Focus on Books
Rediscovering the profile of Rodiya or Gadi in Sri Lanka
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
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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