Lascarins (Sinhala: ලස්කිරිඤ්ඤ, romanized: laskiriñña, Tamil: லசுக்காரின், romanized: Lacukkāriṉ or Lascareen, Lascoreen and Lascarine) is a term used in Sri Lanka to identify indigenous soldiers who fought for the Portuguese during the Portuguese era (1505–1658) and continued to serve as colonial soldiers until the 1930s.

[6] The Portuguese first landed in Sri Lanka in 1505 and by 1517 they were able to erect a fort in Colombo and controlled most of the inbound and outbound trade affairs.

[3][4] For this reason, the Portuguese started to rely more on Indian, African (Kaffirs) and Malay mercenaries in their offensive campaigns during the latter stages of their rule.

Lascarins were divided into 'ranchuwas' (randje) meaning company, each consisting of two or three native headmen, Mohandiram, Arachchies, or Kankanis and 24 rank and file.

[12] The full complement of the Ceylon Government Lascoreen Guard–of-Honour consisted of thirty-six guards clad in scarlet tunics with gold embroidery, white cloth/trouser and plumed headgear.

They carried lances and 'sesath' (white parasol) and marched to the beat of the tom-tom band and flutes piping military music.

'Basnayake'- derived from Dutch (baas + naik) meaning chieftain and 'Muhandiram' an honorary title conferred on the native officials of the administrative hierarchy.