{"id":122569,"date":"2022-02-05T14:47:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T21:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=122569"},"modified":"2022-02-05T14:47:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T21:47:30","slug":"bad-news-vellalars-are-back-in-jaffna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/02\/05\/bad-news-vellalars-are-back-in-jaffna\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news: Vellalars are back in Jaffna"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Vellalarism has\nbeen a unique force in Sri Lankan history.  It has been the longest\nrunning political force in Sri Lankan history. It has run through three\ncolonial empires \u2013 Portuguese, Dutch and British \u2013 without losing its grip on\npower. Even when slavery was abolished in 1844 Vellalarism managed to defy the\nlaw. Its capacity to adapt itself to changing circumstances without breaking up\nis evidence of its inner strength. It emerged as a political force from its\nshadowy past in the Dutch period and continued to dominate, without a break,\ndirecting the politics and culture of Jaffna with a fascist fist whenever\nnecessary. It dominated Jaffna and enforced its will on the politics of the\npeninsula. It is this force that spilled over the Jaffna Lagoon in the\npost-independent period as a divisive force to disrupt peace and stability of\nthe nation. It has lasted for roughly 700 years whereas Sri Lanka celebrated\nits 74th<\/sup> year only the day before yesterday. Its longevity, its\ndeep-rooted power to survive and its tentacled grip on the commanding \nheights of power have been ignored by historians, sociologists and political\nscientists. It has been the most under-researched and under-reported force in\nSri Lankan politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent\ntimes, most of Vellalar politics have gone disguised as Tamil politics. Tamil\nnationalism\u201d came in the nick of time to save the Vellalars. Earlier they were\ndependent on the caste-driven ideology to survive in their Vellalar-dominated\nelectorates. But the Vellalars could not fight their political battles inside\nand outside Jaffna in the 20th<\/sup> century under their anachronistic and\nsupremacist casteist label. So, they latched on to identity politics.\nConsequently, the Vellalars took to Tamil nationalism\u201d like duck to water.\nThere is nothing in Tamil nationalism\u201d that which is not in Vellalarism. It is\nthe politics of Vellalars that is wrapped in Tamil nationalism\u201d. In short,\nVellalarism = Tamil nationalism\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like everything\nbig that came out of Jaffna it is the Vellalars who crafted the Tamil identity\nand  Tamil nationalism\u201d in the late 19th<\/sup> and early 20th<\/sup>\ncenturies respectively. They were quick to change their garb into national\ndress because they were in a hurry to grab the nationalist\u201d leadership which\nwas gathering momentum in the dying days of Vellalarism. They never gave up the\nleadership of Jaffna except for a brief period to Velupillai Prabhakaran. The\nVellalar leadership, assembled at Vadukoddai in 1976, declared war and handed\nover the gun to the Tamil youth to fight for Eelam. The ageing Vellalar\nleadership went into hibernation during the 33-years of the Vadukoddai War\n(1976 \u2013 2009). Now that Prabhakaran is no longer there the Vellalars are back\nin the saddle in Jaffna. That is the latest sad news from Jaffna. This is\nconfirmed in the latest book written on the Vellalars by one of the best\nauthorities on the subject \u2013 Ms. Selvy Thiruchandran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 20th<\/sup>\ncentury the Vellalars were forced to yield to the forces of modernity. As\nVellalar casteism ran out of steam in the 20th<\/sup> century the Vellalars\nswitched over to Tamil nationalism, which was also the only remedy available\nto unite fragmented Jaffna on casteist lines. It was also the only ideology\navailable to retain their grip on power in the 20th<\/sup> century.\nIdeologies of Marxism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, liberalism, Castroism etc., were\nnot palatable to conservative Vellalars. They were too radical for them.\nBesides, anyone of those modern ideologies would have decisively undermined and\ndislodged the supremacy of the Vellalar casteists. This placed the Vellalars in\na dilemma: how were they going to march into modernity. Vellalars needed a new\nideology. The only option was Tamil nationalism\u201d.  Until the thirties the\nVellalar leaders were fighting tooth and nail to retain casteism. Sir.\nPonnambalam Ramanathan\u2019s last trip in the late twenties to London was to\nconvince the Colonial office that casteism \u2013 meaning supremacy of the Vellalars\n\u2013 was necessary for law and order in Jaffna.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even G. G.\nPonnambalam, the new leader of Tamils, after the deaths of turbaned\nRamanathans, Arunachalams and Mahadevas, was an arch conservative, refusing to\naccommodate the Panchamars <\/em><\/strong>(low-castes). But the rising tide of\nmodernity was against casteism. After the triumph of mass politics under the\nDonoughmore Constitution the Vellalars could not rely on the traditional power\nof casteism to win votes. The initial clashes of the Vellalars in the colonial\nperiod were with the other castes in the peninsular. And the domestic politics\nof the colonial masters in Jaffna was focused on holding the balance between\nthe rival castes competing for power. The Dutch records carry the details of\nthe caste rivalry. After the early inter-caste skirmishes, the Vellalars\nemerged as the dominant force ever since Modeeley Tambi led the riot against\nthe Dutch, which was followed by the codification of the Tesawalamai<\/em><\/strong>\n(1707) \u2013 the legal document that reinforced the powers of the Vellalars to rule\nover the slaves. But casteism as an ideology was losing its credibility and\nviability like imperialism. Casteism was cracking up Jaffna, threatening the\nsupremacy of the Vellalars in the 20th<\/sup> century. . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless,\nwith their numerical superiority, their supremacy remained untouched by any\nrival caste. They were the wealthy over lords of the land, kovils, and\nschools  — all of which were the commanding heights of the peninsula at\nthe time. In 1680, the population of the Jaffna region was 169,299, according\nto Dutch records. (p. 192 \u2013 Tamils in Sri Lanka, A Complete History (C.\n300.B. C. –  C. 2000 AD, Murugar Gunasingam<\/em><\/strong>). Of these 12,000 were\nslaves owned by the rich Vellalas, according to the Tombos<\/em><\/strong> kept\nby the Dutch in 1690, (p.192 – ibid) The Vellalas were the majority among the\nTamil people and enjoyed high social status,\u201d (p.192 \u2013 Ibid). In addition,\nthey dominate society by monopolising the official and authoritative and\nofficial positions. They also occupy the principal places in the religious\ninstitutions and rituals and through their high status present an appearance of\nauthoritativeness\u201d.(p. 192 \u2013 Ibid). Their strength and durability have been in\ntheir ability to cling on to strategic points of power in the colonial\nadministration, first in the Jaffna peninsula from colonial times and then\noutside Jaffna in the post-independent administration, despite cries of\ndiscrimination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turning\npoint which consolidated the Vellalars as formidable political force was in the\nDutch period. The conquests of the Tamil regions by the Dutch in 1658 proved\nto be a great advantage to the Vellalas,\u201d says Gunasingam. (p.192 \u2013 Ibid).\nVellalar power was consolidated by occupying the strategic places in the Dutch\nadministration \u2013 a power base which they occupied even after the British \nleft in 1948. Their craze for clerkship\u201d in government service brought them\ntogether as an unofficial power bloc of the Jaffna Tamils.   A\npopular saw of the time summarising the privileged position of the Tamil public\nservant ensconced in government offices said that the son shone in Colombo\nwhile the father the reaped the harvest in Jaffna. Recognising their political\nclout, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam launched his movement for Ilankai Tamil\nArasu Kachchu<\/em><\/strong> in December 1948 at the headquarters of the Government\nClerical Service Union at Maradana and not in Jaffna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndisproportionate power they held in the colonial administration gave them the\nupper-hand in steering and distributing administrative power. In the absence of\npolitical power, they used the administrative power to further their interests.\nFrom the Dutch to British and British to the independent era the Vellalars never\nlost their grip on administrative power. The collective power of kovils,\nschools, land-ownership, casteist supremacy, wealth, and most of all,\nadministrative power made them the supremacists of Jaffna for  nearly 700\nyears. They manipulated among themselves to keep the lion share of government\njobs in their hands. The other castes  had to share the left-overs. They\nheld a disproportionate share of power in the public service of the Dutch and\nBritish regimes. The Soulbury Commission dismissed G. G. Ponnambalam\u2019s\ncomplaint of discrimination in the public service because Jaffna Tamils (11%\npopulation) held 32 % of the government jobs. And Prof. A. J. Wilson confirms\nthis: On the whole, the Tamil vellalas have dominated the government service\nand professions\u2026.\u201d (p140 –  S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of\nSri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947 \u2013 1977, A Political Biography<\/em><\/strong>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words,\nthe Vellalars had a considerable grip on administrative power in the colonial\nadministration. As subalterns of the colonial masters the Vellalars captured\nthe key posts of mudliyars, vidanes, canecapulles, aratchies, majoorals<\/em><\/strong>\netc. At these administrative levels they had a certain degree of power which\nthey could use to their advantage. As stated by Zwardecroon, the Commander of\nJaffna, his aim in appointing a Madapally instead of a Vellalar to a government\njob was to break the power of the Vellalars  — a task which he failed to\nachieve. The census statistics of the time reveal the power of the Vellalars.\nAccording to the 1760 census,\u201d wrote historian Murugar Gunasingham, 516 held\nMudliar posts in the four provinces of Jaffna Peninsula. Among these there were\n317 Vellalars, 127 Madapallys, 17 Chetties, 14 Parathesis, 10 Malayalis, six\nKaraiyars, three Siviars and two Tankkaras.\u201d (p. 193 \u2013 Tamils in Sri\nLanka, A Complete History (C. 300.B. C. – . C. 2000 AD<\/em><\/strong>). Read together,\nthe Dutch records, Prof. Wilson and historian Gunasingham agree that the\nVellalars clung on to administrative power steadfastly from at least 1707 to\n1993 \u2013 the year in which Prof. Wilson published his father-in-law\u2019s biography.\nNo other political force has reigned for so long, virtually dominating the\npolitics of the Jaffna and the administration of the nation in the\npost-independent era as the Vellalars. As decision-makers at the centre of\npower, they managed to corner the best of privileges and the welfare services\nwhich made them and Jaffna the most privileged society of the colonial and the\npost-colonial periods. The PQLI Index which surveyed the quality of life index\nput Jaffna, in some respects, higher than even Colombo. But blaming the\nSinhala-Buddhist was a chronic disease with them. It was another way avoiding\nresponsibility for the consequences of the crimes they committed against their\nown people during the feudal and colonial periods. It was the Vellalars who had\nthe power to determine the dignity, equality and justice of the Tamils of\nJaffna. Not even the magnificient piece of legislation passed by Bandaranaike\nin the 1957, Prevention of Social Disabilities Act, was able to break through\nthe entrenched power of the Vllalars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disentangling\nthe skeins of thread that twines the Tamils and the Vellalars together is\nanother issue which needs a special study. Separating the two strands and\nidentifying the dominant Vellalar force is a prime necessity to grasp the\nNorth-South dynamics that meshed and bedevilled national peace and stability.\nBy and large, the conventional wisdom  has merrily gone along with the\ncalculated attacks on Sinhala-Buddhists \u2013 a popular target being Anagarika\nDharmapala \u2013 to demonise Sinhala-Buddhism. This gave rise to the mono-causal\ntheory which blamed only the Sinhala-Buddhists for the national crisis. The\ninter-action of the inter-ethnic forces that needled each other was seldom\nfactored in. For instance, Vellalarism, the force which overtook other rival forces,\nis never inter-woven to obtain a fairly comprehensive overview of the\nmultifarious factors that worsened inter-ethnic relations. Keeping the Northern\nfactors out of the picture, or projecting the North as the victims of the\nSouth, have been the common tactic that distorted the perspectives of the\ncrisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mono-causal\ntheory can never explain the historical and political forces that combined to\nexplode in the post-1956 era. Hiding the terror and horrors of Vellarism has\nbeen a consistent and successful tactic of the Vellala elite. It was a part of\nthe Vellalar campaign to project the elitist priviligentsia of the Sri Lankan\nsociety in Jaffna as the victims of majoritarian politics. Simultaneously\nredressing the imbalances of history, caused by nearly 500 years of\nimperialism, was touted as communalism. The return to the roots of history was\nan inevitable and a common feature of all ex-colonies. Undoubtedly, the\nviolence that broke out at the lower-level of ethnic leadership mainly cannot\nbe condoned. The post-1956 violence gained  notoriety because it the\ntargeted the Vellalar elite. Incidentally, no one heard a similar intensity of\noutrage when the poor and the helpless Panchmars <\/em><\/strong>were tortured\nand persecuted for 700 years by the Vellalars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamils\nnaturally are shy about their criminal past. But the Tamils and the pro-Tamil\nlobbies in the NGOs and academia are never shy to attack the Sinhala-Buddhist\nwith every bit of dirt they can find on Sinhala-Buddhists. The Vellalar crimes\ndocumented  by Thiruchandran\u2019s is a well-researched, ground-breaking study\nof the hidden history of Jaffna. Thiruchandan\u2019s book exposes the ideology,\npractices, rituals and politics of the Vellalars as an evil force that left no\nspace for non-Vellalars to breathe freely. Her in-depth analysis of the\nVellalar society is the  best book I\u2019ve read on the subject since I read\nK. Daniel\u2019s mini-classic, KANAL, a novel on the suffering  the Panchamars<\/em><\/strong>\nunder Vellalar oppression. As she says, the common attitude has been for the\nJaffnaites to cover up their crimes. Her book reveals a key element of the\nhistory of Jaffna that was hidden even by the Jaffna University. The history of\nJaffna can no longer be written as a bland account of mainly colonial rulers\nchanging hands, with a few kings preceding them. The central role of the caste\nrelations and the cruel domination and exploitation of the fascist Vellalars is\ndisplayed with historical accuracy. And the bloody, gory and inhuman narrative\nis told with scientific objectivity. Her book  reveals the hidden forces\nthat bloodied the history of Jaffna. She delineates in detail the internal\nVellalar characteristics, institutions, laws and customs that warped Jaffna\nsociety. It is possible to decipher the internal casteist pressures that pushed\nthe Vellalars to act the way they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She argues\nconvincingly that it was the dominant upper-class, land owning Vellalars, of\nthe North of Sri Lanka who constructed the caste system with graded and\nstratified rules similar to the way the literate hegemonic  dominant\ngroup, the Brahmins, laid down the rules of caste in India\u2026\u2026it is the Vellalars\nwho are the most beneficiaries of the system.\u201d (p.16 \u2013 Ibid). She challenges\nthe religious foundations of the caste system (a la Prof.  Bryan Pfaffenberger).\nCiting Indian opinion, she states that the caste system is a development from\nthe political and socio-economic conditions.\u201d (p. 17 \u2013 Ibid). I think she is\nright as far as the origins of the caste system is concerned. But later Arumuka\nNavalar, the caste fanatic, tied the Vellalar hierarchy to Saivism, anointing\nthe hierarchy as a kind of divine  order. His universe consisted of (1)\nthe Tamil language, (2) Saivism and (3) caste. In the 20th<\/sup> century\nthis was also the tripod on which Vellalarism rested. He placed the Vellalars\nat the peak of the caste hierarchy. His reformist Saivism, however, lacked the\nBrahmins at the top. I think he was trying to fill the vacancy left by the\nBrahmins by placing the Vellalars at the top. Of course, he was a Vellalar\nhimself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding\nthe North in all its dimensions is essential to come to grips with the\ncomplexities that obstructs reconciliation.   At last, it is\nheartening to know that new light is being  shone on the dark side of Sri\nLankan history. Selvy Thiruchandran\u2019s book on the caste issue has come as a\nbreath of fresh air.  Her book, CASTE AND ITS MULTIPLE\nMANIFESTATIONS<\/em><\/strong>, breaks the silence on a taboo subject. Her courage in\nexposing the evils of Jaffna society should be commended. The overwhelming\nattitude earlier has been to put a lid on the inhuman  history of Jaffna\nbecause the perceptive analyses of the horrors and terrors of Vellalarism\npresents the gruesome realities of Jaffna. The idyllic Jaffna painted by the\nprivileged Vellalar has been torn to bits. The suffering of the Panchamars is\nvividly depicted. The details are well researched. What is missing, however, is\nthe larger picture. She asks many questions and answers them cogently and thoroughly.\nBut she missed one question: What was the impact of Vellarism on the\npost-independent political landscape? Out of the 700 years of Vellalarism the\nelected democratic state ruled only for 74 years. Even out of that Prabhakaran\nruled his quasi state for 33 years \u2013( 1976 \u2013 2009). Nevertheless, isn\u2019t the 74\nyears, with all its infirmities, the best years that gave dignity, equality and\njustice to all the citizens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compare that\nperiod to the taboos that ruled Jaffna. Thiruchandran gives a sample of the\ntaboos: <\/p>\n\n\n\n