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by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The single –largest Sri Lankan Tamil political group in the dissolved Parliament was the conglomerate known as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The TNA which contested the April 2004 general elections under the “Veedu”(House) symbol of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) obtained twenty-two seats including two nominated under the national list.

Tamil National Alliance poster in Kallady, Batticaloa ~ More election pictures

Tamil National Alliance enters critical third phase-1

The TNA led by Rajavarothayam Sambandan the veteran politician from Trincomalee is once again contesting the 2010 Parliamentary elections under the House symbol of the ITAK. It has fielded candidates in the Northern and Eastern electoral districts of Jaffna,Wanni, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai (Digamadulla).

The TNA has refrained from contesting the Colombo district that has a substantial concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils. This is mainly due to an unwritten understanding with Mano Ganesan of the Democratic Peoples Front(DPF)to prevent fragmentation of opposition Tamil votes in “Kozhumbu” (Colombo).

There is also a school of thought within the TNA that feels the alliance should focus mainly on the traditional Tamil homeland in North and East.

The Parliamentary polls in 2010 are of crucial importance for the Sri Lankan Tamil polity. For over twenty-five years Tamil electoral politics took a backseat while the armed struggle espoused by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)called the shots both metaphorically and literally.Now the tigers who claimed to be the sole representatives of the Tamil have been virtually decimated in the Island.

The tigers may have gone but the ill- effects of tigerism linger. Velupillai Prabhakaran along with his followers, minions, sycophants and fellow-travelers has wrought great and possibly irreparable harm on the long –suffering Tamil people. The Tamils are a battered and shattered people without even a glimpse of a glimmer at the end of a deep,dark tunnel.

Against such a backdrop it is of paramount importance that a pragmatic and viable political force representing the Sri Lankan Tamils should emerge.This is the need of the hour!

Tamil Voice

Redressing Tamil grievances and achieving legitimate Tamil aspirations within a united but not necessarily a unitary Sri Lanka remain unfulfilled tasks still. The Sri Lankan Tamils require a credible “voice” to articulate their grievances and aspirations. Such a voice must be elected democratically and spurn separatism and violence. In that context the 2010 poll provides an appropriate opportunity for the election of a strong Tamil voice.

In Poonochchimunai ~ Propaganda banner for the independent candidate from Batticaloa District Shanthi Sachchithanandam-pic by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai~more Election 2010 pix

Given the fact that the TNA held 22 seats in the 2004 – 2010 Parliament it is but natural to assume that the alliance is the best bet out of available choices. Even if unable to replicate the 2004 result en toto the TNA seems capable of winning a fair number of seats at the present hustings too. It would however face stiff competition from a plethora of political parties and independent groups.

Apart from the Sinhala dominated “National” fronts like the United Peoples Freedom Alliance(UPFA), United National Front(UNF) and Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) there are also a number of ethnic and regional parties contesting in the North and East. Broadly these parties are either pro- State or anti-State in professed ideology. Some of these parties are either appendages of the government or apologists of the LTTE.

What the Sri Lankan Tamils require at this juncture is a representative political body that would be free of extreme positions. It must be able to act responsibly and co-operate with the government in restoring lost rights and remedying problems but not turn into acolytes of the ruling regime.

It must project the image of being advocates of a distinct Tamil identity without being perceived as pro-tiger or pro-Eelamist sympathisers or supporters. While mobilising mass support from the Tamil people itshould also be able to obtain endorsement and backing from the International community inclusive of India.

Track Record

In such a situation the TNA would seem the acceptable choice among those available.Things however are not so simple. The TNA track record leaves much to be desired. To its eternal shame the TNA functioned as a slave of the LTTE in the past. Mao Ze Dong spoke of the “running dogs of imperialism”. In similar fashion the TNA was the “running dog of tiger hegemonism”.

If the LTTE imposed itself as the sole representative of the Tamil people, Douglas Devananda of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) portrays himself as the sole alternative. Douglas was fond of referring to the TNA derisively as “Tiger Nominated Agents” in the past. That label is not entirely devoid of merit.

The TNA members of Parliament from 2004-2010 consist of five categories. The 22 MP’s are from four political parties as well as non-party affiliation. The LTTE decided who should contest and where. The tigers played a big part in mobilising genuine support and vote rigging in 2004.

The TNA electoral triumph of 2004 lost its sheen when the E.U . released is report condemning the election as not being free or fair in the North and East. This does not mean that all those who won on the TNA did so due to fraudulent means. Several of those elected did so in their own right but their majorities were enhanced through dubious means. But there were some who won entirely due to vote rigging.

Had the TNA contested without any LTTE support or backing in 2004 it may have got about 12-14 seats. The tiger factor helped it to sweep the polls and get 22 seats. It was however a Faustian bargain. The TNA was seen and depicted as a voice of the tigers rather than the Tamils. They had zero credibility in the eyes of the world and rest of Sri Lanka.

When the TNA was formed there were some who thought the alliance would be to the LTTE what the “Sinn Fein” was to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). A few entertained hopes of the TNA playing a prominent role in the peace talks. This was not to be as the LTTE ruled a political role at peace talks for the TNA at the outset.

Furthermore the TNA took up the position that the LTTE should be the sole representatives of the Tamils at the talks and elsewhere. After abdicating its position the TNA disgraced itself further by functioning as members of Parliament and collecting all accompanying perks and privileges. In the words of Stanley Baldwin “power without responsibility has been the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages” .

Political Servitude

The LTTE also reduced the TNA to political servitude and ensured that such bondage was well publicised. The TNA was summoned frequently to Kilinochchi where the tiger political commissar Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan would issue orders and instructions. At LTTE oriented functions some of these MP’s would wear LTTE badges and sing paeans of praise to Prabakharan and the tigers.

In Parliament the TNA was a pathetic lot. Apart from Sambandan few MP’s made any worthwhile contribution. Many of the TNA members acted abrasively and provocatively in the house. Notorious among them were MK Sivajilingam and Selvarajah Gajendran.

The cumulative effect of all this was an erosion of credibility and respect. When the TNA parliamentarians launched a “satyagraha” campaign within the House it was treated with supreme disdain. Neither the Government nor national opposition parties showed concern.

Rajavarothayam Sambandan-file pic~by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Likewise the TNA was looked upon with contempt and scorn by members of the diplomatic community. Though the “motions of meetings” were followed there was practically no meeting of minds. This was particularly so with India. Though TNA delegations made customary pilgrimages to New Delhi scant regard was paid.

The TNA was seen as a tiger adjunct and nothing more. People like Sambandan who complained bitterly in private about his pathetic plight was shown some pity. The end result of all this was that the TNA despite having 22 seats in a house of 225 was unable to accomplish anything worthwhile either in Sri Lanka or abroad.

Instead the TNA role seemed to be that of attending Parliament, drawing salaries and emoluments and giving regular interviews to the various media organizations run by pro-tiger sections of the global Tamil Diaspora. Some MP’s would stay on in the Wanni while others would be in Colombo, India or the West. The hapless North-Eastern people who nominally elected them were effectively short-changed.

What was lamentable in this situation was the TNA’s miserable failure in speaking out to the LTTE on behalf of the Tamil people. The TNA would criticise the government for its acts of omission and commission against the Tamil people but would not dare utter a word against the LTTE for suppressing the Tamils in the name of liberation.

From ruthless taxation to brutal conscription the tigers exploited and oppressed the Tamil people but the “elected” Tamil representatives remained deaf,dumb and blind.

The TNA remained passive spectators as the LTTE ruined the golden opportunity for a just, negotiated settlement through the peace process facilitated by Oslo. The TNA collaborated with the LTTE in enforcing a boycott of the 2005 presidential poll that brought Mahinda Rajapaksa to power. The TNA remained silent as the LTTE laid the groundwork for eruption of war through attacks by a “peoples force” and through acts like the Maavilaaru incident.

The worst however was when the war escalated and the LTTE began retreating with the people in tow. The TNA protested at the aerial bombardment and artillery shelling causing destruction of civilian life,limb and property but failed to ask the LTTE to let the civilians free to reach safe areas.

The TNA demanded international intervention to stop the war when the LTTE was beleaguered but did not even make a token appeal to the tigers to let go of civilians who wanted to move out from tiger controlled areas to save themselves and their families.There was also no condemnation of the LTTE for detaining, torturing, killing and injuring civilians attempting to escape the war zone.

Shameless Lackey

Under these circumstances the TNA was seen as a shameless lackey of the LTTE.It had little respect or clout nationally and internationally. In fact some countries like Canada denied visas to TNA parliamentarians for being supportive of the LTTE branded as terrorist by the International community.

Mortgaging their souls to the LTTE may have helped the TNA to gain Parliamentary office but it also proved dangerous after a certain point of time.

Joseph Pararajasingham was shot dead after receiving communion from Bishop Kingsley Swampillai on Christmas Eve at the Batticaloa Cathedral. Nadarajah Raviraj was gunned down in a Colombo road while travelling in his official vehicle. Sinnaia Sivanesan fell victim to a landmine placed in Mallavi by the Army’s Deep penetration squad. Ex-TNA Parliamentarian Chandranehru Ariyanayagam was assassinated along with the LTTE’s eastern political commissar Kusalyan in Welikande. Ex-TULF MP Sivamaharajah was shot dead in Jaffna.

With the threat to their lives increasing some MP’s from the TNA took refuge in the Wanni. Some stayed put in Colombo confining themselves to official residences. Some spent time abroad returning briefly to Colombo to mark attendance in Parliament. Some stayed indefinitely in foreign countries. A few of these MP’s participated in activities organized by the Tamil Diaspora.

And then came Parliamentary elections 2010!

“Soo!Manthirakkaali!! As if some wizard had waved the magic wand most of these MPS returned home. Some who had breathed fire and brimstone at the Rajapaksa regime made clandestine deals with the powers that be to guarantee their safety and security and return. Once again they were “ready, able and willing” to become MP’s and “serve” their people. A few however opted to fade out of politics.

Dismal History

Given this dismal history prospects for the TNA would indeed seem to be bleak and dreary. An unrepentant, unreformed TNA would not be a logical choice for the Tamil people. But then in democracy one does not get to elect the ideal or best choice. One can only elect the best of what is available. Very often the choice is not the better party or candidate who but the less worse or lesser of the evils.

The Tamil people who suffered under the LTTE have no illusions about the tigers. They themselves had to silently stomach several indignities and injustice at the hands of the tigers and realise what the TNA was up against. As such they would not be too harsh or uncompromisingly judgemental on some of the TNA leaders.

Not all those who got elected in 2004 were puppets propped up by the LTTE alone. Quite a few have established political credentials and are capable of mustering support on their own. As such the TNA does have the ability and acumen to winn a reasonable number of seats if the elections in the north and east are really free and truly fair (Now that is a very big “IF”)

Moreover the more politically enlightened Tamils realise that the community is in dire straits. Despite defeating the tigers militarily the Rajapaksa regime has proved woefully inadequate in addressing the legitimate political concerns of the Tamil people. There are many tragic consequences of the war like displacement, detention that have to be alleviated. It is imperative that the Tamils acquire an effective political leadership at this crucial juncture.

Therefore substantial sections of the Tamil people seem amenable to a “renewed” TNA becoming the premier but certainly not their sole representatives. While some individuals will not be forgiven the TNA as an entity seemed to have gained a reprieve.

Two recent developments suggest that the TNA is not a spent force confined to the dustbin of history. At least not yet!

One is the creditable showing by the party at the Jaffna Municipal and Vavuniya Urban council polls. The other is the impressive “Tamil” turn out for Sarath Fonseka in the recent presidential elections. It must be remembered that the TNA extended support to the General instead of the incumbent president.

These developments along with the positive feedback from sections of the international community seem to have infused the TNA hierarchy with fresh confidence and optimism.

Triple “S” Trio

The TNA is currently led by the triple “S” triumvirate comprising Sambandan, Senathirajah and Suresh (Premachandran.)

This trio has been acting boldly and constructively in trying to re-structure, re-configure and re-furbish the TNA. Some destructive debris of the sordid past have been jettisoned. Some refreshing new talent has been enlisted in the form of university academics, school principals, lawyers, doctors, social workers and other professionals. People who remained with the people have been given pride of place. At the same time several sitting MP’s have also been given nominations.

It appears that the TNA would like to gradually disown its pro-tiger past and re-invent itself as a fresh avatar. The new look TNA has to be remain steadfast to basic principles and policies while being pragmatically flexible. While garnering wide-spread support from the Tamil people it must also cleanse itself from the vestiges of tigerism and regain legitimate acceptability in the eyes of the Sri Lankan polity, India and the western nations.

The 2010 elections could provide the opening for this TNA transition and the party leadership seems to be gearing up for this by doing well at the hustings.

Unfortunately politics by itself is a vibrant dynamic that does not often progress according to plan in a linear direction. This is the nature of politics. Attempts by the triple “S” trio to re-invent the TNA has resulted in inevitable convulsions.

If the evaluating criterion is the role and positions taken by the “lame duck” Parliamentarians then the TNA has certainly fragmented. The monolithic unity of the TNA has shattered and how!

Several sitting MP’s are contesting again on behalf of the TNA but some MP’s are contesting under the betel symbol of the UPFA. Some MP’s are contesting under the cycle symbol of the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress. Some MP’s are contesting under the umbrella symbol of the left front. While some MP’s were denied nomination a few have voluntarily refrained from contesting again. A few of these are actively supporting the election campaign while others are opposing the current leadership. A few remain aloof and detached.

A simple explanation for the TNA disintegration would be the absence of the LTTE. It was the tiger whip (or gun) that brought together held the motley crew known as the TNA together. Now that the tigers are no more the fissiparous tendencies are rising. This explanation does possess a great deal of validity but the reasons for the current crisis are far more complex.

To understand the currents, countercurrents, undercurrents and crosscurrents within the TNA waters, a brief examination of its evolution and growth is necessary. Contrary to popular belief the TNA at the beginning was not a tiger creation. It was formed independently with cautious indirect backing by the LTTE. Thereafter the LTTE took it over and controlled it.

Oct 10th 2000 Elections

The origins of the Tamil National Alliance lie in the East. The factor that triggered it off was the October 10th 2000 Parliamentary election. The results in the North-East sent shock waves to the Tamils in general and some Tamil parties in particular.

No Tamil was elected in the politically sensitive Trincomalee district. In Batticaloa only two Tamils from the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) were elected. Another Tamil won from the ruling Peoples Alliance (PA)In Amparai district a Tamil Independent backed by the EPDP was elected.

The Wanni district with six seats saw Two Sinhala(from PA and UNP) and one Muslim MP being elected. Three Tamil MP’s from the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and one from the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) were elected.

Jaffna with nine seats saw the EPDP getting four including the bonus seat. The TULF got three. The Tamil Congress got one.The United National Party got one. The UNP won in Jaffna after 48 years. In 1952 Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan’s son in law Suppiapillai Nadesan had won. Now Thiyagarajah Maheswaran was returned.

No Tamil party got enough votes entitling it to a national list seat. 2000 saw the Tamils being under represented in the North-East. Moreover Sinhala dominated National parties and Tamil parties like the Govt affiliated EPDP had done well. One reason for the non-governmental Tamil political party debacle was disunity, fragmentation of Tamil votes and the lack of an imaginative or inspiring political agenda.

Eastern University

The seriousness of the situation was acutely felt in the ethnically heterogenous East rather than the near homogenous North. A seminar analysing the situation was held at the Eastern University. It was chaired by former “Daily Mirror” columnist Dharmalingam Sivaram alias Taraki. Several academics, journalists, teachers, professionals, social workers, undergraduates and political representatives participated.

It was resolved at this conference that the different Tamil political parties in the opposition should unite under an umbrella organization to prevent fragmentation of votes. It was also felt that such an organization should be broadly supportive of the LTTE. It was also decided that the LTTE’s approval for the move be obtained steering committee with three joint chairs was formed to coordinate the implementation of this task.

This consisted of three aspects. Firstly the approval and implicit support of the LTTE. This required guarantees of safety and security by the LTTE that it would not assassinate Tamil politicians in the opposition. In return these Tamil parties had to acknowledge the pre-eminence of the LTTE and endorse it as the sole representative of the Tamils in any negotiations.

Secondly the political parties with a militant history like the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) PLOTE and TELO had to declare that they would lay down arms and not collaborate with the state in hunting the LTTE. They also had to sever links with para-military outfits linked to them like the Razeek group (EPRLF)Mohan group (PLOTE) and Ranjan group (TELO). All were in the East.

Thirdly the non-militant parties like the TULF and Tamil Congress had to agree to work together in a common front with the ex-militant groups. Both parties were reluctant as they felt the ex-militant groups hands were tainted with blood. Besides the TULF stood for an “unarmed democracy”. There was also the long ,embittered history of rivalry between the Tamil Congress and the FP-TULF.

The TULF was also wary because of its 1989 experience. Pressure by New Delhi had resulted in militant organizations like the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) TELO and EPRLF contesting under the aegis of the TULF sun symbol along with TULF candidates. However none of the original TULF candidates won. Only Appapillai Amirthalingam got in through the national list(he had lost in Batticaloa)

Negotiating Process

The LTTE in the Wanni was not directly involved in the negotiating process. But Karikalan the former tiger political commissar for Batticaloa-Amparai was supportive and directly involved. Even as the talks were on the LTTE assassinated “Robert” the TELO head of Aaraiyampathy pradeshiya Sabha (this Robert is different to the EPRLF “Robert” killed by the LTTE in Jaffna in 2002). The assassination was a major setback as the TELO wanted to pull out of unity talks as a result.

The committee however persisted in its efforts and appealed to the LTTE’s military leadership of the East. The eastern regional military commander then was none other than Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias “Col” Karuna. The LTTE “explained” the assassination as a “mistake” due to a communication gap between the intelligence division and political wing.

Subsequently leading personalities from the TELO and EPRLF met with Karikalan in secret and discussed matters. Assurances were obtained.Likewise some TULF personalities’s also met with LTTE leaders and had discussions.

There were two hitches. The PLOTE led by Dharmalingam Siddharthan was willing for unity but the PLOTE cadres in Vavuniya (Plote stronghold) were unwilling to align with the TELO (also strong in Vavuniya) Likewise the TELO hierarchy was also reluctant to unite with the PLOTE as it feared erosion of support in the Wanni. Finally the PLOTE or its political party the Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (DPLF) opted out.

The second was the long standing antipathy of the Tamil Congress towards the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi) and its successor the TULF. The Tamil Congress wanted all parties to unite under the Tamil Congress symbol of cycle and contest instead of the TULF’s sun.

Dr. Yogalakshmi Ponnambalam was then the dominant personality in the Tamil Congress as her husband Kumar Ponnambalam had been killed on January 2000.After protracted discussions held at her residence she consented to unite and contest under the sun symbol.

Similarly some stalwarts in the TULF were also reluctant to unite with the Congress and other ex-militant groups but gradually they were won over or reduced to silence.

Parallel Courses

Even as these discussions continued two parallel courses of action were also on. One was the sudden phenomenon of leaflets and statements to the press by hitherto unheard of organizations like Sankiliyan padai, Kulakkottan padai and Pandara Vanniyan padai.

While “padai” means force the other references were to regional rulers like King Sankili of Jaffna, Kulallottan monarch of Trincomalee and chieftain Pandaravanniyan of Adankapatru. All these leaflets and statements urged Tamil unity and threatened those not cooperating with punitive action. They were given wide publicity in Tamil newspapers.

The other parallel course of action was the well-meaning efforts of some Colombo based prominent Tamils to bring about overall Tamil unity. These Tamils comprised leading businessmen, professionals and social workers. Some of them were involved in discussions with counterparts in Batticaloa striving for unity. The efforts of these “Colombo” based Tamils also played a major role in unity talks.

At the penultimate stages the LTTE in the Wanni got directly involved. Some leaders of the TULF, Tamil Congress, TELO and EPRLF were contacted by telephone and urged to unite and contest under the TULF “Sun” symbol. The LTTE factor galvanised the negotiating parties into concluding talks successfully

A working agreement among the TULF,ACTC, EPRLF and TELO was reached to form a coalition known as the “Thamizh Thesieeya Kootamaippu” or Tamil National Alliance . The TNA would contest under the TULF symbol. A scheme apportioning candidates to each party in the different electoral istricts was also agreed upon.

The formation of the Tamil National Alliance was announced through a press communiqué dated October 22nd 2001.The TNA was born!

[click here to comment and/or read comments on this article]

DBS Jeyaraj can be reached at djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com

Related: Full Text: General Election 2010 Manifesto, Tamil National Alliance (TNA)

by Dushy Ranetunge in London

The Sri Lankan government this week has decided to deny a visa for the American rap star Akon, even before he had applied for one. The politics of this decision is obvious.

The electorate that listens to and will participate in a Akon musical is perceived as being overwhelmingly liberal, Colombo centric, affluent UNP voters. While the cabal that opposes the Akon musical, are perceived as being less affluent UPFA voters, many of whom would have not even heard of Akon.

If the government had granted permission despite the protests by the radicals, it would have antagonised a part of its electoral home turf, which consists of Sinhalese Buddhist radicals.

Although President Rajapakse himself may not be a Akon fan, there is a high possibility that his son educated in St Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia, and later at Cardiff University in Wales and drives a BMW X5 may have heard of Akon. He may have even listened to his music at that nightclub in Horton Place, Colombo 7, above the Coffee house, as he like many of his generation aspires to the lifestyle of the Colombians.

But leaving aside politics, decisions of this nature have a wider impact on Sri Lanka and Buddhism.

Buddhism is perceived in the West as being a tolerant passive religion and Buddhist statues are perceived as creating an aura of calm and tranquility. As a result, the use of Buddha statues is somewhat different in the West.

Buddha statues are commonly used as garden ornaments and are found as a part of water gardens. In the Akon Video it is near a pool. Buddha statues are also used as a part of table lamps.

Tibetan/Chinese art also depicts Buddha in an erotic pose and could be found on the World Wide Web.

Buddhism is perceived and interpreted in different societies in different ways. Even within Sri Lanka Buddhism is perceived differently by individuals.

A few years ago, a visit to the Dambulla temple by a 11-year-old girl wearing just above knee high shorts was denied entry. According to the “Taliban” style dress code guard, shorts should be below the knee and shoulders cannot be exposed and should be covered.

They will not be visiting Dambulla temple again.

This year I witnessed another 11-year-old girl wearing seriously short shorts walking into Madhu Church for a service and there was no “Taliban” style guard stopping her from entering the church.

Later she walked into Tiruketisvaram kovil near Mannar. There was no dress code Taliban present to stop her and advise her on entry requirements to one of the five great Isvarams in Sri Lanka.

It was obvious that the Catholic Church in Madhu and the great Isvaram in Mannar were more tolerant in dress code than the Buddhist temple in Dambulla. Other than the issue of tolerance, there are financial implications. Those who wear shorts tend to be from the affluent classes in Colombo, and in this instance, individuals who are generous and make four figure donations.

The use of “Taliban” style dress code will merely drive this class of individuals away from visiting these Buddhist temples and reduce revenue.

More importantly, it will alienate them from Buddhism, increasingly reducing the participation of this affluent class and their future generations from Buddhist activity as is evident today.

The dress code and other rules and regulations increasingly demanded by Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka is a new phenomena, and follows a similar trajectory to the rise of Sinhala nationalism.

At the early part of the last century a majority of men and a significant number of women in Sri Lanka were topless and was widely photographed and sketched. Other than these photographs, which are found on post cards produced at the beginning of the last century, many of the prints published by travelers to Sri Lanka, such as the Russian Prince Alexei Soltikoff in 1841, depict these scenes all over Sri Lanka.

There was no “Taliban” to stop them or demanded a dress code when visiting Buddhist temples topless for most of our history. Therefore this “talibanism” creeping into Buddhism is a new phenomena, nothing to do with Buddhism, but recently introduced by present-day radicals and purists.

They argue it as being a present day requirement and point out that you cannot enter the Vatican or Mecca wearing such clothes, as they demand respect.

This argument is self-defeating as the attraction of Buddhism to the liberal and the educated is because it is different to the Vatican and Mecca. By bringing in rigid practices into Buddhism, they are in effect closing the doors to a certain segment of society, which cash strapped Buddhist temples could ill afford. It also destroys the reputation of Buddhism of being liberal and tolerant of all things.

In Buddhism we were taught that it was important to identify the thought behind the action.

Let us examine the Akon Video.

Akon has no known anti- Buddhist hostility. The film set with the Buddhist statue and pool where the Video was filmed would have been selected by the record company’s artistic director and the video itself would have been funded and produced by the record label that has contracted him and in effect owns him.

Akon would be a small cog in a bigger wheel where he would have been driven to the set by the record company, and asked to perform to record the video. To Akon, the presence of the Buddha statue would have been as natural as seeing a Buddha statue at most garden centers in the West, where Buddhism is regarded differently to Christianity and Islam.

From a Western perspective, Akon would have not had any intent, in thought or action to insult or be seen to be hostile to Buddhism.

In this light, the actions of the Sri Lankan government are high handed and it damages both Sri Lanka and Buddhism. It creates a perception of Talabanism in Sinhalese society and the government succumbing to it.

It also damages the perception of Buddhism as being tolerant and understanding and being different to Christianity and Islam.

on the visit of Gen. Than Shwe ~ in Nov 2009 ~ by Vikalpa SL

The situation is compounded by the fact that this same government recently invited members of the Burmese Military Junta to Colombo. The Burmese Military Junta has been responsible for the death, torture and incarceration of hundreds of Buddhist monks who have risen against their tyranny in Burma.

None of these champions protested during that visit.

It exposes the hypocrisy of the present regime and raises more fundamental questions as to how the regime intends to provide space for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, when it is incapable of providing space for the English speaking Sinhalese in the Capital. In both instances, Sinhalese radicalism seems to have a veto over the cultural space of minority groups. [ Click here to comment and/or read comments on this article ]

An appreciation by Ms. RanjanaThambirajah (Nee Sabaratnam)

March 21st 2010 marks the first death anniversary of Mrs Gnanie Nalliah who passed away in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 91. The nonagenarian was a well known mathematician in the Jaffna circle and taught at Chundikuli Girls College, Jaffna for more than 25 years.

Some teachers leave an indelible mark on the young hearts and the memories linger with those when they become adults. One of the teachers who made a mark in my younger days was the Late Mrs. Gnanie Nalliah. The first impression I had of Mrs. Nalliah was not in person but from the senior students and my older siblings who studied under her at CGC. In time I came to learn that she was a strict teacher, good at teaching math, who never raised her voice and was funny at times.

Mrs. Gnanie Nalliah ~ 04.02.1918 – 21.03.2009

I remember vividly when she became our Maths teacher in 1970 in the seventh standard. She taught Algebra, Geometry and Arithmetic to our class. I still remember how she explained congruent in Geometry, simple and compound interest in Arithmetic and the pronumeral applications in Algebra. She always referred to zero as “poochiyam” in Tamil than “cypher” which was commonly used by other teachers. We had her for two terms and then she was delegated to a senior class.

Two years later, she returned to us as our Maths teacher in the ninth standard. This was the time when young girls in their early teens went through their adolescent years becoming mischievous and having an attitude on every facet of life. To top up the situation, a newly appointed teacher, fresh from the University was delegated to our class not only as a class teacher but also to teach us Biology. Our class took the advantage of her inexperience as the opportunity to disrupt her classes. The fun we had lasted for a term or two until the news reached the Principal’s ears, Mrs. GES Chelliah. One can guess who was replaced as our class teacher, none other than Mrs. Nalliah.

This time around we saw Mrs. N as a different person. She was very strict and stern as our class teacher. Since she had been teaching math when she wasn’t our class teacher, she had a better understanding of the culprits who were disruptive in class. Set a thief to catch a thief became her motto, and she made the naughtiest students as class monitors. A threat also came to us as that she would personally meet our parents or send warnings out through our older siblings. Sending a warning home through an older sibling was of course detested by every younger sibling so we were brought to our senses very quickly. The psychological warfare she imposed on us made a vast difference in our class behaviour. She came with a mission; she didn’t stop until her mission was accomplished. Nor did she enforce the threats she made.

In the Seventies, the salary for the tutorial staff was paid mid-month and the Principal had to go to the bank personally to make the cash withdrawals. Mrs. Nalliah accompanied the Principal to the bank and assisted in the distribution of salaries to the entire tutorial staff. Students eagerly wait for their “free periods” to have some fun when she disappears for her monthly chore. Mrs. N was too conscientious of her missed classes and she would use her lunch time to teach us the missed components. As teenagers, we did not like the idea of spending our time in “calculations” as we were more worried about our lunch time game such as “killi-thattu” (a grid game). Mrs. N also made special Saturday classes if she happened to miss the school for personal reasons. Such was her whole-hearted devotion and dedication to her profession. Now as a parent I believe that teachers don’t come in the calibre of Mrs. Nalliah with such dedication and passion.

Mrs. Nalliah was a also good educator in the ways she handled the young minds. She was good at throwing idioms and phrases aptly to the situations. If we were are unable to tackle a maths problem and ended up in tears she would say “Kalvi ennum payirrukku kanneer enum malai miha miha avasiyam( tears of rain are essential to a plant of education). One of the most popular idiom was “pandriyodu serntha kanrum pauvi arunthum “(a good natured calf will also learn to eat ‘dirt’ if it chose to live with the pigs). This idiom was very popular in our class for two reasons. One was that “pauvi” was colloquially used differently and the other was that we had a bevy of marked mischievous girls in our class. Whenever Mrs. N starts this particular phrase it will be finished as a chorus by the whole class.

She hated being disrupted when explaining a concept in Math. If she caught someone chatting with the neighbour, she would immediately stop and stare at the offenders. Every eyes would follow her glance, even at that moment if the offenders do not realise the situation, then the chalk would fly like a rocket from her hand over to the girls concerned, and most of the time the chalk would find its target. I was not an exception for this situation and I quickly learned not to talk in class.

Mrs. Nalliah was well known for her Mathematical skills for the GCE Ordinary Levels, and she was well sought after by the wider community for Maths tutoring. She held her private tutoring lessons at her house “Gnanasthan”at Perinpanayagam lane, Chundikuli Jaffna. She maintained a principle that she wouldn’t take any girls from CGC if she teaches them at school indicating that she was not going to teach anything different from the class.

Our College Monday morning Prayers were generally conducted by our Principal or by a teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed the times when Mrs. N took the podium. She always came up with a story which had a moral at the end.

Mrs. Gnanie Nalliah hailed from Thunnalai, a village in the Vadaimarrachi region. Her father was a Principal of Hartley college of Point Pedro in the early twentieth century. She was named as Gnanapooranammah at birth shortened as Gnanie in later stage. One of her siblings was also known for his principalship was late Mr. K.Pooranampillai who had been a School Principal at The Hartley College and then at St. Johns College, Jaffna.

In her conversations she had mentioned that her studies were disrupted to a halt when her mother was bedridden for nearly six years. She pursued her studies after she got married to Mr. LWD Nalliah and she had to sit for her exams when her son was a baby. She received her degree from the University of London, United Kingdom. These may be the reasons that she was reiterating the value of studies to us girls. She always encouraged girls to study to and use the time wisely and also instilled high morals and principles in life. One of the concepts she inculcated to the girls which was passed on to her by her mother was that if you do a good deed at school, most of the people won’t notice it but if you do a bad deed that the whole school community will carry the story home. So think about your actions before you commit yourself to a task.

In my GCE Ordinary Levels year she would open a lunch time session weekly for all the girls, irrespective of the class, to voluntarily come up with their mathematical problems. Even though I was studying under a different teacher, the offer was put to good use by some of us. Closer to the examinations she would extend invitations to interested students to come to her house to have a go at the past examination papers. I am always grateful for the services she rendered to us during that exam time free of charge! Her moral values were never matched with monetary values.

Mrs Nalliah was always neatly dressed in pastel colour saris and her falls was always pleated and pinned to the side. Her hair was always coiffed to a neat bun. One of her saris was quite popular among students coined as “rocket sari”. This was the post era time when the Apollo 11 has landed on the moon. The sky blue colour sari falls was painted by her artist husband depicting the landing on the moon by the three astronauts. Whenever she wore that sari there will be someone at school wanting to examine the detail of her falls.

She was a virtuous lady with a humble manner and was highly respected by the wider community. Nick-naming a teacher was the norm in every school and these names were generally referred names instead of given names. However Mrs. N escaped without a nick name.

Mrs. N did retire from her teaching service in the mid-seventies after serving Chundikuli Girls College for more than twenty five years. The college is in debt of her service to a generation of students. The retirement didn’t deter her from tutoring students at her home and then in Colombo. The 1983 communal riots in our Island brought a massive emigration of Tamils abroad. Mrs. Nalliah emigrated to Vancouver Canada to be with her son and family. The emigration did not prevent Mrs. N from tutoring math. Math was her life. I did hear from her relatives and friends that as an octogenarian she was able to keep her mind active by teaching maths for the younger generation.

She was a regular church goer and had faith in God and spiritual values and worshipped at the Methodist churches. She also had preached in some of the churches when she was requested. Once she was asked to preach at the Vannarpannai Wesley Methodist Church for a women’s day service. She mentioned that she was a bit nervous to get on to the pulpit among the strangers until she saw my late father’s face as the only known person.

Mrs. Gnanie Nalliah had the genuine passion for teaching and mastered the art of paedogogy to the amazement of students. May God bless her family for her services rendered to the community. As Paul says in the New Testament her life can be described as “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race and I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7)

Gnanie Nalliah did light a candle of understanding in our hearts which shall not be put out.

I wonder why God does not make Mrs. Gnani Nalliahs’ anymore with high morals and values. The current world requires many more Gnanies!

May her soul rest in peace.

by Rajan Philips

(A modified version of a Review Article originally published in the Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities, University of Peradeniya)

Having lived my life in equal parts in Sri Lanka and Canada, I have often modified the remark by a former Canadian Prime Minister, McKenzie King, that Canada “has too much geography and too little history”, to describe Sri Lanka’s never ending predicament: too much history, too little geography.

Ruwanweliseya (2nd century BCE), Anuradhapura: The oldest brick stupa in the world-pic: dailynews.lk

Much of this old history has been abused as political instruments over the last seventy years to essentialize and perpetuate the ethnic divisions in the country. A concerted counter to tendentious historicizing began with the 1979 seminar on the “Nationality Problems in Sri Lanka” organized by the Social Scientists’ Association. Since then several scholars and commentators have joined the debate to provide well substantiated alternative accounts of our past and challenge the mythopoeic creations and essentialist renderings that have for so long poisoned our politics.

Rajarajesvaram, Thanjavur: The oldest granite edifice now in its millennium year-Pic courtesy of The Hindu

K. Indrapala’s book (The Evolution of An Ethnic Identity: The Tamils in Sri Lanka C. 300 BCE to C. 1200 CE) is set in the same critical and positively revisionistic genre and, while primarily tracing the evolution of the Tamil ethnic identity in Sri Lanka, it provides a comprehensive account of the pre-modern phases in the evolution of Sri Lanka’s modern ethnic coexistences. The book captures “the complex interplay of cultures, languages and religions” over 1500 years based on a comprehensive and critical review of all available sources in archaeology, epigraphy, chronicles and literary texts.

The two-part book on Buddhism among Tamils (Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-Colonial Tamilakam and Ilam) edited by Peter Schalk and A. Velupillai, with contributions from Sri Lankan and South Indian scholars (R. Nagaswamy, S. Pathmanathan, D. Dayalan), is a mixed bag of painstaking scholarship, exegetic interpretations and idiosyncratic commentaries.

While Indrapala attempts to extricate our ancient past from the quagmires of the present, Schalk’s commentaries unabashedly link the two in a seamless wrap that is also more polemical than analytical or reflective. The book labours the question why Buddhism historically has been nothing more than a minor religion or a minority religion in Tamil societies. Inexplicably and regrettably, the book takes an exclusively longitudinal approach, mixing past and present, rather than taking a more cross-sectional and comparative approach and asking the complementary question, why did Buddhism fail to flourish in almost all Indian societies? The more pertinent questions to my purpose are: how did Sri Lanka become the most abiding home for Buddhism throughout its history, and why did not Buddhism become Sri Lanka’s only religion in the pre-colonial era? These questions are not the main focus of Indrapala’s pursuit but they are important parts of the evolutionary history that he ends up weaving.
Neither the Sinhalese nor the Tamils arrived in their current habitats “pre-mixed, pre-cooked and pre-packaged”, as Indrapala reminds us drawing on British historian Norman Davies’s dismissal of similar renderings of the arrival of the English people in 5th century Britain. Those who now speak Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and those who speak Tamil in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu have been drawn from different ethnic stocks throughout their histories. Also contributing to these population pools were the ancestors of the present Keralas, Kannadas and Telugus of South India. Malay, Arabic and European elements would be added later.

There is nothing new about ethnicity, but as Indarapala emphasizes at the outset of the book, one has to differentiate between archaic ethnicity and modern ethnicity. One has to equally differentiate between ethnic consciousness and identity in the ancient world and what we encounter in our time. There is no connection at all between them, especially in regard to politics, and whatever connection that is claimed is claimed from the present to the past and not bequeathed from the past to the present.

The common SISL stock

Indrapala sets the geographical context for Sri Lanka’s evolution in what he calls the South India-Sri Lanka (SISL) cultural region comprising Sri Lanka, the present states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the southern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It is in this setting that the explanatory variables of population, language and religion began the evolutionary process that would eventually bring Sri Lanka to its current configuration. The material base that sustained this process was itself an evolving predicator, and one that was intimately shared by the emerging societies of the entire SISL region. The main stages in the development of this base are well established – beginning with the middle stone age (Mesolithic), through the Early Iron Age (EIA) and culminating in what has been called the hydraulic civilization.

Indrapala reiterates like others before him, including Senarat Paranavitana, that the main population source of the island was its original, Mesolithic inhabitants and not any massive population movement from elsewhere. He suggests that there is evidence of the Mesolithic peoples using different languages in the early phases. He notes the generally agreed beginning of the Tamil language before the Common (or Christian) Era (BCE) based on classical Tamil literature and contemporary inscriptions. The Sinhala language would emerge later in the Common Era, not from an immigrant population of Sinhala speakers but through a process of ‘language replacement’ involving transformation of one of the indigenous languages (presumably Elu) following its exposure to North Indian languages, Prakrit and Pali, as well as Tamil and even Munda, the Austroasiatic language from the Southeast Asian region. The emergence of the Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages in the SISL region went through a similar process.

Trade provided the primary avenue of contact between the SISL region and the outside world – northern India, Southeast Asia, West Asia and parts of old Europe. It was trade that brought in the Prakrit-speaking traders from the western and eastern costs of northern India and set in motion the process of language replacement. Prakrit was the first “lingua franca of South Asian trade”, just as Tamil would become a key mode of communication for trade involving the SISL region in later centuries, during the Pallava and Cola periods. There were also copious contributions from the religious and the learned languages of the times, Pali and Sanskrit. The evolution of languages in the early stages would appear to have been a syncretic process rather than a competitive one, and there was no rivalry between speakers of different languages on the basis of what they spoke. Indrapala recalls the earlier observation made by Leslie Gunawardana that it would have taken a long time before all speakers of a language were subjectively and objectively considered to belong to a group. This was no different from the evolution of linguistic identities in other societies. The use of language as a tool of divisive and violent nationalisms is a product of modernity.

Religion, and not language, proved to be the more potent agent of social organization, mobilization as well as differentiation. The evolution of religious societies in the SISL region went through several phases. There were pre-Vedic cults and rituals prevailing among the people. Commentators on classical Tamil literature have alluded to the secular nature of the Sangam poems, but this was followed by what Indrapala describes as the “silent penetration of the Vedic religion” from North India for about seven to eight centuries. Schalk opines that the bardic culture of the Sangam period that gave rise to Tamil heroic poetry composed in praise of martial chieftains blended well with the Vedic religious practices but was not amenable to the counter-ethos of Buddhism.

Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Saivam in Tamil Nadu

The most powerful impetus for a new religion was royal conversion. As with Asoka’s conversion to Buddhism before the Common Era and the conversion of Constantine to Christianity centuries later, the spread of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and that of Saivism in South India started off with respective royal conversions. In the third century BCE, Emperor Asoka sent his son Mahinda on a mission of conversion to Sri Lanka, who found his prize catch in Devanampiya Tissa the king of Anuradhapura. Tissa was the son of Muta Siva whose name, suggests Indrapala, implies the prevalence of Siva worship at that time. Velupillai asserts that the Mahinda’s mission was to include not only Sri Lanka but also Tamil Nadu, although there were no royal conversions to Buddhism in Tamil Nadu but to Jainism in the later Pandya and Pallava kingdoms. These kings were reconverted to Saivism in the sixth century CE that marked the beginning of the bhakti movement and the populist revival of Saivism in Tamil Nadu with spill over into Sri Lanka. The bhakti movement (6th-8th centuries CE) effectively ended the possibility of Buddhism and Jainism surviving as strong religions in Tamil Nadu.

While royal patronage might have been a necessary condition for a successful beginning or revival of a religion, it was not enough to ensure its continuing survival and growth. The social bases for Buddhism and Saivism in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu were provided by the agrarian economy and the hydraulic civilization that sustained it. What has been described by P. Ragupathy as ‘hydraulic Buddhism’ in relation to the Sinhalese society could be extended as ‘hydraulic Saivism’ to Tamil Nadu. Indrapala cites two notable commentators in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, Sudarshan Seneviratne and R. Champakalakshmi, respectively, who describe essentially the same ingredients of socio-religious organization in both contexts.

Even though Buddhism did not become a major religion or a majority religion in Tamil Nadu, Tamil Buddhism enjoyed a status of some prominence in the overall Buddhist world including Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. The specific social bases for Buddhism in Tamil Nadu during the pre-Pallava, Pallava periods, and later under the Cola rule even after the bhakti movement were mostly among urban elites and mercantile communities. Ragupathy has described this phenomenon as ‘mercantile Buddhism’ among the Tamils. Tamil Nadu was also home to some well known Buddhist monasteries and scholar monks who were prominently associated with both the Theravada and Mahayana schools. The monasteries and the mercantile community provided the resources and the conduits for Buddhist missions emanating from South India and reaching not only the Tamil speaking parts of Sri Lanka but also Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam.

The urban social base and the mercantile classes by themselves would appear to have been inadequate to sustain Buddhism as a socially viable religion in South India. The monastic structure of Buddhism made it difficult for it to compete against a socially established religion like Hinduism not just in Tamil Nadu but everywhere else in India. Peter Schalk suggests that the apparent insistence by Buddhist monks on the use of Pali rather than Tamil as the medium of religious rites was a factor inhibiting the acceptance of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu. Even so, Seethalai Sathanar’s Manimekalai, one of the five great Tamil epics assigned to the 2nd century CE, espousing Buddhist doctrines and teachings, is evidence that Buddhist thought had found resonance in Tamil literature at the highest level long before the bhakti movement. According to Velupillai, the influence of Buddhist teachings is also evident in the copious hymns sung by the Nayanars (Saiva Saints) of the bhakti movement, notwithstanding their acrimonious disputations against the Buddhist religion.

What neither book suggests outright but provides enough grounds for others to postulate is that the competitive interests of the Brahman forces vis-à-vis the Buddhist monastic establishments would have been a formidable impetus for the bhakti movement and Saiva revivalism. The establishment of brahmadeyas, or Brahmana settlements, was an integral feature of hydraulic Saivism. Indrapala points out that “gifts of land by kings and their officers to temples and Brahmans” had become a common practice in all of South Asia after the 6th century. While this practice had been in vogue among local Tamil chieftains, the Pallavas raised it to a higher level as part of royal Sanskritization aimed at achieving dynastic validation among the subjects.

Indrapala uses the sociological concept of Sanskritization, developed by M.N. Srinivas in relation to social mobility involving lower castes who adopt Sanskritic names and rituals to claim a higher social status usually following political or economic advancements, to describe “the process by which north Indian influences spread in South India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia”. He justifies it as a neutral term indicating linguistic and cultural influences in preference to the more commonly used terms such as Aryanaization, Indianization and Hinduization with their corresponding racial, colonial and religious overtones. The various ‘origin legends’ (for e.g., the Agastya and the Vijaya legends) among the Tamils and Sinhalese are also presented as part of the Sanskritization process.

The Pandyas and Colas emulated these practices, with the latter extending it to Sri Lanka in the 11th century. The practice was also common among the Sinhalese rulers in the island. My point is that the Brahman forces in Tamil Nadu would have been threatened by the spread of Buddhism and the competition for patronage and land by Buddhist monasteries and that could have been among the more worldly factors behind the bhakti movement. At least, this is a more plausible line to pursue than the rather simplistic assertion by Schalk that Buddhism ran into suspicion in Tamil Nadu because it was associated with the enemy kingdom in Sri Lanka.

The circumstances in Sri Lanka were contingently different and clearly conducive for Buddhism to socially sink roots and flourish. The royal conversion facilitated the blending of Buddhism with pre-existing rituals and practices. The growth of a new religion and the emergence of a new language might have reinforced one another. More importantly, Buddhism became an integral part of the Sinhalese agrarian society that has appropriately been symbolized by the ‘robe and the plough’. Like Hinduism in India, Buddhism in Sri Lanka developed a syncretic ethos that allowed its followers to modify, adapt, and continue with pre-existing Hindu rituals and practices at the popular level, while developing its own reputation for orthodoxy and learning centred on the Theravada school. The Buddhist monastic establishment was also well positioned in Sri Lanka to thwart any competition for royal patronage and land from Brahman forces. As it turned out, no such competition materialized and although Buddhism had its difficult moments in Sri Lanka they were mostly the result of political changes and sectarian doctrinal disputes and not the result of proselytization threats from Saivism.

The evolution of identities

In Indrapala’s assessment, by the end of the 12th century the geographical and cultural platforms were by and large set for the emergence of the modern Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil Saiva identities. The once flourishing north-central parts of the island were depopulated and two distinct population settlements began to emerge with Sinhalese mostly in the south-western and Tamils in the north-eastern parts of the country. The main reason for the emergence of this particular configuration rather than any other configuration was the Cola rule over the northern half of the island for over fifty years in the eleventh century.

Inasmuch as the Colas could not extend their domination over the entire island they could not significantly alter the course of evolution of the Sinhalese Buddhist society. Buddhism in Sri Lanka was able to withstand the cultural pressures of Saivism just as the latter had been able to stem the tide of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu. The mutuality of influence between the two religions in the SISL region has been notably acknowledged. What the Cola rule may have prevented was the consolidation of Buddhism as the sole religion in Sri Lanka. In fact, it ensured the endurance of Tamil Saivism in the north-eastern parts of the country. The cultural sustenance of Saivism was reinforced by the arrival of Brahmans, soldiers, traders, artisans and other workers from South India. Although the influx of these social groups has been a common occurrence in the past, their arrivals during the Cola period left a more permanent imprint on the island’s population structure. The system of village administration introduced by the Colas as part of their governance structure remained in place long after the Cola rule had ended.

The point that Indrapala stresses in the end is that the eventual defeat of the Colas by King Vijayabahu was just that – a victory for Vijayabahu and defeat for the Cola ruling house, and nothing more. It was not a confrontation between Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Saivites, or between Sri Lanka and South India, as interpreted by Peter Schalk and many others. The armies of both sides were mixed with Sinhalese and Tamil speakers. Even after the expulsion of the Colas, Vijayabahu continued to patronize the Brahmans and Saiva temples just as the Colas had patronized Buddhism during their rule. The Tamil Buddhist and Saiva settlements that had emerged during the Cola rule continued under Vijayabahu and later.

The monarchical confrontations in the pre-modern SISL region were fights involving the ruling houses of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. There were more confrontations between the chieftains of Tamil Nadu than between Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu chieftains. Indeed, there was collaboration between Sri Lankan ruling houses and the South Indian Pallava and Pandya ruling houses in opposition to the Colas. I am not aware if there was ever an instance when all the South Indian kings ganged up on Sri Lanka. The ruling houses in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka were part of an endogamous group as exemplified by the numerous marital alliances struck between them. More importantly, the social and political organizations at that time were not predicated on an identity of interests between the ruling houses and their subjects. The powerful mercantile communities come across as independent and footloose rather than tied down to a territorial identity. In a remarkable observation, Indrapala notes that South Asian overseas traders were independent of their monarchic states whereas Chinese trade was state controlled.

He cites Leslie Gunawardana’s thesis that the term Sinhala, not unlike similar terms likes Moriya, Gupta, Pallava and Cola, initially applied only to the dynasty and the extended families belonging to the dynasty. It excluded the people who did not belong to the dynasty regardless of whether or not they spoke the same language or belonged to the same religion.

In this perspective, the oldest and the most debated monarchical confrontation in Sri Lankan history, between Dutthagamani and Elara, must be seen as nothing more than a monarchical confrontation despite the tendentious interpretations that it has received in modern times. The principal source for these interpretations is the 5th century chronicle Mahavamsa compiled by a monk named Mahanama, but as Indrapala points out extremists on both used have used and abused Mahanama by projecting onto his work present-day political controversies and ignoring the tradition, the context and the purpose behind his unique contribution to Sri Lanka’s historical sources. Indrapala argues that the Mahavamsa rendering of the Dutthagamani-Elara confrontation is a later day interpolation given the extent of its deviation “in style and content” from the rest of the chronicle. Even if one rejects this argument for other historical reasons, there is no excuse for using the chronicle as a contemporary political football.

Indrapala raises the interesting question based on epigraphic and literary evidence whether and how the Sinhalese or Tamils called themselves as a group, as opposed to how they were identified by others as constituting a group. Put another way, the self-expression of consciousness as an ethnic group that has become commonplace after modernity was hard to come by in the pre-modern period. One way of explaining this difference is to recognize the difference between archaic ethnicity and modern ethnicity and their corresponding attributes.

The available sources for determining the evolution of consciousness appear to be limited and it is not clear if Indrapala could have pursued this line more vigorously based on these sources. Such an investigation should go beyond the records of the ruling houses, and although Indrapala deals extensively with inscriptions relating to the mercantile communities, there is much unfilled void in regard to the evolution of the pre-modern social organization. There is hardly any description of the village organization including village assemblies even though, as Indrapala notes, records relating to them along with royal and religious accounts constitute the bulk of the epigraphic records in the SISL region. More significantly and rather inexplicably, the book is silent on the institution of caste. It would be impossible to get a complete picture of the evolution of ethnicity in the SISL region without bringing caste into the frame.

Indrapala draws his evolutionary story to a close at the end of the 12th century. By then, as noted earlier, the platform had been set for the Sinhalese and Tamils to arrive at where they are now. There were also other arrivals – apart from the continuing arrivals from South India who assimilated into the by-now indigenous Sinhalese and Tamil communities, a third community known as the Muslims of Sri Lanka began to evolve with the arrival of Muslim traders. The arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century led to the emergence of Burghers, and Malays came from the Indonesian islands during the Dutch rule. Finally, in the 19th and 20th centuries the British colonial rulers brought in a significant number of Indian Tamils to work the coffee and tea plantations. They are now called the Upcountry Tamils.

These recent arrivals have added to the historically entrenched hybrid nature of the Sri Lankan society. Sri Lanka’s hybridity needs to be celebrated and not questioned or denied. Celebrating hybridity means eschewing essentialism, the notion that the Sinhalese, the Tamils and the Muslims have been present in Sri Lanka from pre-modern times as “pre-mixed, pre-cooked and packaged” groups. Indrapala’s account of the evolution of the ethnic identity of the Tamils, provide evidence to the contrary. Notably, their group evolution occurred not in isolation but in interaction with the evolution of other groups. The interaction between these groups was informed by different circumstances and group characters at different times. It would be wrong to project on our past the controversies of the present. On the contrary, alternative accounts of the past challenging its more established versions, may provide more positive perspectives for dealing with our current predicaments.

Paaventhar Bharathithaasan’s poetic works dealt with socio-political issues that are true and relevant to this day.

Many of his works have been featured in Tamil movies as well. His song “Siththira Solaikale” was included in the film “Naan ean piranthen” – Why was I born?, starring Makkal Thilakam M.G. Ramachandran.

Universal Hero Kamal Hasaan stated in an event that Puradchi Thalaivar MGR insisted on including this song in “Naan ean piranthen?” against the wishes of the producer of the movie.

Bharathithaasan was born on April 29, 1891 in Pondicherry, French India and passed away on April 21, 1964 in Chennai (Madras), India. His original name was Subburathinam. In 1909, he was introduced to Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar, and his interactions with the Mahakavi had a major impact on him.

Bharathithaasan was greatly influenced by Periyar and and his writings were encouraged by political leaders C.N. Annadurai and M.G. Ramachandran. And his works stand true to contemporary issues, as a true poet’s ‘poetic justice’ comes to life at all junctures in history.

The poem “Siththira Solaikale” parallels nature, labor and machines that are bettering life on earth for humanity wherein beneath it lies numerous sacrifices. This poem, a tribute to the hard working labor is compiled in the following video with paintings from another time.

This video features paintings by Shan Sundaram of Pennsylvania, USA. Many of his paintings are featured in www.free-tamil.com

Together with Bharathithaasan’s poem, the paintings bring a message to the Tamil diaspora – recalling of sacrifices and the plight while calling now to set course in charity to help those in dire need. It reminds against becoming forgetful along with complacency that sets in as time goes on.

Translation of “Siththira Solaikale”

Picturesque groves
Nurture you on this earth – how many
Comrades shredded
Blood on your roots!

Lotus blooming ponds
In those days you set in – Of our
Holiest comrades buried extinct
Shall I recite of it in this world!

Machine clusters that mill
Your first and finale – shall I recite
Laboring our villager’s toil
Didn’t it give rise to truth?

World that’s witnessing labors’ toil
Purging hunger plunders life – telling
Wealthy you are
Is this justice just? – Paaventhar Bharathithaasan’s poem, Translated by K.T. Kumaran http://sundaramartgallery.blogspot.com/

The Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, in a media release has urged the President of Sri Lanka to relate and fight against authoritarianism, just as he did in the 80’s, as a human rights campaigner.

Full text of the press release as follows:

The Executive Director of CPA Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and the Executive Director of Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL), J.C. Weliamuna have jointly written to His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressing their grave concern over the contents of the above Lanka News Web report of 3rd March 2010 at http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_03_02_012.html.

According to the report, state intelligence services have placed CPA Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu “at the top of” this purported list together with Mr. J.C. Weliamuna, Attorney-at-Law and Executive Director of Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL). Other members of CPA staff engaged in its programmes on human rights, public interest litigation and citizen journalism initiatives have been mentioned in the report as well. The report further states that persons selected for inclusion in this alleged list, the purpose of which is not clear, have been categorised “according [to] the work they do and a brief description of each individual” on the basis of an unspecified system of points.

CPA cannot independently ascertain the veracity of this report. However, in view of the fact that many of the persons identified in the report have previously been targeted by way of physical violence, death threats and misinformation campaigns, it is impossible not to register our utmost concern, in the broader context of the crisis that Sri Lanka presently faces in respect of democratic freedoms, law and order, and the rule of law.

If the Lanka News Web report is true to the effect that state intelligence agencies have been compiling a list or lists of individuals on the basis of perceived or alleged political allegiances, it is cause for serious concern in a number of ways. Firstly, in the context of the dangers faced by critics of the government including journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders, there are reasonable grounds for fear about the physical liberty and safety of the individuals concerned. There has been no justice or punishment served by recourse to the criminal justice system in the numerous cases of killings, enforced disappearances and abductions and the entrenched culture of impunity, arbitrariness and the ineffectiveness of law enforcement have only encouraged further abuses.

Secondly, while the legal basis for collecting information on individuals without their consent is unclear, it is an invasion of the privacy of the concerned individuals protected by human rights standards established by international law, and specific conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) binding on the Sri Lankan state, including its intelligence and security apparatus.

Thirdly, the rationale for the compilation of this list, as the title of the report suggests, is that the selected individuals are perceived by the state intelligence agencies to be “supportive of the opposition”, that is an illegitimate and unconstitutional purpose. There is a fundamental misconception that opposition to specific actions and policies by the Government is equal to support for the opposition. It is not only a fundamental democratic principle but also part of the fundamental rights declared and protected by the Constitution that Sri Lankans are entitled to the freedoms of thought, conscience, opinion, expression, association and occupation. Furthermore the conflation of the interests of the government (i.e., the political party for the time being in power) with that of the state (i.e., the people of Sri Lanka) has proved highly problematic. In the absence of illegal or criminal behaviour, the political opinions of individuals are not a national security concern, and therefore entirely outside the remit of state intelligence agencies.

Finally, we would vigorously reiterate that the CPA was formed on, and continues to function, within the framework of a consistent set of liberal democratic values which we believe to be the bedrock of a democratic, open and decent society, and to which we have been never less than wholly committed. The concept of the political, in our view, involves both inclusive engagement and critical debate in civil society, which includes non-governmental organisations as well as political parties within and without government. As our record of work since 1996 demonstrates, we will work in partnership with any person or institution on the basis of shared values. We firmly believe that it is only authoritarian governments that have reason to fear and resent, and therefore seek to control and repress civil society: a political maxim that President Rajapakse should relate to, given his contribution to the fight against authoritarianism and oppression in the 1980s as an opposition politician, human rights lawyer, and civil society activist.

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The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) was formed in the firm belief that there is an urgent need to strengthen institution- and capacity-building for good governance and conflict transformation in Sri Lanka and that non-partisan civil society groups have an important and constructive contribution to make to this process. The primary role envisaged for the Centre in the field of public policy is a pro-active and interventionary one, aimed at the dissemination and advocacy of policy alternatives for non-violent conflict resolution and democratic governance. Accordingly, the work of the Centre involves a major research component through which the policy alternatives advocated are identified and developed.

For more information, please visit http://www.cpalanka.org