Social
Structure in Sri Lanka |
Traditional society in Sri Lanka was governed by
ideological norms within which sex roles were differentiated.
This feudal social order, influenced by Buddhist and
Hindu values and characterized by occupation-based
caste groups, passed through many stages of evolution,
including the colonial period which introduced the
plantation economy, new Western religious ideas, and
education and health initiatives, followed by independence
in 1948 and the development policies of successive
national governments. Throughout these changes, the
interaction between social norms and new influences
had specific implications for the roles of men and
women, as it continues to do in contemporary society.
These changes have occurred in the context of considerable
cultural and religious differences. Sri Lanka's heterogeneous
socio-cultural base includes a majority of Sinhalese
Buddhists (about 74 per cent of the population),
the Tamil community, most of whom
are Hindus (18 per cent), a multi-ethnic
Christian group (8 per cent), and
an Islamic minority (7 per cent).
In each of these groups, religious ideology, socio-economic
factors, and ethnic traditions have shaped value patterns
relating to the roles of women and the family in society.
Regional subcultures, such as those of the hill-country
Sinhalese, the more urbanized mixed social groups
along the coast, and the Indian Tamils on the plantations,
have provided even greater diversity.
Among all ethnic and caste groups, the most important
social unit is the nuclear family--husband, wife,
and unmarried children. Even when economic need causes
several families (Sinhala, ge; Tamil, kudumbam) or
generations to live together, each wife will maintain
her own cooking place and prepare food for her own
husband as a sign of the individuality of the nuclear
family. Among all sections of the population, however,
relatives of both the wife and the husband form an
important social network that supports the nuclear
family and encompasses the majority of its important
social relations. The kindred (pavula, in Sinhala)
of an individual often constitute the people with
whom it is possible to eat or marry. Because of these
customs, local Sinhalese society is highly fragmented,
not only at the level of ethnic group or caste, but
also at the level of the kindred.
The kinship systems of Sri Lanka share with most
of South Asia and the Middle East the institution
of preferred crosscousin marriage. This means that
the most acceptable person for a young man to marry
is the daughter of his father's sister. The most suitable
partner for a young woman is the son of her mother's
brother. Parallel cousins--the son of the father's
brother or the daughter of the mother's sister--tend
to be improper marriage partners. There is a close
and special relationship between children and their
aunts or uncles, who may become their fathers- or
mothers-in-law.
Special kinship terminology exists in both Tamil
and Sinhalese for relatives in preferred or prohibited
marriage categories. In many villages, people spend
their entire childhood with a clear knowledge of their
future marriage plans and in close proximity to their
future spouses. The ties between cross-cousins are
so close in theory that persons marrying partners
other than their crosscousins may include a special
ritual in their marriage ceremonies during which they
receive permission from their cousins to marry an
outsider. The system of cross-cousin marriage is ideally
suited to maintaining the closed ritual purity of
an extended kinship group and retaining control over
property within a small circle of relatives.
The vast majority of marriages in Sri Lanka are monogamous,
that is, they involve one woman and one man. Unions
between one man and more than one woman (polygyny)
are neither illegal nor unknown, however, and wealthy
men can take several wives if they can afford to support
the families. Unions involving one woman and more
than one man (polyandry) are also legal and possible.
In the Kandyan region, descent and inheritance are
traced through both spouses: both husband and wife
possess their own property and may bequeath at in
equal shares to their descendants. In the low country,
where Dutch Roman Law is in effect, marriages create
joint property between husband and wife, which on
their death is divided among their heirs. On the east
coast, Tamil Muslim families trace descent and inheritance
through the mother, and men will typically reside
with their inlaws.
There is a preference for living near the husband's
family in most areas of the country, although a family
with no sons may prefer that a son-in-law live nearby
and manage their lands. Among all the variations of
inheritance and descent, the husband is typically
the manager of the nuclear family's property and represents
his family in most public duties and functions.
In the rural areas of Sri Lanka, traditional marriages
did not require a wedding ceremony or legal registration
of the union. The man and the woman simply started
living together, with the consent of their parents
(who were usually related to one another). This type
of customary marriage still survives, although it
has been declining in recent years. In 1946, about
30 percent of marriages in Sri Lanka were not registered,
but in 1981 that figure had declined to 10 percent.
Most such unions were concentrated along the north
and east coasts and in the Central Highlands. Legal
divorce is easy to obtain, and divorces of customary
marriages occur through mutual consent of the partners
in consultation with their extended families. Most
marriages, however, are quite stable because of the
considerable social pressure and support exerted by
kindred of both the husband and the wife. In 1981
the divorce rate per 10,000 persons amounted to only
30.5.
Most Sri Lankan families have small means and do
not spend large sums on wedding parties. Among wealthier
families in both the countryside and the cities, marriages
occur more often between families that were not previously
related, and more elaborate ceremonies take place.
In such cases the bride may receive a substantial
dowry, determined beforehand during long negotiations
between her family and her future in-laws. Preceding
these well-publicized affairs are detailed discussions
with matchmakers and astrologers who pick the most
auspicious times for the marriage.
Except for some of the well-educated urban elite,
the parents arrange all marriages, although their
children may meet future spouses and veto a particularly
unattractive marriage. The average age at marriage
has been increasing in recent years because of longer
periods required for education and establishing a
stable career. In 1981 the average age of grooms was
twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and the average age
of brides was twenty-four. Betrothals arranged by
parents could begin much earlier, and in rural areas
marriages between persons in their early teens still
occurred. Whatever the arrangements, however, marriage
and the propagation of children were the desired state
for all groups, and by age thirty-nine, 86 percent
of both sexes had married at least once.
All ethnic groups in Sri Lanka preserve clear distinctions
in the roles of the sexes. Women are responsible for
cooking, raising children, and taking care of housework.
In families relying on agriculture, women are in charge
of weeding and help with the harvest, and among poor
families women also perform full-time work for the
more well-to-do. The man's job is to protect women
and children and provide them with material support,
and in this role men dominate all aspects of business
and public life. At the center of the system are children,
who mix freely until puberty and receive a great deal
of affection from both sexes.
As they enter their teens, children begin to adopt
the adult roles that will keep them in separate worlds:
girls help with household chores and boys work outside
the home. Among the middle- and upper-income groups,
however, education of children may last into their
early twenties, and women may mix with males or even
take on jobs that were in the past reserved for men.
There has been a tendency to view the educational
qualifications of women as a means for obtaining favorable
marriage alliances, and many middle-class women withdraw
from the workplace after marriage.
The agrarian social structure was based on an extended
family unit consisting of two or three generations
living in separate houses but in community compounds
in which each family functioned as an independent
economic unit. In the patriarchal system, men were
ascribed the role of providers and women that of home-makers.
Marriages were arranged and required the compliance
of family elders.
They had to conform to the established determinants
of caste, religion, and kin group.
The rights of the woman depended on whether the system
of marriage was matrilocal or patrilocal. For Buddhists,
marriage and family belong to secular life and therefore
widowhood or childlessness did not cause the kind
of disabilities that occurred in the Hindu tradition.
However, certain pre-Buddhistic traditions and taboos
imposed restrictions on women at puberty, menstruation,
and childbirth. Women passed on these values through
the socialization of girls and boys in their prescribed
social and productive roles.
Social
stability and continuity were ensured by a network
of kinship groups and elders, men and women,
who exercised sanctions that kept the gender-based
roles intact. The segregation of men and women
did not constrain women's involvement in economic
activities, although these were differentiated
on the basis of gender. |
 |
For example, ploughing, threshing, and sowing were
male tasks, while females were responsible for weeding,
harvesting, and processing.
Domestic industries and crafts were also gender-differentiated.
However, women were not perceived as producers: their
work was an extension of their family role. Women
in the lower strata did agricultural work, but it
was not normal for elite women to participate in productive
work outside the household. The popular value system
allowed some women greater mobility, but it was accompanied
by a suggestion of social inferiority.
Colonialism introduced changes which impinged on
the long-standing traditional feudal structure. The
dual economy of plantation and peasant agriculture
which it established brought about not only economic
but also social change. New forms of monetized organization
resulted in the separation of the workplace from the
home and led to the creation of a public provider
role for the man and an isolated, home-centred role
for the woman.
In the lower economic strata, women extended their
unpaid family worker role to the factories, which
were adjuncts to the plantations, and became wage-earners.
However, their differentiated economic value was replicated
there, where their wages were lower than men's. In
the pockets of subsistence economy that survived,
women continued as "invisible," marginalized
workers subordinated to men.
In the first half of the twentieth century, new
policies, partly designed to grapple with the problems
of vulnerable groups and of women and children in
particular, were introduced. The catalysts which transformed
the social and cultural milieu of women were the granting
of universal franchise in 1931 and the subsequent
expansion of education and health programmes, of which
they were the chief beneficiaries.
Secular education and formal schooling began with
Western colonialism. Women from the affluent urban
classes were the first to benefit. However, their
education was governed by the social norms relating
to their gender. When it came to higher education,
teacher-training colleges and institutes for art and
handicrafts were deemed culturally suitable for women.
In any case, since tertiary training did not bring
girls any particular advantage, such as better work
opportunities, many of them dropped out at the secondary
level.
Although institutions for higher academic training
were opened to females to pursue education on different
lines, the small number who went on to the University
College or the Medical College did not do so with
the objective of employment. From the early 1940s,
many became active in voluntary (unpaid) social work
to help women in less advantaged groups. Education
was not seen to be of direct economic benefit; it
was more an added qualification for marriage.
The introduction of free education in 1945, the
use of national languages as the medium of instruction,
and support schemes like scholarships and free midday
meals removed most of the barriers which, combined
with cultural constraints, had limited schooling for
girls. The principle of equal access to education
for girls and boys was reinforced by the establishment
of a network of co-educational schools throughout
the country.
There were almost 1(1,000 by the 1970s. Female enrolment
rates increased from 36 per cent in 1931 to 48.1 per
cent in 1970. However, there were considerable regional
disparities. For example, it remained particularly
low in the Mannar and Batticaloa districts, where
there was a high Muslim population.
The government decision to allow women limited access
to the administrative service in the 1960s enhanced
the incentive to go on to higher education. The proportion
of women in the universities rose from 29.4 per cent
in 1950 to 40.1 per cent in 1978. Although a few of
them studied veterinary science, science, and medicine,
the concentration of females in the humanities persisted.
However, economically disadvantaged women had very
slim chances of entering the universities in the capital.
In 1950, nearly 77 per cent of the females studying
there came from the professional and managerial classes.
Female literacy rose to 43.8 per cent in 1946 nearly
double the 1921 figure. The gap between the genders
began to narrow, and it was only 15 per cent in 1971;
it is currently 7.9 per cent. However, there were
marked differences between urban and rural areas,
which were the result of cultural inhibitions. For
example, females were not allowed to travel to school
after puberty and girls were not allowed to begin
domestic and agricultural work at a very early age.
Female literacy was low in districts were there was
a large proportion of plantation workers or Muslims.
The absence of effective adult education programmes
is evident in the differences between literacy levels
in the generations which had access to schooling and
the older females.
By the 1970s, education had become a passport to
employment, and through this to higher social and
economic status for females as well as males. The
increasing demand for university education saw the
number of universities grow to six, with another three
campuses and an open university by 1981, although
at the end of the 1980s they are still only able to
admit 1 per cent of the population in the relevant
age-group, and women enrol primarily in the stereotyped
fields of arts and humanities, education, veterinary
science, and medicine. They remain underrepresented
in engineering and physical science. This would not
in itself be a disadvantage, except that the areas
they choose hold little prospect for employment.
The education system has failed to meet the demand
for employment skills. Vocational and technical training
courses arc limited in scope and coverage. The lack
is felt more by females, who do not appear to have
easy access to courses in agriculture, the electrical
trades, woodwork or other fields that provide better
job prospects but are still perceived as male preserves.
The Labour Department and the Rural Development Department
have continued to conduct vocational training courses
based on gender stereotypes.
Inevitably, the courses for women are mat-weaving,
sewing, and tailoring. Attempts to introduce new kinds
of female training in the early 1970s faced resistance
from employers. However, the migration of skilled
men to West Asia left a vacuum, and a number of young
females have gone into motor mechanics, masonry, carpentry,
and telecommunications.
In the 1920s and 1930s, high maternal and infant
mortality rates (20.8 and 158 per thousand live births
respectively) reflected the poor health status of
women and children. This was one of the factors which
led to the decision to grant universal franchise in
1931, on the premise that women with voting power
would have a better chance of attracting the government's
attention. Nutrition, preventive health, and maternal
and child welfare programmes resulted in a drop in
maternal and infant mortality to 3 and 57 per thousand
live births respectively by 1960.
Again, there were marked regional disparities and
the rates were higher in areas where female education
and literacy were lower and where plantation workers
and Muslim communities predominated. This breakthrough
in the health status of women and children has been
successfully followed through and the current (1985)
mortality rates are 0.6 per thousand live births for
mothers and 24 for infants. However, the infant mortality
rate on the state plantations, where approximately
half the estate population live, is 50 per thousand.
In 1979, female life expectancy was 70.2, compared
to 66 for males.
State policies are now being directed against malnutrition.
The extent of maternal malnutrition can be inferred
from the number of low-birth-weight babies; they are
said to make up 21 per cent of all those born in Colombo's
main hospital, although data are available only from
small ad hoc surveys and personal communications.
The mothers' malnutrition appears to be a legacy from
their youth: studies done by the Food and Nutrition
Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of Plan Implementation
have shown that more girls than boys are malnourished.
Family planning is now incorporated in an integrated
scheme for family health, which indicates the relationship
between small, manageable families and their health
status. Family-planning programmes have been directed
primarily towards women. The proportion of acceptors
increased from 32 per cent in 1975 to 54.9 per cent
in 1982.
A government incentive payment of Rs. 500 for either
male or female sterilization appears to have increased
the number of such operations. Currently, the State
Health Programme concentrates on primary health care,
with a particular focus on women and children. A high
proportion of children and pregnant mothers are immunized
through a WHO and UNICEF segment of this programme.
However, these improvements in the quality of life
for women have failed to have a corresponding impact
on their participation in economic and development
activities in the formal public sphere. Labour-force
participation rates have remained around 26 per cent
over a long period, and female workers tend to be
concentrated in services and unskilled jobs. At the
beginning of the 1980s the rate of female unemployment
was considerably higher than that of men (23 compared
with 12 per cent).
This is partly because of the undiminished burden
of the household, which still very definitely rests
on women. Since 1975, however, the focus on women's
issues has succeeded in bringing discrepancies in
administrative, legal, and social equality to light,
and much has been done to remove disabilities in these
areas.
Sri Lanka has one of the most effective health systems
among developing nations. The crude death rate in
the early 1980s was 6 per 1,000, down from 13 per
1,000 in 1948 and an estimated 19 per 1,000 in 1871.
The infant mortality rate registered a similar decline,
from 50 deaths per 1,000 births in 1970 to 34 deaths
per 1,000 births in the early 1980s. These figures
placed Sri Lanka statistically among the top five
Asian countries. Improvements in health were largely
responsible for raising the average life span in the
1980s to sixty-eight years.
Traditional medicine ( ayurveda) is an important
part of the health system in Sri Lanka. The basis
of traditional medicine is the theory of "three
humors" (tridhatu), corresponding to elements
of the universe that make up the human body: air appears
as wind, fire as bile, and water as phlegm. Imbalances
among the humors (the "three ills," or tridosha)
cause various diseases. The chief causes of the imbalances
are excesses of heat or cold. Treatment of disease
requires an infusion of hot or cold substances in
order to reestablish a balance in the body.
The definition of "hot" or "cold"
rests on culturally defined norms and lists in ancient
textbooks. For example, milk products and rice cooked
in milk are cool substances, while certain meats are
hot, regardless of temperature. Treatment may also
involve a variety of herbal remedies made according
to lore handed down from ancient times. Archaeological
work at ancient monastic sites has revealed the antiquity
of the traditional medical system; for example, excavations
have revealed large tubs used to immerse the bodies
of sick persons in healing solutions.
Literate monks, skilled in ayurveda, were important
sources of medical knowledge in former times. Village-level
traditional physicians also remained active until
the mid-twentieth century. In the late 1980s, as part
of a free state medical system, government agencies
operated health clinics specializing in ayurveda,
employed over 12,000 ayurvedic physicians, and supported
several training and research institutes in traditional
medicine.
Western-style medical practices have been responsible
for most of the improvements in health in Sri Lanka
during the twentieth century. Health care facilities
and staff and public health programs geared to combat
infectious disease are the most crucial areas where
development has taken place. The state maintains a
system of free hospitals, dispensaries, and maternity
services. In 1985 there were more than 3,000 doctors
trained in Western medicine, about 8,600 nurses, 490
hospitals, and 338 central dispensaries. Maternity
services were especially effective in reaching into
rural areas; less than 3 percent of deliveries took
place without the assistance of at least a paramedic
or a trained midwife, and 63 percent of deliveries
occurred in health institutions--higher rates than
in any other South Asian nation.
As is the case for all services in Sri Lanka, the
most complete hospital facilities and highest concentration
of physicians were in urban areas, while many rural
and estate areas were served by dispensaries and paramedics.
The emergency transport of patients, especially in
the countryside, was still at a rudimentary level.
Some progress has been made in controlling infectious
diseases. Smallpox has been eliminated, and the state
has been cooperating with United Nations agencies
in programs to eradicate malaria. In 1985 Sri Lanka
spent 258 rupees per person to fight the disease.
Although the number of malaria cases and fatalities
has declined, in 1985 more than 100,000 persons contracted
the disease.
Sri Lanka had little exposure to Acquired Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) during the 1980s. As late
as 1986, no Sri Lankan citizens had contracted the
disease at home, but by early 1988 six cases had been
diagnosed, including those of foreigners and of Sri
Lankan citizens who had traveled abroad. Government
regulations in the late 1980s required immediate expulsion
of any foreigner diagnosed as an AIDS carrier, and
by 1988 the government had deported at least one foreign
AIDS victim. Government ministers have participated
in international forums dealing with the problem,
and the government formed a National Committee on
AIDS Prevention in 1988.
Mortality rates in the late 1980s highlighted the
gap that remained between the urban and rural sectors
and the long way good medical care still had to go
to reach the whole population. Over 40 percent of
the deaths in urban areas were traced to heart or
circulatory diseases, a trend that resembled the pattern
in developed nations. Cancer, on the other hand, accounted
for only about 6 percent of deaths, a pattern that
did not resemble that of developed nations.
Instead, intestinal infections, tuberculosis, and
parasitic diseases accounted for 20 percent of urban
deaths and over 12 percent of rural deaths annually.
The leading causes of death in rural environments
were listed as "ill-defined conditions"
or "senility," reflecting the rather poor
diagnostic capabilities of rural health personnel.
Observers agreed that considerable work needed to
be done to reduce infectious diseases throughout the
country and to improve skilled medical outreach to
rural communities.
Traditional
Sinhalese Marriage System |
During ancient times, pre-Buddhistic Sinhalese marriage
laws and customs would have been similar to those
prescribed in the laws of Manu (Manava - Dharma -
Sastra) written in North India sometime between the
3rd century B.C."1st century A.C. The work, which
is a compilation of the traditions of the ancient
Indo-Aryan Hindus reflects a rigid patriarchal society
with extended family households.
The
laws are particularly odious due to its repressive
attitude towards the fairer sex. The marriage
of a maiden for example comprised of a gift
(Kanya - danam) by her father to a suitable
suitor, although it was agreed that if a girl
was not given in marriage by her guardian (father
or brother) within three years of her attaining
puberty, she would be free from his control
and may validly enter into a marriage of her
own accord. |
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Marriage was however an indissoluble sacrament and
not a secular contract, so that divorce was impossible.
With the advent of Buddhism to the island during
the 3rd century B.C., we may presume that the legal
position of women underwent a significant improvement.
The Mahavansa (5th century A.C.), the ancient chronicle
of Sinhalese royalty and its sequel, the Chulavansa,
do not give us any idea as to the position of women
with regard to marriage during the ancient and early
medieval periods.
However, a late medieval work, the Saddharma - lankaraya
(13th century), a collection of stories intended for
the edification of Buddhists, refers to a lady of
Anuradhapura named Sumana who gave herself in marriage
to a man from Ruhuna, so that we may suppose that
both men and women were free to contract their marriages
sans any third party sanction.
This
however is in sharp contrast to later Kandyan
times, when both men and women were required
to obtain the consent of their parents when
contracting a marriage. According to an early
English compilation of Kandyan law, namely John
Armour"s "Grammar of Kandyan Law"
(early 19th century), the consent of both parents
is necessary for a valid marriage. |
 |
There were of course a number of other conditions
that had to be fulfilled, before a marriage could
be contracted. Besides parental consent the parties
to the marriage had to
(1) belong to the same caste,
(2) they were not to be related within
the prohibited degrees of relationship and
(3) they had to have the intention
of forming a definite alliance.
Robert Knox, an English exile who spent nearly 20
years in the Kandyan Kingdom (1660 - 1679) states
in his work "Historical Relation of Ceylon"
(1681)
"It is not accounted any shame or
fault for a man of the highest sort to lay with a
woman far inferior to himself, nay of the very lowest
degree, provided he neither eats nor drinks with her,
nor takes her home to his house as his wife."
Knox's statement shows that marriage, unlike mere
cohabitation, had a ritual value.
Indeed
other statements of his show that Kandyan society
was an extremely licentious one where both men
and women had full freedom to cohabit with whomsoever
they pleased save that in the case of women,
they could not do so with one inferior in caste
to themselves, such an act entailing severe
punishment. |
 |
Says Knox, "If any of the females should be
so deluded, as to commit folly with one beneath herself,
if ever she should appear to the sight of her friends,
they would certainly kill her, there being no other
way to wipe off the dishonour she hath done the family
but by her own blood."
Kandyan law also prohibited marriages between close
relatives. This included a man"s daughter (duva),
sister (sahodari; this included the daughter of one"s
father"s brother or one"s mother"s
sister) and nenda (paternal aunt), though he could
marry his niece (leli) and maternal aunts (loku-amma,
kudamma).
For a marriage to be valid, the parties also had
to have the intention of forming a marital union.
This was due to the fact that in Kandyan society,
sexual morality hardly ever mattered and polygyny
(a man taking more than one wife), polyandry (a woman
taking more than one husband) and concubinage were
all recognised as legal.
Group marriages and trial marriages were also commonplace.
Furthermore, Buddhism saw to it that marriage in Sinhalese
society became a secular contract and not a rigid
sacrament as in Hindu law, so that marriage itself
had "little force or validity" as noted
by Knox.
Says Knox, "In this country, even the greatest
hath but one wife, but a woman often has two husbands."
The polyandry practiced in Kandyan times was usually
of the fraternal type and was known by the euphemism
eka-ge-kama (lit. eating in one house). Joao Riberio
(1685) says of the Sinhalese during the time of Portugues
rule (17th century):
"A girl makes a contract to marry a man of her
own caste (for she cannot marry outside it), and if
the relatives are agreeable they give a banquet and
unite the betrothed couple. The next day a brother
of the husband takes his place, and if there are seven
brothers she is the wife of all of them, distributing
the nights by turns, without the husband having a
greater right than any of his brothers. If during
the day, any of them finds the chamber unoccupied,
he can retire with the woman if he thinks fit... she
can refuse herself to none of them; whichever brother
it may be that contracts the marriage, the woman is
the wife of all."
He adds: "the woman who is married to a husband
with a large number of brothers is considered very
fortunate, for all toil and cultivate for her and
bring whatever they earn to the house, and she lives
much honoured and well supported and for this reason
the children call all the brothers their fathers."
Phillip Baldaeus, a Dutch cleric notes in his book
"Ceylon" (1672) that in his time the Kandyans
recommended, "the conjugal duty to be performed
by their own brothers" - and cites the instance
of a woman resident of Galle who "had confidence
enough to complain of the want of duty in her husband"s
brother on that account."
There also existed group marriages, where the brothers
of one family jointly entered into matrimony with
the sisters of another. Polygyny and polyandry however
did not find favour with the British who saw to its
abolition by means of the Kandyan marriage ordinance
of 1859.
Trial marriages were also common among the Kandyans.
Davy (Account of the interior of Ceylon 1821) says
that the first fortnight of the bride"s cohabitation
with her husband was a period of trial at the end
of which the marriage was either annulled or confirmed.
As
for concubinage, although it was permitted,
in later times, it appears to have been frowned
upon, especially amongst the nobility. John
Doyly (Sketch of the constitution of the
Kandyan Kingdom 1835) has stated that the
last Kandyan king reprimanded Migastenne Adigar
for keeping a concubine of the "Berava"
(drummer) caste. |
 |
The woman was flogged and sent across the river,
and thus banished from Kandy.
Divorce, as might be expected of
such a promiscuous society, was very easy. Kandyan
law recognised that either men or women may dissolve
the marriage tie at their will and pleasure.
Says Knox, "Both women and men do commonly wed
four or five times before they can settle themselves
to their contentation."
Widow remarriage was also very commonplace
and did not carry any stigma as was the case in India.
Says Knox, "These women are of a very strong
courageous spirit, taking nothing very much to heart...
when their husbands are dead, all their care is where
to get others, which they cannot long be without".
Kandyan law recognised two forms of marriage, namely,
diga marriage and binna marriage. In diga marriage,
the woman went to live in her husband's house and
gave up her claims to the parental estate. This was
the usual mode of marriage among the Kandyans.
Binna marriage was a marriage where the husband contracted
to go and live in the wife's house. Such a marriage
necessarily entailed the husband being subject to
a "petticoat government", for the wife was
the head of the house, a virtual matriarch.
It is said to have been a marriage "contracted
with a wink and ended by a kick". According to
Knox, there existed certain lands in Kandy known as
bini " pangu that were hereditary through the
female line.
He says "Younger sons of other families, when
grown up, the elder brothers having all the land,
they marry these women that have lands. A man in this
case only differs from a servant in laying with his
mistress for she will bear rule and he no longer then
willing to obey can continue but she will turn him
away at her pleasure."
John D'oyly (1835) has narrated a saying of the Kandyans
that "the binna husband should take care to have
constantly ready at the door of his wife's room, a
walking stick, a talpot (a palm leaf used as an umbrella)
and a torch, so that he may be prepared at any hour
of the day or night, and whatever may be the state
of the weather or of his own health, to quit her house
on being ordered."
Binna marriage would have been a convenient arrangement
by which means readily available male labour could
be obtained for running a girl's parents' estate in
case they had no male offspring. Such an arrangement
would have also served to help a woman look after
her aged parents in the comfort of their home. Binna
marriages are still recognised in the Kandyan districts.
