28 March, 2024

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Jaffna – The Hell-Hole Of Persecuted & Oppressed Tamil Slaves

By H. L. D. Mahindapala

H. L. D. Mahindapala

H. L. D. Mahindapala

The Dutch, British and post-independent administrators have left behind in their records grim accounts of how the Saivite-Vellahla casteists distorted and perverted the Jaffna political culture. Modern scholars (Jane Russell and Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger etc), who had studied the socio-political conditions of Jaffna, too confirm that Saivite casteism and Tesawalamai endorsed and legalised the dehumanisation of individuals, reducing the low-castes to irrelevant non-persons. No other society had stripped the basic rights of the individuals, leaving them without a modicum of self-respect. Robbing the less fortunate Tamils of their humanity has been the most disgraceful obscenity of the Vellahla political culture.

In comparison it seems that the cattle of Jaffna had been blessed with better opportunities to lead lives of quality and dignity than some of the non-Vellahlas. For instance, the cattle in Jaffna could walk in daylight without any obstruction from anyone. But the low-castes were denied that basic right. The Turumbas, one of the lowest of the low-castes, could walk only at midnight just to prevent them crossing the path of Vellahlas in daytime and polluting the purity of their eyes.

The cattle of Jaffna could drink water from any available source. But the low-castes could not drink water from the high-caste wells.

The cow, indeed, was considered a sacred animal and was treated with respect. But human beings were not even allowed to step in to the outermost court of their Hindu temples.

The bull was elevated to be the highest symbol when the bovine was placed at the centre of the Tamil traditional flag, before Velupillai Prabhakaran replaced it with the snarling tiger, a la MGM’s roaring lion. But the low-castes were condemned as pariahs and excluded from society.

Even the grass that comes out at the other end of the cattle is turned into “holy ash” which they wear on their foreheads as a symbol of their religiosity and purity.

In Jaffna it was glorious to be cattle but not human.

Casteism, however, was only one factor. On top of that came slavery, carrying with it all the accretions of inhuman cruelties. It is casteism combined with slavery that warped and dehumanised Jaffna. Casteism and slavery became interchangeable terms with slaves being absorbed into the lowest ranks of the caste hierarchy. These are two internal factors that dominated the Jaffna political culture and gave Jaffna its unique identity of being the fascist hell-hole of the oppressed. The mainstream politics of Jaffna, as it unravelled in the colonial and post-colonial periods, cannot be understood without factoring in these two forces, particularly Vellahlaism. Every action and reaction that emanated from Jaffna was based on Vellahla interests. Saivite-Vellahlaism was the life force that made Jaffna tick. Jaffna did not / could not / exist without it. Emphasising the necessity of the caste system to Jaffna society, the leading English publication of the Hindus in colonial times, The Hindu Organ, editorialised : “The caste system which constitutes the hall-mark of Hindu society is indispensable to us Hindus if we are to exist as a corporate body” – p.24, July 18, 1918, The Present Crisis in Hindu Society).

Social scientists too have focused specifically on casteism and slavery as the two conditions necessary to understand the internal dynamics of Jaffna. Dr. H. W. Tambiah, a distinguished legal scholar, dealing with the caste system in The Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna said : “The caste system in Jaffna is a vital institution. The Vellalas, the landed gentry of Jaffna, had their adimas (slaves) and kudimakkal (persons who were not slaves but who performed customary services to the Vellalas.) Caste impinges in various ways on the question not only of race and religion but of economics law and the customs of the people. Many institutions and customs will not be understood by foreign readers unless they understand the social structure of Jaffna. “ (p.87 ). He had stopped short of saying that the Vellahla factor proved to be the dominant force that determined not only peninsular politics but also national politics in the post-colonial period.

Recognising also the dehumanising role played by slavery he states : “Slavery as it existed under the law of Thesawalamai has become extinct. But the student of the social science will not understand the structure of Tamil Society unless he has studied the law of slavery and the caste system prevailing in Jaffna. Even a student of law will not understand the legal institutions and the law applicable to the Tamils in its proper setting unless there is a discussion of this subject. Hence, an attempt is made to deal with the incidents of slavery under the Thesawalamai.” (p. 74 –Ibid).

Casteism and slavery converged into one solid force during the Dutch period, making it the turning point in Vellahla, and consequently Jaffna, history. The rise and consolidation of Vellahlas as a dominating political force took place decisively under the Dutch. Under the Portuguese it was the Catholic Karayar (Karawa – fisher folk) in the coastal belt that were privileged. The Protestant Dutch, who brought with them their anti-Catholic politics from Europe, favoured the Vellahlas by granting them land and government jobs. Four main factors combined in this period to make the Vellahlas the dominant force : 1. the codification of Tesawalamai which became the Magna Carta of the Vellahla supremacists, giving them the right to own and exploit slave labour and exploit the customs and laws drawn in favour of the Vellahlas ; 2. the opening up of the tobacco plantations, with the land grants from the Dutch, which made the Vellahlas rich and powerful, 3. the importing of cheap slaves from Coromandel to work in the tobacco plantations and 4, replacing the Catholic appointees of the Portuguese with the Vellahlas recruits to the Dutch administration. The recruitment of Vellahlas to the public service led to a virtual monopoly of the jobs in the public service. Hendrick Zwaardecroon, Dutch Commander of Jaffna, later complained that this recruitment “went so far as to the appointment of even (Vellahla) schoolboys as Majoraals and Cayaals from the time they left school.”

Dr. Tambiah states that the “slaves of Jaffnapatnam were divided into four castes, viz. Koviyars, Chandars, Pallas and Nallavars.” (p. 76 – Ibid).

The Vellahla migrants came from Malabaar in the the west coast of India and colonised Jaffna in the 12 and 13th centuries. They arrived carrying their casteist baggage. Slavery came later when the Vellahlas were rising as a wealthy tobacco planters. Like the British they needed cheap labour and like the British the Vellahlas reached across the Palk Straits to recruit the S. Indians as slaves. This trade reached its peak in the Dutch period. Hendrick Zwaardecroon gives a glimpse of the thriving slave trade at the time. He wrote: “Slaves from the opposite coast are brought here in large numbers, because the accounts state that from December 1, 1694, to the end of November, 1696, no less than 3,589 slaves were brought across, on each of whom was paid to the Company as duty for admittance the amount of 11 fanams, making a total of 39,424 fanams or 9,586 guilders. The people of Jaffna import these slaves only for their advantage, as they find the sale of the creature more profitable than the trade in rice or nely, these grain being at present very dear in Coromandel, which again is a reason why these slaves are very cheap there, being procurable almost for handful of rice.” (p. 29 — Dutch Memoirs, Zwaardecroon). By 1824 the British registers had recorded 15,350 Tamil slaves, according to Colebrook Commission report. .

The tax on slaves benefited the Dutch Company no doubt. But the Vellahla slave masters were the real beneficiaries. They profited the most. With their newly acquired wealth they also consolidated their base under the Dutch and became the most powerful political force. In fact, the noveau riche Vellahlas were willing to risk a political riot the moment the Dutch dared to replace a Vellahla Cannecapul (writer / clerk) with a Madapally, a rival caste of the same, if not higher, rank. Vellahla politics persistently aimed at retaining their supremacy at the expense of the other Tamils. Even under the colonial masters the Vellahlas ruled according to their traditional rules which were made by the Vellahlas to preserve the supremacy of the Vellahlas. It is their traditional laws and customs that was turned into Tesawalamai.

Describing their supremacy, M. Banks wrote: “They (Vellahlas) suppose that the whole social system is centred and focused on Vellahlas. All other castes are thought of as satellites to the Vellalas, as their servants and retainers. Those castes which do not fit into this picture, either because they never have done (for example, the fishing castes) or because of changes in the social system (artisan castes), are brushed aside as irrelevancies. Alternately, the more historically minded deplore the present time as a sad decline from the golden age when the Vellalas ruled all.” (p. 71. – M. Banks, Caste in Jaffna in E. R. Leach (ed), Aspects of Caste in S. India, Ceylon and N. W. Pakistan, Cambridge University Press, 1971.)

One of the most noteworthy characteristics of the Vellahlas was their undying attachment to their traditions, customs and laws which were embedded in the Tesawalamai, the legal Bible of the Vellahlas which guaranteed them their right to own and use slaves. The Tesawalamai that covered the main aspects of the Vellahla interests gave them the whip hand to rule Jaffna as casteist slave-owners who were no better than those who had power over life and death of the Negro slaves in the Bible Belt of America. Jane Russell who studied the social conditions in Jaffna wrote that “the pallas, landless labourers, were however, treated much like helots or serfs by the vellahlas who formed the powerful landowning class. Their position after the abolition of slavery was not much improved. As (H. W.) Tambiah observed : “Although slavery was abolished legally (in 1844), many of the depressed classes remained as de facto slaves of their masters for economic reasons. Even by the mid-20th century the status of the pallas, for example, was hardly any better than a century before. Tambiah quotes from the Manual of Madura District published in 1868 to describe the position of the pallas in 1951 : “ They are numerous but abject and despised race. Their principal occupation is ploughing the land of the more fortunate Tamils, and though normally free, they are usually slaves in almost every sense of the word. The outcasts or parayas had a deplorable social status. Among this group, there was a caste unique to Jaffna, the turumbas or washermen to the parayas. They were not allowed to be seen in the daylight and could only travel by night.”

According to the Thesawalamai, you can become a slave “by birth, purchase, by some other mode of acquisition, or by recall into slavery”(p. 80 – Ibid). The slaves had to get the consent of their masters to marry. The children of the female slaves belonged to the masters. A freed slave can be recalled and turned into a slave if he was insolent to the old master.

There was slavery even among the Sinhalese in the Kandyan province. But as in the case of caste, slavery was prevalent in the mildest form. The main difference is that the combined power of the casteism and slavery had grown into monstrous proportions, making the Vellahla slave-owners a formidable political force, with power to suppress rival castes and, later, going on the offensive against the rest of the nation. In the North caste, slavery, racism, Vellahla violence snowballed and grew into a menacing proportions as it rolled down the decades of the 20th century. But this happens to be the very factor that had been overlooked by our theoreticians, diagnosticians, social scientists who had probed into every nook and corner of the Sinhala-Buddhist society. No perceptive observer cold have missed the elephant in the room. But that is exactly what happened.

The role of our pontificating intellectuals who brushed aside the Vellahla factor as an irrelevancy needs a special study. More so, because of the dominance of Vellahla casteism as a political force till late in the 20th century, and even today, according to some research studies, has been a remarkable phenomenon. This reveals its innate power not only to survive but also in its rubbery tendency to bounce back each time it goes down. The British with their active enforcement of the abolition of slavery in 1844 succeeded in eliminating it. They went as far as buying the slaves from their Vellahla owners at 4sh. 6d. But casteism remained as a live political force. Neither the violence of Prabhakaran which was considered to be anti-Vellahala casteism, nor the Prevention of Social Disability Act, 1957 of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike had succeeded in eliminating Vellahlaism, root and branch. And the debate continues to this day as to whether it has been eliminated altogether.

What is equally phenomenal was the manner in which the Vellahlas got away with it, either by justifying it, or by covering it up, or by diverting attention to their bete noir, the Sinhalese. How did the Vellahlas manage to hide their crime against their own people, most of which were crimes against humanity, for nearly seven centuries? Why wasn’t it dealt with as a political evil the way the other oppressive regimes were exposed? While the Vellahlas were oppressing their own people under their casteist and fascist jack boots how was it possible for them to claim that they were the victims of the Sinhala majority?

The ability to cover-up their own crimes against their own people and paint the “other”, the Sinhalese, as the victimiser of the Tamils, has been a success story of the Vellahla elite manipulating peninsular politics. They are prone to point fingers at others while pretending that they are pure as new flakes of snow falling from heaven. S. J. Tambiah’s book titled Buddhism Betrayed? is a classic example. It would have shown not only his breadth of knowledge but also his depth of understanding the North-South forces that confronted each other and eventually clashed so violently, if he also wrote a book titled Hinduism Betrayed, with or without question mark. But like most Tamil intellectuals he refused to look into his own backyard. He was quite content to look into Sinhala-Buddhism on a lucrative contract given to him by Lal Jayawardena, who was then the head of WIDER, a UN organisation through which he pushed his anti-Sri Lankan political agenda, aided and abetted by his anti-Sinhala-Buddhist wife, Kumari Jayawardena, a thorough bred researcher and a noteworthy academic whenever she was not peddling her anti-Sinhala-Buddhist propaganda.

The role of our public intellectuals in plugging a mono-causal theory, blaming only the Sinhala-Buddhists, is partly responsible for the exacerbation of the North-South relations. They collectively tut-tutted about the violence against the Tamils by the lunatic fringe of the Sinhalese in the post-1956 period. That was fair enough. But why weren’t they outraged with the same vehemence, if not more, against the violence of Tamils by the Tamils? Why did they pretend that the Tamils were the victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist violence when the Tamils have been the victims of the worst kind for centuries by their Tamil masters? Why did they refuse to even peep over the cadjan curtain and look at the cruelties of the Saivite Vellahlaism? Was it because it was too shocking for them to view it? Or was it because the architect of Saivite Vellahlaism, Arumuka Navalar, had no inhibitions about preaching Hindu violence? His doctrine was spelt out clearly when he said : “It is the duty of every Saivite to kill those who steal Sivan’s property or revile him. If one is not strong enough to kill the blasphemer , one must hire another to do it. If one has nothing to hire with, one leave the country where the sinner lives. By remaining in the country one becomes a participator in the sin. (Cited as a footnote in p. 80 — The Bible Trembled, The Hindu-Christian Controversies of Nineteenth-Century Ceylon, R. F. Young and Bishop S. Jebanesan, Vienna, 1995).

Chilling, isn’t it? On what humane, or decent principles could any ethical / religious / moral leader ever goad his followers to kill the non-believers?

Western libraries are groaning with the unbearable weight of volumes written to condemn the Koran, accusing it of encouraging the killing of infidels. But when the Father of Saivite-Vellahlaism utters this barbaric statement there is either a total blackout, or thrown into marginalised footnotes, in academia, media and NGOs dominated by pro-Prabhakaranists and Hindus. Why are the Hindus of Jaffna who unleashed the Tamil Pol Pot exempt from the same judgment passed on the Muslims? In fact, the Muslims have been the victims of some of the most gruesome violence of the Vellahlas throughout their history. The Vellahlas, however, hate to be reminded of their inhumanity to their fellow- human beings, particularly the Tamils. To this day, they prefer be with Arumuka Navalar and his avatar, Prabhakaran, to any other Tamil leader. Both are worshipped to this day by the Vellahlas.

Shocked by the Vadukoddai violence unleashed by the LTTE against the Tamils, Prof. Rajan Hoole, one of the rare Tamil polymaths who had the courage to look at the internal dynamics of Jaffna objectively, once asked how such brutal violence could come out of the womb of Jaffna. He was looking for an answer to explain the rise of the bloody brutal culture of Jaffna and the mindless violence of Velupillai Prabhakaran.

In the light of what I have quoted above is there a need to go beyond Arumuka Navalar, the great hero of the Vellahla cult?

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Latest comments

  • 10
    12

    What is the impact of Britain leaving the EU will have on Sri Lanka? What else trending around the world that is worth debating on this forum?

    • 10
      17

      H. L. D. Mahindapala

      RE: Jaffna – The Hell-Hole Of Persecuted & Oppressed Tamil Slaves

      “The Dutch, British and post-independent administrators have left behind in their records grim accounts of how the Saivite-Vellahla casteists distorted and perverted the Jaffna political culture. Modern scholars (Jane Russell and Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger etc), who had studied the socio-political conditions of Jaffna, too confirm that Saivite casteism and Tesawalamai endorsed and legalised the dehumanisation of individuals, reducing the low-castes to irrelevant non-persons.”

      Mahindapala, thank you for exposing. Expose, Expose and Expose. This exposure is critical for an egalitarian society, opposed by the Vellahalas.

      So, Vellahala Slavery, courtesy of Hinduism, is still practiced in Jaffna. What a shame!

      Hinduism is a curse for mankind, that removes the dignity of man. The enlightened Buddha tried to reform it, along with many others. Millions pf Hindus have converted to other faiths.

      Vellahas Hindus, if you guys are serious, please give up your Hinduism, that is castist and racist, and be anything else, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Agnostic, Atheist, Muslim, but not Jewish, because it is racist.

      • 15
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        Ignorance of this man is absolutely staggering indeed!

        • 6
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          Burning Issue

          “Ignorance of this man is absolutely staggering indeed! “

          Amarasiri has never been to Jaffna, to experience first hand Vellahala Castism and Racism. So Amarasiri is depending on others for information.

          Burning Issue, if you have information and narratives that are different from what was narrated above please do so, so that we all can correct our ignorance.

          The Earth spins on its axis and goes around the Sun.However, still, 25% of the Americans, 34% of the Europeans and perhaps 50% of Sri Lankans, including the Tamils, Sinhala and Muslims believe that the Sun goes around the stationary Earth, as per the ancients and the Catholic Church, as per Joshua, Revelation.
          Joshua 10:13 New International Version

          So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.

          1 In 4 Americans Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth, Survey Says

          http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/277058739/1-in-4-americans-think-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth-survey-says

          1 In 2 Vellahalas Thinks The Sun Goes Around The Earth, it is speculated.

        • 9
          8

          Burning Issue

          “Ignorance of this man is absolutely staggering indeed!”

          Interesting comment by an ignorant Vellahala.

          “Emphasising the necessity of the caste system to Jaffna society, the leading English publication of the Hindus in colonial times, The Hindu Organ, editorialised : “The caste system which constitutes the hall-mark of Hindu society is indispensable to us Hindus if we are to exist as a corporate body” – p.24, July 18, 1918, The Present Crisis in Hindu Society).”

          “The cattle of Jaffna could drink water from any available source. But the low-castes could not drink water from the high-caste wells.”

          “The cow, indeed, was considered a sacred animal and was treated with respect. But human beings were not even allowed to step in to the outermost court of their Hindu temples.”

          The Tamils should get out of Hinduism that in killing them within, and escape from the Vellahala Hegemony, just like many millions before them, and embrace Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Agnosticism or Atheism.

          (Part Two) 24. The Buddha on the Caste System

          At the time of the Buddha the caste system was firmly established in India. According to this system, a person’s position in society was determined from the time he was born and there was no way to change his lot in life. There were four castes, or classes, of people in society:

          The Brahmins or priests, who claimed to be the highest caste and the purest of peoples
          The warriors
          The merchants and traders
          The untouchables, who were considered the lowest class. They became workers and servants who did all the menial jobs, and were treated as slaves.

          The Buddha condemned the caste system, which he considered unjust. He pointed out that there existed wicked and cruel people as well as virtuous and kind people in every caste.

          Any person who had committed a crime would be punished accordingly by his karma no matter what caste he belonged to. He said a person may be considered to have come from a high or low caste according to his good and bad deeds. Therefore, according to the Buddha it is the good and bad actions of a person and not his birth that should determine his caste.

          The Buddha introduced the idea of placing a higher value on morality and the equality of people instead of on which family or caste a person is born into. This was also the first attempt to abolish discrimination and slavery in the history of mankind.

          The Buddha said:

          By birth one is not an outcaste,
          By birth one is not a Brahmin;
          By deeds alone one is an outcaste,
          By deeds alone one is a Brahmin

          http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2_24lbud.htm

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          Burning Issue,

          Ignorance of this Vellahala is absolutely staggering indeed!

          Let’s see what Dr. Ambedkar had to say.

          http://ambedkarcaravan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/No-Indian.jpg

          • 7
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            No matter how much you write you are still ignorant and cheap! You liberally bought what Mahindapala and IH uttered without reconciling with many other factors and timing of events in particular. Your ill-informed notion that Hindu Scriptures endorse casteism is absolutely ridiculous.

            The west practiced class-based societies till the modern ages. Slavery and oppressions were endemic in the west not long ago. Do you find such treatments endorsed in Christianity?

            The Arabs routinely mistreat fellow Muslims because they are from Indian subcontinent including the Sri Lankan Muslims. For the Arabs, Faith is irrelevant as they treat the Whites with respect! Do you find such treatments endorsed in Quiran?

            The Sinhala Buddhist practice casteism (please read the book authored by SB Dissanayake titled “Understanding the Sinhalese”; one chapter is dedicated to Sinhala Casteism) evident on the abundance of matrimonial adverts on national dailies seeking brides and bridegrooms in their own castes. Do you find casteism endorsed in Buddhism?

            My father told me when I was young; when one tells you something you need to think as to why he said it? It is this immaturity that you espouse or you recklessly do not care as long as the Tamils are disparaged! You have not been to Jaffna; you do not want to understand as to what many on these forums tried to tell you but rather be informed by two corrupt individuals, Mahindapala and IH!

            There is no surprise that vast majority of the contributors of these forums simply ignore you; there is a valid reason for this because you appear shallow and devoid of deep understanding of social dynamics and reasonings. You do not reconcile the time factors and prevailing conditions of the bygone era; you are simply ignorant and cheap. This is the last time I will respond regardless of how provocative your utterances will be in the future! You are not worth worrying about not even for a second!

            • 0
              0

              Burning Issue,

              RE: Jaffna – The Hell-Hole Of Persecuted & Oppressed Tamil Slaves

              “Ignorance of this Vellahala is absolutely staggering indeed!”

              Vellahala “Trinity” = Hinduism +Castism+ Racism

              Remove Hinduism +Castism+ Racism from Vellahala “Trinity”, and you get Egalitarianism,

              Manu as a weapon against egalitarianism: Nietzsche and Hindu political philosophy

              http://euro-synergies.hautetfort.com/archive/2010/01/25/ae60196e49090f6b53e3273e69712217.html

              nietzsche-e-schopenhauer.jpg
              Manu as a weapon against egalitarianism:
              Nietzsche and Hindu political philosophy

              Dr. Koenraad Elst

              “The four varna’s were originally not endogamous by definition. They were hereditary, but only through the paternal line, as we see in a number of inter-varna couples in the Vedic literature and the epics. A man could marry a woman from any caste (though preferably not from a higher caste), she would move into his house and his varna community, and their children would naturally become part of their father’s varna. However, intermarriage between varna-s also went out of use, and Manu reports the practice but expresses his disapproval. The effective unit of endogamy was the jâti, not the varna, but since most jâti-s were classified under one of the varna-s, any inter-varna marriage would be an inter-jâti marriage and hence forbidden. While a hypergamous marriage between a higher-born man and a lower-born woman would be frowned upon but often tolerated (though least so in the Brahmin caste), a hypogamous union was strictly out of bounds: ‘If a young girl likes a man of a class higher than her own, the king should not make her pay the slightest fine; but if she unites herself with a man of inferior birth, she should be imprisoned in her house and placed under guard. A man of low origin who makes love to a maiden of high birth deserves a corporal or capital punishment’ (MS 8.365f.).”

              Read on….

              2.2. Manu and race

              In one respect, Manu’s idea of blaming social disorder on intermarriage seemed attractive to Western readers in the late 19th century, for it agreed with one of the tenets of the flourishing race theories, viz. that race-mixing has a negative effect on the individuals born from such unions. Better a negro than a mulatto, for the latter may have inherited a share of ‘superior’ Caucasian genes, but he will be plagued by an internal conflict between the diverging ‘natures’ of the two parent races. Likewise, the promiscuous servant woman described by Manu may have felt flattered by the interest her Brahmin lover took in her, but for her offspring it would have been better if she had restricted her favours to someone of her own caste. So, a pure low-caste ends up superior to a mixed offspring of high and low castes. While it remains absurd to posit that sweepers and funeral workers (the lowest castes) came into being as children of unions between priests and maidservants, or between the princess and the miller’s son, Manu’s little idea resonated with a cherished belief of Nietzsche’s contemporaries.

              In another respect, though, this contrived idea of Manu’s, and Nietzsche’s injudicious acceptance of it, conflicts with 19th -century racial thought. It was then generally believed that the ‘Aryan race’ had invaded India, bringing the Sanskrit language and proto-Vedic religion with them, then subjugated the natives and locked them into the lower rungs of the newly-invented caste system, a kind of apartheid system designed to preserve the Aryan upper castes’ racial purity. (For a critical review of this theory, vide Elst 2007).

              In that connection, the reading of varna, ‘colour, social class’, as referring to skin colour, was upheld as proof of the racial basis of caste. To put this false trail of 19th -century race theory to rest, let us observe here that neither the Rg-Veda nor the Manu Smrti connects varna to skin colour. The term varna, ‘colour’, is used here in the sense of ‘one in a spectrum’, just as the alphabet is called varna-mâla, ‘rosary of colours’, metaphor for ‘spectrum (of sounds)’. So, the varna-vyavasthâ is the ‘colour system’, i.e. the ‘spectrum’ of social functions, the role division in society. Just as the existence of social classes in our society doesn’t imply their endogamous separateness, the Vedic varna-s were not defined as endogamous castes.

              Physical anthropology has refuted the thesis of caste as racial apartheid long ago (Ghurye 1932), refuted at least according to the scientific standards of the day. Today the science of genetics is fast deepening our knowledge of the biological basis of caste, including the migration history involved in it. As the jury is still out on the genetic verdict, we cannot use that fledgling body of evidence as an argument in either sense here. But the use of colours as a purely symbolical, non-racial marker of social class is attested in several other Indo-European-speaking societies, the closely related Iranian society but also the distant and all-white Nordic class society of jarl (nobleman) with colour white, karl (freeman) red, and thraell (serf) black, as described in the Edda chapter Rigsthula.

              In the predominant racialist view of the 19th century, the lowest castes were the pure natives, the highest the pure Aryan invaders, and the intermediate castes the mixed offspring of both. But Manu’s view, though often decried as ‘racist’ in pamphlets, is irreconcilable with this, for it classifies the lowest castes as partially the offspring, even if the sinful offspring, of the highest castes. The caste hierarchy as conceived by him is not a racial apartheid system. As an aspiring historian of caste society, Manu may have been seriously mistaken; but if read properly and not judged from simplifying hearsay, he was not an ideologue of racial hierarchy.

              However, though the castes may not have originated as genetically distinct groups, their biological and social separation by endogamy over a number of generations was bound to promote distinctive traits in each. Nietzsche sees Manu’s proposed task as one of ‘breeding no fewer than four races at once’ (TI Improvers 3), each with distinct qualities. As a classicist, Nietzsche was certainly aware of the eugenicist element in Plato’s vision of society and he hints at the similarity with Manu: ‘[…] but even Plato seems to me to be in all main points only a Brahmin’s good pupil’ (letter to Peter Gast, KSA 14.420). As for the medieval European society with its division in endogamous nobility and commoners: ‘The Germanic Middle Ages was geared towards the restoration of the Aryan caste order’ (14[204] 13.386). Indeed:

              Medieval organisation looks like a strange groping for winning back those conceptions on which the ancient Indian-Aryan society rested,- but with pessimistic values stemming from racial decadence. (letter to Peter Gast, KSA 14.420)

              It was mainly European nostalgics of the ancien régime who got enamoured of the caste system. Yet, the rising tide of modern racism also managed to incorporate its own analysis, unsupported by the Hindu sources, of the Hindu caste ‘apartheid’ as a design to preserve the ‘Aryan race’. Nietzsche remained aloof from that line of discourse.

        • 5
          5

          H L D Mahindapala, RE” Vellahala Apologists- Burning Issue

          “The cattle of Jaffna could drink water from any available source. But the low-castes could not drink water from the high-caste wells.”

          Ignorance of this man, Vellahala Apologist Burning Issue, is absolutely staggering indeed!

          “Western libraries are groaning with the unbearable weight of volumes written to condemn the Koran, accusing it of encouraging the killing of infidels. But when the Father of Saivite-Vellahlaism utters this barbaric statement there is either a total blackout, or thrown into marginalised footnotes, in academia, media and NGOs dominated by pro-Prabhakaranists and Hindus. Why are the Hindus of Jaffna who unleashed the Tamil Pol Pot exempt from the same judgment passed on the Muslims? In fact, the Muslims have been the victims of some of the most gruesome violence of the Vellahlas throughout their history. The Vellahlas, however, hate to be reminded of their inhumanity to their fellow- human beings, particularly the Tamils. To this day, they prefer be with Arumuka Navalar and his avatar, Prabhakaran, to any other Tamil leader. Both are worshipped to this day by the Vellahlas.”

        • 1
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          Burning Issue

          RE: Jaffna – The Hell-Hole Of Persecuted & Oppressed Tamil Slaves

          “Ignorance of this man is absolutely staggering indeed!”

          Ignorance of this Wellahala Hindu man is absolutely staggering indeed!

          Read The Buddha on the Hindu Caste System

          http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2_24lbud.htm

          So, the Basis for the “Vellahala Trinity: is

          1. Hinduism

          2. Racism, and

          3. Castism.

          The Velaahala Trinity Theology confers punishment for Sins during this life fpr All Non-Vellahala Hindus.

          Take away Hinduism, the Racism and Castism falls. The Vellahala “Trinity” falls.

          If you can’t , then convert from Hinduism to Buddhism, Jainism, Sikkism, Christianity, Islam, Agnosticism, theism, but not Judaism, as it is Racism by scripture.

    • 5
      3

      This [Edited out] seems it difficult to find his inner piece easily. Anyways, like KOHOLLA GULIYE ALILA WAGE – like gummed to an unreleased koholla ball – he cant bring any other valuable articles, if he seriously intends to make aware the readers. Why the buggers seems not marching away from the racial bits is becoming a puzzle to me really.

    • 10
      1

      Burning Issue

      You wrote the following comment in April 2014:

      Native,

      I write to Daily Telegraphy UK and obtained a copy of this article a few years back. JRJ indeed said those exact words. I also got a CD with a copy of it. JRJ was intelligent alright but he also a downright chauvinist; I comfortably say that he was the architect of the ethnic divide and 30 year war in Sri Lanka. He could have avoided the 1983 pogrom but he wanted to teach the Tamils a lesson! One can be intelligence but not necessarily a visionary!

      Burning_Issue
      April 22, 2014 at 9:12

      Please let me know whether you have located JR’s interview with Daily Telegraph.

      • 3
        4

        Native,

        I am sorry I have misplaced it somewhere. I paid £35 for an electronic copy in a CD! Here is another reference below:

        http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=970

        [One Sinhalese leader, President J.R.Jayawardene, in an interview given to Ian Ward of the London Daily Telegraph, on 11 July 1983, days before the attempted genocide of the Tamils in Colombo said: “I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people now….Now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or of their opinion about us”.

        “The more you put pressure in the North, the happier the Sinhala people will be here…really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy”.]

        • 5
          0

          Burning Issue

          I do have access to a scanned copy of the news paper (thanks to my friend the Old Codger).

          ““The more you put pressure in the North, the happier the Sinhala people will be here…really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy”.]”

          The above paragraph is not in the original news paper.

          I need a few days to let you have a summary of what J R said and actually what was published in the the paper.

          My partner is hovering above my head, time to shut my computer and go to work, of course honey collection.

    • 1
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      This is the impact. This whole story of ethnic discrimination or conflict is the enlarged version of the Vellala project to consolidate their vellala hegemony in Jaffna and nothing else.

      • 1
        2

        You have just confirmed the objectives of Mahidapala! This intended diversion of the majority aggression using the caste issues will not wash! You need to go back to the drawing board.

        • 1
          1

          did it really take that much time to for you to understand? There is nothing to divert. Deeper research into the so called ethnic conflict shows that past tamil politicians tried their very best to hold onto their vellala hegemony. Their actions during dutch and british period showed that and again their actions post independance shows that.

          • 3
            1

            You are a self-confessed anti-Tamil racist! Then you would really have empathy with the lower caste Tamils; who are you trying to kid? You need to first deal with the caste issues among the Sinhala before you have any moral authority to talk about Tamil issues.

            The Sinhala have been in charge since 1948; it is them who built a Sinhala Buddhist centric hegemonic regime by alienating the Tamils. The Tamils signed up to build a secular Sri Lanka with English as the medium of administration. It is the Sinhala who created the lopsided government allowing uneducated racists and thugs into the parliament. You do not have a leg to stand on with your track record of ruining the nation!

            • 1
              2

              where did Tamils sign to create an SL with english as administration language? Are you saying that 80% of sinhala speakers should have let go off their right to work in their homeland because the Tamils were too arrogant to learn another’s langauge? Or did you expect the 80% sinhala to learn Tamil?

              I am not a racist never ever was and never ever will be. But for tamil racists I might look racist. For a tamil a sinhala moderate is an anti Sinhala fellow.

              No one is comparing sinhala caste system or tamil caste system here, not even Mahindapala. Actually it is the tamil commentators here who compare the two. Even such a comparison is stupid, anyone living in SL knows what Sinhala caste and what Tamil caste is and how it treats people.

              The point is what we call as ethnic conflict in SL is a much larger vellala project to consolidate their hegemony

      • 1
        1

        sach

        “enlarged version of the Vellalhaa project to consolidate their vellala hegemony in Jaffna and nothing else.”

        This is the Vellahala “Trinity” Theology. It is based on Hinduism, Castism and Racism. Unfortunately, the primarily victims are non-Vellahala Tamils, and then the Muslims, the Vellahala “Trinity” Theology classified as “Low” Caste Tamils, and finally the Sinhala and others. Fortunately for the Sinhala, the Vellahala “Trinity” Theology has not yet classified as former “Low” Caste Tamils.

  • 12
    14

    I hope all right minded people will ignore this verbal cholera patient.

    By the way, am I a right minded person? I hope I am :)

  • 17
    9

    It is good to be told by Mahindapalan that Prabhakaran, a karawe fisherman is equated with Navalar by the Tamils. As in the case of the Rodiyas and Padu people whose conditions were pitiful among the Sinhalese, there were problems among the Tamils as well. Rodiyas had to eat left overs, live through beggary and not cover their upper bodies. Let us hope our Malay friend with a Tamil wife will tell us about these issues among the Sinhalese. As far as I can see, Prabhakaran is admired among some Tamils because he sought to eliminate the caste system within his structure. Many of his commanders were from lower castes and gave orders to those of higher castes.

    Among the Tamils now, land ownership is passing into the hands of people of all castes as many of the poorer sections have expatriate relatives who are able to send them money. Caste is a function of money. Among the Sinhalese, a newly rich group of lesser caste people have married into the poverty stricken Sinhalese aristocracy. Who cares about the caste of a rich man? These are social phenomena that will eventually see that the caste system is erased, despite Mahindapalan’s obsessions with the Vellalas. Is senility and insanity why he has to vent his spleen in this manner? Or like Hitler who had Jewish blood, is Mahindapalan, the Malay, trying hard to outdo Sinhala chauvinists so that he feels he belongs to them while living in Australia.

    • 5
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      “our Malay friend with a Tamil wife…” so what caste does this tamil
      lady belongs/ed to?

      • 2
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        surely she is vellala. Sure for hybridization

    • 0
      2

      He is not talking about the nature of caste system amoung tamils, how it gave rise to the ethnic conflict.

  • 10
    9

    It is good to ignore rabies affected dogs and donkeys.

    • 3
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      Ravi thanks for the head’s up. I will stay away from you.

      • 0
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        [Bedrock Barney]

        Thank a lot for not biting me or barking at me.

        • 0
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          Didn’t seem necessary Ravi, you look very sweet in your photograph.

  • 2
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    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/

  • 6
    12

    he cattle of Jaffna could drink water from any available source. But the low-castes could not drink water from the high-caste wells.

    The cow, indeed, was considered a sacred animal and was treated with respect. But human beings were not even allowed to step in to the outermost court of their Hindu temples.

    The bull was elevated to be the highest symbol when the bovine was placed at the centre of the Tamil traditional flag,

    HOw about the Beef eating Tamils asking reconciliation.

    We don’t eat lion meat.

    but, there are Tamils who eat Beef.

    • 5
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      egghead
      the buddha says eat what you get.
      you love diced fried pork like them so
      why not beef on the bone. thrice blessed.

      • 3
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        Tatcher:

        Buddha has told many things.

        If you try to decide just one thing uddha said, you are big trouble.

        FYI, Buddha also has told, all the problems in the world began when humans began eating flesh.

        • 0
          0

          “”FYI, Buddha also has told, all the problems in the world began when humans began eating flesh.””

          in the harsh winters even grass does not grow at Tibet.They spend the whole day meditating unlike Lankan hegel eggheads- kappan karayo.

          Then be like me a curious and clever monkey but not a hegel egghead.

    • 4
      1

      egghead
      “The cow, indeed, was considered a sacred animal and was treated with respect.”

      they are symbolic of the the times.
      today we do not need belching farting animals to make milk.
      We have popular soya milk which keeps the fat and sugar levels under check.
      We can have milk from grass that the cow ate.

      you have no brain!!

  • 8
    10

    Sinhala buddhists, even though get violent(as humans) when the boundaries are exceeded by the tamils, are buddhists and never behave the way Tamil habitually Behaves.

    Tamils Caste based violence proves that they are recent Indian migrants. what they learned in India, they are practicing here.

    • 17
      2

      Singala Buddhist priests belong to caste based orders. The Amarapura Nikaya is the one for the Karawes. The marriage columns of newspapers prescribe caste requirements for Sinhalese brides and grooms. As regards caste based violence the estimated 100,000 young Sinhalese killed during the JVP uprising belonged to lower castes. Don’t throw too many stones Jim even Softly. The Bathgama people, the Durave tapper, the Berava drummer, they are all found among the Tamils as well as the Singalam people. The singalam Buddhists are no saints when it comes to caste. As to killing, they have killed as many of their young during the JVP uprisings as they have killed Tamils. They are master killers of human beings. They say andy pow when killing an ant but kill human beings in thousands. They are a pack of hypocrites, an insult to Buddhism, which they should give up and not taint. They should go back to being kattadiyas.

      • 4
        7

        The Siam, Amarapura etc., Nikayas were created by the Tamil kings that were
        brought to restore the kshatriya lineage of Kandy. They were Hidnus but nominally they had to behave like Buddhists, and be the protector of the Buddhist religion, The Temple of the Tooth, and the Sinhala language. They did not wish to bend down to “low caste” monks. So the caste-conscious Hindu Tamil kings caused the Buddhist order to also conform to their caste system.
        The Catholic church is also forced to practice the caste system. Only Pillai-caste priests becomes bishops and other high digniteries. Most chruch grace yards have sections for the high castes and the low castes are caste outside.
        That is the power of the Hindu caste system. It has now arrived in Toronto!

        • 4
          4

          They were Vaduga Kshtriya kings with Andhra liniege and the Royal language was Telegu even in Tamil Nadu

          Monk Saranakara urged the revivalism as Buddhism was sidelined at the time with no higher-ordination and the king requested the Dutch.

          A decade later the larger rice-boards disliked the equality and humanity extended to minor rice-boards, profits and greed was also an issue as the Siripada shrine, the retinue of the low-country fraternity was robbed only to be returned by the British a century later.

          The no nonsense tolerating low country laymen pioneered the Amarapura sect with the backing of the Burmese king, with an older Buddhist heritage to Siam.
          (Burmese Buddhism was also chiefly Theravada, the Siamese had Mahayana influences)

        • 3
          0

          Don’t blame the king for the dirty work of the monk
          They were still worshipping shudras

        • 3
          0

          bodhi Dhanapala ,

          “That is the power of the Hindu caste system. It has now arrived in Toronto! “
          The Anglo Saxons have class and they have Brahmins too.
          Have you ever read the American constitution and how other whites were allowed to enter? No because you are another Iguana at Toronto that you never know.
          pissu pala’s from Bengal narrating stupid stories.

          there was nothing called called the Dutch but the very first multinational corporation in the world VOC which had its beginnings at Flanders- the 1st European trading center for aristocratic goods before any Portuguese pagen (later became catholic) set sail.

          • 4
            0

            bodhi Dhanapala,

            `They did not wish to bend down to “low caste” monks.`

            Have you heard of Pavement Premadasa and Aloysius Mudalali.

            When Her Majesty the Queen Invited the President of Sri Lanka to visit her.

            Premadasa true to his class decided to see her in a very happy mood
            At the Royal Ascot with the man who funded his victory and old time friend Aloysius than meet her at Buckingham Palace.

            He earnt her respect.
            Be humble than being a bumble bee because even bumble bees are manufactured to increase production of fruit and nuts.

            • 0
              0

              WHAT IS IMPORTANT HERE IS NOT AN OPINION ON THE PRESIDENT’S CHOICE BUT THE INVITATION EXTENDED BY THE QUEEN.

              Not everyone has the capacity to comprehend
              -edicts of crows & swans-

            • 0
              0

              If Premadasa’s birth did not offend the Queen, why is it affecting the shudra bumble-bees still tarnishing island Buddhism.

      • 4
        1

        Ponkoh
        You should understand that HLDM has an agenda.
        He is paid by the Kuklux Klan section of the Sinhala Buddhist establishment to denigrate Hinduism and he has a new found ally in Amarasiri who has now abandoned Thomas Paine and his Common Sense Phamplet.

        HLDM is the Goebbels of the SB estabilishment that is running this country now, and it’s main objective
        is the containment of India.
        That is why the Dalai Lama is taboo here and will not be issued a Pilgrimage Visa to view the ruins of the splendours of the Buddhist civilisation that once existed in this island many centuries ago.

        Thank you for highlighting HLDM putting his foot in his mouth by equating Prabakaran and Arumuka Nalalar on the same pedestal and debunking his own stance about caste differences in Hinduism.

      • 0
        1

        caste based violence…lol

    • 3
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      Jim Shitty is a dumb moron.

  • 5
    5

    So what are the constructive steps to empower and bring justice to these people

    (It’s more complicated because these people are so used to feeling oppressed and having next to nothing, whilst the opposite is true of the large n powerful)

    • 5
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      It is like wanting to help the persents and working class in Euriope pre welfare state. You will not find such conditions today in the north.

      What you need to know is that the TNA has been overwhelmingly mandated by the Tamils. This says a lot!

      • 0
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        It should read peasants instead of persents

      • 3
        2

        Precisely, the TNA are full of velalas when it should reflect the population.

  • 1
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    [Edited out]

  • 11
    3

    I presume you are a Singhalese! Why dont you write something (good or bad) about the Singhalese for a change?

    How about what Singhalese and Tamils should do to integrate and live as one in Mother Lanka??

  • 5
    2

    Hot on the heel of Izeth posting something, Mahindapala follows up

  • 5
    2

    MP should worry about the current housemaid slaves from Sri-Lanka instead of Tamil slaves apparently lived more than 200 years ago,if we were to believe the Dutch rulers documents. No Tamils have any memory of it.

  • 6
    16

    Shocking! I knew it was bad. But never knew it was this bad! One feels very, very sad for these poor, poor unfortunate people.

    How good the Sinhalese are in comparison. Castes among the Sinhalese was geographical. Castes were based on autonomous occupational trade, and not on servitude towards the higher-castes in one small village.

    North always had their fair provincial share of the country assets. But they couldn’t get things together with Vellalas sucking up the wealth and hording it as gold. They blamed it on the Sinhalese.

    Sinhalese had their fair share, but keep whipping up their people away from Buddhist Egalitarianism, so as to be on par with the Tamil Vellelas who were continuously mocking them.

    Realism of Reality evaded Sinhala Buddhists. Finally, now is the dawn of the new era! We hope the Tamils will become good.

    So I write 2 poems:

    Miniature Kingdom of the North

    One upon a time, in a tiny Island, far, far away
    And in an even tinier part of this land,
    as in her North
    Lived the Kingdom of the Eelam

    Now the Kingdom of Eelam was an unusual one;
    similar, yet dissimilar from the usual ones
    Read about in the books of the fairy tale
    For this Kingdom of the North,
    was built upon a certain lofty intellect

    This kingdom comprised of kings,
    and those in servitude
    With a servitude that can only come
    from pious obeisance to the Hindu,
    But of certain falsities,
    Where huge masses of untouchable,
    reveling in their gift of human life,
    (albeit past misdeeds),
    Cleaned the refuse for a very small number
    of Kings and Queens,
    Princes and Princesses,
    Lords and Ladies

    Abounding in Gold upon Gold!
    Gold locked up in vaults
    Gold locked in imprisoned homes and dowry
    Where of paramount was cast, line and heritage
    all locked in its Gold
    And akin to the Gold, was the conditioning of the Brain –
    As in devout false obeisance was and is,
    Such that rote learning of ancient mantras and hymns,
    ancient language and oracle,
    Customs, mannerisms and speech,
    All manner of sciences and astrology,
    anatomy and physiology,
    With Oil cast upon the head and head fixed in position,
    the training of the younger ones
    Impressed total commitment
    to the vanities of higher learning
    And celestials too false
    Such that can only occur in a kingdom
    As miniature as Eelam!

    And below the miniature kingdom of Eelam,
    Were the lands of virtual equanimity;
    Where equableness based on Sharmadana (sharing),
    were the kingdoms of the Sinhalay.

    Now these kingdoms were the usual ones:
    Kings and Queens,
    Prince and Princesses,
    And Lords and Ladies,
    All bound in servitude to the masses
    Gold and Jewels abounding,
    though not obsessing
    Learning, for the higher learning
    of the fellow Man!
    Following the mantras of the Noble One and only
    The Buddha!
    Pride for all, was the ruler of the way

    Then in a flash, after long epochs of historical peace
    Islanded North and South living within affability
    And after undertakings of certain Men from the Global North
    Came the Men of the British Isle
    Full of certain Pride
    Full of certain smugness
    Full of arrogance
    Full of hoity-toity!

    With a beady eye
    Was our Island surveyed
    With a green-eyed jealousy
    Envied was the pride of the Kingdoms of the Sinhalay

    For, lo, unto to these England Men
    Was servitude the order of the day
    Servitude from the masses
    To fill their bosoms with aching pride
    Long noses upturned in haught
    So to build their assets
    For the glory of the Monarchy
    For the glory British Crown!

    And to this day, with falsified hopes and dreams
    Lain upon the psyche of the Men from the North
    By the Men of the British Crown
    Lies the Beast of the Tigered Glory
    Fighting away for illusions too gory
    Refusing to bend, refusing to mend
    Refusing to share, refusing to care
    For such is their psyche
    Such are their thoughts
    These Eelamed distraughted
    Men of the North!

    ramona therese fernando

    Land of Bewilderment

    The bell harkens of distant past glories
    It tolls its morbid sounds
    Delusive in the land of the true endurance
    Lies the languished martyr; confused and torn
    Death knells luring on spirit and soul
    Do or Die; Impart or Depart;
    Victory for One or Victory for None!
    Into the land of the illusive
    Eelam, land of bewildered dreams………………

    RTF

    • 13
      4

      ramona therese fernando ,

      Only low caste fight about caste what a shame you have no brain!!

      All you do through out your life is fetch for wool from stone.

      “Sinhalese- from `Buddhist Egalitarianism,
      So equal wisdom? Buddhu means wisdom. Puddhu means Stupid.

      Can you give me a mathematical formula for wisdom??
      I put it to you that you have no brain- stupid.

    • 8
      2

      “Shocking! I knew it was bad. But never knew it was this bad! One feels very, very sad for these poor, poor unfortunate people. “

      Tamils do not need your condescending sympathy nor Mahindapala’s hate filled fiction. Your extreme prejudice is showing.

    • 4
      10

      Ms. Ramona,
      What great poetry! Your Indian teacher Mr Kukaraj was really good. Keep it up.

      When the Lord Buddha comes down on the day of Judgement, people like you will be saved first.
      Cheers.

      • 1
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        [Edited out]

      • 1
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        Thanks again romani. Yeah, Mr. Kukaraja was great…..more of logic rather than poetry, though. My mother used to recite all her high-school poems to us when we were small (whilst feeding us balls of rice and curry).

    • 8
      0

      All these squabbles (quarrel noisily over a trivial matter) – particularly that existed 200 years ago is nothing more than undressing someone nude to cover up their own sins and gangrenous wounds of the present day!

      Malay Pala, Don Amarasiri and co,
      Ancient Tamail Vellala Cult had given you such a prolonged dress as that of Lord Krishna provided to Thirowpathy in Maha Baratha!!

      • 2
        6

        vetmahadeva

        Low-castes and untouchables were used by Vellelas as human shields. Caste went away a bit with Prabarakan. Now he’s gone, all will come back in neo-form. Better the Tamils unify with the Sinhalese and accept the tenets of Buddhism.

        • 3
          0

          ramona therese fernando,

          Interfering SC/ST,

          “”Low-castes and untouchables were used by Vellelas as human shields”

          Puddhu I love Catfish.

          Can you give me a mathematical formula for wisdom??

        • 8
          0

          ramona therese,

          Sinhalese and Buddhists of Lanka are presently cast conscious than the Tamils who had got rid of that system now you agree!
          To whom You suggest me to join with Up-Country Govi or low country Karawa or the present day up-country Karawa – Your knowledge is very poor, refer some Sinhala daily matrimonial section in this aspect; about the war you have got nothing in your skull.
          It is better for me to join any of the (former) low caste neighbour of mine who are ruling the roost in the peninsula now than the permanently cast infected Sinhalese or Buddhists of the south!
          Refer Ponkoh Sivakumaran”s comments above as well to be well informed!

          • 1
            4

            /Sinhalese and Buddhists of Lanka are presently cast conscious than the Tamils who had got rid of that system now you agree! /

            ha ha ha ha
            you are funny. I guess the only place this ghetto tamils learn about sinhalese are in their matrimonial ads

          • 0
            4

            vetmahadeva,

            Tamils can join all sections of Sinhalese society (as long as they can speak Sinhalese).

            Guess the matrimonial ads are for the parents to live their old age in their geographical area with similar minded in-laws, and worship the same gods and/or concepts before they die (hence the reasons for ads for people who find it difficult to get a partner on their own).

            But if they can find someone on their own, any Sinhalese is ok (or Tamil or other races). Unless the women get jealous if especially the bride is pretty, and feel the fellows in their geographical area won’t like them anymore (then it’s time to talk about caste system the Tamil way).

        • 0
          0

          [Better the Tamils unify with the Sinhalese and accept the tenets of Buddhism. ]

          If it happens unfortunately, they will be infected by Modavamsa contagious disease.

  • 4
    0

    Jim Softy,

    Five people were killed and burnt in Chilaw area and 3 were killed in Thirapana inside a vehicle,a few days back.Do you know who killed them?

  • 6
    1

    Dear Sirs,

    Regarding the article, ‘Jaffna – The hell-hole of persecuted and oppressed Tamil slaves’, I am puzzled that H L D Mahindapala returns to this subject again and again. It’s as if he himself had been a victim of Jaffna’s caste system!

    But since he wasn’t, the question arises, why this monotone – ‘monotone’ from one note being repeated again and again.
    There being other injustices in the world which also need scrutiny and protest, Mahindapala’s motives become suspect.
    Is he trying to draw attention away from injustice wreaked by others, non-Tamils, on both high and low casteTamils?

    Finally, a statement such “no other society has stripped the basic rights of the individuals, leaving them without a modicum of self-respect” reflects a woeful lack of wide, historical, knowledge. The slave-trade, Hitler and the Jews are but two examples from a myriad. One really must try to avoid such exaggerated and unsubstantiated, claims – not to mention lurid language: “hell-hole”, “Tamil slaves” etc.

    Nonplussed (Berlin)

  • 8
    3

    Once again CT is supporting Fascist Filth spewing Sinhala Buddhist Rodrigos

    So how do you expect peace? Or is Apartheid from journos.

  • 9
    1

    To constantly encourage [Edited out] to spew racial hatred right across the thread from article to comments is pungent and displays your own agenda.

    CT calls it truth is a process but alas the journalist show school level education.

    Or is it apartheid by the Sinhala Buddhist + Muslim CT ownership??

    It is possible to have my observations right across Hindustan where it matters- and we can take it from there.- its nauseating. (we wont promote you by splashing because that helps- anti-advertising)

    please stop it.

    • 0
      5

      Bandido,

      [Edited out] writes flawlessly compared to someone like you pretending to be educated?

      Mr. Mahindapala, please keep it up. When people are deaf, you need to repeat yourself. So far no one has really contested your sources. Your academic grounds are solid. The opposition’s only resort has been name-calling. It hows they have nothing to argue against you with.

      My grandfather was forced to carry the name Madaiyan (Fool). My parents escaped that caste system and gave me the Saiva name Lingam. I am proud of my parents but sad about their loyalty to the system that forced my grandfather to be Madaiyan.

      It seems that religion is truly an opiate. Hinduism is the most intoxicating religion of them all. Pointing to caste among Sinhalese as in these comments is a poor excuse. Puerile. Their caste system is mild and the leftover vestiges of their Hindu past. How lucky they are to belong to a religion where Buddha’s quote on caste is given above by Amarsiri! The Buddha was truly enlightened.

      • 3
        0

        R.Liyana alias Lingam SC/ST,

        Make my day. Tao/Dao- The Wisdom of the Foolish.

      • 2
        0

        R.Liyana alias Lingam SC/ST,,

        “” to someone like you pretending to be educated?”

        It is not in our vocabulary to bring down ladders/knickers to achieve greatness. Anyone can write rubbish and call it literature. One needs sense To Be Someone.

        I am satisfied as I am.

        “” My parents escaped that caste system and gave me the Saiva name Lingam.””

        Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal Had a skin Graft to add to his name.
        But he could never change his Gene.

        Looks are deceptive.

        Don’t you feel the shame stupid – shape shape society.

  • 4
    13

    I once sat next to a young person from Colombo working at the Jaffna Hospital on a Colombo – Jaffna train .In talking about life in Jaffna for a Colombo youngster, he related an interesting story . He told me he was boarded at a Tamil home near the hospital . His mother who lives in Colombo, had called an old friend in Jaffna and had asked her to visit her son at his boarding, as he hardly knew any locals. The Jaffna lady had called her back a few days later and said ” sorry I can’t visit your son because the people he is staying with are low caste and I can’t enter their home “. This happened late last year , and goes to show that caste discrimination appears to be very much alive in the peninsula .

    • 6
      2

      The Oracle

      You are the best, have great potential for creative writing.

      Good luck.

    • 4
      0

      The Oracle

      Do you know, How that Jaffna Lady the friend of Colombo Lady got to know that the boy from Colombo is staying in low-caste house near Jaffna hospital?

      The Jaffna lady’s husband has visited that the said boarding house and had tasted the fresh Palmyra Toddy supplied by the owner of the boarding house and the boy had related this entire visit to Jaffna Lady the same evening; so the Jaffna lady was very furious and took the phone and blasted the Colombo Lady for asking herself to visit a place where toddy is the prime hospitality and welcome drink!

      That is how the life goes on there upon!!

      • 0
        3

        Vetmahadeva

        The truth hurts sometimes . You can shoot the messenger and bury your head in the sand .

        • 0
          0

          The Oracle

          Truth always hurts, buddy

    • 4
      0

      The Oracle

      Do you know, How that Jaffna Lady the friend of Colombo Lady got to know that the boy from Colombo is staying in low-caste house near Jaffna hospital?

      The Jaffna lady’s husband has visited that the said boarding house and had tasted the fresh Palmyra Toddy supplied by the owner of the boarding house and the boy had related this entire visit to Jaffna Lady the same evening; so the Jaffna lady was very furious and took the phone and blasted the Colombo Lady who is the mother of the boarded boy for asking herself to visit a place where toddy is the prime hospitality and welcome drink!

      That is how the life goes on there upon!!

  • 5
    1

    The Oracle,
    another dr white!

    Why is it that you don’t win the national lottery?

  • 2
    0

    [Jaffna – The Hell-Hole Of Persecuted & Oppressed Tamil Slaves]

    I would like to caption as Tuan– The Hell-Hole Of paranoid & depressed Mahinda (Rajapaksa) Slave

    • 2
      4

      Poor We Thamizh, HLDM continues to tell it like it is and We Thamizh can do nothing except fume and howl and holler in pain :D

      • 1
        1

        Comedian Sarma,

        Man you are something indeed! Way to go man. :D

      • 3
        0

        Dave/Siva Sankaran Sarma

        He is SC/ST like you and had a problem like you in his life with his pop.

        Therefore the buruva who has been battered by Govigama is taking a plunge on lay victims like you after you tasted dead puss.
        When he does this he gets a kick that gives him `junthu` of life before he falls in the pakis petti like isath, rodrigo.

        You are the premature moron.
        It does not take a psych to understand that and you know it- like your mini minor show where you describe trolls psyche.
        The day you cried on ct- everyone wants american dream that includes ct so they publish. how sad everybody does not have it.

        Long time no flea??

        • 0
          5

          Cool story, bro :D
          When can we expect the English version? :D

          • 4
            0

            Comedian Sarma,

            :D cool mate you have done it again; what a fellow you are inimitable or what. :D

          • 3
            0

            “”When can we expect the English version?””

            Great Expectations- Charles Dickens. (loota loot suit boot- mini minor)
            Dave, English is not your mother tongue!!

  • 1
    0

    “Why did they pretend that the Tamils were the victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist violence when the Tamils have been the victims of the worst kind for centuries by their Tamil masters?”

    why doesn’t modaya tamby give us specific instances of these tamil to tamil violence for centuries so that we can compare with the 56,77,81,83 riots.

    • 0
      4

      cant u read?

      • 4
        0

        sachooooooooooooooo the Stupid II

        “cant u read?”

        I am unable to confirm whether she can read or not however what I can confirm is that shankar can type and unlike you she is not sitting on her brain.

        What is the difference between you and a knife?

        • 0
          2

          Dumb Native Vedda gone nuts.

      • 0
        0

        sach

        since you can read better than me,show me in the article specific instances that compare to the riots against the tamils by the sinhalese.

        What a deep south english cannot identify is the difference in the english language between the words such as ‘specific instances’ and ‘broad generalisations’.I don’t blame you because galle,matara schools don’t have the same standard of english educated boys and girls like the colombo schools.Anyway english is an alien language and we donot need to preen ourselves in ou proficiency in it,but i had to make the point because you don’t seem to understand the subtle differences in the words,though your english is remarkably good for a deep south sinhalese.The ones i have come across speak awful english with an awful accent that grates on the ears,though they are very intelligent people.

        • 0
          2

          This is not Mahindapala’s first article but one of a series. In his initial article he did mention about caste violence among tamils. It seems your memory is not good as much as self professed english language skills
          And about English it is not our people’s language.

          • 1
            0

            sach

            modaya tamby when he makes statements here should substantiate it without assuming people have read previous articles.Anyway from what i can remember one or two trivial incidents were mentioned by him and those also involving clashes between some non vellalas in which one or two were injured,which he tries to make out was engineered by the vellalas.If you compare with the riots against the tamils by the sinhalese or the killing of the JVP by the sinhalese,they will pale into insignificance when someone reads ou history and understands what violent and uncivilised people some of the sinhalese are.Prabha only gave back some of their own medicine and they know what it is like to be at the receiving end of violence for the first time.

            Since you ae doing a PHD research into modaya tamby’s vellala diarrhia,why don’t you give us the specific incidents that he uses to mention that vellala caste violence was worse than the sinhala violence against the tamils. You say it is in previous articles,so vomit it out here for us,because you are the official backside cleaner of modaya tamby it seems cos you are always defending him while he craps here.

  • 4
    0

    He He He

    Today Middle East is a heaven for Sinhala women both young and old

    who are there to service t their Arabs day and night in different ways

    Here jokers are proud about their mothers..wives..sisters …working (???) in middle east…go and see how they make money there .specially on Fridays outside churches in Arab countries

    Good result of Ape Annduwa and Sinhala only policy

    Again I challenge this writer joker CAN YOU SLAP KARUNA ON THE STREET?

    Hiding under bed and hugging his Tamil wife this joker is vomiting anti tamil ..

    Cheers

    • 1
      1

      cholan

      “Good result of Ape Annduwa and Sinhala only policy “

      They say, Sinhalaya modaya Kavun kanna yodaya (The Sinhalese fools, They are only good to eat oil cakes.)

      So, the Ape Annduwa delivered oil cakes…

    • 0
      0

      I can not believe, Cholan says, both young old sinhala women are serving Arabs.

      84000 Tamil War Widows are not allowed even in Arab Lands.

      Why ?

  • 0
    0

    [Edited out]

  • 0
    0

    [Edited out]

  • 0
    0

    “The following translation which appeared in Tamil in ……. is relevant as a modern example of the caste factor that continues to rule the Tamil community, both in the diaspora and Jaffna:”

    SHAMEFUL INDICATIONS OF JAFFNA-
    REF: http://INIORU.COM/JAFFNA-BECOMES-NOTION-OF-SHAME/#COMMENT-69262

    After a big destruction a society needs to restore its social living status which is a natural process. When the society attempts to redefine its boarders, the caste conflicts deepens. During such redefining process, reactionary elements and the dominant powers will seek to acquire leadership and responsibility. If the contribution of the democratic Progressive forces will be negated, the oppressed mass Sector will be weakened. Even democratic values will embrace the dead backward society.

    The buried conflicts inside the external Tamil Nation picture, has now brought out uncouth environment. Exposure of the, caste conflicts, dominating power of the dominant caste, is seen centred in the diaspora lands. Reactionary nationalism is spread across diaspora countries. The trade oriented websites and the local press Medias are being used to propagate the dominating castes under the slogan, “Tamil Nation”. Subsided national, racial oppression is buried deep in the minds of the people, there is no leadership prevails in the North & East to solve the issues. After the genocide, not only the Tamil areas, but in all areas of SriLanka the democratic progressive forces have been eliminated. What prevails is with no opposition, a Fascist dictatorship environment has been created. The parliament operates without an opposition party. It only provides path to create a small powerful backward force to squeeze the throats and weaken the rest of the populace.

    Female slavery, frantic consumerist culture, with new mutations of caste oppression has begun fuelling within the Tamil race. The new generation has been taught to hate people by birth. Caste discriminating Jaffna society related my direct experience is only an example.
    Last week one of my relation got married. He is from middle class and got married to a girl in the Panchamar group of Tamils. Both are specialist in areas of expertise. They were in love for a long period, and the wedding ceremony was attended by several relations. During the ceremony, the caste details of the girl started to leak. Twenty first century technology commenced to function. Mobile phone calls started to function, such as “Viber”, “WhatsApp”, opened its eyes.
    A Tamil Diaspora ordered his relation in the ceremony to walk out of the function, and if they don’t, he will not send any money. This order started leak through the air.
    When I heard this I spoke to my mum who was in Colombo. I had no contacts with this relation for long a period. I told my mother to go and see the couple. The bridegroom embraced the feelings of my mind like that of former heroes in movies. At the time when my mum received a call from another relative of mine, I was out. If I visit the girl, they have told that they will cut ties with me. That is relations in Canada, U.K, Jaffna, elsewhere.
    After this several events exhibited the caste conflicts, fantasy of the dominating sector etc.
    The caste discrimination was hidden since the 80s, however, it has started to show its colour. It has started to organise in the absence of a proper leadership and opposition. The dominating group has started to reorganise their power, which is a disgrace.
    Forty years of destruction and sacrifices is seen to show the dirty minds of the dominating group. The Tamil Nation notion is used to hide such caste oppressive acts. The Diaspora is exporting the Tamil Nation notion to reinforce the caste oppression. Conversion of the self-determination war to Tamil Nation, is seen to reinforce the caste oppressive mode.
    If from any corner, a democratic progressive force does not rise up, future will be dumped into the dark.

  • 0
    0

    this is a beautiful article.Thank you. I have found many documents relating to cast in jaffna in royal archives. So they wanted to restore their power lost by “Prevention of Social Disability act” (which I didn’t know exists – thanks again) and divert and manipulate that as anger on Sinhalese and Government blaming they are not doing Justice to Tamils and ‘it’s not fair’ by the Tamils.
    Interesting ! So will that we reverted and will common Tamils understands this ?
    Even if they understand, can they do something about it ?

    And for the lunatics who are posting irrelevant comments here, Please shut your pie holes and let educated people do good work.

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