Historical Research Letter www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3178 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0964 (Online) Vol.28, 2016 15 Muslim Relationship with Sinhalese in the History of Monaragala (Wellassa) District, Sri Lanka Ahamed Sarjoon Razick Doctoral Candidate, The National University of Malaysia (UKM), Lecturer, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka Prof. Dr. Khaidzir Hj. Ismail The National University of Malaysia (UKM) Atham Bawa Mohamed Aliyar Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Arabic Studies, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka Mohamed Haniffa Mohamed Nairoos Senior Lecturer, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka Abstract The Monaragala District, which named as Wellasaa by its ancient residents, is one of 22 electoral districts of Sri Lanka. Monaragala is located in South Eastern part of Sri Lanka and it is one which of two districts located in Uva Province, with 5639 2 KM terrain extension. In Monaragala, Sinhalese are the dominant group which comprises 94.5% of the total population, Tamils 3.3% and the Muslims 2.17%. Monaragala is a predominantly Buddhist district. However, the other religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity are also being practiced. The members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with social integration with one another. The main objective of this paper is to explore the Muslim relationship with the Sinhalese through the history of Monaragala district. In order to carry out this research there has been used the folktales and utterances prevailed among the native public and also used published and unpublished sources. Keywords: History, Monaragala Distrcit, Wellassa, Relationship, Sinhalese, Muslims. 1. Introduction The Monaragala District, which called as Wellasaa by its ancient residents, is one of 22 electoral districts of Sri Lanka, located in South Eastern part of Sri Lanka.It is one which of two districts located in Uva Province and it has a terrain extension of 5639 Sq KM. The geographical land space is 2 nd to the largest district in Sri Lanka next to Anuradapura district (Department of Census and Statistics, 2012). It is bordered by Ampara on the East, by Badulla on the North, by Ratnapura on the West and by Hambantota on the South. This district has 03 electoral divisions and 11 divisional secretariats. So far it has not been given an urban council or municipal council positions. This district was created as a separate unit after 1958 (Gwillim Law, 2010). Before that it was under the jurisdiction of Badulla district. The capital city of the district is Monaragala. In Monaragala the Sinhala-Buddhists are the dominant group which comprises 426762 of the total population, Tamils 11997 and the Muslims 9809 (Department of Census and Statistics, 2012). The members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with social integration with one another. Particularly, the Muslims with Sinhalese have been maintaining a better relationship since historical period onward. They have been living with mutual understanding and co-existence with good will and tolerance among the Buddhist majority community for many centuries while having faith in maintaining their religious, cultural and traditional practices. On the above backdrop, the main objective of this paper is to explore the Muslim relationship with the Sinhalese through the history of Monaragala district, Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the objective of this research there has been used the both primary and secondary sources such as folktales and utterances prevailed among the native public in Monaragala area. 2. Population Distribution of Monaragala According to the department of census statistics report of 2012, the total population is 451058 in Monaragala District and of these 97.7% rural and 2.3 estate. Since 1958 it has been maintaining separately the population statistics of the Monaragala which is a district attached earlier with Badulla District. Sinhalese are the major ethnic group in this district, constituting 94.5% of the district total population. The major ethnic group is Tamils and it constitues3.3. The Muslims are the second largest, constituting 2.17% of the district total population (Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka, 2012). There are 11 total Divisional Secretariats in Monaragala, and of these divisions the Muslims are distributed in 06, namely Bibile, Medagama, Wellawaya, Buttala, Badalkumbura and Monaragala. Of these divisions, the most of Muslims of respective district live in Medagama, constituting 4939 people. Also, there are 05 villages of 1324 total villages of Monaragala where there the Muslims are living as majority then the Sinhalese. Likewise, there are some other villages and hamlets where CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals