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by Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
When my eldest daughter was born I was very keen to name her after my
grandmother Ponnammah in keeping with tradition. I was advised by all sorts of
people not to burden her with a name she would be ashamed of. I finally settled for
Mahilmany, after ancestors of a later generation, but still very Tamil and avoiding the
sh and psh sounds with juxtaposed consonants so alien to the rules of Tamil
grammar. Similarly when I wrote to a newspaper using the commonly used Tamil term
chothanai (examination), the editor had given into his sh psh compulsions and
changed it to pareetshai, its equivalent Sanskrit term. What I describe is a
phenomenon common to Tamils and, as I will show, to Sinhalese too. It is truly very
Sri Lankan. What did I run into? It is the process called Sankritization which has been
described thus:
"The development of Hinduism [on the subcontinent] can be interpreted as the
constant interaction between the religion of the upper social groups (priest and
teachers) and the cults of the other groups. From the time of the Aryan invasion
(1500 BC) the indigenous inhabitants of the subcontinent [which icludes us] have
tended to adapt the religious and social life to brahminic norms.These have
developed from the desire of the lower class groups to rise on the social ladder by
adopting the ways and beliefs of the higher castes. This process sometimes called
'Sanskritization' began in Vedic times when non-Aryan chieftains accepted the
ministrations of brahmins and thus achieved social status for themselves and their
subjects. It was probably the principal method by which Hinduism spread through the
subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Sanskritization still continues in the form of
conversion of tribal groups and is reflected by the persistent tendency of low caste
Hindus to try to raise their status by adopting high caste customs such as wearing
the sacred cord and becoming vegetarians."
Thus, it is indeed very common for Tamils from less privileged backgrounds to start a
temple in Jaffna or become a vegetarian and then claim a high caste status in
Colombo where people less familiar with norms do not know that there are even
temples for the caste considered inferior and that even these castes are sometimes
vegetarian. Generally for the same reason, most Tamil names, particularly the most
meaningful child-friendly Tamil names like Chellakili (darling parrot), Chinna Rasa
(little king) are out. Names whose meanings most people do not know are in, as is the
import of unknown gods from India. Strangely as we give our children these odd
names not recognised in the language, the hold of the real culture is so deeply
rooted that at home we do not use these names but resort to so called home-names
like "kunju" (little birdling). Vedic Traces in Early Tamil Culture The Tamils for long,
despite the DMK and the LTTE, have been fighting a losing battle against
Sanskritization. Most authorities agree that all the peoples of the Indian subcontinent,
although having their regional differences, share much in common that is based on
Vedic Hindu norms. Even the oldest stratum of recorded Tamil literature as recorded
in the Sangam texts, shows faith in Vedic sacrifices (Puram. 15: 19-21) and the
shared belief in transmigration with the rest of India at the time: that the absence of
an heir who would offer prayers and make Vedic sacrifices, could perpetuate the
transmigratory circuit (Puram 188:1-7). Thus, the preference for boys to ensure safe
passage breaking out of the karmic cycle upon death through the prayers and
sacrifices of sons.
The statistics from an Indian government study shows that in Bombay, out of 8000
abortions performed after amniocentesis, only one of the foetuses was male. Indeed,
the growth of the Tamil caste system and the religious system including the
preference for sons is easily shown to be an outgrowth of the Vedic system. The
Laws of Manu - The best way to move up the social ladder and keep up with the
Joneses is to follow Manu's rules. It is so central to Sri Lankan culture that many arts
programmes at our universities insist on the teaching of Manu's Dharmasastra
commonly called the Laws of Manu.
Thus, certainly in many a Tamil home we follow sutra II.33: A woman's name should
be easily pronounced, not imply anything dreadful, possess a plain meaning, be
pleasing and auspicious, end in long vowels and contain a word of benediction. Many
homes still practice sutra IV. 43: Let him not eat in the company of his wife, nor look
at her while she eats, sneezes, yawns or sits at her ease. In reality it means that the
wife eats in the kitchen and relaxes only in private. Sutra IV.152 is assiduously
enjoined on the young: Early in the morning only let him void faeces, decorate his
body, bathe, clean his teeth, apply collyrium to his eyes and worship the gods.
Indeed, despite pretensions to vegetarianism almost every mother follows sutra V.28
by ensuring that the sons get good meat to grow up into strong men who can help
them break out of the transmigratory cycle:
The Lord of creatures (Prajapati) created this whole world to be the sustenance of
the vital spirit; both the immovable and the movable creation is the food of the vital
spirit. This passage`A0of course is read together with the caveat of sutra V.56:
There is no sin in eating meat, in drinking spirituous liquor, and in carnal intercourse,
for that is the natural way of created beings, but abstention brings great rewards.
The city of Jaffna had a burial ground for those belonging to the so-called inferior
castes south of the town following sutra V.92: Let him carry out a dead Sudra by the
Southern gate of the town, but the corpses of twice-born men, as is proper, by the
western, northern or eastern gates. The irony is that the Vellahlas of Jaffna who go
out by the Eastern Gate to the cemetery in Chemmany are reckoned by all outside
experts to be Sudras and yet try very hard to claim Vaisya status through having this
eastern gate.
Digressing a little, the rules of public performance by Bharatamuni in his Natya
Sastra, of lesser authority than the Laws of Manu, are relaxed a little for the modern
cinema. For instance, sutra 24.294-295: If out of necessity anyone sleeps alone or
with someone else, no kissing or embracing or any other private action such as
scratching with the nails, biting, loosening of the Nivi, pressing of the breasts and lips
should be presented on stage. Or his sutra 24.296 is waived under the compulsion to
have a wet scene in every movie: Taking food, sporting in water and doing any
obscene or immodest act should not be presented on the stage. The Sinhalese and
Sankrtization The relevant question is whether the Sinhalese are also moving into the
pan- Indian cultural ethos, under the influence of Sanskritisation, ever distancing
themselves from their Dravidian roots, bowing in obeisance to the Vedic.
Sri Lanka being a part of the great subcontinent how can the answer be no? What
happened to good old Sinhalese names like Banda, Podi Singho, Kusuma and
Menike? Where did new names like Lakshman and Damayanthi come from? Just
listen to the news and see how different it sounds today with all the sh psh sounds as
good Tamil root words are abandoned and replaced with Sanskrit, "that most perfect
human language", created by the Rishis to transcribe the Vedas as they were
dictated to them. As a result those Tamils who passed their Sinhalese O. Levels in
the seventies and went abroad now find that it is an altogether different language.
Remember the 1991 budget period when we tried to say we are Shri Lankan and not
Sri Lankan?
The Rajapakses I knew some years ago are today the Rajapakshes. The
Thennakones (Southern Kings) are Tennakoons as they distance themselves from
their Tamil roots. The middle name Muththumani of a famous nationalist historian has
disappeared into his initial M.. A young girl who worked for me with the nice name
Muththukudah (Pearl-bay probably meaning Mannar) insists it is Muththukuda (Pearl
umbrella). Thus is Sri Lanka's non-Aryan heritage being wiped clean and replaced
with a Sanskritic one. The Kaurava Karayas The Karawas of Moratuwa -- and
Christians at that -- have formed themselves into the Moratu Arya Maha Sabha and
claim to be Kaurava Kshatriyas! The story goes that a famous Indian archaeologist
was commissioned with a hefty fee to prove that the word Karawa comes from the
Sanskrit Kaurawa (a warrior tribe) and not the Tamil Karaiya (or coastal fisher caste)
and write a book about it, which he did.
The addition of numerous new Sanskritic words to the Sinhalese language over
recent decades (many Sinhalese old-timers cannot understand today's Sinhalese),
the taking over of Hindu places of worship like Kathirkamam (Kataragama), the Hindu
temple in Chilaw and the Vishnu Temple in Getembe off the Kandy-Peradeniya Road
since the 1958 riots by Buddhists, all confirm that the Sinhalese are very much being
Sanskritized. The simple Sinhalese cooking of a few decades ago with gorakka and
little oil now follows the great traditions of Rantideva's palace in the Mahabharata
where 2,000 animals were killed and served everyday to Brahmins and mendicants,
and "cooks served great joints of meat like sirloin of buffalo and haunches of venison
roasted on spits and dressed by dropping ghee there on, or spiced as curries."
Being United as "Aryans" Thus all of us, Sinhalese and Tamil, are part of this great
Sanskritization. Soon, we will have the great crossing to India. Our unbridled love to
be high caste, "Aryan" and Vedic will soon render Sri Pada into Shree Pada. The Sri
Maha Bodhi will soon be Shree Maha Bodhi. It is a process that is very difficult to stop.
We will all be one as Indians soon without any military annexation being necessary
for we are already fighting each other to prove ourselves to be more Indian. I
seriously wonder if through Sanskritization we have not found a peaceful way to solve
our problems and be united at last. [The Island]
Johnian Spirit
Speech by
Prof.
S.Ratnajeevan
H. Hoole at
the St John's
College,
Jaffna
Prize Day,
July 2004
wonder if
through
Sanskritization
we have not
found a
peaceful way
to solve our
problems and
be united at
last."
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