KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamils in Trincomalee District rose, from 30% of the population in 1871 to a peak of 60% in 1901.  Trincomalee had become an urban center by 1879. Census reports indicate that from 1870 to 1900 Jaffna was the foremost source of migrants into Trincomalee town. The town itself was largely inhabited by Tamils, while the harbor area held both Tamils and Muslims. By 1899, the          major population in Trincomalee were ‘residents of Jaffna and Batticaloa’ (AR Eastern Province 1899) 

The Government Agent, Trincomalee pointed out in 1898 that it seems almost incredible that a visitor may spend a year in any part of Ceylon without ever seeing a Sinhalese man and yet this might happen to a visitor in Trincomalee. It seems incredible that there should be any town in Ceylon where you could not find thirty men speaking the national language, Sinhalese, yet this is true of Trincomalee.” (AR 1898 p F16)

However, from the 1920sthe population of Tamils in Trincomalee started declining. To 52.2 in 1921, 46.6% in 1931 and 33.8% in 1981. One reason for this would be the emergence of Trincomalee  as a  ‘ major commercial centre especially due to the  utilization  of the  harbor during  World War II in the 1940s .This  brought  many non Tamils into Trincomalee

 In the early part of the 20th century Tamils and Muslims became dominant in the east.  It was quite the reverse for the Sinhalese in the eastern Province, said analysts. Report on Forest Administration of Ceylon by F.D’A Vincent (Sessional paper XL11 of 1882) spoke of   “the gradual spread of the Tamils down the coasts, especially the eastern coast. Where ever the Tamil or the Mahommedan comes to settle, the Sinhalese is driven back to the forest, where he earns a precarious existence by chena cultivation and by hunting.”

 Caught by their traditional occupation rice cultivation and reluctant to move from their traditional Purana villages, the Eastern province Sinhalese of the late 19 century and early 20th century, simply wilted, said GH Peiris. The government records of the period show the retreat of these ‘purana’ villages, the depopulation through famines, epidemics, drought and finally, cultural assimilation by other ethnic groups.

 It was found that while the Tamil and Muslim populations were thriving, Sinhala villages were dying out said S. O Kanajaratam, in his Monograph on the Batticaloa District, 1921.

The depopulation of Sinhalese from the east coast was widely reported by the administrators and officials working there, said Hennayake. AGA Trincomalee, 1867 and GA Nuwarakalawiya, 1870 reported a decrease in villages. The village land had gone to the Crown. In 1870 the Crown got, in this way, 65 villages. This depopulation was followed by the simultaneous infiltration of Tamils and Muslims from their enclaves along the eastern coast and also from Jaffna, said Hennayake.  

The population around Kantale tank (Gantale) had been Sinhala In 1833 but the Sinhalese had disappeared by 1855. They had been replaced by Tamil settlers, noted Gamini Iriyagolle. A report by three British engineers submitted in 1855 states that a Malabar (i.e. Tamil) population had superseded the Sinhalese at Gantale.  The hydraulic tradition relating to the Yoda Ela from Minneriya which was known to the Sinhalese, who were there in 1833 was totally unknown to these Malabars.

  In 1921, S.O. Canagaretnam said with reference to Batticaloa District,’ one of the saddest features of the District is the decay of the Sinhalese population in the west and south of the Batticaloa District. At one time there were flourishing and populous Sinhalese villages, as evidenced by the ruins and remains dotted about this part of the country. Now most of the Sinhalese villages that are left are little better than names.”  The Batticaloa District had very old stone inscriptions, such as the Nuweragala inscription dated 4 BC found in Bintenne, he observed.

The GA Trincomalee district C.M.Lushington was deeply concerned in 1898 about the fate of the Sinhalese villagers under his administration. .Lushington said Kaddukulam pattu was inhabited by Sinhalese villagers of Kandyan descent, and the community was rapidly dying out or becoming effaced.  The._ villagers only need a little help to restore their village tanks. The villagers were willing to pay the cost in installments. (AR 1898) Kaddukulam Pattu   had 15 Tamil and Muslims. Villages and 9 Sinhalese villages in 1867.

 The most important assistance which can, and ought to, be rendered to these villagers would be the restoration of their village tanks. This would render them independent of the Tamils, and make them less likely to abandon their villages or to sell their lands to Tamils emphasized Lushington. (Administration Report on Trincomalee District for 1898 p. F18).[1]

In his dispatches, which I have read at the National Archives, Colombo, Lushington appealed over and over again for help in this matter. He said these Sinhala villages are    dying simply because of the lack of water. All they needed was a little help to repair their tanks.” The government ignored this plea.

 In 1901 Lushington notes that the Sinhala villages were steadily getting depopulated. ( AR 1901 p F17).In 1902 the annoyed and disappointed Lushington pointed out that while the appeals of the Kaddukullam pattu villagers  were ignored, the government had pampered the villages in the Batticaloa district where just one tank had 8 sluices. ( AR 1902 p F17)  Batticaloa had the greatest concentration of Tamils in the eastern province.

Therefore one reason for depopulation of Sinhalese villages in Eastern Provinces, was due to  deliberate neglect by the British authorities. The Sinhala population in the Eastern province was  allowed to die out.

Another way in which the Eastern province became Tamil was through Tamilisation. The Kaddukulam villagers are rapidly becoming Tamilized, which is a great pity., said GA Lushington (1898). They intermarry with Tamils, and many of them speak Tamil as well as they speak Sinhalese.  The Government schoolmaster is Tamil, and only that language is taught in the only school.

The Sinhalese have even given up their patronymics and have adopted the Tamil custom of prefixing the father’s name instead of the usual patronymic, and even the names of the villagers are assuming a Tamil dress. This is perhaps not to be wondered at when the interpreters of the court and the Kachcheri, the petition-drawers, and all through whom the villagers have access to government officials can speak nothing but Tamil.[2] I must say I regard this as a great misfortune. I should like to see a strong Sinhalese headman acquainted with English appointed as Chief Headman of the district, and I should like to see the Tamil school abolished, concluded Lushington.[3]

P.A.T Gunasinghe said that that Tamil penetration was on the average only 8 to 16 miles into the interior, both on the East coast and also the West.’   G.H. Peiris, researching into the ethnic demography of the East coast, in the 19th and 20 the centuries, found that even in 1920,  almost all the Tamil settlements were confined to a coastal strip barely extending 10 miles into the interior.

Tamil settlements of the 19th century   were along the coastline. In Trincomalee district, the ancient Sinhalese villages continued in the interior jungles while old settlements like Kumburupitiya, (Kumburupitiya), Puhul Motai, (Pulmudai), and Giribandu (Tiriyaya) were taken over by Jaffna Tamils and Muslims., said DGB  de Silva.

 The 1981 census data indicates that even in 1981, the Tamil settlements in the East coast, hug the coastline, in small, separate fragments, interspersed with Sinhala and Muslim settlements. The interior is uniformly dominated by Sinhala settlements.

GH Pieris, researching into the ethnic demography of the East coast, in the 19th and 20th centuries, found that in Trincomalee districts, there were  Sinhala settlements scattered in the interior. There were numerous abandoned village tanks in the uninhabited tracts, which bore Sinhala names ( Continued)

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[1] Administration Report on Trincomalee District for 1898 p. F18 Lushington.

[2] Administration Report on Trincomalee District for 1898 p. F18 Lushington.

[3] Administration Report on Trincomalee District for 1898 p. F18 Lushington.