Talk:Karava
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[edit] Dispute
To say that the only function is military is revisionism. The traditional role is that of fishing with occasional military role as mercenaries.Bandara2000 17:58, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
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Patabändigé is one of the most prevalent gé names among the Karávas. A Patabända of the past was a sub-king or a titled military leader who had been honoured by a King for exceptional valour in war. Such honours had been conferred by tying a gold a forehead-plate (nalalpata) which was one of the five insignia of royalty, pancha kakudha bhanda. (The Pújávaliya , chapter 7, page 115, Rev. Gnanananda edition, lists them as valvidunáva, nalalpata, magul kaduva, ran mirivädi sangala and dalapundu sesatha (yak tail whisk, forehead-plate, royal sword, golden footwear and pearl umbrella). The Patabändigé title was not lost with the demise of the recipient. It was a heritable title and gave rise to a hereditary titled class, distinguished by Patabändi names (The Karáva of Ceylon, M. D. Raghavan, 1961, page 110) . Patabändigé is an exclusively Karáva name and is not found among other communities.
The Portuguese who arrived in Sri Lanka in the early 16th century described the Patabändas / Patangatims at the time of their arrival as “Kinglets (subkings) of the Karávas who controlled not only one village but sometimes the whole coast as a master or ruler” (Summary report on India by A. Valignano SJ, Malacca, November 22nd to December 8th 1577. Quoted in The history of the Catholic Church, Portuguese period, volume II, V. Perniola SJ, page 82). Other Portuguese writers, Joaõ de Barrows (1520) and Castan Heda (1528), refer to five Kings stationed at important coastal towns, their ears laden with jewels and claiming relationship with the King of Kotte. These five kings were evidently the Patabändas, the Kinglets of the Karávas referred to by others(The Discovery of Ceylon by the Portuguese in 1506, Donald Ferguson, The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.XIX pp 283 -400.
Don Joaõ III, the King of Portugal, says the following in his letter of 20th March 1557 to his guardian of the religious order: “I am much pleased to rejoice at the news you give me of how our lord has been pleased through the agency of the members of your order to illuminate the Nation of the Carias who you say live in the ports of Ceylon, and are said to exceed 70,000 souls, whose captain named Patangatim accompanied them” (The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylaö, 1688, Fr. Queyroz, page 327).
The 17th century historian Fr. Queyroz describes an early Portuguese battle in Sri Lanka as follows: “At that time the Kinglet of the Careas appeared with the whole might of that kingdom which exceeded 20,000......” (ibid. , page 631). Valentyn too notes that the chiefs of Sri Lanka were from among the Karávas (Mitsgaders een wydluftige Landbeschryving van’t Eyland Ceylon etc. Valentyn Francois, Joannes van Braam, Amsterdam, 1726. Quoted in Kurushetra volume II, page 26). It should however be noted here that the early Portuguese historians refer to the Patabändas as Kinglets, meaning sub-kings, and not as mere chiefs as they later came to be referred to after a century of European rule.
The principal kinglets were the Mahapatabëndás who were referred to as Patamgatim Major and Patamgatim Mor by the Portuguese. Two of the Mahapatabëndás of Negombo in 1613 were: Kurukulasuriya Dom Gaspar da Cruz and Varnakulasuriya Afonco Perera (The Karáva of Ceylon, M. D. Raghavan, 1961, page 33) The Portuguese Tombo of 1615 which deals with the ports, villages and lands on the coast from Puttalam to Dondra, lists the chiefs of each village along with their land holdings, crops and revenue. It is noteworthy that the chiefs of most coastal villages which included Negombo, Kalutara, Maggona and Dondra were Patabëndás(The Ceylon Littoral, AD 1593, P. E. Pieris Edition)
The early Portuguese missionaries concentrated on converting the Patabändas first as they were the leaders and rulers of the people. They were used as examples for other gentiles to follow (Jesuit annual letter, Cochin, 29/12/1606 quoted in The History of The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka - The Portuguese Period, vol II, V. Perniola S. J., page 254) The Portuguese have documented many instances where hundreds of others converted, following the Patabända’s conversion (The Jesuits in Ceylon, Fr. S. G. Perera, C.A. & L. R., vol. II, 1916, page 24)
The European invaders as well as Sri Lankan Kings had approached the Patabändas for assistance in wars. As a result the Mahapatabëndá of Colombo was beheaded and quartered by the Portuguese in 1574 for treasonable communication with King Mayadunne of Sítáwake (AD 1535 - 1581) (The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylaö, Fr. Queyroz, page 424) In 1656 the Patabända of Coquille (Koggala) was approached by King Rajasingha II of Kandy (AD 1635 - 1687) for assistance (Ceylon the Portuguese Era, Vol. II, P. E. Pieris, page 454)
The earliest reference in Sri Lankan history to a Patabända is found at the 5th century citadel of Sigiri. Among the ancient graffiti on the mirror wall at Sigiri is a verse inscribed by ‘Bandi Dápul Ápa’ (Sigiri Graffiti, volume II, S. Paranavitana, page 28 verse 46). The title of Ápa denotes that he was a sub king and therefore it also seems to confirm that the Patabändas of this early period too were sub kings as they were in the late mediaeval period.
Pattalattanan in Tamil had meant a consecrated king according to the Tamil dictionary Yálpana Periyakarádi (Yálpana Periyakarádi , pages 655 & 656 quoted in Kurukula Charithaya part II, page 266. Taylor too translates Pattangatti as ‘crowned’ (Indian Historical Manuscripts, W. Taylor, 1835. Quoted in Kurukshetra, vol II, page 26) which obviously means a King or a sub king. In ancient India too Patta and Pattâvali (note similarity to Patabëndi ) had meant ‘titles of honour’ (South Indian inscriptions, volume I, page 159 fn.1. Indian Antiquities vol. XI, page 245 fn.)
As shown above, the crown was not part of a Sri Lankan king’s regalia. Although the crown was not one of the five insignia of royalty (pancha kakudha bhanda) the forehead-plate was. As such the tying of the forehead-plate was the Sri Lankan equivalent of the European coronation. The great chronicle of Sri Lanka, the Mahavamsa, calls the royal inauguration ceremony Pattabanda mahothsava (The ceremony of tying the forehead-plate). In Chapter 67, verse 91 it describes how King Parakramabahu the great was inaugurated by tying the forehead-plate (Mahavamsa, Geiger translation, 67.91) This practice appears to have continued right upto the end of the Sri Lankan royal line as John Davy describes the installation of a Kandyan Monarch in the same way (An Account of the Interior of Ceylon and of its Inhabitants with travels in that Island, John Davy, 1821, page 123)
King Sahasamalla (AD. 1200 -1202 ), (one of several Sri Lankan kings to use the royal fish emblem on their inscriptions. Parakramabahu the Great was another), refers to ‘ senevirat patabandavá agra mantri kota’ -Invested with the rank of Commander-in-chief and appointed as Prime Minister (Epigraphia Zeylanica (EZ) II, pages 222 – 224 ). The 15th century Ummagga Jataka too narrates the practice of honouring military commanders with forehead plates as: Senevirat patabandá -Invested him with the rank of Commander-in-chief (Ummagga Jataka, Educational Publiations Department, 1978, chap.29, page 160). The Kavyasekaraya refers to such forehead plates as ‘isa sevulu bändi’( Kavyasekharaya , XIV.64 and EZ I, page 240 n3) The 16th century Gadaladeniya inscription (EZ IV, page 23) indicates that honouring a person was referred to as ‘patabändavíma’ .
The Rajavaliya narrates that the three princes, Mayádunne, Raigam Bandara and Bhuvanekabahu, who were fleeing from their Father, Vijayabahu VI (AD. 1509 - 1521), lodged at the house of a Patabenda (Rajavaliya, edited by A. V. Suraweera, 1997, page 225) This shows the power and influence of the Kshatriya Patabendas of the period. This particular Patabenda may also have been related to the above three Kshatriya princes who were also from the Surya wansa.
When the Kotte kingdom was ceded to the Portuguese by the Malvána convention in AD.1597, a Patabënda was one of the three local nobles who signed the agreement on behalf of the Sinhalese. Portuguese nobles who were known as Fidalgos signed it on behalf of the Portuguese king. The three local nobles had been selected by a council of nobles and people (Ribeiro’s History of Ceiláo, page 95) and indicates the prominent status of the Patabendas of the 16th century.
Dona Catherina, the sole heiress of the Kandyan kingdom was also a Patabenda and bore the name Maha Bëndigé (A Description of Ceylon, Philip Baldaeus 1672, Translation of 1703, chapter VIII, page 681). Baldaeus refers to two other Patabëndigé princesses, Malabanda Wandige and Rokech Wandige, in chapter I of his book and in chapter XIII he refers to the Patabëndigé vice-admiral Wandige Nay Hanni who was a nephew of the Karáva Prince of Uva, Kuruvita Rala (ibid., pages 668 & 692).
The Portuguese diminished the position of the Patabendas from Sub-kings to chiefs but the Portuguese tombo of 1613 still ranks the Patabendas above the Mayóráls(The Ceylon Littoral, AD 1593, P. E. Pieris Edition, page 26) who were the local equivalents of European city mayors. The Dutch who succeeded the Portuguese, stripped most of the Karávas of their powerful official positions as they suspected the Karávas to be more loyal to the Kshatriya kings of Kandy or to the Portuguese whose religion many of the Karávas professed. The Dutch elevated persons of mixed origins to replace the traditional Karáva chiefs and many such families of mixed origin appear to have identified themselves with the Govi caste as they could not be accommodated within any of the higher castes. Disfavoured by the Dutch, the position of the Patabëndás dropped sharply during the 18th century Dutch period to the level of a Muhandiram (The Karáva of Ceylon, M. D. Raghavan, 1961, page 42, JRAS CB XXXI No. 83 page 448).
We know that the forehead-plate continued to denote nobility around the beginning of the Dutch period as a Dutch envoy of 1612 refers to the ‘gold headband of a Sinhala dignitary’ (JRAS CB XXXVII, No. 102, 1946, page 49). A few of the Patabändas of the late Dutch period who figure in the Dutch tombos are: Chikoe Patabändigé Thome Silva Kurukulasuriya, Pattangatyn of Kalutara, A. D. 1760; Mahabadugé Jasientoe Fernando Kurukula Jayasuriya, joint Pattangattyn of Barberyn. A. D. 1759; Bastian Pieris Rasa Manukula Warnakula Ditadipadicear, joint Pattangattyn of Colombo, A. D. 1761; Steeven Fernando Weerawarna Kurukulasuriya, Pattangattyn over the Rue Grande (Grand street, Negombo), A. D. 1763; Luis Fernando Varuna Kurukula Áditya Adapannár. Pattangattyn of Colombo, A. D. 1769 (Ceylon Dutch Records: 785/120, 785/543, 2284/91, 2443/75 and 1034/607. The Karáva of Ceylon, M. D. Raghavan, 1961, pages 44 and 45). In 1762 the Dutch refer to the Basnáyaka of Devundara as Bandáranáike Suriya Pattangatyn (Secret minutes of the Dutch political Council, Wednesday 22nd September 1762) Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, the last king of Kandy (AD. 1798 - 1815) is also described as a Pattangattyn in a South Indian source (Indian Historical Manuscripts, Vol II, Madras 1835, W. Taylor, quoted in Kuruksetra, volume II, page 26).
The gradual displacement of the traditional Patabëndigé sub-kings of Sri Lanka during the colonial period is clearly evident in contemporary colonial records. The Patabëndas who figured prominently in early Portuguese records as kinglets, are reduced to chiefs by the end of the Portuguese era. They fade away gradually during the Dutch period and are hardly mentioned during the British period. Raj 23 August 2006
