Abstract: This paper discusses on labour exchange patterns practiced by peasantry who lived in Sri Lankan traditional village. Social and economic background of the traditional village based on the facts of labour, reciprocal labour exchange methods practiced by peasantry are mainly taken into consideration in developing this paper. Here, "Attama" and "Kayya" were discussed deeply as the major reciprocal labour exchange methods of Sri Lankan traditional peasant communities. As the methodology of this paper, literary survey method is followed to gather information and facts by using relevant literary sources to accomplish the objectives of this paper. The findings of this paper shows that traditional labour exchange methods were most beneficial for traditional village communities to accomplish labour requirements in agricultural and many of other activities which built up unity, peace and cooperation in the society and even today the salient characteristics are still identifiable in most of the village areas.
Keywords: ancient village, extended family, reciprocal labour, gifting of labour, folk poem.
Title: Labour Exchange Patterns in Ancient Sri Lankan Villages
Author: H.A.Swarna Ihalagam
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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