{"id":117420,"date":"2021-08-23T17:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117420"},"modified":"2021-08-23T17:00:27","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T00:00:27","slug":"racism-nationalism-and-supranationalism-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/23\/racism-nationalism-and-supranationalism-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Racism, Nationalism and Supranationalism – I"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Definitions<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwould be the last to use the words \u2018nation\u2019 and \u2018race\u2019 interchangeably in the\nmodern Sri Lankan context as some appear to do nowadays. There was a time in\nthe past when in most countries, the two words could be used as synonyms. Each\nstate was formed by a particular race, on territory fully or preponderantly\ninhabited by that race speaking the same language and following the same\nreligious tradition. The modern idea of nation state is the culmination of\ncenturies of evolution, particularly in Europe, that resulted in defining a\ndistinction between race and nation, as nation came to mean a unification of a\npopulation belonging to diverse races, religions, and political ideologies,\ninhabiting the same geographical territory. The word racism means unfair\ntreatment of people of a particular race in a society especially to the benefit\nof people of another race,… the belief that certain races of people are\nsuperior to others\u2026\u201d according to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The same source gives a\nsimilarly negative, but curiously contradictory, definition of the word\n\u2018nationalism\u2019: loyalty and devotion to a nation especially<\/em> : a sense of\nnational consciousness \u2026\u2026 exalting one nation above all others and placing\nprimary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those\nof other nations or supranational<\/a> groups\u201d. Unfortunately, this is the entirely negative supremacist\nand aggressive nationalism that certain big powers of the world pursue, while\npersecuting smaller nations for their belief in a non-aggressive nationalism\nbased only on the ideal of loyalty and devotion to their nation\/people,\nespecially,on their sense of national consciousness or national identity (e.g.,\nthe innocuous independent nationalism that the nationalists of Sri Lanka are\npursuing at present; it is inclusive, multiracial, non-aggressive and\nnon-discriminatory towards minorities. But this form of praiseworthy\nnationalism  is given a negative definition by the American\nMerriam-Webster Dictionary, because that is what Americans say it is: radical\nnationalism\u201d, i.e., \u2019independent nationalism not under U.S. control\u2019 (as Noam\nChomsky cynically points out in his Who Rules the World?<\/em>,\np.151).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\nthe way, the primary definition of the word supranationalism given in the\nMerriam-Webster online dictionary is  the state or condition of\ntranscending national boundaries, authority, or interests\u201d (which needs to be\nrelated to different contexts as appropriate, I think, such as global\neconomics, politics, etc). Isn\u2019t this similar to or identical with a newer\nversion of globalization such as neoliberalism, that is overtaking the world,\nand that is spelling disaster to the political and economic survival of the Sri\nLankan state, among others caught up in the same predicament. I\u2019d like to leave\nit to specialists to decide if my man-in-the-street conjectures are valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importance of a sense of national consciousness<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back\nto the point. Can any people develop or modernize, or at least physically\nsurvive on the face of the earth without a proper sense of national\nconsciousness, that is, a sense of national identity? The nationalism that\naccommodates this is a positive thing in my opinion. No one criticises America\nfor having left the replica of the American flag on the moon after its moon\nlanding in 1969; neither does anyone blame China for claiming national honour\nfor successfully trying to pioneer the exploration of the far side of the moon\nthat humans normally never get to see from the earth. Who will find fault with\nIsrael for celebrating, if they choose to do so, their own unique genius as a\nnation, for having invented the Iron Dome air defence system that so\nsuccessfully intercepted and destroyed hundreds of rocket strikes from Gaza\nrecently, thereby saving the lives of innocent Israeli citizens? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of the national identity of the Sinhalese<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nracial group\u2019s ancestral language is the most basic distinguishing feature of\ntheir identity. The Sinhalese are separated from other races on the basis of\ntheir language, Sinhala, which is confined to Sri Lanka, where it originated.\nIt is not found as a native language in any other country. The phonology of\nSinhala (its vocal sound system – vowels, consonants, etc) is not like that of\nany other language. Its morphology (how its words are formed), and its syntax\n(rules that govern the arrangement of words in forming meaningful phrases and\nsentences) are unique to it.  The Sinhala vocabulary (the total range of\nwords the language possesses, and enters in its dictionaries), like the\nvocabulary of other languages, comprises both its own original words, new\ncoinages, and borrowings and adaptations from other languages that its speakers\nhave come into contact with. Sinhala came to enrich its vocabulary with\nborrowings from Sanskrit in ancient times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n\u2018nelum\u2019 part of botanical name of what is called the Indian lotus Nelumbium\nspeciosum or Nelumbo nucifera comes from Sinhala. \u2018Nelum\u2019 is the Sinhala word\nfor the lotus even today; it is also a name for a girl. Although Sinhala has\nsuch a long history, and is still a living language spoken and used by nearly\n17 million Sinhalese, it is a minority language on a global scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because\nof its specific individuality, the linguists\u2019 classification of Sinhala as an\nIndo-Aryan or an Indo-European tongue, is problematic, but not difficult to\nunderstand. One reason for it may be the preponderance of Sanskrit-derived\nwords in the Sinhala vocabulary. That categorization might support the myth\ngiven in The Mahavansa or the Great Chronicle (composed in the 5th century CE)\nthat the ancestors of the Sinhalese came from the Vanga Desha in northern India\nin the 6th century BCE.  Prince Vijaya is said to have landed at a region\nthen called Thambapanni (place of copper coloured sand; \u2018thamba\u2019 in Sinhala\nmeans copper) from which the Greek name for the whole island Taprobane came.\nThe Vijayan legend has been subjected to questioning by the recent discoveries\nof local and foreign historians and archaeologists. But the place known in\nancient times by that name in the north-west of Sri Lanka still has coppery\nsands. Evidence of a pre-Vijayan civilization found during excavations carried\nout in the inner city of Anuradhapura in 2009 suggests that the race of people\nknown as Yakkhas, the original dark skinned inhabitants of the island, were the\nreal ancestors of the Sinhalese. The \u2018Yakkhini\u2019 (feminine form of \u2018Yakkha\u2019)\nthat features in the Vijaya legend, Kuveni, was no doubt a mythical reincarnation\nof some powerful matriarch from the local ruling family of the time.  Some\nsort of an invasion by a lighter skinned tribe from north India probably took\nplace and created trouble for the indigenous Yakkha community. Thus, the\nYakkhas and Yakkhinis that the Mahavansa author fictionalized as fearsome\nsupernatural beings or demons were the true ancestors of the Sinhalese.\nArchaeological finds currently being studied in the hilly interior parts of the\ncountry (like those dug out by Professor Raj Somadeva of the University of\nKelaniya) support this hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mahavansa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMahavansa itself as a valuable source book for the study of the island\u2019s\nhistory is not invalidated by its fictitious delineation of the origin of the\nSinhalese. Modern concepts of historiography or archaeology, or the advanced\nscientific modes of analysis of available historical and archaeological data\nemerged only very recently. Given the antiquity of the Mahavansa, the\nintellectual sophistication that its author has evinced in its compilation, and\nthe care he has taken to record the stories as he had heard them are truly\nastonishing. We have to read the details carefully, and read between the lines,\nas it were, to determine what approximates the truth.  The Mahavansa is a refined\nBuddhist literary masterpiece, a poem in the Pali language, which works at\nthree levels: a history, a homily, and a heuristic lesson for the contemplation\non the dhamma. As a history, it records the services the Buddhist kings \nrendered for the advancement and assured survival of the Buddha Sasana; it\nhardly focuses on the economic and political struggles that occupied the\nmonarchs, amidst internal and external challenges to their rule. The stories\nare told in a spirit of illustrating Buddhist moral truths concerning the\nunsatisfactoriness of human existence, the necessity of compassion towards all\nbeings, the brevity of life, and fickleness of royal fortunes, etc. The\nMahavansa was written for the \u2018serene joy and emotion of the pious\u2019 (as a\nphrase that recurs at the end of each chapter of the book\ndeclares).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emperor Asoka versus King Devanampiya Tissa<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nChapter 11 of the Mahavansa, we have details of how Devanampiya Tissa, the\ngrandson of Pandukabhaya the first indigeous king of the country after the\nalleged coming of Vijaya, sends an embassy to king Dharmasoka, following his\ninstallation as king. King Dharmasoka answers with his own embassy to Lanka\nwith instructions and the wherewithal to anoint Devanampiya Tissa a second time\nas king of Lanka, which suggests an empire versus vassal relationship between\nthe two countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be\nthat as it may, although he depicts the meeting of the monk and the monarch at\nAmbatthala (Chapter 14) while the latter was engaged in the royal sport of a\nhunt, as an unannounced initial step towards the introduction of Buddhism to\nthe people of the island, details given in Chapters 12 and 13 of the monk\u2019s\npreparations prior to his departure from Videha in Jambudvipa (India) to the\nisland, and his arrival there, suggest that the Lankan king had already\nreceived the gift of \u2018the three treasures\u2019 (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha) from\nthe mighty king Dharmasoka, who ordered the mission to the island under his own\nson Mahinda Thera. So, the Mahinda mission was probably a more wide-ranging\nfollow-up. It is possible that through strengthening the Buddhist cultural ties\nbetween the island and India, emperor Dharmasoka was affirming his imperial\nauthority over the island state. Before he came to Lanka, Mahinda Thera groomed\nhimself in the language of the islanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto Chapter 14 of the Mahavansa, Mahinda Thera preached to the people \u2018in the\nlanguage of the land\u2019 (Hela basa\/Elu\/Sinhala). This means that even by the time\nMahinda Thera arrived in the island in 236 BCE, the Sinhala language had\nreached an advanced state of development that was adequate for it to function\nas a medium for the communication of the profound philosophical doctrine of\nTheravada Buddhism to ordinary people. It was in the first century CE that the\nPali language Three Pitaka (The Three Baskets\/the tripartite scriptures of\nBuddhism, Sutta, Vinaya and Abhidhamma) which, until then, had been transmitted\ndown the previous four or five centuries since the Paribbana (demise) of the\nBuddha, through oral tradition, was committed to writing at a Buddhist shrine\nin central Lanka during the reign of king Valagamba in the first century CE, as\nshown later in this essay. And the writing was done in the Sinhala script.\n(Incidentally, according to matadornet.com<\/a>,\nthe Sinhala characters form the second most aesthetically pleasing script \nin the world, the place going to the Burmese script <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Of\nMyanmar). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kingdom of Sinhale of antiquity<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nancient history of the world, the kingdom of Sinhale, Lanka, or Taprobane occupied\na  conspicuous place. One reason for this was because of the island\u2019s\nlocation. It was an important port adjacent to the ancient trade routes joining\nthe east and the west. The island population then consisted of four tribes\ncalled Yaksha, Raksha, Naga and Deva. The Yakkhas were probably the majority\nruling tribe and they spoke an ancient form of what we know as Sinhala today.\nTheir language must have been adopted by the other tribes as well. The four\ntribes had a common identity as dipe danan\u201d (people of the land).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nnation is a large body of people united by common descent, history,\nculture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory\u201d (google.com<\/a>). The people of Sinhale had achieved\nthat status by the time of the arrival of Buddhism in 236 BCE  during the\ntime of emperor Asoka of Bharata (268-232 BCE). Incidentally, the Mahavamsa\nprovided some information required as data for dating emperor Asoka\u2019s reign in\nthe subcontinent. Mahinda Thera addressed the people of the island in their own\nlanguage, which was an early form of Sinhala. The Pali Tripitaka was committed\nto writing at Matale Alu Vihare in central Sri Lanka during the reign of\nValagamba of Anuradhapura (89-77 BCE) using Sinhala characters (which implies\nthat Sinhala already had a developed orthography by then). Archaeological\nevidence was unearthed in 2009 of a pre-Vijayan civilization in Anuradhapura\nduring excavations carried out with the assistance of the University of Berlin\nunder the supervision of distinguished archaeologist Dr Shiran Deraniyagala\n(who was then Advisor to the Department of Archaeology). The traditional story\nof Vijaya as the progenitor of the Sinhala race contained in The Mahavamsa\ncannot be true. The Sinhalese were not migrants from another country, although\nthey were probably temporarily subjugated by an invading force from a territory\n(fabled to be called \u2018Vanga\u2019) in northern India in the 6th century BCE. The\nlocal princess that features in the story, Kuveni, was probably a fictitious\ninvention of a story teller, modelled on a real princess who had belonged to\nthe ruling Yakkha (Hela or Sinhela) people of the country then. They were the\nnative Hela people who spoke the Hela language (the prototype of Sinhala). The\nancestors of the Veddas and the Sinhalese were contemporaries and were even\ngenetically identical relatives, who probably had escaped to the jungle after\nfleeing foreign invasions. European scholars  identified the Veddas as\naborigines, because they wrongly assumed that the Veddas were a distinct race\nthat had lived in the island before the alleged arrival of the Sinhalese from\nsomewhere else. No, the Sinhalese are as indegenous to the island as the\nVeddas. The history of Sinhalese and Vedda relations remains to be studied by a\nself-respecting new generation of independent native historians, archaeologists\nand anthropologists, who are not content with parroting their predecessors, the\nderacinated colonial clones of the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curse of colonial clones and the duty of the educated youth<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last mentioned were culturally estranged from their own\npeople through their Western education; their minds had been colonised. They\nwere trained to look at the latter as the ignorant ungrateful beneficiaries of\nthe goodies of colonization, while, at the same time, belittling the efforts of\npatriots like Anagarika Dharmapala as those of native troublemakers who\nobstructed the alleged English-initiated modernization that they themselves\nbelieved in. Some Sri Lankans of my generation who, as adolescents in the\n1960s, had developed a certain iconoclastic attitude towards traditional heroes\nand the beliefs and values that they represented and championed, were\ntemporarily enamoured of those West-oriented false prophets. It is a pity to\nnote that a significant proportion of today\u2019s educated youth are still\nstagnating at that immature stage of  a broader political awareness and\nengagement that is expected of them by a resurgent nation.  This is\nparticularly regrettable at a time when a handful of decrepit old racists among\nminority politicians are holding the majority Sinhalese community to ransom by\naligning themselves with global superpowers who are bent on destabilizing \nthe Sri Lankan state in relentless pursuit of their geostrategic goals in the\nregion. Politicians representing these powers follow a supranationalist agenda\nwhile being narrowly focused on purely nationalist interests within their own\ncountries, which they can\u2019t ignore, lest they be rejected at the polls. It is\nthe national duty of our educated young people, especially the English\neducated, to stand by the silently suffering majority of Sri Lankans comprising\nall communities, who are at the receiving end of persecution by both local and\nforeign politicians, at the current critical juncture instead of hurrahing\ntheir oppressors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So-called Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka <\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil\nNadu, located in the southernmost part of subcontinental India, is the\nhistorical homeland of Tamils. According to the Unique Identification Aadhar\nIndia (updated December 31, 2020), the T.N. population is currently estimated\nto be 78.8 million individuals, inhabiting an area of over 130,000 km\u00b2. Sri\nLanka that lies to the south of India separated from it by the sea (the Palk\nStrait) is equal to half of Tamil Nadu in area (i.e.,65, 610 km\u00b2) with a\npopulation that is significantly less than one third of T.N.\u2019s (i.e., almost 22\nmillion by now as could be projected based on the general census of 2012). Sri\nLanka\u2019s current Tamil minority which accounts for 15% of Sri Lanka\u2019s population\nconsists of two groups of Tamils who came to the island in different periods in\nthe country\u2019s history: Ceylon (Sihela) Tamils in the northern parts, whose\nancestors settled there permanently just over 800 years ago (from the middle of\n13th century CE\/Ref. A History of Sri Lanka<\/em> by K.M. de Silva in repeated\neditions from 1985 to 2005)  after having arrived as traders, adventurers,\ninvaders, mercenaries, and visiting scholars, etc., are 11% of the island\npopulation, while the rest 4% consists of estate or Indian Tamils, subjects of\nthe British empire, who were brought to the southern interior parts as\nindentured workers to toil on the rubber, coffee, and tea plantations owned by\nEuropeans from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. Over four million Tamils\nlive outside Tamil Nadu scattered in other countries across the world including\nSri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Tamil community, who share Sri Lanka with the\nSinhalese (75%) and Muslims (9%) as their common homeland, formed 15% (about 3\nmillion) of the island\u2019s total population in 2012 (as already stated). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(My\nclaims about the history of Tamils in Sri Lanka are based on extant authentic\nhistorical, literary, epigraphical and archaeological evidence found across the\nlength and breadth of the island; but these are sure to be disputed by those\nwho rely on the false assertions of certain biased historians and academics who\nhave been deliberately distorting history in the service of the Tamil\nseparatist cause. A glance at the Wikipedia will show anyone interested the\nplethora of distortions of Sri Lanka\u2019s history concocted by hired fake academics\nin support of the separatist project.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A circumstantial discrepancy <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis a seeming contradiction between Sri Lanka the inalienable only homeland of\nthe Sinhalese and Tamil Nadu the undisputed homeland of the Tamils in terms of\ntheir relative current status: while the small island of (Ceylon) Sri Lanka is\nan independent sovereign state, enjoying membership of the United Nations as\nsuch, Tamil Nadu is only one of the 29 states that constitute the single\nsovereign state of the (federal) Republic of India, whose constitution does not\nallow separation. The Republic of India occupies a seat in the United Nations.\nThe disgruntled Tamil nationalists (who can\u2019t open their mouths to talk about\nTamil nationalism in their own Tamil Nadu homeland, the Indian constitution\nobliges them to accept Indian nationality, and embrace Indian nationalism)\nappear to be taking their frustration out on the hapless Sinhalese, who are\nactually a global minority, over this perceived injustice. Paradoxically, the\nSinhala speaking Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa was probably the first\nhead of state to address the UN General assembly in Tamil in its history. This\nwas in September 2008. He urged the global Tamils to trust him to deliver\njustice to Sri Lanka\u2019s Tamil minority in the context of overcoming the armed\nseparatist terrorism that was plaguing his country then. Even the imperial\nBritish had ruled the vast landmass that they called India including what we\nknow today as the independent sovereign states of Pakistan (created in 1947)\nand Bangladesh (created in 1972), as a single entity. The British ruled Ceylon\nand India as separate countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unrealisable Tamil aspirations and India\u2019s duplicity<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamils\nmight naturally aspire to have their own sovereign state, and since Tamil Nadu\nhas been their historical homeland for countless millennia, that is where they\nought to have it. It is inconceivable that they will be allowed to have that\nseparate state elsewhere, where they are domiciled after having migrated from\nTamil Nadu or from any other country they have long been resident in as an\nimmigrant minority. The home of Tamil nationalism must be Tamil Nadu, not Sri\nLanka, contrary to what the handful of racists among ordinary Sri Lankan Tamil\npoliticians claim on behalf of the barely 4% of the global Tamil population\nthat live in little Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nIndians do not want to have a Tamil separatist problem within their own\ncountry. Indian politicians and diplomats are intelligent enough to understand\nthat an independent sovereign state in the north and east of Sri Lanka will be\na convenient stepping stone to eventual secession of Tamil Nadu from federal\nIndia. That will definitely be a thorn in the flesh for that country. So, what\nthey have effectively done over the past few decades is to export the\nseparatist problem to hapless Sri Lanka, while hypocritically demanding for the\nTamil minority in the island what they will not allow Tamil Nadu Tamils\nthemselves within the Republic of India! For example, Tamils in Tamil Nadu are\nrequired to sing Jana Mana Gana <\/em>the Indian  national anthem which\nhappens to be in the Bengali language. According to the Wikipedia, the people\nof Tamil Nadu also have a state song in Tamil in the form of an Invocation\nto Mother Tamil\u201d<\/em> in addition to the Indian national anthem Jana Mana\nGana<\/em>. But this could only be cold comfort for the Tamil nationalists. In\nSri Lanka, under the previous yahapalanaya, the Tamil version of the\nconstitutionally appointed Sinhala language national anthem was sung at\nnational events in the name of fake \u2018reconciliation\u2019. Though India would not\ntolerate Tamil nationalism with separate sovereign identity being accommodated\nwithin its territory, it seems ever ready to use it in Sri Lanka in order to\npromote its own expansionist goals. India apparently wants to control, among\nSri Lanka\u2019s other resources, its seaports and airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1987 India had friendly relations with Russia. So, to spite the then president\nUNP\u2019s JR Jayawardane who followed West-leaning foreign policies, India\nsurreptitiously groomed Prabhakaran and trained his rebel followers in military\nfacilities on Indian soil to mount terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka against the\nstate.  When the government troops were on the point of capturing\nPrabhakaran, and thus putting an end to his terrorism, India interfered in a\nhighhanded manner (a la the infamous parippu-drop operation) to rescue him.\nThis condemned innocent Sri Lankans of all communities to nearly three decades\nof fratricidal civil war, that they finally brought to an end at great cost,\nnot only in terms of lives lost whose value is beyond count, and much material\ndamage, but in terms of prolonged economic stagnation. Now India is with the\nAmericans as demanded by its own national interest, and it wants Sri Lanka to\nbe its ally against China, which is also a world power. How can Sri Lanka abandon\nthe friendship of China that has been supporting it through thick and thin at\nall times, without at all interfering in Sri Lanka\u2019s internal politics unlike\nthe West and India? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(To\nbe concluded)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Definitions I would be the last to use the words \u2018nation\u2019 and \u2018race\u2019 interchangeably in the modern Sri Lankan context as some appear to do nowadays. There was a time in the past when in most countries, the two words could be used as synonyms. Each state was formed by a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}