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Nobodies to Somebodies - The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka by Kumari Jayawardena.Reviewed by Robert Crusz

Kumari Jayawardena's latest book takes a socio-historic look at the accumulation of wealth through various enterprises which included arrack renting, land acquisition and coffee and tea plantations, by a group of families of different caste, ethnic and religious origins in 19th century Sri Lanka. Their wealth enabled them to challenge the existing caste and other traditional hierarchies in the late British colonial era, and emerge as influential bourgeois families who played a crucial entralrole in the social and political future of the country.

Jayawardena gets the title for her work, from a remark made by one of the original 'somebodies' of that time, Sir Christoffel Obeyesekere (the great-grandfather of President Chandrika), made during the debates in the Legislative Council on the Muslim Sinhala riots of 1915. He claimed the disturbances would never have occurred had it not been for the encouragement of the peasant villagers by 'half a dozen misguided, designing villains who were trying to pose as leaders of Buddhists'. He charged that these villagers had been 'deluded into this trap for the personal aggrandisement of a few who are nobodies, but who hope to make somebodies of themselves by such disgracefu tactics'.

These 'designing villains', these 'nobodies' that Sir Christoffel was referring to, were some of the Sinhalese leaders of the Temperance Movement, among them the goyigama D.S. Senanayake, the future first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon, and his two brothers F.R and D.C., who were jailed for allegedly instigating the anti-Muslim rioting of that year. The brothers were released on bail and the bail conditions later cancelled when no case could be made against them. Their father, Don Spater Senanayake, had made his fortune initially in graphite mining and later branched out into coconut plantations, arrack renting, toll renting and urban property. He formed a profitable partnership with N.D.P.Silva in the arrack rents of the Negombo area in the 1890's. He was involved in a cartel of arrack renters called the Colombo Arrack Farm Syndicate and continued to have an interest in the arrack business up to about 1907.

Social transformation

Jayawardena is interested in the bourgeoisie as a class in its classical Western or European sense. Her broad concern here is to show its genesis, its character and its role in the transformation of a social and political system based on feudal relationships, into one based on capitalist enterprise and democracy. Whether this transformation was true and complete is one of the interesting aspects examined in this book.

She examines in detail whether class became more important than caste in this process, and her interpretation of the political dimension of Sri Lanka's transformation is linked to this question. She examines how bourgeois families came to dominate Sri Lankan politics up to and after independence, and while doing so, she attempts to answer the important question of whether they were national heroes, collaborative 'villains' or merely an unconcerned and contented "lumpenbourgeoisie".

Jayawardena considers the rise of a new class of capitalists composed of different caste, ethnic and religious groups as one of the most significant developments in 19th century Sri Lanka. It was a period when radical changes took place simultaneously in both caste and class systems.

In four very detailed and comprehensive chapters in the core of the book, one devoted to each of Sri Lanka's ethnic groups, Jayawardena considers this simultaneity and examines the complexities in the rise of the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher/Eurasian bourgeoisie. She identifies and names, particular personalities and family groups in each section, and teases out the different socio-economic relationships and historic paths within each ethnic group which enabled them to accumulate wealth and thus increase their social status and influence.

The Sinhala bourgeoisie

The Sinhala bourgeoisie of 'nobodies' and 'somebodies' consisted of a mix of various castes such as the goyigama, karava, salagama etc. and in class terms included both the old rich 'somebodies', like the goyigama Obeysekere Bandaranaikes, and the new rich 'nobodies' like the goyigama Senanayakes and the Attygalles, the karava Warusahennedige Soysas and the Hennedige Pieris'.

The original old-rich goyigama 'somebodies' were the feudal Mudaliyars and their extended families whose wealth was based mainly in land and the growth of plantation produce for the market. However the new-rich goyigama 'nobodies' were the more resourceful. They derived their wealth from plantations and graphite mining and also branched out into other enterprises like arrack renting. It was the challenge posed by these 'nobodies' for power and influence based on their new wealth which caused tensions within the hierarchical goyigama caste system and led to Sir Christoffel Obeysekere's famous outburst.

Jayawardena notices the irony in this outburst because these Mudaliyar 'somebodies' were once relative 'nobodies' themselves. The Mudaliyars, were mainly leading "Lowcountry" goyigama families who first rose to real prominence during colonial rule, with a record of loyal service to the Portugese, Dutch and British rulers. The land, as well as the privileges and titles they thereby acquired had enabled them to assume a "feudal" lifestyle and establish their position in the Low-country as the "leading" Sinhalese families.

Among them were the de Saram family of Mudaliyars who had married into Dutch families, and later, through marriage alliances, created a network embracing the families Obeysekere, Dias, Bandaranaike, Ilangakoon, de Alwis, de Livera, Pieris and Siriwardena. It was this family network of 'somebodies' which figured with great significance in the society and politics of colonial and post-colonial Sri Lanka. It continues today in the figure of President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike.

Renting system

Jayawardena shows how despite the restrictive economic policies of the colonial state from Dutch times to around the third decade of British rule, small opportunities began to emerge for local enterprise in the form of internal and coastal trade, the supply of goods and services, and specially the renting system. During Dutch and British rule, certain forms of revenue were not collected directly by the colonial administration. They were farmed out to local tax gatherers or 'renters' on an annual basis, for an annual pre-paid fee. This gave the 'renter' the right to collect in money or in kind, the fish tax, paddy tax, tolls for roads, bridges and ferries, monies from gambling and cock-fighting, and the tax monies from the sale of arrack. One of the earliest families who were involved in arrack renting were the Wewage Dep family whose fortunes were laid by an early arrack renter called Abraham Dep. His grandson Wewage Arnolis Dep was one of the leading arrack renters around 1900. Arnolis' daughter Helena married Tudugalle Don Philip Wijewardene, a timber merchant. Their grandson, J.R. Jayewardene, became the first President of Sri Lanka.

Kumari Jayawardena considers the farming of arrack rents as the critical factor in the accumulation of capital and class formation in Sri Lanka - it became 'the most important source of local capital accumulation in the first half of the 19th century'.

After the introduction of the first coffee plantations in the 1830's and later tea, and its impact on the economy through large movements and concentrations of labour (the main alcohol consumers) to the plantation areas and the towns, mainly the capital city Colombo, the capital accumulation through arrack renting then really took off among the new-rich Sinhala 'nobodies' of all castes.

Their huge wealth enabled them to branch out into other ventures, including land ownership, largescale planting of coconut, rubber and spices, graphite mining, and transport and labour contracting. Their increasing wealth made it possible for their children to be sent to Europe for studies and to enter the learned professions as doctors, lawyers etc. They purchased town properties, mainly in Colombo, built new homes, and ran their businesses and professions from there. They engaged in lavish spending, entered high society and chose to live and act like their colonial masters. The 'nobodies' had now emerged as bourgeois 'somebodies' and were already contesting for the leadership of Sri Lankan politics and society.

Caste and class

The colonial period of Sri Lankan history saw a gradual decline in the practice and influence of the caste system and the opportunity to maximize capital accumulation through the liquor trade was initially made use of by all castes. It came under the domination of the karava caste only after the 1830s which led to their subsequent 'spectacular rise' in social and political standing. Other castes, like the salagama and durava also made use of the opportunities. This aroused the hostility of the goyigama sections of the national elites. Some historians have drawn attention to the 'caste struggles' of the latter decades of the 19th century, specially the so-called 'great controversy' between the goyigama and the karava. Jayawardena however, carefully re-examines the data and argues that this was more an inter-class controversy expressed in caste terms and not a caste controversy per se. It was a rivalry between old and new rich, between landowner and merchant capitalism and between the forces of conservatism and those of moderate reform.

A particular type

Jayawardena contends that the mode of the emergence of the bourgeoisie and their involvement in social and political change was of a particular nature. While changes did take place in traditional structures and values, the colonial rulers found it useful to continue in some areas with the traditional systems of exploitation and governance. Feudal structures and attitudes were not totally swept away. The bourgeoisie themselves, while acting together as a class in economic and political matters, acted within their caste alliances when it came to private, family matters, such as marriage, and the running of their businesses etc. What emerged was a Sri Lankan bourgeoisie who were an appendage of imperialism, a dependent class. Their creation and continued existence was based on the protection and opportunities provided by the colonial state. In contrast to the Indian bourgeoisie, the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie did not display an all out opposition to colonial rule. They were satisfied with political concessions and limited constitutional reforms. The other side of this was the particular kind of economic system which developed. Despite the quick and huge accumulations of wealth there were no true capitalist instincts in the sense of re-investing and putting back into the process that which would have improved and increased their capital earning prospects. Theirs was hardly entrepreneurial economic activity, since their main interests were mercantile and typically rentier in attitude. With their lavish consumption habits and the tying up of much of their wealth, in land, the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie acted like feudal lords and landed gentry.

This extremely detailed and carefully crafted book certainly fills the considerable gap in the research into the development of capitalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka. Since some of its contents are controversial Jayawardena has made every effort to check the details and corroborate oral histories with the archival documentation. As is to be expected from any academic work of quality, the chapter end notes, the appendices, the bibliography and the indexes are detailed and extensive and the approach is non-polemical and non-judgmental.

The two witty cover photographs and the inclusion of some eighteen pages of additional archive photographs add not only to the importance of the book, but to the 'reading' pleasure as well. Perhaps the inclusion of a few charts or 'family trees' would have helped the reader to clearly see the actual roots of some of our contemporary bourgeois social and political elites. It would help if such charts and family trees are also made public since it will be good to know the origins of our leaders. The mythic versions of their roots, purveyed by some of them, need to be exposed and challenged.

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