OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA – WAYWARD & CAPRICIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF SRILANKAN TAMILS & TAMIL DIASPORA
Posted on April 2nd, 2013

Kanthar P Balanathan Melbourne Australia

19th January 2013

HE Mr Barack Obama

The President of the USA

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Your Excellency,

WAYWARD & CAPRICIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF SRILANKAN TAMILS & TAMIL DIASPORA

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As a Tamil SriLankan Australian, although I prefer to identify me as an Australian, and not Tamil, it has befallen necessary to write this letter to the White House, after reading the various political divergences USA & Canada has taken against SriLanka over the last few years.

I am a very senior person who has worked in the UK, SriLanka, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, New Zealand & Australia. I have quite comprehended TamilƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s pugnacious behaviour on a socio-economic & political perspective. As Tamils, majority of us lack knowledge in listening skills & Conflict Resolution, and always resort to man handling opponents, killing or engage in subversive activities. Majority of us have a narrow mind with thoughts generated, as if we live in a fish bowl.

My experience drives me to assent that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Expertise + Reliability + Flexibility = CapabilityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (E+R+F=C). The general perception is that Intelligence is to understand with pure reasoning. I quite doubt on how Tamils & Diaspora interpret this formula to understand with pure reasoning to achieve a high level of IQ.

SriLanka

Your Excellency; I do not wish to acme historical facts in detail, but briefly affirm who the victims in SriLanka were and are over centuries.

SriLanka, the island of paradise, was a Sinhala speaking Buddhist country over several centuries. Invasions by the Indian non Tamil kingdoms into SriLanka brought Tamils for slave labour to the N&E. These invasions resulted in the massacre & carnage of several hundreds of thousands of Sinhalese people over several centuries. N&E settled non-Tamil speaking, Malabar, Karnataka, Marathis, Javanese, Telugus & other minor ethnic groups from India and Java. As Tamil in South India was a link language, those who settled in the N&E spoke Tamil. Today, majority of congenitally imbeciles (Tamils), view that they have been Tamils over thousands of centuries in a country called Elam. The White House historians would agree that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ElamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ empire was a country/region in the then ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PersiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ region, which is now Iran. (Ref: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/Elamite/elam_history.htm). History states that several races invaded the Indus Valley and India, some invaded South East Asia (Indochina), while others invaded the South of India. Ref: http://www.gloriousindia.com/history/ancient_history.html.

The sequence of episodes within the Tamil political discords gave directions to SJV Chelvanayagam starting the racialƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ thrust by forming a federal party (Tamil Kingdom Party), notion on Tamil nation, and phrasing his political party to carry a different meaning to convince the Tamils. It is speculated that his actions were as a result of refusal of a ministerial portfolio in the then government.

70 million Tamils live in Tamil Nadu which is part of India. Tamil population in SriLanka was less than 11% in the 50s and down to less than may be 7% in 2004. The minority Tamils in SriLanka are living with a majority complex just because of the 70 million Tamils in India.

The victims of SriLanka are the Sinhalese community.

Economic- Dominance of the Indians

I quote on Kumari JayawardhaneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s book titled; ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Ethnic and Class Conflicts in SriLankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, Center for Social Analysis. Non-Sinhala people dominated trade and commercial sector in SL during pre-independence era, which continued after independence with Muslims dominating larger sector of trade. It may be clear to understand the driver for the 1915 ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-MankollaiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ riots between the Muslims and the Sinhalese.

I quote from AJ WilsonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s book titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Politics in SriLankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚:- Economic rivalriesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-SriLanka is a mosaic of ethnic, religious and social groups in which Sinhalese Buddhists (Low country and Kandyan) form the sizeable majority.* This majority had been neglected during the long years of western rule. Nor were their grievances looked into with sympathy by post-independence governments of the 1948-56 phases. Further these Buddhists, in particular their indigenous-oriented elites, entertain fears In respect of two important minority groupingsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

I think it is fair to say that community thoughts converge and generate an impact on social psychology. This is in the context of invasion and killings by the Indians over several centuries and illegal settlements of Tamils from India. With the invasion of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British, the demography changed with bringing in Indian labour for the tea plantation sector.

LTTE

I have been tracking LTTE activities for quite a while (approx. 42 years). The leader of LTTE Vellupillai Prabakaran (VP) is an eighth standard educated person with absolute zero level knowledge in the areas of social science, political science, economics, & political economics. He hails from a town where majority are involved in smuggling for living. Initially it is known that he was an understudy of two smugglers, Thangathurai & Kuttimani who were carrying arms in the name of liberation. Somehow VP was able to decimate his opponents and with the support of Tamil Diaspora and drug dealers he was able to build a terrorist group. It cannot be debated and disagreed that initially; India gave the support and trained these LTTE & other terrorists on Indian soil. The world should be aware that LTTE was based in Indira-Nagar, Madras supported by the late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran.

In this context, India should be sturdily liable for yanking SriLanka into their international politics. None of the international world was interested in decreeing or eliminating LTTE as a terrorist organisation. It is only after the 9/11, US declared LTTE as a terrorist organisation followed by others.

Since 1970, the N&E was subject to random bomb explosion by the LTTE, and/or blow up military vehicles, or some town. Since LTTE emerged as aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  group in 1972, LTTE carried out assassinations and cold blooded killings of innocent Tamil civilians, Sinhalese civilians, Tamil politicians, GOSL Ministers, President, Prime Minister, failed attempts of assassination of the Army Commander; Mr Sarath Fonseka &ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  former President Chandrika Bandaranaike, robbed several banks, exhorted money and gold from Tamil civilians, blew up multistorey buildings and destroyed billion dollarsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ worth of SriLanka assets, transformed into a key drug trafficking and dealing hub accruing bank accounts amounting to billions of dollars at local and foreign banks, floated shipping and accrued billions of dollars of Bank reserves.

More than 160km of railway line was destroyed and the materials were taken for their use. Electricity HV lines were destroyed. Several government assets were plundered and destroyed.

In 1995, LTTE took civilians from Jaffna as human shield and marched to Vanni, a region including Vavuniya, and established their own mushroom illiterate administration enforcing jungle law. SriLanka government was too tolerant then endeavouring to obligate dialogues with the terrorist group to solve the dispute. GOSL was extremely broad-minded and understanding since the 1980s and struggled through various diplomatic routes in vein. Even in the early 21st century, a Cease Fire Agreement was placed as a path towards a solution. LTTE took this opportunity to boost their strength, assemble heavy weaponry, and establish an air force with a few small aircrafts.

During the period 1995 ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” 2009, the 300,000+ Tamils in Vanni were only slave labour hobbled by the LTTE for their own advantage. No Tamil was able to get out of Vanni or face death. In May 2009, our current President freed the Tamils from bondage and since then Tamils want a peaceful living.

The mayhems, killings, and murders were carried out by armed members of the LTTE. LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s strategy was to engage the SriLankan army through an urban guerrilla war. Any Tamil who did not agree with their ideology or supported them were killed.

LTTE Associates

Those who were associated with the LTTE, Tamil Diaspora and those who illegally migrated have now formed several different organisations, congress and associations under the pretext of democratic societies/organisations.

e.g:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Gobal Tamil Forum, British Tamil Forum, Canadian Tamil Congress, Norwegian Council of Tamils, Transnational GovernmentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  of Tamil Elam, and several others

It is worth to mention that Tamils have formed associations in each of the western countries.

The Tamil Co-ordinating Committee was a diaspora arm of the LTTE, who were directing subversive activities. Although LTTE was decreed as a terrorist organisation, the TCC was overlooked and TCC is still operating in most of the countries. If LTTE terrorism has to be eliminated fully, then those organisations which have LTTE associates or members should be banned to achieve positive results. Recent killing in Paris is evident of the violent behaviour of TCC members.

SriLanka & the Caste Systems

SriLanka is a small sovereign state on its own with multi-cultural environment; however, the minority groups are quite small with the majority over 87%. The N&E is a region which has nil resources except agrarian, both farming & fishing. Every Tamil who goes through a college or University wants a government job, and does not aspire to be involved in agrarian production.

The N&E of SL has practiced apartheid and are practicing apartheid through the caste system, where lower caste people are been discriminated and oppressed by the Tamil Elites. The elites dictate (i) what the lower caste people should wear, (ii) no access to temples, (iii) cannot use the facilities used by the elites; (v) cannot walk on the same road as the elites and several which brings disgrace to a country. An elite boy cannot marry a girl from a lower caste family, and if he does then they normally leave the country to live in isolation. A lower caste person is restricted from entering or talking politics. Even in the 21st century, Tamil eliteƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ behaviour is caste oriented.

The White House would be aware of the caste issues in India and the extent of killings of Dalit India. Human Riots violation here is totally ignored by the UN, either intentionally or out of ignorance. UN executives should make a trip to the N&E in SL and India and interview the lower caste people to get first hand information.

With the devastating caste system, we cannot imagine what would happen if power is transferred to the Tamil elites. Elites are the minority in SL and India; however, they manipulate to triumph for power through democracy.

Transnational Government of Tamil Elam-TGTE

It is relevant to state at this juncture that Visvanathan Rudrakumaran was associated with VP and the LTTE. Evidence is the picture below.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Image 1ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Image 2

Image 1:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Mr Visvanathan Rudrakumaran, so called Prime Minister of fictitious Transnational Government of Tamil Elam with LTTE supremo Mr Vellupillai Prabakaran (Ref: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8543437/image/75769908-visivanathan-rudrakumaran-with-ltte-leader-prabakaran) Image 2: Rudrakumaran (2nd from left) beside LTTE Supreme Commander Prabakaran

Ref: http://thelionandsword.wordpress.com/tag/visvanathan-rudrakumaran/

TGTE is an illegal organisation and no one can dispute to proof that at least some members who supported or associates of the LTTE are within the TGTE group. TGTE is neither a community nor social organisation, but it hurls challenge to the sovereignty and integrity of a sovereign republic: SL.

I quote and article: http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2013/01/13/security-forces-bust-tgte-tna-jsu-terrorist-plot/.

Even a Provincial Council administration will drive SL to poverty. In this context the N&E cannot survive as a federal state or an independent country.

TGTE, not only wasting funds and posing a threat to harmony around the globe, but has created a precedence for other radicals around the world. Just an example: The White House cannot rule out the possibility, in time to come, of Indians creating a Transnational Government of Apache Land, in Canada or any other American countries.

SriLanka and Reconstruction & Rehabilitation

One must remember that post war rehabilitation and reconstruction cannot be expected to be completed over night. It will take time with no interferences and impediments. It is not quite sure to what degree the tsunami and cyclone affected areas around the world have been reconstructed to date. SL has been quick enough to reconstruct areas affected by war, rehabilitate LTTE cadre and then put them back into the stream.

Those organisations such as TGTE, TCC, GTF, CTC, BTF etc. are impediments to peace and harmony of the SL people in SL and around the world.

SriLanka is still facing issues from radical politicians, students are been driven by the radicals and Tamil Diaspora, trivial issues are been blown up and snow balled, Tamils in Europe & UK staging protest marches, impacting on GDP, fighting and demanding for acceptance of illegal boat people.

Mr.President,

(i) SriLanka is a small country with unique people and does not want to be dragged into international politics, (ii) An appeal to US to support SL to be a republic, one nation, one country with Sinhalese, Tamils, Burgers and Muslims as members of the community, (iii) Ban TGTE and the Global Tamil Forum, (iv) Ban TCC, (v) Bring all those insurrectionary & destabilising terrorists hiding under fictitious names to justice, (vi) Address Human Rights issues in India where several thousands of DalitƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s are been raped and killed, (vii) Address human rights issues in India where children and young girls are been exploited for slave labour and child sex, (viii) address issues in countries where death sentence is still a practice, humans are been executed by cutting their head off, particularly where there is no respect for age.

It is to be complemented that every country has the right to defend & protect its territory and boarders from invasion by placing its troops at the border, and SriLanka is no exception.

Every SriLankan should have the right to live anywhere in SriLanka and Tamils should not raise their voice and object, because itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s internal demographic movement of citizens. If Tamils can live in the South then Sinhalese people should have every right to live and work in the N&E. For example, Tamils have colonised Scarborough. Should this be interpreted that Tamils have colonised Scarborough to create an electoral division in Toronto?

SriLanka has given equal rights to every citizen of SL. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not clear as to what the Tamils claim as equal rights. Tamils should join the governance and ask for a couple of ministerial portfolios, if Tamils are after power sharing.

Mr.President, in the recent appointment of chiefs in US, you stated that itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not republican or democratic that is important, what is important is that we are Americans.

ShouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t Tamils follow the same approach in SriLanka?

Mr.President, it is a great honour for me to have written this letter to you to throw more light on the SriLankan situation.

Majority of Tamils want a united SriLanka.

We want peace in SL and all attempts of separatism, terrorism and rebellious acts should be smothered.

It is a strong view that all Tamils in SriLanka should love their country (SL), study Sinhala Language, English Language and Tamil Language and become entrepreneurs, rather wasting time in talking and preaching socialism, & separatism. It is of view that all above three languages should be made compulsory up to school level.

We love the United States and will always love and be pro-US.

Thank you

Kanthar P Balanathan

46 Responses to “OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA – WAYWARD & CAPRICIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF SRILANKAN TAMILS & TAMIL DIASPORA”

  1. jayasiri Says:

    Writer has analysed well & being a Tamil his point of view is very much appreaciated.

    It is a good idea to send similar letters to European leaders of govts, where majority of Tamils live. Not only Scarborough in Toronto, Canada, but major cities are either crowded & ghettos of tamils who are not interested in assimilating to the general population.

    As such copies of this letter or similar letters will work positively not only to Sri Lanka, but also to other countries who harbour tamil immigrants.

    Just expressing my views ~ from an expat in Canada.

  2. Sarath W Says:

    This letter should be an eye opener to all Sri Lankans, especially to those Sinhalese who support the western governments,Catholics and Rajapaksa haters who have become traitors.These groups must be ashamed of themselves when a patriotic Sri Lankan Tamil like Kanthar is prepared to stand up to defend Sri Lanka.

  3. Vis8 Says:

    Great article to read for the ‘diaspora’ who appear to care only for themselves, and not for their fellow Tamils in the North.

  4. Senevirath Says:

    KANTHAR
    This is what i have been telling last 30 years. One of my book in sinhala about tamil terrorism was written to enlighten tamils and was named as “””MALE OHOMA NOKARAN APE AMMATA”” meaning BROTHER DO NOT DO THUS TO OUR MOTHER(LANKA)

    Dear bro kanthar
    we need people like u real tamil brothers ,. your article braught tears in to my eyes.

    But sinhala traitors like Wickramabahu vasudeva , vitharana karlo F etc etc never talk about tamil cast discriminations. shame on them.

    one time DAYAN JAYATILEKE was a provincial council member for PERUMALS PARTY.!!

    thank u kanthar

  5. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    From the 13th century when migration of Vellalar to Jaffna took place, Tamil Nadu has seen a decline in the traditional power of Vellalar. Successive colonial powers in Sri Lanka found Vellalar useful where Brahmins were not forthcoming. The Vellalar were not only cultivators, but a section of them which had developed scribal skills, provided the local officials, interpreters and accountants. Vellalar took the advantage of the situation and submitted themselves as slaves to the colonials and in return colonials were more kind towards their loyal servants. That is how Vellalar became the civil service force to help rule of colonials.
    In 1847, Kandar Arumukampillai(aka Arumuga Navalar) left the Jaffna Central College where he was a teacher because a ‘low caste’ Tamil student from the Nalavar caste was admitted to the school by the principal Peter Percival. Three decades later when a famine hit Northern Sri Lanka Kandar Arumukampillai worked tirelessly to provide food and medicine to Vellalar only.
    The lower caste Tamil speaking Sri Lnakans were treated as stray dogs by Vellalar. Caste system among Tamil speaking Sri Lankans has given rise to serious social evils. It denied certain civil rights to a large number of people and let to the oppressions and exploitations by Vellalar, which paved a constant source of discontent or unrest.
    Vellalar were the founders of the fascist culture in Jaffna. Despite the civilized veneer presented to the outside world Vellalar ran a fascistic regime reducing the depressed loer caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans to slaves. Vellalar’s cruel caste system has no other parallel in any other part of Sri Lanka. Vellalar virtually had a free run of the Jaffna peninsula because the colonial rulers turned a blind eye to the subhuman Vellalar’s culture of violence. Thesavalamai legitimized slavery and the Vellalar ruled the land with an iron fist, with the colonial administrators often refusing to interfere in the laws and customs of the Vellalar.
    In 1871, Caste clashes erupted between Vellalar, Dhoby caste and Barber caste in Mavittapuram when Dhoby caste people refused to wash the clothes of Barber caste people. Vellalar were blamed for the violence.
    September 1923 in Suthumalai, Vellalar attacked lower caste people who had hired drummers for a funeral alleging that lower caste people had no right to employ drummers for their funerals as they were ‘low caste’. In 1931 a similar violent riot took place in Chankanai where Pallar were attacked by Vellalar people for hiring drummers for a funeral.
    Do Tamil speaking Sri Lankans need to be reminded that they did not allow low castes to enter any place that Vellalar frequented? In June 1929 caste riots broke out again in Jaffna in response to the ‘equal seating directive’ of the government which was applicable to grant-aided schools. Under this directive ‘low caste’ students were allowed to sit on the bench. Until then they sat either on the floor or outside the classroom. This was how Tamil speaking Sri Lankans treated their own! Resultant riots bunt a large number of houses mainly of low caste Tamils. Their children en masse were stopped from attending schools. Repeated petitions were made to the government by Vellalar begging to cancel the directive! Ponnambalam Ramanathan went to request the Colonial Office in London to encode caste into legislative enactments. Ponnambalam Ramanathan led the opposition to democratization by opposing universal franchise proposed by the Donoughmore reformers in the 1920′ on the ground that it would give the lower caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans the right to vote.
    When Vellalar initiated their extremist demands it was the British who rejected them and not the Sinhalese. The British cultivated Vellalar as subservient and pliant agents of their regime. But this protection given to the privileges of the Vellalar was beginning to erode under the relentless invasions of modernity. The arrogant Vellalar reacted convulsively when the encroachments of modernity began to undermine Vellalar’s feudal and colonial privileges. Vellalar were reluctant to challenge the British whose patronage had made them the most privileged community in British Ceylon. Vellalar preferred to go along with the British colonialists, covertly aiding their white masters as complying agents in the legislature and in the administration. This political ploy was a common tactic, both under the Dutch and the British, to win a nudge-and-wink from the colonial masters to siphon off a disproportionate share of the state’s resources to Vellalar. The Dutch records categorically identify the need to win the Vellalar’s consent to be in command of Jaffna.
    In 1931 the Vellalar attacked the lower castes for hiring drummers for funerals. The message of the Vellalar was clear – no low castes could hire drummers for funerals!
    Even after Independence, the Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans hardly knew of the existence of the lowwe caste Tamil speaking Sri lankans. As far as the Sinhala speaking Sri Lankan leaders were concerned the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans whom they met in Colombo, the leaders of Tamil Congress and the Federal Party, the Tamil speaking professionals and academics, and the Tamil speaking public servants were the real Tamil speaking Sri Lankans, indeed they were only Vellalar!
    G.G.Ponnambalam succeeded in burying the “aristocracy” of the old guard led by Arunachalam Mahadeva with his “50-50″ demand. Veluppillai Chelvanayakam buried G.G.Ponnambalam by taking “50-50″ to the next stage of separatism. And from the grave of Appapillai Amirthalingam rose Thiruvenkadam Velupillai Prabhakaran. Each death was a milestone in escalating racism. No other community has pursued and injected racism into an electorate as the Vellalar fighting for their survival, with Jaffna as their base.
    It was S.W.R.D Bandaranaike who opened the doors for low caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans to attend schools & temples – places that were taboo to them by their own Tamil speaking brethren.
    The Social Disabilities Act No. 21 was passed in the parliament in 1957 giving lower castes of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans the right to attend schools & temples as the part of S.W.R.D Bandaranaike’s plan was to penetrate into the “low caste” votes of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans.
    Lower castes Tamil speaking Sri Lankan children could attend school regularly only after this act. A reawakening happened in the north among previously marginalised lower caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans.
    No sooner Vellalar realized the dangers of SLFP government led by S.W.R.D Bandaranaike courting the low caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans, Vellalar devised their response. It was to create the best division possible. A rift between the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans and Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans which would strike better success than low caste – Vellalar divisions among Tamil speaking Sri Lankans. It is important to note that the satyagrahas, the tarring of Sinhala letter “SRI” instead of English letters on vehicle licence plates launched by the Veluppilai Chelvanayagam led Federal Party and G.G Ponnambalam led Tamil Congress – both Vellala high class political parties happened a year after making Sinhala the official language. Why did Federal Party and Tamil Congress not cry foul over the Sinhala Only Act in 1956 but oppose the Social Disabilities Act on 1957 with such venom? It is because Tamil speaking Sri Lankans wanted to deprive their own.
    Wijeyananda Dahanayake who was the Minister of Education in 1957, gave teaching appointments to many lower caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans who had three credit passes in the S.S.C Exam (G.C.E O/L). Appapillai Amirthalingam who was an Federal Party MP then, opposed this move under the pretext that it would bring down educational standards.
    Similarly, when the Sirimavo R.D.Bandaranaike led SLFP Government introduced university standardization in 1973 those that opposed were those who were against equitable distribution. The schools in thirteen out of twenty two districts did not produce a single engineering or medicine student until 1974. Students from Colombo and Jaffna who had been privy to education opposed opportunities that would be enjoyed by students from Mannar, Monaragala, Vavuniya, Ampara, Kilinochchi & other less developed districts. While the composition of the ethnicity did not change entrance, for Tamil speaking Sri Lankans it meant not only the Vellalar but lower caste Tamil speaking Sri Lankans too would gain university entrance. This was why Vellalar opposed the 1973 university standardization introduced by Srimavo Bandaranaike led SLFP Government.
    Tamil speaking Sri Lankans who cry “discrimination” may like to recall how in the refugee camps during the 1983 riots Vellalar refused to share common toilet facilities with the low castes and a lot of problems arose inside the very camps housing only Tamil speaking Sri Lankans!
    From feudal and colonial times until May 18, 2009 Jaffna peninsula was under the jackboot of, Vellalar’s fascism followed by their equally brutal fascists in the LTTE. Both Vellalar and LTTE oppressed and subjugated their own people and denied their victims the fundamental right to live with even a modicum of dignity and self-respect. The LTTE took over from where the Vellalar left and perpetuated the cult of fascist violence which reduced the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans of the North and East to subhumans.

  6. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    During the colonial time Vellalar and the Madapalli castes who provided most of the Mudaliyars to village headman who owned most of the arable land. Below the Vellalar were the Koviar who were also involved in agriculture. The people of the fishing castes, collectively known as the Karaiyar, were independent of this social structure to which the landed communities were bound. The Chettys were well known as traders and owners of Hindu temples and the Pallar and the Nalavar composed of the landless labourers who tilled the land. Other castes composed of traditional barbers, washers, potters and general service providers. In Jaffna Paraiyar lived in segregated settlements and were the untouchables, just as in the modern Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Under Tamil leadership in Jaffna Thurumbar – washers for toddy tappers and other low-caste families were not allowed to walk in daytime just in case their sighting would pollute the pure eyes of the Vellalar. The Thurumbar had to drag a branch behind to wipe the footsteps they leave when they walk at midnight so that the feet of the Vellalar would not be polluted next day by treading on low-caste footprints. Schools attended by low-caste children were burnt and low-caste students physically assaulted.
    Velupillai Prabhakaran perfected the fascistic culture of Tamil violence with his cult of violence that was not restrained by basic values of humanity. Torture, murder, incarceration, kangaroo courts, feeding Tamil dissidents to crocodiles in the Iranamadu tank, kidnapping teenage school children from the care of their parents and throwing them as sacrificial lambs to a war he could not win were all a part of his cult of violence which was glorified by the Tamil Diaspora. The Tamil Diaspora wallowed lustily in Velupillai Prabhakaran’s violence. The sadism of the Tamil Diaspora was demonstrated by the increase in the collection of funds abroad each time Velupillai Prabhakaran went on a killing spree. Their heroism was expressed in filling the war chests of Velupillai Prabhakaran led LTTE. Each time the Tamil Diaspora oiled the killing machine of Velupillai Prabhakaran led LTTE it was the Tamils left behind who had to pay with their lives. The Jaffna Tamil culture gave no choice to the Tamils: it was either fascism of Vellalar or fascism of Velupillai Prabhakaran.
    In the north the Jaffna Tamil leadership failed the Jagffna people under both regimes. They never qualified to be just and fair leaders/rulers of the Jaffna people. The violence directed against their own people has condemned the Jaffna Tamil leadership as the most unbearable, unacceptable Pol Pots of our time. With all its infirmities there was democracy and liberal space in the south. In the north, fascism and violence became a common existential experience of daily life.
    The evil in the Tamil culture, which was transmitted to Velupillai Prabhakaran, is represented precisely and accurately in the LTTE flag flown by the Tamil Diaspora as their symbol of pride and glory. It is the most obscene flag under the sun. There isn’t a single redeeming feature in it to project the Tamils as members of a civilized race. Its violent symbols – a snarling tiger putting his carnivorous head out of a ring of thirty-three bullets placed against two crossed guns fixed with bayonets – represent only a barbaric, blood-thirsty violence culture inherited from the Vellalar. Every inch of the LTTE flag questions the values of the Jaffna Tamils and their capacity to co-exist with other communities in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious world.
    The misguided Tamils might read it as a sign of their power. But where have their tigers, bullets, guns and bayonets taken them? It is a flag that is comparable only to the skull and cross-bones of the marauding pirates. It is a flag that can only lead the Tamils to further deaths and destruction under another fascist leadership. And yet the Tamil Diaspora continues to hero worship Velupillai Prabhakaran, the designer of the hideous flag. Tamil Diaspora seems to be possessed by the fascist DNA of their Tamil forefathers who despised their own people and kicked them around as if they were pariah dogs. In a sense, it is fitting that Tamil Diaspora should fly this flag because it not only exhibits their vile past but guarantees that the future will be no different.
    The confrontations, aggression and violence came only from the racist Jaffna Tamils, who exploited the issue to drag Jaffna deeper into mono-ethnic extremism. They succeeded in disguising their economic and class interests and promoting it as an act of discrimination against the Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans. The Tamil language issue was driven aggressively only by the racist Jaffna Tamils and not by the Tamil-speaking plantation workers, Tamil speaking Muslims or the non-Vellala Tamils of the eastern province.
    The aggression and violence of the racist Jaffna Tamils proved the Karl Marx’s theory that the ruling class will not give up power without a struggle. And true to the barbaric character of the Jaffna Tamils they declared war on the rest of Sri Lanka by passing the Vadukoddai Resolution in 1976 – the period when Tamil supremacy was in its last legs.
    Racist Vellalar of Jaffna were the founders of the fascist culture in Jaffna. Despite the civilized veneer presented to the outside world, Jaffna Tamils ran a fascistic regime reducing the depressed Tamils to slaves. Jaffna Vellalar’s cruel caste system has no other parallel in any other part of Sri Lanka. Jaffna Vellalar virtually had a free run of the Jaffna peninsula because the colonial rulers turned a blind eye to the subhuman Jaffna Vellalar culture of violence. Thesavalamai legitimized slavery and the Jaffna Vellala slave-owners ruled the peninsula with an iron fist, with the Portuguese, Dutch and English colonial administrators often refusing to interfere in the laws and customs of the ruling caste and class.
    Thesa (land) walamai (laws and customs) legitimized the land-owning Jaffna Vellalar as the slave-masters of Jaffna peninsula. From feudal and colonial times until May 18, 2009 when the Tamil cult of violence sank in Mullivaykal, Jaffna peninsula was under the jackboot of, first, Vellala fascism followed, second, by their equally brutal fascists – Velupillai Prabhakaran led LTTE. Both Vellalar and Velupillai Prabhakaran led LTTE oppressed and subjugated Tamils and denied their victims the fundamental right to live with even a modicum of dignity and self-respect. The LTTE took over from where the Vellalar left and perpetuated the cult of fascist violence which reduced the Jaffna Tamils to subhumans.

  7. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    Tamil speaking Sri Lankans had shown almost an inexhaustible capacity to produce engineers, doctors, accountants, clerks and shopkeepers but the Tamil political culture failed to produce an enlightened political leadership that could rise above their Jaffna peninsularity of mind and lead the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans towards realistic and attainable political goals. Not since Sir Pon Arunachalam left the Ceylon National Congress, rupturing hopes of communal harmony, has Tamil speaking Sri Lankans produced a political leadership which has had the vision to accept co-existence in a multi-ethnic society as the most natural, viable and peaceful path for the welfare of all communities in Sri Lanka. Blind to the future, the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans have grown up during the past several decades in a self-made political culture of resistance to reform.
    Tigers were a reflection of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans. Tigers emerged from among the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans, and shared the same Jaffna peninsularity of beliefs.
    Tigers did the most to destroy the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans. In counting on gains through its strength as a conventional military force, and dragging out the war for 25 years Tigers missed opportunities to even entrench their own position. Tigers’ singular focus on military strength, to the detriment of political gains and support from the people on the ground, all while ensuring their emergence as the dominant Tamil armed force was the cause of their demise.
    Tigers wanted more than 100,000 Muslims in Jaffna Peninsula to get out within 3 hours, leaving their belongings and treasured valuables – that was a text book example of ‘ethnic cleansing’. Tigers made Idi Amin look like an angel as Idi Amin had a heart to give the Asians in Uganda three months to leave the country and not 3 hours.
    Tamil speaking Sri Lankans suffered the most in Sri Lanka because of their leaders’ blind refusal to co-exist in a multi-ethnic society sharing the land in common with the other communities. Their suicidal political ambitions, arising from an exaggerated view of their self-importance and superiority, drove them to an end on May 18, 2009 at Mullivaykal, they never thought would come.

  8. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    The primary issue was the Left protest against the Soulbury Constitution for Independent Ceylon, for its failure to guarantee workers’ rights. Associated with it was the interdiction of T.B. Illangaratne, president, and 19 others of the Government Clerical Services Union for having held a meeting on Galle Face Green, in contravention of Public Service Regulations. 50,000 public servants prepared for trade union action.

    At this point there was a development of considerable historical interest. The State Council headed by D.S. Senanayake, the prime minister-in-making, hurriedly passed the Public Security Ordinance, taking barely 90 minutes over it. Perhaps the rulers in 1947 also thought it useful to have such an act on the statute book before independence, since, one is not surprised by such laws under colonial rule, while it would be awkward to present such legislation after independence. Interestingly, however, the most oppressive piece of legislation ever passed in Parliament – the one to make Tamil plantation workers non-citizens – could not have been passed under colonial rule!

    Following the passage of the PSO, the strikers made their way to the venue of the public meeting in Ralahamigewatte, Kolonnawa, marching through Dematagoda. The procession was blocked by the Police. Dr. N.M. Perera, the LSSP leader, went forward to Police Superintendent Robins, to explain to him that the meeting was authorized. He fell on the ground after being struck on the head by a baton, and had to run away to save himself. The Police fired 19 rounds of bullets into the strikers, killing one and injuring 19 others, 5 of them seriously.

    There were indeed many deficiencies in the Police of those times. But despite their prejudices and class affiliations, the Police as an institution had one saving grace. They were conscious of the Law as the standard and the ideal of enforcing it impartially. They were also sensitive to being seen falling short on professional standards. This in consequence had the merit of enabling the public to challenge them on the basis of the Law as the standard. But on the other hand the situation becomes quite hopeless when the Police acknowledge no standards, and for the most part become sycophants of the rulers.

    Another event in the episode of the police action in 1947 foreshadowed the future. The body of the innocent clerk V. Kandasamy, who was killed by police firing, was dispatched to his family in Jaffna by the mail train. G.G. Ponnambalam, famed criminal lawyer and leader of the Tamil Congress, stood by the coffin when it was placed on the platform of Jaffna railway station. He told the crowd that had come for the occasion that Kandasamy was killed by the Sinhalese government. It was still British rule and it had not entered into the minds of the crowd that Kandasamy’s death had anything to do with his being Tamil.

    The event was reflected upon many years later by a witness to it. This was in October 1986 when crowds filed past the corpses of nine Sinhalese soldiers killed in an encounter in the Mannar District and the two captured alive. They were exhibited near Nallur Kandasamy Kovil. The body of LTTE leader Victor killed in the same incident was carried from place to place in Jaffna while Kittu, the LTTE’s Jaffna leader, basked in Victor’s glory. From the time Kandasamy’s body was brought to Jaffna, Tamil politics had been ‘corpse politics’ – politics for death and destruction and not for life.

    Not long afterwards, the same Tamil Congress leader G.G. Ponnambalam who said Kandasamy had been killed by the Sinhalese government joined the same UNP government of D.S. Senanayake’s to become a cabinet minister. He also lent his support to the deplorable Acts which rendered the Tamil plantation workers (of recent Indian origin) without representation. This caused a split in his party, with the faction led by Chelvanayakam, Vanniasingam and Naganathan, continuing to oppose the Acts and forming in 1949 the Federal Party. Mr. I.R. Ariyaratnam, a Left party leader in Jaffna, later asked Ponnambalam why he had after initial opposition supported the Citizenship Bills upon being made cabinet minister? Ponnambalam replied, “India is a big country 50 times our size. Her prime minister, Nehru, does not care for these Tamils of recent Indian origin. Why should I bother about them?” It was again a mindset, educated and brilliant in a way, but tragically deficient in foresight and moral sense.

    The events of those two years in the late 40s which were centred about the country’s independence in 1948, contained many presentiments for what followed in the next half-century. While having the forms of democracy and legality, it was a political culture that was manipulative with few stabilising higher values.

    The descent of the Tamil polity into self-destructive internal terror cannot be understood without the circumstances surrounding the political murder of Alfred Duraiappah on July 27, 1975.

    Alfred Duraiappah who was Jaffna’s independent MP from 1960-65 and several times mayor was a popular figure. Although this is denied by many Tamil nationalists, the fact is that in all elections for the Jaffna seat, the votes were equally split between him, the Tamil Congress and the Federal Party. His appeal had nothing to do with his representing any great ideal or principle in politics. He knew his constituents individually and tried to make everyone feel that he was part of their family. He greeted people on the road and inquired about their studies and personal matters. He catered to the needs of people for the normal business of life to go on. He dealt in jobs, transfers, market buildings, public lavatories and streetlights. It suited him to have government patronage for his style of politics, and so he aligned himself with the SLFP.

    He had no interest in projecting himself outside the Jaffna electorate, but in that prestigious electorate, he posed a potent challenge to the nationalist TUF (Federal Party). He had a vote bank in the significant business, Muslim and Sinhalese communities and the urban poor. This popularity of Duraiappah’s irked the nationalists. This nationalism sought to impose on the very materialistic society in Jaffna, a hypocritical facade that the people were ready to sacrifice all ordinary needs and desires in life for some vague purist idea of Nation. Duraiappah exposed that hypocrisy.

    From 1972, the TUF (FP) launched vicious attacks on Duraiappah calling him a traitor worthy of death. At the beginning, it may have been a stunt to win the Jaffna seat. But the more they articulated it, the more they began to believe it to be only right and natural that his end should come. An important event in the vilification of Duraiappah was the International Tamil Research Conference of January 1974.

    The research forum series was launched by Fr. X. Thaninayagam, who was an eminent Tamil scholar. The first conference was held in 1966 in Kuala Lumpur and opened by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahuman. It had been supported generously by the Malaysian government. The 1974 conference was, initially, expected to be held in Colombo, but the organisers decided to shift it to Jaffna.

    Once the conference was shifted to Jaffna, the TUF inevitably tried to make political capital out of it. (Note: The Federal Party (FP) joined a larger alliance, the Tamil United Front (TUF) which included the Tamil Congress and Ceylon Workers’ Congress on 14th May 1972. The TUF became the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) on 14th May 1976 after adopting the policy of separation from Sri Lanka. The CWC then dropped out saying that they cannot go along with separatism.) There were however good reasons for the shift of the conference to Jaffna and there is no reason to believe that the organisers connived with the TUF. But the Government was nervous and four delegates who came to Sri Lanka for the conference were sent back. But in Jaffna itself there was great public enthusiasm over the event. The scholarly conference was held in Veerasingham Hall from 3rd to 9th January. There was a popular demand to hear the foreign delegates and this public event was fixed for the evening of the 10th.

    The police permit to have the meeting, which ended on the 9th, was extended to the 10th on a gentlemen’s understanding between ASP Chandrasekera and Dr. Mahadeva, the chief conference organiser. The latter undertook to ensure that Janarthanan, a politician from Tamil Nadu who was not a delegate, would not speak. Janarthanan was seen at the TUF (FP) office on 2nd Cross Street that evening, according to a witness, talking to Amirthalingam. But the question of the legality of his presence had been raised neither by the de Kretzer nor Sansoni commissions and ASP Chandrasekera, according to Sansoni, had encountered Janarthanan the previous day and warned him not to speak in public.

    The organisers had earlier planned to hold the final meeting in the open-air theatre for which authorisation had been obtained from the Jaffna mayor, Mr. Duraiappah. But because there had been a shower on the 9th, the organisers decided to shift the final meeting to the Veerasingham Hall. But on the 10th the crowds started squeezing into the Hall and many had to be content listening from outside. Seeing there was no rain, the organisers at the last minute decided to go back to the open air theatre. They tried to contact the mayor (Duraiappah) and the municipal commissioner to gain access to the theatre, but were unsuccessful.

    The organisers quickly prepared an ‘ad hoc’ stage outside the Hall, but within the premises, facing the KKS Road and the Jaffna esplanade. An estimated crowd of about 50,000 sat on the roads and on the esplanade, right up to the moat of Jaffna Fort. The Police were helpful in redirecting, the city traffic via Clock Tower Road towards Main Street, so that the crowds could listen without being disturbed. The meeting started late at 8.00 PM and the chairman, Dr. Vithyananthan, thanked the Police for their co-operation. The first speaker, Prof. Naina Mohamed from South India, held the audience spell-bound.

    A little later, to everyone’s surprise a police party in riot gear started moving into the crowd westwards towards Veerasingham hall from the Clock Tower side, assaulting and roughly ordering the crowd to move aside. Pandemonium broke loose and seven civilians died of electrocution when a power line came down.

    The crowd panicked and dispersed. There was not a shred of evidence that Alfred Duraiappah was in any way the cause of this tragedy. But the fact that he was with the Government made the city father a ready scapegoat. The SLFP office on the Main Street was that same night attacked by a mob led by a man identified as a TUF supporter.

    Very quickly an effective propaganda campaign was unloosed accusing Duraiappah of responsibility for the tragedy and the deaths of the civilians. This was again a case of ‘corpse politics’. It was later carried to new heights by Prabhakaran, the LTTE supremo. If anyone, it is the TUF and Amirthalingam who should bear a large share of responsibility for the tragedy as will become evident in the sequel. Janarthanan went back to India and claimed that he had seen hundreds of corpses of those killed by the Police. The Veerakesari, the largest Tamil Daily, then editorially condemned Janarthanan’s irresponsible statements.

    The government of the day could have cleared up the matter by appointing a commission to go into it. But the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike was so paranoid about it that it declined to do so. The matter was gone into by a three member unofficial commission headed by Justice O.L. de Kretzer..

    The Sansoni Commission Report (p. 25) quotes Mr. J.D.M. (Mitra) Ariyasinghe who was then SP, Jaffna, on a speech made by Mrs. Amirthalingam. She spoke to a gathering opposite Munniappar Kovil on the occasion of a hartal organised by the Tamil United Front on 9th February 1974 in protest against the police action above. She is said to have referred to ASP Chandresekera as the person responsible for the deaths on 10th January and to Mr. Duraiappah as being a traitor who was behind the incident on that day.

    What Mrs. Amirthalingam allegedly said is consistent with the politics of the TULF (i.e. TUF, FP) at that time. (E.g., on 24th May 1972 Kasi Anandan spoke at a meeting in protest against the new republican constitution. According to witnesses, Duraiappah was named by him as being among the traitors listed who should not die a natural death, but the nature of whose death should be determined by the younger generation. Chelvanayakam and Amirthalingam were then on the platform.) It may be noted that Duraiappah’s name did not crop up at the de Kretzer Commission hearings where the TUF had a role in producing witnesses, and Bishop Kulandran who was on the Commission was known for his leanings towards the Federal Party (TUF). Although Duraiappah as mayor may have preferred the organisers to have chosen the Jaffna Town Hall as the venue, there is no evidence to suggest that he was in any way hostile or uncooperative.

    Such was the nature of the build-up of hate towards Alfred Duraiappah. Those with nationalist sympathies had little difficulty in swallowing this propaganda and failed to ask where this was leading to. Planted in the minds of youth who were on the threshold of militancy, it was an instigation to kill.

    Testimony from one of Duraiappah’s companions is of interest. The assassins, Prabhakaran, Kalapathy & Patkunam who were waiting went towards the three passenger doors of the 4-door car as it halted. The intention was to kill Duraiappah and both his companions. One of the latter, as he alighted through a rear door, saw a short youth pointing a pistol towards him and shivering. This companion, Yoganathan, pushed the youth aside, toppling him flat on the ground and ran into a nearby kiosk selling soft drinks. Another companion, Rajaratnam, was injured but managed to run away.

    The assassins, who were evidently nervous, took off in Duraiappah’s car with Patkunam driving. No attempt was made to go for Yoganathan who was hiding in the kiosk. The woman who ran the kiosk called him out when the assassins were gone. He came out and found Duraiappah crying for water. Placing the dying man’s head on his lap, he poured some aerated water into his mouth. Duraiappah then breathed his last. Years later, upon seeing Prabhakaran’s picture, Yoganathan identified the youth, who had stood before him shivering, as Prabhakaran, and also became his admirer. Yoganathan’s identification points to Prabhakaran who, in July 1975, still retained a healthy inhibition against killing. But not long afterwards he was instrumental in the murder of Patkunam who drove the car. The direction of his movement was set.

    As to the TULF (then TUF) directly instigating Duraiappah’s murder, there is no evidence. We may say that the TULF pointed a pistol at Duraiappah and looked the other side, knowing that someone would pull the trigger. We do know that some TULF leaders had contact with these militant youth – which, from inside testimony, became semi-formal in 1976 after a meeting between Amirthalingam and the central committee of the LTTE. The indications are that Prabhakaran remained loyal to Amirthalingam into the early 1980s. This does not mean that the TULF played any role in the LTTE’s decision making. In July 1989, LTTE assasinated Amirthlingam too.

    Mrs. Yogeswaran, the TULF Mayor of Jaffna, was assassinated by the LTTE in May 1998. A columnist in the Sanjeevi published in Jaffna, later wrote that Mrs. Yogeswaran had told him that Prabhakaran called on her husband in Jaffna soon after murdering Duraiappah and she had served him tea. Yogeswaran became the TULF’s Jaffna MP in 1977 and was known to have been consorting with militant youth. Mr Yogeswaran was also assasinated by LTTE in July 1989.

    However the hate campaign against those who disagreed with nationalist claims and the very act of usurping the right to Duraiappah’s life, set the direction of Tamil politics on the course of tragedy. Grief over Duraiappah’s death brought forth an outpouring of tears. Today there are no tears left.

    The actions of Prabhakaran proved he was real tiger. The only business he knew was killing. He killed Kalvian Kaadu Chetty, the person who named the group “Tigers” and the original leader of the Tiger group

    Then Prabhakaran tried to kill the next leader of Tigers, Uma Maheswaran in a shoot out in India . He killed the founding members of the Tigers, Michael and Patkunam. Prabhakaran himself tipped off the Police about the then leaders of Tigers, Kuttimani and Thangathurai and their whereabouts. This incident led to Kuttimani and Thangathurai’s incarceration until their terrible deaths in the Welikade jail.

    Several times Prabhakaran missed his targets. When he killed Alfred Duraiappah, he couldn’t shoot properly at Duraiappah’s companions. During the Neervely People’s Bank robery on March 25, 1981, Prabhakaran missed his one and only target. Fortunately Sri Sabarutnam shot at Prabhakaran’s target – Police Officer Banda who was almost pulling the trigger at Prabhakaran and saved Prabhakaran’s life. Prabhakaran assassinated Sri Sabaratnam in 1985 .On May 19, 1982, at Pondy Bazaar in Madras Prabhakarn shot Uma Maheswaran then leader of Tigers at point blank, Prabhakaran missed his target.

    Prabhakaran killed all the persons he worked with before he became the leader of the Tigers. He even killed the last surviving Tiger group founding member Sabalingam who was residing in France, because Sabalingam started writing about Prabhakaran’s power hungry killings
    After Prabhakaran became the leader of the Tigers, he started killing all Tamil political leaders, elected mayors, university professors and many innocent Tamils who had criticized Tigers. Prabhakaran banned all Tamil political organizations for the last twenty years and finally the international community including USA, Canada, European Union, India and Australia has banned the Tigers, mainly due to Tigers’ continuous use of child soldiers and their terror activities including numerous suicide bombing.

    Prabhakaran also killed hundreds of people who were members and supporters of Tamil political organizations. Ramachandran a.k.a MGR, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu gave Pirabhakaran more than 1.25 billion rupees in 1985. Tamil speaking Sri Lankans provided their support to Tigers at gunpoint only and never helped Tigers to grow to this extent. Without MGR’s massive financial support and Premadasa’s supply of weapons and money, Tigers won’t exist today.
    Tigers were terror loving trigger-happy killers, created by MGR and Premadasa.

  9. Sri Rohana Says:

    Mr Kanthar you have written a great letter. It is so informative. Equally great comment by Mr. N.Thayabharan. To have a peaceful Sri Lanka we have to think that we are one family. Sinhalese are the best friends for tamils so why tamils go to India, USA and U.K for help.

  10. cw Says:

    Thanks Kanthar & Nalliah, Thanks again for your eye openers. Sinhala modayas who bark at everything saying “Sinhala Only” policy created communal violence should read your comments.

  11. Voice123 Says:

    Well said!

  12. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    Most of the people of Sri Lanka migrated to the island from Indian more than 2,500 years ago, often in the interest of trade, war, religion, economic opportunity, or colonization.

    Sri Lanka’s history left the island with a diverse population composed of self-conscious ethnic groups, differentiated by religion, language, and social customs. Hinduism, the island’s first religion, came from India during its era of unrecorded history. Theravada Buddhism was introduced from India 2,300 years ago. Arab traders and western colonists brought Islam and Christianity in the tenth and sixteenth centuries.

    Early in Sri Lanka’s history, education became associated with high caste status and privilege. The sweep of Buddhism from India into Sri Lanka in the 2,300 years ago converted kings and people. Monasteries were erected to educate monks. These monks built the first pirivenas, or temple schools, in the villages, educating the laity in religion and secular subjects.

    The Portuguese who arrived in 1505 with a gun in one hand and the bible in the other, occupied the coastal areas and soon became a constant source of aggression, annoyance and terror to the large mass of people. In the coastal areas that they occupied, almost all Viharayas and Privenas were destroyed, including the Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya, the famous Totagamuwe Vijayaba Pirvena, Padmavathi Pirivena of Keragala and Sunethra Devi Pirivena of Pepiliyana. Portuguese rule of Sri Lanka brought both Franciscans and Jesuits, who founded 41 parish schools, and 3 Franciscan and 2 Jesuit colleges. Converting the island’s diverse population was a primary focus of this educational mission. The Dutch who ousted the Portuguese in 1640 and were instrumental in destroying temples, monasteries including the royal palace at Hanguranketa. The Dutch replaced the Catholic parish schools with schools affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. Both the Portuguese and the Dutch used religious conversion to promote access to educational opportunity. Native Sri Lankans quickly realized that if they wanted to gain a public office or qualify as a schoolmaster, they had to convert to the Dutch Reformed faith, and did. A Dutch seminary in Colombo, the capital, provided additional higher education. The Dutch educational system in Sri Lanka continued to foster the public’s perception of a link between education and financial success.

    The British who ousted the Dutch in 1796 had a well-planned program of activities, for a continuous period of about 150 years, led to the greatest damage to the country’s culture, social cohesion, unity and dignity. When the British began their occupation of Sri Lanka, they gave responsibility for the island’s education to Christian missionary societies who promoted an English, western-oriented education designed to “civilize” the Sri Lankan people. English schools charged fees and received British government grants. The island’s nonEnglish vernacular (secular) schools were taught in Sinhala or Tamil, Sri Lanka’s two principal languages. Vernacular schools were traditionally under financed because they were denied government educational grants. Without government subsidies, these schools could offer only the basics of an elementary education. Buddhist temple schools, primarily in rural areas, suffered the most: in addition to being denied government funding, they could not charge fees, the result of successful lobbying by the missionary societies who wanted the elimination of any rival religious schools. Under British rule, Sri Lankans who spoke English were eligible to become teachers. Colonial administrators only recruited only English-speaking Sri Lankans for government service. Thus the Sri Lankans who prospered under British colonial rule were more likely to be better-educated, high-caste Hindu Tamils, Tamils who converted to Christianity and were educated in English schools, or descendants of the Burghers.

    Christians, the island’s smallest minority, were historically the best educated. In 1901, approximately 55 % of Christian males were literate, compared to only 35 % of Buddhist males, 34 % of Muslim males, and 26 % of Hindu males. Among Christian women, 30 % were literate, compared to 5 % among Buddhist women, 3 % among Muslim women, and 2 % percent among Hindu women. The lower literacy rates among Hindu males can be attributed to the inclusion of the uneducated and stateless imported Indian Tamil males who worked tea plantations. Cultural factors account for the low literacy rates among Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu women. By 1921, within just 20 years, literacy rates among the island’s male population rose to 66 % for Christians, 50 % for Buddhists, 45 % for Muslims, and 37 % for Hindus. For women, 50 % of Christians were literate, while literacy rates among Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu women rose to 17 %, 6 %, and 10 %, respectively. When independence was granted in 1948, Sri Lanka had 5,895 schools enrolling more than 1 million students. The nation’s literacy rate was 57 %, the highest among both Great Britain’s colonies and Asian nations.

    British rule had favored an English-speaking Tamil minority who benefited from better education, which led to higher incomes and more valuable careers. For centuries Sri Lankan Tamils used education to promote their social mobility. The Tamil region in northern and eastern Sri Lanka is arid and infertile compared to the rest of the island and is unsuitable for profitable farming. The Tamils depended on education to prosper. Under British rule the Tamil minority received a disproportionate share of university and government positions. Higher earnings among Sri Lankan Tamils plus the income sent home by overseas Tamils generated greater economic prosperity in the Tamil regions than in the rest of the country. But the Independence in 1948 changed the balance of power.

    Sri Lankans should have retained their friendly, childlike nature and combined it with the inventiveness of their European conquerors. Sri Lankans inherited the power lust of their European colonisers, but none of their vision. Sri Lankans also inherited Portuguese lethargy, Dutch hedonism and British snobbery.The British left no room for the leadership to emerge from the truly indigenous people.

    All colonial powers acted on pure and absolute “self interest”. British occupation of Sri Lanka was one of sheer exploitation and devastation. Whatever benefits that were derived by local inhabitants were merely incidental to their exploitation of the country’s natural and human resources in order to reap enormous benefits for the British government. The vast changes that they brought about in almost all areas of life in the country, led to the disruption of the long held culture, values and way of life of local inhabitants, particularly those of the main stream community the Sinhala Buddhists.
    To serve their self interests the British practiced the “divide and rule” policy by setting communities against each other. The British gave special privileges to the Tamil minority and those of the Christian faith, by providing with better opportunities for education, employment and other government services to became privileged communities. Jaffna district had the highest density of schools per unit area. In 1870 there were only two Buddhist schools left in Sri Lanka – in Panadura and Dodanduwa, with an attendance of 246 children as against 805 Christian Schools with an attendance of 78,086 children. Several people went after the British and then started to follow their religion and culture in order to gain various positions and other material benefits.

    Colombo assumed prominence as the commercial centre and also the center of learning and opportunities for better employment and better amenities for living. This created an outer-oriented, English-speaking urban sub-culture consisting mostly of Christians, with attitudes and behavior patterns seemingly akin to that of the British. Most of the outer-oriented urban elite which included the so called Sri Lankan leaders, held to half-baked foreign values, superficialities and strange ways of living. They were barely conversant with the plight of the majority of the ordinary people. They were not representative of the large mass of people, but they were the ones who became the trusted servants of the British administration. Almost all of the qualified professionals belonged to or subscribed to this sub-culture. The excessively poor living conditions of the large mass of rural youth led to migration to Colombo and other big towns. Some were subjected to the influence of the extremes forms of undesirable urban culture including alcohol abuse, crime and underworld activities that was gaining ground in urban areas.To make matters worse, power -political, administrative, and economic was inherited by those belonging to the westernized Colombo sub-culture.

    Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy urged Sri Lankans to develop a sense of their own traditions and national culture. He challenged the intrusion on eastern values by the expansion of western society. Besides, he was one of the world’s greatest exponents of oriental art, comparative religion and aesthetics.

    There were also fearless Buddhist monks who openly spoke out against British rule and the colonial mentality of our so called leaders. Prominent among them was Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera whose Panadura debate with the missionaries in August 1873 was a remarkable event in the country’s history.

    Great Patriot Anagarika Dharmapala spoke of the superficiality of the lives of those of the Colombo sub culture who have joined up with the colonialists to run the country.

    On February 4, 1948 we obtained the so-called Dominion Status with the Queen of England as the Head of State and with the British maintaining military bases in Katunayake and Trincomalee. Aging Englishmen became our first Governor Generals, whereas India became a free republic with an outstanding Indian Dr. Rajendra Prasad as its first President. It was in 1957 through the initiative of Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike that these British bases were taken over by the Sri Lankan government. Even though Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike became a Buddhist to please the masses, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was a christian till the day died. Dr. P.R. Anthonis testified that Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was wearing a cross when he died.

  13. Mahinda Wickramarathne Says:

    Obama promised to close down Guantanambay, what happened to that promise? World’s biggest human rights violations happen there

  14. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    Many castes in Jaffna Peninsula can be found in South India except Nazhavar, Koviyar and Madappalli. Ancient Kalinga territory did bleed into both today’s Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and it was a maritime power. They exported people and both Hindu and Buddhist ideas all over southeast Asia. Since Indians are called as Klings in Malaysia. A lot dynasties in ancient and medieval Sri Lanka claimed to be Kalinga and Kashtriya dynasties including the later Arya Chakaravarthis of Jaffna.
    Vellalar are Tamil speaking people who are a land owning feudal agrarian community. Some of the Vellalar in the Medieval period were sages such as Naayanmaar and religious scholars like Chekkilaar. Out of the 63 Naayanmaar, 13 were Vellalar. Several castes used many made up stories to upgrade them in the caste hierarchy in Jaffna peninsula. This is how 65% Tamil speaking Sri Lankans ended up being Vellalar where as in Tamil Nadu Vellalar never make up more than 10% of a local population except in Kongu Nadu. This is a never-ending game throughout South Asia in every ethnic group. Even after converting themselves as Muslims doesn’t prevent people from inventing stories about their past. In Afghanistan and Pakistan Pashtun tribes claim Semitic Arab origin to elevate them in the tribal hierarchy. Jaffna peninsula was a virgin territory for a lot of adventurers from India of `lowly’ origin who rose up in the hierarchy by hard work and cleverly masking their past. If each and every high caste Vellalar families do an unbiased genealogical study they will find adventurers from India of `lowly’ origin.
    South Indian settlements were widespread in the western region and in the north-eastern coastal belt of Sri Lanka during the early period of the Christian era. They enjoyed political authority both in Anuradhapura kingdom and in other regions and played a significant role in the trade between South India and Sri Lanka.
    The development of the Dravidic tribes gave rise to Kingdoms like Pallava, Pandiya, Chola, Chera and Vijayanagara. Chola Empire was encompassed the entire region up to the Ganges in Northern India, the Maldives to the south to Malaya and Sumathra in the east.The political socioeconomic and cultural impact and influence of these Dravidian Kingdoms had a lasting political socio-economic and cultural impact and influence on Sri Lanka and in the region to a very great extent.
    Mercenaries from South India settled in and around Anuradhapura from 400 CE to 700 CE when rulers of Sri Lanka brought mercenaries from South India to fight on their behalf.During the latter part of this period the Northern Sri Lanka was used as the staging post for attacks on Anuradhapura by Indian Kingdoms including Sirinaga, Manavamma and Pandyan king Sri Mara Sri Vallabhaon who attacked and took control of Northern Sri Lanka before proceeding to Anuradhapura. South Indians migrated to the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka from Anuradhapura when the kings of the second Lambakanna dynasty curbed the influence South Indians enjoyed in the Anuradhapura kingdom. In 900s CE South Indian in and around Anuradhapura had increased heavily that a levy of a separate impost had to be imposed on them.
    Magha of Kalinga of Orissa invaded the Rajarata Kingdom in 1215 CE with his South Indian troops and destroyed the economic underpinnings of the old hydraulic civilization that had been weakened by earlier Chola onslaughts. Magha of Kalinga’s invasion prompted majority of the Sinhalese of Jaffna Peninsula to move southwards. Jaffna Peninsula under Magha of Kalinga’s rule was the worst marauding regime that had existed in Sri Lanka. In 1247 CE Chandrabhanu – a Java King from the Malacca Straits region – invaded Sri Lanka with the aid of Indian armies from the Malayan peninsula and inflicted heavy damages on the Magha of Kalinga domain. Although Chandrabhanu’s invasion was repulsed in 1263 CE he managed to capture Jaffna Peninsula that were then under Magha of Kalinga.
    Chandrabhanu attacked Dambadeniya in 1258 CE which was ruled by Parakramabahu II (1236-1270 CE) but was repelled with the help of Pandyans who had developed a cordial relationship with Parakramabahu II. Pandyans allowed Chandrabhanu to continue his rule of the Jaffna Kingdom as he agreed to be a tributary to them. Place names like Chavakachcheri (Javakachcheri) denote the settlements created by Chandrabhanu.The Pandyan invasions during Chandrabhanu’s and his son’s periods brought in a fresh influx of South Indian immigrants with all their slaves and dependents who mostly settled in places like Thirunelveli, Mailiddi, Tellipalai, Inuvil, Puloli, Pachchilaippalli, Tholpuram, Koyilakandi, Irupaalai, Neduntivu and Pallavarayankaddu.
    Chandrabhanu recruited an army from South India and attacked Dambadeniya again. Parakramabahu II appealed to the Pandyan King Virapandya for help. The Pandyan king Virapandya invaded Jaffna, defeated Chandrabhanu and appointed Chandrabhanu’s son Tambralinga to the throne. But soon Tambralinga attacked Dambadeniya. The Pandyan King sent an army led by Kulasekaran who defeated Tambralinga in 1262 and appointed Kulasekaran as the King of Jaffna. Kulasekaran took the throne name Pararajasekeran and the title Ariyachakravarthi and ruled from 1262 to 1284 CE.
    Kulasekaran was succeeded by his son Kulothungan who took the throne name Segarajasekeran and ruled from 1284 to 1292 CE. Kulothungan repelled an invasion by Yapahuva king Bhuvanekabahu who tried to seize the pearl fishery in Mannar. Kulothungan’s son Vikrama succeeded him and ruled under the throne name Pararajasekeran II and ruled from 1292 to 1302 CE. Vickrama repelled insurgency by Sinhalese living in Jaffna led by Punchi Banda by beheading 17 leaders of the insurgency including Punchi Banda and arresting several others.
    Varothayan who ruled the Jaffna Kingdom under the throne name Segarajasekaran III from 1302 to 1325 CE settled the dispute between the Sinhalese and Tamils of Jaffna Peninsula by addressing the grievance of the Sinhalese. Varothayan restored the privileges of Sinhalese. Parakramabahu IV who ascended the throne in 1302, the same year Varothayan became king ruled from Kurunegala. Varothayan accumulated wealth by raiding Anuradhapura, exacting tributary payment from many minor rulers in Vanni and north central and northwestern parts of Sri Lanka and from the pearl fishery, which he dominated and fostered. In 1323 Madurai came under the Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Varothayan helped the Pandyan king during their struggle against Malik Kafur. Malik Kafur captured and looted Pandyan King’s capital Madurai in April 1311 CE and subsequently Sultans of Delhi raided Madurai.
    Marthandar Perumal, succeeded his father Varothayan in 1325 CE and ruled from 1325 to 1348 CE under the throne name Pararajasekeran III continued his father’s policy of expansion. Iban Battuda, the Muslim traveller, who had been earlier in the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s court and had traveled through Madurai to Sri Lanka, has recorded with astonishment Marthandar Perumal’s immense wealth, the hundreds of ships that crowded the harbour and the mighty navy he had at his command. Marthandar Perumalcontrolled the northern trade routes to India and China.
    During that time Bhuvanekabahu IV who ruled from 1341 to 1351 CE shifted the capital to Gampola from Kurunegala.
    Before the early 1400s CE rise of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Yadava Empire of Devagiri, the Kakatiya Kingdom of Warangal, the Pandyan Empire of Madurai, and the tiny kingdom of Kampili had been repeatedly invaded by the Sultans of Delhi, and by 1336 CE they had all been defeated by Alla-ud-din Khilji and Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultans of Delhi. When the Pandyan empire in Tamil Nadu collapsed as a result of the Muhammad bin Tughlaq dynasty waves of immigrants from Tamil Nadu moved to Jaffna peninsula and Vanni.
    Marthandar Perumal’s son Gunapushanan ruled the Jaffna Kingdom from 1348 to 1371 CE under the name Segarajasekeran IV. In 1353, Gunapushanam, invaded Gampola and captured Four Korales and other northern portions of the Gampola Kingdom and had effective control over the north-west coast of Sri Lanka up to Puttalam. The King Vikramabahu III who was in power in Gampola. fled but later agreed to be a tribute-paying subordinate. Vikramabahu III’s minister Alakesvara led the resistance to Gunapushanan’s army. Alakesvara was a descendent of Nissanka Alagakkonara who came to Sri Lanka from Kanchipuram following the invasion of Delhi Sultans and embraced Buddhism and served in the courts of the Sinhalese kings.
    Though abandoned by the King Vikramabahu III, Alakesvara stayed back and took over the resistance to the Gunapushanan’s army. Alakesvara raised an army, built forts including the one at Sri Jayavardhanapura, Kotte.
    The Vijayanagar Dynasty started in Kannada speaking Mysore grew into a powerful empire within five decades and its rulers captured Madurai from the Muslim Delhi Sultan in 1371 CE and annexed it to its vast kingdom that embraced the most of the South India.
    Gunapushanan died in 1371 CE and Virothayar who assumed the throne name Pararajasekeran IV succeeded him. Upon succeeding Gunapushanan, Virothayar had to face the threats from the Vijayanagara Dynasty and from Alakesvara. The king, Bhuvanekabahu V, who succeeded Vikramabahu III in 1371 was the King at Gampola at that time Alakesvara wielded actual power.
    Alakesvara provoked the Virothayar by arresting and killing his tax collectors and by attacking the Virothayar’s army posts in Gampola and Kotte. Enraged Virothayar sent the army overland to Matale and the navy to Panadura but both army and navy were defeated Alakesvara.
    Virothayar was also embroiled the Vijayanagara Dynasty who demanded tribute from the Jaffna Kingdom to which Virothayar agreed.
    Jayaviran ascended the throne upon the death of his father Virothayar in 1380 CE and assumed the throne name Segarajasekeran V. In the meantime Bhuvanekabahu V attempted to take control of the pearl fishery and Jayaviran sent a large army to Gampola and the navy to Kotte. The army marched to Gampola and camped there. The navy landed troops at Panadura and the soldiers proceeded to Sri Jayavardhanapura and set up guard points around it. The king, Bhuvanekabahu V fled and it was left to Viravahu, son-in-law of Alakesvara to defeat the Jayaviran’s army. Viravahu captured the crown and proclaimed himself the ruler. Gunaviran who ruled Jaffna Kingdom from 1410 to 1446 CE ascended the throne in 1410 CE as Pararajasekeran V. in 1411 CE Parakramabahu VI was crowned the King of Kotte. Parakramabahu VI sent his adopted son Senpaga Perumal (aka Sapumal Kumaraya) to capture the Jaffna Kingdom. Senpaga Perumal accomplished his task in many stages. Initially, Senpaga Perumal conquered the Vanni chieftains, the tributaries to the Jaffna Kingdom. Then Senpaga Perumal tried to march to Jaffna but Kanagasuriyar who succeeded Gunaviran in 1446 CE and ruled under the name Segarajasekeran VI repelled Senpaga Perumal. Senpaga Perumal mounted a second invasion in 1450 CE which succeeded. Kanagasuriyar fled to South India with his family.
    Harihara II, the second son of Bukka Raya I of Vijayanagara Dynasty consolidated the Dynasty beyond the Krishna River and brought the whole of South India under the Vijayanagara rule. The next ruler, Deva Raya I, emerged successful against the Gajapatis of Orissa and undertook important works of fortification and irrigation. Deva Raya II (aka Gajabetekara) succeeded to the throne in 1424 CE and was the most capable of the Sangama dynasty rulers. He quelled rebelling feudal lords as well as the Zamorin of Calicut and Quilon in the south. Deva Raya II invaded Sri Lanka. The administration of most parts of South India was done by Telugu speaking officials during the rule of Vijayanagara Kingdom and migration of immigrants from Tamil Nadu into the Jaffna peninsula and Vanni increased during the Vijayanagara Kingdom.

    Senpaga Perumal ascended the throne in the name Sri Sanghabodhi Bhuvanekabahu rebuilt the Nallur temple, and built palaces and houses in Panadra Vallavu and Sankili Thoppu area and promoted Hindu worship. Jaffna Peninsula was again occupied by Sinhalese under Senpaga Perumal.
    The conquest of Jaffna ended 1467 CE when Senpaga Perumal appointed Vijayavahu as the king of the Jaffna Kingdom and hurriedly returned to Kotte in when he heard about Parakramabahu VI’s death and about the coronation of Parakramabahu VI’s grandson Jeyaweera. Senpaga Perumal before he returned to Kotte.In Jaffna, Kanagasuriyar and his two sons, Pararajasekeran and Segarajasekeran, returned with their army, killed Vijayavahu and regained their lost kingdom. Pararajasekeran played a vital role in winning the battle. Kanagasuriyar ruled until his death 1468. Kanagasuriyar’s elder son Pararajasekeran ruled from 1468 to 1519. Pararajasekeran beautified the Nallur, renovated several Temples including Sattanathar, Veyilukantha Pillaiyar, Kailasanathar, and Veeramakali Amman. Pararajasekeran’s younger brother Segarajasekeran established schools and villages and wrote a book on astrology and a book on medicine. The famous Sanskrit work Megathoothu written by Kalidasa was translated into Tamil during this period by their brother-in-law Arasakesari.
    In Kotte Senpaga Perumal defeated Jeyaweera in 1469 and ascended the throne under the name Bhuvanekabahu VI. Senpaga Perumal’s son ascended the throne under the name Panditha Parakramabahu VII succeeded him but was killed by his uncle Ambulugala Raja who adopted the name Vira Parakramabahu VIII. Ambulugala Raja was succeeded by his son ascended the throne under the name Dharma Parakramabahu IX. His brother Vijayabahu VI ruled a portion of the kingdom as his co-ruler. They were in power when the Portuguese arrived in 1505.
    Pararajasekeran had two principal wives and a number of concubines. His first wife, Rajalaksmi, had two sons, Singhabahu and Pandaram. Pararajasegaram’s second wife was Valliammal, bore him Paranirupasingham. Another concubine bore him a son named Sankili and a daughter named Paravai. Following tradition Pararajasekeran named the eldest son Sinhabahu as his successor but he died of poisoning. Pararajasekeran then appointed his second son Pandaram as the crown prince but was stabbed and killed while he was walking. Sankili took over the kingdom and ascended the throne in 1519 under the name Sankili Segarajasekeran. Sankili wielded real power behind the throne and resisted all contacts with the Portuguese and even massacred about 700 Parava Catholics in the island of Mannar who were brought from India to Mannar by the Portuguese to take over the lucrative pearl fisheries. Sankili was removed from power due to a local uprising that led his son Puviraja Pandaram take nominal power. Puviraja Pandaram lost power to Kasi Nainar and Periyapillai. Periyapillai with the help of Tanjore Nayak help mounted an attack on the Portuguese fort in the Mannar to regain territory lost during Sankili’s rule but he was defeated. After the death or abdication of Periyapillai in 1582, Puviraja Pandarm was nominated as the king for the second time. During his second tenure Puviraja Pandaram attempted to wrest the control of the Pearl rich Mannar Island from the Portuguese by attacking the fort by sea and land. Puviraja Pandaram was defeated in both attempts.
    Puviraja Pandaram was killed in 1591 during the second Portuguese expedition led by André Furtado de Mendonçaled by André Furtado de Mendonça in 1591.
    Puviraja Pandaram’s son Ethirimanna Singam was injured in the battle and was saved by a Portuguese captain Simão Pinhão. Eventually Ethirimanna Singam was installed as client monarch under the conditions that Catholic missionary activity to be freely allowed and the Elephant export monopoly to be handed over to the Portuguese as well as the tribute to paid by the Kingdom was increased.
    Ethirimanna Singam who became the king under the name Parasasekaran VII interrupted the Catholic missionary activities and the Portuguese monopoly on Elephant exports. Ethirimanna Singam carried out an undercover campaign against the Catholic missionaries and did not look with favor on converts. Ethirimanna Singam interfered with the passage and shipping of Elephants of the Portuguese government through his territories thereby securing advantageous terms for his Elephants. By 1595 the King of Portugal had issued an order to remove Ethirimanna Singam but colonial authorities in Goa did not oblige as Ethirimanna Singam was not overly disruptive to Portuguese colonial interests.
    Ethirimanna Singam helped Kandyan Kings Vimaladharmasuriya I and Senarat to secure help from South India to resist the Portuguese.
    With the death of Ethirimanna Singam in 1617, there were three claimants to the throne. One was Sankilikumaran (Sankili II), a nephew of the king. The other the claimants were Ethirimanna Singam’s young son and a group of proPortuguese Mudaliyars. Eventually Sankili II became the king under the name Segarasasekaran VIII through a palace massacre. As Sankili II was not able to get the Portuguese authorities in Mannar or Colombo to agree to his over rule and regency due to opposition for him from the pro Portuguese Mudaliyars, Sankili II invited the Tanjore Nayaks to send military help. Sankili II also allowed corsairs from Malabar to use a base in Neduntivu that posed a threat to Portuguese shipping through Palk Straight. The last king of the Jaffna Kingdom Sankili II was defeated by the by Phillippe de Oliveira led Portuguese forces in 1619 and was taken to Goa and hanged.
    “Tamil Exclusiveness” concept is one of the root causes for ethnic tension in our motherland. This is like someone saying that “Tamils are Tamilizing Sinhala areas of Wellawatta”. Mono ethnic enclaves should not be encouraged. That’s the reason to non-tolerance of other cultures. Everyone should have a common Sri Lankan identity. Sri lanka is for every son and daughter of the soil, whether speaking in English, Tamil or Sinhala. Equality,liberty and freedom to exercise one’s religion, language and culture is all that matters.
    Time has come to stop all this nonsense of being Tamil and Sinhalese. We are all Sri Lankans and Sri Lanka belongs to all its children. Every Sri Lankan citizen has to be treated equally, should be allowed to move around freely without any restrictions and when they do so they should be encouraged to procure these assets at market prices. If the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans can live other parts of Sri Lanka, then why Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans don’t have the same right.
    Sri Lanka is a free country; Anybody from Dondra Point should be able to live in Point Pedro and vice versa as well. Co-inhabitant is the best solution to national integrity and makes different ethnic groups to understand each other. Now that the Tamils are relocating to Canada, UK, Australia etc Sinhalese should relocate to the vacant areas left by the Tamils. In Singapore EIP – Ethnic Integration Policy – is enforced to balance ethnic composition.
    We have learned to swim as fish and fly as birds but we have not yet learned to walk as brothers and sisters. The real welfare of human race is to share love, peace, and prosper.
    Any Sri lankan should be able to live where ever they want, as long as the law of the country is respected and followed.
    When racists use “Tamil Areas” it implies that there are some areas exclusive for Tamils.Do people call Kandy, Nuwaraeliya or Milagiriya Sinhala Towns? Why this ethnically designated towns only in the North? Who ‘colonized’ Wellawatte and Milagiriya?
    Tamil speaking Sri Lankans know that Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans are great neighbours and even better than German, French, Italian or British. Tamil speaking Sri Lankans are living in harmony with Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans in the South. Given that millions of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans are living in the South and South is too cramped with people so we must say it is okay to allow new settlements (no matter what language they speak) in the North and East. While population of the rest of the country increased rapidly, with some once small towns like Galle and Matara becoming mega cities with population bursting at the seams, the population in the North has dropped by more than half.
    There are no ethnic homelands in Sri Lanka – only Sri Lankans and Sri Lanka.Please do not create mono ethnic enclaves.
    A little knowledge is dangerous. And a little historical knowledge is even more so.
    Around 500 BC Sri Lankans developed a unique hydraulic civilization. The spectacular feats of hydraulic engineering where the fusion of the Egyptian and Babylonian patterns achieved the most complete and subtlest form were found in Sri Lanka and not in the Indian mainland. Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism since Buddhism was introduced into Sri Lanka in the 2nd century BCE by Mahinda, the son of the Ashoka the Great, during the reign of Sri Lanka’s King Devanampiya Tissa. Buddhism came to South India before the 3rd Sangam period of Tamil literature. The full impact of Buddhism in South India is unmistakably shown in Silappadhikaram and Maṇimekhalai, which are two epic works of the 3rd Sangam period in Tamil literature (2nd century CE). Of these, Manimekhalai is a purely Buddhist work, which in addition to the narrative, contains also expositions of the Buddhist doctrine. Extracts from other poems written by the author of Manimekhalai, Sithalai Sattanar, are found in other Tamil literary works. Quotations from Ilambodhiyar, the Buddhist poet, are found in the Natrinai. Hindus continued to absorb Buddhist practices and teachings, such as Ahimsa and the renunciation of the material world.

    Persons interested in ethnicity in Sri Lanka should read the following:
    Abeysekera, C. and Gunasinghe, N. (1987) Facets of Ethnicity in Sri Lanka, Social Scientists Association
    Deraniyagala, Siran(1992) The Prehistory of Sri Lanka; an ecological perspective. Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka
    Gunawardena, R.A.L.H. (1995) Historiography in a Time of Ethnic Conflict. Construction of the Past in Contemporary Sri Lanka, Social Scientists Association
    Indrapala, Karthigesu (2007), The Evolution Of An Ethnic Identity — The Tamils in Sri Lanka, C. 300 BCE to c. 1200 CE
    Jayawardene, Kumari (1984) “Class Formation and Communalism” in Race & Class Vol. XXVI, No I Summer London.
    Jayawardene, Kumari (1990) Ethnic and Class Conflict in Sri Lanka, Sanjiva Books
    Jeganathan, P. & Qadri Ismail (1995) Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka, Social Scientists Association
    Liyanagamage, Amaradasa (1968) The decline of Polonnaruwa and the rise of Dambadeniya. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government Press
    Pieris, Paulus Edward (1918) Ceylon and Hollanders 1658-1796. American Ceylon Mission Press
    Pieris, Paulus Edward (1920) Ceylon and the Portuguese 1505-1658. American Ceylon Mission Press
    Roberts, M. (1979) Collective Identities Nationalisms and Protest in Modern Sri Lanka, Marga Institute

    Since ancient times various schools of Buddhism flourished in the present-day Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Laccadives, parts of Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Karnataka, as well as Sri Lanka and the Maldives .

    Buddhism played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the ancient Tamil people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature and philosophy. The Pallava prince-turned-monk Bodhidharma from 5th-6th century Tamil Nadu founded the school of Zen Buddhism.

    The Tamil Literature, archaeological finds such as Brahmi, Tamil Inscriptions, coins, seals, earthenware, potsherds, statues, sculptures etc. of Tamil Nadu confirm that Mahayana Buddhism existed throughout Tamil Nadu from the ancient time.

    Literary and physical symbolization of Lord Buddha and Buddhism had been used scientifically by the Tamil Mahayana Buddhists.

    In the Tamil Literature, by placing stanzas that praise Buddha or the Triple Gem, they had been identified with the Mahayana Buddhism. In Kural, Silappathikaaram, Kamba Ramayanam, Aathisoodi etc. Lord Buddha or the Triple Gem are being praised at the beginning. Out of the four chapters that are placed at the beginning of Kural, the three chapters other than the ‘Excellence of Rain’ praise the Triple Gem. In Silappathikaaram and Manimekalai also, the Triple Gem is being praised.

    The Tamil Mahayana Buddhists only wrote the Tamil grammar book, Tolkaapiyam. In addition to the grammar book, they also composed Tamil lexicons. The twelve stanzas placed at the end of each of the twelve chapters confirm that ‘Seenthan Thivaakaram’ was composed by a Tamil Mahayana Buddhist.

    Physical symbolization of Lord Buddha and Buddhism had been utilized extensively by the Tamil Mahayana Buddhists. All the symbols found marked on the Brahmi and Vaddelutthu inscriptions of Tamil Nadu are Buddhist symbols.

    The historians who did not conduct a scientific study on symbolization, symbolization of Lord Buddha and Buddhism and the word – meaning relationship of the Tamil language faced immense problems in understanding what the symbols marked on inscriptions, seals, coins, earthenware, potsherds etc. severally and jointly symbolize or what are being said in the Tamil literature. As an example: nobody knows all the meanings of the Tamil word ‘Sivan’ or the meaning of ‘Siva.’ Though almost all the ‘learned’ say that the words ‘Sivan’ and ‘Siva’ denote the God Sivan, or Siva, in Sri Lanka two Brahmi inscriptions in the Eastern Province speaking about the Buddhist Monk by the name Siva. Also in some Brahmi coins discovered at Akurugoda in Ruhunu, we find ‘Sivaha’ written on one side of them. ‘Sivaha’means ‘of Siva.’ On the other side, we find a symbol that symbolizes ’12 Nithanas’ that determine the cycle of Birth and Death as preached by Lord Buddha.

    The animals lion, horse, bull and elephant have been used to symbolize Lord Buddha in the Tamil Nadu coins.A pair of foot, pair of fish and pair of conch also have been used. The ‘learned’ who say that a fish symbolizes the Pandya Dynasty could not explain what a pair of fish symbolizes.

    Thus, unless a scientific study is conducted on the subjects Symbolization, Symbolization of Lord Buddha and Buddhism and the word – meaning relationship of the Tamil language, studies on Tamil literature and archaeological finds would be unscientific, and histories of various things would be wrong and imaginary.

    The ancient Tamil Buddhist poem Manimekalai by the poet Seethalai Saathanar is set in the town of Kaveripattanam. Ancient ruins of a 4th-5th century Buddhist monastery, a Buddha statue, and a Buddhapada (footprint of the Buddha) were found in another section of the ancient city, now at Pallavanesvaram.

    The heritage of the town is found in the Burmese historical text of 3rd Century BCE, and gives evidences of a Budha Vihar built by the great Ashoka.

    Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu was a Buddhist centre of the 4th-5th century CE. Its stupa dates from this era. Buddhism disappeared from this city as of an unknown date, but was revided as of the 9th century. (H.P.Ray, The Winds of Change, Delhi 1994, p. 142) In the 11th century, Chudamani Vihara, a Buddhist vihara (monastery) was built by Javanese king Sri Vijaya Soolamanivarman with the patronage of Raja Raja Chola. “Animangalam Copperplate” of Kulothunga chola notes that “Kasiba Thera” [Buddhist Monk] Renovated the Buddhist temple in 6th century with the help of Buddhist monks of ‘Naga Nadu’. This ‘nagar annam vihar’ later came to be known as ‘Nagananavihar’. Buddhism flourished until 15th century and the buildings of the vihara survived until 18th century.

    Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu is one of the oldest cities in South India, and was a city of learning for Tamil, Sanskrit, and Pali and was believed to be visited by Xuanzang (Huan Tsang) also known as Yuan Chwang. It was during the reign of Pallava dynasty, from the 4th to the 9th centuries that Kanchipuram attained its limelight. The city served as the Pallava capital, and many of the known temples were built during their reign. The founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma was born here, as was the famous Sanskrit writer Dandin who wrote Dashakumaracharita. The Sanskrit poet Bharavi hailed from Kanchi and wrote the famous Kiratarjuniya here under the patronage of the Pallava king Simhavishnu. Great Buddhist scholars such as Dignaga, Buddhaghosa, and Dhammapala lived here too.

    The king of Kanchi, Pallava Mahendravarman was a great scholar and musician, a man of great intelligence and also a great Sanskrit satirist and playwright.

    Xuanzang, the great Chinese traveler, visited the city in the 7th century and said that this city was 6 miles in circumference and that its people were famous for bravery and piety as well as for their love of justice and veneration for learning. He further recorded that Buddha had visited the place.

    In the Jaffna peninsula and northern mainland, hundreds of Mahayana Buddhist coins,seals statues and other archaeological finds have been discovered for the last two centuries. However, all these years historians could not identify these as Mahayana Buddhist archaeological things as they did not conduct a scientific study on Symbolization of Lord Buddha and Buddhism. Also as they have not understood the word – meaning relationship of the Tamil language, they could not find all the meanings of the words written on the coins etc.

    A very good example for this is one type of the ‘Setu’ coins collected in the Jaffna peninsula.In this particular type of ‘Setu’ coin, on one side, a standing human figure is marked. The face is turned to our right and the human holds with his left hand a conch near its mouth. The elliptically shaped head of the standing human is divided into four equal parts with two perpendicular straight lines. On the head of the standing human. a three stepped head-wear is placed. The standing human holds with his right hand a vertical stick with 5 cross bars of equal size. Thus, 10 straight line bars jut out on either side of the vertical stick. On to the left of the standing human figure, a trisula with vertical limbs is kept vertically. On to the far left of the standing human figure, a long stick is placed vertically.

    On the other side of the coin, a bull facing to our left is in the sleeping position placed above the Tamil letters ‘Setu.’ A crescent and a dot inside the curved part is placed above the head of the Bull. There four groups of three dots placed in the form of an equilateral triangle.

    The historians, numismatists and the archaeologists who studied the particular coin have come to the conclusion that the standing human figure is the King of the Jaffna Kingdom. Some have specifically stated that it is Ariyachakkaravarthi.

    But none of them had explained why the King of Jaffna holds a conch near his mouth or why his head is divided into four equal parts or why he wears a head-wear with three steps.On the other hand they could not explain why the King holds a vertical stick with 10 straight small bars jutting on either side of the stick, or why a trisula and a vertical long stick are placed near him.

    A conch, like a bell, hand drum etc., makes sound that could be heard by everyone without any discrimination. Thus, a conch, a bell and a hand drum could symbolize making public announcement or preaching something to all.

    What being preached to all is symbolized by the head divided into four equal parts. It could be argued that the four equal parts of the head symbolizes the Four Vedas of ‘Hinduism,’ the Four Yogas of the Second Gem of the Triple Gem of the Jains and the Four Noble Truths preached by Lord Buddha.

    However, ‘the Four Vedas’ are not the thoughts of a single person. Also, it is not preached to all. The ‘Manu Dharma Sastra’ says that molten lead should be poured into the ears of a ‘sutra’ who eavesdrops chanting of ‘the Vedas.’ On the other hand, ‘the Four Yogas’ are actually a part of the Jain Preaching. Therefore, the head divided into four equal parts of the standing human with a conch placed near the mouth could symbolize ‘the Four Noble Truths’ preached by Lord Buddha only. Therefore, the standing human figure should symbolize Lord Buddha preaching ‘the Four Noble Truths’ to the world. This conclusion should be confirmed with the other symbols found marked near the standing human and the symbols found marked on the other side of the coin.

    Three steps are very important in the Buddhist Preaching. According to Lord Buddha, one must adhere to the Noble Eight-fold Path in three steps, namely Sila, Samadhi and Panna. This emphasized with the head -wear with three steps.

    The vertical stick with 10 small parts jutting on either side could symbolize ‘the Ten Precepts’of Buddhism. The trisula with straight limbs could symbolize ‘the Triple Gem.’

    The long stick placed by the side of the standing human figure could symbolize the reign of the person symbolized with standing human figure.

    Thus, the standing human figure symbolizes Lord Buddha preaching ‘the Four Noble Truths’ to the World. The symbols found marked on this particular side of the coin symbolize Buddhism severally and the Reign of Buddha Dhamma jointly.

    The conclusion arrived at would be correct if the same things are symbolized on the other side of the coin also.

    On the other side of the coin, a bull is placed in a sleeping position on the Tamil word ‘Setu.’ A crescent with a dot inside is placed above the head of the Bull. A crescent with a dot inside could symbolize the full moon. Normally a small curve and a dot inside is used to denote a circle. The full moon is associated with Lord Buddha, while sun with ‘Argha’ of the Jains. Therefore. the Bull could symbolize Lord Buddha. However. this should be confirmed with the other symbols found marked on this particular side of the coin and with the Tamil word ‘Setu.’

    A group of three dots placed in the form of equilateral triangle could symbolize ‘the Triple – Gem.’ The four groups of three dots could symbolize ‘the Four Noble Truths.’

    The Tamil word ‘Setu’ and ‘Seetu’ could mean ‘the’ and ‘Great’ also. To understand this, one should understand the word – meaning relationship of the Tamil language. Therefore, the Bull placed above the word ‘Setu’ does not symbolize the normal Bull, but ‘the Bull,Great Bull.’ Therefore, Bull had been utilized to symbolize Lord Buddha. A systematic study of the symbols utilized in India and Sri Lanka will reveal the truth that Lord Buddha had been symbolized with Lion, elephant, horse, bull and a pair of foot.

    Therefore, the symbols found marked on both sides of the coin confirm that the particular coin is a Tamil Mahayana Buddhist coin symbolizing Lord Buddha preaching ‘the Four Noble Truths’ to the world and establishing Buddha Dhamma.

    All the coins, seals etc. discovered in the Jaffna peninsula and the northern mainland belong to Mahayana Buddhism and designed by the Tamil Mahayana Buddhist Monks who studied ‘Symbolization’ scientifically.

    Nāka Tivu/ Nāka Nadu was the name of the whole Jaffna peninsula in some historical documents. There are number of Buddhist myths associated with the interactions of people of this historical place with Buddha. The two Tamil Buddhist epics of Kundalakesi and Manimekalai describe the islet of Manipallavam of Nāka Tivu/Nadu which is identified with the Nainativu islet of the Jaffna peninsula. This Tamil Buddhist shrine was located close to the ancient Nagapooshani Amman temple of Nainativu, one of the Shakti Peethas.

    The famous ‘Vallipuram” Buddha statue built with Dravidian sculptural traditions from Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati school) was found in excavations below the Hindu Temple. The language of the inscription is Tamil-Prakrit, which shares several similarities with script inscriptions used in Andhra at the time, when the Telugu Satavahana dynasty was at the height of its power and its 17th monarch Hāla (20-24 CE) married a princess from the island.

    Professor Peter Shalk (University of Uppsala), writes ” Vallipuram has very rich archaeological remains that point at an early settlement. It was probably an emporium in the first centuries CE. From already dated stones with which we compare this Vallipuram statue, we can conclude that it falls in the period 3rd-4th century CE. During that period, the typical Amaravati-Buddha sculpture was developed”. The Buddha statue found here was gifted to King of Thailand by the then British Governor Henry Blake in 1906.

    Dr K.Indrapala argued for a flourishing pre-Christian buddhist civilization in Jaffna, in agreement with Paranavithana, and Mudliyar C. Rasanayakam, Ancient Jaffna in an earlier work, 1965.

    This place is similar to Nagapatnam where all Asian vessels used it as a stopover point and the Buddhist and Hindu Dagobas are just a resting and worshipping places for the sailors and international traders. Both Nagapatnam and Vallipuram served the powerful kingdoms of China, Siam, Cambodia, Champa (Vietnam) and Java.

    A group of Dagobas situated close together at Kandarodai in Jaffna served as a monastery for Tamil monks and reflect the rise in popularity of Mahayana Buddhism amongst Jaffna Tamils and the Tamils of the ancient Tamil country in the first few centuries of the common era before the revivalism of Hinduism amongst the population.
    Trincomalee

    Thiriyai is referred to as Thalakori in the 2nd century AD map of Ptolemy. Pre-Christian-Buddhist Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found in the area, the oldest belonging to the 2nd century BCE. Thiriyai formed a prominent village of Jaffna’s Vannimai districts in the medieval period. The site is home to Mahayana Buddhist vatadage ruins worshipped by the locals during the rise of Tamil Buddhism in the area. During Paramesvaravarman I’s reign, the famous Tiriyai Pallava Grantha inscriptions of 7th-8th century Tamilakkam were recorded in the village. The inscription refers to Tamil merchant mariners from Tamil Nadu, their sea faring and commerce to Trincomalee.

    It details their endowment of this shrine dedicated to the Buddhist deity Avalokitesvara and his consort Tara. Dvarapala sculptures found at the ruins are early contributions of the Pallava school of art to the island.

    The Chola Dynasty patronised several religions amongst Tamils, including Saivism, Vaishnavism and Buddhism. They built Buddhist temples known as “Perrumpallis”. The famous Rajarajapperumpalli of Periyakulam was built by Rajaraja Chola I. Tamil inscriptions excavated from this site point to the attention the Cholas paid to the development of Trincomalee District as a strong Saiva Tamil principality and for their contributions to the upkeep of several shrines including the monumental Shiva Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee.

    Today, the Palk Strait which lies between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan land masses, is seen as a divider, separating two different distinct ethnicities, religions, cultures and political entities but there was a phase in history when Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka enjoyed very close ties, thanks to a shared interest in Buddhism.

    During the early period, the Palk Strait was not seen as a divider but it was a unifier. At that time Buddhism was a bridge between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.

    The fascinating story of the historical links – Golden threads between Buddhism in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was narrated by Dr. Shu Hikosake, Director and Professor of Buddhism, Institute of Asian Studies in Madras in his book 1989 Buddhism in Tamil Nadu: a New Perspective.

    The earliest inscriptions in Tamil Nadu belong to the third century BC. They are written in the Brahmi character of the time, on the walls of the natural caves in the Tamil districts of Madura, Ramnad and Tirnnelveli. They are of considerable interest to students of South Indian Buddhism. It is learnt from these Brahmi inscriptions, which paleographically belong to the 3rd century BC, that Buddhism had come into Tamil Nadu even then. It was to Asoka and his son Mahinda that the introduction of Buddhism into Tamil Nadu may be attributed. Epigraphical evidence seems to confirm this statement. In his Rock-Edict No. 3, Asoka says that his Dharma Vijaya prevailed in the border kingdoms of the Cholas, Pandyans and at Tambapanni. But it was his son Mahinda who was responsible for the introduction of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

    In this task, he was helped by Maha Aritta, a nephew of the Sri Lankan king Devanampiyatissa. Mahinda is said to have erected seven viharas at Kaveripattinum while he was on his way to Sri Lanka. Some Indian scholars are of the opinion that Aritta or Maha-Aritta might have lived in the caves of the village of Arittapatti in Madura, which is in Tamil Nadu. According to Dr. Hikosaka, Buddhism might have gone to Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu, contrary to the general impression.

    Buddhism might have gone to Ceylon from Tamil Nadu by sea-route, a route by which one can reach Ceylon easily. Since there existed very close cultural affinities between Ceylon and the Tamil country from time immemorial, the Buddhist activities in India could have easily influenced in some way or other the Buddhism of Ceylon, says Dr. Hikosaka.

    Although Buddhism has become almost extinct from Tamil Nadu, it has contributed a great deal to the enrichment of Tamil culture and has exerted a significant influence, both directly and indirectly, on the Tamil religious and spiritual consciousness, present as well as past.

    According to Historians, Buddhism began to make an impact on Tamil Nadu only in the 3rd century AD. During the period from 3rd Century AD to 6th Century AD, Buddhism had spread widely in Tamil Nadu and won the patronage of the rulers. The remains of a Buddhist monastery excavated at Kaveripattinum which could be assigned to the fourth century, are believed to be the earliest archaeological relics of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu. The major urban centers of Kanchi, Kaveripattinam, Uraiyur, and Madurai were not only centers of Buddhism, but these were also important centers of Pali learning.

    The Tamil Buddhist monks of South India used Pali languages in preference to Tamil in their writings. This is because the Buddha spoke in Magadi Prakrit (Pali) which was considered to be the sacred language of the Buddhists.

    It was at this time that Tamil Nadu gave some of its greatest scholars (both Theravada and Mahayana) to the Buddhist world. Tamil Nadu boasted of outstanding Buddhist monks, who had made remarkable contributions to Buddhism thought and learning. Three of the greatest Pali scholars of this period were Buddhaghosa, Buddhadatta, and Dhammapala and all three of them were associated with Buddhist establishments in the Tamil kingdoms.

    Buddhadatta or Thera Buddhaatta as he is called lived during the time of Accyutarikkanta, the Kalabra ruler of the Chola-Nadu. He was a senior contemporary of Buddhaghosa. He was born in the Chola kingdom and lived in the 5th Century AD. Under the patronage of this ruler, Buddhadatta wrote many books. Among his best known Pali writings are the VINAYA-VINICCHAYA, the UTTARA-VINICCHAYA and the JINALANKARA-KAVYA. Among the commentaries written by him are the MADHURATTHA-VILASINI and the ABHIDHAMMAVATARA. In the Abhidhammaratara he gives a glowing account at Kaveripattinum, Uragapuram, Bhutamangalam and Kanchipuram and the Mahavihara at Ceylon. While he was at Sri Lanka, he composed many Buddhist works such as Uttara-viniccaya Ruparupa Vibhaga Jinalankara etc. Buddhaghosha, contemporary of Buddhadatta also composed many Buddhist commentaries.

    Buddhaghosha is a Tamil monk, who made a remarkable contribution to Buddhism in Sri Lanka. He stayed and studied Buddhist precepts at Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. The Visuddhimagga was the first work of Buddhaghosha which was written while he was in Ceylon.

    After Buddhaghosha, the important Theravada monk from the Tamil country was Dhammapala. Dhammapala lived in the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura. He composed paramathadipani which was a commentary on Buddhaghosha’s work on Khuddaka Nikaya and Paramathamanjusa, which was a commentary on Buddhaghosha’s Visuddhimagga. A close study of the three Buddhist monks viz Buddhadatta, Buddhaghosha and Dhammapala shows that Tamil Buddhists were closely associated with the Sri Lankan Buddhists around the 5th century AD.

    The author of NETTIPAKARANA is another Dhammapala who was a resident of a monastery in Nagapattinam. One more example is the Chola monk Kassapa, in his Pali work, VIMATTI-VINODANI, this Tamil monk provides interesting information about the rise of heretical views in the Cola Sangha and the consequent purification that took place.

    There are so many other Tamil monks who are attributed to the Pali works some of them were resident at Mayura-rupa-pattana (Mylapore, Madras) along with Buddhagosha. The well known Tamil Buddhist epics, on the other hand, were MANIMEKALAI and KUNDALAKESI.

    The 6th century Tamil Buddhist work Manimekali by Sattanar, is perhaps the most famous of the work done in Tamil Nadu. It is a work expounding the doctrines and propagating the values of Buddhism. The interaction between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan monks finds mention in Manimekalai, which is set in the Tamil towns of Kaveipumpattinam, Kanchi, and Vanchi.

    There is mention about the presence of wondering monks of Sri Lanka in Vanchi, which was the capital of the Chera Kings of Tamil Nadu. The Chinese traveller, Tsuan Tsang, wrote that there were around 300 Sri Lankan monks in the monastery at the Southern sector of Kanchipuram.

    As Buddhism was one of the dominant religions in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, naturally there were very close relations between the two regions. The monks from Sri Lanka, too, went across to the Tamil kingdom and stayed in the monasteries.

    As Dr. Leslie Gunawardana says, `The co-operation between the Buddhist Sangha of South India and Sri Lanka produced important results which are evident in the Pali works of this period`. He also says that the Tamil Buddhist monks were more orthodox than their counterparts in Sri Lanka.

    Indeed, the relations between the Tamil and Sinhala Buddhist monks were so close that the latter sought the assistance of the former in political turmoil.

    In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Buddhists who followed Theravada Buddhism shared the common places of worship with the Sinhalese, but there were also Tamil Buddhists who were following the Mahayana Buddhism and they had there own Mahayana temples.

    There are still some Tamil Mahayana Buddhist establishments (Palli) in the east and in the Jaffna peninsula. The best known was Velgam Vehera, which was renamed Rajaraja-perumpalli after the Chola emperor. Another was the Vikkirama-calamekan-perumpalli.

    About 16 km northwest of Trincomalee off the Trincomalee – Horowupothana road is an ancient Buddhist shrine with origins dating back to the years before the second century. It is a historical fact that among the many ancient Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka Velgam Vehera which was renamed Rajaraja-perumpalli, also called Natanar Kovil by the present day Tamils stands out as the only known example of a `Tamil Vihare or Buddhist Palli` or as the late Dr. Senerath Paranavithana described it in his book `Glimpses of Ceylon`s Past` as an `Ancient Buddhist shrine of the Tamil people`. Some of the Tamil inscriptions found at the site record donations to this shrine and are dated in the reigns of the Chola Kings, Rajaraja and Rajendradeva. It was his view that the date of the original foundation of the vihare was no doubt considerably earlier than the reign of King Bhatika Tissa II.

    The situation in Tamil Nadu, however, began to change towards the beginning of the 7th Century AD when the rise of Vaishnavism and Saivism posed a serious challenge to Buddhism and Jainism. There was a significant increase in Brahmanical influence and soon the worship of Shiva and Vishnu began to gain prominence.

    The Buddhist and Jain institutions in Tamil Nadu came under attack when they began to loose popular support and the patronage from the rulers. One result of this was the migration of Buddhist and Jaina monks and devoted lay members to kingdoms where they could find refuge. While the Jainas were able to go to Kannada and Telugu regions, the Buddhists turned to Sri Lanka and assimilated with the local Buddhist population.

  15. S de Silva Says:

    Thank you Kanthar for your valuable contribution to Lankaweb from the ‘Other side of the Fence’! This should open the eyes of many critics of SL. Hope you will equally take the trouble to publish in Lankaweb the response to you from the US President – S de Silva – London

  16. Nadesan Says:

    De Silva,

    Obama may even invite Kanthar to come over to White House to seek his advise? Kanthar may soon produce the video of their one hour state visit and discussion.

  17. Nadesan Says:

    [Dear bro kanthar
    we need people like u real tamil brothers ,. your article braught tears in to my eyes.]

    Bro Senevirat,

    don’t be too impulsive and emotional. You are in a haste mate. All that glitters is not gold. If a person goes completely out of the way and writes some very extreme and totally lob sided thing against his very community then you have to view that person with caution Even when Hitler butchers the Jews there were selfish Jews collaborated with Hitler for their own betterment. History has proved of such persons time and time again. As a Tamil this man has some very extreme views and horribly one sided. He has all the all the right to express his views. But he should not go to such extent to hoodwink the unsuspecting people, sinhalese in this case. He is like a cunning sales man and he knows what his buyers want and what he can sell easily. Your tears is his pleasure, his victory and success of his exploitation.

    All of us know what had gone wrong in SL for so long and no single side could be accused. Both sides have to share the blame. What is happening to the Muslims today who fully worked with the Sinhalese and even helped to wipe out the LTTE. So what is happening to them now after the LTTE is the reward for their help? Kanthar cries that Tamils have not worked with the Sinhalese and hence this situation. Had this Tamil man ever mentioned anything about the repeated anti-Tamil government organised violence in any of his numerous utterances? No.not at all and if so why….it is because then he can’t sell his product to the Sinhalese and that is why? You would not have cried then….at least this is what he thought. That is why I call him a fraud and ot an honest lover of S or its people!

    Please don’t cry! If you cry then you are wasting your tears brother!

  18. Kanthar P Balanathan Says:

    Hello Nadesan, if that is your real name or fictitious name.

    I pity for your thoughtless comments. I am not sure of your level of education and knowledge. On the white house: It implies you have generated a kind of fear and jealousy.

    As a Tamil you are trying to dominate and control the mind of Mr. Seneviratne. This is what Tamils were engaged all the time. They want everything in SL and want to control others. Didn’t you read history you hoodwink? Didn’t you know that Tamils are living in SL with a superiority complex because of the 70 million Tamils in India, without realising SL is a separate sovereign republic? Didn’t you read in history how many millions of Sinhalese people the South Indian megalomaniacs murdered? Were they invited and garlanded. NO! Compare with the rest of the world. If you want power then go to Tamil Nadu, if not study all three languages and live in SL. I know bush Tamils and island Tamils who have not seen the other side of Vavuniya, are xenophobic. I have experienced this. Once they come to Colombo, within two to three years they will develop and liking towards Sinhala language and live. Provincial Councils is a rotten egg.

    You are talking about Muslims. You know; what type of community would someone introduce Zaria. A wretched community need tighter laws, that’s why the law states, cut the hand, leg, head, stone to death etc. Mulsims are like the Tamils, proliferate with the Jihad theory take over countries. They will not stay in one place and build the country. Always walk into other people’s shoe and dominate with their Jihad.

    I pity for your utter ignorance and imprudence thoughts. If you disagree and have guts, why don’t you write an article and publish to disprove my key points. However, read history before you write any garbage.

  19. Nadesan Says:

    My Dear Kanthar, does it matter to you at all whether the name is fictitious or otherwise. Indeed I am Nadesan and very much so, so please do not have any doubt about that. Besides don’t waste your time on irrelevant matters simply because you have plenty of time. The crux of the matter here is not about my name or who the hell I am but all about what you have uttered and for whose sake you are uttering such stories(Kathawa)!
    First and foremost I posed some questions at you my dear friend and before digressing I expected you to respond to those questions all because you croon too much about you for reason only best known to you. I am sure you would have heard the saying “empty vessel makes more noise”!
    1. Did you attend a university in Sri Lanka?
    2. What degree did you obtain there?
    3. What made you go around the world like a Gypsy and why you could not stick to one place?
    4. Why, you could not work with people at one place for prolonged period owing to your poor interpersonal relationship and extreme and distorted views and analytical power?
    5. Being such a great self proclaimed patriot why you could not serve Mother Lanka when there is severe dearth of expert electrical engineer?
    Even yesterday there was serious power failure and if your declaration of patriotism is really true and sincere then you should be already in Sri Lanka, my friend Kanthar. Bogus rhetoric is the main factor that ruined not only the Tamils but set back entire Sri Lanka.

    Let me assume that you obtained a degree in Sri Lanka. This is based on your own proclamation that you have worked in so many countries so it implies that no sooner you got your degree you have decamped and gone in search of greener pastures. If so, is that your patriotism for your mother land and for the free education you had in Sri Lanka? I wish you respond to these issues before someone with common sense would accept you as a person of some worthiness to be taken seriously.
    I will simply ignore you as someone without any depth by your very statement that Tamils in SL suffer from superiority complex because there are 70 million Tamils live in Tamil Nadu. Where did you get this information my friend? Are you saying this for our Sinhala brothers or you want even a sane Tamil to believe that? Sri Lankan Tamils always stood on their own strength and certainly not on Tamil Nadu. They worked hard, struggled hard and sacrificed a lot to come up in life. They never took shortcuts in life to go up the ladder or sought the favour of the majority to get positions. Of course they had their weaknesses too but who don’t? Kanthar, you are very confused mate and got some wrong ideas. I even begin to suspect whether you had any traumatic past while you were studying at Hardly College based on some Tamil cultural and social formations and whether there had been discriminations based on such practices? Certainly I cannot rule out that possibility!

    You always drag this “complex business” in most of your discussions and I really consider that as one of your inherent weaknesses. Let any neutral sensible reader to decide what kind of complex you are suffering from?

    Hak…you suddenly becoming a civilised Tamil by claiming that you lived on the other side of Vavuniya, that is away from Jaffa? Is it your very belief and concept that for a Tamil to be civilised he or she has to live in Colombo? As a young boy we used to have fun and the so-called Colombo Tamils (or Dhemalu) used to have fun with “uncivilised Jaffna” boys as “panang koddai” and also Colombo Dhemalu are superior in English and also know Sinhala ( Ado bugger, good bastard machang, menna badhu machang… that sort of superiority)! But when these civilised Dhemalus joined the refugee ship rides in 77 and 83 things have changed but may be my friend Kanthar would have left his motherland by then!

    For your information Kanthar I spent almost my entire life in the south and worked and lived so well among the Sinhala brothers and still I don’t proclaim that I am a “civilised Tamil”, based on your own theory. Kanthar, please don’t postulate your own theories without having proper data and suitable mindset to analyse your date. My dear friend, simply because you lived in Colombo for some time you claim that you have become civilised and enlightened? Did this happen before or after you studied at Hardly College?

    Kanthar, for your information are you aware that all three languages were taught in schools until 1956, in the entire country, prior to Bandaranake’s Sinhala only? For your information I started with “Kuma Rodaya” in my low class in Kalmunai. If not for the Sinhala Only all the people would have learned all the languages and possibly you would not have had much topic to write here today!

    Kanthar, oh you talk of guts to call a spade a spade I can write a lot but unlike you I have no free time and also it has come to such a pathetic low level that writing is a waste of time. Also if I write mate, unlike you, I have to write the cons and pros, speak about the rights and wrongs of both sides unlike you who for whatever reason best known to you only write totally one sided story (kathawa) which is very simple. We are not short of such “Story Tellers” today, who for personal reasons and bias write lob sided stories. It is funny that you are ready to cry for the historic events (not that they are true even) but not a word of what is happening at present. May I say Kanthar that you are living in the past for your present comfort! May you show some balance in the future texts if you expect any credibility!

    A last bit of advice for you, stop thinking that all are fools, idiots, imbeciles and modayas, except you. Don’t think that those who write the truth are not patriotic. If you have love for your country then you will write the strengths and weaknesses and not something that makes a few happy and in turn they will shed tears for what you have uttered. You can’t always write what they like to hear and if so confine your activity to the Daily News in Colombo!

  20. Nadesan Says:

    Hello Kanthar,

    In case if you have not read this article. This article may shed some light in your thinking style? Please look at the other side of the coin too.

    By Tisaranee Gunasekara –

    Character can be fate, for both individuals and collectives. The answer to where Sri Lanka is headed depends, at least in part, on what Sri Lanka is.
    In 1956, the dominant Sinhala opinion deemed that Sri Lanka was a Sinhala country; after two decades of resistance, the dominant Tamil opinion abandoned the struggle for equality, accepted that Sri Lanka was a Sinhala country and demanded a separate Tamil state on that basis.

    None clung to the myth of Sri Lanka not being a country for Tamils with greater assiduity than Vellupillai Pirapaharan. In 1956, SWRD Bandaranaike used the Tamil-bogey to come to power. Today the Rajapaksas are using the Muslim-bogey to perpetuate their power. Just as their politico-ideological forefathers told the Tamils to get back to Tamilnadu/India, the Sinhala-Buddhist supremacists of today are acting as if every Lankan Muslim is a dual citizen of Saudi Arabia, by birth.

    Nothing reveals the reach of this toxic nonsense than a memory shared by Jezima Ismail: “Some years ago at a lecture session at the BMICH a professor waxed eloquent on the feelings he had for Sri Lanka and that this was the only place for him. In the course of this talk he turned round to me and said that if anything untoward happened I could of course seek refuge in Saudi or the Middle East”i.

    Ms. Ismail is as Sri Lankan as can be, a pedagogue who has served her country and her community for, decades. It was to a woman of such calibre and achievement this remark was made, not to some Saudo-phile extremist wallowing in Wahabism or Salafism. And the person who made this remark was not a raving BBS monk or a common or garden mobster, but a professor, if not a man of learning at least one of education.

    Clearly the ‘hosts and guests’ concept of Sri Lanka is not the sole property of the lunatic fringe.

    From the rejection of the pluralist nature of Sri Lanka flows the refusal to accept that minorities are co-owners of the country. This cements the belief that minorities do not consider Sri Lanka as their motherland and that they are creatures of divided loyalties, not to be trusted.
    This mindset can be explained using Aristotelian syllogism:
    1) Only Sinhala-Buddhists can love Sri Lanka.
    Tamils/Muslims/Christians are not Sinhala-Buddhists.
    Therefore Tamils/Muslims/Christians do not love Sri Lanka.
    2) Aliens want to destroy Sri Lanka.
    Tamils/Muslims/Christians are aliens.

    Therefore Muslims/Tamils/Christians want to destroy Sri Lanka
    From the belief that minorities are untrustworthy aliens, forever conspiring to take ‘our’ country away from ‘us’, stems the concept of a beleaguered Sri Lanka, in constant danger of being conquered by external enemies or subverted by internal foes. From that phobia to the hallucination that Sinhala Buddhists are the most endangered species on earth and that great religious and temporal powers are consumed with a desire to undermine us is but a short step.
    That is where the global conspiracy theory comes in. Depending of the politico-ideological views of the believer this can either be an imperialist conspiracy or a Christian one, an Indian/Tamil conspiracy or a Muslim one. The villain of the piece may change from time to time, but the plot never does. Someone is always conspiring to deprive the Sinhalese-Buddhists of their one and only country. The ‘reason’ for this varies, again according to the belief system of the believer – it can be Trincomalee, our strategic location, the need to destabilise India or the desire to destroy Buddhism. And those who hold these views regard them as self-evident and axiomatic truths, immune to facts, beyond dispute or debate.
    There is an omnipotent postscript to this narrative of ‘ever generous’ Sinhala Buddhists welcoming alien races/religions to their motherland and giving them space to live and opportunities to thrive. When the Sinhalese feel ‘betrayed’ by the ‘minority guests’, when Sinhala ‘patience’ runs out due to ‘minority encroachments’, the Sinhalese go berserk. And Black Julys happen. The inevitable flipside of ‘we are generous and trusting’ is ‘we have been betrayed’.
    Much of the bad which happened to this country, post-Independence, are sourced in these myths, hallucinations and phobias and the maniacal manner in which a segment of Sinhala society act under their collective noxious influence.
    The professor who told Ms. Ismail that she has a home in Saudi Arabia/Middle East would never publicly use same raw language as the BBS/JHU. His type would never say ‘hambaya’ in public. They will not scream threats. They will repeat the same errant and dangerous nonsense as the BBS/JHU in polite language and well-modulated voices. Their contribution to the coming conflagration will be far more potent because many a Sinhalese alienated by the BBS’ ravings will succumb to the ‘opinions’ of these pseudo-moderates. And when the ‘outraged’ majority attacks the minority, the Professor and others of his ilk would not join the mob. They would shake their heads sorrowfully and say that the rage – and its lamentable manifestation – had just causes.
    When the resulting conflagration turns the country into a living hell, they will migrate to some Western haven; from that safety and comfort they will inundate the internet with their patriotic twaddle.
    It is in the enabling environment created by respectable middle classers like the Professor that the Tigers and the Talebans, the Shiva Senas and the Bodu Bala Senas of this world thrive.

    Encouraging Madmen
    The Rajapaksas may or may not believe in the racist ravings of the BBS; but they are certainly determined to use the resultant hysteria for their benefit, to strengthen their Sinhala base, to justify the unjustifiable (from defence costs and waste to high prices) and to worm their way into American/Western good books. As the Sunday Times confirms, the recent initiatives by Ambassador Jaliya Wickremasuriya indicate a possible new direction for the Lankan foreign policy. Public Relation firms are reportedly being used to present a friendly image of Rajapaksa Sri Lanka to American policy makers/public.
    The Rajapaksas would think that being seen as a target of Islamic terrorism will help them to save the Hambantota Commonwealth, win over the West and rule forever.
    The possibility that Sri Lanka may end up being the Asian Serbia would not occur to the limited imaginations of the Ruling Siblings.
    Already the Muslims live in fear, not knowing when and how the next attack will come. The inability of democratic Muslim leaders to construct a moderate, non-racist response to this challenge will create a deadly vacuum. If sane Sinhala/Buddhists fail to rally round Lankan Muslims, if they allow the BBS to determine the agenda and wreak havoc in their name, a Muslim counter-extremism, deadlier than the Tiger, may emerge.
    And the Rajapaksas will have the war of their dreams. That such a conflict will condemn most Lankans to an unprecedented and unending nightmare would not matter to the Siblings. All the Rajapaksas care about is Familial Rule and Dynastic Succession. They will not hesitate to sacrifice anyone and anything to buy themselves a few more years of unbridled power.

  21. Nadesan Says:

    Hello Kanthar, you say the following:

    [Devolution of police power to the Tamils will create significant tribulations, sweats, and hindrances among the Tamils in the N&E. The issues will bounce back and forth with GSL in Colombo. Tamils are quite popular to demonstrate favouritism and caste differentiation, which will oppress and discriminate lower caste Tamils.
    Again, Police power will be utilised by the Upper caste Tamils and elites to hang on to power purely by intimidating the lower caste people who are the majority. Readers, please think, how police power will help TNA and upper caste Tamils to hold onto power, while discriminating the other Tamils.
    My view is that Sinhala people were of great help to those lower caste people all these years.
    Provincial Councils with Police and Land power is superfluous, unwarranted, and needless and will be a step towards another catastrophe and downfall to SriLanka.
    What TNA and other Tamil politicians want is POWER, POWER AND POWER.
    If TNA is nationalistic, then go forward and work with the President.]

    From what you say the problem appears to be a cast issue that is haunting you. But you uttered elsewhere that all Jaffna Tamils are low cast people who were brought from India? Don’t you think that you are quite confused of what you say? It seems that you are struggling to maintain uniformity in what you write. You also attack VP and mentioned that he is a low cast. If he is a low cast Tamil then according to your own utterances he would have protected the well being of other low cast Tamils?

    Leave your confusion aside, I begin to think that your problem is about your own bias against the Tamils based on cast system and you use this forum to take your grudge. As I said earlier I suspect that you had a traumatic past.

    By the way Kanthar, are you aware that there is also a cast system among Singhalese too? When it comes to marriage and even politics cast system lifts its ugly head among them too but as expected you don’t see that and you keep your eyes closely shut when it involves Singhalese. Why do you adopt such a stand? Are you compelled to do so or even blackmailed? If you are strictly one sided then Kanthar, your claim of your so-called education and enlightenment is just a boru kathawa, in Singhala referred to as “nikang kaivaru”!

    It is quite a fun interacting with you Kanthar!

  22. Sri Rohana Says:

    Dear Kanthar Balanathan
    As you know that majority of Sri Lankans still respect Hon Minister Lakshman Kadiragaman as a patriotic Sri Lankan. So you are also patriotic son of Sri Lanka who speaks the truth. Since you are an educated gentlemen you can migrated to any country and you have right to do so and no-body can stop you. We know you have not betrayed your mother country to get an economic refugee visas and live like a third class slave.
    We are proud of you Mr Kanthar! Keep write against injustice. Long live Sinhala Tamil brother hood!

  23. Nadesan Says:

    Make hay while the sun shines! As long as there is someone wholeheartedly willing to write some thing that one always likes to hear, immaterial whether it is right or wrong, why not make use of such a person? The truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth! When some one is “appe miniya” then we will exempt him from all the sins and even redefine our code, our policy regarding patriotism and even hotly debated topic of free education and serving the Motherland!

    The greatest weakness is the readiness to believe what is being uttered ignoring all the truth and that suits the audience. They even label such a persons as patriots. This is the new concept of patriotism of SL. Any one who hides the truth and play to the gallery is a patriot while the one who speaks the truth is a traitor and if he happened to be a Tamil then a kottiya or a separatist.

    Whatever it may be, why not make use of such people as long as there is a need for such people.

    Kathirgamar born as a Hindu (his origin), converted to Christianity and then laid his life as a Buddhist. Despite his “sacrifices” yet he never could become even a “teethless” Prime Minister. So Kanthar too will be respected as Kathirgamar (both denote to Lord Muruga) and praised as a patriot who is exempted to defy the usual values, all because he dishes out things that at least some always like to hear. Why not make use of such free services?

    Will the Sinhalese call Dr Brian Seneviratne as a patriot? If not why not? He highlights all the unfairness committed against humanity, particularly against SL Tamils. He dished out materials that they did not want to hear so he is a traitor or a Singhala Kottiya! Some call him a mad man simply because he is exposing the weaknesses of the Sinhala society.

    This explains our predicament and how confused we are and why in such turbulent times there are opportunists who are ready to fish in trouble waters. If one goes against his conscience then this is the time to score a point and all his sins will be forgiven.

    Just see Hon Karuna, Deputy Minister, and all know what he and the LTTE did to all citizens during their time. He is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes. Had LTTE been sensible and used its brains it could have achieved lasting peace in SL without all these blood letting. But that is past. But see how some opportunists like Karuna had exploited the Sinhalese and the situation to have a prosperous time for himself. He too is a great patriot today as all his sins are forgotten as he was ready to betray his team and shifted his faith to a better side to have better times. History had shown such people are in plenty and it may be a natural process of human behaviour at least in some cases.

    Based on where you stand we may refer to them as patriots or traitors or mad men! One may even wonder whether there are really anyone called patriots and instead only opportunists!

  24. Lorenzo Says:

    Lakshman Kadiragaman’s father, mother and brothers were ALL Christians so he was born a Christian.

    Karuna did very bad things but he REPAID some of that by helping us getting rid of LTTE in the east. Karuna’s TMVP cadres were some of the MOST FEROCIOUS fighters against the LTTE in 2006 – 2009. They did beautiful things to LTTE terrorists!! Premathasa, Ranjan and Udukampola killed more Sinhalese than Karuna.

    The test to decide a PATRIOT or a KOTIYA is this.

    Do you support and uphold the unitary island nation of SL which is the traditional homeland of Sinhala Buddhists?

    YES – patriot
    NO – Nanthikadal loser (traitor)
    NO ANSWER – Nanthikadal loser (traitor)

  25. Lorenzo Says:

    Another approach. My enemy’s enemy is my friend.

    SL’s enemy? Tamil Homelandists.
    Tamil Homelandists’ enemies? Kanthar, Lakshman Kadiragaman, Karuna (2004-2009).

    So Kanthar, Lakshman Kadiragaman, Karuna (2004-2009) MUST BE friends of SL.

    (I thought Nade-sung Sune-sung and his wife Vinitha Sune-sung died when they SAT on a pressure mine.)

  26. Nadesan Says:

    Lorenzo:

    [Do you support and uphold the unitary island nation of SL which is the traditional homeland of Sinhala Buddhists?]

    There are some so-called Tamils who are prepared to offer you very much more than what you require to be considered as patriots! For you it does not matter whether they believe in what they say or true of what they utter but what you hear from them should be what you really want to hear. Well friend there are people to do that not only among the Tamils but among Sinhalese and Muslims too. Did you happen to see thousands of Sinhala and Muslim yes men surrounding the present regime and for them they don’t know the meaning of the word NO! But if you have a little bit of intelligence then you will realise why they say yes..sir..yes..sir..all the time..all because for their survival. They at least know what will happen if they use the word NO! Have you listened to a patriotic Muslim nominated MP in parliament Azwar and his fervour for the sinhala people?

    So Lorenz brother, you are having Tamils like Kanthar who is ready to offer you very much more than what you want and what you love to hear. He has already declared that Tamils are imbeciles, idiots, ruffians, violent people, who attack innocent sinhala civilians from historic times to date, Tamils are low cast people brought in recently from India while Sinhalese are living in SL for ever (He has not referred to Mahavamsa by the way and I don’t know why), Buddha was born in SL, Sinhala Buddhists are the most non-violent people on earth, Tamils are like frog in a well, they are swindlers, crooks, thieves, racists, had free education and deserted SL, never felt for mother Lanka, only Tamils killed the Sinhalese, all Tamils have to be under sinhala buddhists and serve under them, Sinhalese are even kind to low cast Tamils (according to Kanthar all Tamils are low cast fellows ) to say a few and so Lorenz, why worry you have the best person to help you out. Will you ever find a Tamil like him unless that person is totally off his head?

    So my misled and misunderstood Sinhala friend Lorenzo, this man is not a Sri Lankan Patriot in exile but a Very Great Patriot and let us call him a Maha Desha Abimaniya!

    Even your other patriot Karuna Amman has now divorced his Tamil wife and married to a Sinhala woman like what Kadir aka Kathirgamar did during his latter part of his life! So life is full of opportunities only if you are prepared to take them ignoring your conscience, integrity and self respect. But I agree that the returns are colossal!

  27. Kanthar P Balanathan Says:

    Nadesan,

    You should be careful with your words and not be an oaf. My strong view is that you are suffering from an inferiority complex. You are asking questions about my status. I am not here to answer mugs and clowns. I need not boast about my awards, qualifications, and my IQ score. From your writings and your political and economic knowledge it implies that you have a very poor limited knowledge or zero. It is below my dignity to even reply to your foolhardy writings. You seem to have nil knowledge in history. I expect you not to reply to this. You are like those Federal Party lawbreakers.

    Lorenzo,

    I am definitely for a united SriLanka with one and only one governance in Kotte. The population of Tamils does not warrant a separate administration because Tamils cannot manage with their chilly economy.

    United SriLanka and Tamils should learn to coexist and live among the SriLankan.

  28. Lorenzo Says:

    Kanthar P Balanathan,

    I’m disappointed but I appreciate your stand which is WAY BETTER than MOST Tamils. What we need is a UNITARY SL NOT a united SL.

    Sri Lankans are always united so SL NEED NOT be united. It MUST be UNITARY.

    But we still have many things in common. Its like 2 of us are going from Colombo to Jaffna. I go with you till the town (350km together). From then I turn to Palali you turn to Kyts.

  29. Lorenzo Says:

    Nadesung,

    Please answer the question.

    “Do you support and uphold the unitary island nation of SL which is the traditional homeland of Sinhala Buddhists?”

    Of course people of ALL ethnic and religious groups will be living in equal personal rights in SL.

    Your answer will reveal your credibility.

    Kanthar has answered honestly. There are MINOR differences which we can live with.

    BTW I’m not Sinhala (the ethnic group). I’m Sinhela (the nation).
    Its like the case of Balusingham who was NOT an Englishman but he was in England.

  30. Nadesan Says:

    Kanthar,

    Anyone with common sense will know who is suffering from inferiority complex and who is an oaf? I sent out your posts to some people with common sense belonging to Sinhala and Tamil community (they are not yes..yes people) and they laughed and and said Nadesan why are you wasting your time with a person like Kanthar. One went onto say that they may even brand me too as nutty. This explains the real situation.

    My dear Kanthar when you boast too much about yourself, do you think it is wrong for one to question you about your authenticity. I have great doubt about your credibility like many others and hence those questions.

    You are too eager to brand some one as a fool, imbecile, ignorant or illiterate and also to be suffering from inferiority complex and what does all that mean? Do you realise where the fault lies? You are only good at labelling some one as something or somebody and nothing else.

    If people are sensible and if there are no third columns and opportunists fishing in trouble waters certainly people will co-exist. Who prevented the Tamils from coexisting my dear friend and who periodically chased them to the N&E in ships and buses as refugees? Have you ever had the capability to think as to why Sinhala government from 1958 periodically sent the Tamils to N&E after beating them in the south? Have you ever gone in one of those convoys?

    Kanthar, why don’t you accept that you are here to please some (only gullible ones) sinhalese who in turn will praise you blindly as the greatest Sri Lankan patriot that makes you to go into a trance and into an elated mood?

    Do you know why I do not address to all what you utter here, because it is a waste of my time. I can only have fun out of what you write and enjoy how some innocent or biased people are getting carried away. When some one cries after reading your post then you cry in ecstasy.

    One who thinks he can fool all the people all the time is the biggest fool! Then where does his self proclaimed dignity comes in?

  31. Nadesan Says:

    Machang Lorenzo,

    I can assure you that I have more love more feeling and more affection for my country of birth than many who pretends to be patriots. I have always lived happily among Sinhalese and Muslims even during the anti-Tamil riots.

    But I can only speak for myself and my situation was based on many issues. My position, influence, connections and mindset all contributed to a different kind of existence is SL. But if I speak on behalf of an ordinary Tamil, say coming from Jaffna for the first time (as Kanthar say) then the situation may be different. If some one say he is a kottiya in the bus and that will be his end. During all the communal riots I was able to protect several Tamil families owing to my contacts and position. But then am I entitled to utter that because I am safe all the tamils are safe? If I say so then it will be like Kanthar’s kathawa! Please Lorenz, I am not prepared to say that!

    I don’t wont to disturb you with all the gory details of what happened during the riots and other times, and based on that one cannot be very proud of what is happening in SL. If you ignorant and dumb then I may keep uttering that Sinhalese are fine and Tamis are killers, morons, imbeciles and so on like Kanthar.

    If I have no guts to call a spade a spade then who am I. Then obviously I am an agent, a stooge, a mercenary, an opportunist and my objective is not to elicit the truth but to please some one. My dear Lorenz, love for your country does not mean that you hide all the filth. Unless we speak the truth and stand to reason we are only cheating ourselves. This mindset has nothing to do with patriotism.

    This is why many, including Kanthar, is completely confused, for some strange reason. Hating or disgracing your very race is not patriotism and if others praise him it is not the real honour. Both sides are using each other.

    Coming to your question once again Lorenz, I am always for one country and one people and I want all to live in peace, harmony and self respect. Certainly there is hope for SL only if there is total unity So please don’t expect me to get my “self Respect” only by humiliating my very race without any valid reason or justification. For that you must look elsewhere and those products will be certainly fake and original badu neve aiya!

    Good things no cheap….cheap things no good!

  32. Lorenzo Says:

    Thanks for the answer Nadesung. So you are NOT for UNITARY SL of Sinhala Buddhist homeland. That means you are NO patriot of SL. That is OK. No need for everyone to become a patriot. We need targets too not just gunners!!!

    I’m intrigued by “anti-Tamil riots”. SL had pro-Tamil Diaspora riots in 1983, 1977, 1958, etc. but can’t think of ANY “anti-Tamil riots”.

    I was not around in July 1983 so I don’t make guesses. But our house in Wellawatte survived apart from a few bottle attacks and soap attacks. Not sure why soap was thrown by the rioters? We had had plenty at home! The White July riot was done by Tamils who wanted to go to White Canada. Good riddance.

    “So please don’t expect me to get my “self Respect” only by humiliating my very race without any valid reason or justification.”

    I appreciate your views on this. You are a genuine Tamilian. Few facts in this statement.

    1 Tamilians want some VALID (by Tamilian standards) “reason or justification” (BENEFIT) to support SL.
    2 Respecting SL (without any benefit) is a humiliation to true Tamilians.
    3 Integration destroys Tamilness.

    Option 1: When SL becomes HOPELESS for Tamilians, they LEAVE.
    Option 2: When SL becomes a beacon of HOPE for Tamilians, they STAY/INVADE.

    The right option for SL is #1.

  33. Nadesan Says:

    Lorenzo,

    [Thanks for the answer Nadesung. So you are NOT for UNITARY SL of Sinhala Buddhist homeland. That means you are NO patriot of SL. That is OK. No need for everyone to become a patriot. We need targets too not just gunners!!!]

    Aiya, I am not playing around with words and semantics. Playing around with words is only needed when one is not sincere. So I am not concerned about your various concepts that over the years Sri Lankans have got used to play with! Unitary, or federal or separate is not my concern but my belief is that we have to live in peace and harmony and do not waste our entire energy on racist or ethnic or what ever silly things that has totally ruined all of us. There was a time when we all lived in that spirit and why that situation changed? What made this chaotic situation to come into our lives? Is it Sinhala Buddhist Homeland concept, or Tamils desire for emancipation or Tamils struggle against Sinhala oppression including repeated sinhala violence, you have to rake your mind?

    I always condemned what the LTTE did. I was against violence and also they missed several opportunities to settle our problem amicably. May be their stupidity or greediness or lack of knowledge that led to missing all the chances. There may be other geo-political realities too may have contributed to their demise. But let me be frank about one thing. I always believed that Sinhalese are entirely responsible for the birth of the LTTE and have no doubt about that. Sinhalese proved to the Tamils that democratic agitation and democratic politics is not going to work in Sri Lanka for Tamils! Remember Lorenzo, absence of war does not mean there is peace. Also see how the Sinhala energy is now turned towards the Muslims? All these are no good signs for our country!

    So forget your terminology and instead find out a way for co-existence with understanding and respect. Numerical number alone does not dictate true democracy.

    This forum is used to yes.yes.. people and thus there are some so-called Tamils (hope they are really Tamils) who want to play the game to please one side only and they don’t care a thing about truth or their self-respect or integrity. As I said elsewhere, Sri Lanka has provided ample opportunity and prospects to such opportunists so that they could carry on selling themselves as pseudo-patriots.

    More important thing in life is to know your enemy mate!

    [1 Tamilians want some VALID (by Tamilian standards) “reason or justification” (BENEFIT) to support SL.
    2 Respecting SL (without any benefit) is a humiliation to true Tamilians.
    3 Integration destroys Tamilness.]

    Lorenzo for your above three items I will respond later.

  34. Nadesan Says:

    Lorenzo Aiya,

    [I’m intrigued by “anti-Tamil riots”. SL had pro-Tamil Diaspora riots in 1983, 1977, 1958, etc. but can’t think of ANY “anti-Tamil riots”.

    I was not around in July 1983 so I don’t make guesses. But our house in Wellawatte survived apart from a few bottle attacks and soap attacks. Not sure why soap was thrown by the rioters? We had had plenty at home! The White July riot was done by Tamils who wanted to go to White Canada. Good riddance.]

    Are you ok? Not only you are intrigued but I am also intrigued of what you say! I simply don’t follow your sarcastic comment that you are used to say elsewhere as well!Hak..hak..Pro Tamil riots, a new terminology that you have discovered. As I said earlier you are keen on playing with words instead of facts!

    So in July 1983 they threw soaps at your house? They mean who? Waa it the LTTE on that famous Kotti Friday when they landed at Wellawatte Beach to pulverise entire Colombo? Luckily by then you have left your motherland otherwise you too may have joined the Runner Singhas?

    By the way Lorrenzo, I have lived throughout all the great Sinhala uprisings against the Tamils but never came across a single instance where they have thrown soaps? What made them to do so? May be they were keen to clean you up? Despite you having so many soaps at home yet the goons throwing soaps at you is something very significant. May be stinking too much!

  35. Lorenzo Says:

    Nadesung,

    That may be your experience but I’m puzzled why soap was thrown everywhere in Wellawatte Tamil areas.

    LTTE got their backsides pulverized every time they fought the army. Read the HRW report released last month if you don’t trust me!!! HRW takes it literally.

  36. Nadesan Says:

    Lorenzo…so…

    [That may be your experience but I’m puzzled why soap was thrown everywhere in Wellawatte Tamil areas.]

    I am puzzled as to where you got this information? You yourself claimed that you were not around when the Great Sinhala Uprising against Tamil of 1983 took place? Then where did you hear that soaps were thrown at Tamil homes (or all the homes?) and so you want me also to assume that you are a Tamil?

    Of course your “slimy” writing makes it difficult to assume your ethnicity? But this “Soap Kathawa” of yours is only for my curiosity and I have never seen or heard about this before. But there is something called delusion, illusion or hallucination that afflicts people with psychiatric disorders and those using psychoactive substances!

    Well it is up to you or your NOK to look into that aspect as I can’t deal with an anonymous person!

  37. Lorenzo Says:

    Nadesung,

    I heard it from parents.

    Well, you will have to deal with MANY MANY “unidentified people” (IF that is what you think) very soon. Especially in the run to the northern PC elections!! You know what I mean. Call them EPDP, TMVP, DPU, LRRP or Tamilian traitors or whatever but you WILL face them and you know the rest (read the HRW report).

    There are 89,000 TAMIL war widows.
    Total Ceylon tamils = 2,000,000.
    Total Ceylon Tamil women = 1,000,000 (half)
    =89,000 / 1,000,000
    = 9%

    9% Tamil women are war widow விலைமாதர்கள்!! Who did this?
    LTTE! TNA!
    Is this what you want AGAIN? 18%+ Tamil women to be war widows and விலைமாதர்கள்?
    (And their husbands and child soldiers DEAD?)

    TRUE Tamils want their community protected not driven to SUICIDE. The ONLY way to protect Tamils in SL is by ACCEPTING UNITARY SL which is the traditional homeland of Sinhala Buddhists. They protected us and they will protect us. How do we live in Canada? Do we demand ANYTHING we demand in SL? NO. Why? Because if we demand Tamil this and Tamil that, we get the Nanthikadal treatment in Canada too!

    Army protected Tamils. NOT LTTE TNA terrorists who left 89,000 Tamil war widow விலைமாதர்கள். And they want more.

    What did the IPKF do? Left thousands of orphans like you. This is what we Tamils should STOP. Don’t run the red rag like a foolish bull. Its a death trap.

  38. Kanthar P Balanathan Says:

    Nadesung

    This is my last reply, may be to an egotistical, egocentric person. Have you ever read materials on Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Potential Problem and Opportunity Analysis, Project Management, Negotiations and Critical Thinking, Consulting and Critical Thinking? Have you heard about Da Vinci code?

    Tamils think they know everything, but my assessment of the whole thing, finally is that “Sinhala” are the victims of SriLanka. No one can now dispute about that. Tamils! Do you think that the N&E is populated by Tamils? That’s where your poor knowledge drives in hard to block your thoughts. It is an ethnic group of Malayalis, Telugus, Cambodians, Karnataka, and Malays etc.

    What did upset you about my letter to Obama? It’s the truth I have unravelled, which Tamils have been hiding for centuries. Anyone has the freedom to write to anyone. From your writings you seem to have a dictatorial attitude. Nadesung; this is the beginning mate, There is more to come.

    Why do you shout and cry that there is no press freedom in SL. If you want to write about your flipping Tamil theory you are welcome to write. Don’t try to stop others from writing. That’s interfering with their freedom of the press. Read on democratic principles and its elements. Read on “Conflict Resolution”.

    This is exactly what I am trying to propagate. Tamils have a dominant inborn character. Go and read Shenali Waduge’s article in this column Ref: http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2013/04/09/in-sri-lanka-who-are-the-racists/

    I totally agree with Shenali. This is one person who is doing research to expose the Tamil’s, power-crazy, despotic, totalitarian, attitude.

    About Peradeniya. I am not sure what your profession is? You may be treating chicken, dogs and cats or an iscolar Mathaya plodding for a few hours every day. What I have seen in foreign countries is that Tamil engineering graduates from Peradeniya are working in Tax depart, Healthcare offices, Post Offices, or selling “Thosai”, or spice shops(mustard) etc, whereas Sinhala Engineering graduates from Peradeniya are working in the power sector, industries, specialised in various fields. In Canada Tamil engineers work as Security Guards. Now what are you saying? Tamils are being discriminated in foreign countries??

    It’s not that. Tamils want easy jobs. They want government jobs. That’s how they are been able to be on the roads carrying placards shouting Balachandran was killed etc. For example: A Peradeniya engineer who was with me in SL, who thought he is the best, couldn’t get an engineer job, but works as a contract clerk. I am not blaming Peradeniya. Peradeniya is a great Uni, but it’s the Tamils who are to be blamed. How come Sinhalese engineers are holding professional positions, not the Tamils? Its Tamils mentality. Another Tamil engineer from Peradeniya was working as a Draughtsman.

    Nadesung: You should come out of the “Fish Bowl” to the real world.

    Lorenzo,

    Yes, I mingled my word. It’s unitary, not united. What I meant was one country, one governance. If Tamils do not agree with this mode, then they can go and join their mates in Tamil Nadu. Even there I don’t think they can live because Tamils in SL think that Tamil Nadu Tamils are lower caste people.

  39. Nadesan Says:

    Lorenzo..so..so..

    [The ONLY way to protect Tamils in SL is by ACCEPTING UNITARY SL which is the traditional homeland of Sinhala Buddhists. They protected us and they will protect us. How do we live in Canada? Do we demand ANYTHING we demand in SL? NO. Why? Because if we demand Tamil this and Tamil that, we get the Nanthikadal treatment in Canada too!

    Army protected Tamils. NOT LTTE TNA terrorists who left 89,000 Tamil war widow விலைமாதர்கள். And they want more.]

    Who told you this my dear friend, this too by your patents like the soap kathawa?

    How stupid when you compare Sri Lankan Tamils to the Tamils living in Canada? So, you too a Canadian Diaspora Dhemalu…hak…hak…cat is out of the bag? The comparison itself is a proof of your depth or perhaps the state of mind.

    There is something called “cause ad effect”! What do you mean by “Unitary State”? Does it mean that all the people living in SL are the same or only Sinhala Buddhist are the owners, they are the bosses and you are a tenant living at their mercy. You have to just accept all what they say…the yes..yes..category and carry on with what they throw at you? Is it worth talking to a person of your calibre? Why did you go away to Canada my dear friend is it because you could not dance to all what they ordered?

    Come on Lorenzo…..have some logic in what you say. Have ever Tamils disputed the rights or privileges of the Sinhala people or did they ever dispute or challenge their language, religion, culture, traditions, values or way of life? Did they challenge their land or safety or opportunities? Only Tamils asked was their legitimate rights to their language and physical safety. Lorenzo….come on man…..when the Sinhalese attacked the Tamils in 1956, 1958 and 1977 and even in 1983 was there LTTE or was there any open violence against Sinhalese? They went on attacking them only for the political requests of their legitimate rights. If you and Sinhalese proclaim that Tamils are not the citizens or people of Sri Lanka then what patriotism or unitary state you are talking man? You mean to say that you being a Tamil have to bow down and dance to the sword swaying lion in the national flag that does not represent the other people of Sri Lanka?

    Where did you pick up this word “Unitary Sate”, do you really understand the indepth of meaning of what it means? You believe that simply because your number is small you have to kneel down ad worship and get the left overs? Come on man that is not “Unitary State” and that is not democracy. That may be your interpretation or some other Dhemalus of your type but in reality things are different.

    No doubt that we all have to live as one people if SL is to progress and prosper but not as slave and master man! As I told you earlier LTTE was the result of Sinhala extremism and Sinhala violence led to LTTE violence. That is cause and effect man! So heaven sake don’t compare Tamils like you living in Canada with SL Tamils. Your twin brother even went onto compare the Tamils living in Wellawatte and he crooned that if Tamils can live in Wellawatte why not Sinhalese in Jaffna. There is nothing more stupid than this type of argument. Did the Sinhala government bring the Tamils in buses from Yaapane and obtained them free lands and houses and paid allowances and made them to settle down there by taking over the lands belonging to Sinhalese? Come on my dear Lorenzo…..any one can live anywhere but it should be their choice and not a government policy to undermine another race. Don’t you agree that some of you guys are in a different world and ha=ve an entirely different mindset. Obviously birds of a feather flock together and that is why I wondered whether you are under duress to think and write in this manner.
    When people are sensitive and feel for their identity then they resort to various initiatives and history has plenty of examples. Freedom fighters also there and traitors also there and stooges also there and that is natures reality. War is always destructive but it is equally inevitable at times. My regret is that Sinhalese and Tamils could have lived so well had the majority used their numerical advantage to enforce unity rather than dominance and oppression. Tamils went along with Sinhalese when the British left with that understanding and trust but what happened after that is an ongoing history and tragedy:

    D.S. Senanayake’s speech in 1945 to solicit support from the minorities to accept the Westminister type parliament went like this, ” … through out this period the Ministers had in view one objective only, the attainment of maximum freedom. Accusations of Sinhalese domination have been bandied about. We can afford to ignore them for it must be plain to every one that what we sought was not Sinhalese domination, but Ceylonese domination. We devised a scheme that gave heavy weightage to the minorities; we deliberately protected them against discriminatory legislation. We vested important powers in the Governor-General. We decided upon an Independent Public Service Commission so as to give assurance that there should be no communalism in the Public Service.(sic) I do not normally speak as a Sinhalese, and I do not think that the Leader of this Council ought to think of himself as a Sinhalese representative, but for once I should like to speak as a Sinhalese and assert with all the force at my command that the interests of one community are the interests of all. We are one of another, what ever race or creed.”
    Despite all those noble words, I enumerate here some of the events that soon followed. All those promises by the Sinhalese were infact total and outright deceptions:

    • 1948 – 1 million Tamils declared as non-citizens
    • 1949 – Sinhalese colonization in traditional Tamil homeland
    • 1956 – Sinhala made sole official language of the country
    • 1970 – “Ethnic standardization” slashes university admission to Tamils
    –same entrance exam, but Tamils need to score 30% more
    • 1972 – New constitution without Tamils participation
    • Unilateral name change from Ceylon to Sri Lanka
    • Declaration of Sri Lanka as a republic
    • Buddhism made state religion
    • 1977 – Prevention of Terrorism Act
    • State-sponsored anti-Tamil violence in 1956, 1958, 1977, 1983 and from there on continues to date

    Dear Lorenzo……bowing down in fear and for the sake of perks is one thing but trying to distort the truth and trying to justify is another thing. I am still not sure whether you are a Sinhalese or a Tamil or a Muslim but if by any chance you are a Tamil then you are a disgrace to humanity. I can assure you that even enlightened Sinhalese will laugh at you for your view because they will know that you are not sincere.

    Mind you what I write here is not racism at all. As I mentioned earlier not only to you but to another self proclaimed Tamil pundit that attacking and distorting your own race or identity is not something great or be proud of. Only cowards and selfish jackals only will do that. Let me say that Tamils are not angels or they are not holy but who are so charitable in this world? Can you define who is a Sri Lankan Patriot? Can a Tamil (even you for that matter) be a Sri Lankan Patriot or only a Sinhala Buddhist could be a patriot? Or do you think the guys in the parliament are all patriot because all the time they talk of the “Ahinsaka Sinhala nathi bari janathawa? Or because they always talk of the Mau Bima? Do you agree that more Sinhalese are leaving their motherland today in search of greener pastures than the beaten up Tamils and the தமிழ் விலைமாதர்கள் (Tamil prostitutes) and போரினால் புருஷனை இழந்த தமிழ் கைம்பெண்கள் ( Tamil women who lost their husbands due to the war)? Are these Sinhalese too could be considered as patriots by virtue of their ethnic identity? How about top, very powerful and influential Sinhala leaders and war heroes who posses foreign citizenship, PR, Green Card etc. Who are ready to decamp and also whose families are already living abroad away from the ahinsaka Sinhala nathi bari janathawa? Come on man Lorenzo…it is true that I have wasted quite a bit of time with you not because I want to enlighten you or to make you to open your brain and stimulate your grey matter but for my satisfaction and for me to feel that at least I have done my part.
    அறிவிலார்க்கு உரைப்பவர் அவரிலும் பேதையர்.
    Dear Friend, you remind me of this Tamil saying:

    அரசனை நம்பி புருஷனை கை விட்டவள் போல!

  40. Nadesan Says:

    Hi Bro Kanthar,

    I missed your post as I was dealing with your other friend Lorenzo, another patriot working hard for Mother Lanka (At least this is what he thinks). Interestingly he too now claims that he is a Dhemalu, so according to the research findings of Kanthar, another low cast Dhemalu.

    Kanthar earlier too you said that it was your “last reply” to me and that is how I missed your above post? You remind me of the school day fun, and I am sure you too may have indulged in such sexual experimentations (being a chronic researcher) and every time they end up saying “this is the last time”, and I am sure you can guess what it is! So I am sure that I am going to hear some more fun from you in the future too! Kanthar, before I forget did you hear from Obama for your lengthy enlightening letter and advice? Or he may be raking his mind as to how to respond?

    The secret of your success ( I am sure you may be believing so owing to the tears shed by numerous unsuspecting Sinhala brothers) is your ability to play around with words so that non-technical people cannot grasp or understand but give undue weight to those alien terms. This LankaWeb is the ideal grounds to play the fool using these terms. Other unique ability of yours is to avoid the main issues and beating round the bush while trying to sell your unique views. You remind me the well known story of how Sinhalese took Portuguese to Kotte.

    [Have you ever read materials on Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Potential Problem and Opportunity Analysis, Project Management, Negotiations and Critical Thinking, Consulting and Critical Thinking? Have you heard about Da Vinci code?]

    Kanthar Bro, who cares about these terminologies? These are good for a workshop or a seminar where some guy on management issues or conflict resolution come and deliver a lecture displaying his power point slides and go away while half the audience are fast asleep. But what we are dealing with is a basically human problem that could be handled and resolved through commonsense, logic, humility, sincerity, honesty and understanding. More importantly they should have some genuine feeling for the country (and not boru political patriotism that I have already explained to your pal Lorenzo..So)! They must stop living on this festering problem and stop clinging onto power exclusively on this issue. If you are honest and sincere and knowledgeable as you claim, then how did the politicians, especially the Sinhala politicians, survived in SL since the time of independence? Who cares for your terms unitary or united or whatever you call it but the bottom line is are we united at all? After the great Sinhala Yuddha is there any peace at all? So my dear Kanthar proof of the pudding is in the eating. These words you are playing around with gay abandon are only good as an academic exercise and to impress the students and audience but not in real life. I am sure you being a Yaapane Dhemalu and having studied at Hartley College you would have heard this Tamil saying:

    ஏட்டு சுரக்காய் கறிக்கு உதவாது!

    You mentioned elsewhere that I am dictatorial and not allowing you to write freely. Come on Kanthar that is not true. You have all the right to utter all what you want to say, but you have learnt the art of saying what people in the Island Paradise like to hear ONLY (at least some of them) so that you are received well, respected well, greeted well, looked after well and praised well and even there are unsuspecting Sinhala brothers ready to weep after what you wrote about the low cast Dhemalu ( Mind you this is accepted not by all Sinhala brothers and exclude enlighten Sinhala brothers)!

    Kanthar this is not freedom of expression but write to survive. But well…I don’t blame you at all for that too. There are many of them…just do a little research into the so-called cabinet ministers and what they say and what they do is only to please one person while knowing too well that what they talk are absolute BS! On the other hand can they say anything else and still survive? Who will feed them, their family, who will give them cars, good salary, heavily subsidised meals in parliament including even roast pork? So..Kanthar it is all survival and nothing but pure survival.

    Incidentally you mentioned about Shenali Waduge! She of course I can understand and she is lying for her very race like our ambassadors who are paid to tell lies. This lady’s research is her problem and it is up to others to believe her or not. Nowadays SL has become a very fertile ground for such research workers (like wildly proliferating sex workers) and it is a very profitable job. Believing their “kathawa” is subjective! How about commission of inquiries, parliamentary group inquiry, judicial inquiry…to name a few..all a diversionary activity and give employment to some. I am sure you would have heard that not a single Tamil civilian was killed in 2009 and that was the result of a very high profile inquiry meant to reply to the blood thirsty West, including the US (though you love US and Obama as declared in your letter to Obama)! Have you seen in any part of the world that accused persons are assigned to inquire into the complaints made against them? Despite your sincerity yet it is very funny, isn’t it Kanthar? So let us ignore this Waduge as one more such person. She has even found out that Velupillai is a Christian. Is she aware that DS Senanayake, SWRD, Dudley, Sir John, JRJ, (even) Cyril Mathew are all Christians. She may even find a cross under Velu’s pillow in Velu’s house at VVT!

    Brother Kanthar the problem with you is that you are only good at theory and not in practice. I have gone through the mill well and truly and moved with all walks of life in SL, from the top to bottom, including members of the armed forces, professionals and politicians and had very intimate friends and still maintain that relationship and also we discuss the unfolding tragedy in SL. But their views are extremely contradictory to all what you utter! I have seen with my very eyes some of the tragic happenings not once, not twice but numerous times.

    You still avoid my questions and just beating round the bush. That is why and knowing you I put very specific questions so that you won’t digress from the core issue? But still you have dodged and if so why and my suspicion is right.
    Meya kaudha?
    Mokadahe karanne?

    Kanthar, why are you worried whom am I? That is not the issue here. You even assume that I may be treating cats and dogs and donkeys? Oh..you are confused here my dear friend. I am told there is one Dr Nadesan who lives in your town too and his nick name is:

    நாய் நடேசன் probably because he is a Vet! Not a fair nickname but that is it. But he is also a great supporter of the Sri Lankan Democracy and most likely feels that low cast Para Dhemalus have to live under the majority! So he is one of your type and there it is! Well I am a person who psychoanalyse well known persons like Kanthar P Balanathan, Lorenzo..So and what makes them to think in such a distorted way?

    Your extensive and in depth research had shown (you only) that Tamil Engineer colleagues of yours are selling thosai, vade and idly while Sinhala Engineers are holding top positions in the field (like you?). Does your research cover only Australia or the entire world mate? Have you found a cause for that? But Kanthar you have not answered my original question as to:

    1. Did you study in any SL Universities?
    2. Why did you leave SL after having a free education?
    3. Why were you roaming the world without sticking to one place?
    4. Why you are not going back to your motherland to serve?
    5. You love Australia, SL and the US, but which one the most?

    Regarding Tamil engineers selling thosai and vade, still they are making a living by honest, honourable way and still they will be able to call a spade a spade unlike some Top Class Wold renowned engineers who are running around naked screaming for a cause that they themselves may not be believing in? Now that Kanthar you have lived for so long abroad after leaving Point Pedro by now would be able to value the dignity of labour. It is immaterial whether you are an engineer selling thosai, a iscola mahathaya, a pimpiya, a sex worker or one who is treating cats and dogs……they are all making a living by honest means. Just see Kanthar how warped mind you have and you are a typical narrow minded, complex, status conscious, Yaapane Dhemalu!. No wonder they threw soaps at Loronzo’s house during 83 Great Sinhala Uprising as he deserved good scrubbing and cleaning. Luckily Kanthar you missed the soaps as you have already deserted your alleged Motherland!

    Finally Kanthar you earlier called me a frog and wanted me to come out of the well and now you call me a fish and want me to come out of the bowl! You being a Point Perdro man and both are apparently Dhemalus are you making a subtle reference to the cast system as your research had shown that all Jaffna Tamils are low cast?

    Kantharo..Kanthar…Karuna…Kathirgama…
    Kanthan or Lord Muruga are exclusive Saiva Tamil God and why people who carry such divine names in SL are trying to destroy the very ethnic-religious group that worship Kanthan. Hmm…even this could be a plot to destroy Tamil Hindus by Christian expansionism and conversion like what Shenali Waduge postulates and even fears. But they should realise that Kanthan ( and even Kanthar) are close to Sinhala Buddhist too!

    May there be peace in Sri Lanka brought in not my imposters, pretenders and opportunists but by genuine patriots who feel the

  41. Nadesan Says:

    Kanthar, Lorenzo,

    Appe Suba Sinhala Bauddha Aluth Avurudhu okkollatta labewa!

    Okkollantath Aluth Avudhu kiyalla monawath thiyanawadhe?

  42. Nadesan Says:

    Hi Kanthar,

    What is this place: “Ceylon College of Technology”, is it the Maradana Technical College?

    So did you have your initial study there and qualified as an Engineer? During your time did they call by that name or as Maradana Technical college that I am too familiar with? Good thing about Engineering is that there are so many ways to become an engineer! I know lots and lots of guys who failed their A/L in Sri Lanka went to the UK joined some Technical Colleges and did various diplomas and finally came to be referred to as engineers. In fact one of my relatives after failing his O/L went to London and then came back to SL and got married as an aeronautical engineer. To his wife’s horror she took some years before she discovered that he was only a technician and not an engineer.

    During our days it was quite a fun watching girls waiting under the shady banyan trees in front of Maradana Technical College. It was a hot spot indeed.

  43. Nadesan Says:

    There is no doubt he is off his rocker.

    May be also be has had some severe past experience that has made him go this way. Old Thomian when young, not clear where he was in his late teens (looks like he left Hartley and did not manage to get into university). Perhaps he married a sinhalese?

    Must leave him and Brian Senewiratne on a desert island; that would be fun!

    vik

    Sent from AOL Mobile Mail

  44. Nadesan Says:

    [Tamil’s greed and avarice:- As Tamils, we want everything in SriLanka, own everything in SL, 100% of the Tamils should gain employment in the government sector, all students should be admitted to the University, want to enjoy power and wealth. Wherever, we migrate, we want to engage in politics, bring our own kith and kin legally or illegally. Most Tamils do not believe in “competition”, but use cunningness and power to eliminate the opponent.

    Tamils, we wanted a University. GOSL opened up the University. However, some students of the University are engaged in Separatism and acts of violence. This affects the rest of the students’ progress. Does the world want GOSL to turn a blind eye to Separatism, violence, convert a University into a hall for subversive activities?]

    Meya kaudhe mokaddhe kiyanne?

    It appears a confession for the past misdeeds.

    Kaudhe kottiya?

    Let our Sinhala brothers be more watchful before swallowing the bait, lock stock and barrel!

  45. Nadesan Says:

    Dear Kanthar and Lorenzo,

    I thought of sharing this with you. This may be of some help:

    A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Harvard. “We want to see the President “the man said softly. “He’ll be busy all day “the secretary snapped. “We’ll wait” the lady replied. For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave” she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him “We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.” The president wasn’t touched….He was shocked. “Madam “he said, gruffly, ” we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.” “Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly”We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building ! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a university ? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name.StanfordUniversity, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about. Most of the timewe judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers. Remember In our Life, we seldom get people with whom we want to share & grow our thought process.But because of our inner EGO we miss them forever. It is you who have to decide with whom you are getting associated in day to day life.

  46. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    It might be useful for those in the Diaspora to know, understand and acknowledge that Sri Lankans are no longer Eurocentric Anglophiles having at long last seen through the various Anglo-Saxon-Celtic ploys to continue their domination and exploitation by other, indirect means. No longer are Sri Lankans willing to regard their erstwhile masters as ‘superior’ beings with a ‘higher’ civilization to which they should slavishly defer. Those ‘good old days’ are gone and good riddance!

    Sri Lanka is a very old country with a long history of civilization and a matured polity unlike some ‘Johnny-come-lately’ countries with hardly 500 years of history. The latter period of its history was marred by 443 years of European exploitation, each European power building on its predecessors to refine its instruments of exploitation. The British were the worst and the bloodiest when it came to merciless brutality as is evidenced by the manner in which it quelled the uprising of the Kandyans between 1818 and 1822. It committed genocide before that word was coined by slaughtering every man above the age of 18 years in the Uva region comprised of the present Badulla and Moneragala Districts in revenge for resistance against British imperialist occupation under Governor Robert Brownrigg. The Colonial Office 54 series of documents available at the Public Records Office in London holds all the General Orders issued by Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Brownrigg, governor and c-in-c, to Maj. General Hay McDowall and the correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Bathurst.

    In 1823 the British began selling Crown Land at two shillings an acre to British entrepreneurs—first, to cultivate cinchona [from which quinine is obtained], then coffee, then tea and rubber—from which they made huge profits for 149 years—and Mincing Lane and the members of the London Stock Exchange prospered beyond the dreams of avarice.

    They created a huge ethnic and social problem by transporting indentured labour from the Ramnad district of Madras Presidency (present day Tamil Nadu). These helpless people were auctioned off at Matale like the African slaves at Charleston, SC, and families were cruelly torn apart. They reached Matale walking over 100 miles from Talaimannar along a route that came to be known as the ‘Skeleton Road’ because of the numbers that had perished by the wayside from hunger, thirst, snakebite, attack by wild beasts, cholera, dysentery etc. Their tragedy has been carefully documented by Donovan Moldrich in his ‘Bitter Berry Bondage’—the story of the 19th century coffee workers in Sri Lanka . Author, Lorna Ruth Wright, OAM, wrote “Just another shade of Brown” which graphically details the sexual exploitation of the women plantation workers and the creation of the Eurasian Community (disowned by their very prim and proper British fathers!)

    Father Paul Caspersz, SJ, head of Satyodaya, Kandy, has been labouring amongst the Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin for decades and has written extensively about how these human beings have been mercilessly exploited. They have lived in sub-human conditions for over one hundred years and their emancipation has been a long and hard struggle to restore to them their intrinsic dignity as human beings.

    Even 22 years after the independence, in 1969 Government of Sri Lanka ordered the to take down the offending sign affixed to the gate of a British Club facing the Dutch Burgher Union headquarters which said: “Natives and dogs NOT allowed.”

    Britain was one of the most ‘successful’ imperial powers on earth and they created a worldwide empire (on which the sun never set because it was everywhere on the globe) and bled its colonies. London is such a magnificent city despite its foul weather because it has risen, literally, on the blood, sweat and tears of countless millions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Australia. In their imperial schema of things Australia produced the wool, New Zealand the milk, Malaya the rubber, Ceylon the tea, Rhodesia the tobacco, South Africa the diamonds and gold, Mauritius the sugar, West Africa the cocoa and so on—to the great delight of those who sat in London and counted their pounds, shillings and pence. They didn’t mind exploiting their own in the textile mills of Lancashire and the coal mines of Scotland . The exported their poor Scots, Irish, and Welsh to all these colonies to supervise the black, brown and yellow natives and the ‘half-caste’ Eurasian offspring known as Burghers, and Anglos.

    Look at the Burghers. The British looked down on them with great disdain classifying them as ‘half-castes’ and included them amongst the indigenous population. In 1796 they issued the Burghers an ultimatum—learn English or leave. Many who had the means went to Batavia (modern Jakarta). The others stayed and learned the new tongue. Very soon, these Burghers knew better English than the British themselves and were therefore enlisted in that great corps of clerks that they employed. These Burghers also learned how to play cricket and challenged the British to a one-day on Galle Face Green. They were superciliously asked what the name of their ‘club’ was to which a Burgher sharply retorted: “Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sir!” The entire British establishment including the ‘shoppies’ turned out one fine Sunday morning to watch these half-caste upstarts being licked. The imperial governor himself came and occupied the clubhouse that now stands before the Taj Samudra Hotel. Well, to cut a long story short, the Burgher ‘nondescripts’ beat the British who were ‘hoist with their own petard!’ They were learning, ever so painfully, that other people were not only their equals but could also better them in many spheres and they learned this lesson on this Island.

    There is no land on the globe that the British touched that has not been left with a wholly untenable legacy of problems: India with Pakistan have Kashmir; the Holy land has Jewish Israel contending with Arab Palestine; the Cypriots are divided between the Greeks and the Turks; Africa is an indescribable mess. Glaring problems were created on the North American continent with the marginalization of the native Amerindian and Inuit peoples not to mention the stand-off between Blacks and Whites. In Australia the original inhabitants, the aborigines were decimated and then marginalized whilst their land was robbed from them by white colonists. It is a despicable record of man’s inhumanity to man carried forward on the specious premise that ‘White is Right’ and because they had a head-start in the practice of barbarism! What is even more despicable is that their so-called ‘Christianity’ condoned their barefaced discrimination and unfettered brutality.

    Today, these Anglo-Saxon-Celts pontificate to the whole world about human rights—yes, fundamental human rights which they denied millions from the 16th to the 20th centuries of the Common Era. They sanctimoniously presume to interfere in the internal affairs of countries that attempt to stand-up to their bullying. The ongoing bloodletting in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate their manifest hypocrisy.

    They left behind what were basically alien concepts, structures, systems, and constitutions that have confused and confuted the peoples they formerly ruled. They uprooted and deliberately destroyed indigenous systems that had endured for millennia and which the indigenous people were comfortable with. Today, the peoples of these lands are divided into innumerable factions and cliques contending bloodily for command and control in the name of the ‘democracy’ they left behind. They are happy with what they see because it is a continuation of their ‘divide and rule’ policy. It is easy to manipulate and exploit those who are divided!

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