Durave or Durava or Durawa are a southern coastal Sinhalese caste in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Their traditional occupation is toddy tapping. They trace their ancestry to medieval period migrants from South India. The term Durave arise from Tamil word Duraivan (துறைவன்) means person belongs to port region. The caste of Duraivan still exist in the district of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu where they indulge in fishing, toddy taping and trade.

Current status

They were converted to Catholic religion soon after arrival of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

colonials in 1505 ACE. Using this opportunity they have upgraded themselves in relation to the dominant Govigama caste. They along with other southern Sinhalese castes such as

Karave Karava () is a Sinhalese speaking ethnic group of Sri Lanka, whose ancestors from ancient times migrated from the Coromandel coast, claiming lineage to the Kaurava royalty of the old Kingdom of Kuru in Northern India. The Tamil equivalent is Kar ...

and Salagama have played an important role in the historically left political and right parties. They are mostly

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...

Buddhists today and were instrumental in the revival of Buddhism during the British colonial period. The un-Buddhistic practice of caste discrimination introduced into the

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

by the

Siyam Nikaya The Siam (also Siyamopali and Siyam) Nikaya is a monastic order within Sri Lankan Buddhism, founded by Upali Thera and located predominantly around the city of Kandy. It is so named because it originated within Thailand (formerly known in Sri Lan ...

in the late 18th century has been overcome by patronising the Amarapura Nikaya and the

Ramanna Nikaya ''Ramanaa'' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, stars Vijayakanth, Ashima Bhalla and Simran in lead roles. The film is about a man named Ramana who decides to abolish corruption com ...

s. Sitinamaluwe Dhammajoti (Durawa) was the last nongovigama monk to receive upasampada before the 1764

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agr ...

References

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Current status

References

Further reading