So\nundeniably, the island nation\u2019s civilization was built upon the tenets of\nBuddhist philosophy and principles which the King and all in the kingdom island\nfollowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While\nthere is no doubt that man originated in Africa and spread to all corners of\nthe world from where mixed groups of people emerged, Sinhalese people remain\nthe only group of people who evolved in Sri Lanka with its own language &\nculture. Sinhalese are not found in any part of the world whereas Tamils &\nMuslims are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though\nTamils claim a separate land, they are yet to prove that they are not linked to\nTamils in Tamil Nadu because the Tamil language and cultures originated in\nTamil Nadu. This is why 72m Tamils live in Tamil Nadu as against just 2m Tamils\nin Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka was never linked at any point of time\nand after the arrival of the 3 colonial invaders they transported scores of\nTamils to Sri Lanka to work on their plantations and these Tamil Nadu Tamils\ncontinued to stay on though some returned after the Srima-Shastri Pact.\nStatistics by the colonials prove that there were more Tamils in Sri Lanka\nbrought after 1505 then there were before which nullifies claims that Tamils\nran a kingdom of their own because to date they have not produced names of\nkings who are not linked to India\/South India and colonial records are clear\nthat there were no independent or separate kingdoms except kinglets that are no\ndifferent to the present semi-autonomous provincial council system we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nartificial ethnic group \u2018Ceylon Tamils\u2019 entered census in 1911 by a Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queyroz book\n\u2018Conquest of Ceylon\u2019 records 15 \u2018kinglets\u2019 in Sinhale in 1505 when Portuguese\narrived and the head of the kinglets was the emperor\u2019 and there was only one\nEmperor in Sinhale. Queyroz\u2019s\nbook:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018As long as Rajapure (Anuradhapura) was the capital of Ceylon,\nthe whole island was subject to one King\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The writings of\nQueroyz, Baldeuz and many other historians clearly establish this while at all\ntimes the Eastern Province had remained under the Kandyan kingdom\/King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nwas the Kandyan King Senarath who dispatched his trusted commander Mudaliyar\nAttapattu with some 10,000 Sinhala army to save the Tamils from Portuguese\nattack in 1619. Now shouldn\u2019t we ask why the Sinhala Buddhist king Senarath\nwould dispatch an army to save Tamils in North Sri Lanka from Portuguese if the\narea did not belong to him? Just as the Sinhala king sent his troops in 1619,\nthe Senadhinayake 387 years later, dispatched his army to save close to 300,000\nTamils, held hostage by LTTE and eliminated LTTE ground force in May 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ndefeat of King Senarath\u2019s troops in 1619 led to a Portuguese inquisition that\nresulted in death and conversions of Tamil Hindus in contrast the Buddhist\nSinhalese looked after the minority Tamils in areas where Buddhist Sinhales\nwere in majority with full respect for the religious rights of the Tamil\nHindus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tamils\ndid not originate in Sri Lanka and neither did the Tamil language but both\nSinhalese people & language originated in Sri Lanka (how mixed that was is\nirrelevant because a new people with new language and culture originated and\nevolved in Sri Lanka). Tamils never evolved in Sri\nLanka. They came as migrants and after invasions first with the Chola invasions\nduring the 13th century till the Aryacakravarti rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Can migrants seek\nhomelands in countries they migrate to?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If Tamils were the original inhabitants in Sri Lanka how can\nthere be millions more Tamils in South India? The same ethnic group cannot\nevolve from 2 different countries? Let\u2019s not forget that Tamil Nadu has been\nclaiming the self-determination rights before the Tamils in Sri Lanka. There\ncannot be 2 homelands for the same ethnic people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Up\nuntil 1505 there were only Sinhala Buddhists and a small number of Tamils. All\nTamils were Hindus and all Sinhalese were Buddhists. It was after mass\nconversions by Catholic\/Christian colonial invaders that Sinhala\nChristians\/Catholics and Tamil Christian\/Catholics and Burgher\nChristian\/Catholics emerged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jaffna peninsula and Nagadipa is mentioned when Buddha first\nvisited Sri Lanka. Yapane derives from Sinhalese Yapapatuna. Nagas who were\nrelated to the ruling royal family in Kelaniya who were the ancient inhabitants\nof Jaffna. Paul E Pieris claims that Nagadipa was the name given to entire\nJaffna peninsula and its islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n King Devanampiyatissa\u2019s envoys set off to India from Jambukola\nport the same port that Sanghamitta theraniya came with the sacred Bodhi tree.\nHere too a temple was built and a sapling planted by King Devanampiyatissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must also not fall prey to Sinhalese originating from Prince\nVijaya. This is another myth fed into our system. There were 4 tribes known as\nSivu-hela and this in time came to be Sinhale and they were living in the\nisland far before Vijaya and his men landed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinhale denoted the Island and the Sinhalese with people living\nin Sinhale as Sinhale Tamils etc \u2013 though this was replaced with Sri Lankan in\n1972 so the Sri Lankan identity is only 47 years old whereas Sinhale identity\nis thousands of years old. It was with the Sinhale nation that the British\nsigned the Kandyan Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nsame king Senarath and his son saved scores of Muslims from being killed by\nPortuguese\/Dutch too and gave them refuge in his kingdom to live and work on\nhis lands but Muslims were not given land ownership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also to be reminded that the Muslims had no land rights in\nSri Lanka until 1832 (Muslims have enjoyed land rights for only 187 years). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Knox writes <\/p>\n\n\n\n there are Moors, who are like Strangers and hold\nno land<\/strong>, but live by carrying goods to the sea-ports\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the Sinhalese patriots and the Buddhist kings who\nprotected the nation from enemies (except for Don Juan Dharmapala who betrayed\nthe nation, the Sinhalese and Buddhism). Anyone who disagrees please produce\nevidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That minorities enjoy more than enough religious freedoms can be\nproved by the increasing mosques, churches, kovils, madrassas, prayer\/faith\nhealing centres mushrooming throughout the island. If Sinhala Buddhists were\nmarginalizing minorities how can Muslims have a parallel quasi-law, religious\nfood labeling, religious banking system, Muslim daycare\/international schools\/\nArabic schools etc??? With existence of such all others are secondary citizens\nin reality because the State has given into the rights of only this minority\nunfairly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Politicians & NGOs funded by external parties are striving\nto change the history of Sri Lanka, many are openly floating false notions and\ntrying to dilute the Buddhist influence in Sri Lanka completely ignoring that\nthere is 1000 year\u2019s difference in Buddhism and birth of Abrahamic religions!\nMuch has happened between this period before Christianity\/Islam was even\nbirthed. The architectural marvels, manmade irrigational marvels of\nAnuradhapura were built long before Islam originated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was Arabs who came to Sri Lanka first as traders and not\nMuslims. Arabs were not originally Muslims nor did they follow Islam. Arabs and\nPersians converted to Islam only after Islamic conquests using the sword. All\nArabs were not Muslim \u2013 there were Christian Arabs too. The Islamized Arabs\nthat went to South India began learning Tamil and since they were only males\nthey married South Indian women & travelled later to Sri Lanka which\nexplains the dark-colour of their skin. Majority Muslims speak Tamil and even\nthe Koran was in Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most Muslims refer to Yonas during King Pandukabaya\u2019s time but\nthese Yonas were not Muslim because there was no Islam during that period.\nIslam came 350 after Christ. Christianity as a religion emerged in 4th<\/sup>\ncentury 200 years after birth of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reverence given to Buddhism was such that all Kings prohibited\nanimal slaughter and everyone had to adjust to the prevailing Buddhist ethos\n& Governing law. King Kirti Sri Nissankamalla prohibited killing of all living\nbeings. King Elara punished his own son with death for running over a calf. No\nMuslim living even as aliens indulged in ritual animal slaughter under Sinhala\nBuddhist rule. John Doyly also notes that the Sinhala law prohibited hunting\nbut British killed thousands of elephants as a sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith declared that this is a\nSinhala Buddhist nation and foremost place must be given to Buddhism, he went\non to say that even Catholics can follow the teachings of Buddha while being Catholic\nas it has nothing but good. Buddhism does not define non-Buddhists, nor defines\nhow to treat non-Buddhists. Non-Buddhists are not called non-believers, kafirs,\ninfidels or zimmis. Nowhere in Buddhas teachings tell its followers that it is\nnot a sin to deceive non Buddhists, to lie to them in the name of Buddhism or\nto show two faces to others. There is no \u2018out of context\u2019 arguments either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no inducements in Buddhism other than to gather good\nmerit or karma. Buddhists do not have rich lobby groups or spend on promoting\nto convert. Buddhism spread from Persia to Indonesia without a sword or forced\nconversion whereas others spread brutally & with much bloodshed and\nexplains why their numbers have increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For 514 years systematic, well-coordinated and well-funded\nattempts are taking place to remove the 2600 year Buddhist civilizational\nhistory and it is being craftily done through politicians who have no morals,\nno value for Sri Lanka\u2019s historical past, who will barter Sri Lanka for any\npersonal or political gain and have no qualms about the injustices they are\ndoing. For cheap publicity they will say anything stupid like the former\nforeign and present finance minister is doing claiming Sri Lanka is not a\nBuddhist country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly, since history Sinhala Buddhists have shed blood\nprotecting the nation & minorities against enemies that set foot in Sri\nLanka. We did so throughout colonial rule, we did so during LTTE terrorism\n(helped by a handful of patriotic minorities) and now we are doing so again in\nthe light of another radical element surfacing. Again it is the DNA of the\ntraitors who are responsible for the present peril. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly, majority in the minorities greatly influenced by external\nforces are shy to openly shower gratitude to the Sinhala Buddhist majority\nthough a minority amongst the minorities do so & against much pressures by their\nown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many may try to gain cheap publicity by claiming Sri Lanka is not a Buddhist country the Catholics know that they are safe amongst the Sinhala Buddhists, the Tamils know they too are safe amongst the Sinhala Buddhists. Muslims lived following their faith & respecting the Sinhala culture until radical Islam got the better of some of them and before long they too will realize living among Sinhala Buddhists is better than falling prey to radical Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a disillusioned world where false flags and fake news gains momentum daily, it\u2019s not surprising that distortions are taking place. Iraq was destroyed based on a false weapons of mass destruction propaganda, Libya, from the most developed country in North Africa, is in ruins today after promising \u2018liberation\u2019 from a dictator but not getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88781","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/shenali3012181A-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n