{"id":118614,"date":"2023-07-24T17:55:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T17:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=118614"},"modified":"2023-07-24T17:55:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T17:55:50","slug":"against-the-modernist-grain-polyandry-other-traditional-practices-that-may-still-persist-in-sri-lanka-by-michael-roberts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/against-the-modernist-grain-polyandry-other-traditional-practices-that-may-still-persist-in-sri-lanka-by-michael-roberts\/","title":{"rendered":"Against The Modernist Grain: Polyandry & Other Traditional Practices that may still persist in Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against The Modernist Grain: Polyandry & Other Traditional Practices that may still persist in Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/strong>Thuppahis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Asiff Hussein,<\/strong>\u00a0courtesy of\u00a0Roar Life,\u00a0<\/strong>25 April 2017,\u00a0<\/a>where the chosen title is\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThree Strange Sri Lankan Customs And The Stories Behind Them\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lankans had, and still have, some strange traditions that are thought of as indigenous. However, much of these have their origins in other parts of the world, especially in India, and, to a lesser extent, in the Middle East. Here are\u00a0three such local beliefs and customs with exotic origins.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"elanka\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Dola-Duka<\/i>\u00a0(Pregnancy Craving)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sri Lankans, and especially the Sinhalese, believe that mothers-to-be experience a longing to eat certain kinds of foods, and that if these cravings are not satisfied, it would harm her health or the child she is carrying. This is known as\u00a0dola-duka<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rural folk, in particular, believe that if the expectant mother\u2019s\u00a0dola-duka<\/i>\u00a0cravings are not sated, she would become weak and emaciated. What\u2019s more, the foetus would get angry and might even turn out to be deformed, so it is extremely important that her gastronomic desires be satisfied. That\u2019s not all; these folk infer the sex of the unborn child by the longings of its mother. Thus, if the expectant mother shows an unusual craving for acid foods, it is a sign that she would give birth to a daughter. If she shows a strong liking for sweet foods, it is a sign that she would give birth to a son (Panam Pattuve Jana Adahili Ha Janavishvasa,<\/i>\u00a0Gunasekara Gunasoma, 1994).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is, in fact, a very old belief. In the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty, the\u00a0Mahavamsa<\/i>,\u00a0we read of<\/a>\u00a0Queen Viharamahadevi, who lived around the 2nd century BC, experiencing some unusual pregnancy longings (dohala<\/i>) when she was expecting Prince Dutugemunu. The chronicle has it that the queen longed to lie on her right side in a beautiful bed with a very large honeycomb and to partake of honey after giving it to twelve thousand bhikkhus. She also craved to drink, while trampling his very head, the water in which was washed the sword that beheaded the chief warrior among Elara\u2019s soldiers. Needless to say, her husband, King Kakavanna Tissa, \u00a0made sure that the longings of the queen were somehow satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This hoary old belief seems to have an Indian origin. Ancient Hindu treatises, such as the\u00a0Yajnavalkya Smrti<\/i>, declare that if the wishes of the expectant mother are not met, the foetus would become unhealthy, that it may be deformed, or that the mother would suffer a miscarriage. The Sinhala term\u00a0dola-duka<\/i>\u00a0used to describe it likewise seems to derive from an ancient Aryan usage once widespread in northern India.<\/span><\/p>\n

A linguistic examination of the term\u00a0dola<\/i>\u00a0sheds some light on this. The term\u00a0duka<\/i>, which is suffixed to it, merely means \u2018suffering\u2019 or \u2018desire,\u2019 excessive desire being equal to suffering in the Buddhist worldview. So one can understand why it was used to describe the pregnancy longings we are discussing here. However, the key word here is\u00a0dola<\/i>\u00a0which derives from the Old Indo-Aryan usage\u00a0dvihrda<\/i>, meaning \u2018two hearts:\u2019 in other words the hearts of mother and her unborn child. As H. Lueders has shown in his paper\u00a0Zwei Indische Etymologien<\/i>\u00a0(published in\u00a0Philologica Indica<\/i>, 1940), the Prakritic\u00a0dohala<\/i>\u00a0(which is interestingly the very word the Pali\u00a0Mahavamsa\u00a0<\/i>uses to describe queen Viharamahadevi\u2019s pregnancy cravings) arose from the Sanskritic\u00a0dvaihrda<\/i>\u00a0(literally meaning \u2018two hearts\u2019) due to the fact that the expectant mother was considered to have two hearts, hers and that of her foetus. This is lent support by Sushruta, the author of the great\u00a0Samhita\u00a0<\/i>(a well-known medical treatise in Sanskrit) who alludes to a pregnant woman as one with two hearts (dvihrdayam<\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, we may suppose that the idea of pregnancy craving originally arose in India and that the term\u00a0dola (-duka)<\/i>\u00a0originally meant \u2018(the desire of) two hearts\u2019. The underlying belief here seems to have been that the unborn child\u2019s desires were manifested in the longing for certain foods on the part of its mother, and that these had to be satisfied to ensure the wellbeing of the child.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isa Diya Mangalya<\/i>\u00a0(Virginity Testing)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Conservative Sri Lankans are still known to practice a rather bizarre custom that would today have many up in arms. This is virginity testing, where the newly wed bride is subjected to an examination to determine whether she had been a virgin at the time of her marriage. The practice is known by many names. It is called\u00a0Isadiya Mangalya<\/i>\u00a0(literally meaning Head-Water Ceremony), in certain parts of the country as\u00a0Isa Diya Balanta Yaema<\/i>\u00a0(Lit. Going to See the Head Water), or more simply as\u00a0Balanta Yaema<\/i>\u00a0(Going to See).<\/span><\/p>\n

To this day, it is the custom in traditional Sinhalese families to provide the newly married couple with a white cloth known as\u00a0kirikadahelaya<\/i>, upon which they are expected to lie during their first intercourse on the wedding night. The groom\u2019s mother, or some elderly women, or, in certain areas, the washerwoman, would examine the cloth for blood stains that would have presumably flowed from the rupture of the bride\u2019s hymen. The occurrence of blood stains on the sheet would be taken as evidence that the bride had indeed been a virgin. On the other hand, the absence of blood is looked at with askance, as it indicates that the bride had indulged in premarital sex. If all is well, the groom\u2019s mother would beat a\u00a0rabana<\/i>\u00a0(drum), and give the girl\u2019s brother red flowers wrapped in betel leaves, which he hands over to his mother, who would then beat a drum, informing the village all is well. If proof of virginity is lacking, the\u00a0rabana<\/i>\u00a0is not beaten, and white flowers would be sent to the girl\u2019s mother (Cultural Rhapsody: Ceremonial food and Rituals of Sri Lanka<\/i>, Vinodini De Silva, 2000).<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice is so prevalent in local society, both among the Sinhalese and the Muslim Moors, that one would think that it is a very ancient practice that originated with the ancestors of the Sinhalese, and that the Moors adopted it from their Sinhalese neighbours. But there\u2019s a hitch here. The Sinhalese of old, unlike those of today, do not seem to have ever cared if a woman was a virgin or not. Even a writer as observant as \u00a0Robert Knox did not notice the custom among the Kandyan Sinhalese of his time. In contrast, he wrote in his\u00a0Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon<\/i>\u00a0(published in 1681) that:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey do not matter or regard whether their Wives at the first Marriage be Maids or not.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This leads us to turn the searchlight elsewhere; and where else to focus on but on the immediate neighbours of the Sinhalese: the Moors, who trace their origins to Arabian forbears who espoused local women?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Moors, like their Sinhalese neighbours, have traditionally had a virginity test involving hymenal blood.<\/strong>\u00a0Although repugnant to Islamic ideals of propriety, the practice still continues in the urban as well as the rural areas. A research study on local Muslim women,\u00a0Between Two Worlds<\/i>, published by the Muslim Women\u2019s Research and Action Forum in 1999, found that a \u2018virginity test,\u2019 similar to that of the Sinhalese, was being practiced amongst the Muslims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bride is given a white cloth to be used on the wedding bed. The couple usually spend their wedding night at the bride\u2019s home and the day after the wedding, elders from the groom\u2019s family visit the bride\u2019s home for breakfast. In Colombo, we came across a custom where a red flower and turmeric is sent to the bridegroom\u2019s house if the bride is a virgin. Here as in the other areas including Amparai the bride is given a gold sovereign (or jewellery) by the bridegroom as an appreciation for her virginity after consummation of the marriage.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As such, could it be possible that the Sinhalese had indeed borrowed the custom from the ancestors of the Moors? European travellers of old have reported for centuries past of the bloodstained cloth of the wedding night being carried through the streets to the house of the bride\u2019s parents with drumming and shouts of joy in Morocco, Turkey and the lower classes in Cairo (Encyclopedia of Islam<\/i>, 1934). Surprisingly, it is even alluded to in the\u00a0Alf Layla Wa Layla<\/i>\u00a0(Arabian Nights), where, in the tale of the negro Sawwab, we have a reference to the mother of a girl who had lost her virginity staining the bride\u2019s chemise with pigeon\u2019s blood and having it carried among all the female guests, so that they might believe in her daughter\u2019s virginity. Whether this was a common practice is doubtful. Nevertheless, it was known among the Arabs of yore.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is possible that this is an ancient Semitic practice, since it was known among the ancient Jews, who, like the Arabs, are Semites descended from Abraham. The \u2018tokens of virginity\u2019<\/i>\u00a0mentioned in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy) referred to exactly the same thing \u2013 the cloth or bed linen stained with the blood from the rupture of the bride\u2019s hymen. That it should have survived the influence of Islam, which speaks so much against divulging the secrets of the nuptial bed, shows how pervasive it must have been.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eka Ge Kaema<\/i>\u00a0(Fraternal Polyandry)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In the olden days, and well until colonial times, the Sinhalese of certain areas indulged in a rather unusual custom that would have flown in the face of everything modern day wife swappers stand for. This was the practice of fraternal polyandry \u2013 in simpler terms,\u00a0several brothers sharing one wife<\/strong>. The practice, euphemistically referred to as\u00a0Eka-Ge-Kaema<\/i><\/strong>, or\u00a0\u2018Eating in One House,<\/strong>\u2019 is no longer legal, though\u00a0it is possible that it may still be surviving in some remote areas.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The practice was fairly common in the olden days<\/strong>. Even royalty engaged in it on occasion. In the Magul Maha Vihara slab inscription of Viharamahadevi (C.14th century), we find the queen calling herself the chief consort of the two brother kings named Perakumba (Perakumba De-Bae-Raja-Daruvan De-Denata Aga Mehesun Vu Vihara-Maha-Devi<\/i>). The queen referred to in the epigraph is a lesser-known namesake of the more famous queen of the 2nd century BC, who was mother to the Sinhalese national hero Dutugemunu, while the brother kings were evidently two petty kings who wielded independent authority in the Southern Ruhuna country at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice gained more popularity in the days of the Kandyan Kingdom due to certain practical reasons. For one thing, it minimised the fragmentation of ancestral property, since if each brother married separately, there would be more heirs to inherit. For another, the feudal setup of the Kandyan Kingdom required adult males to perform mandatory state duty (Rajakariya<\/i>), including military service, which meant that they had to be away from home, sometimes for months. The arrangement allowed the remaining brother or brothers to take care of the joint-wife and children, who would have otherwise been left unprovided for.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The English traveller Robert Knox observed in his well-known work on the Kandyan Kingdom\u00a0Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon<\/i>\u00a0(1681): \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this country each man, even the greatest, hath but one wife; but a woman often has two husbands. For it is lawful and common with them for two brothers to keep house together with one wife, and the children do acknowledge and call both fathers.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The practice obviously shocked the colonial rulers. The Dutch clergyman, Philippus Baldaeus, noted in his\u00a0Beschrijvinge<\/i>\u00a0der Oost-Indische Kusten<\/i>\u00a0(1672) that the Sinhalese recommend the conjugal duty to be performed by their own brothers, and cites the case of a woman resident in Galle who had \u201cconfidence enough to complain of the want of duty in her husband\u2019s brother on that account.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The British colonial regime made polygamy, both polygyny and polyandry, illegal in 1859, but the practice persisted nevertheless. Ponnambalam Arunachalam noted in his contribution on \u2018Population\u2019 to the\u00a0Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon\u00a0<\/i>(1907):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPolyandry, though illegal, continues to exist among the Kandyan peasantry, especially in the case of brothers. The law against polyandry is evaded by not registering the union at all or by registering it as with one brother only. In all cases the ceremonies of marriage are performed with one brother only.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As to how the practice came into being, it is possible that it may have been borrowed from certain peoples of India, though it could have also been an independent development over time due to the exigencies of a feudal society. The practice was known to exist among other South Asian peoples such as the folk of Tibet and Sikkim, the Jats of North India, and the Nayars of South India, until fairly recent times. The largest population practicing polyandry was to be found among largely non-Aryan peoples of the North Western Himalayas, which, in India, covers Ladakh and the northern fringe of Himachal Pradesh, where brothers were known to share a wife or wives in common.<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice seems to have been foreign to the Vedic Aryans, nor is it contemplated in the Smrtis. The only instance of polyandry in ancient Hindu literature is the story of Draupadi, who was married to the five Pandava brothers, which occurs in the Indian epic\u00a0Mahabharata<\/i>. Draupadi\u2019s polyandrous marriage may well have been a historical event, for if it were not so, the author of the epic, who is at his wit\u2019s end to justify it, would have quietly kept silent over it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. A. S. Altekar, in his fascinating work\u00a0The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization<\/i>\u00a0(1938), has advanced an interesting theory to explain its occurrence among the Pandavas. Observing that polyandry was still current to some extent among a few non-Aryan tribes of Kashmir and Tibet, he notes that it is probable that the Pandavas were following a custom which they may have borrowed from either of these provinces. He notes that this would suggest that they belonged to a stock of Aryans different from that of the Kauravas and that they entered India via the Gilgit Pass in Kashmir or through Nepal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Altekar\u2019s observations are interesting, given that there is evidence to show that a branch of the Pandavas, the Pandyas, also settled in South India, establishing the town of Madura after its more famous namesake in the north, Mathura. Especially relevant to our discussion is the fact that the founding fathers of the Sinhalese, according to the\u00a0Mahavamsa<\/i>, took wives from among the Pandyas.\u00a0Thus, it is possible<\/a>\u00a0that polyandry among the Sinhalese might have originated from folk originating in the Pandya country of South India, who in turn had originated from the Pandavas of North India.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternatively, it could have originated, or, at any rate, become more popular, due to the growing influence of the Nayar and other military castes of Kerala, who served the local kings as mercenaries. Caesar Fredericke, who travelled to the Malabar area in 1563, observed that the Nayar had their wives common among themselves, and that when any of them go into the house of any of these women, he leaves his sword at the door, and the time that he is there, there is none who would dare come into that house (The Voyage and Travels of M. Caesar Fredericke, Merchant of Venice,<\/i>\u00a0translated by Thomas Hickoke, 1598). This was somewhat similar to the local Kandyan custom of leaving the\u00a0amude<\/i>\u00a0(loincloth) at the door when one brother was with the common wife (Folklore of Sri Lanka,<\/i>\u00a0Nandadena Ratnapala, 1991). It is a well-known fact that Kerala mercenaries served the local kings. The\u00a0Elunuttuvar<\/i>\u00a0(The Seven Hundred<\/i>) were one such military organisation from Kerala, who arrived here very likely during the Perumal period (10th-12th centuries) or shortly afterwards. Thus it is\u00a0quite possible<\/a>\u00a0that mercenaries from Kerala introduced \u2012 or at any rate popularised \u2012 the practice here.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we can see from all this is that even our customs and beliefs do not necessarily have to originate among ourselves. They could be borrowed and embellished over time so that they become part of our cultural baggage, which we regard as our own. At the end of the day, nothing is really ours except perhaps our genes. All else is a play with givers and takers playing their role in the drama of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Featured image courtesy lankapura.com<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Against The Modernist Grain: Polyandry & Other Traditional Practices that may still persist in Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Asiff Hussein,\u00a0courtesy of\u00a0Roar Life,\u00a025 April 2017,\u00a0where the chosen title is\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThree Strange Sri Lankan Customs And The Stories Behind Them\u201d Sri Lankans had, and still have, some strange traditions that are thought of as indigenous. However, much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":118615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,42710],"tags":[54197,54196,54198,39873],"class_list":{"0":"post-118614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"category-michael-roberts","9":"tag-gunasekara-gunasoma","10":"tag-jana-adahili-ha-janavishvasa","11":"tag-kandyan-kingdom-historical-relation","12":"tag-queen-viharamahadevi","13":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"\nAgainst The Modernist Grain: Polyandry & Other Traditional Practices that may still persist in Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sri Lankans, and especially the Sinhalese, believe that mothers-to-be experience a longing to eat certain kinds of foods, and that if these\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, 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