19 March, 2024

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Sri Lanka: Learning To Deconstruct Modern Myths

By Maheshi B Weerakoon –

Maheshi Weerakoon

Not small are the tragedies Sri Lanka has witnessed because of the irrational beliefs of the masses. The modern myth we have created regarding the purity and the supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony has gained so strong a stance in the society that every logical proposition made against it through facts, scientific evidences, statistics, and simple common sense are proving to be unable to eradicate the perception from the social consciousness.

This myth has solidified the erroneous notion that the country solely belongs to the Sinhala Buddhist majority and that the minorities must learn to live in the periphery, in the shadow, for they cannot make legitimate claims to the constructive narrative of the country.

Isn’t it quite logical to assume that any person having an unbiased reading of history cannot express such ludicrous sentiments?

As yet another species subject to Evolution, Homosapiens carry the tendency to migrate from place to place in search of better living conditions. This tendency is written into our DNA as an essential requirement for surviving. We, humans, descendants of a common ancestor and now living scattered around the world, began our journey from the plains of Africa about 60,000 years ago. These ventures continued until we found healthy environments to live in different regions of the world. Even after settling in one place and building advanced civilizations, we could not escape from our natural yearning for migrating and, compelled by many reasons such as wars, climatic changes, sense of adventure, and hostile environments, we never stopped going further in search of Promised Lands. Sri Lanka was no exception from that history and that history tells us how it hosted many visitors arriving at its golden shores at different times, for many a reason.

The linguistic, literary, archeologically and genetic evidences pertain to the fact that we migrated from Indian subcontinent as an extension of Indo-Aryan migration that started its course from the Steppes. According to Mahavamsa we may infer that by the time of prince Vijaya’s first landing, there had been a developed civilization in Sri Lanka. Even if we disregard Mahavamsa’s account as of minor value for its questionable credibility, the archaeological and genetic evidences have proven that we have migrated from India. The finding of Balangoda Man and the genetic similarities the Veddah people share with African and Indigenous Indian people would suggest that they are the original settlers of the island. Hence, the Sinhala people themselves have acted the role of the “outsiders”, the “Other” on Sri Lankan soil at a certain point of history.

From then onwards, there had been constant migrations into the island from different parts of the world. The proximity of the Indian subcontinent naturally facilitated contacts with south Indian powers such as Chola, Pallawa and Pandya. In the beginning, people came here from these kingdoms either as invaders or royal affiliations. As early as the Polonnaruwa kingdoms, king Wijayabahu I married the Kalinga princess, Thilokasundari ( Kalinga was a vassel state of Chola Kingdom), while his sister was given in marriage to a Pandya prince. The matrimonial ties, which strengthened king’s powers against further Indian invasions was an advantageous political strategy. It also initiated innumerable similar events that involved royal marriages which subsequently interfered with and influenced Sri Lankan political scenario. The Indian element played a vital role in construing the socio-political and cultural realities of the country. Many of the Hindu elements were assimilated into Buddhism: Their myriad of gods, Hindu shrines, veneration of cows, to name a few. The removal of cow from the moonstone during the Polonnaruwa Era signifies how strong the cultural integration of the Hindus might have impacted the Sri Lankan consciousness. This association was so entrenched in the society that it culminated to the point where, during the Kandyan Era, the Kandyan kingdom was ruled by kings belonging to Nayakar dynasty. 

Muslims started coming to the island from Middle-Eastern region around the 7th Century. They were either traders or pilgrims  to visit the Adam’s peak. The study done by Dr. Lorna Devaraja (Muslims of Sri Lanka- One Thousand Years of Ethnic Harmony 900-1915) gives a broad insight to the dynamics of the relationship that existed between Sinhalese and Muslims, and its impact on the socio-political and cultural discourse of the country. The practice of secluding Muslim women would have inevitably compelled the males to travel alone so that once they came here they married local women, converted them to Islam, and settled down to a new life operating their trades from the Sri Lankan ports.

The attitude of the Sinhalese kings towards the Muslims was one that of amicability. It is shown in the study that the Muslims were even employed as delegates to Middle-Eastern powers such as Egypt mainly because of their religious loyalties and navigation skills. The trading skills of the Arab Muslims proved advantageous to the Sri Lankan monarchs as the former were instrumental in promoting Sri Lankan trades, and subsequently bringing a vast sum of revenue to the kings. The Muslims were even given grants for various services they rendered the kings. In later times, Indian Muslims too began to frequent the country mainly for the commercial purposes. Although there had been moments of mistrust and strain between Muslim and Buddhist communities, those trivialities were overshadowed by the rapport between the two ethnicities. The affinity was to be seen throughout the history of monarchical Sri Lanka up to the Kandyan Era.

The European arrivals opened a passage to an influx of outsiders from various localities. Europeans’ unions with local women resulted in Burgers and Eurasians. The political ventures and economic policies implemented by the Europeans attracted many Malays, Chettis and Farsis to the island. Some of the people were brought here by the colonizers as labour force. Subsequently, Salagama, Durava and karawa castes which were comprised of Indian people were introduced to the Sri Lankan socio-economic landscape. South Indian Tamils too were brought here as labourers to work in tea plantations.

All of these people blended with the Sinhala community via intermarriages. They contributed to the Sri Lankan socio-political economic and cultural text with their trades, beliefs, labours and knowledge. The merging manifested in every major and minor aspect of Sri Lankan life: Religion, cuisine, language, customs, values etc.

Thus, it is not only unethical but illogical as well to claim that Sri Lanka belongs to only one race when it has been nurtured by the contributions done by all.

No single race can uphold the placard of sole ownership of a country; except in the mind of a megalomaniac like Hitler, may be. The socio-political, economic and cultural realities of any land are written by many hands that belong to many ethnicities. Rome was built by the Romans, an entity constituted of Italians, Gauls, Germans and Africans who were recognized as Roman citizens. Athens enjoyed the wisdom of many a foreign mind. Pericles’ well-versed consort was Aspasia whose name itself meant “the woman from Asia”.

These people that the Sinhala-Buddhist fundamentalists want to push to the fringe have been living with the majority for centuries. All of us are interconnected down to our blood in this matrix that the notion of a pure race becomes a pure myth within the dialogue of history.

True, there are certain immaculate races in the world hidden in deep forests of Amazon and Africa, and according to the facts discussed in the article, why they remain at such a primitive stage is axiomatic.

The question to rise is where do we trace the line? The line that demarcate the moment of history when one group of outsiders became “us” and another became “them”? Can we, in fact, make such dichotomies on the tapestry of history which is woven with unfathomable intricacy and with zillions of narrations?

On the other hand, the minorities too must learn to live in consolidation with the majority. They should not forget that it is not with segregation but with integration that peace lies. It is not in secrecy of the community but in openness and transparency that understanding and trust can thrive.

The worst thing that can happen to an ethnicity is to be plagued with irrationality and hatred. The negativity would silently kill it from within and then, like a dying star, it would collapse upon itself and die. We are evolving beings and the chances are that in another 200-300 years not only the polity of the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony, but of the entire human race might shift to different dimensions.

Meanwhile, isn’t it better to contribute our best to the society and leave this a peaceful place for the future generations?

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Latest comments

  • 10
    10

    You talk of deconstructing modern myth, but you are saying that the migration of your ancestors to Sri Lanka is an extension of Indo-Aryan migration. When DNA of Sinhalese show the core genetic material to be south Indian with no Aryan gene present, how can you say that your ancestors were Aryans. There is no question that the original settlers are Veddhas who are in the Island for more than 30,000 years, as evidenced by the discovery of Balangoda man where stone and iron tools found resembled those found in Africa. Recently an ancient civilisation of over 10,000 years old was unearthed in Settikulam If so who are the other non-Veddhas who had migrated to Sri Lanka. There is a belief that there was a land mass called Kumarikandam, an ancient homeland of Tamils, of which India and Sri Lanka were a part of, was submerged by sea upheaval over 10,000 years ago separating Sri Lanka from the main land. Discovery of structures submerged under sea by NASA and Indian Institute of Oceanology gives credence to this claim. Further to this discovery of urn burial sites and potteries similar to those found in Tamil Nadu in various places in Sri Lanka including the last one in Ibbankatuwa in Kurunegala district, proves that it was the same people who lived on both sides of the divide. Few days ago there was news that a team of archaeologists had found another ancient civilisation around Giant’s Tank in Mannar adds weight to the claim.

    • 10
      10

      Also she perpetuated the lies and myth that the Sri Lankan Muslims are descended from Arab traders , when in reality there is hardly any Arab blood in them and they are descended from immigrant Dravidian Tamils who converted to Islam and migrated to the island a few centuries ago. The Sinhalese are not Aryans but again largely descended from Dravidians( Tamils) immigrant and indigenous , who converted to Buddhism. She herself is perpetuating lies and myths. She can lie the Muslims can lie but their looks culture and DNA proves beyond doubt that they are of South Indian origin. Aryan and Arab my foot. Garbage article. Where was this woman when genocide and war crimes were committed on Tamils? They were all watching and enjoying it on the sidelines and now coming out of the woodworks, as they are now afraid, it is going to be their turn. Not one of these people every came and condemned what happened to the Tamils. Hypocrites.

    • 8
      9

      Her name Weerkoon it self betrays her Dravidian Tamil origin like the vast majority of the Singhalese and Sri Lankan Muslims. Veerakoon means the brave king in Tamil. Yet she speaks of Aryan Sinhalese origin and Arab Muslim origin. A few Aryans and Arabs coming and marrying local women does not count. Yet these people harp and latch on to these few and ignore hundreds of thousands of Dravidian , who are their actual ancestors . Colombo Telegraph please do not post these garbage articles, that perpetuate lies and racist myths. Even the vast majority of the masses in North India are not Aryans but Dravidian or Dravidian hybrids speaking the Indo Aryan language of their former rulers.

      • 9
        1

        “Muslims started coming to the island from Middle-Eastern region around the 7th Century. They were either traders or pilgrims”
        This is true, but when we look at South India, we can see that Middle Easterners have been settling here even before they became Muslims.
        There is a community called Syrian Christians in South India whose liturgical language is Syriac, an ancient Middle Eastern language. Till recently, there was a community of Jews too. And of course there are Muslims, but none of these people claim to be Arabs.
        A few Sri Lankan Muslims might have Arab roots ( there is a place called Arab Passage in Slave Island). In the past there were large numbers of Bengali , Afghan and Gujarati/ Sindhi Muslims.These have mostly gone back or merged into the local community. But the vast majority of local Muslims are Tamil-speaking.

      • 11
        5

        RSSS, why do you bring the writer’s name and race into this? She writes ‘The worst thing that can happen to an ethnicity is to be plagued with irrationality and hatred’. It looks like you have got a head start already.

      • 9
        4

        So Mr. Sharma, what is the point you are trying to make here? Isn’t the whole article about the intergration of all ethnicities? In that context, the origin of a name is out of the question. I feel that you have misread the whole article.

        • 8
          7

          Integration should be based on truths not in myths and lies like most of you Sinhalese and Muslims want. Otherwise there will be no integration. Notice all you people come here and start attacking Tamils who state the truth however uncomfortable it is to most Sinhalese and Muslims but will never attack out and out Sinhalese racists like Shenal , who are deliberately spreading vicious racist lies. Why? Because in your hearts you agree with her racist garbage. What a bunch of hypocrites.

      • 7
        5

        As idiotic a response as one can to a very sober article by Weerakone,

        • 2
          4

          The Real Idiot: The idiot here is Maheshi. Idealism of youth is sloshing inside her like a half full kalagediya. Such youth abound in many countries and soon they will lose all that idealism in the altar of real life.

          They will finally realize that there can be no integration with extremist like RSSS. These guys, live as refugees in the West, cleaning the toilets of whites and integration is the last thing they want. No. Perhaps it is better to say that the only integration they promote is with the Global Terrorist (sorry Tiger (sorry Tamil)) Forum. They want the conflict to continue and escalate. Otherwise they would lose their refugee status and be sent back to SL.

          What we have to do is to protect, befriend and integrate with the Putujjana Tamils in Lanka. They suffer more because of the activities of RSSS and Global Terrorist (sorry Tiger (sorry Tamil)) Forum than the Sinhalese. Let us not sandwich them between the Sinhalese and people like RSSS of the Global Terrorist (sorry Tiger (sorry Tamil)) Forum

          • 0
            0

            Best example for an another real idiot is – NONEOTHER THAN EDWIN RODRIGO.

            He doest know how he looks like, he would never go to see him in a mirror, but have audacity to talk that much to show him as wiser man ?

      • 5
        0

        Hats off to Maheshi Weerakoon, a totally unbiased wonderful article by a young moderate Sinhalese. I always wish that in the future, Sri Lanka will produce more and more people like Maheshi who are able to denounce Sinhala-Buddhist racism in Sri Lanka in public forums.

        When I read the first few comments by the readers, I feel ashamed, we still have ‘educated’ people even with the prefix “Dr” talking utter rubbish and nitpicking on very silly stuff. It is not worth spending our precious time in trying to penetrate into their stupid heads. They lack a civilized upbringing so try hard to show that they are really knowledgeable but they fall flat on their faces more often than not. I hope Maheshi will continue writing without getting disappointed due to a very few undesirables.

    • 0
      0

      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/

    • 15
      0

      Dr GS –
      You are splitting Hairs!
      This Young Lady, Maheshi Weerakoon seems to be more Up-to-Date with the Great Migration of Homo Sapiens from Africa!
      What is the Point of Dividing Ourselves into Arbitrary Categories of Aryan and Dravidian, when our Origins are from the Same Place in Africa.
      Modern Languages are the Real Problem, not Our Genetics!
      Please read all the Latest Literature on Human Migration from Africa, before creating More Divisions in our Beautiful Island!

      • 7
        7

        Migration of man from Africa is the modern accepted theory, but it may change in future. If you look carefully, African man is dark skinned with curly hair. If everyone descended from him, all should have some or all of his features. Clearly Mongoloid ethnic groups completely differ from Africans in terms of skin colour, hair texture, facial features and even height. This is somewhat found in Caucasians also with different skin colour, hair texture and facial features. If you take the aborigines of Andaman, Malay peninsula, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Zealand they have similar features of Africans. Natives of both American continents who are supposed to have migrated from Polynesia, when most of it was submerged by sea, are different from Africans. There is no explanation still found why Mongoloid ethnic groups are different, if their ancestors were Africans.

        • 8
          0

          Dr. GS,
          ” If you look carefully, African man is dark skinned with curly hair. If everyone descended from him, all should have some or all of his features”
          Not quite correct. Look up “Cheddar man” on the Net. He was a very dark-skinned Brit who lived in Britain 10,000 years ago. It seems that early Europeans were in fact black.

          • 3
            0

            Well Said Old Codger! –
            It was the Climate in the Places we Settled, that determined our Current Appearance!

            • 0
              0

              Yes, Rationalist.
              .
              May I put it this way?
              .
              Climate determined who was “the fittest to survive.” Over hundreds of generations, it would have determined that whites survived best in cold places, and we browns were more fit for survival in equatorial areas.
              .
              I have little actual knowledge of Medicine, but I really think that the above is rational.
              .
              This is unconnected to what has gone before in my comment: it is also true that belief in such a “scientific” explanation of racial differences would lead to greater harmony – provided the population explosion is countered.
              .
              This is an area of study in which we can prove little. We embrace certain views by “faith, and faith alone”. This “scientific faith” is far healthier than that preached by most of our religions!

              • 0
                0

                Dear Sinhala Man,
                “This is an area of study in which we can prove little. We embrace certain views by “faith, and faith alone”. This “scientific faith” is far healthier”
                Not quite true. Science is based on evidence, not faith. In this particular case (evolution of organisms in response to environment), the process in humans is too slow for observation. Also, modern humans can modify the environment. That’s how Europeans survive in Africa!
                But we can use organisms like insects, with shorter life spans, and extrapolate. A good real life example is how some bacteria have become immune to penicillin over the last 80 years. So, direct proof is in fact available.

          • 2
            1

            Just because original inhabitants of UK were dark skinned does not mean early Europeans were black. All the current natives of UK and Ireland are migrants from North and West Europe at various times. Biologically it is not possible to change the skin colour from black to white however long you live in cold climate. If that was possible African immigrants to Europe and America who are there for few generations would have become white skinned by now. Only way to change skin colour is by genetic manipulation in embryo stage. Similarly however much you tan in the sun, you may change white skin to brown and not to black.

            • 0
              0

              Dr GS,
              Please read the article first and then comment. The researh was done by experts who know the subject better than us:
              https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/ancient-face-cheddar-man-reconstructed-dna-spd/.
              Remember the change is over 5000 years or so and hundreds of generations. The reasoning is that paler skin is an evolutionary advantage in regions with less sunlight. It facilitates Vitamin D production.

            • 1
              0

              Dr. Gnana,

              Europeans are in fact a mixture between Neandarthals and homo sapiens. That is why they have a larger build and other genetics traits which cannot be found among rest of homo sapiens. Back to the point, why can’t we change our skin color biologically? Skin color is determined by the skin pigments and pigments are sensitive to solar radiation. When their is lesser solar radiation pigments tend to get lighter in color. Hence lighter the complexion. There should be no doubt about why Europeans got so pale after several generations in frigid Europeans winters.

        • 4
          0

          Dr G S:-
          Have you not been keeping up with the Latest Developments in Science and Genetics?
          You are Commenting like Someone who stopped Thinking in the 1950s!

          While agreeing with you that “Migration of man from Africa is the modern accepted theory, but it may change in future.” – I would like to ask whether the Theories that you Quote above, would not have changed too?

        • 1
          0

          Dr. Gnana,

          You should look at African bush people. The san people. They have the highest genetic diversity compared with the rest of human ethnicities. They are the closest living relatives of the Human ancestors of Ethiopia. You will find striking similarity between San people and Mongoloid people. Just google it if you want.

    • 2
      0

      What DNA study are you refering to? Can someone decunstuct this research paper for us with no biology background – researchgate.net/publication/258335458_Mitochondrial_DNA_history_of_Sri_Lankan_ethnic_people_Their_relations_within_the_island_and_with_the_Indian_subcontinental_populations

      • 5
        1

        Thanos

        I am sorry unlike many experts in this forum I am not an expert on Genetics, for that matter actually I am not an expert on anything.

        However immediately after the publication of this paper our fellow commentators Ken Robert (no longer comments here) Rajasingham Narendren (no longer with us) wrote detailed comments debunking Lanka Ranaweera’s thesis. I would say both are knowledgeable in this field.

        Their observations were too technical for me to follow however the thrust of their argument were cogent that is what as a layman I thought.

        If you have the time and patience please get this paper translated into plain English, Sinhalese or Tamil.

      • 5
        6

        It seems that you were sleeping all these days. Reference to the two studies have been mentioned several times in CT by Native Veddha, Amarasiri and others.

    • 7
      11

      Dr. Gnana,

      There is no credible genetic study conducted on the genetic mixture of modern day Sinhalese and Tamils. Besides, genetics cannot differentiate between one ethnicity from the another. Ironically our ancestors were apes which lived around the hostile Afar region in modern day Ethiopia.

      As a matter of fact it is highly obvious that the modern Sinhalese have a relationship with Balanagoda people. How can you deny it? On what basis? Please point it out. The Settikulam excavation is not about 10,000 year old civilization. I dare you to produce evidence for your claim.

      Kumari Kundam is a myth just like the Tamil Eelam. We are not superstitious like you people to believe in gods who resides in heavenly abodes. Anyone can take the undersea map of Indian Ocean and see for themselves that what is the topography lies beneath the water layer. There is no submerged land in there. Of course some parts of the land could get submerged for various reasons. The findings of the undersea structure in India is such a phenomenon.

      • 12
        0

        The plain fact is that there is no “race” called Sinhalese , or even Tamil. A race has consistent physical features. The Japanese or Pacific islanders for example are much more homogenous, One can spot the difference between a Japanese and a Chinese .
        Sinhalese vary from very dark with almost African features to very fair and almost European features. This reflects the mixing that has happened. It is the same with the Tamils and Muslims. Americans are also as diverse, but nobody claims to belong to an American “race”. Much of the confusion comes from the fact that Sinhala has no word for “nation”. Race and nation are inevitably mixed up.
        The author (who doesn’t look very Sinhalese herself) is to be commended for busting the racial myths that people here believe.

      • 8
        9

        Shenali, I pity you for your foolishness due to your bigoted mind. There were two credible genetic studies conducted on the genetic mixture of Sinhalese and Tamils. You seem not to have heard of typical genetic markers of different ethnicities, which modern descendants of those ethnicities are carrying. Not only genetic markers, but there are also anthropometric markers which differentiate ethnicities. Not only Sinhalese but also Tamils have relationship with Balangoda man as evidenced by the genetic survey, as Veddha DNA contribution to genetic pool of Sinhalese is 9% and Tamils is 6%. The two studies were conducted by Sinhala scholars, one by Colombo Medical Faculty with Newcastle University UK and the other by Kelaniya Science Faculty with Bangkok University, both of which had been accepted internationally. Only a sycophantic crowd will continue to deny such scientific proof. As for Settikulam findings, wait for results of carbon dating, where the antiquity may be much more than this. Did you here that a similar site of ancient civilisation has been found around Giant’s tank in Mannar. Kumarukandam was more than a myth unlike Buddha making three flying visits. You seem to be more clever than scientists of NASA and Indian institute of Oceanology, as they would not have published about it without proof. If you search the internet about Kumarikandam images, you will see for yourself. During 2014 Tsunami, several submerged structures got exposed along south Indian coast. Your opposition against truth stems from your racist mind set. In future with advanced technology, all beliefs of Tamils will be proved correct.

        • 0
          2

          Dr. Gnana,

          All right you maybe right on the genetic study of Sinhalese. But it doesn’t prove that Tamils were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka. The reason for that is Sinhalese people have been mingling with Tamil people since very old times. These Tamils were not indigenous people but rather invaders and immigrants from the Indian mainland. It is also inline with how Sinhalese and Tamils share Veddha genes. It is a well known fact that Veddhas have been intermingling with Sinhalese and Tamil people from 17th century onward.

          The finding of Settikulam does not indicate a Tamil presence. I challenge you again to provide evidence for such. However, I positively do not know about the findings in Mannar. Could you shed some light on that too.

          NASA and Indian institute of Oceanology has found some sunken city like structure close to Gujarat shore. It got nothing to do with Kumarikundam. Shore based cities are known to erode by sea. It is no surprise to people like us. I again advice you to take a undersea oceanography map of Indian Ocean and study it.

      • 6
        2

        Shenal,
        “, genetics cannot differentiate between one ethnicity from the another”
        Please do not make sweeping statements on subjects you know nothing about. Look up “Cheddar man” on the net and see how they determined that this early European had dark skin and blue eyes.

        • 1
          0

          old codger

          Shenal is the current reincarnation of old Nuisance.
          She is a typical Sri Lankan and please do not expect to have a platonic exchange of ideas, knowledge and information.

          Reason for her presence in this forum, your guess is as good as mine.

      • 3
        0

        Shenal

        ” Ironically our ancestors were apes which lived around the hostile Afar region in modern day Ethiopia.”

        No those apes still alive in our island.
        We see them everyday.
        However first apes in this island spoke Sinhala and practiced Sinhala/Buddhism while some other claim they spoke the oldest language Tamil and practiced Tamil Saivam. Both apes mimicked the South Indian first Apes.

        Aren’t you a descendant?

        • 0
          1

          Native Veddha,

          I am a proud descendant of the great apes. Are you?

          • 1
            0

            Shenal,

            I do not want to be judgemental but you exhibit symptoms of Sinhala Buddhist Insecurity by being adamant about the Balangoda man and Sinhala people. What you are trying to show implicitly is that the Sinhala people are the rightful owners of the island and all the others are invaders!

            This chronic insecurity among the Sinhala is extremely debilitating and destructive. I do not think that the country can move on with this state of paralysis! The country needs a strong and righteous leadership in order to stand up to this fabricated weakness among the Sinhala. I fear that we will not see such a seminal change forthcoming in our lifetime.

            There are sociocultural linkages exist between the Sinhala and Tamils; if the Tamils were to accept the Sinhala language and embrace the collective Sri Lankan identity, there will be a complete acceptance by the Sinhala. However, this cannot be said about the Muslims and in a lesser degree about the Christians. The Sinhala Buddhist will not socioculturally accept the Muslims; this is written in stone. The country has no hope for a foreseeable future I am very sorry to say.

            • 0
              3

              Burning Issue,

              Sinhala people are the rightful owners’ of this island that is the truth. The issue is that Tamils don’t want to accept it because of their bigotedness. There are countless archaeological evidences, historical writings and so many other evidences to prove it as it is. Why can’t you people accept it?

              For starters you people don’t believe in Mahavansa but gleefully extract the first chapter of the book to show that Sinhalese came from India. Don’t you have any shame?

              The sociocultural link has been existed for more than millenniums between Sinhalese and Tamil people. But, it doesn’t render the fact that Tamils were living as an independent group in Sri Lanka separate to the Sinhalese. That is a big fat lie. Tamils should first come out of this racist mindset. Don’t blame Sinhalese until Tamils make up their mind.

              • 2
                0

                Shenal,

                “Sinhala people are the rightful owners’ of this island that is the truth.”

                On what basis, can you give evidence to prove it.

                “There are countless archaeological evidences, historical writings and so many other evidences to prove it as it is.”

                Can you tell us what are these countless evidences and where it is said ‘SINHALA’.

                “For starters you people don’t believe in Mahavansa but gleefully extract the first chapter of the book to show that Sinhalese came from India.”

                Who said we don’t believe in Mahavamsa, we only don’t believe in some of its obvious fairy tales like ‘born to a lion’, ‘Buddha came flying’, ‘Tamils are invaders’, etc. etc.

                • 0
                  2

                  Prasad,

                  Why should ancient script should say “Sinhala” in it? Does it even matter? Is there any inscription in Sri Lanka referring to a Tamil nation?

                  Next, what is your basis of selection in Mahavamsa stories? Is it like what ever reinforce Tamil homeland theory is correct and the rest is wrong type?

                  • 2
                    1

                    Not a single ancient inscription say anything Sinhala. Sinhala was a Mahavamsa creation. Before it was written, nobody knew anything called Sinhala. May be there was an ancient tribe in India called Simhala.

                    • 0
                      0

                      Prasad,

                      The ancient inscriptions clearly marks how Sinhalese language had formed over several centuries. They even mention about monumental work done by Sinhalese kings which correlate with some Mahavamsa poems.

                      Besides, if there were no one to understand Sinhala, why did the Mahanama thero even bother to write a book with it. He should have written it in Tamil as you believe. Language cannot formed like instant noodles and language cannot be absorbed by a community in a jiffy.

                      In order to prove your hypothesis you are digging deeper in to the mire which you won’t get out of. Please come and see the light. There was no Tamil eelam in Sri Lanka.

                    • 0
                      0

                      Shenal

                      LOL!

                    • 0
                      0

                      Shenal,
                      “Besides, if there were no one to understand Sinhala, why did the Mahanama thero even bother to write a book with it.”
                      Are you really such an ignoramus? Or are you an eight year old using your dad’s computer???
                      You argue about ancient history but don’t know that the Mahavamsa is written in Pali???
                      I have run out of words to describe people like you.

          • 1
            1

            Shenali

            I admire your honesty.
            We know you are proud of your aping ancestors.

          • 1
            0

            Shenal,
            You are NOT a descendant of the great apes. You and the apes had a common ancestor. There is a difference.

      • 3
        0

        Shenal, you are back with your pseudo history. The monks rewrote our history with sinhala aliases for Tamil kings. In fact the Therawadi Monks only contribution had been to set up one person against the other, set one group ( based on caste, language etc )against another.
        Reading and writing had been the priviledge of the priest. In the west, in the Arab world and in India the priests contributed to the improvement of knowledge which had resulted in the modern day computers, vehicle, interstellar movement etc.The Mahayana monks contributed on their own, one such field had been the fighting system and archtecure. What had the Therawadi monks done other that to set the world on fire? Write falsesities as history, and get women to cook and satisfy their lust – read rock inscription at Abayagiriya excavations.

        One big lie they br oadcast is that VIjaya got down 700 princeseses.No they were whores from India.

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          Upali Wickramasinghe,

          There was no need to rewrite Sinhala aliases for Tamil kings if their were ever Tamil kings. It is absurd to believe that Monks conspire to erase Tamil history in Sri Lanka through Mahavamsa. However, it is the path chosen by delusional Tamils to reinforce their myths.

          I don’t know how can you compare the tiny island of Sri Lanka with India and Middle east. It is obvious that Sinhalese could not match the great civilizations of India and Persia because Sinhalese didn’t have the resources both India and Persia had.

          Finally, you contradict you self in the end. You said that monks write falsities as history and then you chose to highlight a passage from a book which had written by very same monks that you accused of falsifying the history in the first place. Don’t be the hypocrite and please don’t cherry pick from Mavahamsa what you want to strengthen your argument.

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            Shenal,
            “It is obvious that Sinhalese could not match the great civilizations of India and Persia because Sinhalese didn’t have the resources “
            Perhaps you haven’t heard of the Minoan civilization, on a Mediterranean island smaller than SL and even less resources.
            The difference is that the Minoans did not have an idle Buddhist clergy to support. Neither were they restricted from doing things with an eye on re-birth.
            The Sinhala Buddhists have always believed that the Buddha knew everything, and there is no need to look beyond the very basics. That is why even the water wheel (which was the basis of industrialization before steam engines) was not present in Sri Lanka. How could it be invented, it is not in the Dhammapada!
            Size doesn’t matter, ATTITUDE does.

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              Old Codger,

              Minoans didn’t survive did they? Sinhalese still do. Show some respect at least.

              • 1
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                Shenal,
                In case you don’t know, Minoan civilization was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Minos is now part of Greece.
                Do some research at least.

                • 0
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                  Old codger.

                  No my friend. It wasn’t. Minoans were destroyed by an invading force though the eruption had weaken the state prior. Sinhalese had face calamities like that over and over but still keep their head up.

            • 0
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              Shenal
              1.”There was no need to rewrite Sinhala aliases for Tamil kings if their were ever Tamil kings. ” Wrong there were Tamil kings.kavantissa was actually Kakavan theesan – The Black man? Devanam Piyatissa was actually Thevanai Nambiar Theesan.Maha Parakramabahu was also a Tamil king.

              Since reading and writing was the sole perogative of the monks, I have to conclude that they provided the aliases.

              2.”However, it is the path chosen by delusional Tamils to reinforce their myths.”
              I am not a Tamil. I from the south of Sri lanka.My ancestors had been honoured by the kings of yore of the South.

              3. “I don’t know how can you compare the tiny island of Sri Lanka with India and Middle east. It is obvious that Sinhalese could not match the great civilizations of India and Persia because Sinhalese didn’t have the resources both India and Persia had.”

              The power of the brain has nothing to do with the size of the country.With the very determinations of the brain size available at short research, I came across this data.The European man’s brain is said to be 1260cc and female brain 1130 cc compared with Asian man’s brain of 1415 cc.

              • 0
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                Upali Wickramasinghe,

                1) I don’t know how have you come up with these words.

                “Kakavana Theesan” – As far as I am concerend, Kakavanna Tissa means “Tissa the crow like”. It doesn’t say anything about black directly.

                “Thevanai Nambiar Theesan” – The original word as we know it is Devanam Piya Tissa which means Tissa the preferable of Gods. That is a Sanskrit word burrowed from the title of the Emperor Asoka which was synonymous with the cultural and religious bond between to nations.

                It was Parakramabahu’s mother which had a Pandya connection. Besides, king linage doesn’t make him an essential foreigner. Windsor House in England is a better example.

                2) Then you are a delusional Sinhalese. You ancestors may have being turning in their graves right now.

                3) What use of the brain when their are no resources to exploit.

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                  Shenal: “Tissa the crow like” That is what it meant.He could not get married because he was considered so ugly. How he came to marry that lady from Kelaniya is another false story.There was no Tsunami.She was thrown out because of her misbehaviour.
                  2″.Then you are a delusional Sinhalese. You ancestors may have being turning in their graves right now.”
                  That is O.K. At Ananda during Mr.L.H.Mettananda’s time we were taught Tamil.I neglected that subject – which I now regret greatly- due to the brain washing that I underwent due to the stories spread by my ancestors.As far as I am concerned, my ancestors can do gymnastics in their graves.
                  3.”What use of the brain when their are no resources to exploit”
                  What resources did the early thinkers have. They analysed the physical phenomenon – as Galileo did about the world, inspite of the Church They built a Library at Alexandria with millions of manuscripts, which incidentally was destroyed by a Christian King,.- though Christian kings of an earlier era financed the library-. That library was the effort of Christian and Arab thinkers( aka priests?)

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                    Upali Wickramasinghes,

                    //Shenal: “Tissa the crow like” That is what it meant.He could not get married because he was considered so ugly. How he came to marry that lady from Kelaniya is another false story.There was no Tsunami.She was thrown out because of her misbehaviour.//

                    Where have you found this information from? You are rewriting history here. You must be aware of the gravity of it.

                    //What resources did the early thinkers have. They analysed the physical phenomenon – as Galileo did about the world, inspite of the Church They built a Library at Alexandria with millions of manuscripts, which incidentally was destroyed by a Christian King,.- though Christian kings of an earlier era financed the library-. That library was the effort of Christian and Arab thinkers( aka priests?)//

                    We were discussing about nations not individuals. People like Galileo are a rarity. You couldn’t possible expect to find a Galileo among 1 – 2 million people those days. Besides, our education system after 13 century were not up to the level of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa times.

          • 0
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            Shenal
            1.”There was no need to rewrite Sinhala aliases for Tamil kings if their were ever Tamil kings. ” Wrong there were Tamil kings.kavantissa was actually Kakavan theesan – The Black man? Devanam Piyatissa was actually Thevanai Nambiar Theesan.Maha Parakramabahu was also a Tamil king.

            Since reading and writing was the sole perogative of the monks, I have to conclude that they provided the aliases.

            2.”However, it is the path chosen by delusional Tamils to reinforce their myths.”
            I am not a Tamil. I from the south of Sri lanka.My ancestors had been honoured by the kings of yore of the South.

            3. “I don’t know how can you compare the tiny island of Sri Lanka with India and Middle east. It is obvious that Sinhalese could not match the great civilizations of India and Persia because Sinhalese didn’t have the resources both India and Persia had.”

            The power of the brain has nothing to do with the size of the country.With the very determinations of the brain size available at short research, I came across this data.The European man’s brain is said to be 1260cc and female brain 1130 cc compared with Asian man’s brain of 1415 cc.

          • 0
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            Shenal:
            4.Finally, you contradict you self in the end. You said that monks write falsities as history and then you chose to highlight a passage from a book which had written by very same monks that you accused of falsifying the history in the first place

            That is the basis of my reasoning. I am quoting something that we were taught as history and even today it continue to be taught in the same manner.
            Shenal, who in the sensible world would give his or her daughter in marriage to a ruffian, may be a thief, a rapist, a thug etc Going by the same records that were taught to us, Vijaya was more – a genocidist, a killer of his wife and his children., a man who hood winked an “innocent” girl..

            In conclusion let me assure you Shenal, that I too was brought up to believe in what you write until I came across evidence to the contrary. South of Sri Lanka was inhabited by a civilization which had “connections” with the Tamils/ Hindu religion.I have seen remnants of structures which are definitely Tamil/ Hindu in association.Within the past 20-30 years or so, parts of Hindu structures were discovered buried in the south.They may have been made to disappear.

            • 0
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              Upali Wickramasinghe,

              4) Teaching things in schools doesn’t grant them the status of eternal truth. Historians don’t take Mahavamsa seriously unless proven by some other source. You should do the same.

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                ShenaiL ” Teaching things in schools doesn’t grant them the status of eternal truth. Historians don’t take Mahavamsa seriously unless proven by some other source. You should do the same”

                was it not Mahawanse that is being used to persecute the Tamils.Remember 1958 – Read Emergency 58 by Tarzi Vittachchi_ recollect how a Sinhala family was burnt to death inside their car,.because they could not recite Buddhist Ghathas. they were Cristians.Where was the B/Monk who was living close by when they were roasted.What happened to the Five Mahanayakes when they were burning, killing and looting at kandy recently.

                Peradeniya Medical faculty _Prof Ille3pperuma- had studied the adverse effects on the health to the Residents at Kandy over the closure of the A26 road- road in front of the Temple.The Asgiriya Priest persist on the closure of the road inspite of the damage to the health caused.One factor that had not been spotlighted is the fact that 4000 of children are affected. I can go into more details, which i will not do because it might create more strife.

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                  Upali Wickramasinghe,

                  No it was not the Mahavamsa. You are too ignorant to think like that. It was Tamils who had started the riots by killings Sinhalese in Batticollo. It was Tamils that discredited the Nagadeepa Vihara. Sinhalese didn’t do such savage things. Why are you putting the entire blame on Sinhalese?

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            Shenal: As Maheshi Weerakoon says “The modern myth we have created regarding the purity and the supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony has gained so strong a stance in the society that every logical proposition made against it through facts, scientific evidences, statistics, and simple common sense are proving to be unable to eradicate the perception from the social consciousness.” I believe that this country had one type of civilization.The differences occured due to spatial separation and may due to the influence of S.India.Even among the group that is identified as Sinhalese, there were and are differences in the language used. When I came to study at Colombo, the words I used tended to create a mirth among the Colombo born.Even today when i speak, with all the alignment of 60 years, still some make the comment that I am from South.

            No body had ever recorded any any Sinhala or Tamil script in the Rock inscripts.

            Shenal, can you please explain why, the South does not have the highly developed irrigation system found in the NCP.After all Dutugemunu was the ruler of all Sri lanka.

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              Upali Wickramasinghe,

              There are numerous Sinhalese rock inscriptions. In fact what do you think about Sigiri graffiti?

              The reason behind south didn’t have the sophisticated irrigation system of NCP is because one during those times majority of the population lived in NCP. Two, NCP was suffering from stronger droughts compared with the Southern Sri Lanka. Third NCP was well suited for large scale irrigational works.

              Dutu gamunu being the ruler of the entire country didn’t make him do things similar in every corner in the island. Different parts needed different style of development. It is a surprise to me that you cannot comprehend this basic concept of governance even after 60 years of age.

              • 0
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                Shenal:”There are numerous Sinhalese rock inscriptions. In fact what do you think about Sigiri graffiti?”

                I have been to Sigiriya many a time.The script there does not represent the Sinhala letters I know of.To me they are a series of circles.May be that was the begining of the Sinhala writing.

                Now that you allude to Sigiriya it is another fabrication.Can at least one man survive on the rock at noon over days and days?that pool is good to clean yourself after ablution.The Sigiriya drawings are the speciality of frustrated Monks They are found at Ajantha, Ellore and even in an underground Church in France.

                You want another fabrication by the monks – That a Lion sired the Sinhala race.Lions have a very short male organ.With that he cannot enter a woman from the rear because the buttoks will interfere. He cannot enter from the front because of his size, the woman;s legs will get dislocated at the joints.

                You are talking about resources for thinking – then how did they come up with these bulls? The monks did not use their brains for productive purposes, but always for destructive purposes.

                During the halal contraversy, I heard one monk advising children of 8-10 years ” Children whether you succeed in your studies is irrelavant but do get into business when you grow old and start a business to over power Cool Planet and fashion Bug.”

                Today at every Poya day some temple or the other has a ceremony to exhibit relics.From where did these relics come?. How genuine are those? I believe that there are no relics, this is a way to hoodwink the gullible.

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                Shenal:”Dutu gamunu being the ruler of the entire country didn’t make him do things similar in every corner in the island.”

                In short Dutu Gemunu, used the people of the south to achieve his aims and then forgot about them.

                Did Dutu Gemunu kill Eara at a fight or did he stab him from behind or throttle the old man to death? the stories spread by the monks make me belive that there was no fight but that it was pure and simple murder.Ask Dr. Devasiri of the Colombo University who had made a deep study into this.

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            Shenal – the final comment.I. Why did was the written script on Buddhism prepared by the Indian Monk Buddhagosha robbed twice and they allowed him to take his third script, when they discovered that what ever they do Buddhagosha could redo the script word to word.

            It is said that the Priests at kandy tried to assassinate the King and even The Mahanayake Weliwita Saranankara was aware of the plot. They had used the same technique that was used by the Vietmin forces against the American troops, a camouflaged pit with spikes jutting up.

            To kill a person they had the technology

            About 20 years ago there articles in the papers that the monks handed over the Sacred Tooth Relic to the Portugese General in order to undercut the King Dharmapala.That story may or may not be true.However at that time the former Diyawadena Nilame Wijeratne CCS ( piere) , Prof Seneviratne and the Mahanayakes kept silent. they did not deny the story.FUNNY IS IT NOT?

            Do not you think that the Mahanayakes are due bound to explain or deny the story.After all I worship at that Temple when I am in Kandy.

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              Upali Wickramasinghe,

              Well I am not a Buddhist so your cannot rouse me by saying things to the Tooth relic. There is of course a doubt about the authenticity of the tooth relic. But emotionally vulnerable people still venerate it as a divine being. So don’t try to ruin other peoples’ joy and delight. Let the indulge in that harmless practice.

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            Shenal: Another factor to support my view that there was only on group of people in Sri lanka. That they broke up because of the spacial separation.

            At the Dalada Maligawa when the rituals are performed, there are two things that prompt me to believe that we ( Sinhala and tamils) were from one stock.
            (i) The presence of the AALAKKI AMMAAS.(ii) The bathing of the venerated units in Milk and safron mixed water.

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              Upali,
              I fear that your arguments are far above Shenal’s head. Logic does not counter brainwashing.

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              Upali,

              Shenal seems to be ill-informed, bigoted, anti-Tamil and profoundly ignorant. Let him study his brief before he proceeds to comment on subjects he knows nothing about.

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              Upali Wickramasinghe,

              It should be obvious to you that the Court language was Tamil during the final century of the Kandayan kingdom. Therefore, it is no surprise that we should find Tamil cultural elements in Kandyan society. It has nothing to do with separate Tamil kingdom of Sri Lanka which said to exist for 1000s of years.

    • 3
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      Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam
      What can you tell us about us from Excerpt of DISCUSSION:

      This study demonstrates the mtDNA genetic relationships among five main recognized ethnic groups on the island of Sri Lanka, as well as their affiliations with several ethnic people of the Greater Indian subcontinent.

      All the island populations, except some subgroups of
      the Vedda, form close genetic affiliations among themselves and with
      majority of the groups from the mainland suggesting the origin of the
      majority of the island population on the Indian mainland. No definite
      association of the Sinhalese with any specific ethnic or linguistic
      groups of India was, however, detected in this study; thus, their exact
      immediate origin on the mainland remains yet to be confirmed.
      There is no clear genetic separation based on the PCA map between
      Sinhalese and Tamils, and between Up- and Low-country Sinhalese of
      Sri Lanka. The latter phenomenon suggests a recent division of
      the Sinhalese into Up- and Low-country, the fact confirmed on a
      historical ground.31 For the groups represented in this study, majority
      of the Up-country Sinhalese formed closer association among
      themselves than did their Low-country ethnic counterparts. This is
      to a certain degree explicable in a light of the isolation-by-distance;
      the Up-country Sinhalese groups are more geographically proximal
      with each other than do their Low-country counterparts. However,
      the closer association of the Up-country Sinhalese with the Sri Lankan
      Tamils than with the Indian Tamils is not in agreement with the
      geographic distances among them. Despite recent habitation of the
      Indian Tamils in proximity of the Up-country Sinhalese, the Indian
      Tamils might have admixed, during the long distant past, more with
      Sri Lankan Tamils, who have lived on the island longer than their
      Indian ethnic counterparts.32,33
      Continued

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      Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam
      Continued

      The genetic distinctiveness of the Vedda people on the island of Sri
      Lanka, as reported in this study, confirm previous results based on the
      analyses of nuclear markers.11–13 The markedly higher frequencies of the haplogroup R30b/R8a1a3 in all Vedda subgroups than in other Sri
      Lankan populations is compatible with a hypothesis that all the Vedda
      subgroups would have shared a common origin.

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      A good article by a young journalist. Time is right to encourage such efforts, and not find holes in it. What matters is the gist.

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      You keep repeating the same lies, Sakaralingam.
      1. NASA has not anything about a buried Tamil civilisation, as you have been claiming. Its a lie, yet you keep repeating it. Also learn the difference between sea level rising to bury a given land area and sea level sinking to expose the ocean floor. What has happened in regards to Srilanka-India connection is the latter. Much of this area is 20-100 m below sea level with large craters/depression and also there is no soil but sand – hardly a place to have a civilization, Tamil or otherwise. Its estimated that Srilanka has been connected to India 17 times (last connection ended at the end of the ice-age) but if Srilanka but if India was a single landmass until a few thousand years ago as you keep saying, then not only Tamils (whose ancestors had not even entered the Indian subcontinent then, but lets just leave it at that), but other living beings would have come here and gone to India from here, and we won’t be having the differences in flora and fauna and the 100’s of species endemic to Srilanka. Also all the rivers flowing southwards in south India, would have flown through Srilanka until they reached the ocean, which would have left traces of the riverbeds, and we won’t be having 44 species of freshwater fish which are endemic to Srilanka. Whatever land connections there were, they were not easily crossed and didn’t last long since speciation takes a long time and for so many species to be endemic to a place, that place has had to be isolated.
       
      2. KumariKandam is a myth made by Tamil fundamentalists in the late 19th century. There is no support for KumariKandam in the ancient Tamil literature at all.

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      3. What are these Aryan genes you keep speaking about, which the southIndians do not have any of? SouthIndian themselves are pretty mixed. Closest to a genetic marker for the socalled Aryans is the R1a1 haplogroup, which is found in relatively high frequency of 23% in the Sinhalese and this is also found in high frequencies in south Indians caste and tribals. So what exactly are you talking about, when you are referring to socalled Aryan genes?
       
      4. The urn/cist burials and pottery found in SriLanka are found not only in TamilNadu, but abundantly allover India, and also these urn burials are not from thousands of years ago as you imply, but are only found from about 900 BC onwards to the first centuries AD. Certainly not in the ice-age! Also studies done on the skeletons from Pomparippu show greater morphological affinities to modern‐day Sinhalese than to the Tamils and also than to the Veddas (D.Hawkey-2002).
       
      5. Nobody is disputing that the original inhabitants are the Veddas, except ofcourse the Tamils. As far as Srilanka is concerned nothing that of Tamil language and thus Tamils was produced here. Everything Tamil came from Tamilnadu. Anyways if Tamils have been here for so long as Sankaralingam is claiming, then the Tamils would show some genetic and linguistic affinities with the Veddas, but Tamils show no such affinities. The mt-DNA study done by Ranaweera et al(2015) clearly shows that Tamils do not share any haplotypes with the Veddas (REF-there was no haplotype sharing between the Vedda people with any of the Tamils). If the “same people lived on both sides of the divide” then people in Tamilnadu would show some genetic affinity with Veddas. This study clearly proves the opposite. Yet you keep referring to it.

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    Furthermore, it is the view of linguists that everyone in Sri Lanka at one time spoke Tamil or some form of Tamil (Elu is proto-Tamil). This is the reason why Vijaya was able to communicate with Kuveni and later with Pandyan princess. Sinhala Language evolved from Tamil over the years with input from Sanskrit and Pali, similar to how Malayalam evolved from Tamil. Therefore Sinhalese claiming that the entire Island belongs to them on myth and denying Tamils of any part despite scientific evidence amounts to racism. It is unfortunate that while myths harboured by Sinhalese are being blown to pieces, beliefs preserved by Tamils are being proved correct. In a recent book released, it claims that there are over 100 Hindu temples and over 400 ancient Tamil villages are lying buried around Anuradhapura. While Sinhalese are permitted to search for buried Buddhist sites even to the extent of displacing Tamils from the areas, Tamils are not given any opportunity to unearth their past. Will the myth that Trincomalee was the first capital of Sri Lanka ruled by Tamils and not Anuradhapura ruled by Sinhalese will be proved in the future. In the modern world with advanced technology you cannot hide the truth, as it will come to light one day.

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      Dr. Gnana,

      What linguist? Tell me the name. I need to speak with him about how Jaffna Tamil dialect is so similar to Indian Tamil dialect where as you people claim it evolved for 1000s of years independently.

      What a joke. Which genius claimed there are about 100 temples and 400 Tamil villages buried around A’pura? As far as I am concerned there is no technology of such to detect such a humongous claim. Ironically it was the British that had discovered much of the forgotten Sinhalese civilization in Sri Lanka. But, they couldn’t find anything relating to the so called great Tamil civilization of Sri Lanka. Dr. Gnana, do you think British also conspired with Sinhalese to hide the evidence for this “Great Civilization”?

      • 11
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        “how Jaffna Tamil dialect is so similar to Indian Tamil dialect”

        You are saying that the Tamil dialect in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna are similar. You are neither a Tamil Language expert nor a Tamil scholar and you have not quoted any such scholar who has done research to find the similarities and differences between the Tamil language in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. What credibility do you have to comment about the Tamil language?
        You can speculate or create anything and write some bull crap to convince a few confused and misguided Sinhalese but definitely not Tamils.

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          Ignore her she is a nasty racist Karawa woman whose low caste South Indian Tamil ancestor like around 50%^ of the present day so called Sinhalese only migrated to the island as slave or indentured labour, during the Portuguese/Dutch era. Now their Sinhalised Buddhist and Catholic descendants are the biggest anti Tamils and the biggest supporters of the Mahavamsa myth and Sinhalese Aryan theory. They want to hide their recent low caste immigrant origin from Tamil Nadu/Kerala. The father of the Sinhalese Aryan theory the homeless one himself belonged to the Sinhalese Durawa or Salagamma community , both purely descended from indentured South Indian labour. They will bring all sorts of stupid arguments to support their Sinhalese Buddhist Fascism. Like you stated this woman is no expert in Tamil language, Her name Waduge is a dead give away of the South Indian origin. It means the Telugu house. Vadugu is another word for Telugu in Tamil. Meaning the language from the north..

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          James,

          Well I am not an expert of Tamil language nor I speak it. But Tamils living in Jaffna peninsula is having no trouble in understanding Tamil movies made in Tamilnadu nor they could not understand letters written in Tamilnadu. It is a very clear indication that there is no major difference between Tamilnadu Tamil and Jaffna Tamil languages. This observation is clearly reinforce the argument that Jaffna Tamils were recent arrivals from Tamilnadu area.

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            Observation and assumptions without knowing the facts leads to falsehood…

            • 0
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              Prasad,

              Then it is the duty of the wise to eradicate the falsehood from the society.

      • 5
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        The Jaffna dialect is not similar to Indian Tamil dialect it is very much different and far closer to classical Tamil than the Indian Tamil dialects. Its vocabulary contains many words that have gone out of usage in the Tamil dialects from Tamil Nadu but still found in Malayalam. It is the Indian origin Tamils and the Sri Lankan Muslims from the south who speak Tamil dialects much closer to modern Indian Tamil but even their dialects are not the same , as they have now migrated a few centuries ago. DO not talk nonsense. What the British colonial discovered was not Sinhalese civilisation but a civilisation and being white supremacist Aryan racists, immediately attributed everything to the Sinhalese. The ancient Anuradhapura civilisation was not Sinhalese , it was Buddhist but definitely not Sinhalese and was built buy Dravidian Tamil Naga kings Hindu or Buddhists. Sinhalese language and the Sinhalese people only came into existence around the 8AD not before. Polnarruwa was founded and built by the Tamil Cholas and everything found their Buddhist and Hindu was built by them not by the Sinhalese. Many of the artisans and craftsmen who built all these ancient monuments were not local but imported from South India and this was happening even during the Kandyan era. None of them were Sinhalese now the Sinhalese are claiming everything as theirs . British could not find anything relating to Tamil civilisation. They could not as they were attributing everything built by the Tamils to the Sinhalese . It was they with their Aryan racist white supremacist bias who swallowed hook line sinker all the fairy tales from the Mahavamsa comic book. No Tamil civilisation but prehistoric Tamil Saiva temples in Jaffna Trincomalle Mannar Chilaw and Dondra including Kataragamma is there. The Tamil civilsations along the coast and the Portuguese destroyed everything along the coast . They destroyed over 500 Hindu temples in the north and east. You do not find anything significant even along the Sinhalese coastal areas , as the Portuguese destroyed them too, as they captured the coastal Jaffna and Kotte kingdoms. Only the Kandyan kingdom and the thick jungles in the central parts saved what was in the interior. Use your brains and get your facts correct.

        • 8
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          Real Siva Sankaran Sharma:

          “The Jaffna dialect is not similar to Indian Tamil dialect it is very much different and far closer to classical Tamil than the Indian Tamil dialects” – Well, Jaffna Tamils dialect is similar to that of Malayalam.You’re sort of “Achcharu” (pickle). 10% of Malayalam dislects, 80% of Tamil Nadu dialect and rest 10%, no one knows from where it came. Yet the grammar, literature are 100% of Tamil Nadu Tamil – It is shameless to say that you’re different from Tamil Nadu Tamils just because of little change in your dialect. So for over 2500 year, what is the identity you have created? Just little change in the dialect? Why everything else is still imported from Tamil Nadu, say literature, music culture etc..etc?
          It is too bad to say you’re not Tamil Nadu Tamils when they are the only people who cry when you get beaten. Remarkably Tamil Nadu artists were backing you guys and LTTE, I remember once the actor called Vijaya Kanth even said he would never celebrate his B’day until you guys win. He publicly supported Eelam and Prabakaran and directed a film called “Captain Prabakaran”, then he named his son Pirabakaran too. They are ready to accept you and you only want them when you’re in trouble?

          • 4
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            Short and sweet . Please do not post garbage. Malayalam is derived from Middle Tamil . therfore Jaffna Tamils or any Tamil is not derived from Malayalam but it is the other way around. Mother cannot look like the daughter, it is the daughter who looks like the mother. Your arguments are stupid. Even as far as 1833 , 85% of Kerala’s population spoke a dialect of Tamil called Malabar Tamul or Malayalama wrtten in the Tamil scritp. The Brtish banned this language publication and destroyed all evidence or trace of this language , as they wanted to promote the higly Sanskritised Grantha dialect of their Nambotthiri and Nair allies that was written in the Tulu scriptand only confined to them . This dialect was called Grantham and is now passing off as modern Malayalam instead of the native Malabar Tamil or Malayalama. As a sop they incorporated more Tamil/Dravidian words into this Grantha dialect and stated this is modern Malayalam. This is why the simple spoken Malayalam of the masses is almost Tamil , whereas the language used on TV, newspapers, etc is the higly Sanskritsed version. The dictionary published in 1780s regrading the language of Kerla is a Tamil /English dictionary. Even the powerful native Syrian Christian Church of Kerala was using Tamil until the early 1800s. Little knowledge is dangerous. I know the Truth Hurts that is why you are howling here

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            Mr. Truth hurts,
            You type: “what is the identity you have created? Just little change in the dialect? Why everything else is still imported from Tamil Nadu, say literature, music “
            You could say the same about Sinhala too. There never was any real Sinhala music until the 20th century, no novels , no theatre.
            Even Buddhism is Indian, isn’t it? And what are the “Sinhala” foods which don’t exist in south India?

            • 0
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              Raman,

              No. How can you say Sinhala is similar to any kind of Indian ethnicity. The language it self is unique to Sri Lanka. No Indian speak, read or write it.

              Do you ask what are the “Sinhala” foods that aren’t available in South India? Then how about kiribath, Kawum, Kokis? Don’t come here to get your backside whipped mister.

              • 4
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                Shenal

                Go to Kerala and you will see not only kiribath, Kawum, Kokis but everything that the Sinhalese eat. Go to any village in Kerala, you will see women wearing the same Sinhala dress. Listen carefully to the pure Kerala language, you will understand more than 50%, look at the Kerala script, it looks very similar to Sinhala. Now, please keep your backside safe, getting whipped is OK but something else may happen.

                • 0
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                  Prasad,

                  Kerala don’t have Kawum or Kokis if not Kiribath. Besides, you people are telling us that we are essentially Tamils but why are you start playing a different tune now? I don’t want to comment on Kerala script and language as anyone with rational mind could understand the difference between the two. Please bring forth valid arguments. You people are too soft for a discussion.

              • 0
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                Dear Shenal,
                I can tell you for a fact that kiribath, kavum, kokis AND hoppers, string-hoppers and even halapa and pittu are found in Kerala. The word “Halapa” (which has no Sinhala meaning) is in fact a corruption of the Malayalam “Elayappam” which means “pancake in a leaf”. I don’t know whose backside is getting whipped here, but please get yours padded. Really, Shenal, it is better not to display such ignorance in public. Do your research.
                As to Sinhala being unique, very few words are actually Sinhala. As other commentators have pointed out, thousands of “Sinhala ” words are either Tamil or Portuguese in origin.
                I do hope this adds to your education.

                • 0
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                  Raman,

                  Don’t lie man. kiribath, kavum, kokis ain’t found in Kerala. Why are you people try to portrait that Sinhalese ain’t a unique bunch of people by drawing silly comparisons. Anyway with a pee brain could see that Sinhalese language, customs, traditions and the history is far different from Tamil. According to your logic there shall be no ethnicity called English as there are many French and Germans words in it. I hope that would also adds to your education.

                  • 2
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                    Shenal,
                    I don’t need to lie or depend on my imagination, unlike you. I have been to Kerala and seen these things.
                    Kokis:
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVH65ByF8Sk

                    Kavum:
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9cRt0X7C5Q

                    They have Malayalam names (which actually mean something)
                    Yes, now go ahead and tell me that I uploaded these videos myself. That would be typical of your mentality. Grow up and admit it when you proved wrong.

                    Actually, there is no ETHNICITY called Sinhalese because the Sinhalese NATION is made up of different ETHNICITIES of people , like the American NATION.
                    Get it now?

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                      Raman,

                      All right I stand corrected. It seems the Sinhalese food culture is heavily influenced by the Keralites. But, it brings another question to the table. If Sinhalese were Tamils essentially why did they let themselves influenced by the Keralites? In fact why didn’t the Tamils in N-E didn’t got influenced by the Kerala culture?

                      Indeed Sinhalese are made up of different ethnicities. That is what make us unique. You are also correct in drawing parallel between Americans and Sinhalese. Just as Americans are different from English people. Sinhalese are different from Tamils. Do you get it?

                    • 0
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                      Shenal,
                      “All right I stand corrected. It seems the Sinhalese food culture is heavily influenced by the Keralites. But, it brings another question to the table. If Sinhalese were Tamils essentially why did they let themselves influenced by the Keralites?”
                      Thank you for being honest. It is always better to be fully aware of the history of a country that is only 20 miles away. If you want to know what is happening here, you must look at similarities, not whine about differences.
                      You are confusing Keralites/Tamils/Sinhalese.
                      Sinhalese are NOT Tamils. But many of them are of Keralite descent. If you want evidence, just go and sit in the National ID office when they are calling out names of applicants. And don’t call me a liar, I have done just this. The “Ge-names” are unbelievable:
                      Sembukuttyge, Nallaperumage, Samarapullige, Singapullige and many more similar ones, all borne by “Sinhalese”. These are the people who introduced the Kerala foods.
                      The Tamils in N.E were influenced by the culure and religion just 20 miles away.
                      Genetics shows that the Jaffna Tamils are related more to the (real) Sinhalese than to the up-country Tamils.
                      This is because they have common aboriginal ancestors.
                      A Sinhalese is simply a Sinhala-speaking descendant, while an SL Tamil is a Tamil-speaking descendant. Just as a German-American might not speak English, but will have German genes.

                  • 2
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                    Shenal,

                    You seems to be a total ignorant, learn your basics before engaging in an argument. Kerala is the old Tamil Chera country. In fact, until the 7th century A.D. there was no difference between Tamil and Sera (Malayalam). Most of the Sinhalese in the south are immigrants from Kerala (Sinhala converts). Over the course of the centuries, the people from Sera/Kerala who migrated to Sri Lanka have become part of the Sinhala community, adopting local names and Buddhist practices. Given the multiple shared features of the two communities, many have felt it easier to merge with the dominant local groups, rather than to try to maintain separations. More than 50% of the Sinhala words are identical in both pronunciation and meaning to Malayalam.

                    More than the language, you will find something strange when you visit Kerela. When you go to the rural villages, they look exactly like Sri Lanka, with plenty of paddy fields and coconut trees, the people, their appearance, features and complexion are identical to Sinhalese, their food is exactly similar to the Sinhalese food, Kavum, kiribath, pol sambol, aapa, idiappa, pittu, pol rotti and most others were very similar, most of the food the Sinhalese cook/eat including the sweet meats such as the Kavum is Kerala’s cultural cuisines, and the best part is the dress worn by the remote village women in Kerala, it is retha/hetta what the Sinhalese women wear. For a moment, you may wonder that you are in a Sinhala village. When the Sinhala actress Anoja Weerasinghe was invited to act in a Malayalam movie, what she said was, ‘I cannot see any difference between them and us.’

                    Unfortunately, no historians/scholars have done any research to find more about the Sri Lanka- Kerela connection.

                    • 0
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                      Prasad,

                      You are starting to eat your own foot now. First you people said Sinhalese were in fact Tamils. Then you people said Sinhalese food are just as same as Kerala food and Kerala language so similar to Sinhalese implying that Sinhalese is an offshoot of Keralites. Then now you are saying Keralites were born out of Tamils during 7th century. So where do Sinhalese come into this picture.

                      I think even you agree that Mahavamsa indicate Vijaya’s arrival at about 2nd century BC. Then There cannot be any Keralites at that time. So according to you they must be Tamils. Then you say at 7th Century Keralites diverged from Tamils to become a separate identity. What are you saying now, Sinhalese at the same time shed their Tamilness and followed their Kerala brothers? There should some end to this nonsense.

                      We all know the Karawa, Durawa and Salagama people have come from Kerala and surrounding areas recently. (Just like their brethren in Jaffna peninsula) Why the hell you still drag Sinhalese into this?

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                      Shenal,

                      “You are starting to eat your own foot now.”

                      You seems to be not only a total ignorant but also totally confused and unable to understand even simple things.

                      People from India moved to Sri Lanka throughout history from before the arrival of Vijay to almost until the independence. Before the 7th CE, there was no Kerala, it was Chera, Chola and Pandya and they were all Tamils. The Sinhalese adopted the Kerala culture (food, language, dress, etc.) only recently when tens of thousands of Kerala people were invited by the Portuguese to settle in the Sinhalese South to help grow spices, coconuts, etc. Please read carefully what I have written above again and again until you understand something.

                    • 3
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                      Shenal,

                      Not only that, there used to be extensive commerce through the ports of Cochin and Calicut/Kozhikode, which also enabled regular flows of migrants to the island from Kerala. Even the banana known today in Sinhala as Koolikutu was originally brought from Kozhikode, Kerela. The martial art shown in the Sinhala Tele-drama Dandubasnamanaya is actually Varma adi. This teledrama (available in utube) shows a little bit of Sinhala-Kerala connection. The members and /or masters of this martial art school have been called ‘Panikker’ in Kerala and ‘Panik Rala’ in Sinhala. The Kattadiyas in the South (specifically Matara) are all Kerala people (today Sinhalese) and what they chant is nothing but Malayaala Manthara.

                      Names we now consider Sinhala, like Kodippili, Samarappili, Samarakkodi, Kuruppu, Samaradivakara, Samarasinghe, Tennakoon, Jayasuriya, and many more are Malayalam.The Alakeshwara family, for instance, belonged to a Kerala dynasty that grew very close to the royalty of the 14th century Gampola kingdom. Many families modified their Kerela names into Sinhala, for example the Marappan family became Marapana.

                      Religious practices such as the Pattini deity worship (as well as the worship of Natha, Vishnu, Saman and Vibhishana) were also introduced to the Sinhalese from Kerala.

          • 0
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            TruthHurts,
            You misunderstand so much.
            It is shame but pride, Ceylon Tamil society is stagnant one, but Tamil Nadu Society is evolving. One move freely with Ceylon Tamils will quickly recognize their conservatism and the reason for their linguistic cultural stagnation. CTS are some or what frozen when TN was captured by Kalapirar. Last detailed cultural exchange spoken is in Silapathikaram and Manimekhala. These are epics composed at the turn of the first millennium. Later, in 6th century Mahavamsa is appearing. It is talking about Ceylon King Vijaya marrying TN princes. That is about 1 millennium ago, it was written. Then it assumes for a millennium no real interaction between the two communities, It is trying to get Buddha from North India, artificially. It fails to relate Senan going to Kannagi Memorial Celebration or Manimekhala coming to Ceylon to spread Buddhism. But Kannagi and Buddhism are deep rooted in Ceylon (not just in Sinhalese, but in Tamils too) close to each other. This is difficult to recognize now because the current Buddhism is an imported and taught material, not similar to the one spread voluntarily around start of first millennium from TN. After all, Kannagi and Manimekhala are step mother & step daughters. They never looked up as two different entities in TN. That is a reality than Buddha flew and brought Buddhism to Ceylon.
            So that cut off never restored, even during the so called Cholas invasion, during medieval times. Ceylon Tamils have nothing to point out anything they received during Cholas times, even from the highly flourishing Cholas or Pandya kingdom’s Tamil. Rajaraja Cholan’s dynasty and the previous Palava dynasty went to Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam Cambodia… and spread their culture. They temporally captured parts of Ceylon and ruled.

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            . But they did not influence the Ceylon Tamils. They even briefly introduced Brahmanism to Polonnaruwa Sinhalese, but purely Vellala families were the Kings and lords in Jaffna until Portuguese demolished it. During Sanga time, Vellir were rulers in TN too.
            The main difference between TN Tamils and Ceylon Tamils are food and spoken language. Jaffna Tamils diets closely go with Keralite. This and some words in Ceylon Tamils agreeing with Malayalam, but those are no longer in usage in TN Tamil, but it still in classical Tamil may create an illusion if the Ceylon Tamil evolved from Malayalam. Malayalam only evolved about 1000 years ago from Tamil. Further Sinhalese too have these similarities with Keralite (Food & Word). Further a language evolved from a mother tongue never has history of evolving back to mother. Further the surpassing nature of Ceylon to Classical Tamil than TN Tamil is completely knocking out that illusion. One must be conscious that a language gets birth by corruption of the mother tongue. Malayalam evolving into Ceylon Tamil is two mistakes make one right theory. Two problems have to be explained. 1). Why there is minor similarity between Tamil and Malayalam, but there is no trace of that was facilitated by TN Tamil? Why Tamil’ (All Ceylonese) food matches with Keralite.

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            The reason is Ceylon Tamils (including the present day Sinhalese two millenniums old generation) shared on culture and language. After Kalapirar imposed cut off Ceylon Tamils stagnated; Sinhalese evolved in in a language (not much change in food). By the turn of the 2nd millenniums TN Tamils started to pick up new food habits from Indonesians….(and other Mongolian races). The entire Indian communities eat rice and curry, but TN people eat rice and sambar or Idli and Sambar. They moved out of Indian style quickly. Neither Ceylon Tamils nor Sinhalese picked up Idli and Sambar, but they eat still their all traditional, Rice- curry, Appam, Pittu……This is telling that Ceylon Tamils last real cultural (close) interaction with TN Tamils were two millenniums ago. But Sinhalese and Ceylon Tamils remained as one even about 1500 hundred years ago, that time Mahavamsa mentality artificially separated them. Neither Buddhism, nor Hinduism influenced Tamils and Sinhalese in their basic culture in food, dressing, celebrations….. to extremisms, or different directions, like the Western religions(Islam & Christianity) did. Men and women dressed as per their individual tastes ate as per their individual tastes. Nothing was official or religious in those. Even their vegetarianism is from their Dravidic culture, not from the Buddhism or Hinduism. Kannagi lived within them as their past…past old connecting mother. These days, she stand as Ceylonese sole property, no one else in the world has any claim for her, not even TN. But the Vijaya grandmother is the first one introduced the division, 1400 years, ago by appearing in the visions of Mahanama. .

            As has been recognized many, author herself is a myth believer and thus a divisible person.

        • 6
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          Siva Sankaran Sharma,
          You are correct. But the writer has not gone beyond 2000 years back as to what happened in Tamil Nadu. It was the Kalapras who invaded from the Karnataka region and arrested all the kings in Tamil Nadu (then known as Tamilaham). However, after 250 years the Pandyas captured Tamilaham from the Kalapras with the assistance of Pallavas. Still earlier, the Tamilaham was ruled by three kings, namely the Cheras (now known as Kerala), Pandyas and the Cholas. Aryan is a myth. The Indus Valley civilization does not speak of Aryans. It should not be forgotten that Shaivaism was in existence in Kashmir, Gujerat and Tamilaham. It is the Tamils from Kerala who have migrated to Jaffna from the period. At that time there was no Islam. It is the Greek traders who visited Kerala. Even the word ‘Arabic’ is a Greek word. Islam was founded about 1400 years ago. Basically the Muslims visited Sri Lanka about 700 years back for purposes of trade. The Tamil language is one of the oldest languages in the world. Prince Vijaya’s boat was drifted from Orissa to Mantai (near Mannar. Even during that period there were five Sivan temples were in Sri Lanka, one of which was submerged in sea
          far from South of Sri Lanka. Thus Sri Lanka was once referred to as Siva Poomi. This could have been a part of Kumarikandam (lost Lemuria). One thing I can assure that Tamil cannot be destroyed, it will survive. It does not mean that I am against other languages.

          • 3
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            One correction It should be read as ‘Even during that period there were four Sivan Temples’. The fifth Sivan Temple existed long before 9000 years back just prior to the Indus Valley civilization. During that period there was a huge deluge as a result even the Pandyan Kings shifted their capital to the present Madurai and there is evidence that some region was submerged in the Gulf of Kutch. During this period the Bering Strait, and the Strait between Rameswaram and Talaimannar were submerged. My apology for the typographical error..

        • 0
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          Real Siva Sankaran Sharma,

          How come Sinhalese came into existence around the 8AD? Did they arrive from India around 8AD? Care to explain a little?

      • 6
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        Shenal,

        Can you show us at least one historical evidence to prove that the Sri Lankan civilization Sinhalese?

        The Sinhalese have succeeded in misrepresenting the Pandyan/Tamil foundations of Sri Lankan civilization as Sinhalese.

        The arch-enemies of Cholas were the Pandyans/Pandu of Madhura in Tamil Nadu who were the close allies of the Royal house of Sri Lanka from the beginning of Sri Lanka’s history. It was the Pandyans/Pandu kings who ruled Sri Lanka most of the time. They were not invaders but invitees. Even in the Vijay story, the Pali chronicle says, king Vijaya and his men took wives from the Pandyan/Pandu Capital ‘Dakshina Madura’ which means southern Madura. From King Pandu Vasudeva to Parakrma Bahu, most of the Saivaite as well as Buddhist Kings and their Queens of Sri Lanka were from the Tamil Pandya dynasty. The Deepavamsa calls King Pandu Vasudeva (504-474 BC) as Pandu Vasa (a Pali or Prakrit equivalent of Pandya Vasa meaning one from the Pandyan country i.e., A Pandya by his nationality). It was the tradition of the early Buddhist writers in Sri Lanka to twist the Dravidian/Tamil names (of kings and places) sometimes out of recognition in transforming them into Pali or Prakrit (later Sinhala) forms. After the death of Pandu Vasudeva (Pandu Vasa) his eldest son Abhaya (Prakritised form of Apayan in Tamil means ‘he who averts fear’) became the lawful king. Abhaya’s son, King Panduka Abhaya aka Apaya Pandyan received help from his ancestral city of Madhura in planning the city of Anuradhpura. King Panduka Abhaya gives his son a Saivaite Tamil name Muta Siva (elder Siva) and King Muta Siva’s son was Devanampiya Tissa who promoted Emperor Asoka’s Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The Mahavamsa calls them either North Indians (may be because Buddhism came from there) or invaders from Tamil Nadu.

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          James,

          Let’s assume that your hypothesis is correct. Early Sinhalese royal linage is linked to South India. What does that prove? Early inhabitants of Sri Lanka at that time were Tamils? How can you make such a proposition so easily?

          How would it explain why Sinhalese developed itself to an entirely unique civilization yet the so called Jaffna Tamil civilization as you would like to call it remained essentially mainland Tamil. Please explain this with out any other bull crap.

          • 0
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            “Let’s assume that your hypothesis is correct. Early Sinhalese royal linage is linked to South India. “
            There is nothing to assume here. Most kings, including Parakramabahu himself to Sri Wickrema Rajasingha, WERE South Indian.
            What it proves is that they did not regard themselves as different from South Indians.
            They did not come alone either . They brought thousands of Indian retinue. These are the “Sinhalese” now.

            • 0
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              Raman,

              What does that mean about the separate Tamil kingdom in Jaffna? Nothing right.

              Besides, what is wrong with Tamils becoming Sinhalese? That is the real assimilation. That is what we expect from Sri Lankan Tamils.

              • 0
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                Shenal,
                what about the other way around? There are thousands of Tamil words in Sinhala already, but few Sinhala ones in Tamil.

                • 0
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                  Raman,

                  What about them? There are 1000s of Tamil words in Sinhala language because it loaned those words from Tamil language during 14th century and during 17-19th centuries. It is a very common case in linguistics. There are very few Sinhala words in Sri Lankan Tamils dialect is a very strong indication that those Tamils arrived to this island very recently. Hence very few integration between two communities. If the Tamils were living along side Sinhalese for 1000s of years. There should some Sinhala words in Sri Lankan Tamil dialect.

                  • 0
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                    Shenal,
                    You are confused again.
                    ” There are very few Sinhala words in Sri Lankan Tamils dialect is a very strong indication that those Tamils arrived to this island very recently.”
                    No, this clearly indicates that Sinhala originated from Tamil or proto-Tamil. It takes time for words to migrate, and Sinhala has not existed long enough for Sinhala words to migrate. There are far more Tamil words in Sinhala than Portuguese words.The Portuguese arrived in the 16th century, so Tamil would have been around much earlier than that.
                    However, you might be interested to know that many “Sinhala” words are found in Malayalam. This is because both languages are Sanskrit-influenced. Tamil was not influenced that much.
                    And yes, I know all three languages.
                    “If the Tamils were living along side Sinhalese for 1000s of years. There should some Sinhala words in Sri Lankan Tamil dialect.”
                    It’s pretty obvious that the Sinhalese language did NOT exist for “1000s of years”

                    • 0
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                      Raman,

                      If Sinhalese was born out of Tamil the language structure should be similar to Tamil. Loan words cannot Tell anything about the origin of an language. Besides, you have all stated that Sinhala is similar to Malayalam as both of it Sanskrit based. If Sinhalese was born of Tamil it should be Tamil based not Sanskrit based. Do you see your fallacy here?

                    • 0
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                      Shenal,
                      “Besides, you have all stated that Sinhala is similar to Malayalam as both of it Sanskrit based. If Sinhalese was born of Tamil it should be Tamil based not Sanskrit based. “

                      Malayalam is Tamil-based, influenced by Sanskrit.
                      Tamil has less Sanskrit influence.
                      Sinhala has Tamil, Sanskrit and Pali words in it.
                      The relationship between Tamil and Sinhala is more or less like the one between Tamil and Telegu, another Dravidian language (with a different alphabet) which is as different from Tamil as Sinhala is.
                      I suggest you learn even a little of these languages before you make sweeping assumptions.

      • 4
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        Contu…
        The Sinhalese have succeeded in misrepresenting the Pandyan/Tamil foundations of Sri Lankan civilization as Sinhalese.
        If you study/analyse the Pali chronicles, most of the BAHU kings of Sri Lanka are having Pandyan connections or rather they are all from Pandyan descend. Whenever the Pandyan/Bahu kings of Sri Lanka such as King Parakramabahu was waging a war against the invading Cholas, it was Pandya – Chola war which the present day historians have misinterpreted as Sinhala – Tamil war.
        Today the names of the old Pandyan kings (such as Kula Sekara, Chandra Sekara, Vira Wickrama, Parakrama and so on) are adopted by the Sinhalese (not Tamils) and they have succeeded in misrepresenting the Pandyan/Tamil foundations of Sri Lankan civilization as Sinhalese. Most of the rulers of the island Sri Lanka were either native Tamils/Vanni chieftains, or Dravidians tribes (Nagas), or Pandyans/Pandu or Cholas or at least half Tamils. Even the Pali chronicles do not call any of them as Sinhala Kings. Even the last four kings of Kandy were Dravidians from the Nayaka (Vaduga) dynasty that ruled Madurai (Tamil Nadu). The Kandyan Sinhala Buddhist Maha Nayaka Theros of the Maha Sangha (Asgiri and Malwathu) had to overlook every Sinhala-Buddhist in the country to import Dravidians from the Nayaka dynasty that was ruling Tamil Nadu with Madurai as their capital from 1529 until 1736 to sit on the Kandyan throne. Even though the Saivaite Tamils were living in many parts of the country such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa (a capital built by the Cholas), Padaviya, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Tissamaharama (where Tamil Brahmi potsherd inscription were found) and so on, it was only after the 12th century CE that the island became more divided politically and geographically between the two languages/religions with the Jaffna kingdom being established in the North East, closer to the Tamil mainland.

        • 0
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          James,

          Again please explain why Sinhalese civilization took a radical divergence from their Pandyan ancestry to masquerade it as Sinhalese? And why didn’t Tamil civilization didn’t change for the past 2500 years? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidences. And you have to provide with some.

          Also you need to explain why if the Tamils in Sri Lanka were all around the country suddenly decide to lump together and create a kingdom in Jaffna peninsula

          • 0
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            Shenal,

            “Please explain why Sinhalese civilization took a radical divergence from their Pandyan ancestry to masquerade it as Sinhalese?”

            First let me correct the above statement, it should be: “why Tamil civilization took a radical divergence from their Pandyan ancestry to masquerade it as Sinhalese”?

            Everything changed in Sri Lanka only after the arrival of Emperor Asoka’s missionary monks lead by Arahat Mahinda Thero who converted the Saivaite Dravidian/Tamil King Muta Siva’s second son prince Thissa (brother of Maha Siva) to Buddhism in the 2nd century BC. A large number of the Dravidian Tamils in the island embraced Asoka’s Buddhism, Aryanised/Prakritised their speech, learned to write using Asoka Bhrami script, adopted Asoka’s Lion symbol (Indian Lion), accepted the Asoka Buddhist culture and implemented Asoka’s technology to build Stupas, Chaitya, Viharas, Sangharama, and so on. Emperor Asoka and his son Mahinda with the support from the local stooge Thissa (second son of Saivaite King Muta Siva) who seized the Anuradapura throne (with Asoka’s support) which rightly belonged to his elder brother Abhaya (Apayan) changed everything.

            Later, in the 5th century AD, when Hindu/Brahmanical influence from South India posed a serious threat/challenge to Buddhism, the Mahavihara monks of Anuradapura including Ven. Mahanama, the author of the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa and a close relative of the Buddhist king Dhatusena came up with a plan/strategy to protect Buddhism. Due to their strong devotion to Theravada Buddhism and desire to consolidate and protect this religion in Sri Lanka from Hindus, Jains and Mahayana Buddhists, they have decided to write the Pali chronicles Deepavamsa/Mahavamsa making Sri Lanka a Dammadeepa/Sinhaladvipa (chosen land of Buddha where Theravada Buddhism will prevail for 5000 years) and creating the Sinhala race by integrating all the Theravada Buddhists from different Dravidian tribes in the island into one race (Sinhala) and making them the sustainers of Theravada Buddhism (Gautama Buddha’s chosen people) to protect Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka for 5000 years.

            • 0
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              Prasad,

              You haven’t answered my question yet. If Tamils converted enmasse to Buddhism during Devanam Piyatissa’s time, why did some choose not to? And most importantly how did they survive the Devanam Piyatissa’s purge supported by Emperor Asoka? How come they ended up in a defenseless and inhospitable Jaffna peninsula while Sinhalese occupied every nook and corner of the island?

              • 0
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                You expect a 100% conversion?
                There were strong devotees of Siva who refused to accept Devanampiya Tissa as their overlord and resisted his effort to impose Buddhism on them.
                After the 12th century CE, when the island became more divided politically and geographically between the two languages/religions, they established the Jaffna kingdom in the North East, closer to the Tamil mainland.

                • 0
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                  Prasad,

                  Why can’t there be a 100% conversion? If the King was Tamil and he adopted Buddhism, Why there should not be 100% conversion? This was not the time of democracy.

                  If the Sivaited resisted they could have been easily killed and wiped out. No such thing was mentioned in any historical document. Therefore even according to your theory we can deduce that there were 100% conversion. Then it raise another question that where did the Jaffna Tamils come from. They can’t sure be coming from the time of Devanam Piya Tissa.

                  The rise of Jaffna Kingdom began after the 13th century. Even we agree on that. That is because Sinhalese were driven South by the Kalinga Maga invasion. This is the time when Tamils began moving into Northern Sri Lanka from the Coramandal coast.

                  • 1
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                    Shenal,

                    You make me laugh, LOL! Are you still a child, not matured enough to understand even basic stuff? Looks like you need to grow up to understand certain concepts.

                    “Why can’t there be a 100% conversion? If the King was Tamil and he adopted Buddhism, Why there should not be 100% conversion? If the Sivaited resisted they could have been easily killed and wiped out.”
                    Why should there be 100% conversion? Where in the world does Buddhism says, if they do not convert 100%, kill them? Even when the people of East Bengal (Bangladesh) were converted (by those who are allowed to kill for religion), there still remained others (Buddhists) even till today. There are many such countries.

                    The strong devotees of Lord Siva who refused to accept Devanampiya Tissa as their overlord and resisted his effort to impose Buddhism on them. Saivaite Dravidian rivalry against Buddhism began in 177 BC during the reign of his youngest brother Sura Tissa. Two Saivaite Tamils, Sena and Kuttaka (Damila horse merchant’s sons, none of the Pali chronicles or stone inscriptions describe them as invaders) defeated Sura Tissa in battle and conquered Anuradhapura and ruled it for 22 years. Anuradhapura was under Saivaite Tamil threat for the next 149 years ending in 88 BC. Eight Saivaite Tamil kings ruled Anuradhapura for a total of 82 years during that period. The Mahavamsa does not call any of them invaders (other than Ellala).

                    Subsequent to the Cola domination of Sri Lanka in the 10th century A.D, people who identified themselves as Buddhists and Sinhalese shifted their seats of rule from the ancient kingdoms of Anuradapura and Polanaruwa towards South and Central Sri Lanka while the people who identified themselves as Saivaite and Tamils moved their ruling structures from these same regions to the North and East of the island.

                    • 0
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                      Prasad,

                      We are not talking about Bengal or any other country. This is Sri Lanka. How hard would you think it is to wipe out the Tamil community if they ever existed in Sri Lanka who resisted the Buddhist rule? It is entirely not possible to Tamils to survive a enemy culture just few kilometers from their lands if they ever existed.

                      Sena and Kuttika were invaders from India. They have nothing to do with Sri Lankan Tamils. How can you say there are no Pali chronicles or stone inscriptions to describe them as invaders. It is highly doubtful. You can’t just make history out to suit you fantasies.

                      Who says Saivaite and Tamils moved their ruling structures from these same regions to the North and East of the island? It is you right? Besides, why didn’t the Chola’s never mentioned about this Saivaite Tamil culture of Sri Lanka? Was it because they forgot to mention it? There should be end to this mate. Please be more rational.

                    • 0
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                      Shenal

                      This clearly shows you do not know anything about anything. You do not seem to have read the Mahavamsa, at least have you seen it? Anybody reading your childish responses will only laugh. You seem to be blindly arguing just for the sake of arguing. First, go and gather some very basic knowledge and come here for arguments without wasting our time. Now I can see why many people have ignored (not responded) to you.

                    • 1
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                      Shenali

                      “This is Sri Lanka”

                      When did the Sinhala/Buddhist first decide to call this island Sri Lanka?
                      With changing of rulers the culture, language, religion, …food, clothing,………too change and the boundary too change.

                      Tondeswaram an ancient Hindu temple in the South was destroyed by your foreign Christian ancestors, the Portuguese
                      .
                      Its very difficult to grasp history, especially by you. I think you need lot of rests. Please stop being too clever.

                    • 0
                      0

                      Shenal,
                      You say;” How hard would you think it is to wipe out the Tamil community if they ever existed in Sri Lanka who resisted the Buddhist rule? “
                      Well,well, is that what Buddhism is about? I wonder what all the Buddhists in this forum think about your opinion of Buddhism, the “religion of peace”.
                      Or maybe this a sub-conscious admission of what the Sinhala Buddhists REALLY think, as opposed to their PR.
                      Please feel free to share your wisdom with us.

      • 4
        2

        Shenali again you are wrong. Jaffna Tamil dialect is slightly different from Indian Tamil dialect in terms of accent and vocabulary. Jaffna Tamil accent is similar to how a Malayali speaks Tamil, and the vocabulary has been infiltrated by Malayalam words, which corroborates with DNA studies of Malayalam genetic input in Tamils. As for linguists, they are of international stature who came to the conclusion that Tamil is the oldest language in the world and at one time spoken by everyone. If you contact them with your bigoted perception, they will conclude that you are a fool.

        • 2
          0

          Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam

          “As for linguists, they are of international stature who came to the conclusion that Tamil is the oldest language in the world and at one time spoken by everyone.”

          Are you seriously competing with Achchige Patali Champika Ranawaka who believes Sinhala is the oldest language of the world?

          There is no evidence to confirm Tamil is the oldest language, possibly one of the oldest languages.

          Even If Tamil is the oldest language, what are you trying to prove?
          The important thing is Tamil and Sinhala languages are dying a slow death. Think how to prevent it from transforming into a complete Thanglish or Singlish.

          • 2
            1

            NV, I had no idea that Tamil is the oldest language until I read the conclusion of international linguists. There may have been older ones, but they have gone extinct. In fact they say Sumerian and Coptic Egyptians were the first written languages before Tamil, but that they were written in hieroglyphics (picture forms), and if you take letter script form, again Tamil is the oldest.

          • 0
            0

            Mate Native, this ridiculous discussion by bunch of street geneticists and linguists is a waste of time, yet what you say about Thanglish and Singlish is true, totally!
            Tamil scholars and Sinhala Buddhist scholars (whom you regularly insult) should seriously look into preserving these languages. I am doing my bit, hope you are doing your bit too..

            • 1
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              wannihami

              “Tamil scholars and Sinhala Buddhist scholars (whom you regularly insult) should seriously look into preserving these languages. “

              Please note there is no such scholars among Sinhala Buddhists. You find most fascists are being recruited from these Sinhala/Buddhists racist. Forget them.

              There are learned scholars among Sinhalese and Buddhists. You will have to persuade them to come out from safety zones (they are hiding from you and your fellow Sinhala/Buddhist racists for the fear of them being branded traitors – most abused word among all stupid little islanders). I have spoken to a few of them. They are continue to do their share of nwork in this respect however they are not interested in your parochially motivated political Buddhism and political Language.

        • 2
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          Dr.Gnana Sankaralingam,
          I totally agree with you. The manner of speaking, customs and everything is similar to the people of Kerala. There are some places like Marthandam, Kulithurai (these are places bordering Tamil Nadu), Thirivananthapuram, Katkovalam are places from where people had migrated to Jaffna presumably about 9,000 years ago before the great deluge that submerged a greater part of Kumarikandam. There are some more evidence.

      • 3
        3

        Shenal

        Please go away, go dig mounts in Anuradhapura and Polanaruva for temples.

        Come back after 50 years and start your bull again.

      • 3
        1

        Shenali,
        “Which genius claimed there are about 100 temples and 400 Tamil villages buried around A’pura?”
        I can tell you a couple. Go look at the old concrete signboard at “Medawachchiya” railway station . The name is given as “Medawachchi”. Then go and visit Bulankulama. Do you know that “Bulankulama” in Tamil has the same meaning as “Diulwewa” in Sinhala?. These villages were not buried. You just have to find the old names.

        • 0
          1

          Raman,

          It is a well known fact that Tamils occupied these lands later when Sinhalese vacated them and migrate Southwards for their protection. Moreover, before 1920s most of the villagers in Wanni were speaking Tamil as their native tongue. This was documented by Robert Know and Dr. R.L Spittle as well. There it is obvious that villages in Wanni to have Tamil names over there Sinhalese origins.

      • 0
        0

        Shenal: Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam has a point. How did Vijaya get Kuveni to sleep with him? By using his two hands and indicating what he wanted to do with her?

        • 0
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          Upali Wickramasinghe,

          How do we know that Kuveni was ever existed?

          • 1
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            Shenal” How do we know that Kuveni was ever existed?”

            Well ask the Buddhist priests who wrote our history.

            One thing I appreciate In Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe was his effort to get Portugese Govt representatives for the Independance day 2005.

            If not for the Portugese,even in this 21st century we would be ignorant idiots.The Monks and the thugs would be ruling the roost, and as the Rock inscriptions – at Abayagiriya ? has indicated we would be providing our women to the Monks for them to play about with and also get the man of the house to pay for it.

            • 0
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              Upali Wickramasinghe,

              Do you believe that Buddhist priests who wrote our history? I don’t.

              What is good about Portuguese? They were as delusional as any other European at that time. Only difference was that they had better weapons.

              • 1
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                Shenal,
                “What is good about Portuguese?”
                Well,well! Do you not eat potatoes/ tomatoes/ beans/ meat/ avocado/ corn/wheat/cashew/ ?
                Do you not use a toilet and wear shoes or use glass windows and clay tiles?
                And if you are a non-govigama, would you not be restricted to fishing or tree-climbing for a living, in addition to having topless womenfolk?
                Be grateful for small mercies.
                Just a few of the things we owe them .

                • 0
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                  old codger,

                  //Well,well! Do you not eat potatoes/ tomatoes/ beans/ meat/ avocado/ corn/wheat/cashew///

                  Potatoes, tomatoes etc., was found by Spanish in the new world. If it wasn’t the Portuguese someone else would have brought it in to Sri Lanka. The same goes to others.

                  //Do you not use a toilet and wear shoes or use glass windows and clay tiles?
                  And if you are a non-govigama, would you not be restricted to fishing or tree-climbing for a living, in addition to having topless womenfolk?
                  Be grateful for small mercies.
                  Just a few of the things we owe them .//

                  Portuguese didn’t invent the modern Toilet. Back in those days even Portuguese answered the nature’s call just like Sinhalese did. Don’t be a slave like this. You are an independent man just like me. Grow a backbone.

                  Finally, Portuguese didn’t even end the caste system as a whole. Why should we be grateful to them?

                  • 0
                    0

                    Shenal,
                    The Portuguese DID help the Karawe to rise above fishing, after they converted to Christianity of course.
                    “Potatoes, tomatoes etc., was found by Spanish in the new world. If it wasn’t the Portuguese someone else would have brought it in to Sri Lanka. “
                    You can’t change the fact that it WAS the Portuguese that introduced them. Don’t you know that the Portuguese too colonized the Americas?
                    You yourself have claimed that you are not a Buddhist. You are certainly no Muslim or Hindu. Well then, you have the POrtuguese to thank for your religion too, if you have one.
                    Another commentator had to tell you the origins of Kavun/kokis etc.
                    Ignorance is such bliss.

                    • 0
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                      oldcodger,

                      Karawe people are recent immigrants just like Jaffna Tamils. Portuguese helped Karawa people while Dutch helped the Jaffna Tamils to raise above others.

                      //You can’t change the fact that it WAS the Portuguese that introduced them. Don’t you know that the Portuguese too colonized the Americas?//

                      So what? was it a big deal?

                      //You yourself have claimed that you are not a Buddhist. You are certainly no Muslim or Hindu. Well then, you have the POrtuguese to thank for your religion too, if you have one.//

                      I have nothing to thank Portuguese for. Besides, religions does not interest me.

                      //Another commentator had to tell you the origins of Kavun/kokis etc.
                      Ignorance is such bliss.//

                      Well at least I have learnt something. People like you never learn.

                    • 0
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                      Shenal,
                      “Portuguese too colonized the Americas?//
                      So what? was it a big deal?”
                      “Karawe people are recent immigrants just like Jaffna Tamils. Portuguese helped Karawa people “

                      Hair-splitting is not an answer.

                    • 0
                      0

                      Shenal,
                      “Well at least I have learnt something. People like you never learn.”
                      Well, thank you for admitting that you learned something from us. I hope this will influence your future writings.
                      As to me learning from you, is it your ability to make spurious connections between non-existent “facts” ?
                      No thank you.

    • 0
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      Dr. Sankaralingam

      Does it matter from whom we evolved or what kind of genes we have in us.

      I think you, the writer and many others are missing the whole point. Genetics doesn’t actually matter, what should matter is how good a person one is based on the persons actions, and nothing else.

      You may often find siblings who are poles apart in their ways. Similarly you will find someone from a very modest background with the qualities of a Maha-athma. Needless for me to say, Buddha has clearly stated all this. He also said to not to worry about the past, rather think about the future.

      In my mind, we should set-aside all these petty attributes of cast and creed and find ways we can improve our lives by working together as a team. That is the only way we can survive in a world that is changing at a very fast pace.

      Like the Buddha has told us, our biggest problems come from ignorance. One of the biggest consequences of ignorance is “Thanha” or Greed. We as a collective seem to be so greedy that we hang on to the most trivial stuff and forget to move forward as other nationalities are doing.

      • 2
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        Lasith, The exchanges so far have been on winning the arguments and not the hearts and minds of fellow participants.
        *
        When you reach the shores of a third country, in search of a better place for your family to live, those countries do not show an interest in knowing your past history. Once accepted as a resident/citizen, you are allowed to enjoy the rights and privileges like every other. That is the hallmark of civilisation.
        *
        All the chatter in these pages bring to light that we are far from being a civilised lot.
        *
        What ought to matter to you, me, and every other who loves our land is to leave behind a society that looks at the present and prepares for the future.
        *
        Let us point out to our politicians that this winner/loser mentality should end.
        *
        Let us work towards that better day in the name of our children.

  • 1
    7

    Mahesi, when I was young I also believed so much Crap. I may be even now. Anyway, Western science is built based on that the Almighty created this everything. Animals mutated and evolved in order to result the survival of the fittest and everything we see. the Universe began from the big bang etc., etc., but, even the western sciensits have proven some of these are not true and there re other ways. Balangoda Miniha says Sri lanka had people people even when it was 135, 000 years old or so. Anyway, what you say at the end, is not aggreeable. You go to the middle east or among muslims, christians/catholics who reeally follow the bible and preach the same opinion to see what happens. YOu can preach the view that you believe becuse you had buddhist views when you grew up. In political religeons, in highly politicized society things we inmagiong do not work. theoretical world, the world that you and we imagine and the practical world are very different. So, we need to be practical and need to follow the gut feeling in order to save us. Otherwise From Greece to Indonesia to Mongoliaand countries along the Silk route were buddhist. but, now Sri lanka, Myanmar, thailand, south Korea, Mongolia etc., are trying to survive as cornered buddhists. with respect to present problems, Tamils are learning to corporate. Earlier they thought they came to Sri lanka revivie the Inddian culture. In ISlam, not every muslims, the theme is islamize the whole world.

  • 3
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    In Sri lanka, as they did in India, they build mosques near every prominent buddhist temple or in the buddhist urban area. That need to be changed.

    • 4
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      Congratulations you finally got one comment through that did not get censored by the moderator. Unfortunately, it is full of utter nonsense, and totally senseless.

  • 11
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    Dr. Sankaralingam

    You are missing the point of this article!!!!

    The origins of the genes, languages, and religions is much LESS important than peaceful co-existence.

    AS long as insularity and majoritarianism rules the roost, there won;t be any peace on out isle. Both the majority and the minorities are culpable in the violence and intolerance unleashed on our land. Everyone needs to take a breather, and assess the consequences of their past, present and potential future actions, if we are to live in peace in a hybrid land such as ours.

    I hope you listen to her words.

    • 1
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      Sinhala Buddhist:
      You are right on the mark.It is truly astounding that so many people should so completely misunderstand Weerakoon’s position,

  • 8
    6

    Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam, “Kumarikandam, an ancient homeland of Tamils, of which India and Sri Lanka were a part of” – you are a very funny man to say no matter how many centuries it is, anyone other than Jaffna Tamils are from South India, and you people existed here. Check below, otherwise what HLDM says please:

    The 21st century historian Dr. Murugar Gunasingham confessed that the ……the most important single shortcoming at this time is that no historian, or archaeologist or even a social scientists, whether Sinhalese, Tamil or Western scholar has written a complete or comprehensive account of the history of the Tamils in Sri Lanka

    It was only in the post-independent era that there was a rush among the Tamils to manufacture history, with a desperate sense of urgency

    • 4
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      Spring Koha

      It is like monkeys the Lankys are territorial, tribal and clannish.

      You are exception.

  • 5
    0

    We are all creatures of circumstance. We are born with a whole raft of inherent characteristics and to cap it all the moment we are dragged out kicking and screaming, stickers are slapped on us defining our religion and ‘nationality’. This is what the devious power-hungry politician latches onto to divide us , to make us look at one another as adversaries rather than partners in our trek through life. This will not change until we change the calibre of the politicians we let rule our lives.

  • 6
    4

    To all you Aryan-Sinhalese! Please stop using words like “Amma”, “Thaththa”, “Appachchi”, “Achchi”, “Akka”, “Ayya”, “Mama”, etc. Those are Tamil words. One of the funniest things is when our Aryan-Sinhalese proudly shout “APE SINGHA KODIYA!”. I am like what the hell? “Kodiya” is from the Tamil word “Kodi”. At least learn to use proper literal Sinhala Sankrit/Pali based terms like Dhaju, Dhaja, Dhajaya, Dhvajaya you morons. Stop using those 2000 – 4000 Tamils words you get in Sinhala if you are so “Aryan”. In theory you could replace all those words with literal Sinhala terms (which in turn are derived from Sankrit and Pali) as well as newly develop technical terms like “Mrudukaanga/Drudaanga” (Software/Hardware) . But accpet reallity. 90 percent of you “Aryan” Sinhalese don’t know literal Sinhala and without Tamils words you’ll be stuck using sign language.

    • 8
      1

      Even Nangi(Younger sister) is derived from Tamil. It is from the Tamil word Nangai meaning a young or younger woman. If they have to replace all the Tamil and Tamil derived words they will have to replace 35%- 40% of their vocabulary, as their language is Tamil/Elu

      • 7
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        2000 to 4000 Tamil words are used. “Kaandama”, “Padakkama”, “Ilakkama”, “Padiya”, “Adiya” and many, many more are Tamil words. If we take the simple sentence “Machang, phone eka arang varen”, “Machang” – from Tamil word “Machchaan”, “Phone” an English word, “Varen” – From the Tamil word “Vaaren” (“Va” + Tense + personal maker). Only “eka” and “arang” are the exceptions. “Eka” is directly from Sanskrit “Ekam”. So 3 out of 5 are loan words. How often will you hear our aryan Sinhalese say “Sagaya, Jangama Duurakathanaya regena peminenna”. That is just one way of putting it (in a way you could understand). If you use literal Sinhala you can put that same sentence in many different ways. Sinhala in its current literal form is extremly rich. The Iast I remember the word “Mother” alone has more than 10 equivalents (Probably a lot more than that). Even the word “Janani” historically means “Mother”. Some Sankrit words are used in both Languages like “Mithram” (“Mithra” and “Miththiran”) but the Sinhala alphabet evolved to be compatible with Sankrit and Pali (Aspiration, prenasalization, consonant combining). Make no mistake, you can replace all Tamil words using existing words in literature and newly formed ones. For modern scientfic terms off-course new words have to be created and is been done as we speak. For example “radioactive disintegration” is called “Vikirannsheela Pruthhakkaranaya”. I know, the University of Moratuwa creates many scientific terms for the ever changing landscape especially in IT. But the funny part is 99 percent of our Aryan-Sinhalese know only Tamil or English words. Thats got to be the joke of the millenium.

        • 3
          0

          Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg? The Egg or the Chicken,
          or the Chicken or the Egg?
          Can you remember this old tune from you Childhood?
          Who Cares?
          The Buddha asked us to Live in the Moment, if We Wanted to be Content!
          He advocated Mindfulness Meditation, not irrelevant Arguments!

        • 4
          0

          Thanos,
          Yes, it is hilarious how the linguists struggle to invend jaw-breaking technical Sinhala terms to keep up with technology.
          But you still can buy only a “CD ekak” but not a “samyuktha thatiya” .
          Isn’t it better to swallow our false pride and append “a” or “eka” onto foreign words?

  • 14
    0

    My Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Country or a Tamil Country or an English Country. It is not a Buddhist Country or a Hindu Country or a Muslim Country or a Christian Country. It is not a Sinhala Country that belongs to Sinhala-Buddhists, Sinhala-Hindus, Sinhala-Muslims and Sinhala-Christians. It is not a Tamil Country that belongs to Tamil-Buddhists, Tamil-Hindus, Tamil-Muslims and Tamil-Christians. It is not a Country belonging or dedicated to any one religion or ethnicity.

    My Sri Lanka have had the benefit of several waves of cultural influences throughout its history and this multi-cultural pluralistic society (language, religion, ethnicity, etc.) was prevalent in my country for many centuries. Any one ethnic or religious or linguistic group becoming more in number (majority) in a particular territory or the whole country does not make them the sole owners of that territory or the whole country.

    My Sri Lanka belongs to all the linguistic, ethnic, religious, and ideological groups with their historical and cultural backgrounds who have become citizens of the Sri Lankan state and who are therefore known all over the world as ‘Sri Lankans’. We Sri Lankans have no other country but Sri Lanka.

    My Sri Lanka will ensure that no person residing on the territories of the state shall enjoy any more privileges than those enjoyed by any other and that the constitution of the state ensures, protects and defends this equality and prevents and punishes any and all infringements or threats of infringement thereof. My country will have equal status, equal rights and equal opportunity for all.

  • 7
    2

    All the people of Sri Lanka except the aboriginal Veddas are immigrants from outside. All the major religions practiced in Sri Lanka are also from outside. Irrespective of whether they are Tamils or Sinhalese, historically (as per Mahavamsa) they both are believed to be the immigrants of India. The well-known fact is throughout history from before the arrival of Vijay to almost until the independence in 1948, immigrants from India (Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala) came to Sri Lanka in many different forms such as invasions, invitees, marriage, immigration, spread of religions, trade contacts and so on. The two major religions in Sri Lanka (Buddhism and Hinduism) practiced by Sinhalese and Tamils also originated from India. The two major languages (including the script), Tamil (Dravidian) and Sinhala (Indo-Aryan) also originated or partly originated from India, and from very early times the culture of Sri Lanka has been one imposed by successive waves of Indian cultural contacts. Even the Lion symbol what we see in the Sri Lankan National flag is also the North Indian Lion (Sri Lanka never ever had any Lions) that was exported to Sri Lanka along with Buddhism by Emperor Asoka of India. It is naïve to argue that the majority race in a country (Sinhalese-Buddhists) is the sole owner of the country and all others (minorities) are outsiders.

    • 5
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      Kumar,
      “All the people of Sri Lanka except the aboriginal Veddas are immigrants from outside”
      No, even the Veddas (and those who came before them) walked across from India when the land bridge existed. Absolutely no human group originated here.

      • 2
        1

        old codger
        _
        “No, even the Veddas (and those who came before them) walked across from India when the land bridge existed. Absolutely no human group originated here.”

        Please note my people/ancestors walked all the way from Africa to this island whereas the rest came by Kallathonies and multiplied like …………………

        • 1
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          NV,
          My apologies. Your revered ancestors must have had very sore feet when they arrived.

          • 2
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            oldcodger

            ” Your revered ancestors must have had very sore feet when they arrived.”

            Don’t you appreciate hard work and pain?

  • 3
    3

    The NGS Geneographic Project: Recently the National Geographic Project announced a special offer for testing one’s genealogy using cell samples of a person. Even at the reduced price of US$ 150 it was hardly affordable but I could not help buying the kit and sending it back with 2 cell samples from my cheeks. The results were indeed surprising and well worth the effort. But I will not reveal them here, with bigots like Dosthara Gnana waiting out there to use it against us. I believe in the adage getting screwed is bad enough but to pay and get screwed is a way too bad.

    Anyway, I recommend this test for all those who can afford it. As past US President John Quincy Adams said Who you are is – who you were . In our case the Sinhalese are nothing unless they were something in the past. And the oldest recorded history book in the world, Mahavamsa, the envy of Tamils, tells us who we were and people like Dosthara Gnana or the Maheshi need not tell us who we are. Thank You Very Much.

    • 1
      1

      Amistad: The movie Amistad contains the speech by Quincy Adams (then a lawyer) portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, a masterpiece of oratory and contains the above mentioned quotation, Who you are is – who you were.

    • 1
      0

      If you are interested in knowing your paternal ancestry using the Y- chromosome, please hurry. The offer is valid only up to the end of March.

    • 2
      0

      Edwin,
      The fact is that the “Sinhalese ” who were are not the same people who claim to be Sinhalese now. So who gets the credit?

      • 1
        1

        Who are the Sinhalese: Romani, Great question. But I don’t understand it. I am not an expert in genetics or other related field. But I am an expert in experts. In other words, I can tell whether someone is an expert miles away.

        Examples are Maheshi, Thisaranee (the Guru of Maheshi), Hora Dosthara Gnana, Thanos, Rohan et al are experts in pest control, the pests being the Buddhist Sinhalese. Anyway, romani, don’t waste time on the Sinhalese race anymore. Soon they will be extinct like that stupid bird in Madagascar. I forget the name.

        You are asking who will get the credit for that. The answer is pretty simple – the pest controllers of course!

        • 0
          0

          Edwin,
          “don’t waste time on the Sinhalese race anymore. Soon they will be extinct like that stupid bird in Madagascar.”
          No, they won’t be as extinct as the Dodo from Madagascar. The “Sinhalese” are like a sponge. They soak up all invaders and tourists without discrimination. That’s what is great about them.
          Right now many of them are of South Indian origin, but good Sinhala Buddhists to boot and ever ready to fight the non-Buddhist Tamils
          I have a feeling that the Sinhalese of 2200 will be slant-eyed and have names like Ching Bandara or Somapala Hsien Loong .What do you think?

          • 0
            0

            Yes, you are probably right. I found out here that the Chinese are not too bad, especially the girls. They know what they are doing. If the slant eyes come with a lighter and smoother skin without any korala on the legs, I think it would not be bad.

            • 1
              0

              Edwin,
              “If the slant eyes come with a lighter and smoother skin without any korala on the legs,”
              So you have been doing some close observation?

              • 0
                0

                Very close observations indeed.

              • 0
                1

                Romani, Edwin is mingling int he red light areas of those freghtened couutnries.
                He is in his 7oties, seems tohave no control over his testesterone. But ridiculously enogh when he opens his cesspit, he talks about buddhism. I really dont know what is wrong with our folks.
                I am Deaf and blind, I am no worried of not having seen them in my life.
                This folks I belong to are real wild animals.
                Then would never see it right in this world.

                • 1
                  0

                  In the ‘seen’ there is only the seen: Hatharabirikatharina, I think you have the wrong idea about Buddhism. In my March 21 comment, I have tried to explain Bahiya Sutta, one of the shortest yet one of the most intriguing Suttas, which starts with, Then Bahiya you must train thus, in the seen there is just the seen (Ditte Ditta Mantham Bhavissati)..

                  So, when you see something nice do not get attached to it. Conversely, if it is something abhorrent, do not start hating it. The problem is not in the act of seeing but the attachment or detachment that follows, which is due to the conceit of a ‘self’ – I me, mine….

                  As an example, if one sees a nice , smooth, light skinned, shapely and korala-less leg, do not go to town with your imagination. After all, silly, it is just a leg. True it is beautiful and must belong to a nice young Chinese girl. But basically, it is just a leg.

                  On the other hand, Hatharabirikatharina, in the seen you saw something much more than the seen. Your imagination ran riot and you saw old Edwin doing something cesspit-dirty with that girl. That is where the problem lies.

                  Having enjoyed a highly pleasurable lay life before enlightenment, Buddha understood fully well that there are pleasurable things in lay life. But it should be with moderation and with the understanding that such pleasures are temporary.

                  Buddhism is not a pessimistic philosophy as many who do not know about it think. (Contd… Part 2)

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                  A story: One evening, Ven Ananda (still a non Arahat) was watching a Pokuru Wessa (a beautiful rare type of rain). It was so beautiful that he wanted to share this rare sight with Buddha and called out ‘Lord, come and see this Pokuru Wessa it is so beautiful’. Buddha replied, ‘Ananda I am already watching it through the window. It is beautiful. Call the Samaneras and tell them also to enjoy it’.

                  The young Samaneras not only enjoyed the sight but started playing in the rain, rolling and frolicking in the rain water. Buddha watched them with amusement and a faint smile on his lips.

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          Edwin, How much Portuguese was it?
          Anyways, Sinhala is an ethnocultural identity, which does not have to have a homogeneous genetic basis, while Sinhala Buddhist/Sinhala Catholic/Sinhala Anglican are sub cultures of that ethnocultural identity.

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            wannihami

            -“Anyways, Sinhala is an ethnocultural identity, which does not have to have a homogeneous genetic basis, while Sinhala Buddhist/Sinhala Catholic/Sinhala Anglican are sub cultures of that ethnocultural identity.”

            Are you serious with your understanding of the construct of Sinhala?
            You have just contradicted with what you believe in.

            The Sinhala/Buddhists not only want to homogenize Sinhala Catholic/Sinhala Anglican as Sinhala/Buddhists but also working very hard to convert them into Sinhala/Buddhist fascist and destroy the rest of the people or convert them into Sinhala/Buddhist fascism. Even if every Demela and Thambiyas converted to your new religion Sinhala/Buddhist fascism they will be at the bottom of your caste/class/hierarchy and their essential needs come last in the minds of the fascists and first to be attacked their late conversion.

            The only culture you have developed over the last 100 years is the mythical Aryan Sinhala/ Buddhist fascism, demanding exclusive right to own, exploit and steal from the state and commons using mind boggling violence.

            Please stop glossing over your past.

            Why do the Sinhala/Buddhists rage all the time?

  • 9
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    Maheshi, hats off for stating real facts. But this article is for people who have the ability to read, understand, register and to function based on real facts. Now a days what you see in Lanka is the retarded public pretending to be blind and in apparent denial , exploited and manipulated by the cunning politicians for their own gains.The so called higher cognitive functions of our public seems to be missing for generations.( is there any studies to show that evolution can regress???)To make things worse the so called few educated are rewarded to act fools.And this whole circus is called patriotism driven DEMOCRAZY. Good luck in educating the fools.

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    The archaeological record dates human habitation to around 125,000 years. mtDNA evidence provides dates from 85,000 and 65,000 years. The discovery of 30,000 years old Balangoda man is evidence of pre-historic mankind in Sri Lanka (Fa Hien-lena near Bulathsinhala, Batadomba-lena near Kuruwita, Beli-lena at Kitulgala, Alu-lena at Attanagoda and so on). People lived in many countries in the world from times immemorial. There would have been many ancient tribes and civilizations in the South Asian region (India and Sri Lanka) very similar to other countries like Africa, China and so on but most of them disappeared over time. The last of them in Sri Lanka are the Veddas (most probably the descendants of the Balangoda man) but however, they have very little to do with the present day Sri Lankan population (Sinhalese and Tamils). In other words, the present day Sinhalese and Tamils are NOT the offsprings of the pre-historic generation of Sri Lanka. The present day population (Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims) are migrants and their ancestry is in India (the latest genetic study on Sri Lankan population proves it). Only the Veddas are the original natives of Sri Lanka who descend from the pre-historic people of Sri Lanka. Why there is no Sinhala in the present day India is because it must be one of the many lost tribes/civilizations of Northeast India.

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      The migrations: Kumar, thanks for your interesting comment. According to Dr. Spencer Wells of National Geographic, there were 2 migrations of interest to us, from Africa to the East. From the chart provided, the first was about 65,000 years ago, through Sri Lanka right down to Australia. According to him, there was an Ice Age at this time and the ocean levels were 20 m below the present level, making a migration over land possible.

      I feel that this is what really happened, because the Veddahs and Aborigines of Australia are so much similar in appearance and some place names are also so similar. Your theory that Veddahs are descendants of Balangoda Man is incorrect in my opinion. Balangoda Man is somewhat similar to the Neanderthals and the evolution of Veddahs who are Homo Sapiens like us from Balangoda Man as a separate evolutionary branch, finally giving rise to Homo Sapiens like us is statistically impossible.

      The second migration came perhaps 20,000 years ago and took a more Northerly route through Persia. There were several branches coming down to Southern India. But the Sinhalese cannot be descendants of these. Language and appearance similarities indicate that the Sinhalese came for Bengal area more recently.

      (Please note that the time data is given from my memory and may be wrong).

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        “Language and appearance similarities indicate that the Sinhalese came from Bengal area more recently.”

        If you see the physical appearance of the people of certain states of India, specially the coastal areas of East and South India (Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala), they look very similar to the Sri Lankan people (Sinhalese and Tamils). Throughout history, migrants from these areas of India have settled in the island who are known today as Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils. Even the genetic study shows both Bengali and Tamil genes in both Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils.

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        edwin rodrigo,

        It is highly possible that Balangoda man to settle down in this island during the first wave at 65000 years ago. Moreover, it is also possible that descendants of the Balangoda man to transform themselves from cave dwellers to farmers. We have evidence of these farming people from excavations in Balangoda area and in Horton plains. Therefore, isn’t it possible to assume that these ancient people were present at the time of the arrival of the Vijaya?

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          Shenali, presence of Balangoda man may could be 65,000 years or even more. Genetically they are related to Adhivasis of Tamil Nadu, Aborigines of Andaman, Orang Asli of Malay peninsula, people of Papua, Fiji and even Maoris of New Zealand. But aborigines of Australia are genetically different having affinity to Dravidians. In Sri Lanka Veddhas had civilisation contrary to what Mahavamsa says that it was only after Vijaya arrived that civilisation of Sri Lanka began. Recent discovery of a seat of rule in Vaharai shows that Veddhas had their own kingdom. Some Veddhas were hunter/gatherers while the rest, mostly living in eastern coastal belt were farmers. Unfortunately neither Tamils nor Sinhalese have genetic affinity with Veddhas to claim that they descended from Veddhas though there is evidence that hinterland Veddhas have mixed with Sinhalese and east coast Veddhas have mixed with Tamils. Until recently it was believed that the Adhvasis were in Tamil Nadu only for about 125,000 years. In 2003, fossil remains of body parts found in Villupuram district put the date to over 200,000 years. In 2018, they have found a settlement in Atttirampakkam about 60 KM from Chennai, where stone tools were found which was dated to be over 300,000 years old. The old theory of human migration is changing due to new evidence emerging as a result of advanced technology. That is why I have been stressing that Sri Lanka past has to be re-explored impartially to get at the truth.

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          Balangoda Man: Shenal, sorry I missed this question before. It is a very interesting possibility and one which I have not thought about before. According to Wikipedia, Balangoda man is a sub species of Homo Sapiens.

          What do you think is the relationship between Veddahs and Balangoda man.
          The Sunday Observer of October 2016 says that certain blood samples left on a stone tool in a cave may give evidence of this. Would like to hear about more ideas from you.

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            If Veddas can be our real ancestors, why not we hold them as that.

            Why the folks let by date be disspeared ?

            The fate of them can also be as such of aborigines in Ausi.

            I tihnk the reason why we cant see sinhala people in India is not just for sinhalese folks, but there are many of the nature that left india are recorded in history books.

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            I have no doubt that Edwin is more close to species of Balangoda man s nature – than to modern Homo sapiens. His responses to this article or others are always like KOHEDA YANNE MALLE POL.
            However, these men are somehow behave as if they are made to stand against minority folks.
            I dont mind they are majo or minor so long they behave in compliance with the citizen rights.
            We should all be treated like srilankens regardless of our race, religion or any other parameters that Rajapakshe and other men of that nature have taken as instrumental.

            I remember how EDWIN attacked that Rajendran and IH then. Now they are both no longer alive. Only Edwin is the next to join them, but still with the same hatred energeis against Tamils and other folks that should be treated as equal … I hateeven my family ones that would NOT do so. I am very ashamed of our folks.
            They only know to eat thanakola on and on. there the yare masters.

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      Kumar

      “The present day population (Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims) are migrants and their ancestry is in India (the latest genetic study on Sri Lankan population proves it).”

      Why did you stop short of calling/naming the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims the descendants of Kallathonies?

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      Kumar,

      Your hypothesis of why there are no Sinhalese in present day India is not credible because it doesn’t bear any rationality with historical contexts. If Sinhalese came from mainland tribe where were the marital ties? Where were the political ties? Are you suggesting that they simply came to this island and forgot about their mainland relatives altogether? And what about the historical records? Do you think that no one wanted to remember where they have come from and where were their ancestors?

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        Shenal,
        “Your hypothesis of why there are no Sinhalese in present day India is not credible”
        Balangoda man walked from India, not Africa. So did the Veddas. There are still Vedda-like aborigines in South India. The Sinhalese became “Sinhalese” only about 2000 years ago. The language evolved here. You cannot seriously expect that aboriginal descendants in India and Sri Lanka would be speaking the same language. Aboriginal descendants in Jaffna speak Tamil because of proximity to India.
        Both “Sinhalese” and “Jaffna Tamils ” have the same ancestors, but different languages.

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          oldcodger,

          It is obvious that Balangoda man came from India. But the fact is that Balangoda man settled down in this island and formed his own civilization. If you believe Sinhalese came from India, then they have also made a unique civilization on their own in this island. Tamils has not shown any thing like this. Their culture and civilization is essentially what we find in Tamilnadu. That is what disqualify them from being natives. Any rational anthropologists or linguist would agree with me.

          Old codger mate, it is possible for a one community to adopt a foreign language for their convenience. But how come and entire community adopt a foreign culture and traditions entirely? It is not possible. This is the problem.

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            Shenal,
            Here you go again: ” But how come and entire community adopt a foreign culture and traditions entirely?” You are targeting the Jaffna Tamils as following foreign traditions. But what about your own Sinhalese? I list below a few Sinhala traditions that are foreign:
            1. The ubiquitous “Nilame suit” (Portuguese origin)
            2. The osariya and Kandyan saree (Kerala)
            3. Kerala origin food.
            4. Buddhism itself.
            5. “Kandyan” dancing
            6. Sarongs (Malay )
            7. Trousers for males (European)
            8. Until recently, names like Solomon West Ridgeway Bandaranaike.
            The Jaffna Tamils follow a TAMIL culture that is just 20 miles away, but the Sinhalese have taken input from much further. Who is the pot calling the kettle black?

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              “But how come an Entire Community adopts a Foreign Culture and Traditions entirely”

              Old Codger;
              Can you Name any Community Anywhere in the World that has not adopted ‘Foreign Culture and Traditions’?

              Are you trying to say that Sri Lankans should not adopt the latest Innovations in Science and Technology?

              If Some Jaffna Tamils want to live in the Immediate Past, Other Sri Lankans have no Problem with That!
              Don’t Jaffna Tamils travel in Cars and Buses? Do they All still live in Thatched Houses, Hidden behind Cadjan Fences?

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                Hamlet,
                It is not me but Shenal who sees something wrong in following a “foreign” culture.
                At least the Jaffna Tamil culture is consistent.
                You must not try to throw stones from glass houses.

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              old codger,

              Portuguese don’t wear “Nilame Suit” do they? The origin may lay on Portuguese but it is not Portuguese custom. This is same for the other points you have raised.

              The irony, Mr. old codger is that why didn’t Tamils in Jaffna didn’t follow the culture less than 20 km away in Anuradhapura kingdom. Besides, where is the variation of Jaffna Tamil culture? You people claiming Sinhalese are Tamils yet there are vast difference between Sinhalese and Tamils. Where is that difference between Jaffna Tamils and Indian Tamils? (There should be slight difference and it is inline with the recent arrival theory.)

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                Shenal,
                The “coat” of the Nilame suit is a modification of Portuguese 16th century dress. Look at a Matador’s clothes.
                “why didn’t Tamils in Jaffna didn’t follow the culture less than 20 km away in Anuradhapura ” ? No, it was the Anuradhapura kingdom that picked up vegetarianism/ tree worship/ Hindu gods etc from the Tamils.
                “Where is that difference between Jaffna Tamils and Indian Tamils”
                The difference between Indian Tamils and Jaffna Tamils is the same as the difference between a Chennai Tamil and one from Coimbatore. If you don’t know, go and see!

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                  old codger,

                  //The “coat” of the Nilame suit is a modification of Portuguese 16th century dress. Look at a Matador’s clothes.//

                  So what? Sinhalese had modified the Matador’s clothes for their own use. Ain’t what we called adaptation? Which community doesn’t do that?

                  //No, it was the Anuradhapura kingdom that picked up vegetarianism/ tree worship/ Hindu gods etc from the Tamils.//

                  How can you attribute tree worshiping and god worship as Hindu traits. Veddha’s to do it too. They are no Tamils or Hindus. Tree worshiping and god worship is an ancient habit of Homo Sapiens. You can’t possible group it towards one group of people. Besides, how do you know ancient Sinhalese worshiped Hindu gods?

                  //The difference between Indian Tamils and Jaffna Tamils is the same as the difference between a Chennai Tamil and one from Coimbatore. If you don’t know, go and see!//

                  Where is the major difference? Anyone can differentiate between Sinhalese and Tamils. That’s because both of these community have evolved separately for 1000 of years.

                  Where is the obvious difference between Jaffna Tamils and Indian Tamils if the evolved separetely for 1000 years?

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                    Shenal,
                    ” Anyone can differentiate between Sinhalese and Tamils.”
                    This is getting hilarious! How exactly are Sinhalese different from Tamils if they don’t speak and wear the same clothes? Please enlighten us with your wisdom. Are you also able to differentiate between people like Tilak Marapona / Dayan Jayatillaka who are descended from recent Indian arrivals, and Up-country Sinhalese.
                    “The difference between Indian Tamils and Jaffna Tamils is the same as the difference between a Chennai Tamil and one from Coimbatore. If you don’t know, go and see!//

                    Where is the major difference”
                    It is impossible to tell a blind man what a colour is. Silarly, since you have no idea of regional accents and nuances in Tamil (or even Sinhala, I suspect), what can I do?

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                    Shenal,

                    “Anyone can differentiate between Sinhalese and Tamils.”

                    Again a very silly or rather childish comment, LOL! Grow up!

                    The physical appearance of the majority of Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils are identical and their complexion is very similar (most of them are dark skinned while there are also fair skinned on both sides). This is why, if they wear the same clothes/dress, it is very difficult to differentiate between the two. If the Sinhalese and Tamils looked different, during the war, our security forces and the public would have easily identified the suicide bombers in advance and taken prior action. This is why the DNA tests also shows that both Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils are almost the same genetically. It is the same people who have got converted into different cultures as Sinhala Buddhists, Tamil Hindus and Sinhala/Tamil Christians due to heavy influence from North India (Asoka) and South India (Chola, Pandya, Chera) and finally the Portuguese, Dutch, and British.

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            Shenal,

            The so called Sinhala civilization in Sri Lanka is all borrowed from others. The Sinhalese are experts in importing or borrowing everything from others, making a few modifications and then calling them their own. A serious lack of originality in the so called Sinhala culture.

            Buddhism that the Sinhalese follow was imported from North India. Sinhala language is nothing but Prakrit/Sanskrit, Pali, Tamil and Malayalam (from North & South India). The Sinhala script was borrowed from the Indian Grantha script. The name of the country ‘Lanka’ was borrowed from the Indian epic Ramayana. The name of their race ‘Sinhala’ was borrowed from the Indian epic Mahabaratha.

            The Sinhalese men and women were topless until the arrival of Portuguese. The Sinhalese women were only wearing the reddha, the hatte (blouse) was introduced by the Portuguese to cover their tops. The Sari was borrowed from India, and the style of wearing sari by the early Kerala women was exactly what the Sinhalese women wear now (Osari/Osariya). Shirts and Trousers for males are from European and the Sarongs are Malay. Even the so called Kandiyan traditional dress is not exactly the traditional cultural dress of Sinhalese but a borrowed, altered version of medieval Portuguese dress.

            The hunchbacked, top-heavy women of Sigiriya, about which so many misplaced raves have been written, but copies unworthy of the prototypes of the cave paintings of Ajanta, Elora, Pappadakkal, and Sittannavasal in Tamil Nadu, South India and from which they were drawn.

            The Elephant and other procession in Dalada Perahera is a copy of Pooram Festival of Kerala and Dasara Festival of Mysore. Sinhala Religious practices such as the Pattini deity worship (as well as the worship of Natha, Vishnu, Saman and Vibhishana) were also introduced to Sri Lanka from South India. Sinhala classical poems such as the ‘Perakumba Sinha’ and ‘Kokila Sandesaya’ also bear the

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              Prasad,

              Every genuine culture in the world burrow from their contemporaries. If you they don’t then it is a big fat lie. No culture can survive without burrowing from the other. This simple facts give away the Tamil claim to nationhood in Sri Lanka. They do not show any sign of historical habitation. Their behavior shows that they are recent arrivals from India.

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            cont. from above…

            Most of the food the Sinhalese cook/eat including the sweet meats such as the Kavum is Kerala’s cultural cuisines. The traditional food in Kerela is exactly similar to the Sinhalese food, pol sambol, aapa, idiappa, pittu, pol rotti, kiribath and so on.

            What the Sinhalese call Sinhala medicine is actually Ayurveda medicine brought to Sri Lanka from Kerela. Even today the Ayurvedic doctors (Wickramarachi, etc) in Sri Lanka used to go to Kerela for further higher studies.

            The Sinhalese observe Hindu New Year Day, April 14, (according to Hindu Solar and not Buddhist Lunar calendar where each month starts with the new moon) as their New Year Day. The first month of the Buddhist lunar year is `Bak` which never falls on the 14th of April whereas in the Tamil Hindu solar calendar the first day of the first solar month i.e. `Chitterai` falls each year on 14 April.

            All the ancient structures (including the irrigation technology) is from South India (Tamil). The Cave Temples, Dagobas/Stupas, Irrigation Tanks, etc. may be built by the kings who ruled the country but the Architects, Engineers, Craftsmen, and skilled labor were all brought down (imported) from South India. Repairs to the tanks and the maintenance of irrigation and cultivation could not be affected without the aid of specially trained men from the Tamil country of South India. Sir James Emerson Tennent, Colonial Secretary to the British Government of Ceylon (1845-1850) tells us even during his time, the expertise/services from Tamil country had to be obtained for repairing tanks in the North Central Province.

            I can keep on listing, Sinhalese have nothing to call their own (original).

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              Prasad;-
              I have still to visit Sinhalese homes where they Serve, Kavum, Kokis (Dutch), etc.
              What we are served now, are European Cakes, Biscuits, Potato Crisps, American Coca Cola or Scotch Whisky.
              You have to Move with the Times or live behind a Cadjan Fence!

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              Prasad,

              If all of what you said was true. There shouldn’t be any Sinhalese in this island. Everything should be Tamil. But it isn’t. Then what you say is wrong.

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                The Sinhalese are experts in importing or borrowing everything from others, making a few modifications and then calling them their own. That is how they remain as Sinhalese.

                Otherwise, even today the Sinhalese will travelling in Gon Karatta (Bullock Carts), chewing bulath and spitting all over the country side, your men will be topless wearing only an Amude, you women will be topless wearing only a redda and going to Pirivena where the akuru gura beating you with a pol pittha, the sick will be carried to the village Veda in the night holding a Pandama (Koppara Lamp), and sit under a tree/bush to relieve yourself.

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            I missed an important point,

            Even the Sinhala Lion on the Sri Lankan flag (Lion symbol) was adopted from Emperor Asoka’s emblem of the Indian Lion (there were no Lions in Sri Lanka).

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              Prasad,

              So what? Wasn’t it something to emulate? Asoka was a great emperor and a inspiration.

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                Yes, nothing original. A serious lack of originality in the so called Sinhala culture.

  • 7
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    As Hindus and Buddhists both believe in reincarnation of some sort, all this talk of genetics and origins is pointless. Dr GS was probably a Mahavamsa Sinhala Buddhist in the past and Gnanasara a Jaffna Tamil. In the future they may both be circumcised Muslims for all we know!

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      Ha! Ha!. For all we know, Dr GS could be born as a monkey in his next birth, due to the Karma of making fun of Mahavamsa and Buddhism in general.

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      Paul

      I take note of your interesting but unbelievable speculation. Since we in Kaliyuga every fake news is possible and every speculation may come true.

      Please confirm or reject my speculation which is:

      The psychopath Thiruvengadam Velupillai Prabaharan was the reincarnation of the public racist Aryan Anagarika Homeless Dharmapala.

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        I doubt that the Anagarika returned as VP as their attitudes to killing were so different. However I will check with Dayan, Gramsci and Castro Jr. and get back to you.

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          Paul

          “I doubt that the Anagarika returned as VP as their attitudes to killing were so different.”

          What the public racist Aryan Anagarika Homeless Dharmapala wished done to Muslims was what exactly The psychopath Thiruvengadam Velupillai Prabaharan did to them.

          Anyhow please check with Dayan, Gramsci and Castro Jr and come back to us.

  • 4
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    Thank you Maheshi Weerakoon
    While reading the article I said to myself “Here is clear mind, liberal thoughts without prejudices. If only a few more wrote some home truths, influenced our thinking, we will end up being the envy of the world”.
    Of course Dayan is not going to like this!
    The nit-picking by commenters is a surprise.
    They have not grasped the underlying message!

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    Looks like all the Sinhalese and Tamil ill-informed, bigoted, profoundly ignorant, racist morons who have not understood the meaning and purpose of Maheshi Weerakoon’s article are behaving like animals.

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      Silva,

      I agree with you. However, there are holes in terms of facts but on the whole, her main aim was to attack the notion that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists only. I am afraid she will not succeed one bit. The Sinhala people are not idiots but they perpetuate this contrived theory out of their chronic insecurity!

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        It is my belief that Sri Lanka belongs 50% to the Portuguese and 50% to the Sinhalese. I am half Portuguese and half Sinhalese and therefore, Sri Lanka belongs to me 100%.

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          So why not you go back to Portugal and claim your right up there ?

          Now I get it, you only wan to abuse SRILANKENS only. HA HAH..

          You a man in 70ties seem to learn lot more. Not just hang on with arabs backs, but also opening up to the world.
          Caste, extremism, racism, bu talso your cesspit seem to allow buddhism and buddhistic jathaka stories too, how come all these together – if you are not mad ?

          Mathugama Kerankokum mallum eating man should be put in Mulleriyawa for his rest of life.
          Get well Edwin – the most known toilet engineer who once abused that philiphine gilr CLEOPATRA.

          Now wonder your family back in SL treated you as their dogs. Get well Edwin. Give us a break !

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            Sa and Bu: If you are a true Sri Lankan, at least learn how to spell it properly. It is not SRILANKENS stupid, it is Sri Lankan. The misplaced ‘e’ gives you away as one of the Sa and Bu gangs. Perhaps it is not a gang as I suspect but just one person or at most two.

            b>Sa Gang: Sam, Samson, Sama et al. The German toiletrains who despise all Sinhalese and all Buddhists in general. They pray to their Gods for the death of Edwin. Little do they realize that their Monkey Gods riding donkeys are no match for Allah, the all powerful, all knowing and all compassionate.

            Bu pack: Bunjappu, Burampi Singho, Bunjikirilli et al. Their duty is to bark even at their own shadows, when their Bu masters tell them.

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    Thank you Miss Weerakoon for a fantastic piece of educational material for “whoever need to be guided from Law of the Jungle to the Law of the Land” so became acceptable as fellow citizens such could be assimilated into our “Greater Sri Lankan identity” which is a multi cultural society celebrating the life of Buddah/Prophet/Jesus/Hindu God’s for human empowerment/civilisation/ life celebration in general. In addition we are enriched with two local languages too. I wonder what was the language and rleligion of the Vedda’s was ? but respect my Aboriginal people for letting us continue to call this “our home” after being on this land for several generation to date. I hope we will be forgiven by the Vedda’s for their ill fate just as human migration have nearly exterminated many others from the planet too.

    Not only some of us are not following religious preaching for a great life journey…… even the ants have evolved better than the “some”……..please please share this in our schools/universities/temples/churches/mosques for a better tomorrow.

    Natural World S37E08 Attenborough and the Empire of the Ants || December 29th, 2017
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R45ElUQjhHw

    We suppose to be leading the world in science and technology by now “after the independence” but ended up where we are today discussing who came first to this “land mass” thousands of years ago with the spiritual claim/understanding ??????????? ……….we are indeed a mystery to the sciennce too as we know it today… Now the battle is not about who came first………but to proof are we better than the ants themselves in intellectual properties since we arrived in this island??? There is indeed a truth in “Island Mentality” after all…..defying science too?

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    I am willing to go back about 50,000 years but not more than that. Why? Because I may find that I am descended from a common ancestor from whom monkeys evolved. Evolved is a nice word that makes it somewhat palatable. But it is not easy to accept that your great …..great grand uncle spent most of his time sitting on a tree branch, munching nuts.

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      EDwin rodrigo: Charles Darwin and other people have proved survival of the fittest and evolution, How about consciousness, is included inthat, How about 6th sense like are included in the evolution. Are every oe counting because this is a young marrying age girl. How about if you find that her to be a married woman with few children

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        Consciousness: Jim, scientists are trying to understand what consciousness is and whether it is limited to the human race only. It is quite clear that the human consciousness is at a much higher level than that of animals.
        Dictionary meaning: The state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings. Theistic religions explain that consciousness needs a soul and only humans have that – not animals.
        Buddhist version: In my opinion the best explanation is found the Teachings of Buddha. In ‘Bahiya Sutta’ Buddha tells Bahiya (a highly intelligent person) the way to end suffering. When Bahiya for you, in the seen there is just the seen, in the heard there is just the heard, in the cognized there is just the cognized, then Bahiya you will not be that by which (tvam na tena). When Bahiya you will not be that by which, then Bahiya, you will not be in that place. When Bahiya you are not in that place, you will neither here no yonder nor in between. Just this will be the end of suffering. On hearing this terse stanza, Bahiya realized the truth and became an Arahat.

        Modern philosophical meaning: The great thing is that this 2,500 year old explanation of Buddha is very close and yet more complete than the explanation of the 20th century Existentialist Philosophers such as Nietzsche, Heidegger and Jean Paul Satre.
        What is pertinent to Jim’s question in all this is that this tells us what consciousness means. According to Satre The eye and other senses is that in the world by which one becomes the perceiver and conceiver of the world. This means that it is the senses including the mind that makes up consciousness. Hopefully, that clears up things.

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          Bahiya – Part 2: The meaning of Bahiya Sutta.

          That by which: Meaning – that in the world by which one is a perceiver and conceiver of the world.

          Here: My sense organs

          Yonder: Counter part of Here – The Various sense objects.

          In between: Consciousness, contact, feeling, and so on, as being dependent upon sense organ and sense objects.

          Being: A living and conscious entity – ME.

          What about ‘There’?: There is a ‘there’ only if there is an entity that has made a disclosure of spatiality as the ‘being’ of the ‘there’. This simply means that, in the very act of me being a ‘being’, I disclose a spatial world where I am a spatial being ‘There’. Hindus talk of a ‘pure being’ but there is no such thing as a ‘pure being’. In brief, there is only a ‘there’, a spatial world (for senses and objects to be ‘amidst’), if I am there. Only so long as I am there, shall I be ‘in the form of being-amidst-the-world’—i.e. as sense organs (‘here’) surrounded by sense-objects (‘yonder’).

          And when shall we ‘not be that by which’? Buddha tells us: it is when, for us, in the ‘seen’ there shall be just the seen, and so on …heard, cognized etc.. And when in the ‘seen’ is there just the ‘seen’? When the ‘seen’ is no longer seen as ‘mine’ or as ‘I’ or as ‘myself’ in brief, when there is no longer, in connection with the senses, the conceit ‘I am’, by which ‘I am a conceiver of the world’. In short the absence of a concept of a SELF.

          What a Beauty! – What a Gem! – and a Short cut to Nirvana.

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            Edwin, there is no short cut to Nirvana. The only person who could have got you an early release from Sansara is no more. I leave it to you to guess who it was.

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              Short cut to Nirvana: Dosthara Gnana, Bahiya the shipwreck seems to be a person who was bothered by the problem of ‘existence’ and desperately searching for the ‘TRUTH’. He had not heard of Buddha or his teachings until someone told him ‘If you want to learn the truth, go to Buddha who right now is living in Savatti’.

              The short stanza was the only thing that Buddha said to Bahiya and with that he instantly realized the Truth and became an Arahat. That is why I said it is a ‘short cut’ to Nirvana. Bahiya was an extraordinary man of extremely high intelligence. For him it was a short cut. But for you and me it may not be.
              Yes I know whom you mean by “The only person who could have got you an early release from Sansara.” Unfortunately, Army Pvt. Nimal Maharage put an end to him leaving you without your Messiah. Don’t despair though, because he got you there in the West as a bogus refugee cleaning toilets and that makes you happy, does it not?

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          Edwin,
          One can have a discussion with the “Digital Assistant” in smartphones,eg Apple’s Siri. Doe that mean these phones are conscious and have souls?

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            Oldcodger, Buddha rejected the concept of a soul. he said, all ‘sanskara dharmas’ (conditioned things), mental as well as material, have 3 common characteristics, Anicca, Dukkha & Anatma (the last being the absence of a soul). So the Apple’s Siri has no soul.

            Regarding consciousness, I have to say no too. The response comes for a well designed program. In this aspect the Siri is inferior to animals.

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              Edwin,
              Are you sure you are not running on an even better-designed program?
              I haven’t seen any animal that can converse like Siri.

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                To tell you the truth, I have not seen or Siri. I will try it and come back to you.

                What I meant is that the general response of an animal to normal and unexpected situations is conditioned by millions of years of evolution. Can we make something better than that.

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            OLD CODGER: In order to argue, you need to be intelligent. If not yoi won’t understand what we say. You believe in the Creator and the Pyriamid in which the almighty abuse every one below. Edwin rodrigo, what I wante to say was I do not agree with the theory of evolution as it is. IT should take a very very long time to come to this stage if it happened.

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              Jimmy,
              ” IT should take a very very long time to come to this stage if it happened.”
              It has taken 500 million years . Isn’t that long enough?

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              Rate of Evolution: Jim, please make the following clear.

              1) Why don’t you agree with the Theory of Evolution. Is it the mechanism as given in the rules in my comment of March 23. Or is it only the time it has taken.

              2) I do not believe in a creator because such a belief does not answer the question ‘how did we come here?’ We simply go in to a regress by ssuming a creator.

              So please tell us what you problem is. We like to discuss it more.

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                Edwin Appuo,

                what do you know about Evolution ?

                Some Boston researchers in Bio medical researchers are not into Evolution even if we the many would believe in that.
                They are of the view of creators than anything else. As was the case few centuries ago, a significant portion of world population even today are into creator theories since there are lot more to be found out in the line gaps in Evolution.
                But how Amino acids ( the units of proteins) formed for the first time, at the time, living being were formed, are all acceptable theories. Today, some researchers from Boston labs arevery much into that our ancestors are more near to a hybrid being made out of a chimpansee and a swine. This can well be since unitl lately, we the human beings were dependent on swin insulin and several other biotechnology products too were based on the kind of animals. Homo sapien genome is almost 99% is similar to that of those chimpansees and bonaboos. All in all, we are all very muich those monkey than special creators (creater by gods).

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                  Bunjikirilli, There is a Sinhala saying ‘Bade Biju thiyagena katha karanawa’ and that is exactly what you are doing. Looks like you are overweighed and overwhelmed by the eggs inside whatever organ you use to carry bunjikirilli eggs. So lay them somewhere and come back. May be – mind you – I say, may be then I will give some attention to your monkey talk. But I don’t promise.

                  Right now I can say, there are also a vast majority of people who believe that the Earth is flat and not round like a bunjikirilli egg.

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                    Edwin, What i meant is serious.

                    over 75% of local population are after creation of a human being should be through a god right ?
                    Among those reasearchers having published on and on too are part of those billions, that share the thoguhts with godly creation supporters.
                    It is almost like you are forced to believe that everyone join as srilankens from Europe are either tamils, or sinhala refugees, or tamils refugees.. yours and theirs have been made so sick so that nothing factual would have space in your brains.
                    You talk a lot but dont you read them before being passed to 3rds ?
                    With all being fallen that ill in home country, I feel very sick of our people just these days.
                    I questoin why our folks behave so estranged ?

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          What I wanted to know was how do we attach the development of Consciousness to Evolution model. I read a book written bya Nobel price winning Scientist. Ass a Sinhala buddhist, I understood tht it was very funny and very primitive science.

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            Jim, I know that my answer was a ‘Koheda Yanne – Malle Pol’ type one. I confess that I used it to write something about Bahiya, one of the most intriguing stories in Buddhism. I have been trying to understand it better by reading it over and over again in a book called ‘Clearing the Path’ by a British monk called ‘Nanavira’. By reading the book I could not make head or tail of what he was trying to say. But when I started to write it down, it became clearer to me. It was all because of you. Thank you.
            I will give my answer to your question in the next comment.

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              The Darwin evolution machine: must have six properties.
              1- Patterns of some type; in genetics, they are strings of DNA bases, but patterns of brain activity associated with a thought might qualify.
              2- Second, copies are made of these patterns.
              3- Patterns must occasionally vary through mutations, copying errors or a reshuffling of their parts.
              4- Fourth, variant patterns must compete to occupy some limited space.
              5- The relative reproductive success of the variants is influenced by their environment (how often the grass is cut, watered, fertilized and trampled); this is what Darwin called natural selection.
              6- Finally, the makeup of the next generation of patterns depends on which variants survive to be copied. Many of these new variants will be less successful than their parents, but some may be better.

              Reference: Scientific American

              Sorry for the delay Jim, not being an evolutionary biologist, I may be completely wrong to suggest that the brain patterns associated with consciousness may play role in 1 above.

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            Jimmy, As an advanced Sinhala Buddhist scientist, you might like to know that there is a connection between DNA and Buddhism. Go look behind a Vesak pandal. There is a giant rotating sequencer there, made of a tree trunk and strips of copper. That is how DNA works, if it makes you happy.

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    An Apology: I must admit that, as usual, I did not read the full article before commenting. Since seemingly educated (even the PhD’s) are praising the article, I began to feel that it must be good – really really good. So, I broke my normal tradition and read the first few paragraphs. Though it was tough going for a Putujjana like me, I finally managed it. As they say, When the going gets tough, the tough get going – and guys, that is me.

    I now realize how unfair it is to judge an article without reading it at all. Anyway, I am now completely reformed. I now realize that it is wrong for the majority to consider the minorities as second class citizens. We should, as is the practice in advanced countries, give the top places to the minorities and take a back seat and watch things as they happen. That means making the members of the majority community second class and the minority the first class citizens.

    Actually, that was the situation before 1956. (e.g.) The CGR engineers were 99% Tamil. CEB – not so good. Only around 75% were Tamils. Come to think of it, the Tamils are really smart. Despite their horrific English accents they managed things well with their English masters. But our stupid politicians turned it upside down using the Sanga, Veda, Guru – Govi, Kamkaru stuff.

    Buddhism is the problem here. The militant Sangha should be put in jail. That will solve the problem of the laymen being misled by the bad Sangha.

    Follow that for a few years and Lanka will be the best country for minorities – and to hell with the stupid majority.

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    Just forgot to mention I too come from an Island paradise called Karainagar up north……..I kind of understand these “fellows”with “island mentality” issues……….we practice cast system and even burned down temples/chariots/beaten up people of “lower beings” (who spoke my language/prayed the same god’s/”nearly” my neighbours who just looked like me afterall). All this for entering the temple to pray the god…………in 1970’s………, we all lived as segregated communities/separate temples/separate wells within a small island too…….in my class people even have to sit in the back of the class according to their pecking order……..there were no marriages across the community…….even the love failed except for the rare occasions some “low cast” girls taken advantage of etc….then I said I wanted the Sinhalese to treat me equal too………then I said the white man need to treat me fairly too………..

    The point is we have a long way to go….hardly anything has changed/evolved for thousands of years…….even after living in the so called “civilised communities” (ever since the miserable war as refugees)……..this is a proof our DNA has defects…………it is nation wide issue…………….nothing what so ever to do with languages and religions….please please leave lord Buddha alone …in-fact we have a culture of double standards enshrined/built in…hence we can not progress as one……….I can give you million of real time cases of absurd crimes to proof what a bunch of hypocrites we are……….hence the scenario even the security forces can not uphold the law……….who could blame them…..in-fact if someone uphold the law I will be worried……it is not normal……….hence we lost few hundred thousand lives/arms/limbs…..human dignity too went out long ago……we continue business as normal………….UN should consider us as a “protected species” as there are no other like us in this planet:).

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      So we can conclude the following
– If the science community/David Attenborough conduct the same “European Ant colony” experiment on Sri Lankan ants behaivour it may differ and prove the ants also has the same “Island Mentality”…. not evolved….but worse cloning itself too??
-same as the “not evolved/cloned human” Island mentality is now beyond any reasonable doubt.
-except for the “migratory birds” I guess all other species may also prove the same theory ??
-Then again when we went oveseas we remain the same continue the same battles/support the same destructive things as a way forward/solutions too??? Therefore is possible the science may prove the “Island” humans are showing signs/defying science and different from migratory birds too?
      This is more than enough evidence “repeated and recorded in the past 70 years” that we are showing signs of “Madagascar” species evolution patterns to become a unique species too in our Island……even though the appearances are deceptive & “bipolar” at temperment….could shake hands one moment and the next cite some “historical facts??” and chop/mime/kill/burn fellow beings alive —the victims do not understands nor has any connections to the entire citation in the first place………die in terror….horror….as the rest of us watch in fear.
      I think we are rewriting history ….in fact we follow “devils advocay = religious guidelines = law of the land = constitutional “whatever”= cultural inheritance ……..well we present a challenge for the mathematicians too…….as they have to factor in the national hobby called “race riots” to solve this equation too…….a possible Nobel prize awaits those want to take on this research…….any takers please before we are all no more “thank you”????

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    Mahesi: Culture is not a myth, it is practical reality,. Sinhala culture is highly islamized and christianized. Even hindu Tamils complain that. IF you know the sinhale history they always respected LIVE AND LET LIVE. but, the BIBLE or the QURAN do not believe it. Mahavamsa is our Sinhala buddhist culture and events recorderd as the words of an ancient bhikku who saw or who heard. IF minorities do not like, too bad. It is our culture. I explained the concept on which buddhists live. they are very patient, Not clumsy though, but the Bible or the QURAN do not allow that. their way is spread the word of the only true god, the creator. We do not beleive the creator. so, they do not like it. You may not believe about a culture. when you have chldren, when they grow without any discipline, when they look for nirvana with drugs, alchol and sex, you will understand the importance of the culture. IF you enegaged in those think about it.

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    Well Done Maheshi. I applaud your sense of humanity and large hearted attitude. You have advocated inclusiveness and promotion of the Sri Lankan identity as being a delightful mix of South Asia and Europe; and thats a fact. I am a Sri Lankan Tamil whose forefathers came from Manipay, Vaddukodai, Thunavi , Balangoda and Chettinad in Tamilnadu. I have been mistaken for a Muslim in Cairo and Khartoum as I look like a Omani Arab. I may have Semetic blood as well. A handsome Sheikh may have met my Tamil ancestor and after Salaam Aleykum! I am also an Old Thomian who was brought up by my parents and Alma Mater to respect all people irrespective of Caste , Creed or Jathiya. Yes, we lost everything we had after 1983 and most of my kith and kin are abroad, but I will NEVER descend to the level of hatred and vituperative depths that some of these self made ” Intellectuals” have descended to. I am a Professor of Electrical Engineering in California and have offered my expertise to Sri Lanka, Africa and my adopted homeland. In fact I was invited by the Hon Ranil Wickremasinghe, PM at that time, and the UNDP Director to be a consultant in 2003 after the ceasefire and help in the reconstruction of the country . I am fluent in all three languages and sing with my guitar in them as well!! Later I was graciously received by President Rajapakse at his residence, had lunch with him and he promoted my projects in Sri Lanka. When my father , Dr. John F. W. Balachandra passed away in May 1972, I was at Moratuwa Engineering faculty in my third year. A month later , on a Saturday afternoon my mother called me out from my room to meet someone in the Living room. I walked over to meet a handsome 70 odd year old Buddhist monk, who was sweating profusely as he had come all the way from Medagama.

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    I am not historian and DNA expert or an archaeologist and don’t want to google for hours to write this comment. Just an ordinary man with love to live and enjoy the life to the fullest possible. As a layman, I can say that Sri Lanka is in safe-hands with Sinhalese, even with little hiccups here and there. I wouldn’t want to see too many public toilets categorized by castes or become a rich-man to travel to India whenever want to sip a beer like how Saudis go to Manama for alcohol. Sorry, might be bad samples, but hope they point out equality and freedom.

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    I am shocked at some of the views expressed here. Why can we not think of ourselves as humans and as been equal. Why this stress of race, genes , caste etc . Buddha said everything is temporary hence even if we had a so called Sinhala Buddhist culture predominantly in the island this too is temporary. Simultaneously we had a Tamil Hindu culture, a Muslim culture and a Christian culture. Why is one superior to others? n

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    YES Dulan De Silva……………That Is What The SUDDHA wanted to Do And That Happened And Happening From People Like You KALU -SUDDAS………..Pathetic to hear people like you who are Coming in from generations BRED from people living Around and out side the Sudda Bugers FORTS-the B—–S………….Thinking About a History Coming from the Ravana age ………which you kalu-suddas trying to white wash

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    Most of us are missing the point – we are all humans!

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      Goraka

      “Most of us are missing the point – we are all humans!”

      Except Sinhala/Buddhist lion flag waving Sinha Les.

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    Thank you Goraka:-
    These people who are Haggling over Origins, should go back to the Old stories that tell of Foreign People from the West, who set foot in our Beloved Island on their Way Further East.
    The Persians called It ‘Seren Dip’.
    From which the English Word Serendipity originated.

    Even ‘Sindbad the Sailor’ in the Story, visited ‘Serendib’

    “Serendipity”:-. the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
    Coined by Horace Walpole, from the Persian Story The Three Princes of Serendip, who had this gift.

    We learnt from our History Books that Ibn Batuta an Arab Maritime Explorer and his Followers visited the Island a long time ago.

    Lots of other Examples prove that ‘Taprobane’ , ‘Serendip’ ‘Hela Diva’ etc. etc. continued to be visited by Explorers from the West, from time Immemorial, who would certainly have left Offspring behind!

    So Why waste time quibbling about the Recent Divisions into Sinhala and Tamil, when all of us have International Genes in our Make-Up? Accept it, and make Sri Lanka the Island Paradise it could Be!

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      Oh My God! You are right! I just waste US$ 150 (round Rs 25,000) sending my tissue samples to NGS for chacking my anceastry.

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    Dear Hamlet

    With what you said so beautifully…..complementing Ms Weerakoon’s article….I share with you all the following you tube on future of our education as follows…..Kindly share with our children as Khan Academy teachings are free …….is the knowledge that is going to free us from where we are is what we take from Ms.Weerakoon’s writing……

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTRxRO5SRA

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kh60v5PxMk

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    Maheshi’s message is “We can talk myths till the cows come home”.
    Some commenters want to talk about “Lucy (Australopithecus)” – who left behind her skeleton 3.2 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia!

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    By continuing to comment on this article, we attach too much importance to this immature author. It may encourage her to write more stupid articles attacking Sinhala Buddhists, our culture, our books and our religion. Time we stop it.

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      Dear ED

      – I have not noted anyone attack on Sinhala language or Buddhist religion. I guess the reason could be due to the readers can ditingish Buddhism belong to all of us the humans and language belongs to the population who speaks this so eloquently. However is likely people are concerned that “someone or the unfortunate few” who “claim” to be Buddhist and happen to speak Sinhala language go around commit “crime” in the name of race and religion is what may have been said by any commenters correct???. If you are a Sinhala speaking man who practice Bhuddhism as a faith will be equally appalled by the hideous crimes that has been committed in the name of the religion and language?? if not I will be very concerned as a fellow citizen too about your rights?? Furthermore going around killing/looting/terrorising fellow citizens and their families/children/burning properties is against the “Law and Order” of the land/ constitutionaly written in a country currently has Buddhism as a state Religion??. If you are not equally troubled by this and suggest “free speech” set out to reason and educate all to “take care of each other” for the rich historical reasons to be stopped (people bring justice to the victims/punishment to the perpetrators of the crime) then I am now concerned about your motivation/right to participate in this discussion??
      – It is even absurd that you make reference to the author as immature and young is very patronising…………..if we older/mature folks did not fail our country/religion/language as I argued above then the “young and immature” do not have to make a case to educate or enlighten us today such the tomorrow that belongs to them will be brighter?? You as a fellow citizen should be encouraging the young to take ownership is the case here and thank them for their brave attempt to save us all through novel means………..For me this young “solider” is the one standing up for her heritage/language/religion so tall…………………..please join us for a better tomorrow mindfully.

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        Well said, Thiagarajah.
        Is Ed afraid of the truth?

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        Edwin,
        I have observed and even admired your writings off and on.
        “She is talking about the Sinhalese not heeding to facts, scientific evidence, statistics etc. I would like to ask, where are her facts, evidence and statistics that the masses are involved in these things,”
        Well, this is perfectly true. Look at the Glyphosate controversy, for example. Mass hysteria is generated by a political monk and his followers, supported by crank “scientists” such as Nalin de Silva, a man who claims that God Natha told him about arsenis in fertilizer.
        In which country other than this Sinhala Buddhist paradise would such a person be a Dean of a Science Faculty?
        The masses are so conditioned to respect the “sivura” that they will not speak against such idiocy.
        The country is at the brink of an agricultural disaster, but the monk and his mass following are hardly bothered.
        I cannot imagine how apparently educated people like you can talk advanced Buddhist metaphysics (with Jim Softy) in one breath and in the other spew out contempt for a young person putting forward her own ideas.
        As to toilet-washing, you ought to remember that it is Sinhala women who do most of it in the Gulf where you claim to work. Such demeaning comments are unworthy of a true Buddhist.
        Reply

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