Bathgama
Encyclopedia
Also Batgama and Padu. A significant Sri Lankan caste predominantly in the Kandyan provinces, the traditional occupation of which was the cultivation of rice paddy. Hence the name Bath (rice) and Gama (village) in the Sinhala language.
system. This community has escaped the British
period consolidation of cultivator communities as the Govigama
caste and exists as an independent but rather disenfranchised caste. Some writers have attempted to call it the “Palanquin bearer” caste.
The late British
period saw the proliferation of native headmen and a Mudaliyars
class drawn from natives who were most likely to serve the British masters with utmost loyalty. (Mudaliyar is a South Indian and Tamil
name for ‘first’ and a person endowed with wealth.) This class resembled English country squires, complete with large land grants by the British, residences of unprecedented scale (Referred to by the Tamil
word Walauu or Walawoo) and British granted native titles.
The British Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon (1883 – 1890) and his predecessors effectively used divide and rule
policies and created caste animosity among the native elite and finally confined all Native Headmen appointments only to the Govigama
caste. The British Government Agent Layard
was advocating this as an effective policy for easy governance. Mahamudliar Louis De Saram’s family of Dutch
and Malay
ancestry had Sinhalised and Givigamised itself during the Dutch period and had a strong network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. This “Govigama” Anglican Christian network expanded further with the preponderance of native headmen as Mudaliyars, Korales and Vidanes from the Buddhist Govigama section of the community.
The creation of the above Mudaliyar
class by the British in the 19th century, its restriction only to the Govigama
caste, production of spurious caste hierarchy lists by this class and changes to the land tenure
system, resulted in this caste too being classified as a low caste during this period. Although contrary to history, some modern Govigama
historians even go to the extent to now suggest that this caste was traditionally bound to serve the Govi caste.
The influential Mudaliyar class attempted to keep this caste and all other Sri Lankan castes out of colonial appointments. They also used all possible means to economically and socially marginalise and subjugate all other communities. The oppression by the Mudaliars and connected headmen extended to demanding subservience, service, appropriation of cultivation rights and even restrictions on the type of personal names that could be used by this community.
Despite the above setbacks, several members of this caste are now successful entrepreneurs and are recognised as members of the local elite. They are gaining an increased say in modern Sri Lankan politics mainly through the alternative political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
as the leadership selection processes within the two main political parties are not democratic.Some scholars from Batagama community dates back there presence in Srilanka to the time period of pre histiic King Ravanna period.Historically they have made fine soldiers and trusted body guards. Some common surnames such as " muthudarage" "illandarage"'Hewapedige"'Rankothpedige""Wagasenevige" shows their relevance to military services and some of these surnames dates back to aking adutugemunu era. Even at present Bathgama people together With "Deva" people make up the most of the bodyguards for political leaders.
Due to marginalisation from mainstream Sinhala Buddhist society there are significant numbers of Christian converts since the colonial period, as conversion provided much easier access to good education and government jobs. Nonetheless, the vast majority of Bathgama people are Buddhists and a large number of prominent Buddhist monks of the "Ramagna" and "Amarapura" sects are from Bathgama Caste.
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History
As with most other occupational castes in Sri Lanka, the traditional occupation of this caste too was agriculture under Sri Lanka’s feudal land tenureLand tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
system. This community has escaped the British
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
period consolidation of cultivator communities as the Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste and exists as an independent but rather disenfranchised caste. Some writers have attempted to call it the “Palanquin bearer” caste.
The late British
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
period saw the proliferation of native headmen and a Mudaliyars
Sri Lankan Mudaliyars
Mudali was a colonial title & office in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of different castes form the coastal areas, who were most likely to serve the Portuguese masters with utmost loyalty. The Dutch continued the practice of...
class drawn from natives who were most likely to serve the British masters with utmost loyalty. (Mudaliyar is a South Indian and Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
name for ‘first’ and a person endowed with wealth.) This class resembled English country squires, complete with large land grants by the British, residences of unprecedented scale (Referred to by the Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
word Walauu or Walawoo) and British granted native titles.
The British Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon (1883 – 1890) and his predecessors effectively used divide and rule
Divide and rule
In politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
policies and created caste animosity among the native elite and finally confined all Native Headmen appointments only to the Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste. The British Government Agent Layard
Layard
Layard is a surname, and may refer to:* Austen Henry Layard , British, archaeologist, author, and politician* Edgar Leopold Layard , British ornithologist* John Layard , English anthropologist and psychologist...
was advocating this as an effective policy for easy governance. Mahamudliar Louis De Saram’s family of Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
and Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
ancestry had Sinhalised and Givigamised itself during the Dutch period and had a strong network of relatives as Mudaliyars by the late 19th century. This “Govigama” Anglican Christian network expanded further with the preponderance of native headmen as Mudaliyars, Korales and Vidanes from the Buddhist Govigama section of the community.
The creation of the above Mudaliyar
Sri Lankan Mudaliyars
Mudali was a colonial title & office in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese colonials created the Mudaliyar class in the 17th century by enlisting natives of different castes form the coastal areas, who were most likely to serve the Portuguese masters with utmost loyalty. The Dutch continued the practice of...
class by the British in the 19th century, its restriction only to the Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
caste, production of spurious caste hierarchy lists by this class and changes to the land tenure
Land tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
system, resulted in this caste too being classified as a low caste during this period. Although contrary to history, some modern Govigama
Govigama
Govi, Govigama, Goigama, Goygama, Goyigama, Goviyo is the most influential and the dominant Caste in Sri Lanka and certainly comes as the leading cast in the hierarchy of cast system in Sri Lanka.The term Govi denotes farmer.From time immemorial the Govigama have been the landlords and have been...
historians even go to the extent to now suggest that this caste was traditionally bound to serve the Govi caste.
The influential Mudaliyar class attempted to keep this caste and all other Sri Lankan castes out of colonial appointments. They also used all possible means to economically and socially marginalise and subjugate all other communities. The oppression by the Mudaliars and connected headmen extended to demanding subservience, service, appropriation of cultivation rights and even restrictions on the type of personal names that could be used by this community.
Despite the above setbacks, several members of this caste are now successful entrepreneurs and are recognised as members of the local elite. They are gaining an increased say in modern Sri Lankan politics mainly through the alternative political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
as the leadership selection processes within the two main political parties are not democratic.Some scholars from Batagama community dates back there presence in Srilanka to the time period of pre histiic King Ravanna period.Historically they have made fine soldiers and trusted body guards. Some common surnames such as " muthudarage" "illandarage"'Hewapedige"'Rankothpedige""Wagasenevige" shows their relevance to military services and some of these surnames dates back to aking adutugemunu era. Even at present Bathgama people together With "Deva" people make up the most of the bodyguards for political leaders.
Due to marginalisation from mainstream Sinhala Buddhist society there are significant numbers of Christian converts since the colonial period, as conversion provided much easier access to good education and government jobs. Nonetheless, the vast majority of Bathgama people are Buddhists and a large number of prominent Buddhist monks of the "Ramagna" and "Amarapura" sects are from Bathgama Caste.
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A few prominent members of the Bathgama community
- N.H. Keerthiratne Ex Cabinet Minister of Posts and Broadcasting
- Asoka KarunaratneAsoka KarunaratneNuvarapaksa Hevalage Asoka Mahanama Karunaratne was a Sri Lankan politician and philanthropist. As Cabinet Minister of Social Services, he dedicated most of his life to helping the Sri Lankan people.-Early Life and Death:...
Ex Cabinet Minister of Social Services - Mihindu KeerthiratneThe Renowned Sri Lankan Architect
- Mahindananda AluthgamageMahindananda AluthgamageMahindananda Aluthgamage , MP is the Sri Lankan Sports minister. Deputy Minister of Power & Energy. He is a Member of Parliament for Kandy District. He was educated at Gangasiripura Vidyalaya and Royal College Colombo....
Cabinet minister - Lalith DissanayakeLalith DissanayakeLalith Chandra Buddhisiri Dissanayake is a Sri Lankan politician, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and a government minister. He is an alumnus of Dharmaraja College.-References:...
Deputy Minister of Health and Former Health Minister of Sabaragamuwa Province - Samantha Devi Mahamaya Karunaratne Former Parliamentarian and Minister of United National Party Government
- Cyril Wickremage Veteran Artist and Actor
- Lional Rajapakse Former Parliamentarian of Kurunegala District and SLFP Chief Organizer of Polgahawela
- Ananda Wickremage Popular Actor
- D. P. Wickremasinghe Ex Cabinet Minister
- Neranjan Wickremasinghe Ex Provincial Minister of North Western Province,SLFP Chief Organizer of Mawathagama and current Member of Parliament
- Gunadasa Dehigama Provincial Minister of North Western Province,SLFP District Organizer of Kurunegala
- Sri Lal Wickremasinghe Sabaragamuwa Provincial Agriculture Minister and Yatiyanthota SLFP Chief Organizer
- Athula Wagalath Chairman of Polgahawela Pradeshiya Saba
- D P Ajith Rohana Provincial Counsil Member of North Western Province UNP Chief Organizer of Mawathagama
- Susanthika Jayasinghe Olympic silver medalist
- Prof A.V.Suraveera Ex minister
- Dr.Charles Godakumbura Archeologist
- Bandula Warnapura first Sri Lankan test cricket captain
- Chandralekha Perera famous singer