16th November 1997

Of cattle theft and severe punishment

History of the Ceylon Police

The Exhibition of the Tooth Relic and the Police

At this time for some reason or other the Government began to feel uneasy about the support they gave this function. They were worried whether they were being idolatrous when they gave orders to police to do duties in this connection. Hence a clear order was given to Police as to what they should actually do, couched in these words. "The Police, I think, should have nothing whatever to do with its exhibition. The duty of the Police is to prevent riot and protect property - but if they go beyond that and have to give their consent to the exhibition of the Relic they would involve the Government in a direct interference and direct connection with idolatry.

The special presence of the Police at the Exhibition would not also be desirable as it would be deemed a nuisance by the people. They should, of course, be on their guard to prevent breaches of the peace but should not act unless actually required."

The Kataragama festival -1850

The practices at Kataragama upset the feelings of the Assistant Government Agent of Badulla (E.R. Power). When he attended the festival there was a gathering of about 4000 people and everything went off well. But Power felt disgust at the cases of self-maiming which he witnessed. His impression was that these were "acts repugnant to humanity or public decency.'' He consulted the Queen's Advocate about this. The Queen's Advocate said that these were not acts punishable under the Common law of England and also under the Law in existence here. He suggested that in the first instance Power with the co-operation of the headmen should carry out a campaign to educate the people and get them to refrain from such acts. Only when this fails could they think of new Legislation to prevent this.

Cases of interest

The most sensational case in Kandy was the case of Forgery where Tikiri Banda Dunuwille and 6 or 7 others stood their trial. The charge was for uttering a forged document which put him in possession of considerable property of the son of the late Adigar Molligoda. When the case was on the Governor, himself, sat for a while with the Judge listening to the evidence. The people were stupefied when Tikiri Banda was found guilty. There was great excitement. After he was sentenced to 14 years transportation he was removed to the Welikade gaol. An observation made at the time read" Circumstances, however, enabled the Crown to obtain full particulars of the forgery and the result is that a Kandyan of highstanding, of considerable English attain- ments, in fact, with a half a dozen exceptions the only native Kandyan Chief who understands anything of our language is found guilty at the Felon's Bar and sentenced to banishment for 14 years to Malacca.'' With 17 others he was removed to Malacca in the ship Dewan on 5 June 1849. At Malacca he met the Pretender Denis on 1st December 1849. This was the last time he met him, for Denis died that very day.

A Veddah sentenced to death - March 1850

At the Kandy Assizes a veddah named Konara Gammahe was sentenced to death. He had murdered another by striking him with a stick. "The convict is one of the uncivilised people called Veddahs and I would with due submission recommend to your Excellency that he ought not to be executed but that the sentence be commuted to life.'' This recommendation was accepted and the convict was to be imprisoned in Colombo where he would be taught a trade which he could introduce among his savage countrymen.

The dismissal of Inspector Jansen

When Colepeper came back to the Central province in 1850, Jansen who was an Assistant Superintendent of Police had to revert to the rank of Inspector. In May 1851 Colepeper had to report him for dishonesty. This was over a transaction he has had with an Oilmonger called Ponnand. Besides he was absenting himself from duty. When Colepeper checked on this he reacted by suing him in Court. The net result of all this was his dismissal. W. V. Woutersz was taken to fill the vacancy.

The Murder of a Planter - October 1851

On Il October E. A. Morgan was returning to Galantenna Estate with cooly pay when he was shot at. Though injured he rode further forward and was found lying fallen. He had the notes in his pocket. The coolies carrying the coins had taken another cut to the estate and thereby disappointed the assassins. Loku Banda inquired into this case and traced the accused. This man died before his trial. This inquiry in the wet hillcountry made Loku Banda contract a severe chill which greatly incapacitated him in his future work.

Cattle thefts

In the Nuwara Kalawiya, the Seven Korales and the Matale district, cattle thefts were so frequent that the Government was forced to take special counter-measures. In 1848 Lord Torrington

appointed Mr. Brodie a Justice of the Peace, whose special task was to eliminate cattle thefts from these districts. He took up many cases and had the accused dealt with severely by the Supreme Courts. "The convictions in cattle stealing cases in Kurunegala have been numerous and the punishments in these so severe that there is reason to think that cattle stealing will decrease not only in that district but throughout the other districts which are mentioned in the anticipated Act.'' This Act was to make this offence punishable by the District Courts which met more regularly and closer to the places where the offence was committed.

The North-Western Province

Few noteworthy cases were reported after the rebellion. At Kurunegala there was a dispute in the Teliagonne Mosque. 187' There was a clique who wanted to replace the old priest with a younger man called Mowlana.

The dispute grew in intensity and in February Mowlana and his supporters entered the mosque and mortally stabbed the old priest. While he was reading or preaching to the congregation.

Highway robberies

A gang of Rodiyas was operating 22 miles away from Puttalam on the Kurunegala-Pahala Etale Kalawewa road in Karambe Pattu.

In the years 1843-44 a gang operated in the same area and was broken up by the appointment of 6 Police Peons. It looked as if the same gang was committing the Highway Robberies complained of.

The Government Agent (Morris) wanted to retain those Peons, who were now supervising the roads leading out of Kurunegala.

Book Review

It's all in the stars

In his book, Mihindukulasuriya Susantha Fernando discloses in graphic detail, a hitherto unknown phenomenon of many mysterious parallels (33 parallels discovered by him so far) between the civilizations of Sri Lanka and Egypt, even though the two civilizations commenced some three thousand years apart.

This phenomenon has not been so far discovered or recorded by anyone else in the world. Basing his findings on historical facts, he postulates that the mystery of the parallels was not a coincidence, but a calculated scheme of action by some 'extraterrestrial intelligence', who probably favoured both the countries.

Susantha Fernando's discovery, as described in the book, 'Alien mysteries in Sri Lanka and Egypt' with the aid of maps, photographs and also technical and historical data, is the fact that the three main pyramids of Giza, Cairo, and the three main stupas at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, are mysteriously correlated to stars in the constellation of Orion. That means, the three great pyramids, namely the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren (the son of Cheops) and Myscerinius (the son of Chephren) are correlated to the three stars of the Belt of the Constellation of Orion, namely, Al Nitak (Zeta Orionis), Al Nilami (Epsilon Orionis) and Mintaka (Delta Orionis), while the three main stupas at Anuradhapura, Mirisavati, Ruvanvali and Jetavana, are correlated to another set of three stars of Orion, namely, Rigel, Al Nitak (the smallest star in the Belt of Orion) and Bellatrix.

Are those strange parallels between the Egyptians and the Sinhalese a mere coincidence, or a calculated scheme of action by 'celestial beings'? The Sinhalese could not have borrowed all the 33 ideas from the Egyptians, because the gap between the commencements of the historic periods of the two civilizations was some 3000 years.

The Egyptian civilization came to grief in about 400 BC, after Egypt was annexed by the marauding armies of Alexander the Great, around 332 BC. The ancient Sinhala kings, firmly rooted in Buddhism, could not have emulated the defunct, religious practices of ancient Egypt in building such gigantic stupas. But strange as it may look, the available evidence shows that it is only in Egypt and Sri Lanka, that we find three ancient monuments in each country built according to the layout of three stars of the constellation of Orion.

R.E.J.F.

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