An economic program for Jaffna :

Portugueze:

First invaders to realise strategic importance

by Padma EDIRISINGHE

It is almost a tragic indictment on our recent history that the terrain the Sandhesha poets dubbed so musically as Yapa Patuna got transformed into Hell's own domain ignited by the bright orange flames of war during the last 27 plus years. Now that the flames are doused by capable statesmanship, attention is being increasing focused on to tap and develop its economic potentialities.

Accessible

The credit for monitoring a concerted effort to tap the resources in the Northern peninsula could go to the Dutch going by the "Memoir of Librecht Hooreman", Commander of Jaffna 1748 which as been rendered accessible for readers like us by its translation from Dutch to English by Dr. K.D. Paranavithana.

According to the valuable introduction written to this memoir by this learned translator-cum-author, the strategic and economic importance of Jaffna had first been realised by the Portuguese but they were too distracted by politics in the South to pursue a well-directed policy. The Dutch were more methodical especially when it came to bolstering their income.

Here is a quotation in the introduction from the inscription on the map "Cantino PLanisphere" said to be drawn in 1502.

"Here (in the North) grows the cinnamon and many kinds of spices and here they fish for the pearls and seed pearls.

The people of this island are idolaters and they trade with Calicut".According to the author the initial focus had first been drawn to Mannar and then gone onto encompass Jaffna and its opposite coast as one potential trading unit.

He goes on, "As indicated in Dourado's map (produced in 1568) the annexation of the island of Manner to the Portuguese crown enhanced the value of the economic resources, of the Pearl banks lying between Mannar and Tuticorin.

The Chilaw-Cape Comorin-Palk Strait triangle rapidly gained in importance in regional trade. This triangle was strategically advantageous for them to control the transit route between the Kandyan kingdom and Madurai, and Tanjore in South India."

The realisation that the location of Jaffna was strategically vital to them to be in command of the navigation of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Straits had led them to build up a new trade zone.

There were two channels, the first, the Pamban channel that separated Rameswaram from the mainland and was considered hazardous and the second channel, a deeper one starting in Mannar and going on to Jaffna and further to Bengal and SE Asian destinations as an alternative to sailing round the island.

Urathota in Sri Lanka chronicles (Uraturrai) was called Cais dos elefantes or the elephants Quay which was then the busiest port for exporting elephants.

Powerful monarch

A brief sketch of the history of Jaffna of pre-British times would be given here to provide more clarity to the topic, In course of the long trail of Lanka's history, Jaffna came to be ruled by a line of independent rulers (the Dutch called them Malabars). However, whenever a powerful monarch emerged in the South he claimed sovereignty over the whole island irrespective of dissidents. The last monarch to do so was Parakramabahu the Sixth of Sri J'Pura, Kotte who not only claimed sovereignty but sent Sapumal Kumara to be the Yuvaraj or deputy ruler of Yapa patuna. Chaos set in after his reign, (the usual aftermath of powerful reigns), the advent of the Portuguese adding to the muddle.

Tottering monarchy

Around 1582 Jaffna became a Portuguese tributary with an annual delivery of ten elephants. Later in 1619 the tottering monarchy was abolished and the kingdom was absorbed into the Portuguese EStado da India or the Asian Empire.

At this time its total revenue was only one fourth of that of the kingdom of Kotte. With Dutch conquest of the littoral the peninsula passed on to Dutch hands in 1658. During a good part of Dutch rule Rajasinghe II ruled in Kandy and he claimed sovereignty over the Jaffna peninsula though the Dutch actually were the real administrators.

Actually Jaffna became one of the three large divisions of Dutch territory, namely Colombo, Galle and Jaffna.

The Dutch carved five divisions in the Jaffna commandment. ie. Wademonrachchi, Timmoratchi, Patchelpalle, Weligamoa and a fifth comprising a ring of islands, slight-habited and five inhabited.

They were mostly baptised under Dutch town names as Delft and Rotterdam. The Dutch Fort was run as a separate unit while the Vanni too was appended as a separate unit yet paying tribute to the Company.

Economic upsurge

The area was Elephant-Rich. The development of maritime trade and formation of one trade zone with the opposite coast stretching from Negappattinam down to Cape Comorin and on the island's coastline from Puttalam to Jaffna had been an additional factor that led to the contemporary economic upsurge. Meantime Vanni slowly developed as the "brood kamar" or the "rice chamber" for the peninsula.

In Hooreman's time, the Jaffna commandment had been a rich bed of revenue. The main economic activities listed are given here:

A. Encouragement of agriculture with a focus on cash crops. Labourers had been brought in from outside to work. This is described as a new phenomenon in the economy of Jaffna that was continued thereafter, B. Trade in elephants C. Pearl fisheries that brought in a lucrative income and attracted foreign traders in hundreds.

Ancillary activities were the breeding of horses, growth of dye-roots and palmyrah products industry. As for the breeding of horses all kinds of horses had been brought to the little islands off the North coast. Island of Delft itself had accommodated upto 500 foals.

In the islands of Hoorn and Eukhijezn stud farms had been maintained after importing Persian horses. Governor Imhoff had been particularly interested in the horse trade.

Dye roots were mostly produced in Carradiva followed by Delft and Vanni. Various other plants that could produce dyes were experimented and dye industry encouraged.

The Palm tree was exploited fully. Actually palm tree considered a blessing in the North held the parallel place of the coconut tree in the South. Its by products out do even that of the coconut tree.

Best blessings

Ola from the palm leaves enriched the world of letters. Other by products were coir, roots, palm oil, the fruit for food, leaves for mats, juice for making jaggery, timber for making rafts and lathes and repair of company vessels and making gun carriages, thus contributing to military equipment too. Palm charcoal was a MUST in smiths forgeries.

These by-products had been exported to India too, to the coasts of Coromandal and Tondy, a brisk trade ensuing with vessels plying between Pt. Pedro, Velvattithurai and Talleimannar and ports on India's Southern coast.

Hooreman addresses his memoir to his successor and ends it with this piece, "I further wish your Honour the best blessings of the Almighty for a desirable and prosperous continuation of affairs in the administration of this umbrageous Commandment which is so profitable to the Company".

Just to mitigate the heaviness of this essay here are some observations some 400 years ago on the behaviour of the Jaffna populace, just a part and parcel of the general populace of the island. These observations are not made by Hooreman but by two other Dutch governors in their memories.

"There had existed a bitter and irreconcilable hated between two castes ie. the Bellale and Madappaly castes." Hence it had been a rule never to elevate one caste above the other. Only the gods know how that was done.

Here is another on the census. The Dutch were great census - takers through out their empire but were foiled when it came to Jaffna.

"Population of Jaffna had been around 120,000 in 1665 and along with Mannar about 1,692,909. Anyway it could be more as some were hiding in order to escape from taxes and servitude" (From the memoir of Hendrick Zwarrdecroon) and here is another piece from the same memoir.

"The people of Jaffna were in the habit of sending numerous petitions on varied subjects. They were more libels than petitions... without leaving any clue to discover the author".

What is tragic here is that those who helped in drafting these anonymous petitions had been school masters due to the prevailing illiteracy of the general masses.

Value education seems to have been expunged from the teacher education curriculum in those far flung days.