Govigama - History

History

The traditional occupation of this caste is paddy cultivation, and they were the tenant farmers in the Sri Lankan feudal system. It is considered as the dominant caste in what is now sinhalese society. The Sinhalese caste system was based on the service to the king or 'raja kariya', and land ownership. King literally owned all the lands in the island and govigama people cultivated these lands at the behest of the king. The contribution to rice production and service in royal service gave govigama people an important role in the ancient agrarian society. Kings are said to participate in harvesting festivals held end of each Yala (dry) and Maha (wet) season and there is a traditional saying:"Once cleaned the mud (from paddy cultivation) off, a farmer can be a king" is of recent time. Kings participated in all festvals of the land, but to drag the king to the mud is highly disrespectful. The traditional saying common in feudal times was; hene kumbure weda (the burden of work / hardship of life & limitations imposed on their dwellings)

Only in the present era, it has been the norm that the head of the country is a Govi cast member, though President Premadasa was not. Some Anglican Govi that turned Buddhist in the past century popularized the myth that the colonial occupiers, including the Portuguese, Dutch and British, tried to change Govi dominance by giving prominence to other casts by granting government posts and education under them. Yet the evidence points other wise and the post monarch colonial era saw the rise of the ordinary/majority cast populace The Dutch and the British introduced the ideas of Republicanism

Many members of the Govigama community are still farmers in villages throughout Sri Lanka. However, some farmers other than rice farmers are not considered to be govigama. A good example is the caste Salagama, who came as Nambudiri/Saligrama Brahmins for the coronation ceremonies of King Vijaya bahu 1,& Prince "Wathhimi Bandara", several generations later a section of them were punished by the King of Kotte in 1406 & imposed cinnamon as a tax,& were involved in cultivating cinnamon. Bathgama farmers are apparently a lower brand of rice farmer. The Govi women are also made to do the awful back breaking harvest work. An important characteristic in Sinhalese caste system is that the family name or the surname details the ancestry of the name bearer. The original name was given based on where one lived. As some castes of southern India do. Later honorary terms, granted by the king based on his/her service to the kingdom at a certain rank in the royal service or at a personal capacity, were added to the original name. This continued for generations resulting in very long names. In general, 'Mudiyanselage', among Kandyans, and 'Arachchilage', 'Appuhamilage', among low country people, considered names taken up by Govigama and others to improve their social standing. The ranking in the service of the kingdom introduced further categorization within govigama people based on their names. Yet some variations are found at present due to the changes during the colonial perios. Historic literature and inscriptional evidence from the feudal period show that the above hierarchy prevailed throughout the feudal period until the collapse of Sri Lankan kingdoms and social structure under the onslaught of European colonialism. However, even in the modernday, sinhalese people look at surnames and ancestry when it comes to marriages.

In traditional Sinhalese society Buddhist monks are placed at the top; in fact, monks were considered not to be a part of the laymen society. Irrespective of the birth caste of a monk, even the king had to worship him. However, this led to some Buddhist sects in Sri Lanka allowing only Govigama people to join, in contrary to Lord Buddhas instructions. Other castes such as Karava, Durava, Salagama and Wahumpura have their own Buddhist sects,but they do not impose any restrictions based on caste creed or race,upon anyone who wishes to join,because of restrictions imposed by the govigama only sect had brought a questionable reputation for Buddhism in Sri Lanka.