10 Responses to “15/10/1505 (510 years ago to date) is the day that the Portuguese first landed in Colombo, Sri Lanka”

1. Lorenzo Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 3:24 pm

   You either love or hate Lorenzo’s men. MORE SL songs are there about the Portuguese than ANY OTHER invader. Almost all of them PRAISE them and their BAILA than blame them!!

   SL should have made use of the POPE’S IMPOSED INQUISITION executed by the Portuguese to get rid of some South Endian and Arabic ungrateful invader communities that lived in SL and Maldives.

   That would have saved a lot of problems later. Then Maldives would remain Buddhist which would add a TREMENDOUS GEOPOLITICAL ADVANTAGE to SL-Maldives.

2. Christie Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 4:04 pm

   Forget about the Portugese who gave us lots of skills at least to the people in the coastal areas. The Indian suckers; Parippuwaas cannot see what Indian Jadayaas have done to us and are doing to us now. These Parippuwaas are good at blaming the West instead of Indian Imperialists.

3. Cerberus Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 4:12 pm

   Please read the book “16th Century Clash of Civilizations” by Dr. Susantha Goonatilaka. Gives you the whole picture. The Portugese were barbaric in their treatment of the Sinhalese. People were made to convert at the point of a sword. Many of the temples were ransacked and the ola leaf books were burnt. The temples were destroyed and the stones were used to build forts. They renamed all the people along the coast and gave them Portugese names as part of a census they did. Even today there are Perera, Fernando, de Alwis, etc which are all Portugese names. Sri Lanka should request reparations from Portugal for all the atrocities and damage done to our nation.

4. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 9:15 pm

   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.
   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.
   The Dutch who ousted the Portuguese in 1640 and were instrumental in destroying temples, monasteries including the royal palace at Hanguranketa.
   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.
   Even though different ethnic groups could be traced in Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial era, there were not any significant disputes between them. The colonial factor enforced the ethnic divisions and the ethnic divisions reflected political, economic and territorial benefits. 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, superficiality 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 westernised 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 (1864-1933) 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.

5. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 9:21 pm

   1797 Napoleon takes the lands under the control of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church The Pope has become the facto ruler of the city of Rome and the suburbs by the 6th century AD. But in 754 AD, Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, officially handed over these areas to Pope Stephen II. These Italian lands under direct rule of the Pope were called Papal States, or States of the Church or Pontifical States. Pope, with the help of regional powers like the Franks, continued to annex more territories by gifts, purchases, and conquests until the Papal States included nearly the whole of central Italy. These areas reached their greatest extent in the 16th century. In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte took much of the territory. In 1815, after the allied forces defeated Napoleon at Waterloo and restored Papal rule back in these areas under Austrian protection. But in 1870, Italian King Victor Emmanuel II annexed all Papal states including Rome and limited the Pope’s jurisdiction to the Vatican. In protest, each Pope thereafter considered themselves as prisoners under Italian occupation. In 1929, in the Lateran Treaty, Italian king Victor Emmanuel III recognized the full independence of the Vatican City under Pope.

   Vatican has a history of pacts with criminal dictators as the Holy See signed treaties with monarchs and governments regardless of slavery, inhumanity, or torture they may have induced upon fellow human beings. Vatican had links to government organizations, right-wing nationalism, including Fascism and Nazism. Moreover, From 1920′s to the 1940′s most every right-wing dictator had been brought up as a Catholic: Hitler, Horthy, Franco, Petain, Mussolini, Pavelic, and Tiso (who has served as a Catholic priest).

   Pope Pius XI, in his own words a “man with no love for democracy,” helped to bring Mussolini’s Fascist Party to power in Italy and in 1926 solemnly declared:
   “Mussolini is a man sent by Divine Providence.”

   The Spanish people, stricken with poverty and a high rate of analphabets (about 80% of the population), had swept away monarchy, proclaimed a republic and elected a left-wing government in 1931. Separation of State and Church was made a reality, religious freedom was granted and civil marriage adopted. Some of the Church property – which was estimated at one third of the nation’s wealth – was nationalized. To fight the “Antichrists,” a violent, relentless Catholic opposition was promptly started on a large scale throughout Spain.

   By 1934 Catholic organizations already planned a coup d’état, having been in touch with the Fascist Government of Italy. On July 17, 1934 the Spanish Army rose in many Spanish towns. The Spanish Civil War had begun. As soon as the revolt broke out, a General Franco made haste to let the pope know that his coup had succeeded. The papal banner was unfurled over the rebel headquarters at Burgos, and the Pope Pius XI had Franco’s flag raised over the Vatican.
   This was the beginning of a world-wide Catholic offensive against Republican Spain. Bishops in Italy, Germany and other countries published pastoral letters urging Catholics to help. The pope spoke. The Spanish Civil War, he said, was a foretaste of what

   “is being prepared for Europe and the World unless the nations take appropriate measures against it.”
   — Pope Pius XI, December 25, 1936

   Mussolini sent thousands of troops, Hitler sent warplanes, warships, tanks, and soldiers. The Spanish people fought a bitter, relentless fight from 1936 until 1939. Before the demolition of yet another young democracy in Europe was complete, Pope Pius XI died.

   BBC broadcasts on Croatia – February 16, 1942 :

   “The worst atrocities are being committed in the environs of the archbishop of Zagreb [Stepinac]. The blood of brother is flowing in streams. The Orthodox are being forcibly converted to Catholicism and we do not hear the archbishop’s voice preaching revolt. Instead it is reported that he is taking part in Nazi and Fascist parades.”

   – Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell page 256

   Though Fascist governments eventually died out and the Vatican made sure to distance itself from them, later dictatorships under Catholic tyrants would yet again be given the Vatican’s full support.

   For example, Chile’s Catholic dictator Pinochet who tormented Chileans. He was caught and was to be extradited to Spain where he could be put on trial for his crimes against humanity. The Vatican pleaded with international authorities to prevent his extradition – on humanitarian grounds, no less, arguing that the criminal was unwell. This farce might have been more believable, had the Vatican (and its fascist Nuncio to Chile, cardinals and archbishops) also pleaded with Pinochet for humane treatment of the Chilean people when he was still dictator. But the Vatican hadn’t done that, because Pinochet was working for the Church and in a Church-approved manner in his position as tyrant.

   Religious conversion is a deadly weapon much more disastrous than nuclear bombs and Vatican is the biggest terrorist organization that is using it for sowing distress and sorrow in this world. It is high time the civilized world shut down the ‘harvest machinery’ in Vatican .
   Even though the Christian population is “still” at 7%, the Christian Church has tremendous political influence in Sri Lanka. A majority of the major business tycoons, media organization owners, civil activists and almost all the senior cabinet members of the former UNP government were Christians.

   Both Ranil Wickremesinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunge are also widely believed to be closet Christians.

   Tamil writer DBS Jeyaraj wrote in the (Christian owned) Sunday Leader , Christians have contributed much more to the “Tamil cause” than Hindus.

   Christianity was brought to this island country of Buddhists and Hindus by the Portuguese, where it was imposed violently on the pre-Christian people against their will. The zealous soldiers of Christ destroyed temples and built Churches where the shrines had stood using the very materials of the broken temples themselves. They killed all those resisting who defended their pre-Christian places of worship.

   From 1574 onwards, the Catholic zealots kept destroying Buddhist and Hindu temples all along the Western coast. The monks and priests over there either fled or got killed or went underground. 1,000 pillared temples in Devundara in the deep south and Trincomalee in the East; the Saman Devale (temple) in Ratnapura; and the Kelaniya temple, all very much revered, were ransacked and burnt.A group of militant monks called Ganinnanse discarded the traditional yellow robe and began to wear a white robe instead to hide themselves.

   The Portuguese deliberately built churches over the ruins of Buddhist or Hindu temples. The present Kochikade church in Colombo and the Madu church in Mannar, both very popular now among Catholics, were Pattini Devales or temples for Kannagi, the famous heroine of Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
   Buddhist schools (pirivenas), which were also mini universities, were ransacked and burnt, and their monk-scholars killed. Among the schools thus destroyed were the Sunethra Devi Pirivena in Kotte, Vidagama Pirivena in Ragama – In 1557 400acre Vidagama Pirivena of Ragama converted to church graveyard and the Tottagamuwe Pirivena in Hikkaduwa. Today there hardly exists a Buddhist Temple over 150 years old in areas once ruled by the Portuguese, particularly in the maritime coast.
   The campaign against Buddhism had the involvement of three principal agencies namely –
   (1) The Roman Catholic Emperor of Portugal (2) His Viceroy at Goa and (3) The Roman Catholic priests in Sri Lanka
   ..the Portuguese came not only for trade and territorial acquisition, but for proselytising. The Papal Bulls of 1452, 1455 and 1456, gave the clear go ahead to Portugal to acquire territory and convert heathens. The Pope had conferred on Portugal a monopoly on all this. Force and intrigue were used convert them

   Many coastal communities in Sri Lanka underwent mass conversion, particularly in Jaffna, Mannar, and among the fishing communities living north of Colombo such as in Negombo and Chilaw. Roman Catholic churches with schools attached to them served Catholic communities all over the country. These schools also contributed to the spread of the Portuguese language particularly among the upper classes of society.

   The efforts of Roman Catholic clergy particularly the harsh methods adopted by them to convert Buddhists and reduce the influence of Buddhism among the public were viewed with great alarm by the Buddhist Sangha who had fled from Kotte to the Kingdoms of Sitavaka and Kandy, upon the conversion of Dharmapala and the seizure of Buddhist Temples.

   If Portuguese rule had continued and spread to the interior of the island, Sri Lanka would have completely lost its Buddhist heritage and become a completely Westernized and Catholic country. But even with the limited territorial reach (they were strong only in the Western maritime provinces) the impact had been deep, perhaps even indelible.
   Prior to the advent of the Portuguese, there was much Sinhala-Tamil and Buddhist-Tamil amity in Sri Lanka. Hindu temples dotted the maritime provinces, though these were Buddhist-majority areas. In the Thottagamuwa school, no distinction was made between Sinhalese and Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit. It was the Portuguese who first created a division between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

6. Chanaka B Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 11:11 pm

   Nalliah

   It is the innocence and the hospitality of the Sinhalese that the Portuguese exploited

   Lorenzo De Almeida was effectively a pirate (මුහුදු කොල්ලකරුවෙක්) who was roaming the Indian ocean with his 9 ships. They were more bandits than naval officers. They mainly robbed Muslim ships that transported goods between Europe and Asia

   For just 9 ships to come like that and conquer a country (yes, gradually) is remarkable, and unbelievable. The stupidity of the Kotte king is so obvious

   I agree with what you said ‘British occupation of Sri Lanka was one of sheer exploitation and devastation’. It is the British who attacked our psyche not anyone else. The brainwashing they did to us, we still suffer. ‘Kalusuddhas’ is just one end result. Thanks to patriots like Walisinghe Harischandra, Anagarika Dharmapala, S Mahinda Himi etc we at least came to know that we have a problem

7. Chanaka B Says:
   October 14th, 2015 at 11:37 pm

   Nallaih

   True, the Portuguese and the Dutch did forced religious conversions and many other bad things. But, why I said “it is the British who attacked our psyche, not anyone else ” is because it is the British who caused divisions in our society and also upset our thinking

   Yes, among many other vices, they taught us snobbery

   Only the British practised the ‘divide and rule’ policy

   Apart from stealing the nation’s wealth which all the three colonial rulers did so well, it the British who controlled our innermost thinking; ie, attacked our psyche (soul, mind, and spirit)

8. Independent Says:
   October 15th, 2015 at 2:38 am

   Chanaka,
   This is without researching, I thought it was the Portuguese who brought the tobacco growers trained in Tamil Nadu as the first Tamil settlers in large numbers. If that is correct they are the people (Lorenzo’s men) who have done the worst harm.

9. Chanaka B Says:
   October 15th, 2015 at 10:51 am

   Independent

   It is the Dutch who brought Tamils from Tamilnadu to work in the northern tobacco plantations. Yes, they were the early Tamil settlements there. Prior to that due to harsh climatic conditions, the north was sparsely populated

   None of the early history books (prior to 1980), including those written by the British, mention about a King by the name Sankili. If you can show me otherwise, please do so

   The Dutch attacked Catholism and introduced Protestantism

   It was Joseph Vaz (now St Joseph Vaz), who revived Catholism in the country during the Dutch period in the 17 century. Vaz travelled throughout the island bringing back the Catholic mass to clandestine groups of Catholics. Later in his mission, he found shelter in the Kingdom of Kandy under the Sinhala rule, where he was able to work freely. By the time of his death, Vaz had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church on the island

   The Portuguese and the Dutch did not unsettle our psyche much. It was the British who did this. Basically the Portuguese were jovial people who wanted to have a good time in Sri Lanka and were fond of Sri Lankan women. Lisbon actively encouraged intermarriage with the Sinhalese, hence the formation of the new racial group: the Burghers. The ordinary Portuguese basically treated the Sri Lankan equally. Baila is a gift from the Portuguese to us. The Dutch concentrated on coffee and tobacco plantations. They built elaborate forts and canal systems.

   It is the British who wanted to change our way of thinking. For example, they wanted us to think that we were inferior to them. Their ‘divide and rule’ policy created various divisions such as, between the:

   Sinhalese and the Tamils, rich and the poor , English speaking Sinhalese against the non English speaking Sinhalese etc

   They also created the class structure that we unfortunately still have

10. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:
    October 22nd, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    In 1805 Capt.Robert Percival of British army in Jaffna wrote in his book “An account of the island of Ceylon” that the majority in Jaffna peninsula were Moors who wore a little white round cap on their shaven heads. Second largest community was Malabars, who had migrated to Lanka after the Portugese period, from the Coromandel coast of South India. They appeared different to the South Indians in Jaffna. Capt. Percival also recorded in his book that there were more foreigners in Jaffna than the people who were native to Jaffna. These “foreigners” were those Malabars who came from the Coromandel coast to grow tobacco. The legacy of the tobacco boom in Jaffna was reflected in the thousands of odd wells that have been used and are still being used for irrigation. Even after the big massacre of the Sinhalese in Jaffna in 1478, third largest community in Jaffna at that time was the Sinhalese. The South Indian community who had arrived as merchants and invaders, was smaller than all the above three communities.

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