T B JAYAH'S PARENTS

T B JAYAH’S PARENTS

Mothers play a great role in building a generation. The better a mother is at raising her children, the more successfully the community is built and the more successful it is at producing heroes. You hardly ever see a great man except that a great woman is behind him who left some of her traits in his personality by way of the milk from which he was fed and the warm embrace in which he sought refuge. One of the great Malay women  who could wear this mantle of a magnificent  matriarch was none other than  Sithy Maimoon  Sourjah (Jayanona) the wife of Police Sergeant Tuan Cassim Jayah and  the beloved mother of  Tuan Arifeen and Tuan Branudin Jayah.

Sithy Maimoon  Sourjah was the  daughter of Capt. Baba Amith Sourjah and Nona Kunchon Lye( daughter of Capt. Baba Noor Tayib Lye).Her only sibling Nona Nurul Iyne Sourjah was given in marriage to Inche Wahid a brother of Ariff Sallay Wahid.

Capt.Baba Amith Sourjah  together with Baba  Sahith Sourjah were the children of Capt. Abu Cassim Sourjah from his first marriage  with Nona Arthan Abdue. Abu Cassim Sourjah (Sithy Maimoon’s grandfather) with 3 other siblings (Nona Iynone Sourjah, Subedar Drahaman Sourjah and Akim Aliph Sourjah) were the offsprings of Sourjah Rengapathy from his two wives.

Genealogically the first Sourjah to set foot in the island of Ceylon was Sourjah Rengapathy, a Colour Sergeant born circa 1796. He is said to have been brought by the British along with his wife and brother Tuan Seyyed Mahrip Rengapathy from Sumanep in the Island of Madura situated in the Northeastern coast of Java,   Indonesia during the year 1816 to join the Malay Regiment.

Sithy Maimoon Sourjah’s mother Nona Kunchon Lye according to certain records available had expired at the age of 85 at Cassim Jayah’s residence down Forbes Lane, Maradana on 4th March 1922.

There is no teacher equal to a mother and there's nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father.The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature. According to Late Murad Jayah a nephew of TB Jayah who was Chairman and founder of the Malay research organisation called CEMRO in the sixties and seventies, Cassim Jayah, the husband of Sithy Maimoon Sourjah was a fifth generation descendant  of  Raden Thurtho Perma Jayah, an Aide- de-camp to the King of Java and who was one of the 24 noblemen who were deported by the Dutch government to Ceylon in 1747. The Jayah Genealogical Tree could be viewed on websites rootsweb.com and geni.com.

Sri Lanka’s only Malay National Hero and Freedom Fighter who gave his heart and soul to the independence struggle, Tuan Branudin Jayah’s lineage from both parents are evidenced by aristocracy and connected to royalty originating from Indonesia.
T B Jayah was born on 1st January 1890 at Galagedera and died and buried in  Medina on 31st May 1960.