Ceylonese Mudaliyars

Stemming from the native headman system, the title was usually hereditary, made to wealthy influential families loyal to the British Crown.

[1] First used by Sinhalese kings and reigning princes from the Polonnaruwa period forward to ennoble subjects, the Portuguese from 17th century onwards, followed by the Dutch and British continued use of the Mudaliyar title.

[7] A De Saram family of Dutch and Malay ancestry had Sinhalised itself in the late 18th century by posing as the representatives of the masses and subsequently convincing the British rulers that they were from the numerous Govigama caste.

Despite his advanced age of 71 years, this early De Saram had to make the entire journey by foot as his social status did not warrant travel in a palanquin.

The ascendance of the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family commences with a Coomaraswamy (1783–1836) from Point Pedro joining the seminary that Governor North started for producing interpreters.

James Rutnam's research[full citation needed] has shown that Coomaraswamy's Father was Arumugampillai, a South Indian, who had migrated to Gurudavil in Jaffna.

On the death of Mudaliyar Coomaraswamy's wife in 1897, the leading daily, 'The Ceylon Independent' wrote " to her and her husband, almost every important Hindu family in the city owes its rise".

In 1853, the British Governor George William Anderson appointed Jeronis de Soysa, a successful merchant who had undertaken a great deal of philanthropy as a Gate Mudaliyar as an honour in recognition of his philanthropic en-devours.