Sinhalese and Muslims intermarried extensively in the Kandyan times

by Asiff Hussein

The relations that have traditionally subsisted between the Sinhalese and Muslims of Sri Lanka has long been cited as a good example of ethnic harmony in a multi-ethnic society. This unique relationship forged over a thousand years ago has stood the test of time in spite of the attempts made by various colonial powers and racist elements to destroy it.

Bond of blood

The fact is that Sinhala-Muslim amity is a historical reality and has been so for at least the last thousand years when Arab settlers and merchants began peacefully trickling into the country for purposes of trade and settlement. Many of these Arabs, being good Muslims, do not seem to have harboured any racial prejudices and freely intermarried with the daughters of the land, thus giving rise to the present-day Moor community. Such intermarriage seems to have lasted several centuries and evidently did not cease even in Kandyan times.

This is borne out by the tradition of the Akurana Moors who trace their ancestry to Arabian mercenaries who espoused Kandyan women in the time of King Rajasinha II in the seventeenth century. Similarly, we have the tradition of the famous Bethge Nilame family of Moors who trace their descent to Arab physicians who arrived in the country during the time of King Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya in the thirteenth century.

These men are said to have espoused Kandyan women and settled down in the country, giving rise to the most famous medical family in the Kandyan kingdom. The Moors, especially those of the upcountry, are known to bear a striking physical resemblance to their Sinhalese neighbours, which may indicate extensive intermarriage since at least the Dambadeniya or Kandy period. In fact, James Cordiner in his Description of Ceylon (1807) could hardly distinguish a Moor from a Sinhalese, referring to the country's Muslims as "the Cingalese who profess the religion of Mahomet'.Another authority, John Davy in his Account of the interior of Ceylon (1821) says of the Moors: "In dress, appearance and manners, they differ but little from the Singalese".

The fact that many Moorish families in the upcountry bear typical Kandyan ge-names may also indicate extensive intermarriage between the two peoples as the possibility remains that the offspring of Arab men and Kandyan women took on the ge-names of their mothers.

In the alternative, it would indicate the readiness of the Moors to adopt the salient features of the host culture and to identify themselves with the majority community. Typical Moor ge-names include Lekamge, Arachilage, Mudiyanselage, Galgedara, Vidanalage-gedara, Vedaralalage-gedara, Gurunehelage-gedara and Yahakugamhala-gedara. Thus we have names like Kurugoda Vidanalage Gedara Abdul Hameed Wahabdeen concurring among our Kandyan brethren where the Sinhala ge-name precedes the Arabic personal name. That extensive intermarriage also took place in the south is borne out by the statement of E.B. Denham in his Ceylon at the Census of 1911 where he states that amongst the Moors of Colombo and Galle there must be a considerable infusion of Sinhalese blood as the number of Sinhalese women married to Moor men was fairly large.

This policy of intermarriage has benefitted the community in two ways. For one thing, it has paved the way for a greater understanding between the two peoples, for there is no tie stronger than that of blood, save for faith. Also important is the fact that this miscegenation or racial intermixture has given vigour to the community. The Moors are often described as an intelligent and enterprising people and this we can be sure is largely attributable to their mixed parentage. As shown by Curt Stern in his Principles of Human Genetics (1960), hybridization between different races enhances the vigour of the resultant offspring, a process known as heterosis or hybrid vigour.

That this process has been at play among the Moors is very evident when we consider both their physical characteristics and mental traits.

Symbiotic relationship

The Sinhala-Muslim relationship could be best described as a symbiotic one where both peoples have depended on one another for their wants and needs.This has been so from the earliest times when the Arab forbears of the Moors arrived in the country for purposes of trade. Besides mercantile pursuits, the mixed descendants of the early Arab settlers took to other vocations such as agriculture and medicine. The itinerant Moor merchants no doubt served a very useful purpose in the olden days. These traders are known to have penetrated into the farthest interiors of the country, taking with them commodities suited to the simplest needs of the villagers including clothes, jewellery and foodstuffs which could not be easily procured in those days. It is little wonder then that Kandyan Kings like Senarat and Rajasinghe II warmly welcomed the Moors of the maritime areas when they sought to migrate to the Kandyan realm as a result of persecution by the Portuguese and Dutch colonialists.

Another important contribution made by the Moors was in the sphere of medicine. The Muslims had their own system of medicine known as Unani which became popular not only with the common folk but also Kandyan royalty. One such family was the famous Bethge Nilame clan of Moors. There are also many Kandyan Moors among us today who bear the ge-name Vedaralalage or 'House of the Physician'. Lorna Dewaraja in her interesting study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka (1994) records how both the Sinhalese and Muslim villagers addressed the Gopala Moors as 'Nilame' and 'Menike' which are respectful names given to the men and women of the Kandyan aristocracy.

Ties of language

Besides the bond of blood, many Muslims share with their Sinhalese neighbours the ties of the tongue. The Muslim youth of the predominantly Sinhalese areas are fast adopting Sinhala in place of Tamil thanks largely to education in the Sinhala vernacular. The vast majority of Muslim students today receive their education in the Sinhala medium and this has resulted in Sinhala gaining increasing importance in their day to day life, so much so that even in the urban and sub-urban areas of Colombo, Muslim youth could often be seen conversing with one another in Sinhala. One also not uncommonly comes across many Muslim families in the Western, Central and Southern Provinces speaking Sinhala as their home language. It has also become a fairly common practice for the sermons before the Friday Jumma prayers to be delivered in Sinhala in a number of urban and sub-urban areas. Indeed, even the various notices one often comes across in mosques in the outstations are not uncommonly in Sinhala due to the simple fact that it is the only language in which most members of the community are literate in.

This is not a new development, for we find the Report of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission (1951) stating of the Muslims of the Kandyan provinces:"

These Muslims regard themselves as Kandyan peasantry and have so claimed before us. In representations made before us on behalf of certain groups of these Muslims, the request has been made that their education should be in Sinhalese, in preference to Tamil.

They realise and consider that their future is so closely linked with the Sinhalese peasantry midst whom they live, that it would be in their future interest and betterment if Sinhalese became their medium of instructions. Thus in all respects, except the preservation of their religion, customs and manners, their wish is to be regarded as part and parcel of the Kandyan peasantry".

Added to this is the fact that it was the Muslim leaders Like Sir Razik Fareed and Badiuddin Mahmud who fervently campaigned for the 'Sinhala Only' policy which sought to make Sinhala the sole official language of the country, replacing English.