Pre 1915 era was a period when there was agitation for constitutional reform and Buddhist revival. British officials were happy when there was public support when war was declared by Britain against Germany. However, there was an upsurge of national sentiment during the period March and April 1915 with the commemoration in March of the centenary of the Kandyan Convention National Day celebrations which took place islandwide with great enthusiasm for the first time. The year 1915 was a turning point in the Island’s political history and communal disturbances shattered the hopes of gaining greater political mileage. However, by end of May communal disturbances which were directed against Muslims, especially against Coast Moors who were recent immigrants from Malabar Coast in South India shattered the harmonious relations that existed between the Sinhalese and the Muslims.
The Muslims of Sri Lanka had formed an important community of traders from the time of the Sinhalese kings and lived in peace and amity with the Sinhalese. At times they have been bestowed honours by our kings for distinguished services, including patabendi names in some instances, as in the Kandyan Provinces. With British rule, however, a disturbing feature arose in that Coast Moors from South India, some of the most fanatical and intolerant of Muslims came to Sri Lanka in large numbers for purposes of trade and established themselves in various towns. It is true that Ceylon Muslims looked down upon them and they erected their own mosques for worship in an audacious manner they insisted on stopping all music whenever a procession passed their mosques. This is the scenario in which the groundwork was getting prepared for riots. The demand of the coastal Moors was preposterous and unprecedented in this predominantly Buddhist country where processions during Peripherals had played an important role from time immemorial.
Coast Moors from India – A law unto themselves
The Coast Moors being traders were competing with the Low country traders and were noted for selling products at higher prices. The Sinhalese traders were influential within the Buddhist community and religious sentiments also naturally crept into the commercial rivalry. The Coast Moors were determined to maintain their stance and were more demanding since they were familiar with such situations in India. They disregarded the traditional rites and customs of the Buddhists in particular. With the resurgence of Buddhism, the situation led to conflict with the Buddhist masses. The British authorities treated the riots initially as communal disturbances but later the riots were regarded as a conspiracy against the British by the Sinhalese in spite of there being no real reason to support such a theory. As such British officials took harsh measures against Sinhala Buddhists considered to be the leaders of the so-called conspiracy.
Administrative bungling and repercussions
The riots that took place in June 1915 are rooted in what took place in Gampola in August 1912. The first cause is the irritation caused to the Buddhists by the Government Agent in refusing their usual annual procession in Gampola. An application was made to the Government Agent by the trustee or Nilame of the Devale but he refused to give him permission on August 27, 1912, on the grounds that the Humbaya Muhammedans, who built a mosque in Ambagamuwa Street, objected to the Buddhist procession passing their mosque with music. The facts pertaining to this incident was recounted by the Ceylonese Member of the Legislative Council P Ramanathan during the course of the debate. He said “the wrong move of the Government Agent in regard to the Gampola Basnayaka Nilame was the earliest of the causes of the riots”.
The trustee of the Devale let the preparation of the procession slide and went to the District Court of Kandy in September 1913 and complained that the Government Agent had wrongfully and in breach of the Convention signed in Kandy in 1815 by the British government and the Kandyan Chiefs, refused the plaintiff permission to conduct the procession through that portion of Ambagamuwa street within one hundred yards of the Humbaya Muhammedans ‘Mosque to the accompaniment of musical instruments. The judgement of the District Judge. Paul E Peiris was delivered in June 1914. He finds that instead of binding the Humbaya Muhammedans of the mosque to keep the peace, the Government Agent directed the police to plant pipes 50 yards away from each side of the mosque and inform the Buddhists that they should not sound their music while going over these one hundred yards.
The facts of the case are undisputed. The procession was the Esala Perahera, celebrated throughout the country (then Dominion) as the greatest national festival of the Sinhalese. It also related to the worship of the celestial forces; Katharagama Devio by the Sinhalese and Karthikaya by the Hindus.
The procession as far as Walahagoda Devale was concerned went for centuries from the Devale to the Mahaweli River at Paruthota for cutting off the waters in great pomp and ceremony and returned by the same road. During this time the people have been in the highest state of enthusiasm and devotion to the powerful deity. There were four mosques on the route of the Perahera.
Three of these mosques belonged to the permanent Muhammedans of the town, who did not object to the procession. But the trustees of the fourth mosque, built a few years ago by some immigrant Mohammedans from South India objected to the procession. The Government Agent did not see the political danger of forcing the Basnaka Nilame into courts to discuss the Constitutional question about the interpretation to be given to the Kandyan Convention. It was sure to irritate the hundreds of thousands of Buddhists and bring them into conflict with the Humbaya Muhammedans all over the island. The District Judge points out that if the trustees of that mosque belonging to the immigrant Muhammedans of South India had been bound over to keep the peace nothing would have happened.
Riots in Kandy
According to the Ceylonese Member, it was the wrong move of the Government Agent in regard to the Basnayaka Nilame which was the earliest cause of the riots. The second mistake on the part of the Government servant was on May 27, 1915 in connection with the procession on Vesak day. The Government Agent granted a license to those who wanted the procession on Vesak day. The Government Agent granted a license to those who wanted the procession but said: “Don’t go to Castle Street where the immigrant Muhammedans have a Mosque, till after 12 o’clock midnight when their mosque must be closed.” They did not go there till about 1 o’clock. But the Humbaya Muhammedans were ready for them then and there hooting and jeering at the Sinhalese whose patience was exhausted.
They chased the Muhammedans, damaged a part of the mosque and some of their boutiques also and brought the procession to an abrupt end. Nothing further happened in the night in Kandy but on the following day people from the villages came to Kandy and were hanging around the streets, wishing to protect the Dalada Maligawa or the great Temple of the Tooth Relic from a possible attack which was expected to be made by Muhammedans coming by train from Colombo and South India.
They stood opposite the house of the principle Hambaya in Trincomalee Street at about 7 o’clock in the evening together with some policemen. The policemen did nothing because they were in fear of the people. When they were so standing a Hambaya from the upper storey had fired a shot on the crowd of people standing opposite the house and a Sinhalese youth was wounded. The assailant was still in the boutique but the constable had not seized him. The injured youth had been taken to hospital where he died.
There had been great restraint on the part of the people who were angry because the constables present at the scene had not taken any action to apprehend the assailant. Seeing inactivity on the part of the police and hearing that the Maligawa was in danger, the crowd came back the next morning in greater numbers. The leading people in Kandy went to the Government Agent and told him that he could easily disperse the mob if he only came near the town. Under these circumstances, the feeling of self-defence and necessity for immediate action being roused in the hearts of the Sinhalese villagers’ riots did take place, which soon extended to Colombo.
Suppression of riots
It was during the tenure of Sir Robert Charmers K.C.B as Governor of Ceylon that Sinhala Muslim riots broke out in Ceylon, as the country was then known. He was a financial wizard of the British Treasury and is accredited with having prepared the famous budget of Lloyd George in 1909 creating a sensation. He was rewarded by being sent to Ceylon as Governor. He lacked administrative skills and depended on reports submitted to him by subordinates. In one instance he sent a report to the Colonial Secretary in which he referred to ‘notorious Dharmapala’ and the ‘Disloyal Mahabodhi Society’ and also endeavour to justify the killing of PB Walgampaya, the Basnayaka Nilame of Gadaladeniya Devale on the basis of a report sent by Inspector of Police HL Dowbeggin. A case was filed on July 1916 against HL Dowbeggin in the District Court of Kandy by Kolugala Walgampaya Loku Menike Kumarihamy, for unlawfully causing the death of Punchi Banda Walgampaya Basnaka Nilame, which was sensational. Although the case was dismissed being statute-barred, the case served the purpose of vindicating the innocence of Walgampaya Basnayaka Nilame. The ruthless and callous methods used by the police in the suppression of riots were exposed as a result of the case.
The Governor’s assessment
According to the Governor’s statement to the Ceylon Legislative Council on August 6, 1915 a section of His Majesty’s subjects had attacked another section. The attack had begun suddenly in Kandy on the night of May 28, 1915 on the occasion of the age-old Kandy Procession and thereby Ceylon had suffered a great calamity.
The riots had spread like wildfire from Kandy to Rambukkana and thence through Colombo down the coast to Matara. The rioting had spread to other provinces with the exception of Uva, Anuradhapura, Jaffna and Trincomalee. The result of the riots had been that houses and shops had been looted and places of religious worship had been desecrated and destroyed. Some had been wounded and murdered.
The Governor had declared martial law when according to him the outbreak had reached the low country and criminal classes of Colombo and elsewhere had joined the movement which had become predatory and anarchic.
According to the Governor “the upcountry villager for whom he had a liking were a cat’s paw; his simplicity and ignorance and sincere devotion to the creed of his forefathers had tended to make him the facile tool of wire-pullers, mainly from outside”.
In this context, he declared at the Legislative Council that it was necessary to display and exert the force which was at the government's command empowering the officer commanding the troops in Ceylon to take all steps throughout the five provinces affected.
The steps taken by General Malcolm with promptitude had suppressed the overt disturbances and with the abatement of the frenzy, Special Commissioners were appointed to assess the damages and to deal summarily with minor offenders and reserving the principle offenders for trial by court-martial under Order in Council of 1896.
The Special Commissioners included the Government Agents, their assistants and men of judicial and administrative experience. Every court martial finding was to be confirmed by the officer commanding the troops.
All sentences of penal servitude had to come before the Governor for approval under military law. It was within the competence of the officer commanding the troops to carry out any death sentence. Hundreds of villages in the Western and Southern Provinces had to be investigated and damages assessed by Special Commissioners.
According to the Governor “All that had happened is a tragic folly which has arrested the Islands march to progress”. All that had happened during Vesak had been condemned by the Buddhists, Christians and Muslims alike. With the appointment of Special Commissioners justice came to be meted out arbitrarily.
There were numerous petitions to the effect that the assessments were far in excess of the damages, as brought to the notice of the Governor by the Kandyan Sinhalese Member, Mr. Moonamale, the Low Country Sinhalese Member Christoffel Obeysekera and the Ceylonese Member Mr. than. In all, there had been approximately 300 petitions.
Extremism whether it comes from Muslim fundamentalists or any other group will undoubtedly be detrimental to peaceful co-existence between communities and well-being of the country and is likely to drag the country into chaos. Now that Sri Lankans have suffered for several decades from terrorism, authorities including religious leaders must take adequate precautions to avoid religious and racial turmoil.
Extremist terrorist groups are active around the world, particularly in the Middle East, bringing utter chaos through the fundamentalist doctrines which they advocate as we have experienced in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019 by drawing inspiration from them. It is the responsibility of religious leaders and law enforcement authorities to take stringent, adequate and timely measures to identify and deal with them.
This article is also based on Hansard reports of debates in The Legislative Council during Sessions from November 26, 1913 to January 31, 1916 among others. The same terminology as used in the Hansard in regard to Muslims is used and should not be construed as derogatory references.
(The writer was the Director, Management Consultancy at the National Institute of Business Management.)
(First part of this article was published on June 21, 2019)
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