Historical Events of the Revolutionary World Movement

MATALE REBELLION Ceylon 26 July 1848

1848 was the year of revolutions.

Across Europe, from Sicily to Saxony, Hungary to Holland, the masses rose in revolt against the established order; and in Kandy, in the centre of Ceylon, the peasants rebelled.

Sri Lankans are strong and determined. During colonial rule, there were many who bravely defended the country and her people. Featured are the stories of some of our National Heroes from the 19th Century who had stood up against colonial powers before the island gained Independence.

Wariyapola Sri Sumangala Thero

On the day the Kandyan Convention was to be signed in 1815, the Union Jack (UK flag) had been hoisted. Seeing this, Wariyapola Sri Sumangala Thero had taken down the Union Jack and hoisted the 'Lion Flag'. He said until the convention was signed, the country belonged to Sri Lankans. Later in 1817, the Thero supported the Uva-Wellassa rebellion against the British. He took the Sacred Tooth Relic, the symbol of the right to rule the island, and gave it to the leader of the rebellion Monarawila Keppetipola Disawe.

Monarawila Keppetipola Disawe

In 1817 Monarawila Keppetipola Disawe was sent to defeat rebellions against the British in Uva. But when he met the Sri Lankans rebelling against the Empire, Keppetipola Disawe joined them and led the Uva-Wellassa rebellion. As civilians faced great hardships under British Martial Law, the rebellion disbanded. Keppetipola Disawe was caught and executed at the Bogambara prison in 1818. His skull was sent to England. Declared a hero, the skull was returned to the island in 1954.

Weera Puran Appu

He was a charismatic hero and one of the leaders of the Rebellion of 1848 in Matale against the British, during the peak of the Empire. Despite a successful raid in Matale, the rebellion was defeated. Weera Puran Appu was arrested and found guilty of waging war against HRH Queen Victoria. He was executed on the banks of the Bogambara Wewa.

Between the years of 1842 and 1844, he became famous as a fearless person in the Uva province.

Along the years that passed, he got into another brawl with a British official over his treatment of the poor. He appealed on behalf of a poor villager to a Police Magistrate named Dawson of Badulla, who, however, rejected his petition. In outraged vengeance, Puran Appu broke into the House of Magistrate Dawson and was eventually imprisoned. However, he staged a dramatic escape and along with himself he had released all of the other prisoners too. He was subsequently caught again and yet again he had escaped. This time the government branded him an 'escaped convict' and proclaimed him an 'outlaw'.

It was at this point of his career that he led a band of outlaws and initiated a reign of terror against English planters and officials in Uva, much to the delight of the people. His daring exploits against the white men soon made him a legendary hero in the tradition of Robin Hood and Wat Tyler.

He was now convinced of the necessity to free the country from the British Rule in order to liberate the people from the hardships and humiliations that they suffered under the foreign invasion. With this end in view, he conferred with the Sangha of Mahiyangana and Muthiyangana who pledged him their support in 1845.

On the 1st of January 1847, a gazette notification was published by the Colonial Secretary, Sir James Emerson Tennent with a reward on his head and a description of him as: