Artisans had a better social standing prior to colonial period. They were known as "gapathi" or vaishyas in many inscriptions. This includes the dancers,potters,goldsmiths etc..the society did not revolve around peasents.It is common sense that our researchers lack.
Great work. I learnt a lot from your channel about the historical context of the caste system in Sri Lanka. I had only a vague idea about this subject. I would also like to commend your effort in making your presentation credible by citing reliable sources of information.
Hello Kaari, thank you for doing a comprehensive video in such a short time where I have trouble finding any information or ideas that I cannot practically disagree. This video is far far more intellectually stimulating than Victor Ivan's famous(or infamous) book about the caste influences in the "emancipation struggle" or the political uprisings in Sri Lanka. Robert Knox's imprisonment is comparable to the parole system in the United States than an imprisonment that we picture in modern days. He might have been put behind bars by King Rajasinghe II initially, but for the most part he moved around freely in the Kandyan kingdom during his so called "imprisonment". I am not too sure about your idea about the lack of "definition" of what caste in Sri Lanka during colonial times and after. I think whatever definition it is, it most certainly has to be different from what existed and what exists in India under the influence of the Hindu religion and that way of life. I think you are partially correct about the general disgust about eating or killing bulls or cows for meat in Sri Lanka that it has Hindu influence. However, I would also like to bring into your attention about another aspects of it. The cow and the bull have been something along the lines of a family member who takes care of the family in Sinhala Buddhist culture. This is comparable to the disgust of killing and eating dogs and cats in the typical western society. Therefore, I suspect there has been a Buddhist cultural element in the general disgust of killing cows and bulls in Sri Lanka. The best observation about that is the continuance of that disgust all the way to the modern era regardless of some hundreds of years of colonialism and Christian cultural influence. In other words, we know the Hindu religious influence had increased among the Sinhala population since the demise of the Polonnaruwa era that co-existed with the Sinhala Buddhist cultural demise. The best approach to ascertain this cultural "practice" of shunning the killing of bulls and cows is to find out the general belief and practice among Sinhala Buddhist population when it came to killing and eating cows and bulls during Polonnaruwa era and most appropriately the era before that. My "gut feeling' is that the disgust for the practice of killing cows and bulls among Sinhala Buddhist culture goes far back to the history than the Hindu influence to the times of where emperor Ashoka officially introduced Buddhism to Ceylon and probably to the times before that where the Jaina religion had some influence.among the royal lineage. The question you need to ask is "how was the cow or bull skin was prepared fro those traditional drums in Ceylon during and before the Kandyan era?". Every sophisticated culture has it's ingrained hypocrisies. Sinhala Buddhist culture cannot be an exception in that regard. However, still my "gut feeling" is that the general disgust for killing cows or bulls(for meat or for the skin) was considered culturally inappropriate or a sin among Sinhala Buddhist people prior to the Hindu influence that started with the demist of the Polonnaruwa era. I personally believe the cultural condemning of killing cows and bulls in Ceylon predates the Hindu influence that started in Polonnaruwa era that increased after the demise of Polonnaruwa era. The "dirty work" of cultural requirements that would've been related to the killing of cows and bulls would've been practiced by the non-Buddhist native "tribes" or "castes" in my view. In other words, the slaughtering of cows and bulls would've existed marginally throughout the Sinhala Buddhist history since it's apparent birth after the apparent influence of emperor Ashoka, but the "dirty work" would've been left for some of the native "tribes" or culturally different populations who weren't that heavily influenced by Sinhala Buddhism(or Buddhism). FYI, I still occasionally notice these "Sinhala Buddhist" values in regional villages in Sri Lanka when I get to visit such places occasionally. I personally believe the best approach to understand the peculiar cultural disgust among Sinhala Buddhists towards killing cows or bulls for meat(or for the skin) has primarily Buddhist and potentially Jaina roots. The best way to understand may be the western societies love and affection for cats and dogs as "members of the family" or the least "lesser members of the family". Religion plays a lesser role in the western society in relation to their rules, laws and cultural feeling toward cats and dogs. I think the same view can be applied to SInhala Buddhist culture, even in relation to their relationship with the cow and the bull. The animal has been existing as a member of the family rather than a slave animal in my view. Hindu influence has been "instrumental" since the demise of the Polonnaruwa era, but not the major factor in my observation when it came to the relationship between the cow/bull and Sinhala culture. I think there was a Buddhist influence that had readily predated the Hindu influence. While honoring and appreciating Robert Knox's famous book for it's historical and cultural value, we also should take some of his observations with a pinch of a salt because he only lived in Sri Lanka for some twenty years or so under certain travel restrictions imposed by king Rajasinghe II. He did not live long enough or live a life in Ceylon to understand all the intricacies of the Sinhala Buddhist culture of the Kandyan kingdom of those times. I agree 100% that any attempts at understanding the historical(and modern) caste differences in Sri Lanka from the Indian point of view would only yield distorted and erroneous ideas about the caste division system in Sri Lanka. Any definitions about the caste system in Sri Lanka must be uniquely local and should not be directly compared to what existed and exists in India. You are also 100% accurate about the colonialism exploiting the caste system in Sri Lanka for their own advantage and introducing and perpetuating a distorted and discriminating version of caste system in Sri Lanka that did not agree with the cultural harmony of the Sinhala Buddhist culture.I think you can safely blame the Hindu negative cultural influence and the colonial negative cultural and political influence for the apparent cultural caste disharmony among the Sinhala Buddhist population. Having said that, we should also be careful to not to blame Hindu influence, Christian influence and colonial influence for all the cultural problems among the Sinhala population. Accepting what is good and compatible with open hands and rejecting what is not without any second thoughts will have some hopes of cultural revival for Sri Lanka.
