Vaduge

Badugé and Vadugé are two ancestral family names used to date by Karava families of Sri Lanka. It denotes 'carpenter' in the Sinhalese language.

An 18th-century etching of the Vaduga King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1781) of the Kshatriya Surya Vamsa with his courtiers paying obeisance to him. The objects carried in honour of the king are: Mutukuda (royal white umbrella), Álawattam (disks with sun emblems representing the king’s descent from the solar race), Wadanatalathu (ceremonial palm leaf shades), Válavíjani (yak tail whisks), Sak paliha (white conch shields) and ceremonial weapons. These royal symbols are used to date only by the Karavas at their family ceremonies and are also found on most old Karáva flags.
One of the many ancient Karava flags from Sri Lanka. Note the similarity of royal symbols with the etching above.

"However, historical evidence from India and Sri Lanka shows that these groups had formerly made up another important clan of the Karavas rather than a large body of carpenters. The Karáva family name Vedagé too is similarly misinterpreted now as ‘house of the physician’ whereas in the past it had denoted a person versed in the sacred Hindu Vedas and pronounced as Védagé.

The word Vaduga had been used both in India and Sri Lanka to distinguish persons and groups which had migrated to the south from the north. Accordingly, Kauravas, who migrated to South India from the north, had been called Kaura Vadugar in Tamil (Kurukula Charithaya I 48). Such nomenclature also justifies the observation of Hugh Neville that the Karáva of Ceylon and South India are undoubtedly a remnant of a northern race (Oriental Studies II 9).

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