The adaptable peasant : agrarian society in western Sri Lanka under Dutch rule, 1740-1800 / by Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dewasiri, Nirmal Ranjith.

Series:

TANAP monographs on the history of the Asian-European interaction ; v. 9.

TANAP monographs on the history of the Asian-European interaction

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie.

History.

Land tenure.

Rural conditions.

Sri Lanka--Rural conditions--18th century.

Sri Lanka.

Land tenure--Sri Lanka--History--18th century.

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie--History--18th century.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 294 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2008.

Summary:

This study investigates the structural changes in western Sri Lanka's agrarian society under the administration of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). In the areas where peasant agriculture was the predominant form of production, changes in the land tenure system paved the way for a modern system of private property relations. A new class differentiation emerged and the indigenous chiefs turned into powerful landowners. In addition to this, new light is shed on the dynamics of caste formation as a result of the early colonial encounter.

Contents:

Historical setting 4

Historiography 10

Conceptualising the 'peasant' in the context of the colonial hegemony 13

Some methodological issues 15

Organisation of chapters 22

Chapter 1 The World of the Peasant 25

Everyday life of the peasant 25

Links with the outside world 29

The world of the peasant and external forces 32

Demographic patterns 33

The horizons of the peasant's life 42

Gama: What's in a name? 43

The boundaries and the geographical sense of gama 47

The internal setting of the village 49

1 The internal setting of Kahambilihena 53

2 The vasagama group and the internal setting of gama 55

3 Caste in the internal setting of the gama 57

Some concluding remarks 57

Chapter 2 The System of Production and Its Changes 59

Level of rice production 59

Three systems of production 62

Changing patterns of land utilisation in the peasant production 63

1 Company policy towards chena cultivation 65

2 The changing role of gardens 67

Coconut, areca nut, and jak trees as garden crops 70

The market for garden crops 76

Plantations as a new mode of land consumption 77

1 The rise and fall of cinnamon plantations 78

2 Ownership of cinnamon plantations 81

3 Coconut plantations 82

Changing aspects of the traditional labour organisation 84

1 Colonial rule and the social division of labour 88

2 Draining labour out of peasant production through rajakariya 93

3 Labour supply for plantations 99

4 Changing labour relations among manufacturing and service castes 102

Chapter 3 Land Tenure and Its Changes 105

The main features of pre-colonial land tenure 107

The land tenure system as found in the tombos 109

1 Paraveni lands 110

2 Lands that belong to the 'lord of the land' 111

3 Principal Land Holders (PLH) 113

4 Absentee Principal Land Holders 114

Changes in the land tenure 116

A historical explanation of the change 118

Accommodessan grants 125

The theory and practice of the concept of bhupati 131

Summary of structural changes that occurred in traditional land tenure under the Dutch administration 136

Chapter 4 The Emergence of a New Class Formation and the Rise of a Landowning Class 141

Prelude to the new class differentiation 141

Class structure of the Ogodapola formation 145

Class structure of Mapitigama 155

Some comparative observations on the class structure in Ogodapola formation and Mapitigama 167

The rise of the landowning class 170

1 Numerical strength of the landowning class 172

2 Sources of economic power of the landowning class 174

3 Modes of acquisition of lands by the landowning class 176

4 Labour mobilisation by the landowning class 179

5 Production process of the lands of the landowning class 180

Chapter 5 Caste and Social Mobility 185

Caste in a colonial context 185

Caste communities and hierarchies 186

1 Revisiting caste hierarchy: some problems in the history and historiography 187

2 The Goyigama caste and the ritual order 192

3 Perpetuation of caste distinction 197

Caste formation in the mid-eighteenth century 199

1 Some features of the mid-eighteenth century 202

2 Regional specificities of the concentration and dispersal tendencies of the geographical distribution of castes 206

Long term dynamics of the caste formation 207

Caste and the Company 211

1 Changing economic power of non-Goyigama interior castes 211

2 Emergence of internal hierarchies in castes 214

Communities v. hierarchy: some concluding remarks 217

Chapter 6 The Discussion 221

Land and labour 221

Class and caste 224

Dynamics of caste relations 230

The problem of 'change' in peasant societies 235

1 Chronological list of Kings of Kandy and Dutch Governors of Ceylon 273

2 List of accommodessan grants 274

3 Classification of people in various sources 276

1 VOC possessions in Sri Lanka xxiii

2 Location map of the central area of the study xxiv

3 Peasants' link to the outside world xxv

4 Some important settlement areas of Hina Korale xxvi

5 Settlement pattern of the Ogodapola formation xxvii

6 Internal setting of Kahambilihena xxviii

7 Coconut plantations in Hina Korale xxix

8 Hakuru settlements in Hina, Alutkuru, Hewagam, and Salpity Korales xxx

9 Padu settlements in Hina, Alutkuru, Hewagam, and Salpity Korales xxxi

1 Rural landscape overlooking Radaliyagoda (Hina/Mada) 24

2 Temple of Varana (Hina/Mada) 28

3 A footpath (next to the Udugoda ambalama) 30

4 Remnants of an ambalama (rest house) after restoration (Udugoda-Hina/Mada) 48

1.1 Settlement structure of interior areas 42

3.1 The theory of land tenure (the simple model-stage one) 106

3.2 Ideal model of pre-colonial service tenure (stage two) 106

3.3 Portuguese system of village grants 123

3.4 Traditional system of authority and drain of surplus 137

3.5 The Company-Chiefs-Peasants Triad 139

1.1 Population increase in Weliweriya and surrounding villages 39

2.1 Changes of the sustainability of peasant families in the Ogodapola formation as shown in the changes in per capita paddy-land ownership 89

4.1 Relative accumulation capability of the Ogodapola formation (paddy-lands) 150

4.2 Ownership of garden crops in the Ogodapola formation 152

4.3 Paddy-land ownership in Mapitigama 158

4.4 Accumulation capability in Mapitigama: paddy-lands (in kuruni) 159

4.5 Access to owiti lands in Mapitigama (in kuruni) 160

4.6 Per capita coconut tree ownership, Mapitigama 162

4.7 Per capita jak tree ownership, Mapitigama 163

4.8 Variations in the accumulation pattern of coconut trees, Mapitigama 165

4.9 Variations in the accumulation pattern of areca nut trees, Mapitigama 165

4.10 Variations in the accumulation pattern of jak trees, Mapitigama 165

5.1 Distribution of non-Goyigama castes in interior villages, 1760-1771 204

0.1 Model of structural change 16

1.1 Distribution of PLH groups in some settlement units of four korale divisions in the Colombo Disavany 34

1.2 Population in the Hina Korale Meda Pattuwa Division 35

1.3 Distribution of population in the Weliweriya formation 38

1.4 High population density villages of the Wandurawa formation 40

1.5 Comparative population figures of some villages of Mada Pattuwa of Hina Korale, 1760 and 2001 44

1.6 Caste/family composition (464 villages) 50

1.7 Demographic and social figures of Kahambilihena 53

2.1 Distribution of chenas 63

2.2 Distribution of chenas in the Weliweriya formation and surrounding villages 64

2.3 Distribution of chenas in the Wilimbula formation 64

2.4 Requests for chenas in the Colombo Disavany: Report of the Disava, 1768 67

2.5 Relative importance of paddy and coconut 68

2.6 Delivery of pepper and coffee 70

2.7 Garden crop in Udugaha Pattuwa of Hina Korale 71

2.8 Number of coconut trees in the gardens of eight villages in Hina Korale 72

2.9 Ownership of coconut trees by each family in four villages of Hina Korale 72

2.10 Distribution of jak trees as a garden crop in eight villages of Hina Korale 74

2.11 Areca nut delivery, 1742-1750 74

2.12 Regional distribution of cinnamon gardens in the Colombo Disavany 80

2.13 Ownership of cinnamon plantations in 1786 82

2.14 Distribution of coconut plantations exceeding 200 trees 83

2.15 Ownership of large and medium size coconut plantations in Hina Korale 84

2.16 Slave ownership in Colombo 85

2.17 Social division of labour (old) caste distribution in Mada Pattuwa of Hina Korale 87

2.18 Ownership of paddy and garden trees by potter families in Mada Pattuwa of Hina Korale 88

2.19 Change of the sustainability of a peasant family in three villages 90

2.20 Social division of labour (new) 98

3.1 Comparison of pre-colonial and colonial land tenure 116

3.2 Villages given away as accommodessans 129

4.1 Social composition of the Ogodapola formation 146

4.2 Ownership of paddy-lands in the Ogodapola formation 147

4.3 Distribution pattern of

per-capita paddy ownership among 17 PLHs in the Ogodapola formation 149

4.4 Relative accumulation capabilities of the Ogodapola formation 149

4.5 Accumulation capability in garden crops in the Ogodapola formation 153

4.6 Social composition and access to paddy-land in Mapitigama 156

4.7 Social composition of owners of coconut plantations 171

4.8 Distribution of inhabitants according to the service rendered to the Company, 1707 173

4.9 Purchase of garden lands in Mapitigama 178

5.1 Caste based population distribution, 1707, 1760s, and 1814 200

5.2 Caste based population (Colombo Four Gravets, 1760s) 201

5.3 Distribution of castes in 365 interior villages, 1760s 203

5.4 Ownership of coconut plantations by non-Goyigama interior castes 212

5.5 Hierarchical formation of Chalias (Salagama caste) 215.

Notes:

Based on the author's thesis (doctoral--Leiden University).

Includes bibliographical references (pages [281]-288) and index.

ISBN:

9789004165083

9004165088

OCLC:

173808136