Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 80

SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS

OF

THE ANCIENT SINGHALESE.

CHAPTER I

POPULATION.--CASTE.--SLAVERY AND RAJA-KARIYA.

POPULATION.--In no single instance do the chronicles of Ceylon mention the precise amount of the population of the island, at any particular period; but there is a sufficiency of evidence, both historical and physical, to show that it must have been prodigious and dense, especially in the reigns of the more prosperous kings. Whatever limits to the increase of man artificial wants may interpose in a civilised state and in ordinary climates are unknown in a tropical region, where clothing is an enc.u.mbrance, the smallest shelter a home, and sustenance supplied by the bounty of the soil in almost spontaneous abundance.

Under such propitious circ.u.mstances, in the midst of a profusion of fruit-bearing-trees, and in a country replenished by a teeming harvest twice, at least, in each year, with the least possible application of labour; it may readily be conceived that the number of the people will be adjusted mainly, if not entirely, by the extent of arable land.

The emotion of the traveller of the present time, as day after day he traverses the northern portions of the island, and penetrates the deep forests of the interior, is one of unceasing astonishment at the inconceivable mult.i.tude of deserted tanks, the hollows of which are still to be traced; and the innumerable embankments, overgrown with timber, which indicate the sites of vast reservoirs that formerly fertilised districts now solitary and barren. Every such tank is the landmark of one village at least, and such are the dimensions of some of them that in proportion to their area, it is probable that hundreds of villages may have been supported by a single one of these great inland lakes.

The labour necessary to construct one of these gigantic works for irrigation is in itself an evidence of local density of population; but their multiplication by successive kings, and the constantly recurring record of district after district brought under cultivation in each successive reign[1], demonstrate the steady increase of inhabitants, and the mult.i.tude of husbandmen whose combined and sustained toil was indispensable to keep these prodigious structures in productive activity.

[Footnote 1: The practice of recording the formation of tanks for irrigation by the sovereign is not confined to the chronicles of Ceylon.

The construction of similar works on the continent of India has been commemorated in the same manner by the native historians. The memoirs of the Rajas of Orissa show the number of tanks made and wells dug in every reign.]

The _Rajavali_ relates that in the year 1301 A.D. King Prakrama III, on the eve of his death, reminded his sons, that having conquered the Malabars, he had united under one rule the three kingdoms of the island, Pihiti with 450,000 villages, Rohuna with 770,000, and Maya with 250,000.[1] A village in Ceylon, it must be observed, resembles a "town"

in the phraseology of Scotland, where the smallest collection of houses, or even a single farmstead with its buildings is enough to justify the appellation. In the same manner, according to the sacred ordinances which regulate the conduct of the Buddhist priesthood, a "solitary house, if there be people, must be regarded as a village,"[2] and all beyond it is the forest.

[Footnote 1: _Rajavali_ p. 262. A century later in the reign or Prakrama-Kotta, A.D. 1410, the _Rajaratnacari_ says, there then were 256,000 villages in the province of Matura, 495,000 in that of Jaffna, and 790,000 in Oovah.--P. 112.]

[Footnote 2: Hardy's _Eastern Monachism_, ch. xiii. p. 133.]

Even a.s.suming that the figures employed by the author of the _Rajavali_ partake of the exaggeration common to all oriental narratives, no one who has visited the regions now silent and deserted, once the homes of millions, can hesitate to believe that when the island was in the zenith of its prosperity, the population of Ceylon must of necessity have been at least ten times as great as it is at the present day.

The same train of thought leads to a clearer conception of the means by which this dense population was preserved, through so many centuries, in spite of frequent revolutions and often recurring invasions; as well as of the causes which led to its ultimate disappearance, when intestine decay had wasted the organisation on which the fabric of society rested.

Cultivation, as it existed in the north of Ceylon, was almost entirely dependent on the store of water preserved in each village tank; and it could only be carried on by the combined labour of the whole local community, applied in the first instance to collect and secure the requisite supply for irrigation, and afterwards to distribute it to the rice lands, which were tilled by the united exertions of the inhabitants, amongst whom the crop was divided in due proportions. So indispensable were concord and union in such operations, that injunctions for their maintenance were sometimes engraven on the rocks, as an inperishable exhortation, to forbearance and harmony.[1]

[Footnote 1: See the inscription on the rock of Mihintala, A. D. 262, TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, Appendix, p. 90; and a similar one on a rock at Pollanarrua, ibid., p, 92.]

Hence, in the recurring convulsions which overthrew successive dynasties, and transferred the crown to usurpers, with a facile rapidity, otherwise almost unintelligible, it is easy to comprehend that the ma.s.s of the people had the strongest possible motives for pa.s.sive submission, and were constrained to acquiescence by an instinctive dread of the fatal effects of prolonged commotion.

If interrupted in their industry, by the dread of such events, they retired till the storm had blown over, and returned, after each temporary dispersion, to resume possession of the lands and their village tank.

The desolation which now reigns over the plains which the Singhalese formerly tilled, was precipitated by the reckless domination of the Malabars, in the fourteenth and following centuries. The destruction of reservoirs and tanks has been ascribed to defective construction, and to the absence of spill-waters, and other facilities for discharging the surplus-water, during the prevalence of excessive rains; but independently of the fact that vast numbers of these tanks, though utterly deserted, remain, in this respect, almost uninjured to the present day, we have the evidence of their own native historians, that for upwards of fifteen centuries, the reservoirs, when duly attended to, successfully defied all the dangers to be apprehended from inundation.

Their destruction and abandonment are ascribable, not so much to any engineering defect, as to the disruption of the village communities, by whom they were so long maintained. The ruin of a reservoir, when neglected and permitted to fall into decay, was speedy and inevitable; and as the destruction of the village tank involved the flight of all dependent upon it, the water, once permitted to escape, carried pestilence and miasma over the plains they had previously covered with plenty. After such a calamity any partial return of the villagers, even where it was not prevented by the dread of malaria, would have been impracticable; for the obvious reason, that where the whole combined labour of the community was not more than sufficient to carry on the work of conservancy and cultivation, the diminished force of a few would have been utterly unavailing, either to effect the reparation of the watercourses, or to restore the system on which the culture of rice depends. Thus the process of decay, instead of a gradual decline as in other countries, became sudden and utter desolation in Ceylon.

From such traces as are perceptible in the story of the earliest immigrants, it is obvious that in their domestic habits and civil life they brought with them and perpetuated in Ceylon the same pursuits and traits which characterised the Aryan races that had colonised the valley of the Ganges. The Singhalese Chronicles abound, like the ancient Vedas, with allusions to agriculture and herds, to the breeding of cattle and the culture of grain. They speak of village communities and of their social organisation, as purely patriarchal. Women were treated with respect and deference; and as priestesses and queens they acquired a prominent place in the national esteem. Rich furniture was used in dwellings and costly textures for dress; but these were obtained from other nations, whose s.h.i.+ps resorted to the island, whilst its inhabitants, averse to intercourse with foreigners, and ignorant of navigation, held the pursuits of the merchant in no esteem.

_Caste_.--Amongst the aboriginal inhabitants _caste_ appears to have been unknown, although after the arrival of Wijayo and his followers the system in all its minute subdivisions, and slavery, both domestic and praedial, prevailed throughout the island. The Buddhists, as dissenters, who revolted against the arrogant pretensions of the Brahmans, embodied in their doctrines a protest against caste under any modification. But even after the conversion of the Singhalese to Buddhism, and their acceptance of the faith at the hands of Mahindo, caste as a national inst.i.tution was found too obstinately established to be overthrown by the Buddhist priesthood; and reinforced, as its supporters were, by subsequent intercourse with the Malabars, it has been perpetuated to the present time, as a conventional and social, though no longer as a sacred inst.i.tution. Practically, the Singhalese ignore three of the great cla.s.ses, theoretically maintained by the Hindus; among them there are neither Brahmans, Vaisyas, nor Kshastryas; and at the head of the cla.s.s which they retain, they place the _Goi-wanse_ or _Vellalas_, nominally "tillers of the soil." In earlier times the inst.i.tution seems to have been recognised in its entirety, and in the glowing description given in the _Mahawanso_ of the planting of the great Bo-tree, "the sovereign the lord of chariots directed that it should be lifted by the four high caste tribes and by eight persons of each of the other castes."[1] In later times the higher ranks are seldom spoken of in the historical books but by specific t.i.tles, but frequent allusion is made to the Chandalas, the lowest of all, who were degraded to the office of scavengers and carriers of corpses.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xix. p. 116.]

[Footnote 2: Ibit., ch. x. p. 66. The Chandala in one of the Jatakas is represented as "one born in the open air, his parents not being possessed of a roof; and as he lies amongst the pots when his mother goes to cut fire-wood, he is suckled by the b.i.t.c.h along with her pups."--HARDY'S _Buddhism_, ch. iii. p. 80.]

_Slavery_.--The existence of slavery is repeatedly referred to, and in the absence of any specific allusion to its origin in Ceylon, it must be presumed to have been borrowed from India. As the Sudras, according to the inst.i.tutes of Menu, were by the laws of caste consigned to helpless bondage, so slavery in Ceylon was an attribute of race[1]; and those condemned to it were doomed to toil from their birth, with no requital other than the obligation on the part of their masters to maintain them in health, to succour them in sickness, and apportion their burdens to their strength.[2] And although the liberality of theoretical Buddhism threw open, even to the lowest caste, all the privileges of the priesthood, the slave alone was repulsed, on the ground that his admission would deprive the owner of his services.[3]

[Footnote 1: In later times, slavery was not confined to the low castes; insolvents could be made slaves by their creditors--the chief frequently buying the debt, and attaching the debtor to his followers. The children of freemen, by female slaves, followed the status of their mothers.]

[Footnote 2: HARDY'S _Buddhism_, ch. x. p. 482.]

[Footnote 3: HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, ch. iv. p. 18.]

Like other property, slaves could be possessed by the Buddhist monasteries, and inscriptions, still existing upon the rocks of Mihintala and Dambool, attest the capacity of the priests to receive them as gifts, and to require that as slaves they should be exempted from taxation.

Unrelaxed in its a.s.sertion of abstract right, but mitigated in the forms of its practical enforcement, slavery endured in Ceylon till extinguished by the fiat of the British Government in 1845.[1] In the northern and Tamil districts of the island, its characteristics differed considerably from its aspect in the south and amongst the Kandyan mountains. In the former, the slaves were employed in the labours of the field and rewarded with a small proportion of the produce; but amongst the pure Singhalese, slavery was domestic rather than praedial, and those born to its duties were employed less as the servants, than as the suite of the Kandyan chiefs. Slaves swelled the train of their retainers on all occasions of display, and had certain domestic duties a.s.signed to them, amongst which was the carrying of fire-wood, and the laying out of the corpse after death. The strongest proof of the general mildness of their treatment in all parts of the island, is derived from the fact, that when in 1845, Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby, directed the final abolition of the system, slavery was extinguished in Ceylon without a claim for compensation on the part of the proprietors.

[Footnote 1: An account of slavery in Ceylon, and the proceedings for its suppression, will be found in PRIDHAM'S _Ceylon_, vol. i. p. 223.]

_Compulsory Labour_.--Another inst.i.tution, to the influence and operation of which the country was indebted for the construction of the works which diffused plenty throughout every region, was the system of Raja-kariya, by which the king had a right to employ, for public purposes, the compulsory labour of the inhabitants. To what extent this was capable of exaction, or under what safeguards it was enforced in early times, does not appear from the historical books. But on all occasions when tanks were to be formed, or ca.n.a.ls cut for irrigation, the _Mahawanso_ alludes--almost in words of course--to the application of Raja-kariya for their construction[1], the people being summoned to the task by beat of drum.[2]

[Footnote 1: The inscription engraven on the rock at Mihintala, amongst other regulations for enforcing the observance by the temple tenants of the conditions on which their lands were held, declares that "if a fault be committed by any of the cultivators; the adequate fine shall be a.s.sessed according to usage; or in lieu thereof, the delinquent shall be directed _to work at the lake_ in making an excavation not exceeding sixteen cubits in circ.u.mference and one cubit deep."-- TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, &c., Appendix, p. 87.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 149.]

The only mention of the system which attracts particular attention, is the honour awarded to the most pious of the kings, who, whilst maintaining Raja-kariya as an inst.i.tution, nevertheless stigmatised it as "oppression" when applied to non-productive objects; and on the occasion of erecting one of the most stupendous of the monuments dedicated to the national faith, felt that the merit of the act would be neutralised, were it to be accomplished by "unrequited" labour.[1]

[Footnote 1: Ibid., ch. xxvii. pp. 163, 165. King Tissa, A. D. 201, in imitation of Dutugaimunu. caused the restorations of monuments at the capital "_to be made with paid labour_."--Ibid., ch. x.x.xvi. p. 226. See ante Vol. I. Pt. III. ch. v. p. 357.]

CHAP. II.

AGRICULTURE.--IRRIGATION.--CATTLE AND CROPS.

AGRICULTURE.--Prior to the arrival of the Bengalis, and even for some centuries after the conquest of Wijayo, before the knowledge of agriculture had extended throughout the island, the inhabitants appear to have subsisted to a great extent by the chase.[1] Hunting the elk and the boar was one of the amus.e.m.e.nts of the early princes; the "Royal Huntsmen" had a range of buildings erected for their residence at Anaraj.a.poora, B.C. 504[2], and the laws of the chase generously forbade to shoot the deer except in flight.[3] Dogs were trained to a.s.sist in the sport[4] and the oppressed aborigines, driven by their conquerors to the forests of Rohuna and Maya, are the subjects of frequent commendation in the pages of the _Mahawanso_, from their singular ability in the use of the bow.[5]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. x. p. 59; ch, xiv. p. 78; ch. xxiii. p.

142. The hunting of the hare is mentioned 161 B.C. _Mahawanso_, ch.

xxiii. p. 141.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid., ch. x. p. 66.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid., ch. xiv. p. 78. King Devenipiatissa, when descrying the elk which led him to the mountain where Mahindo was seated, exclaimed, "It is not fair to shoot him standing!" he tw.a.n.ged his bowstring and followed him as he fled, See ante, p. 341, n.]

[Footnote 4: Ibid., ch. xxviii p. 166.]

[Footnote 5: Ibid., ch. x.x.xiii. pp. 202, 204, &c.]