ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that assertions such as 'the caste hierarchy is upset through acquisition of large holdings by persons of low caste'. In contemporary Rangama/Devideniya, however, paddy land, garden land and rubber land are only equally remunerative but are also equally valuable. All garden land is owner cultivated and, although share ownership in undivided property is present, this only applies on very small extents of land which are deemed too small to warrant division. Two basic types of tenurial systems are used in the Rangama/Devideniya paddy tract: tenurial systems based on share ownership of undivided property; tenurial systems based on tenancy agreements. The degree of control any individual possesses rests not on the fact of having one type of control rather than another but on the extent of land controlled under any combination of each of the three ways owner management, tenancy agreement, mortgage and lease.
