Mudaliyars of the Association of Ceylon Chiefs met to celebrate the King's birthday in June 1923
Mudaliyar (orMudali) was aCeylonese colonial title duringPortuguese andBritish rule of the island. Stemming from thenative headman system, the title was usually hereditary, made to wealthy influential families loyal to the British Crown.[1]
It was first used bySinhalese kings and reigning princes from thePolonnaruwa period onwards to ennoble subjects, the Portuguese from the 17th century onwards, followed by the Dutch and British continued use of the Mudaliyar title.[1][2] The British use differed slightly in that they re-established a Mudaliyar class, at the behest of the Governor of Ceylon, with appointments that had the title of Mudali. This process was stopped in the 1930s when the Native Department of the British government of Ceylon was closed down.[3]
The members of this group formed a unique social group called theSri Lankan Mudaliyars and associated with olderRadala caste.[4] At present, the post of Court Mudliar remains in function in Sri Lankan courts.
Mudaliyar is aTamil title, derived from the wordmudhal, meaning "first", and the honorific suffixyar, meaning "The first" as in the person of the first rank.[5][6] The position was created in the 17th century by the Portuguese to function as a link between the colonial administration and the local populace, as they had done in South India. Incumbents received payment in form of land grants and use of tenured service (Rajakariya) of the local population which they extracted for their own estates.[7]
A De Saram family of Dutch and Malay ancestry hadSinhalised itself in the late 18th century by posing as the representatives of the masses and subsequently convincing the British rulers that they were from the numerousGovigama caste. This was a strategic move as it gave the British masters the impression that the De Saram family had the backing of a large body of natives. It was also the easiest route toSinhalisation as the peasant community was widely dispersed, still unstructured, and without inter-community networks or leaders.
Mudaliyar Don Spater Senanayake, son of Don Bartholomew who assumed the name Senanayake, with son-in-law F. H. Dias-Bandaranaike, sonsDon Stephen Senanayake, Don Charles andFredrick Richard, daughter Maria Frances and wife Dona Catherina Elizabeth Perera.
The first notable ancestor of the De Saram family was an interpreter who accompanied the Dutch Embassy to Kandy 1731–1732. Despite his advanced age of 71 years, this early De Saram had to make the entire journey by foot as his social status did not warrant travel in apalanquin.[8] From there, the De Saram family progressively gained power and position by loyalty, switching religions from Dutch Protestantism to British Anglicanism and benefitting from the preference of British rulers to appoint individuals of unknown ancestry to high positions. By respectively collaborating with the Dutch and British rulers, the De Sarams succeeded in marginalizing the traditional ruling class.GovernorsMaitland (1805–1811),Gordon (1883–1890) and others effectively useddivide and rule policies and created caste animosity among the native elite.[9] The De Saram family eventually had a strong and exclusive network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. Later, through marriage alliances, the network extended to the Obeyesekere, Dias-Bandaranaike, Ilangakoon, de Alwis, de Livera, Pieris, Siriwardena, and Senanayake families.
As much as the De Saram family was responsible for the rise of theGovigama caste, the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy Family was responsible for the 20th century, rise of theTamilVellalar caste. The ascendance of the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family commences with a Coomaraswamy (1783–1836) fromPoint Pedro joining the seminary that Governor North started for producing interpreters. Coomaraswamy passed out and served as an interpreter from 1805. He was appointed by the Governor to a Mudaliyar position at the age of 26 and became the Jaffna Tamil with the highest government appointment. He played a critical role as the Tamil-English interpreter when the Kandyan king Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy was captured in 1815. He was rewarded by Governor Brownrigg in 1819 for loyal service to the British crown. There were allegations that he was not from the Vellala caste. James Rutnam's research[full citation needed] has shown that Coomaraswamy's Father was Arumugampillai, a South Indian, who had migrated to Gurudavil in Jaffna. (Tribune 1957).
Ponnanbalam Ramanathan in 1906 with his future wife Ms. Harrison (right). Several members of the family were married to western women. James Edward Corea, a wealthy landowner fromChilaw was appointedGate Mudaliyar by theGovernor of Ceylon. He was placed in charge of the rural police of Pitigal Korale North. Gate Mudaliyar J.E.Corea came from anAnglican Christian background.
Ponnambalam was appointed cashier of the Colombo Kachcheri in 1845 and deputy Coroner for Colombo in 1847. Many leading Englishmen were his friends and it transpired in the 1849 Parliamentary Commission that he used to lend money to government officials.[10] His three sons P. Coomaraswamy (1849–1905), P. Ramanathan (1851–1930) and P. Arunachalam (1853–1926) became national figures. This closely related and endogamous clan emerged as the pre-eminent Tamil family of the country and rose to national elite status.[11] Despite their Anglicized background which propelled their rise, the family presented a staunch Hindu appearance and assumed the role of 'Patrons of theVellalas in Colombo. However many of its members; Muttu Coomaraswamy, P. Coomaraswamy, P. Ramanathan married western women.Ananda Coomaraswamy was married four times to western women. They helped many young Tamils to secure employment in English Banks and Mercantile establishments. On the death of Mudaliyar Coomaraswamy's wife in 1897, the leading daily, 'The Ceylon Independent' wrote" to her and her husband, almost every important Hindu family in the city owes its rise".
In 1853, the British GovernorGeorge William Anderson appointedJeronis de Soysa, a successful merchant who had undertaken a great deal of philanthropy as a Gate Mudaliyar as anhonour in recognition of his philanthropic en-devours. From this point, the Governors made Mudaliyar appointments astitular honours to individuals outside the government service. This practice continued past the discontinuation of the native headman system in 1937 and into the post-independence era untilS. W. R. D. Bandaranaike suspended state honours in 1956.
Gate Mudaliyar Don Johannes Tillekeratne Abeyesekere,[19] Mudaliyar of the Adikarie & Maha Pattus of siyane Korale in the Western Province, retired on pension after serving Government for 53 years in 1876
Gate Mudaliyar Philip De Silva Pandittsekere Ekanayake Senewiratne[19] Mudaliyar of Siyane Korale
Gate Mudaliyar Baba Hakim Muthaliph (1779–1839) of Magampattuwa[20]
