Surnames in Kandyan Kingdom

By SENA THORADENIYA

This is an afterword to Dr. G. Usvatte-aratchi’s article, “Sinhala Surnames” published in The Island Sat Mag of 3 July 2021. The Concise Oxford Dictionary describes surname as “a hereditary name common to all members of a family, as distinct from a (Christian name or) first name (forename)”; “an additional descriptive or allusive name, (title or epithet) attached to a person (added to a person’s name), sometimes becoming hereditary” (Eighth Edition and Tenth Edition Revised).

In my study of Dumbara (ready for publication) I have devoted four chapters to describe village names, Gedera nam (name of the homestead: usually the name of the highland plot or the name of a paddy field), Vasagam (family names) including Mudiyanse names and Walawwa names, titles, surnames, personal names and nicknames which were prevalent in Dumbara, one of the five Ratas (territory) around the capital of the ancient Kandyan Kingdom.

One should not attempt to trace the history of Sinhala surnames associating them with the advent of Western colonialists, although in the maritime provinces some people were compelled to borrow Portuguese names, a sign of foreign domination, servitude and cultural aggression. To trace the history of surnames in the ancient Kandyan Kingdom one has to consult our literary sources, kada-im poth (Boundary books) which go back to the fourteenth century, lekam miti (Land Rolls) of various categories, many types of ancient documents related to land grants such as sannas and thalpath, and the deeds made after legislating registration of land mandatory.

“Mandaran Pura Puwatha”,

a poetry book consisting of 866 verses, helps us to identify many surnames of office holders and military leaders from the days of King Rajasinghe I. This list is too comprehensive to quote in a newspaper article. A.C. Lawrie’s “Gazetteer of the Central Province of Ceylon” (1898) is a veritable source to identify all types of names found in the Kandyan countryside, which also includes names of highland plots and paddy fields. The Electoral List prepared for the first election of the State Council conducted under universal suffrage in 1931, provides lists of unembellished and uncorrupted surnames in their natural form, which later suffered with upward mobility.

In the Kandyan countryside there is a closely identifiable affinity between village names and surnames of the officeholders in ancient times. Office holders derived their surnames either from the village names of their fathers, sometimes of their mothers or from the village they chose to reside. Again this list is too exhaustive. Dugganna Unnnases or Mahatmayos or Yakadadolis (King’s concubines) were also identified with the village names. Mahabandihami and the beautiful name Chandra Rekhavo (of Alutgama of Patha Dumbara) were two personal names of such Yakadadolis found in historical sources. Kandyan chieftains who signed the so-called Kandyan Convention in 1815, all used their village names. One of these signatories was Millawa, Dissawa of Wellassa. By some strange circumstances his son, a faithful servant of the British Empire, adopted his mother’s name Dunuvila, a village in Harispattuwa bordering Patha Dumbara. John Davy in his “An Account of the Interior of Ceylon” (1821) says Millawa was “the most learned of all the Kandyan chiefs”, although the present-day writers have ruthlessly castigated Davy’s method of collecting information to write “Sketch of the History of Ceylon”, a chapter in his “Account”.

In the British period many families adopted their Gedera names, Vasagam and also the names of their hamlets as their surnames; for example, in the former case, Ambagahawela Gedera people dropped Gedera and used the surname Ambagahawela, while some retained it as in the case of Pihillegedera. Some others adopted their Mudiyanse names as surnames such as Herath Mudiyanselage Kiri Banda becoming Herath Mudiyanselage Kiri Banda Herath. Tillakaratna Banda became Banda Tillakaratna retaining Tillakaratna as his surname; but without giving his children his adopted surname, he resorted to his ancestral roots in picking a surname for his children. Most of these changes occurred from the beginning of the twentieth century. Minor titles in the ancient palace, military and provincial administration such as Korala, Mudiyanse, Mohottala, Duggannarala, Mahalekam, Wedikkara, Atapattu, Palihawadana, Vannaku were later adopted as surnames. But honorifics of the chiefs of the so-called depressed castes, which were in abundance, were not accepted as surnames by their communities. An interesting development is Gama Gedera and Dugganna Gedera becoming Gama Walawwa and Dugganna Walawwa respectively.

In the ancient times Gedara names, family names and personal names mirrored or gave an accurate reflection of the rigid caste system, as all Gedara names and family names in general and personal names in particular were caste-based. Members of the so-called depressed castes had only a personal name; these names were very beautiful, rhythmic and resonate like a melodious note denoting many virtues of the name holder, something lacking in the personal names of the members of the so-called privileged castes. I have collected hundreds of such beautiful personal names of males and females respectively. But nobody had the courage and inclination to name their progeny by their village names or Gedera names until recent times, which was the preserve of the so-called upper castes. In my writings I have elaborated that changing the caste-based names and some adopting names of the privileged lot, resembles a struggle in defiance of age-old discrimination. But simply adopting a name which was a taboo in one generation does not signify complete emancipation. Upward mobility that took place as a result of opening of more and more educational and employment opportunities, and migration to big cities, gave a new dimension to the development of surnames.

Now, for the query of Dr. Rohan H. Wickremasighe: “Mandaran Pura Puwatha” was authored by the poet “Wikum Aduru Pandiwara”, Haluwadana Nilame (Chief of Royal Wardrobe) of King Rajasinghe II. It also mentions of a “Wikumsiha Pandi” of Bogamuwa (Kurunegala District) and “Wickramasingh Kotalawala Tennakone Methi” of Saparagamuwa.