Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures, chart and maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Glossary
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 The Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy
- Map 2 Some physical features and place names
- Map 3 Present administrative divisions and the contemporary migration patterns of fishermen
- Map 4 The coastal waters of Sri Lanka and southeastern India
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Karāva in the past
- 3 Caste among the Sinhalese
- 4 Economic opportunities and social relations, 1500s–1790s
- 5 The British period: the economic advances of a Karāva elite
- 6 Social competition, caste conflict and manifestations of Karāva power
- 7 Casteism in South Asian politics during British times: emergent cultural typifications or elite fictions?
- 8 Causal factors in the moulding of Karāva entrepreneurship and the emergence of a Karāva elite
- 9 Concluding remarks
- Tables
- Appendix 1 Problems and cautionary notes concerning the information derived from the plantation directories in the sequential series known as Ferguson's Ceylon Directory
- Appendix 2 A contemporary newspaper account of the reception provided for a Karāva notable on his receiving the title of ‘Mudaliyar of the Governor's Gate’ in 1853
- Appendix 3 A list of caste pamphlets and caste literature in chronological order, 1864–1930
- Select bibliography
- Index
Appendix 1 - Problems and cautionary notes concerning the information derived from the plantation directories in the sequential series known as Ferguson's Ceylon Directory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures, chart and maps
- List of tables
- Preface
- Glossary
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 The Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy
- Map 2 Some physical features and place names
- Map 3 Present administrative divisions and the contemporary migration patterns of fishermen
- Map 4 The coastal waters of Sri Lanka and southeastern India
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Karāva in the past
- 3 Caste among the Sinhalese
- 4 Economic opportunities and social relations, 1500s–1790s
- 5 The British period: the economic advances of a Karāva elite
- 6 Social competition, caste conflict and manifestations of Karāva power
- 7 Casteism in South Asian politics during British times: emergent cultural typifications or elite fictions?
- 8 Causal factors in the moulding of Karāva entrepreneurship and the emergence of a Karāva elite
- 9 Concluding remarks
- Tables
- Appendix 1 Problems and cautionary notes concerning the information derived from the plantation directories in the sequential series known as Ferguson's Ceylon Directory
- Appendix 2 A contemporary newspaper account of the reception provided for a Karāva notable on his receiving the title of ‘Mudaliyar of the Governor's Gate’ in 1853
- Appendix 3 A list of caste pamphlets and caste literature in chronological order, 1864–1930
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the year 1859 the proprietor and editor of the Ceylon Observer, A. M. Ferguson, published a compilation entitled Ceylon: Summary of Useful Information and Plantation Gazetteer. This handbook included a list of the principal coffee plantations, their locations and the names of their owners. Under somewhat different titles, similar handbooks were produced in 1861, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866–8 and 1870–1. From 1863 the title was The Ceylon Directory, Calendar and Compendium of Useful Information and in 1883–4 it was altered to The Ceylon Handbook and Directory Calendar and Compendium of Useful Information, and an increasingly elaborate compilation was published every year or every other year. In this work A. M. Ferguson was assisted by his nephew, John Ferguson, and by the staff attached to their newspaper. In the twentieth century, the new proprietors of the Ceylon Observer continued this annual publication.
In compiling the lists of plantations the Fergusons drew upon their own extensive knowledge and their wide range of contacts among European planters, which they used to elicit the necessary information through correspondence. As the procedure was routinised, then, the plantation directories were compiled on the basis of information supplied on a voluntary basis by the agency houses and plantation owners themselves. These entries were revised every year. To quote from the Directory for 1890: ‘The Estates Directory has been corrected to the end of April 1890– numerous “proofs” having been circulated for that purpose, many hundred of applications by letter having been made, and due revision having been afforded by the Colombo Agents.
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- Information
- Caste Conflict Elite Formation , pp. 323 - 330Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982