SRI LANKAN HISTORY

ONE VERSION

The Sinhalese Buddhists

Being heirs to a 2500 or more year old history the Sinhalese Buddhists were an agrarian civilisation and not otherwise. Early Tamil scholars described "Eelam" as the land of the Sinhalese and Sinhala Kings ruled Sri Lanka from about the Sixth Century B.C. to Fourteenth Century A.D. with Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa as capitals.

However, there were separate Kingdoms, Anuradhapura, Kelaniya and Magama and whenever the South Indian influence subjected Anuradhapura, the Sinhalese Kings withdrew further inland before recouping and chasing invaders. During this time rivalries among the Sinhalese rulers were also observed. Emperor Rajaraja Chola conquered Rajarata in 1017 and ruled from Polonnaruwa while the Sinhalese Kings held power in Ruhuna.

King Vijayabahu I (1056-1111 AD) vanquished the Cholas, reunited Sri Lanka and developed Polonnaruwa. There was a period of disintegration after his death.

With the advent of Parakramabahu the Great (1153-1186 A.D.) the country was re-unified again and ushered in the Golden Age of Sri Lanka lasting up to 1215 AD.

Magha of Kalinga invaded the island with a large army. He destroyed Buddhist Stupas, Temples and Monasteries and distributed the lands of the Sinhalese to Cholas. The rule of Magha lasted from 1215 to 1236 AD. Polonnaruwa was abandoned and the capital shifted to Dambadeniya, Kurunegala, Yapahuwa, Panduwasnuwara, Gampola, Kotte, Sitawaka, Raigama and Kandy at various times.

The Portuguese and the Dutch

The Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505. Disunity in the Royal Family led to the disintegration of the Sinhala Dynasty. King Rajasinghe II sought help from the Dutch to drive out the Portuguese who finally capitulated in 1656. The Dutch capitulated to the British in 1796.

The British

The Kandyan Chieftains together with the British started plotting for power. In 1815 the entire island was annexed as a Colony of the British Empire. However, the Kandyan provinces were administered by the British separately.

The Colbrook and the Cameron Reforms of 1815 re-demarcated the island into Northern, Eastern, Western, Central and Southern Provinces and also further divided them into districts consisting of Headmen's Divisions. Land masses form outsides territories of the Kandyan Kingdom were annexed to the narrow coastal areas earlier held by the Dutch. This type of thing occurred in other provinces as well. It was intended to weaken the national feelings of the Kandyans. As the population increased the earlier Five Provinces became Nine Provinces and the Districts increased from nineteen to twenty-five.

The Eastern Province

In the Nineteenth Century the Eastern Province which was a traditional homeland of the Sinhalese was Tamilised. This is a fact as the lands in question had been taken over by the British from the Sinhalese. The Ethnic Uniformity of the Tamil population in the North has been brought about by chasing the Muslims and Sinhalese.

From the Sixth Century B.C. to the Tenth Century A.D. the whole of Sri Lanka was inhabited by Sinhalese. Professor of History, Jaffna University in Early Tamil Settlements in Ceylon says: "Considering the number of Tamil invasions, it looks that more Tamils came to Celyon as invaders and hired soldiers than as traders. There is no evidence of early Tamil Settlements. The majority of the settlers appeared to have migrated to Jaffna and not the East."

According to De Queyros – "When the Portuguese first came to the island in 1505 A.D., it was divided into five Sub-Kingdoms. Kotte, to which all other were subordinates acknowledged the King as Emperor. A Sub-Kingdom at the was Jaffnapatam which excluded the Eastern Province."

In 1626 the Portuguese expelled the Moors from their territories. King Senerat, the King of Kandy settled them in his kingdom. About 4000 were settled in Batticaloa which accounts for a large Mukkuwa population in the East.

Phillipus Balddeus, a Dutch Missionary in Jaffna said that Jaffnapatam is divided into four provinces together with the adjacent islands and Mannar.

Professor Sinnappa Arasaratnam in a study of the Kingdom of Kandy says – "When the Dutch replaced the Portuguese, the Kandyan Kings had on the West Coast, Kalpitiya and Puttalam, on the East Coast, Trincomalee, Kottiyar and Batticaloa.

Rajasinghe styled himself, Emperor of Ceylon. Soldiers of the King of Kandy captured the Englishman Robert Knox at Kottiyar Bay in Trincomalee and was taken prisoner to the King of Kandy. The Eastern Province has never been part of a Tamil Homeland. It has remained as a part of Sinhalese territory.

Percival, in an account of the Island of Ceylon says: "there were more foreigners in Jaffna."

The Moors and the Sinhalese

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan maintained that the Muslims were ethnic Tamils and divided on the basis of religion as Tamil Hindus, Tamil Christians, Tamil Muslims. Muslim leaders objected to this and said that the Muslims were of Arab and Moor origin and had nothing to do with ethnic Tamils of South India.

The spread of Tamils in the East is by the well-known method that whenever Tamils or Mohammedians came to settle in the East the Sinhalese were driven to the forest and forced to eke out their existence by chena cultivation and hunting.

The Batticaloa Kachcherie 1921 Census Report

"The whole of the Batticaloa District was under the King of Kandy. To prevent the purge of the Sinhala villages a new Sinhala Division called Bintenna Pattuwa was created. The entirety of the Eastern Province had remained part of the Kandyan Kingdom up to 1815 from early times. Under British rule the Sinhalese were driven out of their traditional homelands to the interior jungles and their lands forcibly colonised by Tamils.

The British encouraged Tamil settlements in the Eastern Province since the Nineteenth Century by settling Tamils from the Estate Areas and South Indian Tamil laboureres from Jaffna.

The oldest map of Sri Lanka by Ptolemy states that today's Jaffna was not even mentioned in the map.

The Sub-Kingdom of Jaffna was limited to the peninsula, the adjacent islands and a narrow piece of land from the mainland.

In the Mahawamsa there are records of reservoirs, canals, river diversions built by Sinhalese Kings from the Sixth Century B.C. to the Fourteenth Century.

Parker's Ancient Celyon mentions some and J.E. Tennent in Ceylon gives a vivid description of these. Tank construction gathered momentum during the Dhatusena (483 A.D.) period, Vijayabahu (1056-1111 A.D.) period, Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) period. Other details are given in Nicholas' University History of Ceylon. The Eastern Province is also dotted with many village tanks and reservoirs etc. left by the Sinhalese.

According to Nandadeva Wijesekera – "After the Twelfth Century the island lost a strong ruler. The vast sums of money spent on development began to weaken the strength of the land. The invaders from Chola country drove the Sinhalese population away from their lands. The destroyed dams remained neglected. Internal dissensions further complicated the situation. Added to this malaria began to take a heavy toll and a once populated and flourishing kingdom was overtaken by the Jungle Tide. However, some of these have now been restored."

The Laws of the Land

The Thesavalamai Law is applicable to the Dutch occupied province of Jaffna and the Roman Dutch Law is applicable to the Eastern Province. The Moors of the Eastern Province are governed by the Mukkuwa Law.

The Tamils of the Eastern Province are not decendants of the Jaffna Tamils and the Tamil settlements there are no more than 150 years old. Therefore these Tamil settlers are occupying Traditional Sinhalese Homelands.

Other Evidence

Also there is archaeological, epigraphical and other evidence such as those found in ancient place names and works by foreign travellers which prove the above.

The Bodhi Tree at Gokanna Vihara which stood in front of the present Kovil was destroyed in 1964.

C.W. Nicholas in "Historical Topography of Ancient and Medieval Celyon" refers to the great Sinhala Buddhist Civilisation that flourished in the entirety of the island from the Fourteenth Century B.C. to Twelfth Century A.D.

Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala, Professor of History, University of Jaffna says "the earliest Tamil inscription was found at the entrance to the Nagapusani Kovil in Nainativu or Nagadipa and is about Trade Regulations concerning wreckages off the Port of Uratturai or Kayts."

The Tamilisation of Sinhalese Place Names

The Tamilisation of Sinhalese Place Names can be seen in the cases of Thiriyaya, now Thiriyai, Valashena, now Valachchenai, Potuvila, now Potuvil, Malwatta to Malwattai, Amapara to Amparai, Nilavella to Nilaveli, Kalapuwa to Kalappu, Madakalapuwa to Mattaikalappu or Batticaloa, Gama to Kiraman.

The Dutch Admiral Jois Van Spilbergen landed in Batticaloa in 1602 A.D. and was taken to the Court of King Wimaladharmasooriya in Kandy.

Robert Knox landed in Kodiyarama, Koddiyar Bay in Trincomalee in 1660 A.D. and was taken prisoner by the Dissawa of Tambalagama and produced before the King of Kandy.

Venerable Joseph Vaz has clearly stated that in the East only the forts were held by the Dutch and the rest of the area was Kandyan Sinhalese land.

The bogus claim of exclusive Tamil Homeland is therefore a diabolical falsehood.

The Ceasefire

Sri Lanka is one country and not two countries at war where a Ceasefire may be implemented. However, the present ceasefire is marked by the explosion of bombs, killing unarmed people, recruitment of children for illegal activities abductions and so on and so forth that the ceasefire has almost become a joke!

The Norwegians have so far been monitoring the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. Norway and Western Nations have provided funds to the LTTE. The Norwegians have been accused of partiality even by persons like Mr. Anadasangaree.

The separatist movement has its roots in the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) of 1947. ITAK means Lanka Tamil State Party whose aim is to form a separate state in the North and East which the British demarcated in 1889. The ITAK had a misnomer – The Federal Party – for general consumption.

The separatists supported by Westerners propagated the myth that the Tamil separatist movement started after Vadukkodai.

Others say that everything went well until the Sinhala Only Bill of 1956. If everything happened after 1956, why was the ITAK established in 1947?

After nearly 450 years of foreign domination, when the Sinhalese lost many of their rights and privileges including their culture, they wanted them restored. The minorities who were enjoying privileges far in excess of their numbers, resented this and created another myth – Sinhala Buddhist Hegemony!

Death and Destruction

From about 1987, the LTTE stepped up their activities in all parts of Sri Lanka. There were several bombings, shootings, hacking of people, landmine casualties and suicide bombings with greater frequency.

Unfortunate things happened in the following places causing casualties among innocent unarmed civilians of all races.

The Dollar and Kent Farm, the Pettah Bus Stand, the Central Telegraphic Office, opposite the Maradana Railway Station, Dehiwela Railway Station, opposite the Central Bank, Bullers Lane, Gregory's Road, Havelock Road, Kynsey Road, Gandpass, Armour Street, the Car park at Galadari Hotel, Ratmalana, the Joint Operations Command, Colombo 07, Town Hall, Sri Dalada Maligawa – Kandy, Worshippers at the Sacred Bodhi Tree – Anuradhapura, Central Bus Depot. – Anuradhapura, Wilpattu National Park, Trincomalee Town, Monkey Bridge – Kilinochchi, Kantalai Sugar Corporation, The Kolonnawa Oil Installations, the Colombo Airport.

About 200 Sinhalese and Muslim civilians were murdered in one pogrom between Trincomalee and Batticaloa. There was a murder of over 600 policemen in LTTE captivity and murder of Muslims in their mosque at prayer time. The terrorists have visited some places more than once. No one was spared, from infant children, pregnant women to adults.

The LTTE commenced a pogrom against Sinhalese and Muslim civilians of all ages in Trincomalee. This spread from Trincomalee to Batticaloa and was committed before the eyes of the IPKF who even prevented our Police Officers from going to the aid of the victims. It was reported that the Indian Army even assaulted the Officer-in-Charge of the China Bay Police Station.

Following the above, two trawlers laden with arms and ammunition and terrorists of the LTTE were arrested by the Navy off Point Pedro. Those arrested were brought to the Palaly Airport to be tranferred to Colombo to face the law.

The LTTE objected to these terrorists being brought to Colombo and smuggled some potassium cyanide to these terrorists in custody at Palaly Airport who were able to commit suicide.

The reaction by the LTTE was the killing of eight soldiers who were in their captivity. They also murdered twenty three Sinhalese civilians at Pottuvil. Next they murdered some Indian soldiers. Finally the Indian Defence Minister arrived in Sri Lanka and ordered the Indian Army to take action against the LTTE and the result was the commencement of Eelam War Two.

For those who are anxious to know about LTTE atrocities from about 1987, the information provided in S.L. Gunasekera's "The Wages of Sin" from page 20 to 41 is more than adequate.

A greater number of unarmed Sinhalese, a lesser number of Muslims and a still lesser number of Tamils, including some prominent Tamils who dared to cross the path of the LTTE were murdered or injured.

This will not absolve the 'Bhasa Premees', the 'Jathi Premees' and 'Desha Premees' who indulged in similar atrocities!

In addition, the Bomb Blast at Meenambikkam Airport in Madras, the targeting and murder of EPRLF members in Madras and the sad murder of Rajiv Gandhi by a human bomb at Sriperumbudur, Madras – Tamil Nadu deserve special mention.
