Musings:  

'Raceless others' in the island

by Padma Edirisinghe

Apologies again, this time for forgetting all the raceless others in the island while focusing on some outstanding examples. First I will begin with the area of the Boutique of Kochchis or Kochchikade, sited very close to the estuary of Ma oya, that tumbles down Rassa Kande of the Ambuluwava range.

Nowhere did I locate the curious raceless species here. Was it amid the crags and canyons of Ma Oya or at Kochchikade?

Neither. Actually I initially located the raceless one in a pavement in Kandy closeted in a second-hand book collection that does not earn a second glance from the so called elite class.

Chee! I hear even you exclaim. Who buys books off pavements? But try it. You will come across a treasure house.

A good segment of them comprises books sold by descendents of famous men and women, who once the house is cleared of the dead body next turns on the books written by the deceased or hoarded by same and revered sacredly for years and years. A few with planned schedules make arrangements to donate them to libraries before their exit. But the Angel or Devil of Death or Maraya comes upon one so suddenly and impetuously that leaves the books in lurch and they finally end in pavements.

Discovery

This is a prelude to my discovery of Neethiratnavaliya, a book tracing the antecedents of a certain family. Sorry, the book has been misplaced by me now. (If anybody has a copy do send it to me). Actually the facts were condensed into the description of a caption of a photo, the photo of a tombstone on which details of the deceased are given.

The tombstone has been found around Kochchikade and the name of the tombed one is one which abounds in the fishermen community.

A cross inscribed conveys that the late 'fisherman' is most probably a Roman Catholic. The year of death is given as that which belongs to the past century. The contents in the book, however reveal a completely different identity.

The ancestors of the dead have come over to the island from India in the pre-Christian period and in high company too. The central figure of that group had been Theri Sanghamitta carrying the bo sapling accompanied by 16 kulas or clans.

This tendency of super-imposing exalted origins to mundane humans runs along the course of human history to which is added this, that humans are the most bigoted and haughty of all living species and are always on the hunt for exaltations.

Genuine

So this is just one instance and nothing to write home about or write to the newspapers.

But I sensed that there was something genuine about the presentation. Though not directly anecdote, the book and the photo reveal a candid tale about races, nay castes, nay religions getting somersaulted over the long path of history including long mileage. Imagine the distance between Anuradhapura and Kochchikade off Negombo.

The tombstone carries a cross while the couriers came carrying a bo sapling.

Names

Once a colleague at Lake House informed me that if I was willing to do a piece on it, he would give me a list of names of those who have transferred from Sinhala nationality to Tamil nationality and now have made the Jaffna peninsula their permanent habitat.

I told my colleague (a Tamil, if that matters) that I will be very happy to have the list of these names but that it may cause discomfort to those named. Anyway, further chat revealed the causes that led to this phenomenon of transfer of nationality. At varied stages of history some event had led these original Sinhalas trek upwards finally settling down there. They still carry the original Sinhala wasagam or patronymic name, a messy kind of name that some own while others do not.

And what about the descendents of the castaways of the ship Anne that faced a catastrophe off the Eastern coast during the reign of Rasinge deiyo. The famous Knox and his friend were the only ones who did not beget offsprings.

The others wed village women of the highlands and the children born were all transferred Sinhalas and carried on life under the new national label. Then there were the Gascons and Lanerolles who were originally French.

Then a Gazette notification of the early British times reveals the Chetty origins of a prominent 'Sinhala' family, a large nose the only feature that runs down.

Groups

The writer also remember a poignant incident that was staged when she was heading the bilingual Teachers Training Institute at Kotagala off Hatton. It was the term end concert and a mix occurred between the two groups of Tamil and Sinhala.

For a particular item they had to De-mix and get back. A solitary girl who answered to the name Gnanawathie stood almost as in defiance, and declared that it was difficult to join either group as she belonged to neither. Feeling that she had been waiting to make a dramatic display of her dilemma I asked for an explanation. This is what she had to disclose.

"I was born of Sinhala parents. My childless neighbours were Tamil who loved me dearly. I associated them more closely than my own family. Then an exodus occurred that made the Sinhala families leave the area. I opted to stay with the Tamil family who brought me up lovingly."

Here the corollary that the writer attempts to focus attention on is that entities such as race, caste and religion are not static and are temperamental as the weather, fluctuating under the force of external factors.

But gallons of blood are shed over this phenomenon all over the cosmos. The raceless man as well as the raceless woman come out strong here. It will be relevant to quote a know-all who predicts that in another 100 years or so all such categorisations will cease. So we are closing on the edge and only the marriage proposals column might starve of its dimensions eventually.