A genealogical study of four families of the Kandyan aristocracy, written by Sunil J. Madugalle and published in Colombo by Vijitha Yapa. The full title recorded by the National Library of Sri Lanka extends the description: Four Kandyan families: from the maha disawani of Matale, Dumbara and Uva and Dumbara Pasrata. The library files it under the genealogy of Kandyan families, which is a fair summary of what it sets out to do — trace descent, marriage and connection within named houses of the old provincial nobility.
The book is arranged in parts, one for each family, preceded by an opening chapter the author calls "Genealogy in Abundance and Pitfalls". The families treated are:
- The Ehelepola family of Matale
- The Katugaha family of Uva
- The Rambukpotha family of Uva
- The Madugalle family of Uda Dumbara
These are names that recur throughout the recorded history of the Kandyan provinces, held by families whose members served as disawas and chiefs under the kings and, later, under British administration. The territorial framing in the subtitle — the maha disawani of Matale, Dumbara and Uva, along with Dumbara Pasrata — places each lineage in the district with which it was associated, and the book is illustrated, with a map among the illustrations and photographs reproduced from family sources.
Work of this kind is particular rather than general. It is the sort of book assembled over years from family papers, grants, sannas, memory and whatever the public record preserves, and its value lies in the accumulation of particulars: who married whom, which branch held which office, how a line continued or ended. The author writes as a Madugalle, and the inclusion of his own family among the four is part of the book's character.
Readers with an interest in Sri Lankan genealogy, in the Kandyan chieftaincy and its families, or in the social history of Matale, Dumbara and Uva will find this closer to their purposes than a general history of the Kandyan kingdom would be. It also has an obvious place on the shelves of those descended from, or connected to, the houses it covers. Those tracing Sri Lankan family lines from abroad often find that the published genealogical literature is small and hard to come by outside the island, and titles of this sort are worth securing when they appear.
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