Vidiya Bandara's 'royal house'

The contents in the paper that I came across accidentally have been penned by no less a person than the well-known patriot E.W. Perera and presented at a Royal Asiatic Society (RAS)session. Vidiya Bandara, today stands tall and belligerent, with sword unsheathed before the shopping arcade of Rajagiriya. Though manifesting no "big" curiosity about this Bandara, I knew however that he had played a vibrant role in the turbulent politics of the Kotte period.

But this passage in the paper intrigued me. What happened to the descendants of our royalty and the bigwigs who served them. There could have been hundreds of them, now gone into total oblivion yet spangling the island with a significant historicity. Here I was having one peep via this long sentence.

"Beatrice Evelyn Cooray Rajakaruna Wijesundara Ranmuka Bandara Seneviratne Bulathsnghala married Don Henry Kotelawala. She hailed from the Royal House of Vidiya Bandara and was a direct descendant of Wijepala, who was the son of Samudra Devi, daughter of Bhuvanekabahu VII, King of Kotte. "My only interest in that passage was that it connects a family that lived in the Kotte period.

The Bulathsinghala family, as it came to be called, held high office under the kings of Kotte turning Christian when king Dharmapala himself converted. The family had gone on holding high posts and both in the Portuguese and Dutch period the males had held high offices as Mudaliyar and Treasurer. According to the paper, Beatrice's brothers carried the names such as Benjamin Simon, Bertram Charles, Bernard David and Bernard Daniel. The names, no doubt, were conferred under the portals of the Catholic church.

Buddhism

At a certain point, however, the family unlike many a family who had aped king Dharmapala and converted thirsting for titles and land, had reverted to Buddhism.

Anyway this is no choornika or ode sung to bolster the Bulathsinghala family completely unknown to me but a fillip in my search.

To come back to that initial point, our monarchy is dead. Some would say, better dead and gone for the last kings hailed from another country. Except for Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe, all the other three Nayakkar kings were Buddhists only in name. They applied ash on their foreheads, an alien habit practised in Indian courts and infuriated senior Bhikkhus who attended the royal assemblies. King Kirthi Sri himself had entered the Courts with a generous daubing of the 'Holy ashes' that provoked Ven. Velivita Sri Saranankara who had blurted out that "Only cats daub ashes as they frolic in the fireplace (libbokke)". That had put an end to the royal practice.

Anyway the monarchy of Lanka that had an inglorious end is sure. It is unlikely to come back. But why should the aristocracy or the "Noblesse" too suffer a death along with the monarchy? Some may say that it is like throwing out the baby with the bath water!

Descendants

A good part of our history is thrown out along with this disregard. Recently of course some interest is shown by descendants of some families who are the best equipped to research their family history and heir to certain family documents. Some years ago too there was a tide in this direction that got subsided in a fit of booths. Are we inclined to carry this game of snubbing such aspirants too far? What a lot of rich history we are overlooking by this attitude ! Not only the very high born families but a good number of families all over the island carry a veritable load of history.

Why should not they be encouraged to record them? At least a school project along the lines would encourage the children to keep a record. If documents , however weather-beaten are available with those families to substantiate their lineage that would be a real asset. Even legends that carry a bout of credibility can be helpful.

In S.D. Saparamadu's remarkable preface to his text on Robert Knox, he states that the Christians were cognisant of family history much better as church records are kept on births and deaths. We, Buddhists manifest a lethargy in this sphere especially as the editor notes that to Buddhists this birth is just one of many that follow in quick succession and one need not make such a fuss over a single birth in this never ending Samsara chakra.

Family histories

Yet, in spite of such arguments, it is timely to build a new and rich segment of history based on family histories before Father Time drags his heavy boots over it all. One would no doubt get amazed by the wealth of matter that can get dug up. When I was conducting my Nirmana project I once came upon a village which had got blacklisted at the time of King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe. The stigma still continues, the women have begun to wear jackets only in recent times (Bare breasts, for some reason, is a punishment) and education-wise their children have suffered much. All that adds to what may be called "The Quintessence of history". While acknowledging the truth that it is not only the man and woman placed in higher social strata who make history you cannot bypass the fact that it is actually this group who own to a more gorgeous kind of history entwined with the main criss-cross currents. But were such a project of unearthing historical data via buried family history to be implemented, much vigilance is needed to sieve out facts from fabricated matter for the simple reason that a good many would use it to pamper themselves to glory.

Ignoble flight

I once visited a house in Negombo that had the nameboard 'Sri Vikum Nivasa". On inquiry it was revealed that Sri Wikcrema Rajasinghe on his ignoble flight from Kandea had taken refuge in the house. The royal chariot had avoided the main route from Kandy to Colombo as the Kandyans pre-staging the 19th Century Arab Spring were lining the road to have it out with the ruler turned a cruel dictator. So, the party after taking the route via Weuda and Giriulla transported themselves in a vessel that put to sea at Negombo en route to Colombo, from the waterfront behind the Fernando household of Wellavidiya Mudaliyars. The waterfront of such historical significance yet exists. Something to brag about? Yes. But they prefer to remain mum.

Why? People would say they are boasters trying to hinge on to royalty though disgraced. How many stay mum in similar style for fear of getting branded as Kaivarukarayas or braggers? This unwarranted modesty too leads to such a burial of significant historical matter. A society such as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) could take a lead in such a venture that could absolve it of the unfair charge that it is navigating in the skies.

The writer is Vice President of the RAS.