Some of the country’s well recognised reli gious practices were often the sources of annoyance to some. At Aturaliya in Matara a Pirith ceremony was held in the premises adjoining the house of Mrs. Young, where there was an invalid. This was reported to Police and Inspector Holland warned the monk responsible not to have the Pirith ceremony next day. The monk defied the order and held the Pirith ceremony next day, Holland charged the monk in Court. The monk was fined Rs. 1/-. He appealed against the conviction and in the case Holland vs. Ratnapala Unnanse the sentence was set aside and the apellant was acquitted.
In l881 a religious procession became a source of annoyance. Mr. Graham, the Superintendent of Police, Southern Province, issued a permit for a procession on the 25th September, " organised and arranged to take some books on Buddhism presented by the King of Siam to a Temple in Galle." When the procession was on its way the Magistrate, Mr. Mason, sent word to Inspector Ohlmus to stop the "hideous beating of tom-toms and blowing of horns". When Ohlmus asked Graham whether he was to stop the procession, Graham said, "Certainly not", and came to the Police Station. The processionists were on the esplanade taking a group photograph. Inspector Dickman was asked to get the procession to move on.
When this matter was reported to the Governor he held that Mr. Mason was ill-advised in his action and himself expressed regret that the procession was interfered with.
Batticaloa Riots-1883-Caste trouble broke out in a village a mile from Batticaloa between the Fisher caste and the toddy tappers. The toddy drawers had begun to dress in a fashion which their high caste neighbours considered to be not in keeping with their position. It started off as a fight with knives. The Police stopped this and made several arrests. The Fishers then assembled again and attacked the houses of those of their assailants who were in custody. Next day, too, they assembled and paraded the streets but no incidents occurred. Bad characters however made use of the opportunity for looting and burning houses.
The Police arrested l9 persons in connection with these incidents. 25 persons were later charged in Courts and two of them were convicted and sentenced to two years each and 15 lashes. The cases against others were put off. One of the ring leaders Sinnatambi and his companion Sami were at large. The serious turn this took was attributed to the weakness of Mr. Pole, the Assistant Government Agent.
Special measures had to be taken to arrest Sinnatambi. A reward of Rs. 500/- was offered for his capture. The Assistant Superintendent of Police, Badulla (Mr. Murray) was given special instructions by the Inspector- General and sent out to capture Sinnatambi. He left Badulla by cart for Batticaloa 104 miles away, passing through Valaichenai, and Senkaladi. Sinnatambi realizing that the game was up surrendered.
Mr. Elliot the Government Agent, Eastern Province, was not satisfied with the conduct of the Police. Campbell merely answered, " I believe that in a letter dated 25th August Mr. Elliot reported the success of my measures for capturing Sinnatambi and how well those measures had been carried out by Mr. Murray whom I selected for the service. "The arrest of Sami however earned the praise of Mr. Saunders. Constables 1155 Camardeen, 184 Joronis Perera and 512 Andrews who went to arrest him were overpowered and assaulted. Sergeant Sinnasamy immediately went to Navatkadu with an armed party and arrested Sami and his supporters.
The Kotahena Riots-1883.
The riot which caused the greatest amount of unrest and anxiety was the religious riot which broke out in March 1883 at Kotahena.
In Kotahena the Catholic Church held 10 acres of land granted in 1779. A new Cathedral was started here and was nearing completion. Kotahena was the centre of the Catholic Religion and Reverend Father Pagnani was the Bishop in charge at the time.
Not far from this place was the Kotahena Buddhist Temple built in 1832. Reverend Mohottiwatte Gunananda, better known as Reverend Migettuwatte Unnanse was the incumbent of this temple from 1843. He was of the Amarapura Nikaya and was a member of the General Committee of the Theosophical Society founded by Colonel Olcott. He was possessed of considerable eloquence and was the champion speaker in religious controversies. These Religious controversies and antireligious tracts accentuated the ill-will already existing between the Catholics and Buddhists. An atmosphere of great tension was gradually created and the Catholics were determined to resist even unto death all insult to their religion.
Bungling by the Police
Migettuwatte Unnanse was completing the improvement he had started on the Temple. He informed the Government of his intention to hold a festival for 6 to 7 weeks connected with the eye-setting ceremony of the new statue. The Festival would include the reciting of Pirith, Bana and the chanting of 500 religious stanzas by 500 monks and would end with a procession. The Government advised Rev. Migettuwatte to call off the procession as smallpox was spreading in the city. He undertook to do so but all the same carried on with his preparations.
On the 6th March, Reverend Father Masilamany informed the Police that the Catholics would be having their usual Easter processions and indicated that there would be trouble if the Buddhists were allowed to hold their processions during this period. The Police informed him that whoever applied for a permit for a procession would get the permit and also Police protection. On the 7th, the Catholics applied for a permit for a procession on Palm Sunday (18th March). Owing to the absence of the Inspector-General nothing was done about this application till the 17th. In the meantime the Buddhist who applied later for a permit obtained it from the Police Superintendent (Mr. Hansard) for a procession on Palm Sunday. The Inspector-General made an order on the 17th that the Catholics were allowed to hold their usual procession on Palm Sunday and the Buddhists were to forego their procession. The permit issued to the Buddhists however, remained uncancelled as the Inspector- General’s order did not reach Mr. Hansard.
Accordingly on Palm Sunday, a Buddhists procession under Police protection entered the city. When it rounded St. Lucia’s Corner the chief approach to the Cathedral and the Temple, some Catholics endeavoured to obstruct it and threw stones at the images. The Police arrested the offenders but released them the next day without taking action to charge them in Courts.
Before Palm Sunday the Buddhists had asked for a permit for a procession on Good Friday. This had been refused and so also the requests for processions on the Saturday and Sunday following. The Acting Inspector-General (Mr. Tranchell) interviewed the Bishop. The Bishop, "who appears to have appreciated the deference shown to Catholic feeling by the Buddhists" so, had no objection to a procession after 12 Noon on Easter Sunday.
On the 20th the Buddhists again applied for a permit for a procession on Good Friday and pointed out that it would consist "merely of women carrying flowers unaccompanied by music" and would take a route away from the Cathedral. The Acting Inspector-General at first refused but later allowed permission. Protests then poured in and the Superintendent was confident that this procession would give rise to very serious trouble. The Acting Inspector-General then cancelled the permit. This fact did not get sufficient publicity.
On Good Friday, 40-50 extra Police were sent to Pettah Police Station. Friday morning "saw a large crowd opposite St. Antony’s Church, Kochchikade, assembled with the avowed intention of forcibly preventing any procession from passing". This happened to be on the very route the procession would have taken if the permit was not cancelled. The extra Police sent merely assured the people that no procession would take place, Inspector Marshall passed this place more than once and would have noticed the temper of the people but took no action.
On Easter Sunday (25th March) 2 Sergeants and 60-70 Constables were moved out from Police Headquarters to Kotahena for duty till the procession arrived. They were allowed to use their discretion about the action they were to take. In fact they were left very much on their own without the direction and guidance of a senior officer, for the Inspector in charge of Kotahena, (Gooneratne) " quit his district in order to join the perahera and accompany it from Borella." This was a very unusual procedure. "Little before l p.m. the Kotahena church bell was rung and the other church bells were simultaneously rung as if ‘at a preconceived sign", and "large bodies of men armed with clubs and marked on the forehead and back with crosses began to assemble at St. Lucia’s Corner". The Sergeants who had a closer view of them and saw them so marked tried their best to disperse them but could not do so. The two Sergeants were in a quandary not knowing what to do. One of them did not think the situation serious enough to need the use of force and the other did not want to do anything for fear of being accused of precipitating a situation. Thus both of them did not act as they should have and allowed the mob to get bolder and more confident.
Meanwhile the procession formed up at Borella and was checked by the Police. All the banners and images were examined by the Assistant Superintendent (Mr. Holland) who was a Catholic and by Inspectors Marshall and Gooneratne. This examination was done to satisfy themselves that nothing provocative or insulting was taken in the procession. For there was a widespread rumour that depictions insulting to the Catholic Religion would be taken in the procession. The procession started off at 1.40 p.m. It consisted of several hundred men, women and children. Inspectors Marshall and Gooneratne and l2 Constables escorted the procession while the Acting Inspector General (Mr. Tranchell) followed the procession and later overtook it at the Maradana Railway Bridge and moved towards Kotahena. At Messenger Street he saw an assault on "an unoffending native by a band of roughs" and hastened to Kotahena to get assistance. At Kotahena he saw an excited crowd of Catholics at St. Lucia’s Corner. "The Police were scattered among them and thus unable to act as a body". Mr. Tranchell could not persuade them to disperse. He then collected all his men and moved to meet the procession.
The procession urged on by the Inspectors Marshall and Gooneratne was moving fast. Tranchell noticed that the males in the procession were armed with sticks. For on the way they had learnt that the Catholics were waiting to attack them. "The male portion marched into a timber yard close by and took possession of whatever sticks and weapons they could find’’. He thought it best to disperse the Catholics and turned back to do so. He tried at first by persuasive means to get them to move. Failing he ordered the Police to charge on them. "The Catholic mob met the charge with a shower of bricks and stones and drove the Police back in great disorder’’. Finding that he could not hold the situation he sent a mounted messenger asking for military aid. Till then he and his men strove to keep the two parties apart.
The processionists marched on towards St. Lucia’s Corner and the Police stood on the road to meet them with the Catholic crowd pressing from the rear. The Police could not keep them apart, for very soon the Catholics and Buddhists were engaged in a hand to hand fight. The Buddhists tried to force a passage by driving the carts on. Their opponents seized and killed the bullock, broke up the carts and burned them and their contents in the public highway". During a lull in the fighting, Mr. Holland persuaded the Catholics to desist from fighting and a Catholic Priest addressed them and the parties began to separate. Just then a heavy and welcome shower of rain fell on the scene and both parties began to disperse. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers then arrived and cleared the scene and dispersed the Catholics and Buddhists who were engaged in throwing stones at each other. Military guards were then placed and the area was watched till dawn.
Out of those who participated in the fight 30 injured persons were traced. A Buddhist named Juan Naide who had received serious injuries died as a result. Mr. Tranchell and 12 other Policemen were injured in the conflict. Mr. Tranchell received rather severe injuries. But none of these including Fr. Balangero, a Roman Catholic Priest of the highest character", could identify their assailants. Five bullocks were found battered to death and the Police lost 10 batons and broke 5 in the fighting.
On the day following Easter Monday much excitement was caused as two processions were coming into Colombo, one from Peliyagoda and the other from Koratota. Both were coming armed and ready to fight. Mr. Tranchell with 40-50 picked men went to Kotahena. When he reached Kotahena there was great excitement. A Catholic Priest had been assaulted and church bells were ringing and armed men were gathering. Tranchell got down two companies of Royal Dublin Fusiliers. One of these he left at Kotahena with a Police Party at Layards Broadway to assist and left with the other to meet the Koratota procession. This procession was halted at Urugodawatte. The monk leading the procession was persuaded to turn back. The Superintendent of Police (Mr. Hansard) who had come there with Mr. Boake, the Justice of the Peace also spoke to the monk. The monk asked for time to give the women and children refreshments. In the meantime some Colombo roughs got in their midst and urged them on. Tranchell asked the military to act and their forward move was checked "by upsetting the carts into the paddy fields below". The procession then turned back.
Mr. Mason, the Magistrate went to Kotahena and heard of the Peliyagoda procession which was on its way and decided to make a show of force. For this he asked the Inspector who was there for the use of the Police under him. The Inspector evaded the request by saying that, "he could not rely on his men to use their arms if required to do so". He then obtained the help of the Military. With Adjutant Thomas and five men he went in his carriage to meet the procession. Twenty other soldiers followed. In the meantime the procession had crossed the Bridge of Boats and had come up to the Grandpass Junction through Layards Broadway. The men forming the procession, were armed with clubs, swords and other weapons, about a dozen men being dressed as soldiers in old uniform and armed with muskets, which were afterwards found to be loaded". Mr. Mason called upon the men in uniform to lay down their arms. They obeyed.
The rest gave up their weapons without resistance. Three cart loads of stones were also taken over. The 20 men who accompanied Mr. Mason escorted the procession back over the Bridge of Boat. There was no more trouble till next day.
On the night of the 26th the Catholic Church at Dehiwela was burnt down. It was a cadjan structure. On the same day a Buddhist procession carrying a crucifix passed through Ratmalana. The Catholics had to look on. The Governor’s comment on this was "No action is I think required, the Roman Catholics are merely reaping the fruits of their own act of violence and it is only surprising that things are not worse".
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