Samson Gnanaharan Ponnudurai – Interviewed by S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole 

Part I: Interviwer’s Preambular Note: Reengineering Caste

Jaffna society has much to be proud of but also more that is embarrassing. Thus, it is difficult to discover the true Jaffna with its vicious caste rivalries. Few families are willing to describe their true past. As a simple example, a person with diabetes described his condition to a friend and was later harangued by his wife: “After this no one will marry our daughter in fear of passing on diabetes to the grandchildren.”

Similarly, in a respectable scandal-free Vellala (agricultural) Anglican family, the great-grandmother was shot dead by her husband who then turned the gun on himself – but then the present generation is not even aware of the murder-suicide in the family.

Another confusion is from misplaced social activism by ethnographers who wish to remove the stigma of caste. For example, up to at least the 1970s, the Paraiya community had lavatory cleaning and funeral drumming as its primary visible occupation and occasionally as necessary drumming at street junctions to assemble the public and reading notices such as from the municipality for which they were also the stray-dog catchers and exterminators.

 With many witnesses still with us, ethnographers and anthropologists who need to be true to their profession act with daring against their work ethic writing in their formal literature that the Paraiyas were even priests! To wit,

“The Valluvar (or Valluvan) community is a traditional Tamil group that traces its lineage to the ancient scholars, astrologers, and hereditary priests of Tamilakam.

So in Jaffna’s Nallur where different streets were reserved for the different castes, the library in the heart of the Paraiya community’s centre down Paraiyar Theru (now renamed Aseervathappar Veethy) is named after Valluvar. If true it would have been limited to a sub-community because no real Brahminical priest would have been willing to officiate at Paraiya functions like weddings and funerals. While the Paraiyas ran the beef stalls in Chinnakadai as witnessed by this writer, anthropologists record that the Paraiyas were the priests for the Nalavar and Pallar (landless labourers) and abstained from beef.

However, the venerable scholars Robert Caldwell, JHA Tremenheere and Edward Jewitt Robinson state that Thiruvalluvar was a Paraiya.

Another aspect of spinning by ethnographers foraying into social engineering concerns slavery. This is amply documented by the Dutch who codified the Thesa Valamai laws with specific rules on the duties of a slave owner and the obligations of slaves. These are documented by H.W. Tambiah. And yet, at a formal conference of academics at Jaffna Public Library, when a foreign researcher referred to slaves in Jaffna, the scholar attendees almost in unison shouted him down saying Jaffna had no slavery. Worse, Jaffna even was an active participant in the slave trade, with Dr. Tikiri Abeysinghe describing Arab slave traders coming to the islands off Jaffna to pick up slaves.

Relevant to this interview focused on Nayanmarkattu, how is it that the predominantly Pallar-caste folk of Nayanmarkattu who are an untouchable community, call themselves Bharathar, a fisher-caste community that is not untouchable? Their historic occupation is toddy-tapping. M.D. Raghavan, though a respected anthropologist who headed the Colombo Museum, is another social activist most controversially known for saying the Sinhalese fisherfolk, the Karayas, now Karawas, are really the Kauravas, the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari in the Mahabharata.

Raghavan notes that there is no such caste as the Nalavas in India and that toddy-tapping there is by the Nadar and the associated Shanar. Because the Nalavar tatoo their cattle with military symbols like bow-and-arrows and conches, by Raghavan’s spin, they came to Sri Lanka in military service, and were enslaved on being defeated. Because they slipped in caste (naluval) the term Nalavar applies to them, concludes Raghavan.

Orthodox Brahmanical texts placed certain hereditary occupations, like digging graves or handling animal carcasses, outside the four primary caste pillars (Varnas) whereas the Nalavar are outside the pillars and are low-castes called Panchamar (5 caste groups).

Once anthropologists removed logic and academic rigor from the debate and got into social engineering, the Nalavar used the intellectual vacuum to call themselves the Bharathar. Social engineers have gone so far as to say “The Pallar of Jaffna are a historically marginalized, Tamil-speaking agrarian caste. ” The Bharathar are a large Tamil Catholic Karayar community. They were slaughtered by King Chankili who believed that the way of the king is the way of the people, and therefore being Catholics, the people would follow the King of Portugal. So they were slaughtered just like in the annually celebrated massacre of 8,000 Jains by impalement was ordered by the 7th-century king Sundara Pandiyan under the influence of the Saivite saint Sambandar.

After the massacre of Catholics many moved to Sinhalese areas and call themselves Sinhalese. Presumably many also moved to India. As a result, the Pallar can relabel themselves as they like. This has permitted the Pallar to relabel themselves from the untouchable community they are to the not-so-bad fisher community. Their community Centre is the Bharathy Community Centre.

The Paravar today are respectable Sinhalese carrying Catholic/Portuguese names like Fernando (said to be the most common Parava name among the Sinhalese), Silva, Perera, Mendis, Rodrigo, Costa, Dias, and Fonseka. Some older Bharatha families still use traditional non-Christian surnames, such as Kalingarayan, Villavarayan, and Poobalarayan which are known among Tamils. The Villavarayans, despite their Parava origin, are highly educated land-owning Saiva Vellalas among Tamils today.

Creating a lovable image of Jaffna as a means of encouraging positive traits in the community might be the job of elders and even priests but for social-anthropologists, no it is not. To do so is treasonable to their work and calls into question all the good work they may otherwise do as their research findings are untrustworthy.

Anthropological dynamics is important to study for daily decision-making. People take decisions based on their community make-up and upbringing, not on their genes as taught in the Bhagavat Gita.

Based on my teaching electoral ethics using formal research findings, the nexus caused by upbringing and family culture between caste and decision-making is a fact we know but deny. No non-Goigama caste prime ministerial or presidential candidate has ever been successful in Sri Lanka, with the exception of President R. Premadasa who became a candidate when others were afraid of the JVP to be a candidate. Indeed, a senior member of the women’s network assures me that when a person asks to be an MP candidate for the UNP, the candidate applicant is asked for his or her caste because that makes a difference between electoral success and failure.

A good education and preparation for decision-making makes it necessary to act with real facts on how people are likely to behave. For example,

I have had to tell women from certain castes not to come home alone asking for help or favours. I have seen female servants being given a body-search at the end of the work-day.

The Anglican church, perhaps to hide the untouchable nature of its bishops and to hide the caste of its priests has sadly broken the laws of the church by purporting to excommunicate without a charge sheet those who discuss caste, without an inquiry or announcement of the decision but by simply deleting the name from the church membership register.

The St. Thomas’ OBA vainly explains that the nick name Thora, rather than being likely because of the fish Thora-malu, is because Thomians till recently were mostly of fisher-caste origins. Instead, the OBA claims it is derived from St. Thomas.

We cannot live in make-believe worlds if we are to take good decisions.

Part II: The Interview with Mr. Ponnudurai

Mr. Ponnudurai, briefly about yourself: I am from one of Jaffna’s elite land-owning families with lands everywhere, especially from Nayanmarkattu to Chemmany at the A9.

I studied at St. John’s and work as the manager for a financial institution. My wife teaches at Chundikuli. I grew up in caste-conscious Nayanmarkattu, an area named after the 63 Nayanmaar, the Saiva saints. We are just East of the Jaffna palace. Pretty much all Vellalas have left Nayanmarkattu after the war. In a way it is a war-zone where the other castes are focused on taking over everything the Vellalas had.

Mr. P, about the hospital? The Nayanmarkattu hospital was and still is our family hospital and it was made as a trust by my great-grand father Dr. Sivasubramaniam Pandith and his brother Dr. Mylvaganam Pandith in the year 1911, for the sole purpose of serving the community with free medicine.

My ancestors were the trustees of Nallur Kanthasamy Kovil, Sivan Kovil, Veerakaali Amman Kovil and Saddanathar Kovil. A certain portion of the incomes of the temples was to be used for this hospital. It is on this basis that you, Ratnajeevan Hoole, were advanced to court as a Trustee of the Hospital Temple.

As per the trust deed, the heirs of Sivasubramaniam Pandith will be in charge of the hospital and that it should be run in a Hindu way. My grandfather Dr. V.S. Ramanathan was the last legally serving physician in the hospital. He died early at the age of 48 due to cirrhosis.

When my grandmother Dr. Kamala Ramanathan tried to succeed him, she was killed by her husband’s step cousin on 23 Feb. 1955. (My great grandfather’s brother Dr. Mylvahanam Pandith had a keep (i.e. mistress) and her son Erhambaram murdered my grandmother).

J.T. Arulanantham and his brother D.C. Arulanantham were principals of St. John’s College and Stanley College respectively. Stanley has had all its Christian symbols violated against the ground rules of the take-over act as is happening in most taken over schools. The Hindu appetite for erasing all Christian signs going against the law is voracious and is matched only by the Church’s castrated state and fear as a minority in invoking the law to stop the ongoing genocide of Christians by Hindus even as Hindus accuse Buddhists of genocide against Hindus.

At the time of the murder my mother was 11 years old and her younger brother 4. J.T. Arulanantham took the children in his car to his family house at Nayanmarkattu junction where his brother D.C. Arulanantham was for safety. My grandmother’s sister was in charge of Wolfendahl’s College in Kotahena. She came to Jaffna the following day and had a small funeral. After that all left Jaffna and the hospital fell into the hands of Mr. Erhambaram.

Mr. P., is there any caste trouble now? Indeed so, as the Nalavas and Pallas target and take over our family lands and those of other Vellalas. They have also successfully targeted teaching positions at Mission schools and taken over Christian lands as the owners have gone abroad after fencing and locking up their houses.

Mr. P., give examples please: I will give five

First, my own land at the family owned Ayulvedic Nayanmarkattu Hospital. Ragunathar (the spy chief Pottu Amman’s mother’s brother) wanted it as a Sitroor Avai to treat wounded LTTE members. Perhaps it was because Rahunathar’s daughter Arunthathy fought in the Jaffna Fort battle and subsequently died at the Maviddapuram battle. She counts among the Maaveerar. I am writing based on my Nayanmarkattu information because the Pottu Ammans lived there and were from my neighbourhood.

So the LTTE-backed Sitroor Avai took over a part of our hospital for their medical purpose. As they expanded their powers, “Cultivate your lands or have them confiscated,” they asserted.

The Nayanmarkattu Pallar, who were behind the LTTE, used this Sitroor Avai to take over the Hospital and our lands. We generally did not cultivate parts of our land because the soil was clayish. When we did not cultivate it, Rahunathar took it, but had failed crops forcing him to abandon our land.

In the heat of things, my father was accused of caste prejudices and summoned to the LTTE police station for inquiry and locked up. Prejudice is not something that can be proved. So he was ultimately released.

At the time CVK Sivagnanam was the LTTE’s choice for Jaffna Municipal Commissioner and JR accepted it. The Nayanmarkattu Pallar first built the Bharathy Community Centre within our hospital land in 1993. Having consolidated the Sitroor Avai, they focused on the Community Center. C.V.K. Sivagnanam, with no reference to our family that owned the land, facilitated the permits.

Second, I may point to the late Rev. Fr. Nathaniel’s land by the Veyyil Viluntha Pillaiyar Temple. Thankfully under this present government when the owner (in this case Fr. Nathaniel’s grand-daughter) appealed to court, the court forced an ejectment as was done, returning the land to her.

Third, Engineer Chinnappah’s land, where the fence has been broken down and the temple chariot is housed. Messages have been sent to his wife’s people, the MacIntyres in Australia. When they will come to claim their property is uncertain given the bad reputation our judicial system has, despite the improvements under the NPP.

Fourth. This involves Douglas Devananda. Believed widely to be a Vellala, he was adopted by his Vellala uncle K.C. Nithyananda who was a prominent trade unionist in Sri Lanka. The middle-initial N. is used by Douglas Devananda to show the relationship. Others deny that Douglas is Vellala because of the many murders he is accused of committing. Says P.K. Balachandran that “Douglas Devananda, is not a Vellala but a Koviar.”) Devananda has cultivated a wide base of lower-caste party workers who have committed numerous murders and robberies.

The entrance to Jaffna town via Chemmany Road involves an arch with one of its two feet on my land. Devananda had plans to build a petrol shed there on my land. I got the plans through RTI and mounted a protest in which some agricultural cultivators joined me fearing that the pollution would spoil their crops. He withdrew his plans for the petrol shed. I have his drawings. He is still holding on the Sridhar Theatre which is claimed by others.

Fifth. This is a miscellaneous experience. In 1974 the Bharathy Community Centre folk encroached upon my uncle’s paddy lands along Chemmany Road, at the end of the Nayanmarkattu village. My uncle Mr. Ramanathan Jeyandran got a tractor and ploughed the land making bunds as if for cultivation and later was forced to sell it to the tractor man at a very low price.

Erhambaram, With the experience he had working under Dr. V.S. Ramanathan tried to practice medicine and his son Umakanthan succeeded him. Later when unrest started in Jaffna, Umakanthan with the help of the LTTE remained in the hospital. As mentioned already, Mr. C.V.K. Sivagnanam was the Commissioner of the Municipality picked by the LTTE.

In 1977. The court appointed a board of trustees, nominating my mother Dr. Mrs. J.M. Ponnudurai as the main trustee, and formed a board comprising another 4 members including proctor [Coroner] Kanagaratnam.

In 1977 My father started a DC case asking for a new Board for the hospital. Five trustees were appointed. Umakanthan was asked to hand over the keys of the hospital to my mother. He vanished with the keys.

In 1993 or 1994, the Hospital was targeted by aerial bombing. But luckily the bomb did not hit the hospital. Umakanthan took full control.

After 2009 the court appointed me as chief trustee

Mr. P., are there many Protestants ,ike you allied to the militants? A negligibly small number of Anglicans, the elite among Protestants, have been partners with the LTTE in murder. A Vellala family (a mother, her daughter and the grandmother were living along Chemmany Road at Nayanmarkattu junction. The family was one of the handful who remained in Jaffna during the 1995 mass exodus from Jaffna. The mother Mrs. Sivajini Patkunamanikam was killed by the LTTE allegedly for treachery on 19th July 1996. After this incident the daughter and the grandmother fled Jaffna. Through years of my own inquiry into various sources, I found out that a. Palla family living very close to their house and who worship at St. James Church Nallur, had tipped the LTTE off on many occasions claiming that Mrs. Patkunamanikam was passing on information to the SL Army. This Anglican family’s eldest son was the “Tax Collector” for the LTTE in Europe. Their house which also is along Chemmany Road, was made of mud and cadjan leaves. After the end of the war, the LTTE funds they held in trust became their own. And now they are owners of another 2 houses, one in front of the Nayanmarkattu Hospital and the other in the front lane of the hospital. Their original mud house has become a concrete house with “Colombo Gates.” You were at the memorial lunch for the father. You will recall the social elevation of the family that lived off car-hires and selling the meat from hunting deer and bringing it to Jaffna in their Austin A40 Somerset.

Mr. P, is this the St. James’ family that had a hiring car that many of us hired and is married into Archdeacon P. Nesakumar’s family? Yes, I believe so. They slowly moved to Pastor Gunapalan’s Trumpet Sound Church and the mother would pray Pentecostal prayers, loud and impassioned, at St. James’ under “People’s Prayers.”

Mr. P., what of others? I wish to avoid details, but many Palla Anglicans have moved to Churches like Trumpet Sound started by Pastor Gunapalan and split from there to join rival churches founded by family members. The Pariah Christians are allied with Douglas and are mostly Anglicans. I know only of one Vellala Anglican who works for Douglas, but is not regular at Church. A few Nalavas live at the top of Adiapatham Road at A9 and are firm Hindus.

Mr. P., the Pallar are targeting Vellala land did you say? We have already seen my land, the Chinnappah land and the Nathaniel land being encroached on.

Mr. P., who is empowering them? In short, it is democracy. In election time, politicians are desperate for votes and will throw aside all ethical considerations in assisting people in making illegal acquisitions so as to get their vote.

I will give two examples. Emmanuel Arnold, the former Mayor of Jaffna was desperate for votes. Although he had secured the TNA nomination, his fisher-caste, Catholic background made C.V.K. Sivagnanam oppose his candidature as Mayor. So when the Bharathy folk approached him he unlawfully signed off on the electricity supply approval without asking me, the rightful owner.

That is two politicians, Sivagnanam and Arnold, were prepared to do illegal favours chasing after votes. A possible third is former MP E Saravanapavan, the owner/publisher of Uthayan. In 2015 the illegal Center collapsed and a new 2-storey building was built with the TNA MPs putting together Rs. 2 million in Gamperaliya funds principally by Saravanapavan from his quota.

This occurred in 2019 when Arnold was the mayor with the help of CVK Sivagnanam and MP Saravanabavan. Mr. Jeyasealan was the municipal commissioner when this unauthorized construction was built.

Today

This occurred in 2019 when Arnold was the mayor with the help of CVK Sivagnanam and Saravanabavan was an MP. Sivagnanam who opposed Arnold as Mayor was now ironically ready to work hand in glove with him. Mr. Jeyasealan was the municipal commissioner when this unauthorized construction was built.

I wrote many protest letters and activities seemed to have been stopped.

It is easy to see why we could not manage the Provincial Council. Chief Minister C.V. Wignewaran was trying to appoint his Australia-based nephew, Rasiah Nimalan Karthikeyan, to serve as a special advisor and oversee funds for provincial rehabilitation projects.  The UN Resident Co-ordinator in Sri Lanka Subinay Nandy in his letter dated August 15 2015 said, “as the UN on numerous occasions advised you there was no donor willing to fund a standalone advisory position for a pre-selected candidate without following standard competitive process for recruitment.”

The Sunday Times records that a monthly fee of US$ 5,000 had been sought in addition to expenses. Nandy says “….the excessive canvassing by the proposed Special Advisor made it even more untenable for the UN to consider.”

Wigneswaran attempted to secure a $150 million agricultural grant from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) under the Peacebuilding Programme. The funding fell through when the UNDP refused to agree to his nepotistic appointment.

At the time sexual advances with a maid were ongoing and secretly taken photos were suppressed only by appealing to newspapers. Even the press failed the people of the North.

Today

This Bharathy Community Centre is trying to celebrate a platinum jubilee – 75 years. How 75 years? On Saturday 12^th June 2026 a large gang of workers came. It was so I could not invoke the court. I was told that the mayor had given oral approval. On private land? Is this how governance will be after our provincial elections?

I complained to the police. They called for a meeting on the 12th. The other party did not come. The OIC also did not show up, saying the IGP had come to Jaffna and he had to be with the IGP. Apparently, he had no time to call me to postpone the meeting.

Almost 75 years after the murders in the family, there is a Police Commission. But the response of the police is the same today as then. My grandmother wrote to the IGP in 1952 asking for my grandfather’s gun licence to be transferred to her for her safety. Despite the Commission, nigh 75 years later, we are yet to get a reply.

Mr. P, We Tamils messed up our government under CV Wigneswaran. What expectations after the next elections?

 None I am afraid. Today we have a Police Commission. But the Polce behave the same as over a century ago.