Society of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan society is
multi-ethnic and multi-religious since the pre-historic times;
each group is mainly characterized by their religions. The
majority ethnic group is the Sinhalese who practice Buddhism. The
second-largest group is the Tamils who are adherent to Hinduism.
Others are Muslims and Christians. With the religious diversity,
each community has less interaction with each other, and certain
group even came up with conflicts.
Sri Lankan society is dominantly
marked by the caste system. Caste system in Sri Lanka is similar
to that of India; it is on the same basis that every person is
born into a particular group which defines his or her fixed
position within society for lifetime. Purity is one of the most
basic concepts of caste system. It is believed that each person
was born through several past lives and experiences before
attaining enough the transcendent knowledge of the material world
to get to the ultimate goal of life-that is the salvation or
enlightenment. The further step on the road of salvation, the
purer consciousness they will have. And, the upper-caste is
regarded as the purer people than the lower ones and also deserves
respect. These ideas about purity and duty offer the rationale for
splitting society into a large number of groups, ranked by the
purity of their lifestyles or occupations. The person in each
caste must preserve their purity by avoiding the contact with the
persons of lower purity.
In Sri Lanka, there are two caste
systems, one for the Sinhalese and the other is for the Tamils.
For the Sinhalese, although Buddhism they practice discourages the
distinction based on caste, it still exists but related to nothing
about purity; it is rather on the basis of hereditary roles and
functions. For the Tamils, Hinduism is undoubtedly a perpetuated
influence on social division among themselves.
Caste
system
Caste among the Sinhalese
The most prevailing caste among
the Sinhalese population is the Govigama, comprising at
least half the Sinhalese population. In traditional Sinhalese
society, the people belonged to this caste monopolized the highest
positions at royal courts and were mostly the landowning elites.
In the twentieth century with a change to the democratic society,
people of Govigama caste still dominate the political scene. In
most villages, members of the caste are still the rich landlords
who practice the traditionally agricultural occupation.
The traditional caste system
remains strong especially in the Central Highlands where the
former Sinhalese Kingdom, the Kandy Kingdom locates. The kingdom
survived the colonization until 1818. Despite its collapse, some
traditional practice concerning the caste system was considerably
preserved within their society. The most important legacy of the
traditional Sinhalese caste system is "rajakariya" or
the "king's work" which linked each caste to specific
occupation and demanded services for the court and religious
institutions. It is obvious then that the caste system of
Sinhalese is closely connected to job. The occupation leads to
sub-castes among the Sinhalese themselves. The honorific titles of
the official ranking of noble dating back to the old kingdom
differentiate people from those belonged to commoner families.
Marriages between members of the noble families and of the common
ones are rare.
Due to conservative tendency of
the Sinhalese inhabiting in the Central Highlands, there emerged
the variant Sinhalese group that conduct their lives in different
way although being grouped as the same society. Caste structures
of the so-called low-country Sinhalese has more cosmopolitan and
more progressive outlook than that of the traditional Sinhalese.
The three major castes confining themselves in the southwest
coast, namely Karava (fishermen), Durava
(toddy-taper), and Salagama (cinnamon peelers) were
originally marginal or low status within the traditional Sinhalese
society. However, during the colonial period, these castes
occupied high business and academic position, making them accorded
with a caste rank equal to or slightly below the Govigama. They
define themselves according to the European titles and functions
assumed in the colonial administration rather than titles received
from the old kingdom.
There are also other lower down
castes based on their occupations such as Hakuru (jaggery
makers), Berawaya (drummers), Paduvua (palanquin
bearers), and Radhu (washer folk). The bottom of the caste
ladder is the Rodi, regarded as the "untouchable
caste" among the Sinhalese. However, more commonly, the
distinct division among the Sinhalese often referred to is between
the Kandy Singhalese (The Sinhalese in Central Highlands) and the
low-country Sinhalese.
Caste among the Tamils
Influenced by Hinduism, caste
structure among the Tamils derives from the Brahman-dominated
system of southern India. The highest rank of the caste is Brahmin
who preserves sacred texts and enacts sacred rituals in
temples; they are then accorded high respect and regarded the
purest people who lead others on the road of salvation. The
dominant caste after the Brahmin is the Vellala,
constituting over 50 percent of the Tamil population. Most members
of the Vellala are cultivators. In the past, the Vellala were the
elite in the Jaffna Kingdom (the ancient kingdom of the Tamils in
Sri Lanka), privileged with their landowning. During the colonial
period, a large number of the Vellala sought for social mobility
by moving into the state employment and getting into higher
education. As a result, the large section of well-educated middle
class of the Tamils was formed.
Below the Vellala are the Karaiya
whose original occupation is fishing. Like the Vellala, the
Karaiya took advantage of raising their economic and ritual
position by branching out into commercial affairs during the
European colonization in the 19th century. The Chetti, a
group of merchant caste also possessed a high ritual position. In
the middle of the caste hierarchy is group of small artisan
castes.
At the bottom of the system are
more countless laboring castes including the Indian Tamils
brought from the southern Indian to work on tea plantations in the
Central Highlands during the British Rule. Their low ritual status
has reinforced their segregation from the Sinhalese and the Sri
Lankan Tamils. The discrimination based on caste system has
affected the Indian Tamils for decades after the independence in
Sri Lanka. Fortunately, in the twentieth century with the
consciousness of equality among all people, officially promoted by
the government, has softened the old prejudice against the lower
castes. Together with the agitation for human rights, the Indian
Tamils as well as other lowest castes were offered the access to
employment, education, and Hindu temples.
Caste interactions in daily
life
Owing to agitation against the
discrimination according to the current of human rights in the
twentieth century, the caste system in Sri Lanka was less
restricted. In addition, it is uncontestable that the modern urban
lifestyle in Sri Lanka makes excessive concern about caste
niceties impossible. Members from different castes have to cluster
on buses together with few worries about the "polluting"
of their purity; they eat or talk together freely in restaurants
or companies they work together. Employment, health, and
educational opportunities are officially open to all without the
prejudice based on caste system.
However, the caste segregation
still appears on a daily basis, especially in rural areas, by many
forms of language and etiquette. There are different forms of
speech used for interacting with different levels of caste.
Persons of lower rank address their superiors with respectable
formulas. Villages are still divided into separate streets or
neighborhood based on castes, and the lowest ladder of the system
may live in isolated settlement. In political scene, members of
the upper-caste still hold the rein even if the access to politics
is slightly more opened to members of other orders.
Apart from the caste system which
characterizes the Sri Lankan society, Kinship system is also
another prevailing feature that makes its social structure more
fragmented and complex.
Kinship
system
At the very base of society, the
nuclear family is the most important and can demonstrate way of
life of people the most vividly. The kinship system is related to
the preferred cross-cousin marriage between families. Those
preferred families are mostly relatives in the same kinship group.
That means the most acceptable for a young man to marry is the
daughter of his father's sister, and the most suitable spouse of a
young woman is the son of her mother's brother. Hereby, the
cross-cousin marriage is so important in that it oversees the
expansion of kinship group while maintaining the closed ritual
purity and retaining control over property within a small circle
of relatives.
In many villages, boy and girl
have already their marriage plan made by their parents. If persons
marry partners other than their cross-cousins, they are supposed
to conduct a special ritual during their marriage ceremonies to
receive permission from their cousins to marry an outsider.
The vast majority of marriages in
Sri Lanka are monogamous. However, the union of one man and more
than one woman are neither illegal nor unknown. The kindred has
considerably influence on marriage life of the couples. In the
rural areas, the customary marriage requires only consent of their
parents. The man and the women simply start living together, and
if they happen to divorce, it occurs through the mutual consent of
the parents in consultation with relatives in their extended
family. Most marriages, however, are comparatively stable due to
the considerable social pressure and support of the kindred of
both the husband and the wife. Consequently, the divorce rate in
Sri Lanka is quite low.
In overall, these two systems are
integral part of Sri Lanka society, determining the people's roles
and way of life in Sri Lanka with a small change. May it seem a
fragmented society due to its divisions based on various concepts,
Sri Lankan society remains unique because of the unity of people
with their faith and belief. |
