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by A.V. Marambe

The various articles written in the daily papers goes to educate and enlighten the readers. But in articles dealing with the history of the country absolutely false, misleading and distorted facts are placed before the readers. In one such article I found that facts relating to my family, ancestors and family houses has been targeted. It's this that prompted me to write this article.

The writer of an article refers to an illustrious Marambe family of Sabaragamuwa and goes on to identify it, with an Attorney-at-Law by the name Jimmy Marambe.

In another instance the writer refers to a Marambe Walauwwa at Eheliyagoda. Though I have been the V.C. Chairman of Eheliyagoda for over a decade I have never seen or heard of such a place. All the Walauwwas in Eheliyagoda belong to the Eheliyagoda families of the three Korales. Perhaps it may be the self styled Walauwwa of this self styled aristocrat Jimmy Marambe.

Marambe Walauwwa mentioned in history as the place from where Ehelepola conducted the Sabaragamuwa rebellion in 1814 was situated at Marambe off Getahettha along the Getahettha-Karadhana Road, and it is no more.

As the family branched off Marambe Walauwwa came to be known as Marambe Maha Walauwwa and the land where it was situated came to be known as Marambe Maha Walauwwe Watta by which name it is referred to in the Land Settlement Gazette of 1936.

The Marambe family traces its descent from Weerasinghe Prathiraja, a minister in the court of Parakramabahu IV of Kurunegala. When the capital of the country was shifted to Gampola during this period the minister shifted to Sabaragamuwa. The name Marambe was conferred on the family when a member of the family took a comb of plantains made of gold as "Dekum" to a king, MA-meaning gold RABE-plantains.

It so happened that in the year 1761 the king of the Kandyan kingdom Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe (1748-1782) waged a war against the Dutch who were occupying the maritime provinces of the country. The war was successfully carried out by the Kandyan army commanded by the "Adigar" Galagoda who was also the Dissawa of Sabaragamuwa.

This army was able to capture the Dutch forts of Matara, Katuwana, Hanwella and several important watch posts. The people and the chieftains of the Kandyan province of the Sabaragamuwa had played an important part in this war. A large number of chieftains of the province of Sabaragamuwa have received land grants during this period, which their decedents enjoy up to this day.

Before long the king was facing difficulties. Apart from the forts captured a vast area of Dutch territory came under the king's control. Defense and the administration of the captured territory created a big problem to the king. The Dutch who got holed up in the Colombo and Galle forts carried out attacks on the territory taken over by the king.

In his own kingdom the king found that paddy cultivation has been neglected owing to the people going to the war. The production of paddy, the chief source of income for the king fell to such a level that it gave a crippling blow to the economy of his kingdom. Apart from the paddy production falling the stocks of paddy in the "Gabadagamas" became depleted owing to it being drained off to feed the soldiers in the war front.

It was at this stage that the Dutch came forward with a settlement plan, that is the king to give the Dutch, a distance of eight "Gauwas" from the sea coast to the interior right round the country.

The king had no choice but to agree to the settlement in spite of the king standing to lose the Puttalam harbour the only harbour he had.

When the measurements were taken from the southwestern part of the Kandyan kingdom it ended on the western slopes of Hewainne Kandhe mountain range.

This mountain range extended from Kaluandura in the north up to Nambapana on the southern side. Right round the newly demarcated boundaries between the Kandyan kingdoms and the low country the king erected watch posts these watch posts were manned by "Wahampura" and "Bathgama" caste people. These watch posts were supervised by the Korale Mahatthya of each Korale and commanded by the "Atapattuwa Mohottale" of the province (chieftains of the frontier guard and guard services of the province), who took up residence on the eastern side of this mountain range.

Thus we see the families that held the post of Atapattuwa Mohottale of Sabaragamuwa Marambe, Iddamalgoda, Kiriporuwa and Jayasundhara of Kiriella taking up residence facing this mountain range on the eastern side.

This mountain range which is about thousand feet above sea level was the first line of defense for the Kandyan kingdom on this side of the kingdom, against sudden attacks by the Dutch and later by the British from the forts of Colombo and Hanwelle.

The descendants of those who manned these watch posts are yet living on this mountain range while the descendants of the afore-mentioned Attapattuwe Mohotalles are yet to be found on the eastern side of this mountain range except the Iddamalgoda family which is extinct.The Marambe family, the Attapattuwe Mohottalle and his brother Korale Mahatthya of Kuruwite Korale who were living together built their residences on the eastern end of the frontier village of Deiyagala which came to be known as Marambe Walauwwa, the area around the Walauwwa came to be known as Marambe.

It was in 1814 that the Ehelepola rebellion erupted in Sabaragamuwa and Ehelepola took up quarters at Marambe Walauwwa (Ref: p.139 "Tri-Sinhale" by P.E. Peris' and D'Oyoley's diary) to conduct the rebellion.

However the king's forces that marched to Sabaragamuwa under the command of Molligoda Adigar was able to drive away the rebels from the Batugedhara fort near Ratnapura and encamped at Kendangamua (Present Eheliyagoda) to get Ehelepola alive.

Ehelepola managed secretly to leave the Marambe Walauwwa in the afternoon arrived at Madola Vidane's house within the Kandyan kingdom and by dusk he crossed over to British territory to be received by John D'Oyoley behalf of the Governor. Failing to get at Ehelepola the king's forces destroyed Iddamalgoda Walauwa and Marambe Walauwa and the dwellings of the people were set on fire. The people fled to British territory to escape capture.

However Marambe Walauwa was rebuilt later and in the third generation the family branched off. One of the family put up a house close by and it came to be known as Marambe Epitha Walauwa and Marambe Walauwa came to be known as Marambe Maha Walauwa and the land on which it was situated known as Marambe Maha Walauwa Watta.

With the construction of the Avissawella Rathnapura road in 1858 the family holding high office at the time, moved to Minnana village a village between Getahatthe and Eheliyagoda with the court houses. About forty years later when the Kelani Valley Railway line was built this house was demolished as it stood within the area acquired for the railway line. The present house known as Minnana Walauwa was built some times later which is to be found up to this day at the center of the town. This badly neglected house was owned by Marambe Basnayake Nilame who took up residence in Kandy during his last days.

During the forth generation the family branched of further and only one family remained in the village and its house came to be known as Deiyagala Walauwa.

By a chain of deeds written from 1831 Marambe Walauwa alias Marambe Maha Walauwa and the land came to be known as Maha Walauwa Watta passed from generation to generation up to 1899 when the recipients of the deed written in 1884 (Ref. Land registry Rathnapura) prohibiting the sale of the property gave a 99 year lease in 1899. While this lease was in force ignoring the prohibition of the sale of the property in deed of 1884.

One Punchisinghe of Marambe Kandha grand father of Jimmy Marambe alias Jeveen Marambe (Ref. Jimmy Marambe alias Jeveen Marambe's birth certificate) bought a portion on the eastern side (Ref. Land Registry Rathnapura). Jimmy Marambe's father one Rathu Appuhami alias Rathu Banda put up a boutique building on this block of land where he started selling tobacco to the Durimpitiya and Marambe Khandha estate Tamil people. Having made good money out of this trade, he turned out to be a land grabber and the first land he grabbed was the balance portion of the Maha Walauwa Watta (Ref. Land Registry Rathnapura) where he later put up a house.

Marambe Maha Walauwa was neglected owing to the lease of 1899 and most of the family branching off, the house collapsed by about 1925.

The same fate had befallen Marambe Epitha Walauwa. The last in the line of this house had been a female child left orphaned at the age of seven, when both the parents had died.

This house too had been neglected and had collapsed by about the year 1920; the child had been bought up by relations and was married to the Marambe family with remained in the village at Deiyagala Walauwa, thus preventing family land going out.

A deliberate attempt had been made by the writer to jack up the aristocracy of Jimmy Marambe by trying to show his connections to some aristocratic families. This sort of family connections is not necessary for the aristocracy of Sabaragamuwa, because they can stand on their own without hanging on to others to prove their aristocracy and they need not have "Nanthi Sangamayas" and sessions in star class hotels and induce people to write to newspapers to prove their aristocracy.

In some articles written to the papers they displayed absolute ignorance of the Kandyan social system, as the writer puts it, with the "Nanthi Sangamaya" of Jimmy Marambe consists of various castes. Five out of the nine provinces in the country are Kandyan provinces, namely Sabaragamuwa, Uva, Central, North Western and North Central provinces.

The Kandyan land laws marriage and divorce laws and laws of adoptions prevail in these provinces up to this day. Under this social system no relationships between different castes groups exists. Any one deviating will be regarded as a social discard, it is the unwritten law.

Just as Rathu Appuhami alias Rathubanda of Marambe Kandha produce Marambe's another duo Don Jeris and Manchi Nona also produced Marambe's during the British period. Any one can assume any name and any parent can give any name to a child no one can object to it, but when one tries to identify himself with another family that has a historical background and tries to enter into the pedigree of such a family it could be challenged that is the very thing that I'm doing by writing this article.

Let me mention a few who lived till recently and are living today the descendants of the above Marambe Walauwa.

1. Marambe Ratemahatmaya of Kukul Korale on Sabaragamuwa. He was the only Marambe Ratemahatmaya from the Marambe family during the British period.

2. T. W. Marambe Basnayake Nilame of Dodanwela Devala in Yatinuwara, Kandy District.

3. Dr. Buddhi Marambe B.S.C., M.S.C., P.H.D. senior lecturer of the Peradeniya University.

4. Nissanka Marambe B.S.C, M.S.C., Architect

5. Dr. Janaka Marambe M.B.B.S. Medical Officer, Sri Lanka Navy.

6. Kolithe Marambe B.S.C Dept. of Statistics

7. Flight Lieutenant Cecil Marambe Sri Lanka Air Force (Retired)

8. Sidat Marambe B.S.C. (DEFENCE). Kothalawala Defence Academy pilot Sri Lanka Air Force.

9. L. B. Marambe of Mapitigama

10. G. T. B. Marambe of Mapitigama

11. Edwin Loku Bandara Marambe

12. John Weerasinghe Marambe

13. Godwin Marambe

14. Sam Marambe Colombo Ports Authority

15. Regge Marambe of Asgiriya, Kandy

16. A. V. Marambe V. C. Chairman (1964-1977)

17. Cuda Marambe of Kirelle

18. D. C. Marambe

Summing up I would like to say that the Sinhala saying "Itthavage Geta Kebel Eva Ringuwa Seya" is the most appropriate thing to mention about Jimmy Marambe in trying to identify himself as one of the Marambe family.

STONE 'N' STRING

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