Article titled ‘Archaeology sparks new conflict between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese’ by Jeremy Page, published on April 6, 2010
Posted on April 18th, 2010
Mahinda Gunasekera Tambrook Drive Agincourt, OntarioCanada M1W 3L9
Editor in Chief
Times Online
London, UK
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dear Editor,
Article titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Archaeology sparks new conflict between Sri Lankan Tamils and SinhaleseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ by Jeremy Page, published on April 6, 2010
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I came across the article written by Jeremy Page, your South Asia Correspondent,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ published in your edition of April 6, 2010, and write to clarify some of the issues
mischievously raised by him with the apparent intent of creating bitterness and controversies between the Sinhalese and Tamil inhabitants of Sri Lanka on the subject
of archaeology.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sinhalese who have lived throughout the length and breadth of this land for the past 2600 years have evolved a unique civilization that has provided an advanced hydraulic system that sustained a mainly agrarian society which built magnificent monasteries, palaces, hospitals for humans and animals, and other works of architecture and art that have been discovered and since restored, that adorn most parts of the country, whilst yet others still remain to be found.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamil claims to a traditional homeland:
The main cause for Tamil nationalism has been the false and unsubstantiated claim by Tamil separatists to their having inhabited the northern and eastern regions of the island of Sri Lanka from the dawn of history, based on none other than the erroneous minute made by a British colonial administrator named Hugh Cleghorn in 1799, which the Tamil leaders cited at the time of adopting the infamous ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Vadukkodai Resolution of 1976ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to seek the establishment of a separate Tamil state called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-EelamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, in what they referred to as the traditional homeland of the Tamils.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Cleghorn displayed his ignorance when he also stated in the same report that the Sinhalese were descendants of the Siamese people who are of Mongolian extraction.
CleghornƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s reference to Jaffna is very interesting:- “The inhabitants of Jaffna consist of a collection of various races. The greatest number are of Moorish extraction and are divided into several tribes known by the names of Lubbhas, Mopleys, Chittys and Choliars. They are distinguished by wearing little round caps on their close shaven heads. There are also a race of Malabars found here somewhat different from those of the continent.”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Now if we peruse this reference that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”there are also a race of Malabars found hereƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ it is clear as crystal that there were a few Tamils in 1799 in Jaffna known as the Malabars, as all the Tamils have been referred to as Malabars at that time and earlier in all official documents of the Dutch and the early British period.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therefore if CleghornƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s statement is to be accepted as he had a personal knowledge of the peninsula, it was the Muslims that were the majority in Jaffna which is today regarded as the cultural centre of the Tamils, just about two hundred years ago. It is therefore quite perplexing to learn that the Tamils were an insignificant minority in the main centre of their assumed homeland.
Archaeolgical Remains:
The vast array of ancient monuments and artifacts discovered throughout the length and breadth of Sri Lanka are those built by the Sinhalese kings and chieftains as centres of Buddhist learning and practice, that had been established in veneration of the Sublime Teachings which provided the cultural base and values of the indigenous population. In fact, out of the seven World Heritage Sites referred to in the article, five pertain to ancient Buddhist sites where the Sinhalese kings ruled in Anuradhapura, Dambulla, Sigirya, Polonnaruwa and Kandy, whilst the Galle Fort built by the Portuguese and Dutch invaders around the 16th and 17th centuries and the ancient forest reserve in the Singharaja National Park make up the remaining two sites so recognized.
Rock inscriptions dating from the 3rd century BC to the 16th century AD have been found in all parts of Sri Lanka except Jaffna.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The earliest inscriptions from the 3rd century to the 2nd century AD were one to two lines in length in Brahmi script (similar to those decreed by Emperor Asoka in north India), inscribed on the drip ledge of caves, usually gifted for occupation by Buddhist monks.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ These early Brahmi inscriptions also indicate that the Sinhalese occupied the island. Nearly 2000 inscriptions have been found during the period 100 BC to 400 AD alone.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Later inscriptions have been on rock walls, flat rock surfaces or stone slabs, and more extensive comprising as much as 16 long lines, in Sinhala, Pali, and Sanskrit. These inscriptions give information on early human settlements, provide information on Sinhala kings who ruled the land, whilst some yielded information on many different subjects including donors, beneficiaries and reasons for such gifts.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Inscriptions give a human touch to ancient facts and also provide evidence of literacy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Over 3000 rock inscriptions have been discovered far exceeding that found in mainland China, photo records of which are available at the Cambridge university in Britain. If there had been an independent Tamil kingdom in and around the Jaffna peninsula in ancient times, at least a few Tamil inscriptions by Tamil kings of that era should have come to light, but so far none have been found.
Although no rock inscriptions have been found in Jaffna itself, a gold plate inscription had been discovered in Vallipuram, near Point Pedro, dating back to the reign of King Vasabha (67-111AD) detailing the construction of a Buddhist monastery in the Jaffna peninsula. A few other Sinhala inscriptions dating from the 10th to the 13th century AD have been found at the Kandarodai (Kadurugoda) Buddhist temple and at Thunukai, plus a few more within the Jaffna district.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is interesting to note that the earliest Tamil inscription discovered in the Jaffna District is by a Sinhala king, namely Parakramabahu I(1153-1186) who ruled at Polonnaruwa. This inscription was found at the entrance to the famous Nakapusani-Amman Temple in the small island now know as Nainativu or Nagadipa; and it contains certain trade regulations concerning wreckages off the port of Uratturai i.e. present day Kayts (UCR. Vol.XXI, pp.63-70). In the words of Dr. Karthigesu Indrapalan, the editor of this inscription and the Professor of History of the University of Jaffna, ‘the fact that this edict was issued not by any subordinate official, but by the king himself shows that the monarch was in supreme control of the northern most region of the island (UCR.Vo.XXI,p.66).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A few Tamil inscriptions too have been found during the period from the 11th to the 13th century in Polonnaruwa, Kantalai and Trincomalee in the east, following the invasion by South Indian Cola rulers who forcibly occupied the Polonnaruwa seat at the time.
Historical Evidence:
The history of the Sinhala people commencing with the founding of the Sinhala nation after the arrival of Prince Vijaya and his retinue in 543 BCE to the time of ceding power to the British in 1815, has been recorded in the Great Chronicle known as the Mahavamsa in the Pali language.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Mahavamsa is comprised of three parts written at different times in Lankan history.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The monks had maintained this historical record from the 4th century BC similar to a modern day diary, referred to as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-DipavamsaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, with early information derived from another compilation known as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Mahavamsa AtthakathaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, and rock inscriptions of the time.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ These documents were combined into a single record by the Chief Buddhist Monk Mahanama of the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura in the 5th century AD to form the first part comprised of 37 chapters from 543 BC to the end of the 4th century AD. The second part covered the period from the 4th century to the 13th century AD, whilst the third and final part recorded the period from the 13th century to 1815. The latter two parts referred to as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-CulavamsaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ are believed to have been written by several monks of the island linked to different temples, though credit for preparation of the second part is attributed to Venerable Dharmakirti Thera. Overall, the Chronicle with 79 chapters is referred to as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-MahavamsaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has over 200,000 words of text contained in 960 pages. The Mahavamsa is the oldest and longest chronology of any nation or people of the world spanning a period of 2500 years.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The search for the original script of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-MahavamsaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ initiated by George Turnour, the British colonial administrationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Government Agent for the Sabaragamuwa Province in 1826, resulted in finding the entire 79 chapters of this historical manuscript in the Mulgirigala temple which had been established around 150 BC, close to Tangalle in the southern province.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ George Turnour translated, edited and arranged the text of the first 30 chapters which he published in 1836. It was later translated to German by Prof. Wilhelm Geiger in 1904 and re-translated to English. The Mahavamsa led to the discovery of the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa which had been covered by the dense foliage of the spreading jungle. In fact, it was the Mahavamsa that helped India to identify her Great Emperor Asoka and his magnificent work.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Even other countries in South Asia have been able to establish the dates when important events took place in their lands through reference to the Mahavamsa.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Sinhalese history is authenticated by the concurrence of every evidence that can contribute to verify the annals of any country – “Ceylon” Pearl of the East by Harry Williams ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Mahavamsa does speak of the several invasions of Sri Lanka by the Tamils of South India belonging to the Pandyan and Chola regimes which came to occupy pockets of terrain for short periods from pre-Christian times, till such time as the indigenous Sinhalese rulers ousted them forcing them to retreat to their own territory. The Tamil Chola Warlord ElaraƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s forces captured the Rajarata (capital region) in the north in 205 BC where he ruled for 44 years before his defeat to Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s legendary King Dutugamunu in 161 BC.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For 14 centuries then onward, Sri Lanka enjoyed comparative peace which helped in building the magnificent Buddhist monasteries and the unique hydraulic civilization that is marvelled even today. In the early part of the 13th century, the Sinhalese kingdom of Rajarata had weakened due to internal strife and three invasions from South India during which time nine monarchs sat on the throne within a space of 20 years.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The prevailing disturbances and unsettled state, led Magha of Kalinga in India to invade the island in the year 1215 with an army of 24000. MaghaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s forces employing extreme violence, desecrating and destroying sacred sites, succeeded in driving the Sinhalese rulers and people to the south, west and even causing the royal seat to be moved to Dambadeniya in the mountainous interior.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was Vijayabahu-III and his son Parakramabahu-II that regained the country from the Tamil invader who was driven out of Polonnaruwa in 1236.
Due to the instability in the country following the numerous invasions that took place in the early part of the 13th century, the local ruler of the Jaffna district called the Ariyachakravarti refused to acknowledge the authority of the kings of Dambadeniya and Gampola who was regarded as the supreme overlord or lawful emperor of Trisimhale (Rohana, Maya and Pihiti ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” former Rajarata).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Ariyachakravarti who ruled over the Jaffna peninsula and its immediate environs styled himself as the King of Jaffnapatam. This sub-kingdom lasted approximately 150 years, till King Parakramabahu VI sent an army led by Prince Sapumal to once again annex the region. The sub-kingdom of Jaffnapatam was a vassal state that paid tribute to the main seat of power in Kotte and later Kandy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon (Ceilao)ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ by the Portuguese historian, Father Fernao de Queroz states ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-As long as Rajapura (Anuradhapura) was the capital of Ceylon the whole island was subject to one king; but after the inundation of the lowlands and after the city of Cota (Kotte) became the metropolis, there were in the island 15 kinglets including Jaffnapatao, subject to the king of Cota, who therefore was considered to be Emperor, and the same title is in these days claimed by the king of Candea(Kandy).ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He further states that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-It remained under the Portugezen sway for upwards of 40 years, wrested from the Emperor by Philippo d’Olivero when he defeated the Cingalezen forces near Achiavelli (Achuvely) by the great pagoda.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The following account given in the ‘A true and exact description of the great island of Ceylon’ by Phillipus Baldaeus, a Dutch predikant who lived in Jaffna for about 9 years, also confirms the statement of de Queyroz. It can therefore be concluded that the sub-kingdom of Jaffnapatam which lasted roughly 150 years was not an independent kingdom, but a vassal state which paid tribute or taxes to the Sinhalese king that ruled over the entire island of Trisimhale.
What and Where is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-EELAMƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Pursued by the Armed Tamil Tiger Terrorists and Sought by the Extremist Elements of the Tamil Diaspora in the West:
Those seeking ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-EelamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (ILAM) have been misled into believing that it is the traditional homeland of the Tamil people located in the northern and eastern provinces of the island of Sri Lanka, comprising 1/3rd of the land area spread over 2/3rd of the coast extending from the northwest to the southeast of the island including a big chunk of the north central and Uva-Vellassa areas which they claim to have inhabited from the dawn of history.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Tamil presence in Sri Lanka has been earlier dealt with in detail citing archaeological and historical documents.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It would be interesting to also see the statements made by recognized authorities on Tamil language and history, to realize the true position and understand the foolish and deceitful attempt that is being made by extremist elements within the Tamil community to take away the history and only homeland of the indigenous Sinhalese people who founded this land known as Hela Diva, Sinhale, Trisimhale and Sri Lanka.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Tamil Lexicon published under the authority of the highest seat of Tamil learning, i.e. the University of Madras, has the following entry: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- ILAM, n< Pali, SIHALA (Sinhala)ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is clear that that the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ILAMƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, also spelt as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-EelamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ was derived from the Pali word SIHALA which means Sinhala.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Further, Dr. S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar a recognized authority on Tamil Literature and History attached to the Madras University, writing the foreword, to the book titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Ancient JaffnaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ by Mudaliyar C. Rasanayagam of the Ceylon Civil Service, on September 9, 1926, stated ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- The attempt of the author to derive the name Ilam does not appeal to us as quite successful. Ilam to us is directly derived from the Pali word SIHALAM, which in Tamil would be Singalam or Singanam, and a strict Tamilising would make it Ilam. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therefore, ILAM (Eelam) did not mean the Homeland of the Tamils to Tamils in South India, but referred to the land of the Sinhala people.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Place Names in Jaffna Peninsula and other areas of the North and East:
Two well known British civil servants stationed in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 1920s, namely B.Horsburg and J.P.Lewis, conducted research into the place names in the Jaffna peninsula and elsewhere, and were convinced of the prior settlement of the Sinhalese people in Jaffna and the rest of the north and east, by tracing the original place names which had been Tamilized following the large scale migration of Tamils in the 18th and 19th century.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Their research papers were published in the Ceylon Antiquary at the time, which led to discussions with leading Tamil historians such as S.W. Coomaraswamy of Tellipalai and Father S. Gnanaprakasar, which led to convincing the latter with their extensive and valid research data.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The written discussions carried in the Ceylon Antiquary could still be found in the National Archives of Sri Lanka.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Conclusion:
Dutch took over the lands of Vanniyas (amalgam of Sinhalese and Vedda settlers) and sold them to rich Jaffna Tamils.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Lieut. Col. Nagel, the Dutch administrator introduced ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Thesawalamai,” a law of the South Indian Muslims, as the law of the Vanni. South India abounded in landless agricultural labourers who could be exploited. It was from this class that the Vellala immigrants in Jaffna recruited “slaves” for tobacco cultivation in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Jaffna peninsula also had an excess landless population like these “slaves” and the ancient Sinhalese who were now reduced to the rank of serfs who did not hold land, e.g., Koviyas [Goviyas], refer Gunnar MyrdalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Asian Drama.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The British who followed confirmed that the law of the Vanni was the “Thesawalamai” based on evidence of lately settled Jaffna Tamils new to the region. The colonial land policy introduced through the Crown Lands Encroachment Ordinance, 1840, [and the Waste Land Ordinance of 1897, vested the lands owned by the indigenous Sinhalese when they failed to establish formal titles to land held for generations. Like in the Kandyan areas, lands which the Sinhalese peasants traditionally possessed or held in common came to rest with the state. It was on this basis that the colonial administration went about distributing this land based on preferential treatment which finally resulted in the idea of exclusive zones for Tamils from South India and Jaffna in the Kantalai (Ganthalawa), Vanni, Nuwarakalaviya which was added to the northern province in 1873 and Trincomalee districts.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yet other residents of the Vanni are those Indian Tamil plantation workers who had opted to get back to South India under the Sirima-Shastri Pact of 1963, whom the Norwegian INGO, Red Barna headed by Jon Westborg, helped to encroach in collusion with the underground Tamil separatist movement that later took up arms to break up the country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The colonial administrations of the Dutch and British helped to colonise the traditional homelands of the indigenous Sinhalese in the north, north central and eastern regions, by substituting a new population for the dispossessed indigenous people.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Historical records show that the vast majority of the Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka by the Dutch and British colonialists for work on tobacco, cocoa, coffee and tea plantations which they started after destroying the ecological wealth of the country and taking over the lands of the indigenous Sinhalese. Tamils first arrived as invaders but were driven back to South India from the pockets they captured after short periods of control of such terrain. Except for a few Tamils who arrived as settlers around the 12th century, the bulk of the Tamils came as indentured labour under the Dutch and British colonial regimes which date back to about 350 years, which is a far stretch to say it extends to the dawn of history which covers 2600 years of the Sinhalese domination of the island. The Tamils who are equal citizens of the land should demonstrate their allegiance to Sri Lanka and help to develop the country alongside of their fellow citizens.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mahinda Gunasekera
April 19th, 2010 at 1:53 am
Thank you for this excellent response to the Editor of the London Times – good enough for the editor to have eaten his words! Please let LankaWeb know any reply you have had from the Times. This subject has to be in fact moved forward and nailed down OFFICIALLY by the SL government as absolute historical fact and denial of that should be made a prosecutable offence under a new law similar to the law on ‘Holocaust Denial’ as in Germany. That will put a stop to this bogus claim for a separate Tamil state base on ‘cooked up history from the beginning of time’! – S de Silva – London
April 19th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Thanks for the effort. The claim “The Sinhalese who have lived throughout the length and breadth of this land for the past 2600 years …” could be erroneous and an injustice to native Sinhala people, Sinhalised migrants excluded, because their history is much longer than what is mentioned here, a direct result of alien influences. According to our work, Native Sinhala people are the only people who can be fit into the human group that lived at the same place during transition from wild life to the modern life. Anyone interested can follow on this aspect and develop their own logical and factual grounds to apply this check for any ethnic group. We have tried to engage with the claimants on this side of history to prove the error, but awaiting responses. I believe that Sinhala people should establish their proper history before going any further and we are ready to offer the tools to find the truth than depending on the method applying grave digging, mostly used to manipulate the history of many nations. I came across an interesting book, “The History of Ceylon” using pdf format, published in 1817 by an an English that require filtering through English way of thinking, to learn a bit more about modern Sinhala history. This can be down loaded from Wikipedia.
April 19th, 2010 at 2:48 am
The problem is that these Page boys think that they know everything and anything about Sri Lanka and whatever they say to appease the Tamil separatists would be accepted as the gospal truth by the rest of the world.
THANKS a lot to you Mahinda Gunasekera for giving all historical, cultural and religous facts and figures to prove the true side of the story. We are very proud and lucky to have learned Sri Lankans like you who can tear dog-eared Pages with a truthful verbal combat.
April 19th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I do not know whether the Tamil separatists took the minutes of the British official seriously or as a basic evidence to their claims. I do not know where Mahinda Gunasekara found the connection to Tamil separatists and those minutes.
But Mahavamsa acknowledges Tamil rulers of South India for whole island. Even the last King of Kandy was a Tamil from Nayak clans of South India.
Tamil Racists and Sinhala racists select “few” lines or incidents of the PAST to make theries to suit to their current LANGUAGE based racist ideology!
Are you all think Tamils and Sinhalese fight since the time of ELARA?
Kings of Sri Lanka ruled the land and the people. Can any one find any SINHALA family trace thier ancestry to Dutugemunu or Datusena ?
If any one there, I am happy to meet them! If you guys cannot trace such people now, who were the KINGS? Mahavamsa states many Chola or Tamils ruled from Anuradhapura. That is enough for the Tamils to make claims.
If that is not acceptable, Portugal has more rights over Sri lanka than any Sinhalese because King of Kotte gave the rights of the lands to Portugal.
KOTTE its self a Tamil word. Anybody dispute?
Kotte was founded by a ALAHA KONAR who was a TAMIL and parachuted by CHINESE rulers. Remember King MahindaV and his family were carted away to CHINA by Chinese Admiral CHENG HO. Sri Lanka was paying tribute to Chinese for more than six decades.
Picking few lines of history to make claims is not a good idea.
Who was Sigiri Kasiyappa? Was he a SINHALESE or a ruler of Sinhalese from the South Indian Pallava Kingdom? I never find any Sinhalaya named after Kasiyappa.
Lambakannas and many other Kings of Lanka were of S/Indian origin.
If place names and Buddhist remains are evidences for any Sinhala Claims, I tell you all the South India was once a cradle of Buddhism for centuries. Even TRIPITAKA was translated into PALI bay Buddhaghosa from Kanchipuram, the capital of Pallava Kings. Buddhism spread to FAR EAST from Kanchipuram and not from Katugampola or Wellawatte.
Tamils too were Buddhists and the two of the Tamil epics Manimekala and Silappathikaaram were written during that period.(2 AD). That period is still known as SANGAM period in Tamil History.
What is the answer for the TAMIL place names in Sinhala areas, specially in the deep south and Hill country?
Vanniyas are not mix of any one but of Kerala origin. The kings of Anuradhapura brought them as Elephant trainers. That is why we can trace lot of similar place names available even today in Kerala.
Sri Lanka became a separate unit after the WESTERN invaders. But it was ruled by the King clans of South India.
If Sinhalese claim they are ARYANS, they must forget the HYDRAULIC Irrigation system because Aryans never had such ideas anywhere.
The above article tries to SEPARATE Sri lanka and not to unify the land!
April 19th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Refer comment by M.S. Mudali, the content justifies my deep seated disgust towards Hinduism based on first hand accounts, that makes humans to fabricate, propagate and modify lies claiming as perfect truths. They break every modern human value to go backward. Those believing Hinduism are the worst enemies of Sinhala people that brought down their civilization within. A long time ago, these animal worshipers were a small minority. They grew up in numbers due to achievements in agriculture. But they became a burden that ruined every achievement and were the origin of Bribery and Corruption under pathetic living conditions. We do not need to dig graves, but visit India to find how pathetic their lives were during the last six thousand years that remain unchanged.
This silly comment does not carry a single sentence that is factually or morally correct. Insinuation of half truths and extension to fabrications, remind me the Hindu religious expression valued by the sister of late VP, now living in Canada. We have too many words around to make up any sentence. But the meaning is not their in many of these concoctions. In comparison, late VP claimed occupation of 70 years as the reason to claim a homeland while admitting that motherland was India. Living Tamils are much worse than the dead like VP, if we know the truth about the past.
All the concoctions point to only one thing, an ancient Sinhala rule that used blood line to select the heir to the throne, a silly rule that ignored the part played by mothers and child’s natural father. Only thing that comes out is that Sinhala monarchy was contaminated since the time of Vijay Kumar, which led to half breeds claiming throne. They were all cursed and disappeared leaving behind not a single Tamil to claim royal heritage without a fabricated Hindu story. That may be why we had a fisherman claiming to be the sun goat.
There are loose cannons who pontificate mixed ethnicity, not knowing that it ends in a few generations. I do not know what would Mudali say about the queen of England taking into account her ethnic backgrounds. It is a joke to suggest that England is owned by ethnic people who make up her other half. Just because a Tamil became the king by marriage or blood line, claiming that Tamils own someone’s land is more a fiction than a reality. You forget that they were forced Sinhalised and lived like caged animals guided by the Raja Council that determined the rules of governance. The last monkey, though behaved like a royal to a greater extent under guidance, authorized to use an ancient Sinhala law to crush babies by their mother. It was a real donkey who had no cultural upbringing to understand that Sinhala law is to show the seriousness of crimes, not the punishment per se.
I do not want to waste my time telling the ancient history to a near-extinct leftover ethnic burden, that could have been gone by the hands of Hindus if not protected by the ancient Sinhala kings. Unfortunately non-functional species should not be protected as their disappearance is a natural necessity. Sinhala people create their own problems than getting rid of them. What they enjoy now is of their own making, their strong desire to help the weaklings. Obviously, I can not tell how Buddhists did their bid as they would not even get food and medicine, two main pillars of Sinhala culture, that was even extended to LTTE. This times Tamils got no one to to save them. At last justice is going to take its course.
April 20th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Priyantha:
You believe Adolf Hitler over Sakiya Muni Goutama Buddha. That is the trouble you have.
Further you cried against CASTE which is forbidden in Buddhism but Sinhala Buddhism or PARANGI BUDDHISM like to follow HINDU caste system.
I do not like the CASTE system. Fishing community is always the FOOD suppliers like other Land based food suppliers. Cheapest protiens is supplied by the Fishermen. The vegetarianism in India created the world biggest BLIND population.
Further Veluppulle Prabhakaran was not a FISHERMAN at all. His father and grand father came from Kerala. His grand father married a Fisher woman to get the Sri Lankan citizenship like other Malayalees in Sri Lanka during the 30s.
In Colombo many of those Malayalee generatins are now SINHALESE like the one TILAK Marappana!
Remember Buddhism arrived to Sri lanka through Kanchipuram with the help of the FISHERMEN!
You not only HATE Hindus but also the Buddhism as well! Because Buddhism is part of Hinduism always.
Fabricated History is the product of Catholic/Christian ideals. You better follow them!
You make Alaha Peruma to a YAM DIGGER. That kind of inventions are cheap and no history.
Hindus and buddhists will live in peace again. The old Kings’ era arrived again.
April 20th, 2010 at 2:45 am
Dear MUdali, thanks for reading my comment.
Refer what I believe, I have told several times that I believe in life and living longer. I adopted this because it is the only belief that can cause no harm to me or anyone else. Neither it stops me doing the worst or the best to ensure life and its continuity. Refer Hitler and all these religious leaders, you better tell how many people lost their lives due to their actions/views. There are many ways to lose life. I tell you two ways. One is to get killed by someone else. The other, that many of you forget is to get killed by self (suicide), by your own actions and ommissions. From my point of view, I see both these groups as pure evil because they contribute to end the human life. Unfortunately, I carry a much bigger burden of being an accessory to murder in a much bigger scale or as a savior of many more lives due to certain contributions I made to the technology. If I publish a few more of the same, I could get much closer to Satan than many of you. I hope I never have to do that.
I did not create the CASTE system; neither I am immune from it. I know how I lived within the caste system. Also a case in point is the way I contributed to some so-called educated high caste Jaffna Tamils to flush toilets after use. Unfortunately, I am one of the only few who can clearly see how it was created though not intended originally. Interestingly, how much parents contributed to see a division of their own children into different groups could be a good starter to understand what happened over time. the other day, I mentioned an ancient emperor and his clan reduced to one of the most humiliated castes by his own powerful relatives because he personally contributed to humiliate the whole nation. So, the notion that it came out of the blue is only dreaming. On the other hand some became so alienated due to their chosen profession and carry differences in values to other groups. Always a difference is a necessity to draw a line between humans, which was effectively used by the half-Tamil monarchy to sustain their power, just like you try. Having said that I could be one of the few who can offer a way out to be equal again for all, because we know the root of the problem and the solution to this division. But I am not going to accept that caste does not represent anything for that matter because I met my own relatives living under different castes who are different to me. How I know that they are my relatives should be viewed from the point of view on how you judge your own relatives.
I mentioned Fishermen to tell the difference between the royals and the commoners. If we do not eat some food and eat somethings that we do not eat, life could be better. There is a serious lapse in Both Sinhala and Tamil cultures, as it looks from your comments to the role played by women. We came down to the current hellish life because even the best had failed to realize the important role played by women to make and continue life. Unfortunately, I cannot offer more on this respect as we may have the complete picture of woman’s role as exclusive information. How you totally disregard the influence of mothers on children is beyond belief. Let me tell you that they carry children in their wombs for so long, no man could do that type of thing. They produce milk and feed children. They are the source of values. Why do you disregard this fact. A child will be much close to the mother’s ethnicity than father’s in a mixed marriage. When you hide this fact and claim that they are Tamil, you go yourself to a very low level. I challenge you to tell the meaning of your own ethnic label while claiming that it is an original Sinhala name that has a very Sinhala meaning. From those who claim to be Sinhala, a clear and precise word that truly reflect Sinhala characteristics, I love to hear what it truly means except the most disgusting interpretation given by Buddhists who make their nakedness open by their silly explanation. Knowing as liars do not bring much credibility. This is an open challenge to anybody.
Only one sentence you said in your many comments was of worth to mention. You said that Tamils come from Hela (elu) people. We tried to find the people who first came out of the jungle and tried many prominent ethnic groups. But none could meet the value system required to achieve that because there was no one to push them and tell them what to do. In other words, they must be volunteers and so on. We have modeled the growth and expansion of humanity for that matter without a hitch. I claim that all humanity descended from ancient Sinhala people and that what you call Tamil is an ancient version of Sinhala language forced upon some people who were not part of the main group at a later stage. As a hint I suggest to compare how English speak English and we speak English, an independent measure of my claim. The terminology that you try to use to say that Sinhala words came from Tamil is ludicrous. There was a time that ancient Sinhala were the only humans left on this planet after near extinction, a fact that can be compared with certain western claims. But being Tamil and being Sinhala, we differ in many ways. On the other hand, I can extend this to claim that all life forms are interconnected and have a combined origin. What makes it a single, combined or multiple origin is a matter of working out the logical parameters. There was also a time that the earth was smaller and much of it was connected by land. How it expanded is not a mystery to us. All the royals around the globe have very close relationship to values of their Sinhala royal ancestors.
Refer your comment about Alaha Peruma, still you miss the point. Even I used to believe that they were Tamil names until I came across some useful information on formation of surnames in Sinhala, which reflects pride in ancestry. It is not yam digger as you say because all our ancestors were yam diggers at that time. I can understand your silly thinking because there are many who think that humanity was born with clothes and shoes and the like. Instead of spreading waste all over, you should try to judge how old that surname was and how could that ancestor have saved many lives by finding yams. It says that such people who ignore the early part of human life are recent arrivals to humanity who lack the originality. We call them duplicates, not real humans, who cannot reproduce a full human.
I told many times about Buddhism and that vast majority of its content is ancient Sinhala knowledge, with a twist of Hinduism, a desire to end life than living longer. If we use Karma as the concept that guides Buddhism, I must say that I could be fourteen times Buddhist than a Buddhist because I came across that much of concepts deciding our life. There may be many more that are beyond my capacity. Who knows? Why not try? Before becoming what I am, I was a Buddhist who observed Eight restraints on every full moon day starting from a very young age without any guidance from any body. One of the horrible achievements I made following Buddhism among others is my ability to walk into a dream from real world and control it to my liking. How many of those clamoring to be Buddhists can do that kind of thing? I suggest all of you not to push to hard because you may lose your bearing to reality. I mean you may not know whether you are dreaming or awake. I never need to invent history. You have proven beyond any doubt that you manipulate facts and ignore more important facts to champion your personal interests. In fact, if I publish the tools we use to find the natural history, current tools will become obsolete and irrelevant as they do not stand up to certain logical validations. By the way I believed that my ancestors came from India a long time before I realized that I was a moda Buddhist follower.
Refer your earlier correction of the word “Kavun” to “Kavum”, there is a very strange twist to this word. Actually it sounds more like Ka-(v)u-ng, a word created long before the formal word syntax. Whatever way we write, we still use the original sounds that differ from the actual letters of the word.
April 20th, 2010 at 7:05 am
Mudali,
I have read there have been only two Sinhalese presidents, but rest were not Sinhalese in the resent history of SL. Does that mean Tamils ruled SL during that time? Despite of thier origin they appeared as Sinhalese presidents. This is the same in the history, the kings originated in South india became Sinhalese kings. They converted to Sinhalese and absorbed in to the system. It does not make Sri Lanka the homeland of South Indians. Sri Lanka belongs to all Sri Lankans ,it is one country one nation . We cannot accomodate anymore Tamil Nadu boat people , who become Sri Lankan Tamils and demand seperate homeland in SL. We can’t let them invade and extend Tamil Nadu into Sri Lanka. It is very clear Tamil Nadu wants extend territory into Sri Lanka, through fraudulant Tamil homeland and make SL a Tamil Sri Lanka. Bieng too close to Tamil Nadu is the biggest threat Sl has.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Thank you Priyantha and Chintha for the response to Mudali. To put things simply, the inference that the ethnicity of the ruler has to always be the same as the ruled is juvenile! If such a ‘rule ‘ is applied most of the rulers in Europe would have a serious problem of national identity, including the Queen of Great Britain I might say!! The majority of the rulers in Sri Lanka within the historical times discussed were invaders who should really not have any rights over the indigenous populace – S de Silva – London
April 21st, 2010 at 1:14 am
I am really wondering how manipulations are going on even after the historical evidences are still available. Priyantha cried Alaha Peruma means YAM DIGGER. I did not say it!
Concept of KINGDOM is a product of HINDUS.
The role of the women were respected by HINDUS better than other religions. That is why HINDUS have WOMEN GODS. HINDUS call the women power as SHAKTHI. But later invasions in India created more trouble to women. The PATHNI cult was introduced by King Gajaba to Sri lanka from Kerala. But upto 1976 the state of Kerala had the women superiority. All the properties owned by women. In 1976 only the communist government of Kerala gave the EQUAL property rights to men!
Buddha was born as a Hindu in India. How can Sinhala knowledge come to Buddhism? Further Buddhism arrived to Sri Lanka through Tamil Nadu and Buddhism or Arahat Mahinda never had a chance to take a direct jet flight to Mahiyangana. History tells Indians came with Buddhism to Sri lanka and not viceversa.
If you claim TAMILS were Sinhala speakers once, I have no option except laughing!
Silva:
Who cares about British Queen? I am concerned about the Kings and Queens of Sri Lanka. if you and your catholic church want to call Sri lanka belong to the King of Portugal, you better try to invoke the DEED written by Don Juan Dharmapala.
Chinta:
I do not know who and who were TAMIL presidents of Sri lanka but I like Prez Mahinda for speaking in Tamil. Further speaking a language or mastering a language of neighbour is not rocket science. Now only many try to “brand” Sinhala or Tamil. But in the old times those Kings never had anything like the current “HARAKIRI” over language.
Remember most of our Kings, Queens, Mahinda thera and Sanghamitta too BOAT people.
You contradict Priyantha who claims all the South Indians were Sinhalese. Then how can you ask the former Sinhalese “not to come to Sri lanka?” hahahahaha
Look. Now Tamil Nadu is part of greater India and Sri lanka is a separate country. Paasports are needed. Boarders must be guarded. But you know when Sinhalese chase the Tamils, they endup in Tamil Nadu. There are 80,000 Tamils in 115 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. More than 30,000 in Orissa including the former Chief Minister of North and east. India have the rights to ask the Sri lankan government to re-settle those Tamils in the refugee camps. Sri lanka has to do that!
April 21st, 2010 at 5:02 am
See you still don’t get the point. Where ever our origin is we are Sri Lankans now. Sinhalese could be mixed ,but they are very unique as to the language and culture. Most countries were populated by boat people and they mixed with indiginous people of the country. The problem here is trying to create a Tamil Empire in SL with bogus homeland claims. Prabhakaran was a decendent from an immigrant less than 100 years ago. Now he’s claiming seperate state for Tamils in SL. Most Tamils today in SL does not have a long history. The language they speak is the very proof. It is estimated the language difference between Tamil spoken in TN and SL is about 350 years different, meaning most have migrated about 350 years ago. Tamils escaped to TN because of the war they created. Tamils chased ALL SInhalese from North where as more and more Tamils migrated to South and living with Sinhalese right now. Yes the Tamils left SL becasuse of war can return to SL, it is thier country. But NO MORE. They HAVE to share SL with others. Not part of it, ALL of it. SL belongs to ALL its citizens. Tamils have NO rights to say the North belong to TAMIL ONLY. It is NOT FAIR. There are TONS of evidents as mentioned in this article that Sinhales lived in the North for centuries. They have every right to live in North in thier Country and protect it from further invasion by Tamils from Tamil Nadu claiming Tamil homelands in SL.
April 21st, 2010 at 5:31 am
Mudali,
Northern Indian Hindus never treat Tamils as equal human though you guys tried to be Hindus. If you go to Delhi and other northern parts you will get the real Hindu discrimination treatment Mudali.
I hope you know Hinduism came to south Asian sub continent after Arya invasion. Aryans are from Central Asian warriors, mostly from Persian region. The reason of north Indian have fair complex is that. According to Hinduism black skinny Dravidians are belongs to shudras cast. Shudras are the lowest cast in Hinduism.
1) Brahmin’s Hindu priests the best in the society born from the mouth of God Maha Brahkma the Creater.
2) Kshastriya, the Kings and ministers and high-ranking administrators born from the shoulders of god.
3) Vaishshva traders, and commercial employees are born of the thighs of the god Brahma.
4) Shudras the last group with black skin people are slaves, domestic servants, coolies, and scavengers. They have born from the foot of God Brahma. Majority of the people are in this cast still non-privileges peoples in present India. Dravidians place in Hindu society in Shudras category. Hindu Brahmins never invite Tamils to their home or never share their cups even.
You said women were treated equally in Hindu society? But we know that Hindus threw widow to the dead husbands pyre. Is it a great Hindu treatment to women? Have you watch the film “The Water” best treatment to women by Hinduism. Biggest joke Mudali! In Hinduism women called as “ Pada Paricharika” means who lives near the men’s foot. If in Hindus treat women equally what the hell they ask several millions of dowry from brides family?
MUDali you said Buddha born in India? Don’t you know Buddha was a Nepalese prince Born in Lumbini near Katmandu Nepal? He taught Buddhism in Magada and Madya pradesh not in India. The name India given to south asian sub continent (except Sri Lanka) by British Invaders after copied from Arabs.
MUDali on what basis you say Sinhala state and Tamil Country are one? When? Sri Lanka or Sinhalese never with Tamil Country. It is the biggest insult to a Sinhalese. Not even in Ramayana era?
I am highly confused of your statement of saying “ There are 80,000 Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu”. How come Tamils become a refugee in Tamil Country? Those Tamils lived illegally in Sri Lanka have gone back to their own country. Except in Tamil Country (Tamil Nadu) all the European, Pacific and American countries granted them citizenship or permanent residence statues with in three year. But Tamils those who went in 1983 to Tamil Country are still in refugee camps. Why can’t they grant Tamil Country’s citizenship? Karunanidhi is nidhi it seems. Why not Vaiko, Nedumaran, Seeman, Jayalalitha cannot allow Tamils to live in Tamil Country.
April 21st, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Chintha:
Tamil has many forms of talking. The Tamil in Chennai is different from the Tamil in Thirunelvely (deep south).
Tamil in Coimbatore is differs from the Tamil in Ootty. Many dialogues available in Tamil. But the written form is same every where.
Further I agree Sri Lanak belong to all Sri lankan citizens. The Eelam or separate land for Tamils is not a home grown idea. If that so, can you explain why Catholic Church allied with LTTE? Why did J.R.Jayawardene paid the cost of training of LTTE in Tel Aviv? Even the worse happened when Ranil became PM. He carved out an area for LTTE. Premadasa supplied weapons to LTTE and saved them. Why?
Further Tamils dont need any bogus claims to ask anything in Sri Lanka. Because Mahavamsa or Dipavansa is the proof for the presence of Tamils.
April 21st, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Sri Rohana:
You talk something without knowing the history of Hinduism.
The word ARYA is sanskrit and not from Iran or England. North-Eastern India-Ganges Valley-is the base for Hindu civilization. Present day Bengal, Orissa and Bihar were the civilised Indian societies before the invasions from East Arabs. Later followed by Christian west.
North Indians and many North Indian tribes are migrated at various times to India from eastern Europe and Iran and amalgamated with Hindu society. North Indian MANU created the CASTE based ideology. MANU was a new comer to Hindu religion. Manu is unknown in the South for many centuries.
For exampale the name NEHRU is a POLISH origin. How can a POLOSH guy become a HINDU Brahman? This is like Malayalee Jeyawardene became Sinhala!
Muslims destroyed many ideals of Hindus. Muslims destroyed all the Buddhist monuments in North -east India including the oldest Buddhist University of Nalanda.
Magadhan kingdom under Asoka adopted Buddhism. Everyone knows Buddha was a NEPALI. But Hindus valued his teachings and followed his ideals first. Before UNO, Buddha gave the idea of non-violence and Peace. North eastern rulers used the Buddhist ideals to live in peace with the new comers from the North west India. But Buddhism was defeated and destroyed by the same forces.
Buddhism spread to far east through South India from Kanchipuram. Sri Lanka too got the Buddhism from Kanchipuram.
The classifications of people based on employment is a Hindu product but the discrimination based on castes is the recent invention.
SHUDRA means the people who use equipments and not as now meant!
North Indians are not Brahmans. But many GYPSY tribes tried to be Brahmans later. If you trace the history the author of ARDHA SASHTHRA, CHANKYA was from South India.
Sinhalese who claims Buddhist but follow CASTE system. How many Kandians prepared to marry Karawa or people from pahatha ratta? Check the bride/groom columns! What about the DAVEDDA of Sinhalese? Millions or few hundreds?
South India never be a part of North Indian rule. British created the current India but the whole area known as HINDUSTAN for centuries. The common bond was the Hindu religion.
The Hindu Vedas never mention any of the current caste issues. North India was marred by invasions and creation of new ideologies.
How many Sinhalese are invited by North Indian Brahman homes? Are the Govigamas invite Rodiyas for a Tea?
I wish to tell the compiler of HINDU VEDIC scriptures was Veda VYAS who was a son of a FISHER WOMAN. Even the Mahabharat story is about the descendants of the same FISHER WOMAN. Read the Indian history. the NANDA clan of rulers were BARBERS and not High caste or Kshatriyas. The same in S/India later about the NAYAKS who were from a LOW caste agrarian society.
So, dont try to compare the current affairs with the OLD ideals or old traditions which are still the main part of Hindu religion.
//MUDali on what basis you say Sinhala state and Tamil Country are one? When? Sri Lanka or Sinhalese never with Tamil Country. It is the biggest insult to a Sinhalese. Not even in Ramayana era? //
I did not say but Priyantha claims the current TAMILs and Tamil Nadu were SINHALA.
The SATI in North India was a result of Muslim invasion. Muslims raped and took away women. Many women killed themselves instead of getting molested by muslims. In the south, SATI is unheard.
Think about RODIYAS in Sri Lanka. Who are they? Why should the Sinhala Buddhism of 2500 years treat those people as semi-humans?
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:37 am
MUdali looks like on the overdrive. Before his demise, Prabhakaran asked Tamil writers to write books claiming N & E of Lanka as theirs so that someday they can use those books as evidence to claim ownership, based on the way some idiots today spin the history under the cloak of academics. You are doing an excellent job in that respect. I hear a lot from Tamils claiming to almost the whole world pointing to the illusion that all other humans came from the underworld. When VP was on the top, they had a plan for the world domination (Pinky and the Brain type). Unfortunately, you are too late to fool the people by making them to believe script written on books to claim resources like land. Jews have done it by writing a claim that Israel was given to them by GOD as they are the chosen children to rule the world. Presumably, Hitler could not be a product of God for what he thought about Jews. Every body knows what GOD could have done, if not mistaken the Pharaohs of Egypt as gods. Obviously, I am not going to tell the most definitive test to find who owns which land that we can apply as a final test to find ethnic origin.
I see that you shovel in a lot of my text to dress up your arguments. Obviously it is not manipulation, but proper practice according to Hinduism. Breaking the rules, the honors of position and agreements, and committing evil is OK as long as it serves your interests, the fundamental premise of modern Hinduism. There was a cricket umpire who applied this rule to no ball someone using his umpiring position to help win the other side to end up becoming unemployed. In a previous comment, I made an entry. I quote ”I challenge you to tell the meaning of your own ethnic label…” unquote. Before writing anything, you should answer this question if you think you are a Tamil. Otherwise, I assume that you are an English subject engaging in typical habit of making a mess of everything.
I said “I claim that all humanity descended from ancient Sinhala people and that what you call Tamil is an ancient version of Sinhala language forced upon some people who were not part of the main group at a later stage.” You said “ If you claim TAMILS were Sinhala speakers once, I have no option except laughing!” You are showing your Tamilness by failing to understand even English. If Tamils are not stuck in the primitive times, things could have been very different. Even the attempts to add a few more letters to their language by copying corresponding Sinhala letters with a few more curls were not successful. Unfortunately, many Tamils are not in a good shape to comprehend this new addition to bring more clarity to their language. On the other hand Sinhala people have lost four letters in their alphabet thanks to the imported saviors of Sinhala people. Language like any other man-made product has makers and users. People like you are just users since you do not recognize the basic principles of a language. If the human evolution is measured by using the life as an animal as the base point, the fundamental number of sounds and scripts used to present the word structure is a distinct measure of how far that ethnic group has evolved. Why not try yourself to fit your own ethnic identity to find where you are and how close or how far away from animal humans before trying to tell things beyond your understanding. You totally ignore an important part of my comment “But being Tamil and being Sinhala, we differ in many ways. On the other hand, I can extend this to claim that all life forms are interconnected and have a combined origin.” What about saying that Tamils, Sinhala, cattle, horses, etc are the same on the same basis that you used. Please do not try to interpret things that you do not comprehend.
Your make a lot of references to Kerala people. Refer your so many claims, not even Kerala people and their history vouch for your creative stories. I wonder why you do not try to claim that Sinhala names similar to Rajasekhara and Kulasekhara were borrowed from Kerala people. In another comment, you said their royals were called Selan. There is no wonder because it was meant to say that they came from Sinhala background. When you say Sinhala are very close to Kerala, there is some truth in it. Unfortunately, YOU CONTRIBUTE TO PROVE ONE OF MY CLAIMS THAT THE LAND CALLED TAMILNADU DOES NOT BELONG TO TAMILS. The reason is that Tamils are in the middles of these two ethnic groups and have more differences than those between these two. I know much more than the few words I utter at this forum for a very specific purpose and am not interested to share more on this aspect.
You say “You contradict Priyantha who claims all the South Indians were Sinhalese. Then how can you ask the former Sinhalese “not to come to Sri lanka?” hahahahaha”. I said an ancient version of Sinhala, not the current language, forced on what the ancient Hindus called “Forest Dwellers”. You better check the Hindu scripts to verify this quote. To come to that level, we have to trim many words to accommodate and match pronunciation skills of the people who use Tamilised version, I mean adding and chopping sounds to accommodate their speech capabilities. Even when you use English, you do exactly like speaking Tamil. Use of words and action are worlds apart. Unfortunately that is the problem with people who speak someone else’s language. What more proof of my understanding on this type than my admitting to have use English words that were meant different to how natural English speakers use. According to your thinking every one has to give way to your demands. What about others. How many Sinhala are in Tamil Nadu today? Keep demanding until you lose everything. Your people use big guns like Hindus, English, US and Europeans to win your claims. Imagine the life without their support. You already lost Hindus and it is a matter of time for others to come to their senses. When I have to choose between my future and yours, I choose mine because I am not interested to attain Nirvana. I think this principle is very common to every one else, because in time to come, there will be many claims in the West for Tamil homelands, a theme repeated for thousands of years to end up being chased out.
Refer your comments about Tamil refugees in India, they are refugees because of the funny kind of constitution adopted by the dysfunctional East India Company now in the hands of the boot kissers. It is the same problem in Lanka in reverse order to recognize Tamils as citizens of Lanka. English have made a mockery of human values. They made natives nobodies, but immigrants as citizens who have all the rights as the members of their society. Keep counting, if you think that English built empire is going to last. I hope those of you licking their boots will end up like Romas getting kicked around like the dogs lying on the passage ways.
You claim “Further Tamils don’t need any bogus claims to ask anything in Sri Lanka. Because Mahavamsa or Dipavansa is the proof for the presence of Tamils.” What your claim does is actually telling the truth about the true nature of these pathetic concoctions and the people who created them. But never any legitimacy. I am surprised that you did not use some of the books written by your scholars to lay claim to many other lands.
It is interesting to hear that “SHUDRA is same as Yaka which meant the people who use equipments and not as now meant!’ Is it another concoction? Whereever I came across in Hindu scriptures, this word refers to lowly life. As an ethic identity, what they do today and why? Is there any difference to what they were doing during that time? Obviously, there are many references to Lanka in their scripts, but the language is more like talking about internal than external conflicts. All references to Lanka is Lanka Pura, and not a country called Lanka. Interestingly, their stories are more like family feuds than talking of people speaking different languages.
You say “Sinhalese who claims Buddhist but follow CASTE system. How many Kandians prepared to marry Karawa or people from pahatha ratta? Check the bride/groom columns! What about the DAVEDDA of Sinhalese? Millions or few hundreds?”. It is much more than that. Even the horoscopes should match after matching all these requirements. There is nothing wrong for a person to be very specific on something very special and personal that lasts for the eternity with the offspring from the time of marriage. We have worked out a much more sophisticated way to matchmaking and to nake people more compatible. Again, you think that all these divisions occured while we lived in the jungles. These are the products of evolution that we have to take into account. I personally know a Tamil speaking migrant marrying a native English after realizing the difficulties of paying to buy a partner from their ethnic background. So much so for your even handed thinking.
You say “//MUDali on what basis you say Sinhala state and Tamil Country are one? When? Sri Lanka or Sinhalese never with Tamil Country. It is the biggest insult to a Sinhalese. Not even in Ramayana era? //. I did not say but Priyantha claims the current TAMILs and Tamil Nadu were SINHALA.” You better read a few times to understand my comments. The ethnic labels Tamil and Sinhala refer to two distinct groups TODAY. Forget about two different ethnic groups. Imagine my own brother trying to claim ownership of my house. I can tell that he will be as good as dead for making such a claim. But, what you do not ask is why Priyantha is so anti-Tamil even after claiming so much to drive these two groups closer from an ancient historical point of view, say by manipulation according to your version of word usage. I tell you the answer. I could be the most anti-Tamil person supporting Sinhala people because I know somethings that probably no other person living today has come across yet or not understood the significance of the matters they encountered. When others realize, Tamils as an ethnic group will get what they really deserve. They would not enjoy the life they enjoy in the middle of Sinhala people, which I attribute to Sinhala conscience that tells them to accommodate them, a grave mistake of humanness. I know more than that including your ethnic group’s natural behavior that never change. The land you call Tamil Nadu became Tamil haunted place because they were given shelter when there was no place to go under the pressure of Hindus. Your people got to the N & E under the same conditions and now claim that as yours with eyes on the other part as well to create their homeland called Tamil Sinhala Land ( Tamil Elam). There is an interesting new development. Even the Westerners have realized what is meant by your communal thinking. Their support comes to get rid of your kind just like the way they dumped Jews. For that matter, Scandinavians are one of the most racist people if their language is a guide to their thinking. Even the casual language is full of racial twists. They support this liberation struggle because they can get rid of your people. If what happens in the west is anything, your people will end up in the middle of nowhere soon. But you already lost your Tamilness. Isn’t it?
You say “Think about RODIYAS in Sri Lanka. Who are they? Why should the Sinhala Buddhism of 2500 years treat those people as semi-humans?” This is a good question. One of my arguments that Sinhala people are yet to understand Buddhist thinking though they claim to be true believers. What I hear from these Rhodias is that they were brought to such a semi-human state as a result of their ancestors who were serving the kings as the high and mighty in the community, feeding the king with human meat when they ran out of animal meat fearing royal rage. So what could you expect? We are never supposed to eat food offered by them. Imagine if I had a chance to influence the decision at that time, I would argue to destroy up to the seventh generation. So we could be better as there would be no Rhodias. Unfortunately, I do not agree with this continuous punishment for other reasons that I came across, but were not known at that time. Those who kill humans and eat human flesh (cannibals) are not human at all. Neither those who hack, chop, smash and kill innocent, ordinary, poor people living in their huts in the middle of the night to make their Homeland are human including those of their people who try to hide the facts and concoct stories to blame the victims using their own footage. So you should get the point on how I see your people. Look at what happened to SF after all the effort he has made according to his own claims. If Sinhala people become aware of how Tamils survived under their patronage in the past, they should expect a much worse response. It looks like two and half millennia spent to hide their past is coming back to haunt them.
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Priyantha:
Now you talk much about “concoction” but you tried all along in your articles while not giving any supporting proofs.
Remember Sri lanka always had all kind of connections with South India and not with any other country. Becoming a Sinhala or Tamil speaker is not a rocket science in Sri lanka.
I tell the same message to Tamils who claims they are “unique” but no one is “unique” in the region because no historical proofs available. Further “language” is not a GENETICAL property. People can change their language what ever needs arise. Language is a tool of communication only.
Your own creations are not based on any history or science but full of imagination.
Rodiyas are of Sri Lankan Royals. According the OLD customs,(still followed in Nepal) when a member of Royal family dies, another member of the Royal clan get the “sprit” of the dead person and he has to vanish in the forest for ever. I hope those people are the descendants of the OLD Royals vanished in the forest to save the rest of the Royal clan. It is better to check the DNA of the rodias and Royals if any one available!
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:17 am
Dear MUdali, refer my use of word “concoction”, when anyone produces a set of words relying on someone else to support an idea claimed by such a person, either by quoting extracts from that person, or by using the content in a book, or based on something found in a grave, that is worse than a concoction because there are so many logic of validation that fail in such an endeavor. If you see my text, they are mine and have no other source used to support. Since you claim my creations are not based on any history or science, but full of imagination, have you seen how wonderful my ability to imagine so much text that I made just at this web forum, with such a consistency and accuracy in my imagination? By the way, history (such as told by Mahavamsa) or science (did you mean speculative science propagated by west?) did not come out of the thin air. They were created by a few humans. I have already created a version of my own kind of science followed by many learners around the globe. So you think that I am hallucinated. Any way, I am making comments without much detail to make them true believers, because I want to create confusion among some people who make up the base of this website and have some undeclared objectives. When confused, you get agitated and come up with your inner thoughts or realize that what you believe is not right. Let me remind those interested in my comments that I not only have supporting facts to prove my claims, but what I say is just the tip of an iceberg. Unfortunately what I came to reveal is not mine and there are legitimate owners who should be aware of these facts than living on myths and concoctions. If you want me to provide support for my claims, you should tell what makes you a Tamil and what makes you different from wild humans. Answer is there to your concerns.
You claim that Sri Lanka always had all kind of connections with South India and not with (I think it should read as “more than”) any other country and then go to the other side and deny it. I already told more than that, but consistently. What did you say when I said that Tamils speak an ancient version of Sinhala? You forgot that I said that 80% of Tamil words were of ancient Sinhala origin. When talking of whether it is of Sinhala or Tamil origin, I said the horn does not come before the ear. It is silly to tell “Becoming a Sinhala or Tamil speaker is not a rocket science in Sri Lanka”. Rocket science is just four thousand year old Chinese fire cracker technology. On the other hand, language goes to the origin of life, even beyond human origin. Claiming to be an expert in language and a true owner of language are two different things. I wonder how many Tamil words you know and how good you are to create a new Tamil word. If tested, you definitely fail the comprehensive tests and nobody will pass. Speech making elements such as words (sound combinations), sound capability, rhythm (it applies to language not just songs), the speed of sound generation, pattern etc. is unique to every person and at a much larger scale it becomes unique to every ethnic group etc. Try the word “Bakshtuzylowestf” to find how good you are at uttering sound combinations. Obviously you know the sound of each letter. Unfortunately you can assume what I said is just my imagination as I am not going to tell more on this. But your many comments trying to drag poor Kerala people into the picture made me to go back to learn a bit more about them. Actually they are much closer to Sinhala language spectrum made of above elements and more. It is even justifiable to assume that they were Sinhala. You know what you ancestors did to them just like the way they did to Sinhala people in the northern half of Lanka. I wish you should not double up my disgust by referring to Kerala people. There is one more interesting thing that I looked for. Sinhala people would not live where there is no water. Interestingly, Kerala is located in the wet area of India. You know very well where Tamil Nadu is. It is on the most arid part of India just like in Lanka. Any one can verify my text by exploring India maps. Do you think that people could have survived in such arid areas before they found the knowledge to dig wells and build tanks. It is another claim to prove your ancestors were outsiders, but not aliens who came from another planet. I know much more, but have no interest to contribute to destroy life that wish to live, but have no hesitation to do whatever necessary to get rid of those who go on killing people under nefarious objectives. For the record, I found population of Hindus is very much concentrated on the northern half of India.
Refer you text “… no one is “unique”…”, I already told that every form of life, is unique. How unique every single life form is told by the mere fact that we will never know when we are going to find two equals, if ever. But this should not be used to deny life. That is why I make my point. I am a strong proponent of the concept that every being must have the natural right to speak/make the sounds made by their fore-parents because forcing people to use someone else’s language kills them. If you know why English force people to adopt their way of life by holding all the cards of life, you would never utter such silly things. I know a lot more about English to tell that it is one of the tools they have mastered to kill other people. If we apply this rule to Tamils in Lanka or reject Tamils who do not speak Sinhala, we do not have to do anything else to get rid of them. This is a seismic shift in Sinhala Thinking compared to that of English. I say anything considered true Sinhala means pro-life. That is why you got natural Tamil speakers in Lanka and none in the west among those born in that part of the world.
Refer Rodias, I told what is meant in Lanka and have no common base to that in Nepal because there are strong ethnic differences to make such a suggestion. If not for superimposed Buddhist values, none of their modern values tally with Sinhala values except very fundamental ones that I wish not to mention. Before WW2, Germans have done a lot of work about those living in Himalayan heights and their work is quite impressive. Nepalese have quite impressive capabilities. But ancient Sinhala people have never cared that much about spirits because they seemed to understand much more than that. A long time ago, there were some humans who climbed up the hills to go to heaven to live in luxury and to escape the misery of life down under.
You reliance on DNA to verify certain things can be ludicrous. It sounds a bit like the new mantra of the west to cure all diseases using DNA technology. I would trust a monkey going about poking a rod into an ant hole to find more important things such as a feast than relying on DNA. I am sure they will come up with another fascinating idea to drive us to extinction. I learned how to create human life from them. Just extract a human egg from a woman and the male element from a man and put them together in a fluid extract of human blood and body. So I created the life by myself and then plant it in the womb. I am the man. I have created life. What else you want to tell me about DNA and western gossip. By the way, every human has Royal DNA. That is why the ordinary man called Prabakaran tried to be the king of Tamils (This is not a joke). Those trying to build big mansions and trying to be super rich are also contaminated products of ancient kings. Sorry, those who love multilevel buildings are just those trying to enjoy the monkey life we had at tree tops, not royal DNA. But modern politicians who beg for consent to make a fortune are pure scum with DNA traceable to weasels. I hope readers get my point.
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:00 am
DNA is not a mantra like PIRITH ceremony but a science deveoped in the west. You claim 80% of the words in TAMIL are of Sinhala origin. Now I tell you 80% words in Sinhala are of Tamil origin!
Further ROCKETS do not use Pottasium nitrate as in the Chinese cracker. Rockets are now powered with Hydrogen fuel. People survive in -100 celsius temperatures but you cry people cannot survive in Kerala. Better visit Kerala or Tamil Nadu first before imagining yourself to create more stupid stories!
Sinhalese are still worried about SPRITS. Thovil dance and Kattadiyas are still there
Further I passed Sinhala/Tamil/English in Sri Lankan examinations. But you never passed any single TAMIL exam. So, better stop!
You seem to be joker. Not only Sinhalese but other people also dont like to live in any place where no water facilities!
Sinhala means pro-life? hahahaha
But history never support your argument.
In Rajarata, the kings built MULTI LEVEL structures. So, you tell all those kings were Monkeys! Nice!