NO. 50,-1399.] POLYANDRY IN CEYLON. 



3 



THE CUSTOM OF POLYANDRY IN CEYLON. 



By R. W. Ievers. 



Regarding Ceylon literature on this subject, the first 

 notice is in Knox's " Historical Relation." Percival refers to 

 it ; and Cordiner writes at more length. As these books 

 are not readily accessible, I have copied the passages in an 

 appendix.* 



Sir Emerson Tennent has discussed the question in his 

 " Ceylon " (vol. II., part IX., chap. II.), and seems to 

 correctly attribute the custom — at least in its survival — to 

 the necessity of keeping the property together under the 

 feudal service tenure which obtained under the Kandyan 

 kings. He notes, however, the antiquity of the custom and 

 its wide diffusion throughout many countries (including 

 Ancient Britain) and amongst the tribes still extant in 

 India, Thibet, Sylhet, Cachar, Mysore, and the Dekkan. The 

 references which he gives may be consulted with profit. 



The writers above-mentioned must be understood to refer 

 to the Sinhalese alone, as there is no evidence that the 

 custom ever existed among the Tamils, who seem to have 

 preferred polygamy. 



And in speaking of the Sinhalese, their remarks only apply 

 to the Sinhalese race which inhabited the territory ruled by 

 the native kings, which was almost entirely cut off from 

 intercourse with the " low-country," or maritime districts, 

 ruled by the Portugugese and Dutch. The king's territory 

 only came under the British rule in 1815. 



Under the Kandyan Law marriage was contracted by 

 public recognition of the union, when the man and woman 



* See Knox's " Historical Relation," 1681, p. 94. Percival : "An Account 

 of the Island of Ceylon," 1803, p. 1 76. Cordiner : " A Description of 

 Ceylon," 1807, p. 163. 



B 2 



