A great leader's brave attempt to gain freedom

By Amal Hewavissenti

The hundred and ninety fourth death anniversary of Keppetipola Disawe fell on the twenty sixth of November. In fact, he was the great national leader who, imbued with the spirit of mass liberation movement against unfair and oppressive English regime, bravely stood up for the rights of people. Keppetipola (Monarawila) Disawe later defied the absolute power possessed by the English and his self-expression and rebellious individuality were the greatest weapons against their tyranny.

Immediately after the signing of Kandyan convention, the British agents in Sri Lanka began to enjoy supreme power and privileges to the disadvantage of local people but they flagrantly ignored the local culture, ethics and people as a whole. In the convention, signed in 1815, the English pledged strong allegiance towards safeguarding the rights of Sinhala people and all aspects of culture and values to the expectations of provincial leaders and monks.

But within a year after signing the convention, the provincial leaders and monks realised that their expectations were being betrayed and the people were undergoing severe harassment and suppression at the hands of the English administration. By this time, Keppetipola Disawe, who was also one of the signatories of the convention, became somewhat agitated with certain level of doubt and pain at the blatant violation of the convention that had otherwise promised prosperity to the country.

Under these circumstances, people in Uva, at the climax of their dissatisfaction unleashed a violent reaction to the English administration in the form of a rebellion that is popularly known as the 'rebellion of Uva Wellassa'. This uprising was chiefly organised and encouraged by the disappointed provincial leaders and monks as they were the first to notice the unseen oppression exercised by the English.

At this phase, they had appointed a person named Dore Sami' as a pseudo king to lead the battle against the English. Meanwhile, Robert Brownrigg the English governor had realised that it was impossible to crush down the insurrection of Uva-Wellassa. Therefore, he appointed his best warrior Keppetipola (Monarawila) Disawe as the government agent for Uva and sent him together with an armed battalion in order to defeat the insurgency by force.

In Wellassa, Keppetipola (Monarawila) was so much imbued with the spirit displayed by the freedom fighters that he instantly cancelled the duty entrusted to him by the English governor and joined the movement. He is said to have spoken the following words to his English army.

"Take these weapons back to Mahanuwara with you. I came with you to Wellassa to defeat a justifiable struggle for freedom. As a Sinhalese I cannot kill these innocent people and betray the country and their struggle to a foreign force. Tell the governor Brownrigg that Keppetipola has joined the rebellion and is fighting tooth and nail for the independence of my country..."

This was a virtual body blow for Governor Brownrigg because he had least expected that his best warrior and his agent for Wellassa would full frontally reject his orders. On hearing the brave words, the Sinhala rebels requested Keppietipola to take upon the leadership of the rebellion and the battle became more intense under Keppetipola's leadership.

However, Robert Brownrigg the governor succeeded in aborting the further progress of the Wellassa rebellion even though it was rapidly gaining ground in most parts of the island under the influential leadership of Keppetipola Disawe. For this operation, the English officials brought an English army from India as the strength of English army in Sri Lanka appeared to be inadequate against the encroaching rebels. First, governor Brownrigg enforced martial law throughout the Kandyan Kingdom because they suspected that Keppetipola's involvement in the rebellion would produce bitter consequences for English.

Robert Brownrigg and higher English officials presumably thought that Keepetipola must be responsible for the total success of the rebellion though it failed. In a special missive that Robert Brownrigg dispatched to the colonial governor of India, Brownrigg states.

"We have already had enough reason to believe that the rebellion of Wellassa gained fresh impetus under Keppetipola Disawe. Upon the information that I gathered, it became blatantly obvious to me that my agent (Keppetipola) had been the mastermined and the organiser of the coup...." Yet in reality Keppetipola had joined the insurrection after the initial stages of it.

Henry Marshal, the then Chief Surgeon in the English Army writes, "for the people of Sri Lanka who had been utterly frustrated with the English government, the prospects of rebellion proved to be their liberation. The rebellion of Wellassa was a matchstick - rather a flame - thrown into a barrel of gun powder! In spite of all dynamic action taken by British government, the rebellion turned the whole country against us the English by the year 1818. Thus the liberation movement of Sinhalese earned a growing chorus of support from all over the country until it was counteracted by the collective strength of English army in Sri Lanka and India ..."

The rebellion which spanned almost a year, roughly accounted for a death toll of ten thousand people and was foiled by brutal suppression. Ultimately Keppetipla Monarawila and his supporters fled to Anuradhapura but were captured and arrested by Ornell, an English military officer while they were living in concealment. When the military officer announced his decision to arrest him, Keppetipola Monarawila shook hands with him and twice uttered "I am Keppetipola" with the rarest heroic tone.

Thus, he was wrongly convicted of capital offence. He was brought to Mahanuwara, tried by court martial and was condemned to capital punishment at the banks of the Bogambara tank. Prior to the punishement, Keppetipola Monarawila Disawe went to the temple of the toothrelic accompanied by security officers and offered some of his ornaments and clothes to the temple. Then he chanted some verses from Dhammapada until his head rolled away by the stroke of the executioner.

Keppetipola's heroism, and valiant mood on the final moment of death rank with that of the most renowned heroes of the world history. His nonchalance in the face of death moved the higher English officials and therefore the skull of this unusual man was taken to England. Henry Marshall, the surgeon of the English military service handed over the skull to the special laboratory in Edinborough - England for exclusive examination by a team of medical experts. Strangely the medical personnel concluded that the skull belonged to "a Great warrior of the rarest calibre.

In 1948, the skull was brought back to Sri Lanka and was kept on display for the public. Later in 1954, the skull was kept in a glass box underground and a grand tomb was erected above it just in front of the 'Dalada Maligawa'. National leaders such as Keppetipola Monarawila are really a decoration for a country and a great power that can bring about social change.