{{pp|small=yes}} {{Short description|Sinhala caste in Sri Lanka}} {{Infobox ethnic group | image = | caption = | group = Salagama | poptime = | popplace = Sri Lanka | languages = Sinhala | religions = Buddhism | related = Saliya, Devanga, Padmashali, Pattariyar, Thogataveera, Kaikolar }} thumb|13th Century Salagama Brahakmana Flag'''Salagama''' (also known as ''Saliya)<ref name=":0" />'' is a Sinhalese caste found mostly in the southern coastal areas of Sri Lanka. The community was traditionally associated with the cultivation and management of cinnamon and were formerly also involved as weavers and soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hB5TCgAAQBAJ|title=The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE–200 CE|last1=Coningham|first1=Robin|last2=Young|first2=Ruth|date=2015-08-31|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521846974|pages=60|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Institute|first=Marga|title=A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Globalisation and conflict|date=2001|publisher=Marga Institute|pages=15|language=en}}</ref> Like the other coastal castes such as the Karavas and Duravas, the Salagamas migrated to Sri Lanka between 13th to 18th century from South India and are of historical Dravidian ethnic origin.<ref name="Eller">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8CxvhZfPYoC&q=Salagama+south+india&pg=PA103|title=From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict: An Anthropological Perspective on International Ethnic Conflict|last=Eller|first=Jack David|date=1999-01-01|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0472085387|language=en}}</ref>
== Etymology == The Salagamas were also known as ''Saliya,'' also spelled ''Chaliya''. The name is presumably derived from Chale of Kerala in southern India.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sCHCwAAQBAJ|title=Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History|last=Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190225797|pages=24|language=en}}</ref>
==History== ===Origins===
The Salagamas trace their roots back to the Coromandel Coast and Malabar Coast of South India, and settled in the southern coastal areas of Sri Lanka.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbP_AwAAQBAJ|title=Coup Theories and Officers' Motives: Sri Lanka in Comparative Perspective|last=Horowitz|first=Donald L.|date=2014-07-14|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400854127|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1BuAAAAMAAJ|title=400 Years of Dutch-Sri Lanka Relations: 1602 - 2002|last1=Kelegama|first1=Saman|last2=Madawela|first2=Roshan|date=2002-01-01|publisher=Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka|isbn=9789558708132|language=en}}</ref> Their ancestors were a weaving community who were known as ''Saliya'' also known as ''Devanga'' Chettiar of South India.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-syAAAAMAAJ|title=Ceylon: A Divided Nation|last=Farmer|first=Bertram Hughes|date=1963|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=31|language=en}}</ref> Some Salagamas also have the ''vasagama'' or surname "Nambudirige" meaning "of the Nambudiri", which Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere deems as a spurious attempt by the caste to elevate their status to that of the Nambudiri Brahmins of Kerala (Due to caste competition with the Karava who claimed Kshatriya status).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cultofgoddesspat0000obey|url-access=registration|quote=salagama nambudiri.|title=The cult of the goddess Pattini|last=Obeyesekere|first=Gananath|date=1984|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226616025|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cultofgoddesspat0000obey/page/527 527]|language=en}}</ref> Like the other coastal castes such as the Karavas and Duravas, the Salagamas migrated to Sri Lanka between 13th to 18th century from South India.<ref name="Eller"/>
===Shift to cinnamon peeling===
The Salagama were first described as weavers, but overtime they shifted to cinnamon peeling. The 'Heladiva Bamunuwatha' chronicle states that Sapumal Kumaraya ordered the caste to do cinnamon peeling during the period of 1447-1480.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Dissanayakage |first=Dilhani |date=2019 |title=The Spirit of the Cinnamon Peeler: Trade, Labour, Community and Colonialism in Sri Lanka, 1796 to the Present |publisher=La Trobe University |url=https://opal.latrobe.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_Spirit_of_the_Cinnamon_Peeler_Trade_Labour_Community_and_Colonialism_in_Sri_Lanka_1796_to_the_Present/13158212 |page=136-137}}</ref>
===Colonial period===
Under Portuguese rule, many Karavas and Salagamas converted to Catholicism, which opened way to education and administrative careers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhpKxQT8n74C|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity|last=McManners|first=John|date=2001-03-15|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780192854391|language=en}}</ref>
The Portuguese continued the tradition of using Salagamas as cinnamon planters, who had to provide cinnamon as a tax. Queyroz mentions 'Chaleaz' as among the 'high castes' and that they prepared cinnamon for the 'great tax'.<ref>Queyroz, vol I, pp 19-20</ref>
The census of 1824 identified the Salagamas as about 7.5% of the coastal Sinhalese population. However, they were concentrated in the Galle district, where about half of them lived and where they made up almost 20% of the population. Nowadays, most Salagamas are Theravada Buddhists as are a majority of their Sinhalese ethnicity.<ref>Bryce Ryan, p 264</ref>
== Sub-castes == Traditionally, the Salagama were divided into four sub-castes:<ref>Bryce Ryan, p 110</ref> * ''Hewapanne'' ('warriors' & military officers/generals) * ''Panividakara'' ('Special messengers') or - headmen (equal to Mohottalas) * ''Kurundukara'' (Kurunthukarar in Tamil means ('cinnamon workers'). * ''Uliyakkara ''
==Modern radicalism== The traditional Salagama areas around Balapitiya, Kosgoda, Ratgama, Hikkaduwa and Boossa were centres of the pan-Sinhalese populist movement of Anagarika Dharmapala (who was not from the Salagama community). The key issues around which this movement emerged were anti-casteism and anti-colonialism.
The same areas were in the vanguard of the independence struggle and became hotbeds of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and of the Communist Party. These areas were at the forefront of the Hartal of 1953.<ref>Colvin R de Silva, ''"Hartal!"'', {{cite web |url=http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/backiss/Vol2/No1/Hartal.html |title=Hartal |access-date=2009-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109041300/http://www.revolutionary-history.co.uk/backiss/Vol2/No1/Hartal.html |archive-date=2008-01-09 }}</ref>
== See also ==
* Caste system in Sri Lanka * Chaliyan, a related Indian caste]] * Upatissa of Upatissa Nuwara, the Chief Adviser of King Vijaya]]
==References== {{Reflist|2}} * Bryce Ryan, '''Caste in Modern Ceylon''', Rutgers University Press, 1953. * Fernăo de Queyroz (SG Perera, Tr), '''The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon''', Colombo, Government Printer, 1930.
==External links== * [http://bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/cinnamon.html Troy David Osborne, A taste of Paradise: Cinnamon, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota] * [http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/ehelepola.htm Ehelapola the great] * [http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1094900 Ceylon Under the British Occupation]
Category:Sinhalese castes