Social Attitudes to British Policy in Colonial Ceylon

I have attempted to conduct a study of the attitudes of the Ceylonese locals to the British colonial regime which lasted from (1815- 1948). I have conducted this research on my own by researching into commonly told stories and jokes about the white man who ruled Ceylon. Picking up on stories shared by locals about the other, the most interesting part of my paper lays in reconstructing what the Ceylonese would have really thought of their white masters.

I have also paid particular attention to certain aspects of the British regime which left the country rife for internal conflict post independence. The issue of the Tamils in Ceylon and the unfair status bestowed on them causing communal hostilities began in the British era through the policy of divide and rule.

Brief political outline of events

The first intercourse of the English with Ceylon was as far back as 1763, when an embassy was despatched from Madras to the king of Kandy, without, however, leading to any result. On the rupture between Great Britain and Holland in 1795, a force was sent against the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, where the opposition offered was so slight that by the following year the whole of their forts were in the hands of the English commander.

The British forces by which the island had been conquered were those of the East India Company, and Ceylon was therefore at first placed under its jurisdiction and administered from Madras. The introduction of the Madras revenue system, however, together with a host of Malabar collectors, led to much discontent, which culminated in rebellion; and in 1798 the colony was placed directly under the crown. By the treaty of Amiens, in 1803, this situation was regularized, from the international point of view, by the formal cession to Great Britain of the former Dutch possessions in the island. For a while the British dominion was confined to the coast. The central tract of hilly country, hedged in by forests and precipitous mountain ranges, remained in possession of Sri Vikrama Raja Sinha^[1], the last of the Sinhalese dynasty.

Minor differences led in 1803 to an invasion of the Kandyan territory; but sickness, desertion and fatigue proved more formidable adversaries to the British forces than the troops of the Sinhalese monarch, and peace was eventually concluded upon terms by no means favourable to the English. The cruelty and oppression of the king now became so intolerable to his subjects that disaffection spread rapidly amongst them. Punishments of the most horrible kinds were inflicted, but failed to repress the popular indignation; and in 1815 the British, at the urgent request of many of the Adigars and other native chiefs, proceeded against the tyrant, who was captured near Kandy, and subsequently ended his days in exile. With him ended a long line of sovereigns, whose pedigree may be traced through upwards of two thousand years.

By a convention entered into with the Kandyan chiefs on the 2nd of March 1815, the entire sovereignty of the island passed into the hands of the British, who in return guaranteed to the inhabitants civil and religious liberty. The religion of Buddha was declared inviolable, and its rights, ministers and places of worship were to be maintained and protected; the laws of the country were to be preserved and administered according to established forms; and the royal dues and revenues were to be levied as before for the support of government.

With the exception of a serious outbreak in some parts of the interior in 1817, which lasted for an year, and of two minor attempts at rebellion easily put down, in 1843 and 1848.Ceylon became independent in 1948

Historiography and policy impact

The study of the history of the inhabitants of the island of Ceylon during the colonial regime of the British brings to light certain poignant issues in regard to British administration and ruling policy which left raw independent nations such as Ceylon in 1948 rife for civil strife. The policy followed by the British of divide et imperia or divide and rule created previously nonexistent divisions both geographically and psychologically across the isle.

Most sources of this period in regards to Ceylonese history have elitist undertones and written by the generation of those considered ‘educated’ by colonial standards thus giving a biased pro British tinge to history writing. However, in order to strike a balance I have undertaken my own research into commonly told jokes and stories among various communities which give a clear picture into the feelings of the locals towards the British.

The manner in which the country’s freedom was held in the hands of the other is clearly demonstrated in the words D.S.Senanayake, who said in conversation with Lord Soulbury that his country was:

“Like a cow tied to a tree with a rope. A longer rope was better than a shorter one, but still the rope remained.”^[2]

The aim of labour to save the empire

To help secure India the British captured Ceylon by force. They overthrew the ancient Kandyan kingdom and exiled its monarch to the Indian subcontinent. The colonial masters used coerced labour for tea and coffee plantations in conditions that could tantamount to slavery. The planters thought nothing of ‘thumping a coolie for half an hour’ and exploiting labour was rampant. The colonials held aloof from both the Sinhalese and Tamil workers seldom learning their language and regarding them with contempt. James Bowes, Superintendent of Police in Jaffna admitted to having thought that ‘dark blood’ guaranteed certain disabilities^[3].

The irony of this is that on paper the British abolished slavery and compulsory labour. Once the country was secured the Governors conducted a sort of ‘paternal despotism’ and avowed to plant the germ of western civilization preserving what was sacred to the East. In this regard a commonly told story in regards to the way the British propagated themselves in the villages’ across the country is summed up neatly in this tale^[4].

On the arrival of the British in the island of Ceylon, what the white men decided to do was visit all the villages and win over the hearts and minds of the locals. Upon reaching a village deep in the interiors of the South a British officer and his translator summoned all the village folk to the village square. The officer began a stirring speech on how the British swore to protect the religion and interests of the locals and work together for Ceylon. With each statement he made the crowd cheered “Gomanga!” .As his speech progressed the cheering “Gomanga!” got louder and steadier. Believing he had truly won the hearts of the villagers when he was about to leave the village square his translator said: “ Careful Sir, be sure not to step on the Gomanga (bullshit)”.

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^[1] It is claimed that he was Indian in origin and thus betrayed by the locals to the British

^[2] Sri Lanka Pt II, edited by De Silva

^[3] C.S.Blackton ‘ The Europeans of the Ceylon Civil Service’

^[4] The story is best related in the vernacular Sinhala language and the loss in translation should be recognized