The people are divided into various castes and there is reason to believe that these had a tribal basis. The lower castes formed tribes of a prehistoric Dravidian race (the Rakshas of tradition) who drove into the interior the still earlier Australoid Veddahs (the Yakkhas of tradition). The higher castes of North Indian origin followed, and frequent intercourse with the Dekkan in later historical times led to the introduction of new colonists who now form the artisan castes.
A caste consists of a group of clans, and each clan claims descent from a common ancestor and calls itself either after his name, or the office he held, or if a settler, the village from which he came. The clan name was dropped when a person became a chief and a surname which became hereditary assumed. The clan name was however, not forgotten as the ancestral status of the family was ascertained from it. The early converts to Christianity during the Portuguese ascendancy in Ceylon adopted European surnames which their descendants still use.
The various castes can be divided socially into five groups. The first comprising the numerically predominating Ratêettô who cultivate fields, herd cattle and serve as headmen.
The second group consists of the Naides who work as smiths, carpenters, toddy drawers, elephant keepers, potters, pack bullock drivers, tailors, cinnamon peelers, fish curers and the like.
The Ratêetto and the Naide groups wear alike, and the second group are given to eat by the first group on a rice table of metal or plaited palm leaf about a foot high, water to drink in a pot and a block of wood as a seat; they have the right to leave behind the remains of their meals.
The third group are the Dureyâs who work as labourers besides attending to their special caste duties—a kandê dureyâ makes molasses, a batgam dureyâ carries palanquins, a hunu dureyâ burns coral rock in circular pits to make lime for building; a valli dureyâ weaves cloth and a panna dureyâ brings fodder for elephants and cattle.
The fourth group consists of professional dancers, barbers and washers. Of the professional dancers, the Neketto dance and beat drums at all public functions and at devil and planetary ceremonies, while the inferior Oli do so only at the Gara Yakum dance. The washers are of different grades; Radav wash for the Rate Ettô, Hinnevo for the Naides, Paliyo for the Dureyâs, barbers and Nekettô, and Gangâvo for the Oli.
The Dureyâs and the group below them were not allowed to wear a cloth that reached below their knees and their women except the Radav females were not entitled to throw a cloth over their shoulders.
The Dureyâs were given to eat on the ground on a plaited palm leaf; water to drink was poured onto their hands and they had to take away the remains of their meal. The fourth group had to take away with them the food offered.
The fifth group consists of the outcastes; the Kinnaru and the Rodi who contest between themselves the pride of place. The Kinnaru are fibre mat weavers who were forbidden to grow their hair beyond their necks, and their females from wearing above their waist anything more than a narrow strip of cloth to cover their breasts. The Rodi are hideworkers and professional beggars; the females were prohibited from using any covering above their waists.