The Indian uropeltid snake Uropeltis bicatenata (Günther, 1864) has been considered a junior synonym of Uropeltis ceylanica Cuvier, 1829, implicitly or explicitly, since Beddome (1886). Re-examination of the holotype and historical and newly collected material of U. bicatenata confirms Günther’s (1864) assessment that this form represents a distinct species of Uropeltis. We resurrect U. bicatenata from the synonymy of Uropeltis ceylanica, provide a new diagnosis of the species, redescribe the holotype, document variation among all known material, and discuss aspects of the state of the taxonomy of Uropeltis.