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| Saturday, 4 October 2003 |
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Descendents of royalty by Padma Edirisinghe Years back an article penned by the same writer was published titled - What has happened to the descendants of our royalty?". Now as if in answer they appear to be mushrooming all over. Though I am vain enough to think that the spectacular eruption is a result of that piece, even before that there were some odd appearances. A batch made of mine in the campus years later made headlines by stating that she was a descendant of king Ravana, proclaimed as the legendary pioneer of global aviation history. She made the announcement to a newspaper office immediately on her return from England if I remember correctly. In fact she was interviewed at length on her discovery, with photos and all especially since she was a raving beauty. The strange fact is that the discovery seems to have been made in a foreign country. Whether it was a result of long ruminations on the pedigree in that cold climate that keeps one inclined to stay indoors (as what happened to me there and led me to pine for my sunny island where I could perspire like a steam engine) or whether king Ravana on a flight there had dropped a document that told all, is left for guesswork. Ravana's descendent paraded the streets of Colombo for some time dressed a strange apparel as if to prove the point and now, alas has gone to the other world. A youth turned up at my door after my piece was published and showed authentic documents that he owned to the Ge name Sembappu Perumalge and hence was a descendent of Prince Sapumal who conquered Jaffna. Incidentally this conqueror of Jaffna who owned a similar Tamil name as historical sources testify was a Tamil prince adopted by Parakramabahu the 6th. He (I mean the youth and not prince Sapumal) wanted the fact publicized and I obliged especially as he said he was jobless and was of the belief that his royal connections would earn him one. But alas (again) no one seems to have been impressed and when he wrote to me again this time claiming to be related to princess Dona Catherina - I drew the line, before he could go on to write about his connections to all the 191 plus ancient regime runners of ours. Recently I read a news item that Rajasinghe 1's father has been re-discovered. Alas, his father according to this news item was not king Mayadunne as we fondly imagined construing images of the dedicated father-son duo brandishing their swords against the Parangis on the banks of Kelani. It was clear from the speech that propounded the theory that the new father belongs to a particular caste of which the discoverer too could possibly be a member. Of the activities of the mother and her sexual liaison that spawned the prince out of such a connection there are no details, which if given would have delighted some readers purely due to their lascivious aspect. We may be against the caste system so contrary the teachings of our major religon but it would be ludicrous to deny that it exists in our society. Many are the histories written by those belonging to different castes which trace some connection to royalty. Even great kings as Dutugemunu and Vijayabahu 1 have not been left out. That royalty is casteless and looms above all castes of Sinhala society is an accepted fact. Even another accepted fact is that the Goigama caste, one of our castes is the only caste that has not taken pains to broadcast that they descend from some king or other or that some king or queen of Lanka is related to them. Whether this humility places the Goigamas far below in the hierarchy of our caste system is a matter to be decided on. And last of all, I must mention a comment made by a colleague years back. "You know this hankering after royal connections is a result of the social position of the mentor of our main religion - The Buddha. He was of royal origins and everyone wants to flaunt similar origins. Jesus' earthly father was a carpenter and so nobody there cares for royalty'. Christian countries not caring for royalty? That is a long lie. In fact Christian England of the Anglican church who destroyed our royalty still keeps theirs despite the heavy drain on their treasury and all the scandals in the royal household. The long and short of all this is that this world of ours happens to be the most unpredictable place with no rhyme and reason guiding its activities as those of the king Mayadunne who ruled Sitawaka. He was the main actor in the famous Vijayaba Kollaya staged against a father who influenced by a minor queen had decided to cut off the royal legacy to the sons by the main king. And then he went on to wage a relentless war against the Portuguese, the super power of the world at that time. But he could not control his queen's activities. Or was there a system of keeping paramours by the queens at this time in retaliation to the king's Anthappura? |
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