollupitiya' traces its name to a rebellion that took place in Kandy in the late seventeenth century?, And that it was named after a Kandyan chief who had unsuccessfully sought to de-throne the last king of Kandy? Here is how it all began,says the author. The year was 1664 and the king was Rajasinghe II whose cruel acts embittered by his subjects. Three Kandyan chiefs sought to slay the king and place his 12-year-old son on the throne instead. One of the conspirators was Udanuwara Ambanwela Appuhamy. When the plot failed, the king had two of the rebel leaders beheaded. However, instead of executing Abanwela Appuhamy, the most feared of the rebels, he handed him over to the Dutch to undergo what he thought would be a more brutal torture . Instead the Dutch set him free. Ambanwela Appuhamy soon built up a good relationship with the Dutch who gave him a large plot of land by the sea where he grew a coconut plantation. The former Kandyan chief then took the Dutch name of Van Ry-cloff and soon his expanding coconut plantation rolled over the ancestral farms of the natives who dared not complain.They could only retaliate by calling the plantation Kolla-ke-pitiya meaning "Plundered land". "Today, that part of Kollupitiya where the present St Michael's church and school now stand was and still continues to be known as Polwatte", Herath states. The origin
Equally interesting is the origin of the city of Colombo itself. According to the author," Colombo sprang up on a small piece of highland at the coastal edge of a wild , waterlogged marsh. When it became necessary to expand it the marsh was filled up and the jungle cleared". How did the name Colombo originate? "The Sinhalese had two names for Colombo - Kolon Tota and Kola Amba. Kola Amba because of a huge mango tree which had only leaves but bore no fruit. That tree was a prominent landmark that stood for many generations off Commissariat Street, Fort. Originally a military fort," it was the Portuguese followed by the Dutch and the British who made Colombo the capital city, it now is. The author's observations and comments on the people who once lived in Kollupitiya and its environs are equally interesting and revealing. The 'dhoby' community for example lived on the side of the Galle Face where the land slopes down to the Beira Lake, and were employed as official washermen mostly to the Colonial masters. "When the land was required for the new Military Hospital, the dhobies were given land for their housing and "drying ground" across the lake in the land known as Polwatte. The 'dhobies' settled down there and did their washing (mostly for the British) and carried their customers' clothes across the lake to the fort by canoe, even using donkeys to carry their bundles", he states. He also recalls the jockeys who occupied the first floor of St. Michael's building, close to the horse stables and riding school which were down Clifford Road. According to Herath, at least two well-known persons of literary fame are said to have lived at Kollupitiya. One was Gajaman Nona, the southern poetess who was born at Kollupitiya in 1758 and christened Dona Esabella Peruman Koraneliya at the Milagiriya church. The other was Andare who it is said, after an argument with the students of St Anthony's School at the time situated on the sea side of Kollupitiya near the present British High commission, and annoyed by the treatment given to him had said, "Kollupitiya Kollo thamai Mogan Kollo", calling Kollupitiya 'Kolan Petiya'. One of Colombo's most prominent landmarks, the Beira Lake was once known as the Colombo Lake and was originally an extensive reach of flood water from the Kelani Ganga." The Lake was called 'Lagoon' by the Portuguese, a sheet of water described as being full of frightful alligators and crocodiles. Hence the name Kayman's Gate for a nearby street", notes the author. We also learn that the Cargills Department store, another prominent landmark, was once the temporary residence of the first British governor North. Herath's comprehensive account covers practically most of the streets, lanes, houses and other buildings in Kollupitiya and its environs, including market places, burial grounds, churches , hospitals, parks, religious buildings, schools, museum and art galleries. The author has evidently spent a great deal of time and effort on researching his facts. Reading his book is like going through the pages of a history book with a difference; the writing is subjective and nostalgic written by a person has strong sentiments for his home town. The real value The real value of the book is that it does not confine itself to describing only Kollupitiya, but goes beyond to encompass its immediate environs, Slave island, Kotahena, Pettah and Fort. Here too his writing is enlivened with anecdotes and little known facts. According to the author Slave Island was originally a mud village containing a bazaar, an excellent parade grounds and "two gentlemen's villas". Kew Road connected Slave Island with the fort by bridges and causeways. It was to Slave Island that the Portuguese brought the Kaffir population as workmen from Goa in 1600. And it was here that the first insurrection by the Kaffirs took place against their employers. When the insurrection was suppressed all the slaves were taken along a narrow passage through the ramparts and ferried across the Beira lake to a jagged peninsular called IJE meaning 'Island' specially built for them. The Dutch too kept their slave in this island to prevent them from escaping. Did you know that the last king of Kandy after being captured by the British was temporarily detained in an old Dutch building before being sent to India on the very spot that the sky high buildings of Ceylinco House stands today? A tiny concrete cubicle in which a man can barely sit, now displayed in the courtyard off the foyer of Ceylinco House is believed to have been the cell where Sri Wickramarajasinghe was imprisoned. Or that the Dutch built a house known as the Government House occupied by the last Dutch governor on the very spot that the President's House now stands? Popular landmark Galle Face Green, another popular landmark in Kollupitiya, was only a small part of what was once a large undulating coastal swamp?. "It was the British who developed it into a leisure ground." - "A place for colonial ladies and gentlemen to unfold their grace and haughtiness, a place for soldiers on horseback to show off their latest accoutrements, a scene for flirtation and gossip, political and social", writes the author. "At first cricket, football and polo were played on the Green; later horse racing", Herath states. The sea side walk on the Galle Face Green was built in 1859 "in the interests of ladies and children of Colombo," states a plaque still found on a pillar that stands mid-way besides the walk. The origins of important religious places in and around Kollupitiya are no less interesting. The "Devatagaha Mosque" - at Town Hall, Cinnamon Gardens, we learn was once the resting place of a Muslim saint Seyyadina As-sheik Usman Ibn Abdur Rahaman al siddique who came from Arafat, Saudi Arabia. He was a direct descendent of the first Calip after the passing away of the Holy Prophet. The grave of the saint was discovered in 1802 by a Moor residing in Maradana who said that the location was given him in a dream. The name of the mosque is derived from a Davata tree which grew near the grave. Liberally illustrated with old photos and sketches , Colonial Kollupitiya and its environs is a book that brings back a serene era of a bygone era. Written simply it makes a good read for both young and old alike. |
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