Radala

A lithograph from 1841 showing traditional Nilames walking in the Kandy Perehera.

Radala refers to a small minority caste of people in Sinhalased Tamil origin in the Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka. They were the Chiefs of the Kingdom of Kandy. The word "Radala" came into existence after the throne of the Kingdom of Kandy went to the Nayak Dynasty. Higher officials in the court of Vira Narendra Sinha were offered this state and Nayakkara prince was selected as king over king's son by a local queen. After capturing the Kandyan provinces in 1815 with the aid of locals from both maritime and Kandyan provinces, the British created an extensive class of loyal 'New Radalas' in the Kandyan territory to assist them in the administration of that province.

Traditionally, Radala was not a common term used for all officials of the state. In the Sinhala version of the Kandyan Convention of 1815, only the Adigars, Dissavas and a few others are called Radalas. The 19th century British rulers who created an extensive class of 'New Radalas' in the Kandyan territory were keen to call them an aristocracy to assist them with its administration. However Sri Lankan history shows that many Kandyan Radalas were civil and military officials of the court and considered aristocratic but not as direct heirs to the Kandyan throne.

History

The Nayak Radalas

A group of Kandyan Chiefs from Tennent's Ceylon, published in 1859.

The offspring of Nayakar Kings from high cast concubines (yakadadoli) were those that were originally considered as Radalas. In addition to a chief queen and one or two secondary queens, Kandyan kings also had a Harem. Harem ladies from royal stock were called Randoli. Hindu princesses were brought over from Madurai in South India as Randolis, after the royal families of the maritime region in Sri Lanka converted to Christianity and were therefore no longer eligible. Ladies of the Radala castes were taken into the harem as Yakadadoli. Favorite concubines frequently received land grants and their offspring were appointed as high officials of the royal court and in a few cases inherited the kingdom.

The status disparity between royalty and the Radalas was small and the Radalas only had to call themselves 'serviles' (gettás) in the presence of the king and prostrated only at ritual ceremonies to demonstrate their lower status vis a vis the king. So they also called by local people as "Gaththara or Gasthara" people. This practice continued into the British period and was abhorred as a degrading form of ancient tyranny and abolished by the British in 1818 under the proclamation of November 21, 1818 by Governor Robert Brownrigg. Apart from having to continuously dress in full in the presence of the King, the Radalas didn't have to rise from their seats like other commoners when the king's dirty linen was taken past them (A Historical Relation of Ceylon, Robert Knox, Part II, Chapter2). They were permitted to use their own ancestral and military insignia, swords, umbrellas, jewellery and wear shoes. Some Chiefs were merely personal attendants of the King. The Diyawadana Nilame was the King's personal valet responsible for bathing and dressing of the King.

The traditional Kandyan Radala of the past had considered themselves to be an exclusive caste and not part of the Govigama caste. Bryce Ryan observed as recent as 1953 that Radalas repudiated Govi connections and that the status of the Govi caste still remains relatively low in villages where the Radala existed (Caste in Modern Ceylon, page 99). The demand by the Kandyan Radala elite for a separate federal state in independent Ceylon, the representations made to the Donoughmore Commission and the formation of the Kandyan National Assembly (KNA) as recently as in 1924 demonstrates the reluctance of the Kandyan elite to be governed by arriviste low country Govigama families of dubious ancestry, which was to be the inevitable outcome of the British departure.

The Radala's as a community had had significant power over the throne of Kandy. This was the case as the last Nayakar King of Kandy, Sri Wickrema Rajasinha lost his throne soon after losing the military and administrative support of the Radalas for his cruelty towards his subjects, and for his licentious forced affairs with their wives and daughters.

The British Radalas

A group of British appointed Kandyan chiefs, with Hon. J. P. Lewis, Government Agent in 1905. The chiefs have adopted the dress of traditional Dissawas by this time but still haven't started using other traditional insignia of high office such as jewelry, ceremonial daggers or footwear.

A group of British appointed Kandyan chiefs, with a British Governor in 1905.

After capturing the Kandyan provinces in 1815, the British soon created an extensive class of 'New Radalas' in the Kandyan territory to assist them with its administration. As much as the British created class of Sri Lankan Mudaliyars in the low-country, this class too was composed of natives who were most likely to serve the British, Govigama families that had either cooperated with the British to capture Kandy or from miscellaneous lower caste families that had joined the British cause later for financial purposes.

They were all from anglicised families and were considered pillars of the Anglican church. They had English first names and their children too were similarly named. In addition they had a string of high sounding Sinhala names taken on when receiving their appointment from the British. Some of these names were from Kandyan families that had ceased to exist or were severely reduced, and from purported ancestors with dubious connections. The new British-made Radala class were immediately rejected by the original Kandyan Radalas. The new British-made Radalas tried unsuccessfully to rename themselves with the names of famous Kandyan Radalas such as the Keppitipolas, Mampitiyas, and Ranarajas. All these attempts were rejected by the British for fear of further dissent by the original Kandyan Radalas.

Many of these 'New Radala' families had low-country origins and many intermarried with the anglicized low country Mudaliyar class, and in many cases several times with one family in an apparent bid to create some exclusivity. Most were from the Sabaragamuwa province and not from interior parts of the Kandyan provinces that were less susceptible to British influence. These New Radals too resembled English country squires and most of them had received large land grants from the British for their servitude. Their residences were of unprecedented scale, built in the 19th century in the British colonial style and were referred to by the Tamil word Walauu or Walvoo.

They generally held 'Rate Mahattaya' or local administrator positions and had studied under leading Anglican Priests at the Anglican missionary schools S.Thomas' College, Trinity College (Kandy) and High school Ratnapura, which were institutions set up by the British specifically for producing a class of loyal, local, second level administrators. With each successive batch of British Civil Servants and Governors arriving in Sri Lanka, this propped up pseudo-aristocratic group tried harder and harder to generate a greater and higher appearance of nobility and Kandyan lineage.

However the descendants of the original Kandyan Radalas rarely marry the descendants of British-made Radalas or any other Govigamas for that matter. If any of them do, those people and all their descendants are classified as lower-caste outcastes by the descendants of the original Radala community.

20th century

Front Centre (seated):John Henry Meediniya Adigar with his family in 1905. Rear Centre (standing): his daughter, Alice, who married the low-country newspaper magnate D. R. Wijewardena in 1916.

The marriage in 1910 to Kandyan 'New Radala' Mollie Dunuwila, newspaper magnate D. R. Wijewardena's marriage in 1916 to a Meedeniya and finally S. W. R. D. Bandaranayake's marriage in 1940 to Sirimavo Ratwatte appear to have muted some of the antipathy and created the common political power block that has ruled the country since independence from the British in 1948. The Radalas however are still relatively endogamous and even as at date would only rarely marry an average Govigama in an arranged marriage.

Nilame

Nilame word from Tamil origin நிலம் (land) what-is referred to the Buddhist Temples or Hindu Devalaya officials. The names of the officials were given according to their position in each Devalaya. Due to the development of language and change of requirements, the positions were changed and its names were changed.

Notable members of British Radala

• William Gopallawa, MBE - First President of Sri Lanka and last Governor-General of Ceylon
• Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike - Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and first female Prime Minister in the world
• P. B. Bulankulame Dissava - former Cabinet Minister of Land and Land Development
• Harris Leuke Ratwatte - Member of the State Council of Ceylon, Parliament and the Senate of Ceylon and Diyawadana Nilame
• General Anuruddha Ratwatte - former Cabinet Minister and acting Diyawadana Nilame
• Major General Richard Udugama, MBE - Former Commander of the Ceylon Army and Member of Parliament
• Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa - A former Overall Operations Commander, Northern Sector.
• Hector Kobbekaduwa - former Cabinet Minister and 1982 presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
• Ranjan Madugalle - former Test Cricket Captain of Sri -Lanka and current Chief Match Referee of the International Cricket Council
• J. H. Meedeniya Adigar - Legislator
• Major E. A. Nugawela - former Cabinet Minister of Education (of the first cabinet 1947), Member of Parliament & State Council
• Hon P. B. Nugawela - Dissawe and Member of the Ceylon State Council, 1931-2
• Sir Lawrence Nugawela Adigar - Rate Mahatmaya of Katugampola Hatpattu in Kurunegala District, was honored with the rank of Disawa and was awarded the rank of Second Adigar on his retirement from Government Service
• Sir Tikiri Bandara Panabokke II Adigar - former Cabinet Minister of Health
• Theodore Braybrooke Panabokke - Politician, Lawyer and Diplomat
• Barnes Ratwatte Dissava - Member of State Council and Senate
• Justice Barnes Ratwatte II - Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
• Clifford Ratwatte - former Deputy Minister of Agriculture & Member of Parliament
• Sir Cuda Ratwatte Adigar - Mayor of Kandy
• S. N. W. Hulugalle - Representative of the Kandyans in the Legislative Council of Ceylon.
• Cuda Banda Nugawela Disawe - Diyawadana Nilame

See also

• Kandyan Convention
• Native headmen of Ceylon
• Walauwa
• Kastane
• Rate Mahatmaya

References

• Wright Arnold 1907 Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon
• Van Sandan J C The Chieftains of Ceylon