CO882-10 — Page 85

87

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO. 882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

156

follows: In almost every village of any size a "Samagama" is established.

The

name of the "Samagama " varies. There are temperance societies" and

Buddhist societies" and " village help societies," but their object is the same. Meetings are regularly held, and experienced speakers are sent down from Colombo by the Mahabodhi Society to address the villagers. The speakers, under the guise of an address on “temperance," religion," or the like, actually aim at arousing hos- tility against the "foreigners" and inducing a general spirit of unrest and discon- tent. Their efforts are seconded by articles in the vernacular Press, which is entirely in their pay, and by innumerable pamphlets, which are scattered broadcast among the village population. It is noteworthy that meetings of village societies were par- ticularly numerous and the delegates of the Mahabodhi Society particularly active during the months of April and May.

6. The immediate cause of the outbreak is difficult to discern. I am inclined to think that it was timed for a later date possibly during the August perahera- and that the riot at Kandy on 28th May was premature. However this may be, it is certain, from the rapidity with which the, disturbance spread over a great part of the island, that a general outbreak had been carefully planned. What the agitators hoped to gain by the attack on the Moors is, I confess, obscure. They may have regarded it as a " feeler" to gauge the temper of the Government and its method of dealing with a difficult situation, or they may even have thought it possible that it would succeed and so form the first step in the cherished scheme of expelling the foreigners" from Ceylon. That it was actually dictated by any feelings of com- mercial rivalry or religious antagonism between the Moors and the Sinhalese I do not believe. There was, as a matter of fact, no quarrel between the rank and file of the two communities. The supposed differences were manufactured as convenient pretexts under which to carry on an agitation which undoubtedly had as its real—- if fantastic-object the subversion of British rule.

7. By this I do not mean to imply that there is any widespread spirit of dis- affection among the Sinhalese. I do not think there is. The rioters were, for the most part, ignorant villagers, who were actuated by nothing more than a naturally lawless disposition and a desire for loot. They were merely the dupes of the seditious malcontents to whom I have already referred. Many of the latter have been, or are, under arrest, and will presumably be dealt with later. This class of person requires more careful watching in the future.

8. One of the most unsatisfactory features of the disturbances has been the conduct of the headmen. A very small minority did good service in suppressing the outbreak. The rest of them either actively joined, or secretly sympathized with, the rioters, or lacked the necessary courage and influence to interfere. It is a point to which careful attention should be paid, in considering the possibility of a similar occurrence in the future, that no reliance can be placed on any except the European section of the population.

Badulla, 27th August, 1915.

44697

(No. 593.)

No. 52.

G. F. FORREST, Special Commissioner.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 28th September, 1915.)

The Queen's House, Colombo, Ceylon, 10th September, 1915. [Published, except portions here printed, as No. 17 in [Cd, 8187], January, 1916.]

*

•

•

*

6. I enclose a copy of a notice issued under martial law by the Officer Com- manding the Troops, and a report by the Government Agent, Central Province, on the perahera

*

157

Enclosure 1 in No. 52.

THE KANDY PERAHERA,

THE following extracts are taken from the Ceylon Literary Register, dated 8th October, 1886 :---

During the first five days the ceremonies of the perahera took place chiefly within the temples, and the procession was not attended by the King.

"

On the fifth day, the Randolee (or the golden palanquins, belonging to the consorts of the gods Natha, Visnu, and Carticeya, and the goddess Pattini) were brought forth to join the procession; the chiefs, the soldiery, and the inhabitants in general in their best attire assembled, each department provided with its appro- priate arms and banners. The two Adigars with silver wands, and the Gajanaike Nilame (chief of the elephant department), holding an ankusa or elephant hook similarly adorned, took their station in the great square on the-right-the King, in a rich dress, came into the Pattrippo, when the curtains were drawn aside, and as soon as the royal person was presented to public view, the leader of a band of singers recited an invocation in verse, which was immediately succeeded by instrumental music. This having ceased, the two Adigars and all the other chiefs presented them- selves in view of the King, uttered aloud their prayers for the prosperity of their monarch and his empire, and paid homage by prostrations.'

"The order in which the procession was arranged is described by Davy as follows:-1, the King's elephants, with the Gajanaike Nilame; 2, the Jingalls, with the Kodituwakku-lekam; 3, the people of the four Korales, carrying jingalls, muskets, and flags, with the dissawe and petty chiefs of that dissa vony; 4, the people of the seven Korales; 5, those of Uva; 6, of Matale; 7, of Saffragam; 8, of Walapane; 9, of Udapalata all appointed and attended like the people of the four Korales; 10, the bambas, or human images; 11, the elephant of the Maligawa, bearing the relic of Buddha, followed by other elephants and by the people of Maligawa, who went before the Diva Nilame and Nanayakkaralekam with umbrellas, talipots, fans, flags, shields, tom-toms, drums, flutes, etc., accompanied by dancers; 12, the elephant of Natha Dewala, bearing the bow and arrows of the god, attended by the women of the temple, and followed by the Basnaike Nilame with the same pomp and attendance as the former; 13, the elephant, bow, and arrows, and the people and Basnaike Nilame of the Maha-Visnu Dewala with a similar train; 14, of the Kataragaramı Dewala, both similarly attended; 16, the people of the Mahalekan Department. carrying muskets and flags, and preceding their chiefs; 17, the people of the Atta- patuay Department, similarly equipped, followed by the Attapatuay lekam, and by the Ratemahatmayas of Udunuwera, Yatinuwera, Tumpane, Haris pattu, Dumbera, and Hewaheta; 18, the people of the Wedikkara Department, each followed by their respective lekam and petty officers.

On the last night of the festival, after the procession had gone round the streets, it separated into two divisions, that part of it attached to the four gods taking a direction towards the ferry Getambe, and the other part, belonging to the sacred relics, proceeding to the Adahanamaluwa. Here the shrine was removed from the elephant and deposited on a platform made for that purpose, where it remained, receiving the adoration of its worshippers till 10 o'clock on the following morning. Meanwhile, the other part of the procession having arrived at the river- aide, the ceremony of cutting water (Diyakapanawa) took place in the following

manner

"The Kapuralas and other officers of the respective temples were rowed to the middle of the river in decorated canoes, when the Kapuralas with a golden sword described a circle in the waters, from the centre of which each filled a golden vase, and the water which had been taken in the preceding year was poured back again. The procession then returned to the spot where the relics had been deposited, after which the whole procession made a circuit of the city and halted between Natha and Maha Dewalas, from whence the different parties returned to their respective temples."

* A spot set apart for religious purposes and assemblies of the priests, the limits of which are marked by carved stones, within which the Kings of Kandy are said to have had no authority; the tombs of the Kings of Kandy and Royal Family are situated close to this sanctuary.

158