172 Account of the Rodiyas. 



Mudianse of Madura Korle, who had melted certain golden 

 images of Buddha belonging to a temple. 



The Rodiyas are found only in the Interior, scattered over 

 different parts of the country ; their numbers, however, are 

 not very considerable ; for according to the information with- 

 in my reach, it would be too much to estimate them beyond 

 a thousand, and it is remarkable that they are gradually 

 decreasing, especially in the Seven Korles. They have two 

 subdivisions amongst them, one called Tirringa Rodi and the 

 other Halpagay Rodi, and though they both live as one people, 

 yet there are some, who claiming their descent from a certain 

 degraded princess, named Navaratna Valli, would not inter- 

 marry with the rest. 



Nothing could have been more wretched and debasing than 

 the condition of the Rodiyas under the Kandyan despotism, 

 which prohibited them, not only from possessing lands, or 

 carrying on any trade for their subsistence, lest they should 

 arise from the mendicant state to which they were condemned, 

 but also from dwelling in the same villages with the other 

 people; nay, even from drawing water out of their wells, as 

 if they were the vilest of human beings, whose very touch 

 would be pollution. Our government, however, does not 

 recognize these unjust and cruel prohibitions; but, neverthe- 

 less, they have still, such a controlling influence over the minds 

 of the Rodiyas from long habit, that they are never infringed, 

 and if there be any instance to the contrary we must look for 

 it only amongst the few who are located in the neighbour- 

 hood of Europeans. 



The Rodiya villages are always remote from those of the 

 Singhalese, who contemptuously call them Kuppayams, which 

 signifies, "the habitations of outcastes. " A Kuppayam 

 usually contains from ten to fifteen hovels, which, however, 

 exhibit a neat appearance, having often small plots of ground 

 planted with betel vines and plantain trees attached to them. 



In their person, as already observed, the Rodiyas are more 

 robust a?.d athletic than the Singhalese, and remarkable for 



