Karava - Ancestral Names

Ancestral Names

Most of the Karavas in Sri Lanka belong to one or more of the Suriya clans Weerasuriya, Wickramasuriya, Kurukulasuriya, Warnakulasuriya, Mihindukulasuriya, Bharathakulasuriya, Manukulasuriya, Vijayakulasuriya or Arasakulasuriya which appear to indicate distinct streams of migrations. Other clans are Vadugas, Koon Karavas (such as Samarakoon, Weerakoon etc.), Ratne(such as Rajaratne or Jayaratne)( and Konda Karavas (such as WeeraKonda, Konda Perumal Árachchigé etc.). Additionally they also bear Gé names.

Gé names among the Sinhhala speaking population are traditional hereditary family names. They denote a person's ancestry, caste, social status of an illustrious ancestor or the village of origin. The Karava traditionally used the title or clan name before the 18th century emergance of the govi. Hence, 'Patabandi' became 'Patabadige'. These names predate the 16th century European colonisation of Sri Lanka. Gé names precede an individual’s personal name unlike a surname which follows one’s personal name. As such it is important to understand the historical significance of these ancient Ge’ names vis-à-vis the 20th century British period acquired surnames. The Karavas Ge’ names overwhelmingly show a traditional military, royal or marine heritage. Some of the more frequently encountered Karava Ge names are:

• Arachchige: From the house of the village headman.
• Arasa Marakkalage: Royal Mariner
• Baduge: Variant form of Vaduge
• Hennedige: Armoured militiaman
• Hewage: Soldier
• Kankanamage: Supervising of workmen (of military weapons production)
• Kurukula (Suriya): Descending from the Kuru clan
• Marakkalage: Ship owner or captain (see illustration of Marakkalam vessel on right), Arab Muslim traders got this name due the ships being called Marakkar in India ans (Sri Lanka). As such Hindu mariners of Karnataka are also referred the same. Arabs did not call themselves Marakkar.
• Malimage: Sailor, Captain or Ship owner
• Mestrige: Artisan
• Patabendige: Honorific name/title given to local headman
• Rajaratne: Royal military Advisor
• Thantrige: Master, Priest, Expert (in military strategy)
• Vaduge: Carpenter, ship & boat builder and/or descendant of Vadugar
• Varnakula Suriya: God Varuna Sea God (alternately Colour-Caste)
• Arasanilayitta: Possessing kingly status
• Vidanage: Civil officer
• Vedage: Expert in the Vedas or Ayurveda (More likely the latter as 'Veda' in Sinhalese is grammatically aligned to the root denoting Ayurveda and not the Broader Indian Veda learnings. Hence 'Vedage' probably refers to the local herbal healer / medicine man in the Ayurveda tradition.
• Egodage: Great warriors in the sea and land ( Modern day Military Commandos )
• Aditya: Denotes a suryawamsa king found throughout India, but exclusive to the Karavas in Sri Lanka, recorded as Ditta or Adicca in some ancient texts. (The first dynasty of the similar linguistic culture to Sinhalese, the thousand cluster islands; the Maldives was Aditya)

Apart from Ge names, they also use Iberian-derived surnames such as De Silva, De Mel, Fernando, Perera and Mendis subsequent to conversion along with many kings and aristocrats of the period.

Rarer occurrences of such surnames are found in Almeida, De La Salle, De Mazenod, Peris and others who can often directly trace lineage back to a member of the Portuguese colonials in the country in the 16th century.