Previously, the Sunday Observer carried an account of oral histories in Vellassa that bear witness to the injustice they faced during the 1818 freedom struggle and since then. Today, Isuri Kaviratne further explores the national heroes that are forgotten. The best gratitude we can show these heroes is to remember them.
The story begins with the death of Sylvester Douglas Wilson. Various versions of this story is in circulation, it is not clear whether he was killed on the spot or was killed later, but his body was brought to a place called Eethana Watta, where there was a Paththini devalaya back in the day.
Ruins of the temple are still visible in the location. They said, the Paththini devalaya was converted into a Kaali devalaya where fighters such as Bhutewe Ratey Rala and Kohukumbure Ratey Rala swore to fight the British, and offered Wilson’s head as sacrifice to the devalaya. The son of previous ‘Kapu Mahaththaya’ of Paththini devalaya, 73 year old T.M. Punchi Banda said that until Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s time, the devalaya had much of its ancient glory and held a perahera and people visited it often.
Next to Paththini devalaya, there are ruins of two other constructions, which, according to Punchi Banda are, Bandara devalaya and Kaali devalaya.
Punchi Banda belongs to a generation in Wellassa who remember the stories of their ancestors, that is soon disappearing,. With them the stories will die, leaving fragments of memories of the Wellassa uprising. If you talk to senior people in Wellassa they would tell you the stories they grew up listening, remembering, as it was the only way to carry the memories of these heroes forward.
Not to be mistaken with the famous Ehelepola Adikaram, there was an Ellepola Nilame in the Wellassa struggle, stories of whose bravery people still talk about. H.M. Gunarathna Banda, the Secretary of the Vel-Eliya Foundation, welled with pride as he recited a quote uttered by Ellepola Nilame as he was captured: ‘Just because you think the God you believe in allow you to murder people who fight for their own country, you have no right to bury me in my motherland.’H.M. Muthu Banda, a retired Principal in the area said his ancestor Meegahapitiye Ratey Rala refused to be dragged by the British after capture; ‘Carry me if you can with respect, or kill me here itself for I’m not a criminal.’ Most of the fighters got captured due to betrayals as the colonial powers ensured that betrayals are a very profitable mode of income.
Mallehewe Ran Menika could very well have been the local Nightingale, the same way we call Saradiyel the local Robin Hood. Ran Menika is one of the warriors of the 1818 freedom struggle as well as a healer, sister of Bhutewe Rate Rala, wife of Radaliyedda Kuda Banda. The latter is said to be the first victim of the struggle. Ran Menika is said to have moved from place to place, Padiyathalawa, Ekiliyangala, Marangala, and tended to those who were wounded fighting the British, including Kivulegedara Mohottala. Her death was unfortunate, as she was raped and killed at Alupothakotuwa by the associates of ‘Hajji Muhandiram’, the administrative head appointed by the British. And today, forgotten in the history books.
History works in strange ways that highlights Keppetipola, but forgets to mention the hero that Kivulegedara Mohottala was, fighting alongside each other at the Rebellion. Kivulegedara Mohottala always resides in the shadows of Keppetipola Disawe.
They say, Keppetipola Disawe secretly transferred the guardianship of Daladawa to Kivulegedara Mohottalal who kept it safe and completely secret in his village Kivulegedara. But he had been part of the freedom struggle long before Keppetipola Disawe joined, for stories say that Kivulegedara Mohottala collected arms in his home, converting them to warehouses that store weapons. This indicates that Vellassa has been preparing for a fight since the collapse of the Kandyan Kingdom.
Folk lore in Vellassa dictate that there were three native fighting styles used by local fighters during the freedom struggle; Maruwaliya and sudaliya which were a form of angampora, as well as guerilla tactics. Gananath Obesekera, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus from Princeton University draws very distinctive lines between the 1818 Rebellion that was carried out in Kandy and in Uva Vellassa.
Those who joined from Kandy are the lords, and it’s because of their involvement that the Sri Daladawa was brought to Vellassa, kept in secret in various temples and in forests where it was finally found by the British and taken to Kandy again. But the fight took place in Vellassa, it was the war zone, and the civilians led the struggle, and lost. Prof Obesekera said, another group that is forgotten are the Veddas who took part in the Rebellion. “We currently entertain the British idea that Veddas are a ‘primitive’ group of people.
And the Veddas who fought during the 1818 freedom struggle are very different to the Veddas we see today in Mahiyangana. These Veddas, dressed like villagers and spoke Sinhala like the villagers. The Veddas who took up arms along with the civilians lived just outside the Kandyan Kingdom, and ruled”.
Prof Obesekera said, a Vedda Chief was crowned the first King of Matale, who cleared the forest, built villages and ruled. They played an important role in Kandy as suppliers of meat to the King, and other lords, and they were dispersed everywhere. The Colonial interpretations of Veddas have taken over as the British decimated a part of history of local Aadivaasi Vedda community, a powerful community that always fought along with the kings. Prof Obesekera said there are records of women fighters from the Vedda community who fought wars with kings.
After the Rebellion and the scorched earth policy of the British, having lost everything, people in Vellassa fled to Paanama, and to Vedda villagers, who lost their own traditions and culture due to the villagers settling in their villages. They didn’t give their family names to the children for fear of retribution. Paanama still remembers the aftermath of the Vellassa Rebellion but that’s a story for another day.
Part I of this article discussed the D’Oyly syndrome, a term coined by Gunarathne Banda. Sir John D’Oyly spent some time in Matara, learning Sinhala from renowned monk Karathota Dhammarama thera who was the teacher of Gajaman Nona, Elapatha Mudali and many other poets of the Matara era. Prof Obesekera however, questions D’Oyly’s fluency in Sinhala, stating that he has come across only one document written by D’Oyly in Sinhala after signing the Kandyan Convention in 1815, and nothing before that. This document was, of course, written in a way favourable to the British as all English writers did. They never rocked the boat.
Anthropologically speaking, it is very difficult for us to think the way our ancestors did before colonization due to the euro-centric education system that we’ve been part of, Prof Obesekera said. “We think like the West, while naturally, our cultures clash with it, as it was built on a different thinking platform. We are inventing new words in our local languages to describe western classifications. That’s one weight of the Victorian values imposed on us, and which we continue to live with”.
Coincidentally, Gunarathna Banda said something similar. “Capitalism comes from the west, socialism comes from the west, and our legal system comes from the west. Is it a surprise then that we have lost our identity in all of this?”