{"id":122358,"date":"2022-01-23T18:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T01:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122358"},"modified":"2022-01-23T18:00:34","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T01:00:34","slug":"no-dignity-equality-and-justice-for-tamils-in-tamil-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/01\/23\/no-dignity-equality-and-justice-for-tamils-in-tamil-states\/","title":{"rendered":"No dignity, equality and justice for Tamils in Tamil states"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In their heart\nof hearts, the Vellalars who dominated the history of Jaffna through feudal,\ncolonial and modern times are ashamed of their  past not because they\nfailed to produce a great culture, great heroes, great iconic monuments, great\ncivilisation, a great language, — or anything else outstanding or memorable,\nfor that matter — but because they reigned over a culture of inhuman violence\nand cruelty that reduced their oppressed Tamils to sub-human non-entities for\naround 700 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is so\nobscene that the entire political class and Tamil intellectuals, together \nwith pro-Tamil  private research centres in NGOs, craftily manipulated to\nhide it and swing the public opinion to believe that (1) they had a great\nculture and civilisation when Jaffna was ruled by their kings and\nVellalars  and (2) and it was the Sinhala-Buddhist majority in the South\nthat stood in their way by denying them their heritage and victimised them with\npolicies of discrimination against the Tamil minority, depriving them of dignity,\nequality and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In deflecting\nracist attacks on the Sinhala-Buddhists the Tamil political class and the Tamil\nintellectuals succeeded exceptionally well in hiding their cruel and oppressive\npolitics against their own people. Internationally and internally, they derived\nall the benefits of demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They won all\nthe political sympathy claiming to be victims of the Sinhala-Buddhists.\nVictimology was their trump card. But to triumph they had to hide dark and\ncruel side of their political culture. This strategy was cultivated craftily\nand assiduously. In  this prelude to Selvy Thiruchandran\u2019s outstanding\nbook, Caste and its Multiple Manifestations<\/em><\/strong>,(published\n2021),  which exposes the horrors of the overwhelming Vellalar culture\nthat ruled Jaffna, I propose to deal with some aspects of the hidden factors of\nthe history of Jaffna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hypocrisy\nof our public intellectual and academics, who went along with the ruling\nanti-Sinhala-Buddhist ideology \u2013 a tactic adopted deliberately to deflect\nattention away from the crimes of the Vellalar political class in Jaffna — is\ntotally unacceptable. They fell in line with the Tamil political strategy of\ndemonising the Sinhala-Buddhists, either to advance their career prospects or\nincrease their bank accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have been\nliving examples of Karl Mannheim\u2019s conclusion that the intellectuals are venal\nand can be bought and sold in the market for a price. If their patrons were\nsmokers the Sri Lankan intellectuals were ever willing  to carry a\nlighter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By turning a\nblind  eye to the evils of the history of Jaffna they virtually denied the\ncrimes committed by the Vellalar rulers of Jaffna against their own people. Our\nintellectuals had a right to focus on the misdemeanours and crimes if any of\nthe Sinhala-Buddhists. But they had no right to deliberately avoid probing the\nheinous crimes of the Vellalar ruling class of Jaffna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their decision\nto focus on a mono-causal theory of blaming Sinhala-Buddhists only excludes the\nspecific political realities that came down from the North and exploded in the\nSouth. The dynamics of the South reacting to Northern politics and vice versa\nhave to be factored in to grasp the intricacies of the North-South conflict.\nFocusing only on Anagarika Dharmapala, or the language issue, or the Sangha (\nExample: Buddhism Betrayed?<\/em><\/strong> S. J. Tambiah) leads only to a\nmoronic dead-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It ignores the\nmultifarious factors that intermeshed to produce 1983\u201d and the Vadukoddai War\n(a.k.a. Eelam War). Promoting the mono-causal theory of blaming the Sinhala-Buddhists\nwas a calculated political strategy of the intellectuals to advantage the cause\nof Tamils by demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists. The International Centre for\nEthnic Studies, (ICES), run by Vellalar intellectuals, is a leading example.\nICES spent millions, probing every nook and corner of the Sinhala-Buddhist\nculture and history but hardly a cent was spent on the violent Vellalar culture\nhidden behind the cadjan curtain of Jaffna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? How could\nanyone arrive at an objective and  fair conclusion of the North \u2013 South\nconflict to work out solutions for reconciliation or peace by exploring only\nthe Southern part and not the North?  Was the assignment of the hired\nintellectuals to meditate on the sound of a Buddhist clap with one-hand? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The political objective\nof this partisan strategy was clear: those with a criminal past lose moral\nrights and justifications and must pay reparations for the victims. There is\nanother advantage: this strategy of the intellectuals elevates the moral\nsuperiority of the Tamils to pursue their claims for reparations on grounds of\nvictimology. In politics losing moral ground debilitates power. Even the\nmightiest force (e.g: Shah of Persia and Ranil Wickremesinghe) can collapse if\nit loses the moral foundations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intellectuals\nwere consciously playing a partisan role. It is one of the primary reasons\nwhich boosted the intransigence of the Tamils and sabotaged attempts at making\npeace and reconciliation. The Tamils took the high moral ground on victimology\ndemanding a high price for the victims. Oddly enough, even now their political\nthrust is based on the bogus cry of dignity, equality and justice for the\nvictimised Tamils. R. Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil front, hop from one\nworld capital to another, demanding dignity, equality and justice. But how much\nof dignity, equality and justice it did he and the other Tamil leaders give the\noppressed Tamils? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nwell-researched contents of Thiruchandran\u2019s book on Tamil caste debunks the\nmoral superiority of the Vellalars to claim any right to rule Jaffna either as\nfederalists or as separatists. Throughout their history, the Vellalars had a\nfascist grip on power that determined practically every aspect of life,\nextending from the womb to the tomb. They had an incorrigible faith in the\nVellalar purity and supremacy and committed Vellalar leaders like Sir.\nPonnambalam Ramanathan fought tooth and nail to preserve their supremacy,\nirrespective of the suffering it caused to the Panchamars<\/em><\/strong>\n(low-castes). In the highest court of the of the land he defended the right of\nVellalars to hammer the Panchamar<\/em><\/strong> mourners carrying the coffin of\na dead wife accompanied by ritual beating of tom-toms \u2013 a privilege reserved\nonly for the Vellalars. During his time, he made several trips to the Governor\nto retain the rituals and the privileges of the Vellalars. The last mission of\nRamanathan to London in late twenties was to convince the Colonial Office that\ncasteism was necessary to maintain stability, law and order. Their struggle was\nto retain Vellalarism as long they could without external interventions. They\nwere inextricably wedded to Vellarism and they refused to accept that\nVellalarism was not a viable political ideology for the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though\nmodernity was shaving off the rough edges of casteism, political Vellalarism\nwhich came out of it was struggling to adapt to the new realities. The history\nof Vellalarism reveal that its power was omnipresent and overwhelming. Whenever\nVellalarism was threatened by internal or external forces, the big guns (.e.g.,\nRamanathan) fought aggressively to preserve its interests. There was no\nbreathing space for the other\u201d to play any role in the decision-making process\nof Jaffna politics. In other words, Vellalar politics had the upper hand to\nmanipulate and direct events to serve its prime object of preserving, promoting\nand perpetuating Vellalar supremacy. All politics that came out of Jaffna was\nto the serve Vellalar interests, as stated by historian Prof. S. Arasaratnam.\nHe divided Jaffna into two parts: the dominant Vellalars and the rest. The rest\n(meaning the Panchamars<\/em><\/strong>) were there to serve the Vellalars, he\nsaid. His evaluation sums up the essential nature of Vellarism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no\nspace for the helpless, oppressed Panchamars<\/em><\/strong> to make their\npresence felt in the political process. In the first place they were excluded\nas pariahs from the higher circle of Vellalar power-brokers. Furthermore, they\nhad neither the education, political nous nor the organisations to make any\nimpact on the politics of Jaffna. For instance, it was the Vellalars who forged\nthe two overdetermining forces that came out of the womb of Jaffna : 1.\ncasteism and 2. communalism. Both served Vellalar interests. Both forces were\ninextricably intertwined and they were used jointly as political tools by the\nVellalars to maintain their political supremacy. Even the Hindu reforms\ninjected by their venerated Vellalar guru, Arumuka Navalar, reinforced the\npower and elevated the status of the Vellalars. His reformist Saivism elevated\nthe low-caste Sudra Vellalars to the highest peak in the caste hierarchy.\nIn  a Hindu land without Brahmins, he made the Vellalars the equivalent of\nthe Brahmins. This anointment of supremacy reinforced their power to humiliate\nand oppress the Panchamars<\/em><\/strong> with religious sanctions. Their\nownership of Hindu kovils enabled  them to enforce their belief in purity.\nTo maintain their purity, they prevented the polluted Panchamars<\/em><\/strong>\nfrom stepping inside their sacred precincts in the kovils. The earliest reports\nof the Tamil suffering caused by the Vellalars was recorded by the Dutch. In\nhis Memoirs<\/em><\/strong>, the Dutch Commander of Jaffna, Zwaardcroon, has had\nno qualms in condemning the arrogant and manipulative Bellales\u201d who made\nthousands suffer\u201d under their cruel yoke. (More of their suffering\nlater.)    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vellalars\nmaintained their supremacy internally, within the peninsula, through the\ncasteist ideology. Their ideology was not worth anything outside it. So, they\nfought for external supremacy through communalism, disguised as minority\nrights. Casteism has been a primordial  ideology, coming down from feudal\ntimes. Communalism is a latter-day ideology which gathered momentum in the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury when the casteist ideology ran out of steam to unite fragmented Jaffna\ndivided on casteist lines. It is these two basic ideologies that mutated to\ncreate a Tamil identity in the 19th century and mutated again in the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury to create Tamil nationalism\u201d. It was an ideology manufactured by the\nVellalars to hold on to power internally and to grab power and  territory\nexternally. The Vellalar elite who ruled Jaffna on the casteist ideology had to\naccept reluctantly that the casteist ideology had passed its use-by-date in the\n20th<\/sup> century. The Vellalars needed a new ideology to unite\nfragmented Jaffna to campaign on a common front against the Sinhala-Buddhist\nSouth. This need produced an overarching political platform based on (1)\nlanguage \/ discrimination and (2) Tamil nationalism\u201d targeting the\nSinhala-Buddhists \u2013 two ideologies that could unite the North to close the gaps\nin fractured Jaffna \u2013 fractured on caste \/ class\/ religious lines. It was in\nthe 20th<\/sup> century when casteism had lost its power to reinforce the\ngrip on power of the Vellalars that they turned to Tamil nationalism\u201d. The\nruling class\/caste was using cultural norms and revised ideology to retain and\nlegitimise its power <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politics of\nthe post-independent era was dominated by three big ideological forces : 1)\nSinhala-Buddhism (2) Marxism and (3) Vellalarism \u2013 an arrogant fascist force of\nthe dominant Vellalars that deprived the oppressed Tamils their dignity,\nequality and justice on a casteist ideology for 700 years, reducing the\noppressed to subhuman non-entities with the sole objective of keeping the Panchamar<\/em><\/strong>\nsubjugated and humiliated in case they decided to trespass and disturb the\ncasteist borders of Vellalar supremacy. They tightened the grip on power with\naggressive, ruthless tactics when they  failed to get consent. It was an\nideology that tied the Vellalars inextricably to Jaffna. The Vellalars claimed\nJaffna to be their exclusive domain — homeland\u201d — because Vellalarism and\ntheir supremacy that went along with that ideology was not accepted outside the\nborders of the North which included parts of the Vanni. Vellalarism is an\norganic product of the Jaffna soil. It has its roots only in Jaffna. It cannot\nbe transplanted anywhere else mainly because a civilised society would not\naccept such an inhuman ideology. It has to live or die within its borders.\nTherefore, holding Jaffna as a separate domain was essential to retain and\nmaintain their supremacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separatism, a\nconcept manufactured by the Vellalars, is not Tamil nationalism\u201d, though it\nwas wrapped in that tin foil. It is an ideology manufactured to protect the\nsupremacy and survival of the Vellalars. Separatism was designed to create an\nindependent political enclave for the  preservation  of Vellalarism\nwithout any external interventions. They need autonomy to impose and run Jaffna\nthe Vellalar way. A separate state would be the last refuge of the Vellalar\nsupremacist. The Panchamars<\/em><\/strong> did not need separatism. In fact,\nthey were wary of it. The path-breaking Tamil novelist, K. Daniel, who was from\nthe lowest caste of Turumbas<\/em><\/strong>, firmly believed that Tamil\nNationalism was a far cry from the interests of the oppressed groups in the\nTamils community\u201d. (p. 188 \u2013 Caste and its Multiple Manifestations<\/em><\/strong>).\nHe was at the Panchamar<\/em><\/strong> protest staged at the Maviddipuram Temple\n\u2013 the historic protest demanding from the Vellalars dignity, equality and\njustice for the low-castes.  Where was R. Sampanthan, an MP with S. J. V.\nChelvanayakam, when the low-castes were beaten black and blue for demanding\ndignity, equality and justice? The Sinhala state\u201d had to intervene to protect\nthe Panchamars<\/em><\/strong> threatened by the Vellalars. It is clear by\nSamapanthan\u2019s  behaviour that in a separate state only the Vellalar\ninterests would get priority. Separatism is the only way of hijacking Jaffna to\nrestore and perpetuate Vellalar supremacy. Maintenance of supremacy necessarily\nleads to denial of dignity, equality and justice to Panchamars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In making\nany  moral judgment on the national question it is only fair to compare\nthe values, morals and achievements of the Tamil states (including the\nquasi-state of Prabhakaran) with that of the Sinhala state\u201d, as described by\nTamil lobbyists. The morals, values and achievements of the 74 years of the \nSinhala state\u201d in the South should be tested against the morals, values and\nachievements of Prabhakaran\u2019s quasi-state. His quasi-state was an extension of\nthe fascist political culture of the Vellalars that ruled Jaffna for nearly 700\nyears before. The fact that the Tamils could not run a democratic state, with justice,\nequality and dignity to all, was demonstrated by Prabhakaran. His quasi-state\nwas a state within the Sinhala state\u201d.  The Tamils are proud of\nPrabhakaran\u2019s state. Which of these two states upheld democratic and liberal\nvalues? The Sinhala state\u201d fought its longest war\u2014 33 years (1976 \u2013 2009), —\nwithin a democratic framework. How did the Tamil state of Prabhakaran fight its\nwar?  Why was the Vadukoddai War fought under Tamil tyranny? Wasn\u2019t it the\ndemonised, denigrated Sinhala state\u201d that gave refuge to the Tamils\nhunted  by the Tamil state? The worst enemies of the Tamils have been the\nTamils who deprived their own people dignity, equality, justice and security.\nLooking at the issue from another angle, how would nearly 700 years of Vellalarism\ncompare with 700 years of Sinhala-Buddhist political culture? The Vellalars had\npower. They had a state. But how did they use power when they had a separate\nstate? Did they not use power consistently to oppress and persecute their\nown  people throughout their history? What did the Tamils achieve other\nthan creating a vile culture of oppression? Considering the inhuman abuse of\npower, are the Tamils fit to rule the Tamils? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brutal violence\nto oppress and suppress the Tamil people was a common feature of Vellalarism. \nDehumanising the Panchamars<\/em><\/strong> and stripping them of their dignity,\nequality and justice has been an inhuman practice of the dominant Vellalar\npolitical culture of Jaffna. They are conscious of their crimes against their\nown people. The obscenity of this inhuman practice makes them feel guilty. They\ncan\u2019t face it. They strive with all their energies to hide it. It is taboo even\nin the Jaffna University. The Jaffna University, for instance, goes all out to\ndiscourage research into Vellalarism. At the University of Jaffna,\u201d wrote Mahendran\nThiruvarangan, a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Linguistics\n& English at the University of Jaffna \u201dissues related to caste\ntake a back seat in academic conversations. Although the academic community at the\nUniversity gives prominence to Tamil nationalist aspirations and condemns the\nongoing militarization of the North, open discussions about caste are hardly\nencouraged, barring a few occasions. A section of the academic community is\nwarped in its view that discussing caste in public will cause disunity among\nTamils.\u201d (The Island<\/em><\/strong> — 4\/1\/22}. Earlier Prof.\nRatnajeevan Hoole had cited examples of discouraging undergraduates doing\nresearch on Vellalarism. The hidden undercurrents of the history of Jaffna need\nto be explored. As providers of knowledge for the guidance of the nation it is\ntime that at least the Eastern University  initiated a research program\ninto this hidden corner of Jaffna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A knowledge of\nthe hidden history of Jaffna politics is essential for any in-depth analysis of\nthe Northern politics. The roots of Northern politics are buried deep in the\nhistory of Vellalarism. Take for instance, their current campaign which is run\non their cry for dignity, equality and justice for Tamils. How valid is this\nclaim? The Vellalars ruled Jaffna, in various disguises, for roughly 700 years.\nThe Sinhala state\u201d had ruled the nation only for 74 years. Of this, the Tamils\nwere under Prabhakaran\u2019s rule for nearly half of it. So, the total number of\nyears is 700 + 35 years. Did the Tamils get dignity, equality and justice from\n735 years of  Vellalarism + Prabhakaranism, or from the 74 years of the\nSinhala state\u201d? For instance, how many Tamil lawyer who were patriotically\naligned with the Tamil state of Prabhakaran, went to practice law in\nPrabhakaran\u2019s courts to deliver Tamil justice? Why didn\u2019t M. Sumanthiram, R.\nSampanthan and C. V. Wigneswaran, Tamil champions  demanding dignity,\nequality and justice, practice in the courts of the Sinhala state\u201d if there was\nno dignity, equality and justice? If there was dignity, equality and justice in\nPrabhakaran\u2019s courts why didn\u2019t they practice up North? They know, in their\nheart of hearts, that no Tamil state ever gave the Tamils the dignity, equality\nand justice that was due to them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala In their heart of hearts, the Vellalars who dominated the history of Jaffna through feudal, colonial and modern times are ashamed of their  past not because they failed to produce a great culture, great heroes, great iconic monuments, great civilisation, a great language, — or anything else outstanding or memorable, for […]<\/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-122358","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\/122358","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=122358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}