28 March, 2024

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Brought To Sihaladipa And Put Into Sihalabhasa For The Benefit Of The Dipavasin

By Darshanie Ratnawalli

 Darshanie Ratnawalli

Darshanie Ratnawalli

The author of “The Numbers Game”, probably the most informed study of the death toll for the last stages of the Elam war was telling me, that once in 2008, he was so appalled by the ignorance displayed by H L Seneviratne in a newspaper article  that he immediately started digging for authoritative sources on the subjects HL was making fast and loose with and discovered James. W. Gair, K.R Norman and Richard Salomon[i]. When I read HL subsequently, I too was at first appalled. Then I thought what’s there to be appalled about, if the result of one man’s appalling display of ignorance was to motivate another to dig and unearth? So H.L’s was a bracing display of ignorance, and it went like this;

“In the broad perspective, one look at the ethno-demographic spread of peoples in the subcontinent makes it quite obvious that the Sinhalese are a variety of Tamils, as are other ethnic and linguistic groups of South India. It is because of the twentieth century Sinhala-Tamil rivalries that this fact is forgotten or explicitly denied. In particular, it is striking that the Sinhala Buddhists have forgotten the fact that it is in South India that Buddhism survived centuries after its disappearance from the north. It is very likely that the great Buddhist commentator Buddhaghosa was a Tamil monk, although Sinhala monastic tradition is keen to place him in North India…. And the Sinhala language, considered “Aryan”, is Tamil in its grammatical and syntactic structure, with a vocabulary of about twenty or more percent Tamil”.

To a questing person brought up in Britain in English and handicapped in Sinhalese (as the “N Game” author is) Gair was a flare that lit up the darkness that H.L Seneviratne wished to share. Let us switch on James W. Gair in “Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan Isolate”[ii] (Full text here);

“Indeed, Sinhala has retained its Indo-Aryan identity despite the constant contact with Dravidian languages, a persistence that I referred to in the same paper as “a minor miracle of linguistic and cultural history” (Gair 1976b:259). It has emerged as a language with a unique character within the south Asian linguistic area, a result of its Indo-Aryan origins, Dravidian influence, and independent internal changes. There were other influences as well, some of them from the languages of successive colonizers, but it is often overlooked in this regard that there was clearly some other, apparently non-Dravidian, language (or languages) spoken on the island before the advent of Sinhala. This is shown not only by the existence of the aboriginal Veddas (whose language is now essentially a dialect of Sinhala) but also by the existence of a number of items in the Sinhala vocabulary that cannot be traced to either Indo-Aryan or Dravidian languages. (See Hettiaratchi 1959, 1974; De Silva 1979: 16). The role that some indigenous languages, or language, played in the formation of Sinhala has not really been investigated but it may well have been more than is generally recognized.”

The H.L conjured up by his newspaper article is an “Either-Or” man. Given two or more seemingly opposing concepts (‘Aryan character’ vs. ‘Dravidian influence’, ‘Existence in a Dravidian linguistic cultural region’ vs. ‘Being out of synch with the region’) he will try to make sense out of them by choosing one or the other. He is unable to synthesize the seemingly opposing concepts to form an illuminating total. To him an elephant must be either a wide flap like being or a long trunk like being. Never a being that incorporates both shapes in a harmonizing structure. Not so Gair. He touches the language at all its main points (vocabulary, morphology, phonology and syntax) to assess the influences and the final shape the language has assumed under them. Gair’s concluding sentences are;

“In 1935 Wilhelm Geiger and D.B Jayatilaka remarked; “It is, no doubt, a splendid proof of the proud national feeling of the Sinhalese people that they were able to preserve the Aryan character of their language in spite of their geographical isolation. And indeed, the structure of Sinhala itself appears to parallel the position of Sinhala culture and society within the South Asian Culture area. Clearly part of the region, and influenced in many ways by its South Indian neighbors, as well as by other nations and communities that have entered its history, but always retaining and developing its own special character throughout the over two millennia of its existence on the island of Sri Lanka.” Subsequent research has, I believe, shown that statement to have been insightful, indeed.”

Then there’s a footnote; “This final sentence was added in this reprinting, and it holds true for research right up to the present (1996), including the relevant papers in this volume.”

Probably the most prominent scholar to venture on to the topic of “Sinhalese”; the land, language and the people and display appalling gaps in his knowledge was R. A.L.H Gunawardana (“The People of the Lion: The Sinhala Identity and Ideology in History and Historiography”). Of all these gaps (highlighted by K.N.O Dharmadasa), what takes the cake for appallingness in my opinion, is Gunawardana’s failure to register Buddhaghosa’s revealing comments on the language, the land and the people. Dharmadasa: 1996[iii] (Full text here) accuses Gunawardana of not being aware of this vital information revealed by “The Indian monk Buddhaghosa who arrived in the island and worked in the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura during the reign of Mahanama (406-428)”-(p155).

Consider Watson, a visiting scholar monk comes here from India in the 5th century AD. At the beginning of his various Pali commentaries (Sumangalavilasini, Papancasudani, Saratthappakasini) to the Buddhist cannon, he repeats the statement that his commentaries are based upon the commentaries that were brought to Sihaladipa by Maha Mahinda and put into Sihalabhasa for the benefit of the island-inhabitants: “Sīhaladīpam pana ābhatā’ tha vasinā Mahā-Mahindena thapitā Sīhalabhāsāya dīpavāsīnam atthāya”- (K. R Norman:1978[iv], p32- full text here and Dharmadasa: 1992[v], p40- full text here). Buddhaghosa also explains why he writes in Pali. Because “the monks outside the island cannot understand the meaning of it” (the commentaries that have been composed in Sihalabhasa of Sihaladipa), “I shall now begin this commentary in conformity with the style of the canonical texts (i.e. in Pāli)”. – (K. R Norman: 1978:p47).

A little short of 2000 years later, a man born in this island sets out to write on the antiquity of the entity called Sinhalese. He is not aware of what the earlier man said. It is appalling. Also bracing. It enables another man to highlight what was omitted. It leads yet another man (Michael Roberts:1993[vi]) to question “how it was that a mass of people who employed a common language in literary and oral discourse, a language which was identified as Sinhala, and who lived in a land called Sinhala, were not seen as Sinhala; and did not see themselves as Sinhala”[vii].

@ http://ratnawalli.blogspot.com/  and rathnawalli@gmail.com


[i] I have uploaded here the third chapter of Richard Salomon’s “Indian Epigraphy, A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages”. Read “Sinhalese Prakrit” under “Inscriptions in other MIA dialects” and “Sinhalese” under “The New Indo-Aryan Languages”.

[ii] James W. Gair in “Studies in South Asian Linguistics. Sinhala and Other South Asian Languages”. The PDF I have uploaded has three good articles; Sinhala, An Indo Aryan IsolateHow Dravidianized was Sinhala Phonology? Some Conclusions and Cautions” and Some Aspects of the Jaffna Tamil Verbal System”  

[vi] Michael Roberts, Review essay, Nationalism, the past and the present: the case of Sri Lanka, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, January 1993.

[vii] Roberts says “Gunawardana’s argument is by no means accepted by all scholars in the field and K.N.O. Dharmadasa (1991) has recently challenged it in detail. It is constructed on an explicit, yet weakly demonstrated assumption that there was a gap between the aristocratic ruling class and the popular mass. It does not address the issue how it was that a mass of people who employed a common language in literary and oral discourse, a language which was identified as Sinhala, and who lived in a land called Sinhala, were not seen as Sinhala; and did not see themselves as Sinhala”.

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Latest comments

  • 23
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    I like Dharshanee’s articles even if I do not necessarily agree with them on certain points. It is food for reflection. I have feedback though on Michael Roberts that she seems to quote a lot. That man is now a failed academic domiciled in Australia who has no serious publication in recent years that has been peer reviewed by eminent academics nor cross referenced in key academic journals. He is increasingly a B grade scholar who panders to the regime in Colombo in return for favours. He supports the agenda of Sinhala majoritarianism and has taken a anti-Tamil stance. I would urge Dharshanee to quote more reliable, better researched scholars the next time around. It would be useful as she charts her own course in internet journalism and provides a voice that needs to be heard, even if one were to disagree.

    • 7
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      @ Raja, stop slandering anonymously and resolve the ‘identity issues’the two of you have privately. Your alias is Freudian though.SYNONYM isn’t it?

      • 2
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        Good one DR, seems you have understood finally that the PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY a fundamental truth that seems to elude the best of of the best of Lankan historians – never mind the mythologists and fake Sinhala Buddhist Jarrapassa regime apologist who fancy the Mahinda Rajapassa is Duttugemunu, Vijaya and Devanampiyatissa rolled into one.
        Actually please give us you take on Kuevenige Sapaya – since the corrupt and criminal Rajapassa regime seems to epitomize the curse on Lanka today..

      • 16
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        pot calling the kettle black? you have been slandering sittrampalam, pathmanathan, gordon weiss with your stupid rewrite of history.

        • 0
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          Stop this hackneyed idiotic cliché. Pots never ever call their siblings as black.

      • 5
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        both of you are anti Tamil racists

      • 14
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        lady, what exactly is your relationship with Michael Roberts? I happened to visit your blog site – and my – you evidently have access to his e mails, you use the e mail communication he had received from others to debunk others, you base your arguments on what he writes and so forth. Pretty vicious stuff. So what exactly are you up to lady?? You write to the ‘Nation’ – so is that the link?

      • 21
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        Dear A FRIEND

        I am confused. Whats with you on Identity issues, Freudian, Alias, Synonym, Anonymously?? Are you mistaking me for someone else? Seriously – I am confused.

        This said, I stick by what I said on your buddy – Michael Roberts. His work on Sri Lanka has not been peer reviewed in international academic journals, he has not been published by Oxford, Harvard or any top rate academic institution. He is not a Paul Peiris, a G.C. Mendis, a K.M. de Silva, a C.R. de Silva, a Deraniyagala, a Gananath Obeysekere, a Ranjani Obeysekere, an Arasaratnam, a Radhika Coomaraswamy, a S.J. Tambiah, a H.W. Tambiah, a David Kalupahana, a Lorna Dewaraja, a Sudarshan Senivaratne even a Indrapala(n). Sorry FRIEND – Vijitha Yapa ain’t Harvard University Press! Mikey is now a fraud!

        • 3
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          …and Bandu de Silve is akin to this dolt Pushpaka valli.

    • 2
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      The hidden signifier in Sri Lankan and particularly Sinhala histories and historiography is SOUTH EAST ASIA. Indonesia where Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim culture jostle and merge and re emerge is a very good place to start unraveling the Sinhala and Tamil nationalist histories that have be deviled us for too long..

    • 20
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      Its time to expose Michael Roberts and Dharshanie Ratnawalli – partners in crime committed to an exclusive Sinhalese nationalist project despite the rhetoric of pluralism. Let me quote Michael Roberts – an ethno fascist masquerading as a liberal. I provide just a few examples given constraints of space.

      Michael Roberts critique of Tamil claims on the Eastern Province.

      “Indeed, if one goes further back in time to the era of the Rajarata civilisation in, say, the fifth to twelfth centuries CE, as Wilson and every Sri Lankan knows only too well, the eastern regions as well as the Jaffna Peninsula were ‘the traditional habitat’ of Sinhala speakers. ‘Tradition’ and ‘history’ constitute a cake that can be cut in many ways. The Tamils have no claim.”

      Here is Michael Robert’s criticism of Professor K. Indrapala, a well known Tamil academic and scholar – “knowing Indrapala’s history and the recluse position he adopted after criticism in the 1970s I believe he is trying to reclaim his Tamilness as a final swan song in senile old age”.

      Here is Michael Robert’s attack on Rajan Hoole who had described the IDP camps in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 as extra-legal.

      “As for his (Hoole’s) comments on the IDP camps as “extra-legal” and having terrible conditions, my response would be (a) yes extra-legal but requisite in the interests of the rest of the population on a short-term basis and (b) the conditions were not that terrible and a remarkable excellent job was done by govt and NGO and INGO agencies in catering to those people. On this issue he is dihonestly speaking from the cloisters in Colombo or wherever”.

      Michael Roberts again on how the Vanniyas are Sinhalese – “What language the Vanniyās used; or customs they followed; and private laws they used could have varied according to circumstance; but as Vanni chieftains they had received Sinhalese names on their investiture. They were not Tamils”.

      Michael Roberts on the Kingdom of Jaffna – “The relative passivity with which effete Jaffna accepted foreign rule stands in strong contrast to the strength and frequency of resistance movements in the south. Jaffna rose against the Portuguese on three occasions, two of them within the first two years of their occupation. On each occasion, it was the arrival of foreign troops from Tanjore or from Kandy- that acted as a catalyst for rebellion. After 1629, for thirty years, Jaffna accepted foreign rule without demur. They were after all not indigenous”

      Michael Roberts critiques – R.A.L.H Gunawardana, a progressive liberal-left historian who attempted to deconstruct the narrative of Sinhalese nationalism in the interests of truth and rational objectivity.

      Michael says – “Gunawardana’s argument is by no means accepted by all scholars in the field and K.N.O. Dharmadasa (1991) has recently challenged it in detail. It is constructed on an explicit, yet weakly demonstrated assumption that there was a gap between the aristocratic ruling class and the popular mass. It does not address the issue how it was that a mass of people who employed a common language in literary and oral discourse, a language which was identified as Sinhala, and who lived in a land called Sinhala…”

      In short, this charlatan is part of the Sinhalese nationalist project despite his Christianity and Dharshanie Ratnawalli is his side kick.

      I never liked the LTTE but its time we unite – diaspora, Sri Lankan Tamil – everyone. We are confronted with the fascist enemy.

      • 1
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        In the words of Rafiki to young Simba: ‘Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you either run from it, or learn from it’ …

      • 5
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        The alias “Tamil Woman” is a demonstration of the insanity that can exist in comment spaces.

        1) All the quotations this person has given in the comment have been fraudulently altered (except the last one re Leslie’s. Probably because that is given in this article itself and hard to doctor without being detected )

        2) the first quote re:-Michael Roberts critique of Tamil claims on the Eastern Province. “The Tamils have no claim.” have been fraudulently added. Check the real thing in foot note 67 in http://dh-web.org/place.names/posts/rob-ajwilson.pdf

        3)second quote the word ‘senile’ has been fraudulently added. check the real quote in http://www.nation.lk/edition/news-features/item/9476-k-indrapala-a-story-of-a-regressive-evolution.html

        4) third one starting with “Here is Michael Robert’s attack on Rajan Hoole who had described the IDP camps in the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 as extra-legal.”
        the word “dishonestly” has been added fraudulently.

        check the real thing in http://www.nation.lk/edition/columns/painted-goose-dharshanie-ratnawalli/item/6998-uthr-j-forges-ahead-without-narrow-ethnic-agendas.html

        5) The 4th quote starting with “Michael Roberts again on how the Vanniyas are Sinhalese” is wrong on three counts a) it’s not a Michael Roberts quote b) It’s is a quote from D.GB de Silva, the line “They were not Tamils” have been fraudulently added. c) the quoted part from DGB’s article does not seek to convey ‘how the vanniyas are sinhalese”. check out the real quote in http://tinyurl.com/Ras-DgB.
        Anyway let me give the real quote

        “What language the Vanniyās used; or customs they followed; and private laws they used could have varied according to circumstance; but as Vanni chieftains they had received Sinhalese names on their investiture. They were supported by a hierarchy of local officials in the Rata Sabhās, when they adjudicated over matters concerning violations of local custom including failure to oblige with duties in respect of maintenance of irrigation work and agriculture.135Some of them like the Malalas had fully assimilated into the local social and cultural milieu as seen from the positions they held at the Court and outside; one of them as the leading Vanniyā at Kaluvila; and two of them as the prelates of important places of learning. However, one also finds the Vanniyās retaining their original language (as Knox found at Nuvara väva); and some of their laws of succession, (as Hugh Nevill found existing among the chieftains of Hurulla which were similar to those of Malabārs and the Mukkuvās).”

        6) The 5th quote starting with ‘Michael Roberts on the Kingdom of Jaffna’ is false on two counts a)it’s not a michael roberts quote. It’s a quote from Tikiri Abeyasinghe , Jaffna under the Portuguese pg 13
        b) The line “They were after all not indigenous” has been added fraudulently.

        Check out the real quote in http://ratnawalli.com/2011/04/the-day-i-felt-acute-distaste-for-dr-dayan-jayatilleka/

        Nothing more to say. Except coming into contact with insanity is not pleasant.

        • 12
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          Thank you Ratnawalli. Its meticulous on your part to have spotted the mischevious alterations. Well done. I also followed all your links just as carefully. What is painfully clear however is that the thrust of Tamil Woman’s argument remains valid in that Mr. Roberts takes a blinkered and extremely narrow view on history in the island, one that does not help Sinhala Tamil reconciliation. The man is trying to be more Sinhala than he is!

          We need peace, not further acrimony.

          Bhavatu sabba mangalam – rakhantu sabbadevata
          Sabba Buddhanubhavena – sada sothi bhavanthu te.

          • 2
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            @ alias anonymous above, before I head out of this comment space for good, please ND thrash out your “identity” issues with Roberts in private. You are giving yourself away. After all Roberts is only marginal to this article. I am relying on Gair, Norman, K.N. O et al for the main thrust. Why are you centering on Roberts? It’s a dead giveaway.

            • 11
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              Ratnawalli

              You query why many of us in the comments thread center on Roberts. Because you always rely on him and aggressively defended him, not just here but in other instances.

              • 2
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                er i am only querying why ND does it.

                • 10
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                  do not speak in riddles – just come up with what ever you are trying to insinuate – so that we can confront you. As one commentator mentions above – slander is your middle name.

                  • 2
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                    All i want to say to ND is; fight this urge to fragment yourself into several selves. Integrate yourself. That way lies healing and wholeness. I am a Friend. I liked what you wrote about me about one moon ago. And your ‘identity issues’ with michael roberts? Resolve in private. Or fight openly in a public forum. Write an article in your name. Challenge him in courts.
                    Or go to his and Padraig’s newly uploaded “Fog of War” in CT and gambol around there with aliases. But it diminishes you ND this anonymous slandering.

        • 16
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          I liked Tamil Woman’s entre despite Sinhala Woman (Dharshanie R) trying to nitpick, quibble and split hairs. Tamil Woman and Sinhala Woman agree that Michael Roberts (MR) said

          “knowing Indrapala’s history and the recluse position he adopted after criticism in the 1970s I believe he is trying to reclaim his Tamilness as a final swan song in old age”.

          Ok. And

          “Indeed, if one goes further back in time to the era of the Rajarata civilisation in, say, the fifth to twelfth centuries CE, as Wilson and every Sri Lankan knows only too well, the eastern regions as well as the Jaffna Peninsula were ‘the traditional habitat’ of Sinhala speakers. ‘Tradition’ and ‘history’ constitute a cake that can be cut in many ways.”

          Lets respond to the blatant historical distortion in both instances where MR presumably strives to curry political favour with the political establishment in Ceylon. He is after all an academic without a brief.

          Indrapala did his PhD in 1965. In that he argued that the Jaffna peninsula did not have Tamil settlements until the 10th century. In 2005, he published his book substantially revising his initial thesis instead asserting that distinctions between Sinhalese and Tamil as we know it today were meaningless in that early period, that the two ethnic groups were inter-related and that the Tamil imprint on Sinhalese society was significant as was the case vice versa. He also argued that what we today call the Dravidian imprint existed in North and North Central Sri Lanka, one that was linked to the use of iron. In that, his revised thesis was not that different from Sudarshan Seneviratne. Any scholar’s thinking can evolve and develop over 40 years as initial premises are questioned and revised with new data, empirical evidence and information. To say as MR says that Indrapala was trying to reclaim his Tamilness and that this was a swansong in his old age was a blatant and intentional dishonest attempt by MR to counter the academic arguments of Indrapala without however making the intellectual effort to refute his arguments in any real sense. We had this sloth bear who was too lazy to take on the argument and refute it. He instead passes generalized dismissive comments.

          Then MR has the temerity to twist history to say that the Eastern regions were the traditional habitat of the Sinhala speakers between the 5th to the 12th centuries. Said who? We have sufficient archeological, numismatic and literary evidence in the Trincomalee district as in the Mannar district to suggest overlapping Hindu and Buddhist settlements in both district, and an interstice between Tamil and Sinhalese speakers. Thirukethiswaram and Thirukoneswaram were ancient Hindu temples. To argue that the East was the ‘traditional habitat’ of the Sinhala speakers as MR claims is once again intellectually spurious – an intentional attempt at hoodwinking and pulling wool over ones eyes – once again in the service of his masters. MR tries to dupe the reader.

          Each of Tamil Woman’s points can be similarly supported. MR is a con with an intellectually deceitful and pedestrian analysis. MR is a run of the mill individual in the pay of the powers that be in Colombo!

        • 3
          2

          Though I don’t agree some of the stuff you have written in the past, I have read with interest your recent article. I think they are brave and revolutionary.
          However agreeing and disagreeing is my right it does not mean what you write is incorrect.

          The reason for this comment is to applaud you for coming out to
          highlight the disinformation.
          I consider that as another skillful act. Keep it up !

    • 15
      1

      Raja,

      You are absolutely right. If you see the articles what Dharshanie Ratnawalli has written on CT, you will realize that she favors and quotes a very few so called half baked “Scholars” whom she has some close affection, people such as Michael Roberts, D.G.B de Silva, et al and a few foreigners. In fact, people like Michael Roberts, D.G.B de Silva, et al are not historians but charlatans/pseudo-historians. These old insane people are being paid handsomely by the Sinhala-Buddhist organizations with a political agenda, to rewrite the Sri Lankan history in favor of the majority race. The Sinhalese themselves know very well how they became a majority in Sri Lanka and to hide this fact and to prove that they lived in the island right from the beginning, the Sinhala-Buddhist organizations are paying these old and insane so called ‘scholars’ to write or rewrite history. If you read the very first article what Dharshanie Ratnawalli has written in her own blog where she exposes herself nude to a professor, it is clear that she is obsessed or rather has a fetish for a few (selected) old professors who are either Sinhala-Buddhists or those who write history in favor of Sinhala-Buddhists. I am sure she must be acting as a side-kick to these selected few. On the other hand, irrespective of the ethnicity, she hates those professors who do not write history in favor of the Sinhala-Buddhist.

      Among the historians and archeologists at the Peradeniya University, Prof. R.A.L.H (Leslie) Gunawardena was known as the leading light, a leading Sri Lankan academic, well respected by the others in the same field of HISTORY. He was one of the very few Scholars who have done an extensive research on both Sri Lankan and Indian history and archaeology. He also says that, after the ethnic conflict, Sri Lanka has thrown up a breed of pseudo-historians, fringe archaeologists, and bogus scholars (charlatans) who are seriously undermining the traditions that the Peradeniya School has been seeking to establish.

      Unlike Dharshanie Ratnawalli (a biased history journalist) and her favorite “scholars” to whom she acts as a side-kick, Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardena was a professor in HISTORY, he was a HISTORIAN (not a his-storian or her-storian), a Scholar (not a charlatan). When the academics and scholars in the same field of study (History) are calling him a leading light, an unbiased researcher (unlike Prof. Paranvithana whose views were always one sided/biased), why should we believe what these Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinists (with a hidden political agenda) are saying about a well reputed historian such as Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardena who has earned his reputation for his good work. Regarding what the Sinhala-Buddhist racist K.N.O Dharmadasa argued with Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardena, let me come to that as a separate comment.

    • 13
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      Dharshanie Ratnawalli is talking about the “Gaps” highlighted by K.N.O Dharmadasa as the failure on the part of Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardana to register Buddhaghosa’s revealing comments on the language, the land and the people at the beginning of his various Pali commentaries to the Buddhist cannon where he repeats the statement that his commentaries are based upon the commentaries that were brought to Sihaladipa by Maha Mahinda and put into Sihalabhasa for the benefit of the island-inhabitants. She further says, Buddhaghosa also explains why he writes in Pali, because “the monks outside the island cannot understand the meaning of it” (the commentaries that have been composed in Sihalabhasa of Sihaladipa).

      It is being said (even though nothing ‘ancient’ has been found as historical evidence till today to prove it) that the beginning chapters of the Pali Chronicle was translated into Pali by the scholarly monks of the Mahavihara from the Vamsa text (original source preserved for many centuries) known as “Sihala atthakatha” written in Sihalabhasa. If the Mahavamsa is the history of the Sinhalese, what good does it make to the Sinhalese in translating it from Sihalabhasa into a language that they (Sinhalese) cannot understand? Now, if we assume that the Mahavihara monks wanted those outside the island also to read the Sinhala-Buddhist history, then what happened to the original Vamsa text written in Sihalabhasa? If they have preserved it for many centuries, they could have continued to preserve it till today but unfortunately it disappeared after the Mahavamsa was written or rather destroyed. Very unfortunately, the Sinhala nation had to wait till the 19th century for someone to translate it back from Pali to Sinhala for them to read and understand the Mahavamsa. Is that not a crime committed by the Mahaviharic Bikkus to the Sinhala nation of Sihaladipa?

      However the truth is something else. There is also a commentary to the Mahavamsa written in Pali by an unknown Buddhist monk (definitely with ulterior motive) in the 13th century AD known as the ‘Tika’ or Vansatthappakasini to explain/interpret the verses in Mahavamsa. It is the ‘Tika’ that talks about a mysterious “Sihala atthakatha” (Vamsa text known as original source written in Sihalabhasa), the main reason for calling the Pali chronicle of the Mahavihara as the chronicle of the Sinhalese.

      Similarly, it is being said (not mentioned in any inscriptions) that the Theravada Buddhist scriptures Tripitaka (Viniya, Sutta, Abhidhamma) better known as the Pali Cannon was originally written in the Sihalabhasa and kept preserved for many centuries before it was translated by the Mahaviharic Bikkus into Pali. Now the same questions arise. If Buddhaghosa has actually said that he wrote in Pali so that the monks outside the island can also understand, what happened to the original text in Sihalabhasa? If it was preserved for centuries until Buddhaghosa came to Anuradapura, they could have easily continued to preserve it for the Sinhala nation of Sihaladipa. Did Buddhaghosa destroy the Sinhala version after he translated it to Pali? Now, if Buddhaghosa says that it is written in Sihalabhasa for the benefit of the island-inhabitants, then after translating it into Pali, Buddhaghosa or the Mahaviharic Bikkus has committed a crime by depriving the Sinhala nation from reading the Buddhist scriptures in their own language. In a land where all the ancient Buddhist artifacts are being preserved for millenniums by the Monks and the Kings, why such an important thing has not been kept safely?

      Did Buddhaghosa actually write the preface in most of his Pali commentaries where he mentioned the language (Sihalabhasa), the land (Sihaladipa) and the people (Sinhalese) or is it the same as what happened in the Pali Chronicle that during the last several centuries after Buddhaghosa, spurious commentaries would have got added perverting the real intent and meaning of that great Bikku?
      The verse “Sīhaladīpam pana ābhatā’ tha vasinā Mahā-Mahindena thapitā Sīhalabhāsāya dīpavāsīnam atthāya” could have been inscribed somewhere in Anuradapura in one of those cave temples where the Buddhaghosa and the Mahavihara monks were residing. What is found today as a commentary on the beginning pages cannot be trusted.

      Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardana is not a person who will make such minor errors to create “gaps” in his research; he is much more learned and rational than any of these pseudo-historians whose writings Dharshanie Ratnawalli believes is gospel. He must have definitely ignored what is mentioned in the beginning of Buddhaghosa’s various Pali commentaries for obvious reasons.

      • 3
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        The alias Ravi

        “Prof. R.A.L.H Gunawardana is not a person who will make such minor errors to create “gaps” in his research;”

        Are you alluding to the fact that the gap can be found elsewhere, between Irathinavalli’s both ears.

        This is a cruel thing to say.

      • 8
        0

        Ravi very clearly explains with reference from Tika how the Sinhalaattha katha came into existance and when actually it was mentioned (after 13th CAD).I am sure, very similarly, even Visuddhimagga was written in Pali by a Dravidaian monk named ‘Buddhaghosa’ in 5th CAD is true but the translation from ‘Sinhala to pali’ was not mentioned anywhere in Mahavamsa or in any Epigraphy, it also must have come later like in Tika. All these stories of Mahavamsa and Tripitaka translated from Sinhala to Pali was not mentioned in Mahavamsa or even in any epigraphy, these stories about translation must have come much later. The original writings were either in Sanskrit or Magadi and NOT Sinhala. Written in Sinhala is a cooked up story, the biggest joke is, just after the translation, the original Sinhala copies have disappeared without any trace. Only some gullible morons will believe such cock and bull stories.

    • 0
      10

      By the way Michael Roberts has in fact published in peer reviewed journals in recent years. Read his very interesting Michael Roberts, BLUNDERS IN TIGERLAND: PAPE’S MUDDLES ON “SUICIDE BOMBERS” IN SRI LANKA Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics, Working Paper No. 32, November 2007 at

      http://tinyurl.com/Pape-mike

      Even though the year reads as 2007, this actually came out in 2009.
      Then you can read in South Asia Research February 2013 vol. 33 no. 1 57-75 his most recent article

      Towards Citizenship In ThāmilīLam: Sri Lanka’S Tamil People Of The North, 1983–2010
      You can read the abstract on
      http://sar.sagepub.com/content/33/1/57.abstract

      Then you may look forward to his coming article

      2012 “Encompassing Empowerment in Ritual, War & Assassination: Tantric Principles in Tamil
      Tiger Instrumentalities,” in sp. issue on War Magic ed. by D. S. Farrer, in vol 58 of Social Analysis (2014)

      http://journals.berghahnbooks.com/sa/

      GOOD READING EVERYBODY.

  • 5
    14

    ” who has no serious publication in recent years “

    Is that because he would have retired at the very least 10 years ago. I presume that ‘Sinhala majoritarianism’ is a reference to what others know as democracy, a form of government as old as the Greek civilisation.

    • 1
      6

      ram,

      good one.

  • 6
    4

    ram

    “I presume that ‘Sinhala majoritarianism’ is a reference to what others know as democracy,”

    It is widely known as Sinhala/Buddhist tyranny of the majority.

    “a form of government as old as the Greek civilisation””

    Greek’s democracy was known as city state Athenian direct democracy. It was developed about 2,500 years ago. Since then democracy has evolved into representative democracy.

    I am all for city state direct democracy. How about you?

    • 2
      3

      This pseudo vedda is a kallathoni from the east.

    • 2
      0

      Thou art a genius among the indigenous, I salute you Native.

  • 2
    1

    Dharshanie, While on a visit to Chennai a group of college students from a prestigious university in Chennai told me and my group of academics during a meeting that the pants or the trousers were a creation by Tamils. I was simply amazed.

    In fact I will not be surprised if some Tamil writes that Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler, Jesus Christ, John Kennedy or even Obama is of Tamil origin.

    During my travels I also came to realize that Tamils are [Edited out]

    JP – USA

    • 7
      3

      Jay Pathbey

      You may be right.

      Tamils believe the first ape spoke Tamil and practiced Saivam.

      On the other hand Sinhala/Buddhists believe the first ape spoke Sinhalese and practiced Sinhala/Buddhism.

      Both people may be right.

      • 3
        2

        Somewhere in here is a mathematical deduction trying to get out, and the answer is so obvious for me to suspect a catch. I can recall the exasperated foreigner who tried to make head or tail of our two tribes and ended up blurting ‘but you all look and sound the bloody same to me’.

        • 1
          0

          Spring Koha

          “‘but you all look and sound the bloody same to me’”

          I myself have made similar comment many moons ago.

          Please tell me what difference do you see among these two very stupid tribes. They all look the same to me. In fact both behave the same, and both are self destructive.

          What more could I say to change the foreigner’s perception?

      • 0
        4

        NV,

        Sinhala Buddhists never make such claims.

        They are the first to acknowledge the influences of so many others.

        Sinhala is a nation that was built by the natives of this country. There have been number of very important milestones that had profound impact on the evolution of the nation. Wijaya and his followers arrival, arrival of Buddhism, South Indian invasions, arrival of Western colonialists etc.

        Yet they wanted to build a unique identity which they did and are immensely proud of it. They are happy to call this island justifiably as their home and not make claims on other’s land or cultures (it reminds me A Amirthalingam’s claim that Australian aboriginal people are descendents of Tamils).

        They and their existence are being threatened at the moment. They will defend their right to exist and live in any part of the island.

        • 4
          1

          hela

          “Sinhala Buddhists never make such claims”

          Perhaps the Sinhala/Buddhists never made such claims however they believe it.

          “Sinhala is a nation that was built by the natives of this country”

          Of course with imported labour (kallathonies), artisans,language, religion, technology, bestiality, parricide, incestuous relation, ……

          “Wijaya and his followers arrival, arrival of Buddhism, South Indian invasions, arrival of Western colonialists etc.

          Wijaya and his thugs brought their criminal culture to this island which had lasted for nearly 2,300 years. But then again even the “eminent” Sinhala/Buddhists historians have been relying on myth to perpetuate the lies as history than backing it with any substantial evidence to support all such stupid claims. Its time you remove the silly Wijaya story from text books.

          Wijaya story itself has a fat chance of destroying Buddhism and Sinhala people in about 100 or so years when new generations come to think of their ancestors stupidity and the cartoon characters that embodies Sinhala/Buddhist origin.

          “South Indian invasions”

          South Indian invasions have been part and partial of this island’s history. By the way you conveniently forgot to mention the recent North Indian invasion in 1987. The people who suffered from the recent Hindian invasion was Tamils not Sinhala/Buddhists therefore it doesn’t warrant a mention in your recent history writing.

          “Yet they wanted to build a unique identity which they did and are immensely proud of it.”

          What is this unique identity that you are so proud of? This is a serious question please deal with bit seriousness.

          “They and their existence are being threatened at the moment.”

          By whom dear I ask?

          Threat comes from within not from outside. The Sinhala/Buddhists have been fed on threat perceptions for many years. Your paranoia would continue to destroy the people not outside forces.

          “They will defend their right to exist and live in any part of the island.”

          That is the right thing to do, however just because your manufactured race has the numbers you are falsely believing Sinhala/Buddhist have the right to grab any land that others own.

          Don’t forget other minorities too have the right to defend their habitat and their lively hood and demand a stake in the political power structure.

      • 1
        1

        Tamils don’t believe this, some morons influecned by some Tamil fringe individuals may belive this. It is no different to those in the West who believe in all manner of outlandish claims; it isn’t a reflection of the majority view.

    • 1
      3

      See, Blood is thicker than water. I am right, this vadda is a kallathoniya. That’s why the bugger cannot stand a Sinhala/Buddhist.

      • 4
        3

        mechanic

        Many right minded people can’t stand Sinhala/Buddhism either.

        • 1
          3

          Get you head tested, stupid kallathoni vedda

    • 0
      0

      Bayim Pathbey,

      The forefathers of the Pants were the Turkic Dimije, rooted from the Moenjadaro-Hadappan Civilization (the Trimils), whereas Einstein, Hisler and Iesha belongs relatively to the same stock.

      To ponder on further read the Civilization of Ur of the Chaldees, the Trimils of Greece, subsequently about the Moendajaro-Hadappan civilization.

    • 0
      0

      Jay Pathbey, you are right. I have heard Tamils in Australia say that The Aborigines of Australia greeted Captain Cook, with ‘Poo Malai’ which is Tamil for Garland. Meaning that the First Australians were/are ethnic Tamils.

  • 2
    4

    Kindly note, there is NO word in the English language Dharshanee, called ‘appallingness’! I was amused to see this.

    This is a good reflection of the pseudo-intellects that Sri Lanka now boasts of.

    • 2
      4

      wow what a genius catch chandra . are you a tamil Eisenstein too ?

    • 3
      1

      Chandra, I respectfully differ. (Appallingness – the quality of being appalling – appears in many sources and certainly in the old Kuppathamby dictionary that I swear by.) But, hey, don’t let me spoil a good gripe.

      • 4
        3

        Thank you Chandra.
        There no word in English called ‘Appallingness’, its appaling.
        Otherwise shown herself as a sophisticated woman, cant blame this half baked, immature, adolescent Irathinavalli broad because she has Veddha looks which appears time to time in any case, like medhamoolana gypsies.
        She writes crap after crap.

        • 3
          0

          Wickramasinghe

          “Otherwise shown herself as a sophisticated woman, cant blame this half baked, immature, adolescent Irathinavalli broad because she has Veddha looks which appears time to time in any case, like medhamoolana gypsies.”

          Does Veddha look make one half baked, immature, adolescent and medhamoolana gypsies?

    • 3
      3

      LOL Thanks for highlighting it.

      Some people like this girl make up history as they make up words !

    • 1
      2

      Chandra,

      I did not know that knowledge in English language = one’s intellectual capacity.

      Where do I find more details of this theory?

      • 0
        1

        @drunkenbuddha/cat_man_do(^O^)

    • 3
      0

      Come on Chandra. Do not harp on purity of language use unless it is an essay on English. Languages keep evolving and an incorrect word is not a reflection of any one’s intellectual acumen. It merely a mistake and do not be amused by nit picking.

      • 1
        5

        Appallingness is not a mistake.Don’t bother to defend me on this my supporters. Though I thank the spirit. Just maintain a pitying silence. To give an analogy middle classes are chained to the rule book, while the aristos and the lower classes break them.

        • 3
          1

          Holy oley, the fashionable non conformist. ha ha ha.

        • 2
          0

          Hey, hey! What an excuse!

          Sengodan. M

    • 0
      0

      Stupid Chandra,
      Well then tell the publishers of the dictionery you refer to add ‘it’ at the next edition like they do with many such words.

    • 1
      0

      Dear Chandre..

      Perhaps its in your best that you do a little research, in the future, before diving head first, getting splattered, and looking rather silly after it all….

      My suggestion – theres a thing called the online dictionary…

      from http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/

      “appallingness”
      English
      Etymology
      appalling +‎ -ness
      Noun
      appallingness (uncountable)
      The quality of being appalling.  [quotations ▲]
      1978, Wilbur Sanders, Howard Jacobson, Shakespeare’s magnanimityThe appallingness of the idea of murder, the appallingness of this murder, does not shake Hamlet to his soul and does not haunt him later. The deep damnation of the taking off is felt as only one of a series

    • 1
      1

      Uncle Chandra
      I am calling you uncle because I feel sure that you are an elderly person from the fact that you are not into looking things up. When a word is not familiar to you, the thing is to look it up uncle. Looking things up is a young trait. Irrespective of your age, you can start adopting ‘young traits’ and be young. It’s like your joints. If you keep them activated regularly you can have young joints. Can you bend over backwards? Can’t? Then start practicing the ‘chakrasan’ and within weeks you will have a limber spine. Same with intellect. Keep it activated. Quest. Query. Seek. There is this very easy to access online dic called wiktionary. Their specialty is that they also for the most part give not only definitions but usage quotations from reputed publications. Please look up appallingness on it. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/appallingness.
      The usage quotation they have given is from “Shakespeare’s magnanimity” 1978, Wilbur Sanders, Howard Jacobson. (Look up this book on google uncle, read some reviews). It goes;
      “The appallingness of the idea of murder, the appallingness of this murder, does not shake Hamlet to his soul and does not haunt him later. The deep damnation of the taking off is felt as only one of a series of horrors.”
      Keep well uncle.

    • 0
      0

      Probably she picked it from Wiktionary’s web definition meaning ‘uncountable’. Did she mean the same?

  • 3
    1

    Ms. Dharshani Ratnawali,

    How would you integrate or consolidate the writings by Ms. Shamani Serasingha, on Monk Mahanama an the distortions…

    Mahavamsa- An Insult To The Buddha!
    December 21, 2013 | Filed under: Colombo Telegraph,Opinion | Posted by: COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH

    Caution- The following is more suitable for the broad-minded and the wise. Others are kindly advised to pass!

    https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/mahavamsa-an-insult-to-the-buddha/

    Ms. Ratnawali, this is what you say below:

    “In the broad perspective, one look at the ethno-demographic spread of peoples in the subcontinent makes it quite obvious that the Sinhalese are a variety of Tamils, as are other ethnic and linguistic groups of South India. It is because of the twentieth century Sinhala-Tamil rivalries that this fact is forgotten or explicitly denied. In particular, it is striking that the Sinhala Buddhists have forgotten the fact that it is in South India that Buddhism survived centuries after its disappearance from the north.

    “Probably the most prominent scholar to venture on to the topic of “Sinhalese”; the land, language and the people and display appalling gaps in his knowledge was R. A.L.H Gunawardana (“The People of the Lion: The Sinhala Identity and Ideology in History and Historiography”). Of all these gaps (highlighted by K.N.O Dharmadasa), what takes the cake for appallingness in my opinion, is Gunawardana’s failure to register Buddhaghosa’s revealing comments on the language, the land and the people. Dharmadasa: 1996[iii] (Full text here) accuses Gunawardana of not being aware of this vital information revealed by “The Indian monk Buddhaghosa who arrived in the island and worked in the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura during the reign of Mahanama (406-428)”-(p155).”

    • 0
      1

      [Edited out]

    • 0
      2

      Amarasiriya,
      Mahawamsa is not a religious book like Torah. It is not about Buddha Dhamma as many a fool like you have been suckered into believe by unlearned writers like Shamini. Mahawamsa is an epic poem in the Pali language that deals with the history of the island, from legendary beginnings up to the reign of Mahasena.

      If you want to learn the essence of Buddha Dhamma then you should read Visuddhimagga which was written at Maha Vihara of Anuradhapura in the 5th century by Ven Buddhagosha, which is freely available now through www. Most learned Sinhala Buddhists have a copy of it. I doubt Shamini can understand it in essence.

    • 0
      1

      Amarasiri

      Ms. Shamani Serasingha is talking about the actual facts as per her own experience and analyzing it with the Mahavamsa. She is only exposing the wrong practices.

      Ms. Dharshani Ratnawali ia a Sinhala-Buddhist NGO [Edited out] journalist who is twisting, turning, and manuplating the history and confusing the majority to think differently from what is believed.
      A very few stupids like Jim, Banda, and so on may get caught to DR’s hidden agenda.

  • 1
    2

    I can not agree that buddhagosha was a Tamil monk. That monk was Dravidean but he was not tamil.

    Identity is a relative one. That is the truth for many Tamils and Sinhala as well today and that was the truth for that particular monk at that time. He was from the Present Andra Pradesh and because of his exceptional display of mental abilities one north Indian monk had taken him away and had taught him.

    Otherwise, Tamils were mostly Jains.

    • 0
      1

      JimSofty, I am not a historian. I write only what I have read in scholarly writing by scholars like Geiger, Wilhelm, Bode, Guruge and Ven Nanamoli etc wrote. This ‘Bhattantacariya Buddhagosha’ is associated with Buddhist establishments in the Tamil kingdoms of India is a figment of imaginations by Tamils. Ancient writings in India says nothing about Buddhagosha.

      About Bhattantacariya Buddhagosha, Nanamoli says; “India herself tells us nothing at all”. He also wrote, “beyond the bare hint that he came Ceylon his actual works tell nothing about his origins or background.” Also written is; “He (Buddhagosha) mentions, The Elder Buddhamitta with whom I lived in ‘Maurasuttapattana’ – in majjima Nikaya attakatha. and well known Elder Jothipala with whom I once lived in Kancipura and elsewhere. And that’s all.”

      • 0
        1

        Bat Breath Banda!

        you should endeavour promoting Salman’s Satanic Verses,

        the semi classic it pays Euro like the major expo. You know he is that Bombay Boy where that Ajanta Caves Sigiriy Copy is??

        They were built by the Supernatural Sciography Analysis of Tamils who were never conquered like Thailand, because of Zero Concept You know??.

        (^O^)

      • 0
        1

        No one is telling anything about the “ORIGINS” Bhikku Mahanama or Bhikku Buddha Gosha!

        Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallava rulers who used Pali and Sanskrit at the start. Their inscriptions are still kept in Madras Museum. Some of them were taken to Calcutta for translation.

        Chinese visited Kanchipuram and studied Buddhism. One Chinese mentioned “more Dagobas were there than Hindu temples.”

        Bodhi Dharma who went to china and invented the self defense martial art of KUNG-FU.

        Both Bodhi Dharma and Mahanama hailed from Pallava Royal houses.

        All the Sri lankan Royals went to Kanchipuram of Pallava rulers for help or marriages.

        Pallavas ruled Tamil Nadu for nearly six centuries.

        Now Sinhalese and Tamils comfortably forget the Pallava rulers and write craps about history.

        • 1
          0

          Mr Sivanathan

          What evidence have you got to prove ven buddhagosha and mythological creation bodhidharama lived in Kanci as it was known at that time?
          Ken

          • 0
            0

            I hope you are another stupid from Sri lanka.

            Learn the history of Pallavas and bodhi Dharma!

            • 0
              0

              Siva annai
              Why this kolaveri?
              I asked for evidence for your statement but you want me learn about history of pallavas. I did read about pallavas and bodhidarma but I do not possess the extensive extensive knowledge on this subject.

              Is not this a fair request to check whether you writing a fact or an opinion?

    • 0
      0

      Jim Stupidity

      There are many things in this world that people like you who cannot see beyond their nose cannot agree. Do not worry, it is natural.

  • 0
    1

    Even to date Sri Lanka is not collecting these old books, I suppose and they are not translated into other languages.

  • 5
    0

    I avidly read these convoluted writings hoping to find within some glimmer of hope for the salvation of our peoples but I fail. I can only conclude that all this academic exertion is the human equivalent of the pooches going around sniffing each others nether regions in the hope of confirming a recognisable link. Still, if it keeps some men and women of the streets, I am all for it.

    • 0
      0

      Oops! Sorry. That last sentence should read ‘Still, if it keeps some men and women off the streets, I am all for it.

  • 2
    3

    Good article by Ratnawalli. Appreciate the inclusion of relevant links that make us read and enable us to make up our own minds instead of being interpreted by pompous writers and commentators.

  • 4
    0

    It is easy to find the answers in simple Arithmetic. Let us consider a present day “Sinhalese” and see whether he or she could still claim the sanctity of “Sinahalism” going back to 20 generations of his or her ancestry. For the sanctity of ‘Sinhalism” argument to stand, the Sinhalese person should have had two to the power twenty ‘pure Sinhala” ancestors 20 generations ago. Why? because for one to claim to be pure Sinhala, his or her parents (2)[generation 1] and then parents’ parents (2×2)[generations 2] and in tern their parents (2x2x2)[generations 3] …. and so on for generation 20 we have 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2= 1,048,576 ( One million forty eight thousand , five hundred and seventy six). One Sinhalese person could not have had this much of Sinhalese ancestors twenty generations ago. If we take into account over 10 million Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and if they claim sanctity of their ethnic ancestry then the total becomes 10 million times greater.. so the Sinhalese ethnic sanctity argument is a furphy , a myth. This is equally applicable to any other ethnic or ethno-religious sanctity claims. We are all mixed and we ascend from common origins.

  • 4
    0

    I recently met a renown buddist monk who told me that jesus had a missing part in his life and during this period he had been to India studying buddism.He provided some eveidence for his claim too.I wondered where these arguments take us in the modern world.Who care about these origins. Accept the facts as facts.We don’t need to be supermacists of our own origins to subdue others.Let us embrace each other with the name of humanity and care about their needs rather than their origins.No point being divided along the ethno religious lines and we have to overcome these barriers to come to a common platform.

    • 1
      1

      Through out history, Catholic Church had played a vital role to cover-up the life of younger Jesus. May be for this reason, scholars of many nationalities had gone through immense trouble to research about the missing years of Jesus. Prominent and foremost in this field, Professor Fida M.Hassnain, a Sufi Muslim has been researching for over 23 years about Jesus in many lands. Evidence he found was contrary to the details in the New Testament.

      In his thesis dated 1994, ‘A search for the Historical Jesus’, Professor Hassnain supports with ample proof that Jesus was bought up in Persia and India and spend just three years of preaching in the vally of Galilee. And, he says; Jesus survived the cross, ministered many on his way to Kashmir under cover. He also established that, Jesus and his mother Mary were buried in Kashmir amongst people of Jews faith and origins.

      In spite of Hassnain and many others research and verifications, all Christians believe that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and placed in a tomb secured by a stone. Thereafter, on Easter Sunday, God had taken him to the heaven. And that is one episode of Jesus in the Bible in brief.

      • 0
        0

        All religion are fucknation for despots and asslicking pigshit!

        Keep Murdering,Mirroring Crusading. (^O^)

  • 0
    0

    Priya:- In fact there is a book written by a German, Holger Kersten called “Jesus lived in India”. He seems to have done a fair amount of Research, with about 10 pages of bibliography.

  • 2
    0

    Natvive Veddha is quite right.

    It is Tamil Apes vs Sinhalese Apes. Does it really matter which tree they descended from ?

    • 0
      1

      Then what is kallathoni vedda? A chiwawa.

  • 2
    0

    Kiri Yakka

    “Does it really matter which tree they descended from?”

    It does matter.

    My Elders tell me these two apes can trace their tree back in their homeland Tamilnadu.

    • 0
      0

      Hay Vedda, Can your elders read and write?

      • 1
        0

        mechanic

        My Elders are fine communicators.

        I suppose you know how to read and write. Whatever you write not worth the paper it’s written on.

        Acquiring knowledge and wisdom does not depend on literacy.

        How many wise men and women can you find among 91.9% literate population?

        Surely you are not one of them.

        Don’t use white man’s yard stick to measure wisdom.

  • 2
    1

    Dharshanie
    Thank you for the references. I hope I could find time to dwell in this conundrums. We live in interesting times. No one escapes scrutiny, whether they are amateurs or intellectuals.

    You have chosen a topic, which heavy weights are arguing on a personal level. ( Prof KNOD, Prof G).
    As far as I am concerned, languages play an important role in understanding day to day life and sophistication of a culture of a civilisation, Claiming antiquity based on analysing dead languages ( sanskrit, pali) is like ‘deaf leading the blind’
    Cheers
    Ken
    PS:
    There is unequivocal evidence now that the genetic make up of sinhalese and tamils are the same. I suppose the moral of story is to find unity in diversity. Your senior colleague Ms Sharmini Serasinghe is a senior journalist and I am sure you could learn a thing or two.

    • 1
      3

      ken robert,
      Anagarika Dharmapala wrote in his diary in 1931: “Keep in mind, someday the white man would leave this country. But they would leave only after breeding some thirty to forty thousand whitened blacks that are much like their children….” You may not have observed that Sharmini is a descendant of that lot who is determined to carry forward her ancestors’ mission. And the young lady Ratnawalli on the other hand is trying to undo it. And that’s all.

      • 2
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        Banda
        I do not know your and dharshanie’s intentions. Atleast she has provided some evidence for what she is writing. Does buddhist philospher and revolutionary Anagarika Dharmapala’s utterings years ago need to be listened and obeyed without questioning why he did that and for what reason and whether is it completely applicable to current context?

        Establishing a false sense of patriotism and alienating people with buddhist hegmony is the least we can afford as far as I am concerned. I am sure most of the commentators in CT have basic education and they could judge for themselves about Ms Serasinghe and Dharshanie.

        • 1
          1

          ken robert,
          Not just ‘the commentators in CT’, I say, even Vedda in Sri Lanka have been given not just a basic education but a comprehensive education for free today. What I want to emphasize here is that most commentators to CT and particularly Shaminis are the true descendants of ‘whitened blacks that are much like their children’ as Anagarika Dharmapala wrote in 1931. And, these people have a deep-seated perception in most matters akin to their ‘thirty to forty thousand’ ancestors who were painstakingly bread by their white masters. The problem for them is that they no longer rule Sri Lanka.

  • 2
    1

    Banda

    Go read your history.

    Go back to your mother country.

    “And the young lady Ratnawalli on the other hand is trying to undo it”

    What is she trying to undo?

    • 1
      1

      Vedda
      One need more than a mere reading ability to comprehend a comment meaningfully.

      • 2
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        Banda

        Undo what?

        Please teach me English comprehension.

        You could be the best teacher one could find for you spent many years being ‘whitened blacks’ in your mother country under white masters.

        Are you saying “Shaminis” are the new enemies within?

    • 0
      0

      Oohoo…. “YAPPALINGNESS” yappa.

  • 0
    6

    Tamils were brought down by the Dutch and British to work as Tobacco slaves and Tea slaves. Otherwise no Tamils in SL.

    • 0
      0

      Say more, Coco slaves, Coffee Slaves, Beedi Slaves, Tooth powder slaves, Dhoby slaves, Rubber slaves, Coconut slaves, Slave Island slaves etc. etc.

  • 3
    0

    What is all this big quarrel about who came first to the island, Tamils or Sinhalese? It is an indisputable fact Tamils have inhabited this island for millennia. King Ellara (actually Ellalan) reigned from Anuradhapura in the pre-Christian century. You may say he was an invader. Then who was Vijaya? An invader or illegal immigrant?

    Emeritus Professor of linguistics S. Suseendirarajah says a number of Tamil words in day to day use in the spoken form in North Sri Lanka were in vogue in the Sangam era of Tamilnadu but have now become almost extinct there. This alone proves the antiquity of Tamils in the island.

    Then there are Tamil inscriptions including those in Tamil Brahmi in almost all parts of the island, some of them dating back several centuries! How could Tamil have been there without Tamil settlements?

    Then how about the urn burial culture unearthed in Ponparippu area of the North West? Those were distinctly Dravidian practices.

    In the seventh century of C. E,the Tamil Saint and poet Thirugnanasambanthar had composed Thevarams or religious hymns about the two famous Saivite temples near Mannar and at Trincomalee giving accurate details of the surroundings. Would that have been possible without Tamil settlements in those vicinities?

    So, let us stop this meaningless quarrel about who came first and learn to live and let live with mutual dignity and self respect.

    Sengodan. M

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    Where did you hear Elara ruling at Anuradhapura? From that much bashed “pachamalla”, Mahavamsa, written to please royalty just like the bardic poetry of South India called Sangam, on the basis of which South Indian kingdoms is constructed. Wasn’t Elara a Parthian potentate who came with a South Indian army as others also from Persia came earlier (The horse shippers? Some parts Elara legend is found in the story of the Persian hero Anosharvan.even Sebastian has referred to that story recently.
    There was no large migration of Tamils till the Dutch brought Vellala agriculturists and slaves from South India to promote tobacco cultivation in the late 17/18th century. Indrapala and others have rejected a great migrations theories constructed upon Mahavamsa.So, how could there be such large scale migrations of Tamils. What is sauce for the goose is also…for the gander.

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      Fair-thinker

      “Indrapala and others have rejected a great migrations theories constructed upon Mahavamsa.”

      Could you sight his article.

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      Ado Modaya!
      The author of mahavansa was a South Indian para demala from Kanchipuram.

      if you have the reading abilities, trace the the history of Bhikku mahanama!

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        Yem Sippernanthan,

        Since when did you learn Shingalam ayya?

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      Fair thinker

      You need a shrink to have your head checked. You sound delusional and need to be put on medication.

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    Native,
    Are you trying to say there were great migrations and Mahavamsa’s account of Vijayan migration was the most conspicuous?
    Indrapala, following others,has rejected the idea of great migration of Aryans into India. He says some of the leading historians and archaeologists, as well as linguists, both in India and the West, now support the view that there was no mass scale migration into India of the speakers of Indo-European languages, but there was a slow process of migration ….”.(p.128of his book). so what of migration to Sri Lanka?

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    “In fact, people like Michael Roberts, D.G.B de Silva, et al are not historians but charlatans/pseudo-historians. These old insane people are being paid handsomely by the Sinhala-Buddhist organizations with a political agenda, to rewrite the Sri Lankan history in favor of the majority race”(A.Ravi)
    This fellow who seems to have a chip on his shoulder to say so, must be a great historian himself to say so about others; or he must be on the pay of the LTTE Rump. Why does he want to ridicule others by just naming them? Why doesn’t he expose his great knowledge base? When Prof.Jeremy Sabloff, the leading US archaeologist wrote about pseudo-archeologists he described the difference between professional archaeologists and pseudos. Why doesn’t this great historian A.Ravi does not do the same?
    Can he name the Sinhala-Buddhist Orgs which pay them (these pseudos) to write.I also like to get some money from them.

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    Enna -da,Siva? Kohomada Machang! Happy (Para)-New year to You! When shall we meet for a Thosai? or, A Jaffana Nandu-curry.
    If Mahanama is a para-Demala(No insult meant: para means from overseas),as you say, Machang, why are the Tamils bashing his writing? See how he was fair to the Damilas, whoever they were? Whether it was Sena-Guttika or Elara from Persia or the Sad Dravidas (Kalabhras) and Panca Dravidas from South India? They all ruled righteously according to him. The only bad case was Magha from Kalinga(Malaya}. He was no Tamil and no Hindu, either, but probably, a Mahayanist from Malaya who destroyed the Mahavihara books.Even he is said to have been crowned by his Ministers and is mentioned as an anointed King in the dynastic line. No Hindu ruler destroyed Buddhist temples.They only converted them to Vishnu/Siva temples.A few looked after Buddhist temples. Nor did they destroy sacred Buddhist books in SL.Both those things were done by Mahayanist as Sanghamitta did in Mahasena’s time, and later in Magha’s time. Nowhere is it said that Magha was a Hindu.Even the destruction of temples is attributed not to him but to his Kerala(Malay) soldiers.
    Why not we emphise these positive aspects? Indrapala did so. Defended Mahavamsa/Mahanama to the hilt.
    Thank you, Machang, Let’s meet for the Thosai or [Hai-Hooi -Nandu curry.
    Regards,
    Fair-man

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    Fair-man

    “The only bad case was Magha from Kalinga(Malaya}.”

    Are you sure Maha was from Malaya and not from present day Orissa?

    So you believe Buddha prepared the land for Vijaya to arrive with 700 thugs and took over the island in no time on an auspicious day, civilising it with his Aryan Sinhala/Buddhist culture, taught Indo Aryan language and hydraulic engineering and how to make and wear Aryan Sinhala Suite, cook kiri bath and kavun, …………………

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      The art of tying the (rakhi) pirit-lanuwa or pirit-kambaya was defined in that moment. Now it has thinned to a noola and subsequently down to a wired thangoosaya.

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    Vedda,
    Thanks for your Q.
    This is a provable hypothesis on the foll. considerations:
    1.There was no strong Kalinga royal dynasty at this time in Orissa, comparable to what the Colas were.2.Starting with Vijayabahu SL contacts with S.E ASia increased. he concluded a matrimonial link with a Malayan prince.(Malaya then part of Burma). That is how Cola power was finally eliminated from Sri Lanka by a combination of forces. 3. V’bahu hiding in the jungles had no resources to fight the mighty Colas. He could offer only guerilla type resistance but finally, he launched a two- pronged battle plan to oust the Colas.Where did he get the resources? 4. S.E Asian nations too wanted to rid of the Colas from their seas. 5.Nissankamalla and others who were harking back to the great Kalinga connection, drew their strength not from the forgotten kingdom of Orissa which extended northwards to the Gangetic valley, but from kalinga planted in S.E.Asia by the old maritime power.6.Setting aside what Mahavamsa says in that stupid story of Vijaya’s ancestry, Kalinga in Orissa was a great power with maritime connections, as witnessed By (A)Asoka’s lithic record of war against Kalinga which was destructive to his forces as much to those of Kalinga, (B)Pliny who recorded about the ‘Gangoid’ Kalingas; and (C) Kharavela’s famous Hathigumpa pillar inscription which records Kalinga power. That is where the caravan route from the west terminated and the sea route continued. All that is old history.7. Nissankamalla and others boasted about this ancestry linking it with the local vijayan memory but their new vigour came from the S.East Asian maritime- nation power. 8.Polonnaruva is a S.E.Asian city to a large extent where Cambodian soldiers were present. There is a Kambuja -wasala (Cambodia gate identified by Bell) and there is other evidence too of this great S.E.Asian impact.9.S.E.Asian Buddhism was very much under Mahayanist influence at this time.10. Magha ‘s contemporary Chandrabhanu too came from that region (Centres of Power were shifting)was evidently a Mahayanist.

    it can be reasonably hypothysied that Magha too was from this Kalinga of the East, a transplant of old Kalinga, the Kling of today. Indians are called ‘Kling’ even today in these parts of the world, reminding of the old link.

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      Did you know, that the original Tambopanna is not located in the west-coast but on the east-coast of Lanka.

      Read ‘Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon’ by Dr.Edward Muller.

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        Black ape
        Tamponna was not located in east or west coast of srilanka. The name could have come from Tamiraprani, an ancient river in tamil nadu.
        Source: illustrated history of Srilanka by Dr Anton Sebastian.

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