{"id":119270,"date":"2021-10-16T23:49:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-17T05:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119270"},"modified":"2021-10-16T16:47:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T23:47:32","slug":"reply-to-wigneswarans-attack-on-prof-g-l-peiris-part-2-insane-fury-in-tamil-politics-destroys-the-tamils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/16\/reply-to-wigneswarans-attack-on-prof-g-l-peiris-part-2-insane-fury-in-tamil-politics-destroys-the-tamils\/","title":{"rendered":"Reply to Wigneswaran\u2019s attack on Prof. G. L. Peiris \u2013 Part 2.-Insane fury in Tamil politics destroys the Tamils"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D.\u00a0Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The cruelty of Sangkili (and his avatar\nPrabhakaran) increased with his power…..\u201d Yalpana Vaipava Malai<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaffna has been the dark side of the Sri Lankan moon:<\/strong> its\u2019\nhistory has been consistently hidden from public scrutiny. Reason: It is\npolitically disadvantageous to reveal the horrors of Jaffna Vellala rulers\noppressing their own Tamil people throughout its history when they are accusing\nthe Sinhalese of discrimination. This factor may have inhibited the Tamil\nhistorians from producing an authoritative and comprehensive history book. In\nfact, Jaffna Tamil intellectuals, most of whom are Vellalas, seems to have\nimposed self-censorship in dealing with the dark side of Jaffna history.\nReports speak of the Jaffna University dons and Vellala high-ups discouraging\nresearch into the iron-fisted rule of the Vellalas who ruthlessly oppressed and\npersecuted the low-castes. Confirming this Prof Rajan Hoole wrote: \u2026when a\nrecent Jaffna University doctoral thesis had extensive quotations showing the\ndark state of Jaffna society early in the 19th<\/sup> century, one of\nthe three examiners insisted on  a good part of it being removed before\napproval.\u201d (p. 27 – 28 \u2013 NETHRA<\/em><\/strong>, Vol 2. No.1. Oct-Dec. 1997,\na quarterly journal edited by Regi Siriwardena). In the same paper he reveals\nthat a leading member of the Navalar commemorative committee with an O.B.E.\nmoving to block some less attractive side of Navalar\u201d being exposed, saying\nthat it is high time to stop researches of this type on Navalar.\u201d Navalar, the\nrevered guru of the Vellalas, is a caste fanatic who hated the low-castes and\nthe Christians. He did not hesitate to urge the Saivite followers to kill the\nblasphemers\u201d (i.e. the Christians).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanitizing the history of Jaffna for\npolitical gain has been a common trend. Though Jaffna boasts about its history,\nit is yet to produce an authoritative history of its bloody past. Jaffna University\n(established 1972) too has failed to deliver a scholarly historical account of\nits people to guide its people. So, the magnitude of the cruel history of\nJaffna was never told to the Tamil people or to the world. It is obvious that\nJaffna University prefers to keep its history hidden rather than reveal the\nhorror stories that haunt it. The void in the mind caused by either hiding or\nwhite-washing history has been filled with a rosy picture of Jaffna as an\nidyllic haven of non-violent, Gandhian Tamils persecuted by the\nSinhala-Buddhist hegemonists\u201d who had denied them their legitimate\naspirations\u201d, equality, justice and dignity. History, however, tells a\ndifferent story: the English-speaking, Saivite Jaffna Vellala (ESJVs) elite of\nJaffna was the most privileged community and the PQLI  rated Jaffna\nmetrics (education, health, transport etc) as the highest in Sri Lanka. Those\nwho get their history wrong can never get their politics right. Even\nthough  it is late \u2013 their distorted historical perspectives have already\nwreaked havoc in the nation  and done its worst to the Tamils — it is\ntime to put the record straight again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dark side of Jaffna history has been\nbloodied by brutal violence against the other\u201d. Mylvakanam, poet and\nhistorian, was accurate when he described the violence of Sankili, the first\nmass killer of Tamils, as insane fury\u201d. He said so when he wrote the Tamil\nequivalent of the Mahavamsa<\/em><\/strong>, the Yalpana Vaipava\nMalai. The History of the Kingdom of Jaffna \u2013 <\/em><\/strong>p.33. He added: The\ncruelty of Sangkili increased with his power. His subjects were not able to\nendure it any longer\u2026.\u201d (Ibid- p.37). The meaning contained in this telling\nphrase foretold the ingrained  nature of Tamil political violence that was\nto come. The \u201dinsane fury\u201d of Sankili did not end with him. The Sankili cult\nthat became an integral part of the Tamil political culture ran down to\nPrabhakaran. Insane fury\u201d defines the hate cult of Sankili against the\nnon-Hindu Tamil. First, Sankili\u2019s the insane fury\u201d led to the massacre of 600\nTamil Catholics for owing allegiance to the King of Portugal. Second, this\ninsane fury\u201d then turned against the Sinhala Buddhists who were forcibly\nthrown out of Jaffna. It is the first known act of ethnic cleansing in recorded\nSri Lankan history. Those Sinhala-Buddhists never came back, says Mylvakanam.\nThird, his wrath turned towards the remnants of the Malay soldiers who were\nexpelled. Later, Tamil fury targeted the Muslims who were driven out of Nallur.\nMuslims who dragged their feet discovered pigs\u2019 heads in  their wells.\nFourth, the perennial oppression and killing of Tamils by Tamils became the\nnorm in Jaffna history \u2013 an ingrained trend that sprouted from the insane\nfury\u201d of Sankili  and flowed via the casteist Vellalas in feudal times to\nthe insane fury\u201d of Velupillai Prabhakaran. Like that of Sankili it was a fury\nthat targeted anyone who refused to swear allegiance to Tamil power. Victims of\nPrabhakaran\u2019s bloated arrogance ranged from Neelan Tiruchelvam to Rajiv Gandhi.\nSankili\u2019s hate cult and the insane fury of Prabhakaran had the common aim of\nethnically cleansing Jaffna. Sankili is the original father of separatism who\ncleansed Jaffna of the other\u201d to establish a Tamils only state. After him the\nestablishment of the Tamil only state, if necessary through violence as\nexpressed in the Vadukoddai Resolution, became the sole goal in Tamil politics.\nThis insane fury\u201d in the Tamil political culture found its ultimate expression\nin Prabhakaran. Only an insane fury\u201d would have prompted him to kill Rajiv\nGandhi. Taking on India was a suicidal act. His decision to kill Rajiv \ncame from the insane Sankili cult of hate. It is revealed in a new book that\nhas come out recently. It will have to be dealt with in a separate chapter. It\nis this cult of hate that killed him and the Tamils at Nandikadal. Had he been\nmore flexible, tolerant and democratic he would still be dictating  terms\nto the Sri Lankan government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The insane fury\u201d in Tamil political\nculture refuse to tolerate dissenting Tamil individuals who do not toe the\nracist Tamil line.  They are either ruthlessly eliminated by the sword of\nthe Sankili hate cult, or killed politically by the Tamil electorate which\nknows no other history other than that of Sankili and Prabhakaran. As for the\nnon-Vellala Tamils, their fate was worse than death. The ostracised low-caste\nminority was treated as subhuman beasts. The insane fury\u201d of Jaffna politics\nwas repeated with slight variations in the post-independent years, particularly\nin the post-Vadukoddai Resolution (May 14, 1976) period. This Resolution \u2013 the\nultimate political manifesto of the SJVs \u2013 legitimised the insane fury\u201d of the\nTamils when it urged the Tamil youth to take up arms. Going to war was an\ninsane act that destroyed the Tamils mainly. The  slow but steady rise of\nTamil violence is documented in the Sansoni Report of the Presidential\nCommission of Inquiry into Incidents which took Place between `13th August and\n15th<\/sup> September, 1977, Sessional Paper No. VII \u2013 1980. It is a\nvaluable document that details the rise and rise of the insane fury\u201d of the\nTamils that finally exploded in 1983. The provocative Tamil violence needling\nthe lower-level ethnic leadership in South\u201d (Prof. A. J. Wilson) exploded in\n1983. The cumulative impact of the escalating Tamil violence in the\npost-Vadukoddai period resulted finally in the Sinhala lower-level ethnic\nleadership\u201d erupting in violence against the Tamils in 1983. The killing of the\n13 soldiers in Jaffna was the last straw. The rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence of insane fury\u201d must necessarily\nlead to barbarism. This history was kept in the dark by the Tamil leadership\nbecause they feared the political consequences  of exposing the barbaric\nside of Jaffna. If the hidden history of how Jaffna was ruled by the fascist\nVellala ruling elite, reducing the low-caste Tamils to labouring beasts, was\nrevealed,  the Tamil propagandists could not have marketed to the world\ntheir narrative of victimology accusing the Sinhalese of discriminating against\nthem. What the Vellala elite did to their fellow-Tamils is unforgivable.\nAssuming a genetic purity and a spiritual superiority which they never\npossessed  they ruled Jaffna using brutal violence, whenever necessary, to\nkeep the low-castes within the rigid caste boundaries from birth to death. For\nthe Vellalas lording it over the low-castes in the peninsula Jaffna was indeed\na romantic haven \u2013 the only domain where caste slavery of the Vellalas was\nlegalised under Thesawalamai law. The English-speaking, Saivite, Jaffna Vellala\nelite (ESJVs) had one foot in high society in Colombo and the other foot\nholding down the heads of the Jaffna low-castes who, as ostracised outcasts,\nhad no status in Tamil society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the ostracised low castes, Jaffna was a\ndehumanised hell-hole. They were condemned to live in it from the womb to the\ntomb without any hope of redemption. The delusional belief of the Vellalas that\nthey are the Brahmins of Jaffna born to rule infused them with an unwarranted\narrogance. They manipulated the internal dynamics to monopolise the\ndecision-making process at all levels and to overdetermine politics in Jaffna,\nexcluding the other\u201d (mainly the low-cates) from having a say in power\npolitics of the peninsula. Only the ESJVs \u2013 the majority \u2013 had the power and\nthe positions in the hierarchy to frame and write  the political agenda of\nthe peninsula from A to Z. Their grip on the levers of power was comprehensive\nwhich made the ESJVs the virtual rulers of Jaffna, even when they were serving\nas servile subalterns during the colonial period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The craze among Jaffnaites was to be in the\nclerical service of the British bureaucracy. Being in the bureaucratic machine\nof the colonial administration gave them the advantage of using administrative\npower in the absence of political power. By holding a disproportionate share of\njobs in government service the ESJVs had the ear of the colonial\nadministrators. They used their reserve power in the bureaucracy  to protect\nVellala interests wherever there was a loophole, particularly in the judiciary.\nIn special cases loaded with issues judges were sent from  the South to\nprevent Vellala judges perverting justice. Besides, in the colonial time being\nin the public service  gave a prestigious status, particularly to win a\nfat dowry in the marriage market. The power-crazy political culture warped\nJaffna society: it turned Jaffna into a violent society as it went in search of\npower at any cost. The pursuit of power was a speciality among the ESJVs. When\nS. J. V. Chelvanayakam, the father of Tamil separatism, launched his separatist\nmovement he did not launch it in Jaffna \u2013 the vaunted homeland of the Tamils.\nHe launched it in headquarters of the Government Clerical Services Union (GCSU)\nin Maradana, Colombo. He picked the right audience which was responsive to his\nseparatist cry. They believed that a Tamil state would restore more power to\nthe Tamils in a Tamil only bureaucratic hierarchy. Of course, the main\npolitical demand was for a greater share of public service jobs. The cry of\ndiscrimination was primarily a cry for a greater share of government jobs\ndespite the fact that the Jaffna Tamils had a disproportionate share of jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaffna\npolitics and history has been the politics and history of the Vellalas. The\nlow-castes did not have the power, prestige, resources and status in the\nhierarchy to influence and determine the political agenda of the day. Nor were\nthe non-Vellalas organised as a collective to exert political pressure. As the\nmajority controlling the commanding heights of the peninsula \u2013 land, temples,\nschools, local councils, government jobs, lucrative tobacco plantations,\nprofessionals (lawyers, doctors, academics, engineers, accountants etc) \u2013 the\nVellalas determined the course of events which always went in their direction.\nIt was so from feudal and colonial times. Vellala power reached a climax when\nthe laws and customs of Jaffna, Thesawalamai, were codified by the Dutch with\nthe consent of the Vellala mudliyars. Thesawalamai  legalised  \nVellalaism. The power of the Vellalas was entrenched so deeply that not even\nthe Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike — the\nonly legal instrument that dared to challenge the Vellala power  — was\nable to dislodge their tentacles gripping Jaffna society. The exclusion of the\nlow-castes was just not  a mere demotion in ritual status. It was an\noutright denial of political, social and human rights. It was a political ploy\ndesigned to keep power within the Vellala clan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The English-speaking Saivite Jaffna Vellala\nelite who lived in the South, enjoying the best of both worlds, romanticised\nJaffna as their ideal haven. Their biggest grievance was that they could not\nrule the rest of Sri Lankan the way they ruled Jaffna. They were bent on\nretaining a dominant grip on the administration because they knew that they\ncould not dominate the nation politically. Jaffna, however, was the only domain\nwhich had legalised Vellalaism. So, they manoeuvred every which way to preserve\nJaffna as the exclusive domain of the Vellalas. As the majority they had the\nnumerical superiority to maintain their dominance in electoral politics of\nJaffna and to keep the minority in its place. What they lacked was political\npower to rule the North as a separate state. One of the factors that propelled\nseparatism was the ambition of the Vellalas to retain their feudal and colonial\npowers and privileges, most of which gave them power to rule Jaffna and the\nminority Tamils without external interventions. It is the power of external\ninterventions that hindered their power to retain their ritual status in\nJaffna. Even within Jaffna the Vellalas marked their separate territory with\ncadjan curtains.  The ubiquitous cadjan curtain that marked the Vellala\nhouses was a signal to the other\u201d to keep off the high-caste premises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it was a powerful force Vellalaism\nwas not a significant determinant of the Tamil identity in Jaffna. The Jaffna\nidentity was dependent essentially on Hinduism and Tamil language. The Vellalas\ncottoned on to these two ideologies in the 20th<\/sup> century as\nHindu casteism was losing its power with the rise of secular ideologies. In\nparticular, in the post-Donoughmore period the universal franchise took away\nthe monopoly of political power held by the Vellalas. The low-castes empowered\nby the vote was threatening to fragment Jaffna on casteist lines. The Vellalas\nhad no counter ideology to hold Jaffna together under their hegemony. The\nsecular ideologies of socialism and democracy would undermine their dominance.\nThe only ideologies that could hold Jaffna together under Vellala hegemony were\nHinduism and Tamil Language. It also enabled them to hold on to their concepts\nof purity and superiority. These two ideologies would also prevent the\nfragmentation of Jaffna on casteist lines. Language was the force that could\nbond divided Jaffna under Vellala hegemony. Consequently, Vellalaism surfaced\nas Tamil linguistic nationalism. The Vellalas latched on to the language and\nHinduism because they were the only two forces that could save them\nideologically and politically. Navalar and C. V. Thamotherampillai shine in the\nJaffna political landscape because they represent both Hinduism and Tamil\nlanguage. Both are known for reviving the Tamil language. Their tireless\nefforts to resuscitate the buried cultural treasures of Tamil literature made\nthem cultural heroes both in S. India and Sri Lanka. Vellalas took linguistic\npolitics as it was the most viable instrument to retain power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the decline of casteist Vellalaism, Hinduism and the Tamil\nlanguage became the most formidable forces of Jaffna. It is these two factors\nthat bonded all layers of the fragmented Tamil communities together. The\nidentity of the Jaffna Tamil is woven around these two ideologies. Prof. S.\nPathmanathan says that the Hindu tradition, along with the Tamil language,\nforms the basis of the Tamil identity.\u201d (Quoted by Prof Ratnajeeevan H. Hoole\nin p. 28 of Nethra<\/em><\/strong> Ibid). These two forces were\nhijacked by the Vellalas when they realised that casteism, the divinely\nordained order, was losing its power to sustain them in power. But power did\nnot slip out of the Vellalas until the arrival of Prabhakaran. In the same page\nProf. Ratnajeeevan Hoole  says that the belief of the many Tamils (is\nthat) unless one  is a Saivite, he is not a Tamil and unless one is a\nVellala, he is nothing.\u201d The Vellalas continued to exploit both Hinduism and\nlanguage to maintain their dominant place in  politics. They have not\noffered the electorate any other liberal, democratic, socialist to the Tamil\nelectorate. Prof. Kumar David has branded the Tamil leadership as congenital\nidiots\u201d. They succeeded in surviving as a caste elite under Hinduism in feudal\nand colonial times. But modernity undermined casteism as a political force. As\nthe force of casteism declined in the 20th<\/sup> century the Vellalas\nturned to language for political survival. The use of Tamil language became the\nmost explosive issue in national politics as it spilled over from Jaffna to the\nrest of the nation. To the Vellalas it turned out to be the most unifying force\nof Tamils cutting  across caste divisions. It even appealed to the\nWesternised Sinhalese and the English-speaking elite in Muslim and Burgher\ncommunities. But it was the Vellala Tamils who, in the absence of any\nprogressive political programme,  went all out to exploit the language\nissue. It was also an issue confined mainly to the elitist Vellalas in the\nprofessions. It was not a vital issue to the Tamil-speaking Muslims and Indian\nTamils as it was to the Jaffna Tamils. It was not an issue that affected the\nTamil traders because those running shops communicated without any difficulties\nwith the Sinhala customers. It was not an issue that affected Tamils who had\nsettled in the South to live in Sinhalese neighbourhoods. As neighbours the\nMuslims and the Tamils communicated with the Sinhalese without any linguistic\nproblems. It was not an issue at the highest elitist level because they\ncommunicated with each other mainly in English, with Sinhalese thrown in. \nSo, language was not really a divisive issue that threw communities apart. It\nwas really a class issue that brought the elite of all communities together\nagainst the use of Sinhalese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language continues to  be played up as  key issue by\nthe Tamil politicians. It is pushed to extreme levels by Wigneswaran who never\nceases to harp on its greatness. He never fails to boast of its antiquity. So\nwhat if Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world? He uses this\nargument to downgrade Sinhalese which he says is a latter day product of the 6th<\/sup> and\n7th<\/sup> centuries. Here he is trying to impress that there is\nsuperiority in antiquity. It is a stupid argument that has no validity.\n According to that argument English is inferior to Tamil because the\nfather of the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer, lived and wrote his poetry\nonly in the 15th<\/sup> century. Simply put, the antiquity of a\nlanguage does not  grant any superiority.  Superiority, if any, of a\nlanguage depend primarily on its utility. Besides, the Tamils of Jaffna have no\nright to claim any part of its greatness because they had not contributed to it\nglory. Tamil remains in Jaffna only as a borrowed language. They came with this\nborrowed language from S. India \u2013 the one and only homeland of Tamils. They did\nnot create it nor have they contributed anything substantial to it greatness.\nThe greatness of the Sinhalese is that they created a new language, new\ncivilisation and a new culture. The Tamils of Jaffna never rose to any great\nhistorical heights from their mediocrity. They excelled only creating the\nSankili cult of violence which killed more Tamils than any other force.\nWigneswaran belong to this cult. He worships a Tamil who is a murderer and a\nrapist. More of this next Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D.\u00a0Mahindapala The cruelty of Sangkili (and his avatar Prabhakaran) increased with his power…..\u201d Yalpana Vaipava Malai Jaffna has been the dark side of the Sri Lankan moon: its\u2019 history has been consistently hidden from public scrutiny. Reason: It is politically disadvantageous to reveal the horrors of Jaffna Vellala rulers oppressing their own Tamil people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119270","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=119270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}