Madapalli
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Short description|A subcaste of the Sri Lankan Vellalar}}
Madapalli ({{Langx|ta|மடைப்பள்ளி|translit=Maṭaippaḷḷi}}) is a caste found mainly in the northern part of Sri Lanka.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66Hu-9OPWL4C|title=The Ceylon Gazetteer: Containing an Accurate Account of the Districts, Provinces, Cities, Towns ... &c. of the Island of Ceylon|last=Chitty|first=Simon Casie|date=1834|publisher=Cotta Church Mission Press|pages=55|language=en}} Found today as a subcaste of the Sri Lankan Vellalar, the Madapallis were considered an independent caste until recently.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2puAAAAMAAJ|title=Ceylon and the Dutch, 1600-1800: External Influences and Internal Change in Early Modern Sri Lanka|last=Arasaratnam|first=Sinnappah|date=1996-01-01|publisher=n Variorum|isbn=9780860785798|pages=381, 383, 384|language=en}}
Originally serving as cooks for the Jaffna kings, they were also appointed as palace steward of the Jaffna Kingdom.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AQcVvbHzdcC|title=Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries|last=Wilson|first=A. Jeyaratnam|date=2000|publisher=Hurst|isbn=9781850655190|pages=17–18|language=en}} They were reputed as a powerful caste in the colonial era, who held the positions of Mudaliyars and Kanakkapillais.
Etymology
The etymology of Madapalli is disputed. The word Madapalli can in the Tamil language mean "kitchen" or "cook house", specifically used in a temple, derived from the Tamil words maṭai meaning "cooking" and paḷḷi meaning "place of worship".{{Cite web|url=https://agarathi.com/word/%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF|title=மடைப்பள்ளி {{!}} அகராதி {{!}} Tamil Dictionary|website=agarathi.com|publisher=University of Madras Lexicon|access-date=2018-04-29}} Mudaliyar Rajanayagam gives the meaning of Madapalli as signifying "Royal kitchen".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8x5bAAAAIAAJ|title=The laws and customs of the Tamils of Ceylon|last=Tambiah|first=Henry Wijayakone|date=1954|publisher=Tamil Cultural Society of Ceylon|pages=57|language=en}}
Others derive the word from a place called "Madapalli" located in the Kalinga region, where some claim origin from. Another theory suggest the word being derived from Madappan meaning "500 villages", as they claim themselves as rulers of 500 villages in the Kalinga region.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlocAAAAMAAJ|title=The Tamils in Early Ceylon|last=Sivaratnam|first=C.|date=1968|publisher=Author|pages=157|language=en}}
History
As the etymology suggest, the Madapallis were the former cooks of the Jaffna Kingdom.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKtuAAAAMAAJ|title=Sojourners to citizens: Sri Lankan Tamils in Malaysia, 1885-1965|last=Ramasamy|first=Rajakrishnan|date=1988|publisher=R. Rajakrishnan|isbn=9789839953503|language=en}} The Yalpana Vaipava Malai credits the last king, Cankili II, with creating the class of Madapalli.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ukHRAAAAMAAJ|title=South India and Ceylon|last=Pillay|first=Kolappa Pillay Kanakasabhapathi|date=1963|publisher=University of Madras|pages=128|language=en}} Cankili appointed higher-classes of Vellalars as cooks and officials of the royal kitchen personnel.{{Cite book|title=Dynasty of Jaffna Kings: Vijayakalingan to Narasinghan|last=Professor Gunarasa|first=K.|publisher=Dynasty of Jaffna King's Historical Society|year=2003|pages=50}} Some of them were descendant of concubines of the last Aryacakravarti nobles.{{Cite journal|last=Maniegar|first=Simon Casie Chitty|date=1865|title=An Outline of the Classification of the Tamul Castes|jstor=3014159|journal=Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London|volume=3|pages=95|doi=10.2307/3014159}} Those working for the royals were known as Raja Madapalli, those working for the ministers were known as Sarva Madapalli, and those who blew the conch in the temples were known as Sanku Madapalli.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H7xWAAAAMAAJ|title=An outline of the cultural history and principles of Hinduism|last=Sivaratnam|first=C.|date=1964|publisher=Stangard Printers|pages=270|language=en}} The Sanku Madapallis constituted of the Akampadiyar, Paradesikal, Sangamar and the Panar communities.
After the fall of Jaffna Kingdom, sections of the Madapallis were converted to Christianity and drew closer to power under the Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century. After the Portuguese were defeated by the Dutch colonizers, the Christian Madapallis along with the Karaiyars revolted against the Dutch rule in the Jaffna region in 1658.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGSGAAAAIAAJ|title=Rivalry and Conflict: European Traders and Asian Trading Networks in the 16th and 17th Centuries|last1=Veen|first1=Ernst van|last2=Blussé|first2=Leonard|date=2005|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=9789057891045|pages=116|language=en}} The Dutch started favoring the Vellalars, whose power started to grow rapidly under their reign. To counterbalance the growing power of the Vellalars, the Madapallis were removed from earlier suspicion and were equally appointed to the administrative office by the Dutch in the 1690s.{{Cite journal|last=Arasaratnam|first=S.|date=1981-07-01|title=Social History of a Dominant Caste Society: The Vellalar of North Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 18th Century|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|language=en|volume=18|issue=3–4|pages=377–391|doi=10.1177/001946468101800306|s2cid=143603755|issn=0019-4646}} Larger numbers of the Ceylonese Mudaliyars were drawn from the Madapallis who were constantly in rivalry with the Vellalars for political power.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qExuAAAAMAAJ|title=The Sri Lankan Tamils: ethnicity and identity|last1=Manogaran|first1=Chelvadurai|last2=Pfaffenberger|first2=Bryan|date=1994|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=9780813388458|pages=36|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0BuAAAAMAAJ|title=Von Jaffna nach Kilinocchi: Wandel des politischen Bewusstseins der Tamilen in Sri Lanka|last=Hellmann-Rajanayagam|first=Dagmar|date=2007|publisher=Ergon|isbn=9783899135442|pages=121|language=de}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8iiH5im3ObIC|title=Memoir of Librecht Hooreman, Commandeur of Jaffna, 1748: For His Successor Jacob De Jong, 13th June, 1748|last=Hooreman|first=Librecht|date=2009|publisher=Department of National Archives, under the Sri Lanka-Netherlands Cultural Co-operation Programme|isbn=9789559016182|pages=27|language=en}} The Dutch minister of 17th century, Philippus Baldaeus, described the Christian Madapallis along with the Christian Karaiyars and Vellalars as the most influential classes of the Christians.{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmgMAQAAMAAJ|journal=International Quarterly for Asian Studies |title=Volume 24|last=Seeland|first=Klaus|date=1993|publisher=Weltform Verlag.|pages=266|language=en}} The Madapallis took up agriculture as occupation and merged and formed a subcaste of the Vellalars.