Page 340 - Proceedings book

mqrdúoHd fomd¾;fïka;=j

3.2.4 Brave and the proud lady

Ehelepola Kumārihāmi was a brave woman. She was ready to sacrifice her life for the
sake of saving her children’s lives. In the chapter 15 of Kumārihāmi II, she was not

afraid of death because she was ready to embrace the death for the sake of her
husband and her children. On the contrary, she was a pride woman who thought about

the respect of her Ehelepola family. She was afraid of being married to a lower caste

man. The king threatened Kumārihāmi as follows,
Don’t lie woman. I will cut the heads of your children. And you should pound

the heads of your children through your own hands. If you do not do so, I will
make you marry to a lower caste man. (p.127)

It seems that Ehelepola Kumārihāmi has understood that there was no point of
begging towards the life because the king has a personal revenge with herself. She

rejected the lustful king and the direct response of king to make her marry a lower

caste man. (Rodi caste). Besides, the king was jealousy of her husband, including her
family. Simply, the king was determined of removing a powerful family of the

kingdom, that is Ehelepola family. The following factor was echoed in the historical

records including the historical narrative of the contemporary novelist, Priyanka
Amarathunga. At the massacre of Ehelepola family, the king shouted while

mentioning the following, “I will remove the name of Ehelepola from this kingdom. I
will cut all the Ehele trees in this kingdom. And I will kill each and every Ehelepola.”

(Chapter 15, Kumārihāmi II, P.128)

4. Conclusion

In reference to the historical records and the narrative of the historical contemporary
novelist, Ehelepola Kumārihāmi was a marginalized woman who had sacrificed own

life because of the personal grudge of the king, Sri Wickrama over the Ehelepola
family. Accordingly, the present study added the insight into the contemporary

academia that not only Ehelepola Kumārihāmi, but also the family had been subjected

to marginalized in that time of the historical period. Despite the inhuman massacre of
the Ehelepola Kumārihāmi, she was a chaste woman who loved her husband and the

children deeply. Not only that, but she was also brave to reject the sexual harassment
of the authority instead embraced the death as an upper caste proud lady who saved

the family respect of the own caste. She was a chaste woman till her death and kept

319