Cursed Tombstone Major William Rogers

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Cursed Tombstone of Elephant Hunter Major Thomas William Rogers

Major Thomas William Rogers is a British who served in then Ceylon in mid 19th century and is credited for killing the highest number of elephants in Sri Lanka, over 1400 by some counts (Storey, 1907) and over 2000 (Grylls, 1848) by other counts. As if cursed for this mighty slaughter, he was killed by lightning and this tombstone has too been struck by lightning several times (Cave, 1904).

Major Rogers arrived at this county in 1824 and joined the Ceylon Regiment in January. 7, 1824, as a 2^nd Lieutenant, and was adjutant in 1826, Captain in June 7, 1827. He was Commandant at Alupota from 1828 to 1833 and was appointed Assistant Government Agent at Badulla in 1834. He was a skilled administrator and he built most of the rest houses, he either traced or built all the roads and kept in repair all civil and military buildings in the province (Lewis, 1913). However, he is better known as the man who killed over 1400 elephants in his short span of life trailed by Major Gallway’s 700 elephants and the road builder Major Skinner almost as many.

During the time of Major Rogers, UVA was considered a hot gaming spot for elephants. Tennent reports that the government has paid rewards for killing 5500 elephants in the mid-19th century (Tennent, 1860). When Major Rogers took over Badulla in 1834 the province had scarcely recovered from the destruction from the Uva–Wellassa Rebellion of 1818, and, owing to the sparse population, wild animals had almost taken possession of the land. Elephants in particular, roamed in great herds and laid waste the crops of the fields and gardens to such an extent that the natives gladly welcomed any hunter who would assist in protecting their crops.

Within 11 years of moving to Uva, Major Rogers had shot dead over 1400 elephants out of which more than 60 were tuskers. Dr Hoffmeister, who, with Prince Waldemar, visited Rogers in the forties writes ” His whole house was filled with ivory, for amongst the hosts of the slain more than sixty were tusked elephants (sixty out of about 1,400). At each door of his verandah stand huge tusks, while in his dining-room every corner is adorned with similar trophies….” (Cave, 1904).

During the last two years of his life, Major Rogers’s exploits no longer deserved the name of sport, but rather that of indiscriminate slaughter as described by other Coffee Planters of that time who had known him intimately and hunted with him. The Sinhala Buddhists in the country would be so sickened by the slaughter of these majestic animals, that they would never enter his service. His groom, cook, gun bearers, and all were Malays and Tamils (Hensoldt, 1895).

It was on a day in January 1845, that a curious and portentous incident occurred. Hensoldt in 1895 describes this event in detail; Rogers had invited a number of coffee planters from the Morawala Korale district and was on the point of starting with these on an elephant-hunt, from the ancient village of Badulla where his quarters stood. On the Minneriya road, when they were passing a great ancient stupa in the middle of a groove of Bo trees, he met an old Buddhist monk.

He calmly stretched his right arm, pointed at Major Rogers, and delivered the following sentence “White sahib, thine hour is drawing near; thou hast persisted in slaying the bodies and disturbing the souls of our sacred brothers; the measure of thine iniquities is full, and thou shalt be consumed by the lightning of heaven before thou canst raise thine accursed weapon for another act of sacrilege”

These words, slowly and solemnly uttered by the venerable representative of one of the noblest and most philosophical creeds the world has ever known, profoundly impressed even the planters from Morowake Korale. As for Major Rogers, he sat on his horse like one in a trance; his eyes were still fixed on the spot where the priest had stood, even long after the latter had retreated into the temple, and it was only with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to continue on his way.

It was not long before the story of Major Rogers’ strange adventure became known among the European residents of the island, and to his annoyance he was frequently questioned about it, in a jocular way, by thoughtless and inconsiderate friends. At the Army and Navy Club in Colombo, for instance, he would be greeted in something like the following style: “Hello, Rogers! See you’re still alive and sound; the lightning hasn’t got you yet. You’re all right, old boy, threatened people live long.” Rogers never relished such allusions to his weird experience; he was like a changed man, and an expression of pain would steal over his handsome features whenever the subject of elephant hunting was broached.

Almost 8 months after this incident, he got to know of a rogue elephant killing two bullock cart riders near Badulla and planned a hunt to kill this elephant. Within a week a hunt was arranged and a party which included C R Buller, the Government Agent of Central province, and his wife (Toussaint, 1933). They stopped at Haputale Rest House for lunch.

After lunch the party was getting ready for an afternoon siesta, one of the typical tropical rain torrents with thunder and lightning started without warning. However, after 15 minutes, the rain stopped and the Major stepped out of the Rest House stating “I think we can start pretty soon. I will go outside and see how things look …”. That was the last errand that Major Thomas William Rogers ever did. He never returned as he was turned into a mass of black charcoal by a lighting. He was just 41 years old at that time.

Although the event took place 8 months ago and his death was a chief topic of discussion for a long time among the foreigners, it’s said that the Sinhalese did not show any surprise at the death of Rogers as they were thoroughly convinced that something of this nature was bound to happen.

Whatever remained of his body was taken to Nuwara Eliya and buried in a small church graveyard in Nuwara Eliya. A marble slab was placed on the grave which states; ”

In Memory of
Major THOMAS WILLIAM ROGERS

Of Her Majesty’s Ceylon Rifle Regiment and Assistant Government Agent of Badulla.

This tablet was erected by his brother officers & numerous officers of all ranks, professions, and occupations in, or connected with, the Island of Ceylon in testimony of their respect and regard for his integrity as a man, his ability as a public servant, his gallantry as a soldier, and his amiable qualities as a friend.

He was stricken to death by lightning at the Happootalle Pass Bungalow on Saturday, June 7, 1845. Aged 41 years

“In the midst of life, we are in death”

The marble tablet is sculptured with a forest amidst a lowering sky above. The roof of a cottage on the left appears embowered among lofty trees, and in the foreground just a palm tree stuck by lightning. The trunk, broken into two falling down. The fork in the lightning is vividly portrayed. In the background is Adam’s Peak (Lewis, 1913).

However, his curse did not end there. The stone had been there barely two months when the residents of then Ceylon were startled by the news that it had been struck and seriously damaged by lightning. And, what is still more marvellous, lightning struck that stone at least a hundred times within the next thirty years (Hensoldt, 1895).

This broken tomb lies behind the prime minister’s residence in Nuwara Eliya in close proximity to the Golf Club. This burial ground has 4 tombstones in it.

References

Storey, H. (1907) Hunting & Shooting in Ceylon. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Pieris, R. (1965) “The effects of technological development on the population of Uul Oya Valley, Ceylon,” The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, 8(1&2), p. 172.
Cave, H.W. (1904) Golden Tips, A Description of Ceylon and its Great Tea Industry. 3rd edn. London: S. Low, Marston & Co.
Lewis, J.P. (1913) List of Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon : Of Historical or Local Interest, with an obituary of persons uncommemorated. Colombo: H C Cottle.
Abeyawardhana, H. A. P. (2004) Heritage of Kandurata: Major Natural, Cultural, and Historic Sites. Kandy: Kandurata Development Bank, in association with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Tennent, J.E. (1860) Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions. London.
Toussaint, J.R. (1933) “Major T. W. Rogers,” Journal of the Dutch Burger Union of Ceylon, 23, pp. 57–66.
Grylls, J.W. (1848) The Out-Station or Jaunts in the Jungle. 2nd edn. London: Chapman and Hall.
Hensoldt, H. (1895) “The Fate of Major Rogers : A Buddhist Mystery of Ceylon,” The Arena, 11, pp. 71–78.

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