[3] Pathan traders from what is now modern Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived by boat in eastern Sri Lanka as early as the 15th century, via Colonial India.
[5] One nearby village known as Eravur, inhabited by Mukkuvars, was the target of multiple attacks and looting during harvesting seasons by Thimilar folks from Batticaloa.
[4] The Mukkuvars established an alliance with Batticaloa's Pathan warriors, enlisting their help to fend off the incursions and protect the village.
[5][6][7] A similar history is recorded in Akkaraipattu, where itinerant Pathan traders helped the Mukkuvars quell a group of Vedda bandits, thereafter settling there.
[3] They were adherents of Sunni Islam, and mainly originated from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan in British India (modern Pakistan)[1][10] while others came from Afghanistan.
[2][8] Others set up shops and grocery stores in small towns, or found work as butlers, valets, and colonial employees.
[3] Patrick Peebles states that the Pathans were recognisable by their physical and facial features, their distinctive clothing and turbans,[9] and were the subject of discriminatory usury laws.
Their occupation they usually give as cloth sellers or horse traders, but their principal business is usury; they are the petty money lenders of the country.
[12]In addition to plying trade in provincial cities like Colombo (including Slave Island)[9] and Kandy, the community was also scattered itinerantly across hill country towns like Passara and Bandarawela.
[3][10] K. P. S. Menon notes that the Ceylonese "did not mind borrowing money" from the Pathan lenders, but kept them at a distance as they were known to charge high interest rates.
"[1] The non-payment of dues was a matter that often ruthlessly invoked the taking of law into their own hands, which made the Ceylonese wary of them a great deal.