KAMALIKA PIERIS A book titled Kurundi Vihara Vamsaya” was published in 2023, by Sarasavi Prakashakayo.    The idea of such a publication originated with Channa Jayasumana, who felt that an authoritative book on Kurundi was urgently needed. He has funded the publication as well. The book was edited by Chandima Bandara Ambanwela and Sumedha Weerawarne. Chandima […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Kurundi vihara supporters were quietly active, where Kurundi was concerned. They set up committees in Colombo to support Kurundi. Ven.Medagoda Abeyatissa of Sunetra Devi Pirivena, Pepiliyana, and Dr Wasantha Bandara   had told Ven. Santhabodhi they would gather the national organizations together for the   Kurundi cause. On September 25, 2022 the Jatika Sanvidana Ekamutuwa […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 26.11.23. The Sarasavi publication Kurundi vihara vamsaya” (2023) provides a systematic account of the difficulties faced by Kurundi in the present period. The account is often in the first person, from the experience of the chief priest of Kurundi, Ven. Galgamuwe Santhabodhi.  In this book, Ven. Santhabodhi relates his experience in trying […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Mullaitivu judge T. Saravanaraja who heard the case relating to the Kurundi vihara, resigned from his position of District judge and Magistrate, on September 23rd 2023.  He said there were threats to his life due to the orders he delivered in the Kurundi case.   Saravanaraja submitted his resignation letter to the Judicial […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has tried to use the law courts to try and stop the revival work on Kurundi. They have used the Mullaitivu police and the Mullaitivu Magistrate court for the purpose. On 4. September 2018. Santhabodhi accompanied by Department of Archaeology officers from Vavuniya and Colombo set off for Kurundi, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 24.11.23 The Tamil Separatist Movement continued to obstruct and harass the Kurundi project.   On 3rd October 2018 a group of MPs from Colombo visited Kurundi. A group of Tamils confronted them  and there was an argument with Tamil MPs and residents.   On February 4th 2022 Ven. Santhabodhi had planned to hold a […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS REVISED 18.11.23 The Sarasavi publication Kurundi vihara vamsaya” (2023) provides a systematic account of the difficulties faced by Kurundi in the present period. The account is often in the first person, from the experience of the chief priest of Kurundi, Ven. Galgamuwe Santhabodhi.  In this book, Ven. Santhabodhi relates his experience in trying […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS REV 21.11.23 Ven. Santhabodhi met with continuous opposition from the Tamil Separatist Movement in his attempt to conserve Kurundi. The Tamil Separatist Movement had been observing what was going on in Kurundi from the very start and moved in on important occasions. EVENT NO 1  On 4. September 2018. Santhabodhi accompanied by Department […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS ITEM 1 Speech delivered on December 18, 1949 at the Inaugural business meeting of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam KC Chairman of the reception committee and delegates assembled here, I thank you most sincerely for the honour you have done me in electing me your Chairman for today’s […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised 12.9.23 The place names of the north and east indicate that the north and east were Sinhala before they became Tamil. The incoming Tamils, arriving from Tamilnadu, simply tamilised the existing Sinhala place names instead of inventing new names. In 1886, the irrigation engineer, Henry Parker, presented a series of Sessional papers […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS There are four    documents which need to be studied before the discussion on Tamil colonization of Sinhala lands can proceed. They are, Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact, Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayagam Pact, the District Development Councils Act and the Provincial Councils Act. All four take positions on the subject of Lands and land settlement”. BANDARANAIKE – CHELVANAYAGAM PACT […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS This essay looks at Tamil colonization of Sinhala lands during British rule. (1815-1948).From the time they took control of the Udarata kingdom, the British wanted to bring the Sinhala population to heel, especially after the rebellions of 1818 and 1848. They decided to replace the Sinhalese with Tamils from South India. This   was […]

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 […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS When it comes to identifying Buddhist monuments in the north and east, the work of Ellawela Medhananda deserves special recognition. The only bhikkhu who had explored the area successfully for this purpose was Ellawela Medhananda, said the Department of Archaeology research team of 2010. (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSdj7YRjbDM) Ellawela Medhananda   single handedly, with very little   […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS In 2010, with the end of the Eelam war, the Department of Archaeology initiated a survey of the Buddhist sites in the north.  The Department sent a team to the North, to map out the Buddhist remains in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna.  Their task was to find and list all the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Sinhala Buddhist lobby must now reverse this process of Tamilisation and re-establish the North and East as Sinhala and Buddhist. There are two stages in this venture. (i) Firstly   recognition of the north and east as part of the ancient Sinhala Buddhist civilization. (ii) Re-establishing a Sinhala Buddhist civilization in the north […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS With the rise of the Tamil Separatist Movement, the Buddhist realized that the Buddhist sites in the north and east were in danger.  The Tamil Separatist Movement intended to ruthlessly eliminate all evidence of a Sinhala Buddhist civilization in the north and east. Therefore, the Sinhala Buddhist lobby wanted the ancient Buddhist monuments […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The North and East of Sri Lanka was Sinhala and Buddhist   till the British took power in 1815. The North and East of Sri Lanka was never the area of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking peoples”.  The North and East of Sri Lanka never was the homeland” of the Tamil people”. The […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Neil Quintus Dias   commonly known as N.Q. Dias, was  a member of the Ceylon Civil Service, recruited in 1936. N.Q. Dias  was known for planning and executing many of the nationalist policies of the  1956 government . NQ was the Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs from 1961 to 1965,  also serving as the de facto Chief Adviser to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka thinks that it is saddled with nine Provincial Councils because of India. That is not so. India was not interested in setting up nine Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. India was after something else. India was engineering the partition of Sri Lanka, the creation of a separate sovereign state consisting of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of July 1987, led to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of November 1987. JR Jayewardene is remembered with contempt as the person who got the 13th Amendment accepted in Parliament. At the time, it was thought that this was forced […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The ‘Races’ of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were invented by the British when they ruled our country. Until the British came, there were no races or ethnic divisions in Sri Lanka, as we know them today. The ‘ethnic groups’ we are saddled with today, are bogus ones created by the British rulers. The British […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS We are now in the month of August, 2023 and public attention is once against focused on the   13th Amendment (1987).  President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that he wished to take further action on the 13th Amendment. He wanted to grant police powers to the Provinces. The Tamil Separatist Movement has been asking for this […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Secret talks on signing an Accord   started between India and Sri Lanka with the participation of Ambassador J.N. Dixit, Editor, Hindu”, N. Ram and Minister Gamini Dissanayake. The Indian Research and Analysis Wing, (RAW) drew up the necessary plans, said journalist Dharman Wickremaratne. Indian High Commission’s Second Secretary H.S. Puri left for Jaffna […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has shown strong opposition to the presence of Buddhist temples in the north and east.  The Tamil Separatist Movement is opposing two things, the conservation of ancient Buddhist temples and the building of new Buddhist temples. It is good that this matter had now come before the attention of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  When the Eelam war ended in  2009, the government made no attempt to integrate the north with the rest of the country. Instead they paid puja to  its Tamil-Hindu culture, ignoring the fact that this was one of  the arguments used for waging the Eelam war. In 2009, soon after the war ended […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil agricultural laborers who migrated to Jaffna in the 17th century, probably set up shrines to the village gods they worshipped back home. The Bhakti religion  had incorporated local gods into its philosophy. Due to their low caste  they would  not have been allowed into the major temples that  existed  at the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has shown strong opposition to the re-establishment of Buddhist temples in the north and east.  In this case, Kurundi vihara in Mullativu. The Tamil Separatist Movement is opposing two things, the conservation of ancient Buddhist temples and the building of new Buddhist temples.  This issue has been simmering for […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS One strategy used to suppress Buddhism in the north and east, is to plant a Hindu kovil amidst   the Buddhist ruins. These brand new ‘kovils’ were set up in carefully selected Buddhist sites which were of strategic importance. Unknown to the Sinhala Buddhists, the Tamil Separatist Movement was busy identifying critical Buddhist ruins […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Another strategy of the Tamil Separatist Movement when dealing with Buddhist ruins in North is to try and surround the Buddhist ruins with Tamil settlements, so that the archaeological reserve cannot expand, also access to the Buddhist monument can be controlled. In order to do so, Tamil Separatist Movement has brought the residents […]