Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.10

c7.10

Mention must be made of *Caste*, especially as the caste system of Ceylon is similar to the Dravidian in South India and differs from the well-known four-fold caste division of the Hindus generally. Vijaya himself could hardly have found a place in the Brahmanical caste system. The Sinhalese people from an early date had constant and intimate relations with the Tamils in Southern India. So it is that we find the Dravidian and not the Aryan caste system amongst the Sinhalese. In this system the cultivator ranked highest. With the spread of Aryan civilization came the Brahmanical system, which was superimposed upon the Dravidian, so that the Brahman and Kshattriya ranked above the cultivator. Hence the order of castes in Ceylon came to be—1. *Bamuṇu* (Brahmans); 2. *Raja* (the ruling caste); 3. *Govi* (cultivators); subsequently the *Velenda* or merchant was added. But as there was no place for Brahmans in a Buddhist country, and the royal family formed a caste by itself, and merchants were few or none, the *goviyo* have remained to this day of chief importance from the caste point of view. That is, the *goviya*, or *veḷḷāla* as he is often called, is the man of high caste. The *goviyo* included three ranks, the chiefs (*radala* or *mudali pēruva*), the nobles or titled men (*siṭanō*), and the rest of the *goviyō*; and these together formed as we have seen over ninety per cent. of the community.