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Rediscovering the profile of Rodiya or Gadi in Sri Lanka

Title: Gadi Jana Vatha

Genre: Research

Author: Chandrasri Ranasinghe

Publisher: Suriya Books

Page count: 160

Price: Rs. 350

According to Chandrasri Ranasinghe, an ancient Sinhala work titled Nitiniganduwa cites eighteen castes in our land. Out of these the castes named, Rodiya is known as the lowest in the order, where a particular group of people were branded as ‘low graded’ or kula heena which is a factor that goes against the teachings of the Buddha.

Rodiya group of people were also known by the term rodiya though some scholars according to Ranasinghe, have used the phrase rodda or ‘rubbish’ that had gone into the term. According to Ranasinghe, the very first mention of rodiya is by Robert Knox, followed by a series of other foreign writers on the subject.

Though there had been material on the subject scattered in various literary and folk sources, a few scholars have taken an active interest to compile a single volume on the subject concerned. Feudalism, particularly during the Kandyan era had been a rigorous challenge to the lifestyle of rodiya.

Ranasinghe’s work is an attempt to draw attention on some of the socio-cultural and socio-ethnic issues related to a vanishing tribe in our country.

The compiler Chandra Sri Ranasinghe has gained sufficient experience by translating some of the pioneer works as researched by such scholars as M D Raghavan, Raven Hart, Emerson Tennent, Hugh Neville and Bryce Ryan. Most of these written for a wider English readership were hidden from the common eye due to various academic reasons.

In the first instance the required attention was not drawn towards cultural anthropology as a subject discipline in our local curriculum.

As a result of this drawback the students failed to reach a basic knowledge in that particular discipline. Furthermore, the subject of history and literature were taught and continued to be in the same tradition. Same for the teaching of cultural anthropology where the basic emphasis is on early settlers and their living conditions. Perhaps this trend changed up to a point.

When the subject of sociology and communication came to be gradually popular among students yet the emphasis on the origins, development, behaviour patterns of the various tribes known as Vaddahs, Rodiyas and Ahikuntikayas, were either untaught or kept at a distance, aloof from the central stream of academic discipline. Now that some of the modern academic researches are gaining roots, such areas of studies cannot be left at a distance.

The field studies and book studies on the said subject by way of surveys and assignments have to be undertaken in the learning of social sciences. In order to broaden these subject areas certain fundamental and seminal readers are needed.

This need is partly fulfilled by the translation of the pioneer works.

In addition to translations of some of the interested scholars are innovated or developed in some areas already dealt with by the pioneers. Such is the effort of Ranasinghe. He has gained a knowledge via his translation of folklore and anthropological material.

To his credit Ranasinghe is one of the foremost scholars in the study of ahikuntikayas or gypsy community in Sri Lanka.

His work Ahikuntika Jana Katha (folktales of gypsies) won the state award in 1973. Since then he has been engaged in the task of translating many a folklore and anthropological works. Prior to the appearance of the present work which is one of his own works, he translated into Sinhala the work on Rodiya caste written by scholar M D Raghavan titled as Handsome Beggars!

His experience in the translation process and the findings on the subject had enabled him to engage more on the discipline, the result of which is the present work. This runs to 21 chapters methodically displayed with facts drawn from various sources accompanied by his own interpretations.

His interpretations are more or less marginal as he is visualised as a scholar who collects more and interprets less. But this presentation may be an eye opener to those scholars who emerge later.

As it is commonly found in works of this nature, the starting point is the tracing of the origins of the Rodiya Caste, where these are shown both as a tribe that came from a foreign strand and as a tribe that had its origins in this land. Several viewpoints are compared with necessary guidance to the sources. Then come the next episode where the researcher Ranasinghe makes an effort to find similarities and dissimilarities between the Rodiya caste and other castes in their settlements.

Quite a number of names denote the caste of Rodiya. Hulavali and Sadol are two distinct denotations. Their behaviour patterns and social attitudes too are compared with those of other early settlers like Veddas. One of the most striking chapters in the works, deals on the serial behaviour of the Rodiya people.

The enticing feminine figures have been a subject of much controversy revolving round the mesmerisms and fantasies. Perhaps as I see it, these details ought to be rediscovered not via the written sources available but as field studies.

The references to the scattered nature of the Rodiya people are demographically presented, and the result is that it is almost extinct. One other illuminating point is the cluster of religious beliefs and allied areas of the discipline. For those who are inclined on knowing more facts about the rites, rituals, folk medicine and folk religious traits may find some of the embedded findings stimulating and resourceful.

Having collected sufficient material on the subject of Rodiya caste and their livelihood, the writer attempts to present them in a segmented manner.

This the reader will find as a useful rediscovery of an extinct or at least near extinct group of humans, looked down upon as outcastes by the nobility and downtrodden by others. This rediscovery in the light of new knowledge in Social Sciences ought to be a starting point for an enlightening rediscovery of where we stand and what we should do.

Ranasinghe’s book, though not strictly a thesis presentation for a higher academic sphere, is packed with appropriate illustrations, index and a bibliography.

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