Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.20

c7.20

This is looking at the matter from the Western point of view. As a matter of fact, the idea is one rather of overlordship or dominion, than ownership of land as understood in the modern west. It is probable that Sinhalese society “developed itself, clearing by clearing, in separate village communities, isolated from each other, and scattered over the land very much as they even now still are in the existing condition of the North Central Province. . . The aggregation of a plurality of villages together under a common head . . . very soon followed” (Phear). Thus arose the petty chieftain, who developed by a process of consolidation into a regulus or kinglet, becoming finally the king of the whole land. The original chieftain did not own land; what he possessed was the right to cultivate his own share of village land, and also a right to certain contributions and services due to him from the other shareholders. The King’s right arose by the gradual consolidation of such rights into the hands of a central authority, and is therefore rather one of dominion than of ownership. The point does not much affect the present issues, but reference in the text to ownership of land should be taken as subject to this qualification of the implied idea. Even *praveni* lands dedicated to temples, were not absolute freeholds which the trustees could dispose of as they liked; the land was still the King’s, and through him the people’s; the services only were dedicated for ever to the temple.