28 March, 2024

Blog

What The Majority Sinhalese Must Know

By Brian Senewiratne

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

The majority Sinhalese (74% of the population) have been carefully and deliberately shielded from reality by manipulation of the media by Sinhalese politicians, and ethno-religious bigots, especially the Buddhist monks, playing to the chauvinist gallery.

The Sinhalese have been fed with myths and legends (masquerading as facts), and downright lies or not told what they should have been told. The realities have never been disclosed as to do so would lead to widespread misgivings about the wisdom of the Sri Lankan government’s policy.

This is something that has to be addressed since it is the Sinhalese who elect those to run (or ruin) the country. A separate publication is needed and this must be circulated in the Sinhalese area – something that is likely to be blocked by those in power – all of whom have the Mahavamsa mind-set” (see below).

There are at least four important factors that have to be addressed:

  1. The failure of the colonial British to see the difference between a nation and a community. Sri Lanka is a British colonial construct that has failed – as have so many colonial constructs.
  2. The Mahavamsa and the Mahavamsa mind-set that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist nation. If it is, then there is no alternative to setting up a separate Tamil State since the Tamils are neither Sinhalese nor Buddhist.
  3. The Dutugemunu-Elara war – between a Sinhalese prince from the South and the ageing (Tamil) king originally from the Chola dynasty in South India who was ruling Anuradhapura – the ancient capital of Ceylon.
  4. The claim that Sri Lanka is too small to be divided. That is arrant nonsense. After division, the Sinhalese State is larger than 63 UN nations and the Tamil State larger than 38 UN nations.

It is simply not possible to deal with these crucially important points here. A separate publication is needed. All that can be done here is to deal with them in the barest possible manner.

Sri Lanka has two nations (Sinhalese and Tamil) and five communities (Indian Tamils, Sri Lankan Muslims, Indian Muslims,, Burghers and Malays). A ‘nation’ is fundamentally different from a ‘community’.

A Nation

A nation is a historically evolved stable community of language, territory, economic life and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture. It is generally accepted that a nation possess a common ethnic identity, a continuous linguistic and cultural tradition, a definite territory as a homeland and a shared historical experience. It is all these that together that generates in a nation a dominating sense of collective consciousness which gives it the capacity and will for organisation.

The colonial British

The British failed to relaise that there are two nations in Ceylon. Prior to the arrival of the British, for hundreds of years there were three separate ‘Kingdoms’ (essentially ‘States’) – the Tamil Kingdom in the North (Tamil), the Kotte Kingdom in the South (Low-country Sinhalese) and the (massive) Kandyan Kingdom (Kandyan Sinhalese) which occupied most of the island.

The invading Portuguese (1505) quickly overran the Jaffna Kingdom and the Kotte Kingdom but not the Kandyan Kingdom. So also the Dutch who replaced the Portuguese in 1640 and finally the British in 1796.

All of them administered the three Kingdoms separately. The Kandyan Kingdom was finally ceded to the British and, for the first time, the entire country was under foreign rule.

In 1833 the British for administrative ease ‘unified’ that which was divided and centralised power in Colombo in the Sinhalese area. The Colebrooke=Cameron ‘Reforms’ of 1833 was about the worst thing that the colonial British did.

In 1948 when Independence to Ceylon was granted the very least that the British could have done was to leave two Federal States especially since the Tamils were seriously concerned as to what would happen to them under Sinhalese rule. However, the British only wanted their tea estates and military facilities in Trincomalee and Colombo in ‘safe’ hands. They were not particularly concerned as to what happened to the Tamils.

They were to find out before the year ended when a million Plantation Tamils of Indian descent brought by the British to work on the tea estates were decitizenised and disenfranchised in one of the most brutal acts of political irresponsibility in the world. One seventh of the population in the country became non-citizens.

More was to follow as the Ceylonese (Sinhalese) government turned on the Indigenous Tamils who had been there for thousands of years, and passed highly discriminatory legislation. English was replaced by Sinhalese only and not Sinhalese and Tamil. Discrimination in education followed, with the Tamil students having to get a higher mark than the Sinhalese to enter the University.

What did the British do? Nothing. The British have more than a case to answer for the chaos that followed.

The Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle)

This extremely anti-Tamil chronicle written by a Buddhist monk, Mahanama “for the serene joy and emotion of the pious” is regarded as a historical text by the Sinhalese (which it is not). Written in the 6th Century AD about events he thought had occurred in the 5th Century BC, it glorifies the Sinhalese as saviours of Buddhism and derides the Tamils as invaders, vandals, marauders and heathens. It essentially says that multiethnic, multireligious, multicultural, multilingual Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist country. If that is what the Sinhalese believe, then there is no alternative to the establishment of a separate Tamil State- Tamil Eelam – since the Tamils are not Sinhalese nor Buddhists. As Voltaire said “ Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities” which is what has happened in Sri Lanka since Independence.

Tamil Eelam is not the creation of the Tamil people but the result of ethnoreligious chauvinism by the Sinhalese based on Mahavamsa doctrine. This Mahavamsa mind-set has been the hallmark of every Sinhalese leader since Independence. The foremost proponents of this are the Buddhist monks who have the same mind-set as Mahanama who wrote this chauvinist nonsense.

The Dutugemunu-Elera fight

Elara (Ellalan in Tamil) was a Tamil prince from the Chola dynasty in South India who ruled Anuradhapura. He was well known as a just king.

Dutugemunu was the son of a Sinhalese king in the South, King Kavantissa. Kavantissa refused to fight Elara. The 16 year old Dutugemunu thought otherwise. He was found lying crouched and when asked why he replied that he could not stretch himself because he felt boxed in ‘by the Tamils to the North and the sea to the south’. He ridiculed his father and said ‘If [my] father were a man he would not speak thus’ and sent him a piece of women’s jewellery.

The King urged him not to go to war and said that if he did he should not go north of the ‘great river’ (probably today’s ‘Mahaveli)’) which runs across the island about half the way to the North saying that the land below that was more than enough ‘for us’.

However, Dutugemunu was determined to kill Elara. The fighting was so severe that the Mahavamsa describes that the lake in Anuradhapura was ‘red with blood’.

Finally, Elara and Dutugemunu decided to fight each other than sacrifice so many lives. The Chronicle says that the ageing Tamil king was felled by a ‘dart’ (probably an arrow) fired by the young Sinhalese prince, who was the first to rule the entire island. It is of interest that the previous Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also comes from the South, fancies himself as the present day Dutugemunu. When he was President it was common to see a large cardboard figure of Dutugemunu with a smaller cardboard figure of Mahinda Rajapaksa standing by his side in Colombo.

Dutugemunu had ‘10 brave worriers’. One of them was called ‘Gotabaya’. Interestingly, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s murderous brother, the former Defence Secretary, was also Gotabaya.

Though Buddhism infinitely values human life as being the one and only thing necessary to achieve nirvana, the ultimate state of ‘nothingness’ for Buddhists, Buddhist Sri Lanka has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world. The Mahavamsa made a virtue of killing in defence of Buddhism. In the victories of Dutugemunu over the Tamil king Elara, in the 2nd Century BC when thousands of Tamils were killed, the Chronicle capriciously states that Dutugemunu’s war cry was: “Not for Kingdom, but for Buddhism”.

The Mahavamsa states that Dutugemunu , in repentance over the lives lost in the war, addressed the eight arhats (Saints):

“How shall there be any comfort for me, O venerable sirs, since by me was caused the slaughter of a great host numbering millions?”

The arhats reply (as quoted in the Mahavamsa) was disturbing:

“From this deed arises no hindrance in they way to heaven….Unbelievers and men of evil life were they, not more to be esteemed than beasts. But for thee, thou will bring glory to the doctrine of Buddha in manifold ways. Therefore cast away care from thy heart, O ruler of men”. That was in the 2nd-Cenrury BC.

Much more recently in 2006, during the slaughter of Tamil civilians in the North, a Sinhalese soldier, a Buddhist, troubled by the slaughter asked his boss: “Sir, I am a Buddhist. Is it acceptable for me to kill these people”. The officer reassured him: “I am also a Buddhist. What the Buddhist teaching says is that killing human beings is not acceptable but this is not what you (and I) are doing. So worry not.

As the son of a devout Buddhist (my mother) I find this completely unacceptable and an insult to one of the great teachers the world has seen. If ever there was a time for the revival of Buddhism, it is long overdue.

Sri Lanka is too small to be divided (into a Sinhalese area and a Tamil area

So say the ‘patriotic’ Sinhalese. That is arrant nonsense. Sri Lanka is not a particularly small island. It is 26,000 sq miles– about the size of Tasmania.

After division, the Sinhalese State of seven provinces – 18,800 sq miles will be larger than 63 UN nations. The Tamil State of two provinces – 7,200 sq miles, larger than 38 UN nations.

There are several islands that are much smaller than Sri Lanka that have been divided.

Cyprus, 3,372 sq miles, an eighth of the size of Sri Lanka, is divided into the Republic of Cyprus (Greek Cypriot Republic) 2,276 sq miles, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Turkish Cypriot Republic) 1,295 sq miles.

Timor, 11,850 sq miles is divided into Timor-Leste 5,400 sq miles and West Timor (Timor Barat) 6,100 sq miles. Timor-Leste became a sovereign State on 20 May 2002, the first new sovereign State in the 21st Century, and joined the UN.

The Caribbean island of Hispaniola (30,417 sq miles), only slightly bigger than Sri Lanka (25,332 sq miles), is divided into the Dominican Republic (18,700 sq miles) and Haiti (10,521 sq miles).

This is by no means an exhaustive list but sufficient to show that the claim that Sri Lanka is too small to be divided is arrant nonsense.

It is of even greater interest that Israel and Palestine together (10,343 sq miles) are half the size of Sri Lanka. Israel is 8,019 sq miles and Palestine, 2,324 sq miles. Barack Obama in his famous Cairo speech (4 June 2009) said:

“The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states where Israelis and Palestinians each live in security”.

If a Two-State solution is the only solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, why not Sri Lanka?

With this long but essential preamble, I can now deal with the situation in Sri Lanka, particularly focussing on the Sinhalese people.

The cause of the conflict

The true cause of the conflict – ‘war’ – has been Tamil nationalism and the Sri Lankan government’s decision to resist it, irrespective of the financial cost or human cost (to the Tamil people, and even to the Sinhalese). This has never been clearly explained to the Sinhalese people. What has been claimed is that it is ‘Tamil terrorism’ or a variant “The Tamils are trying to divide and destroy Sri Lanka”.

That is simply not true. The Tamils never wanted a Separate Tamil State. They were driven to it because of Sinhala-Buddhist ethnoreligious chauvinism and deliberate discrimination against the Tamils by a succession of Sinhalese governments. Even then, the Tamils tried non-violent Ghandi-style protests for decades. It got them nowhere.

It was a documented failure of non-violent protests that drove the Tamil youths (in 1972) to pick up arms to force the Sri Lankan government to address the problem.

To claim that it was the Tamil Tigers who wanted a separate Tamil State is arrant nonsense. It was the Tamil people who, in the 1977 General Election, gave their elected representatives an overwhelming mandate to secure a Separate Tamil State, Eelam.

Solutions other than war

There were other solutions available. The obvious one was to establish two Separate States – a Sinhalese State and a Tamil State as has been done in several countries – just a few of which have been set out above. This has certainly not been explained to the Sinhalese people.

“Giving our land” to the Tamil people

The entire concept of “giving” something to the Tamil people – in this case one third of “our land”, has been a serious problem. Discussions by Sinhalese of the Tamil people’s aspirations have always been couched in terms of a demand by “them” for something from “us”. What has been presented to the Sinhalese people is that “They want our land and we are not going to give it to them.

Sinhalese politicians, the Sinhalese media, and the most vociferous of them all, the Buddhist monks – all have used this frame of reference. The Sinhalese people do not have the slightest inkling of the fact that the Tamil people want nothing from them. The Tamil people are in possession of their homeland, they already live there (and have done so for centuries). All they want to do is to establish for themselves a State of their own in their homeland. The Sinhalese are not called upon to give anything to the Tamil people. A recognition that the Tamil nation owns the homeland in the North and East in which they live is simply a recognition of a self-evident reality. It s not an act of giving or sacrifice by the Sinhalese people – one cannot give to others what already belongs to them. If there is going to be peace, and most certainly, peace with justice, the Sinhalese consciousness must be changed to accept the true nature of the situation and that the misguided idea of “giving up” or “sacrificing” a part of “our territory” should be abandoned.

The mythical insecurity of the Sinhalese people

This goes back to Dutugemunu who felt that he could not stretch himself because of Tamils to the north and the sea to the south. This is why I dealt with this in some detail.

A latter day variant of this is that the Sinhalese have nowhere to go whereas the Tamils always have a home-base in India. A further variant is that the Sinhalese are a minority compared to the neighbouring Tamil people including the Tamil population of the Indian state of Tamilnadu.

These emotive ideas have been expressed by a succession of Sinhalese political and ethnoreligious chauvinists for a very long time. However absurd, they have played a major role in the Sinhalese psyche and ‘justification’ for crushing the Tamils.

None of them bear rational examination. Nobody is threatening to expel the Sinhalese from the territory they have lived for centuries and to drive them into the sea. Such fantasies are not consistent with even the most elementary level of sanity and are unworthy of a people such as the Sinhalese who have had a long and civilized history – and are reasonably well educated.

Equally nonsensical is the bogey that the Sinhalese nation has nowhere to go but the Tamil people have India. The first characteristic of a nation is that it is rooted to its territory. Nations do not pull up their stakes and march en masse into another country. There is no call on the Sinhalese people to go anywhere; the territory in which they have lived for centuries has sufficed pretty well for them and in many respects they are very fortunate in its possession. They should rejoice in it and prosper with its many resources instead of hallucinating about “nowhere to go”.

It is perfectly true that the Tamil people, taken as a whole, are more numerous than the Sinhalese. The whole world is covered with such juxtapositions. Indeed, the juxtaposition of small nations with big ones is the rule rather than the exception, and calls not for hysterical alarm and dismay but for sensible good neighbourly policies. No Sinhalese politician or leader has tried to dispel these fears – indeed many have played on them to draw support for their ethnic strategy.

To create the climate needed to turn the Sinhalese people towards peace and sanity, these psychological cobwebs should be dusted off and they must be encouraged to confront the world reality with clear-eyed vision and confidence.

There are other ‘problems’, all of which can be settled.

The ‘wrong’ ethnic group in the ‘wrong place’

There are about quarter of a million Sinhalese (increasing by the day!) living in the Tamil area (the North and East). If there is a sensible solution to this problem, they might find that they are a minority after being a majority. The same fears arose when the French under de Gaulle withdrew from Algeria leaving behind a population of a million ethnic French. It was then pointed out that an even larger number of ethnic Algerians had already settled in France.

There are at least half a million Tamils living in the Sinhalese South.

The existence of a minority of one ethnic group living in the ‘wrong place’, calls for reasonableness and moderation – not for panic.

The Muslims have resided in both the Sinhalese areas and the Tamil areas and have a centuries-long experience of being a minority wherever they have lived. They have faced no problem.

The ‘loss’ of land and coastline

If/when sense dawns, and the Tamil people are allowed to do what they want to do – secure the land (North and East) where they have lived for centuries, one-third of the land area and two thirds of the coastline will be in Tamil hands.

As for the land area, it will not be possible for the Sinhalese from the South to come en masse and steal Tamil lands (which they are doing at an alarming rate today). The question is “Where do they go?” The answer is that there are vast tracks of land in the Sinhalese South – in places like Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces where resettlement (or settlement) is possible. There is no ‘need’ to steal Tamil lands.

I draw attention to what I have stated earlier that the Sinhalese King Kavantissa who totally opposed his son Dutugemunu’s intention to fight the Tamils in the North, said that if he is determined to do so he should stop short of the ‘Great River’ because the land below this is more than enough for us to develop.

As for the coastline falling into Tamil hands, it is migrant Sinhalese fishermen who would be affected. It is very unlikely that this will be stopped since some of the fish are sold in the local market and will be beneficial to the local people. It is possible that there will be some sort of levy which will be passed on to the purchasers of the product so that the net effect on the fishermen will be marginal.

Cost saving by winding down the (massive) military

No one has pointed out to the Sinhalese that at the height of the war there were 175,000 military. After the end of the fighting, this has escalated to 200,000 and now to 300,000. The question is “Who is the enemy?”

It is a very relevant question because the Sinhalese people are paying for this massive military, the highest number per capita of the civilian population in any country in the world.

If there is peace with justice such a massive number of people in uniform, doing nothing, simply cannot be justified by even the most pessimistic.

Is the current ‘military solution’ really a solution to the problem?

The vast majority of the Sinhala people and all their leaders without a single exception believe that the current “military solution” has not only been possible but is also desirable. This illustrates how the long period of warfare has begun to obscure any clear understanding of the causes of the conflict. The fact that the LTTE is not the cause of the problem but the result of it is beyond the comprehension of the Sinhalese. The cause of the problem is Sinhala-Buddhist ethnoreligious chauvinism and simply crushing the result, the Tamil Tigers, is not a ‘solution’ There is a facile assumption that with the military defeat of the LTTE, Tamil nationalism itself will disappear. The lessons of history have simply not been learnt – that nationalism cannot be crushed. Two decades after the end of World War I, German nationalism reared its head again with a vengeance. After the end of World War II it was the vanquished who won the peace so resoundingly. The desirability of a military solution is a view that can be held only by ignoring the greatest and most pervasive international trend of 20th century history – the rise of ethnic nationalism.

The Sinhalese will have to ask the hard questions

The Sri Lankans, in particular the Sinhalese, will have to ask the hard questions from their Government and demand a response. It is their country that is being dragged before the UN Human Rights Council; it is their country that is being (rightly) targeted by internationally credible human rights groups and others.

Here are some questions that the Sinhalese will have to ask:

  1. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group have been excluded from the country. Why? What is there to hide?
  2. The Tamil areas in the North and East are under military occupation. The military are not there to administer, they are there to defend the country. What is the justification for military rule?
  3. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), condemned by every major human rights group in the world, remains unchanged. There are no longer ‘terrorists’. What then is the need for the PTA?
  4. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former Defence Secretary, against whom there is overwhelming evidence as the man responsible for the most serious violation of human rights, including mass killing, has not been charged. Why?
  5. What is the need for a 300,000-strong Armed (‘Defence’) Force? From whom are they defending the country?
  6. The country is seriously in debt and barely able to pay the interest without further borrowings. The people, their children and even grandchildren are being saddled with a crippling debt. Is that acceptable?

There are other questions which do not need to be gone into here because they have been very well dealt with in the just-released publication by PEARL (see below).

Hiding the truth. Continuing violation of human rights in the Tamil North and East

For the Sri Lankan government to simply prevent human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group and even UN investigators from entering the country achieves nothing In this day and age it is simply not possible to hide what is going on behind closed and censored doors. To believe that it can be is a demonstration of ignorance.

As recently as 21 April 2016, the Washington-based ‘PEARL’ (People for Equality and Relief in Sri Lanka) published a 48 page report:

“Withering Hopes” – New Report raises Concern – Sri Lanka’s Window for Reconciliation is Closing.

This explores why Sri Lanka’s elusive peace remains out of reach, detailing ongoing human rights violations, the militarization of the North-East, and obfuscation from the government on key issues such as accountability.

Continuing human rights violations in the North-East include violence and harassment by members of the security forces, occupation of traditional Tamil lands acquired illegally, torture and sexual violence of Tamils, absence of answers for families of the “disappeared,” and the continued detention of Tamil political prisoners without charge. The military remains heavily involved in civilian activities, such as running shops, farms, hotels and even pre-schools.


“Sri Lanka’s continuing lack of progress on key issues such as accountability and demilitarization throws into question the government’s sincerity and political will to implement the pledges it has made,” PEARL’s Advocacy Director Mario Arulthas said. “The government could have taken strong,  concrete measures to build confidence amongst Tamils over the last 15 months, but instead has continued policies in place under the Rajapaksa regime. This is not conducive for accountability and for an end to decades of state-impunity for crimes, both of which are integral to a lasting peace in the island.”



For Sri Lanka to experience lasting reconciliation between all communities, the grievances of the Tamil people must be addressed. This requires justice for the mass atrocities committed throughout the armed conflict, and significant changes to the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist nature of the state. Sustainable peace and reconciliation will require the government to act meaningfully, expeditiously, and in good faith when addressing Tamils’ legitimate misgivings and distrust, while also educating the Sinhala polity on the need for credible accountability and an inclusive, pluralistic society.

‘Peace’ with amity or enmity?

The Sinhalese people will have to decide whether they want to live with the Tamils in the North and East in amity or permanent enmity. The latter is what is happening today, and will continue to do so unless there is a change in strategy.

The Tamils wanting to develop their homeland, call it Eelam or anything else, is a state of mind. One cannot crush a state of mind with KFir jets, bombs and rockets. Indeed, the opposite. The suppressed anger of those who are the victims (Tamil civilians) has not gone away – it has only been silenced. It is a silence that might not, indeed will not, last.

It is now up to the Sinhalese people to get involved and ask the hard questions as to what is going on in the Tamil areas.

(My admiration and gratitude to an exceptional Sinhalese, the late Adrian Wijemanne, who told me on his death bed: “Use whatever I have written in any way that you want for the cause of the Tamil people who have suffered so much under a succession of senseless Sinhalese politicians”. This is what I have done.)

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Latest comments

  • 18
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    If at least, Tamils are allowed to live in peace without harassment, their hate of the regime will be progressively less and les as time goes by.
    But, this is not happening.

    Their greatest fear is that a more severe form of the PTA will be entrenched in the new constitution, with tragic consequences.
    The promise in the UNHRC resolution is now not even spoken about.

    • 14
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      What the majority know that you are an another stupid man who looked it up and and spit on. Sure we have problems, but the way your behaved yourself was beyond all betrayals. Yes we are all against anyone being nationalists- superior, far superior like Raja et al when it goes for national issues as if we the sinahalyas should have more rights … why actually, we are all the same whose blood vessels floow homosapien blood- not any other animal blood. Religions, race and others are just labels depending on the sitautions each one faced from birth to the end. Caling them selves buddhists, a larger portions of majority are caught by politicans greedy agendas. On one hand, putting the blame on entire folks is wrong, since human beings behave like animals if there are not better systems or guidlines them to follow.

      • 2
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        Punchiburamphi You say “for national issues as if we the sinahalyas should have more rights …” As the author say’s you the Sinhalayas make 74% of the Population .How come? If the Mahavamsa is correct. Vijaya and his gang of 700,Boat migrants from Bengal area came and landed near Puttalam in the 5th century BC. Viyaya and his Gangs married the Pandian Tamil Women. So your race is a hybrid. When Portuguese accidentally landed near Colombo-Kotte in 1505 king and his fratricidal sons invited and tempted the Portuguese due to their stupidity and finally handed the Kotte Kingdom to Portuguese in 1545. Jaffna kingdom in 1619 They had to fight. Kandyan kingdom was ruled by Vellore Tamil Nayaka kings from 1739 till 1815 when British captured the kingdom. Names that ends in Nayake’s are either half Tamils or Converts In the South of Ceylon those with Portuguese names are the dalites from Kerala, Tamil Nadu And Andhra brought to do menial jobs like Cinnamon peelers, Toddy Tappers, Chunnam makers, Dhobis-washmen, ECT,ECT. They are all now Sinhalays like you. The reason for Mahanama to write this mythology was his frustration seeing the decline of Buddhism in India, Tamil Buddhists were reverting back to Hinduism was his main reason to write this chronicle in Pali why not in Sinhala? As you know your language evolved in 8th century AD, That is; Three centuries after Mahanama wrote the Mahavamsa. Sinhala was a mixture of Pali, Elu(colloquial Tamil) and Pure Tamil. Modern Sinhalese also has Portuguese, Dutch and English Words. To explain how your Sinhalaya’s ‘MIND-SET’ had been Programed, please Read the Paragraph below;
        The Sinhala Politicians had mainly deceived the minorities during the consultative period before independence. In the post independence era they used their numerical majority to rule the country. The pre and post independence history does reveal that the Sinhala Political leaders of the 20th (Twentieth) century had actually grown with the mind set clouded with ‘Myths and Misconception’ preached in the Mahavamsa chronicle. So did the Sinhala populace. There had been no known nation building concept, but carefully sawn the seed of hatred to gain power to rule this Island. Both SLFP and UNP had been outbidding each other with ‘hatred Venom’ that has now seeped into the Sinhala Masses in the past century. What Dr Brain Seneviratne has written will not get into the hard-heads of racist and half baked so called educated intelligent people. It is like blowing a concha to a fully deaf person. Srilanka has a very sad story to exhibit to the Internationals.

        • 2
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          The Vijaya story is a myth that can never be proved, there is no such legend from any part of India of prince being banished with his rowdy friends. This was a plot hatched by the mad Buddhist monks who wrote Mahavamsa, many of them of South Indian origin, to create a different origin to the island’s semi Tamil Elu proper Tamil speaking Naga Yakka and Rakshas who converted to Buddhism, to state they are different from the Tamils who remained Hindu, so this will prevent them from reconverting back to their ancestral Hindu religion or having any sort of cordial relations or feelings towards their Tamil Hindu kin.
          You can see this same fairly tales and myths now being played out in modern times, by the Island’s Tamil Muslim elite, claiming a fake Arab origin for the island’s Muslims and brainwashing the Muslim masses to think that despite speaking Tamil and still largely following Tamil customs they are not Tamils but Arabs and to hate their fellow non Muslim Tamils and their real Tamil Dravidian origin.
          These are all manipulations done by nasty selfish religious and establishment to divide and rule
          Ironically the vast majority of the present day Sinhalese, many of whom are now beating the anti Tamil drum against the island’s indigenous Tamils and quoting the Mahavamsa to justify this, are descended from recent largely low caste South Indian immigrants, who imported into the island as slave labour by the Portuguese and the Dutch, largely from Tamil Nadu , then Tamil Kerala and some from what is modern southern Andhra.

    • 10
      14

      Yeah I can see the tamils being harassed in wellawatta, dehiwala, nuwara eliya, Jaffna, Gokanna….loads of bullsh1t

    • 2
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      But at the end of the day, Tamils lost didn’t they?

      So PTA is not the fault. PTA was right and truth prevailed.

  • 13
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    Ceylonese (Sinhalese) government turned on the Indigenous Tamils who had been there for thousands of years, and passed highly discriminatory legislation.

    When one goes for a drive often one sees these wheel hub-caps fallen-off from vehicles that pass by.

    You reason one know it has been left-behind is because its used to decorate the wheel of a car. No one uses hub-caps to decorate the road.

    One can easily determine where the wheel hub-cap belongs. Its easy to determine because its a single component part of a larger system.

    Similarly, the Tamil Vellala is just a hub-cap that was left-behind by a larger Tamil Varna vehicle.

    The Tamils presently in Ceylon are all the “sewer casts” of the Tamil Varna system. A Vellala like Wingeswaran will be lucky to be a bus driver in Tamil Nadu.

    When there is a system incursion the Tamil Aristocrats brings their menial castes like Wingeswaran here.

    They add the cost of Vellala shipment to the manifest. Although when they go back they just leave the menial castes behind. They are expendable in the Tamil Varna system.

    This time around the British brings a lot more menial caste Tamils and colonise the entire north east with them.

    So just by context one can determine whether the Tamils are “indigenous”. The Tamils are indigenous as much as a wheel hub-cap is “indigenous” on a side of a road.

    • 9
      17

      Such a harebrained contribution. Better you go back to bed and sleep it off.

      • 14
        5

        vibushana has forgotten to take his medication.

    • 6
      4

      vibushana

      wigneswaran and many jaffna tamil aristocracy come from the kalingha line from eastern india from where kalingha magha the first aryachakaravarthi of the jaffna kingdom came from.magha who was a kalingha prince like vijaya seemed to think the throne of lanka belonged to him and came with his orissan army not by sea but land route and on the way got telugu and tamil mercenaries too.

      • 4
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        So these are not indegenous then right? And the tobbaco growers brought by Dutch?

        • 1
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          sach

          the low country sinhalese who are now outnumber the upcountry are also not indigenous.In fact they are even more recent arrivals than kalingha magha and his soldiers,brought here by the sinhala kings to do the menial tasks that their people were too lazy to do.Now because of the universal franchise system they must be turning over in their graves for that decision that has made hambantota gobble up all the money which the upcountry generations will have to pay for forever.

          As for your tobacco farmers,get your eyes tested,as i have mentioned only the aristocracy.That is why there was intermarriages between the jaffna and kandyan kingdom aristocracy and they were allies,whereas the kandyans would never marry into the low country sinhalese.in fact they will say even now that not even allow a cat from the low country into their house,whereas they are quite comfortable with having jaffna tamils as boarders or lodgers.Obviuosly they would have had some nasty experiences from low country sinhalese like you who stab them in the back after enjoying there legendary hospitability.

          One reason JRJ wanted to teach amirthalingam a lesson by the july 83 riots was because of his cordial relationship with sirimavo.The kalingha line cannot be got rid of even with todays divisive politics.

    • 3
      3

      Vibhushana,

      According to Mahavamsa Dhutagamunu waged war with Elara becorse he could not steach himself as a result of the Tamil North. So do you think that after defeating the Tamils, he sinhalaised the north?

    • 14
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      Vibhushana has received a Sri Lankan tax payer funded education but serves the white man as a slave in another country. If Vibhushana can read this comment he can do so only because his untouchable (low caste) South Indian great grandparents who came to Sri Lanka as coolies for toddy tapping and cinnamon peeling got converted to Sinhala Buddhists and took advantage of the Sri Lankan tax payer funded education.

      The NE Tamils believe that the majority of Sinhalese are low caste South Indians who adopted the Sinhala-Buddhist identity after their arrival in Sri Lanka. Many of them were even brought by the Portuguese as cinnamon peelers and toddy tappers. Only low castes will convert to other races and religions. In Tamil Nadu, hundreds and thousands of low castes got converted to Buddhists. Even today in Tamil Nadu all the low caste Tamils are Buddhists. In other words, the majority of Sinhalese are actually low caste Tamils who got converted during the last 2000 years.

      It is proved that Bandaranayake, Jayawardena and Senanayakes also come from South Indian Tamil families.

      The hilarious part is, if any dick, tom or harry who came only yesterday converts himself as a Sinhala-Buddhist today, tomorrow he is entitled to say that he is a distinct lion-blooded Aryan tribe descended from Vijaya with a special claim to the land of Lanka over everyone else.

      • 4
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        If anyone has any problem in understanding the country’s problem as discussed by I.Hussein and Mahindapala that the country’s problem is nothing but Tamils’ ego centric mentality that made them think they are superior to all the others is the reason please read this Suresh’s ( sanksrit name holder) comment.

        As discussed by the likes of Jane Russel, when SL discovered many of its ancient cities and the sinhala peoples’ history Tamil politicians felt very uneasy..They asked the question, ‘what about us?’….Tamil vellala politicians always thought they are above the rest of the tamils because of their caste and above the sinhalese because of their race.

        But hey with universal suffrage the sh1t hits the fan. And they realized they will be reduced to what they really should be, a political non entity….so they converted the caste politics into a bigger project..the race project….

        As I have understood tamils ( SL specially) live with a constant desire of feeling they are superior to others.

        Mr.Suresh if low caste south indians came and became Sinhalese, we will heartily welcome them under our common sinhala heritage. we dont believe in your caste system so it does not matter to us.

        Are you a high caste vellala tamil? or did your non vellala low birth father send your mother to your Vellala boss in Jaffna at night like may tamils used to do? How did you became superior to others?

        • 1
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          sach

          “Mr.Suresh if low caste south indians came and became Sinhalese, we will heartily welcome them under our common sinhala heritage. we dont believe in your caste system so it does not matter to us.”

          You are speaking like you are a upcountry sinhalese,who are the original sinhalese,when you say you will welcome malayalees from kerala to become sinhalese.You will naturally welcome them because you are a low country sinhalese and naturally you don’t believe in caste when a upcountry sinhalese has disregarded your caste and ethnicity and did not object when you wanted to convert to sinhala bhuddhism.However they did object when you tried to go one step further and tried to join their maha sangha too.They told you to have your own sangha and not to try to pollute theirs.The day you can have your own bhikkus in their maha sangha and even one day a head of the malwatte or asgiriya chapter then you can say that they have accepted you as a fellow bhuddhist.You have to accept the fact that it may be difficult for them to accept converts as true believers and not opportunists and your behaviour too disgusts them.That is why you can’t sit at the same table in their sangha.

          • 0
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            what a load of bullsh1t is that? does that even have a meaning?

      • 1
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        very disgusting comments Suresh, No human is inferior or superior. Fighting for your rights is one thing, bet degrading others caste is not good.

    • 7
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      Indian mercenaries, Malayali toddy-tappers, coir workers, South Indian fishers, goldsmiths, cinnamon peelers, merchants et al did not arrive with the prince nor are they descendants of Kuveni.

      Well over half of each community comprises immigrants.

      There has been mixing too. The Arab traders, the Portuguese, Dutch and English seafarers came without their women.
      Compare our range of complexions. Many owe their lighter skin hues to them if not a stray lonely Brahmin.

      We are a mixed lot who are even more mixed up in our thinking.

    • 4
      1

      Hi Vibhushana you write full of rubbish without using your brain. This comment just reflects your inner feelings! Are you one of those menial Tamil brought in by Portuguese, taken one of their surnames but kept the Tamil name as your first name Vibhushana. Like Vasudeva! This goes to prove your origin. Many who voice anti-Tamil feelings are those people like you. A true or real Sinhalese like Brain Seneviratne are able to understand the unjust meted out to Tamils in the post independent era. The Father of the Nation DS.S who’s life was spared by Sir Ponnampalam Ramanathan in 1915 from court Martial, turned against the Tamils with colonisation scheme as far back as 1930’s. and first to disfranchise the Tamils who were and are the back bone of Lanka’s GDP in 1949. His colonisation started in 1950.If he had continued to have lived in whole of 1950’s; that is if he had survived the fall from his horse in 1952 he would have out Bid SWRD B on the Sinhala only in 1956.

  • 13
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    Why blame the bristish. It was your ancestors that aided and abetted them , it was your ancestors that benefited from the exploitation of bristish colonialism, It is your ancestors that became christians and suppressed the poor sinhala buddhists, It was your ancestors that were given the land of the poor taken over by the waste lands act . For you to blame the bristish is hypocritical . Blame your ancestors.

    • 8
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      Main article: Christianity in Sri Lanka
      According to Christian traditions, Christianity introduced by Thomas the Apostle in Sri Lanka[4] (as well as India) during the 1st century. After his arrival, small Christian settlements were recorded to have been established on Sri Lanka’s coastline.[dubious ] However, the population of Christians in Sri Lanka didn’t dramatically increase until the arrival of Portuguese missionaries during the 15th century. In the 17th century, the Dutch took over Sri Lanka and Dutch missionaries were able to convert 21% of Sri Lanka’s population to Christianity by 1722.
      Vas,
      Don’t exhibit your gross ignorance. Fundamental precept of Buddhism is “don’t insult other faiths”.
      I think Brian in this article is addressing empty vessels like you in his vain attempt to educate you.

      • 8
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        Rangan Fernando,
        no one insulted christianity but it is a well known truth that some became christians and joined hands with colonial powers to exploit the poor most of whom happened to be buddhists. To deny that is not only hypocritical but also displays your ignorance of history. being christian traitor has nothing to do with christianity but a reflection of the individual.

        • 10
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          vas

          “no one insulted christianity but it is a well known truth that some became christians and joined hands with colonial powers to exploit the poor most of whom happened to be buddhists”

          are you referring to those two communal characters SWRD and JRJ.

          And the best joke was the sinhala bhuddhist modayas voted for them when they took up the bhuddhist flag and started waving it.

    • 5
      0

      Vas,

      We often hear the Sinhala racists and the Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinists say the Tamils were favored by the European colonials.

      Who took the Portuguese surnames De Silvas, Fernandos, Dias, Coorays, De Souzas, Pereras, Peiris, Mendis and so on and hired their women to the Portuguese just for a bottle of wine?

      The Sinhalese or the Tamils?

      Christian Elites were as common among the Sinhalese as Tamils. There were MORE COLONIAL BOOT LICKERS AMONG THE SINHALESE THAN AMONG TAMILS. MANY SINHALA ELITES WERE BY PRODUCTS OF THE COLONIAL GENE POOL AND THAT WAS NOT THE CASE AMONG THE TAMIL ELITES. The descendants of these mixed blooded Sinhala leaders suddenly became the DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF DUTTU GEMUNU, a logic only Sinhalese can understand. There were more Sinhala elites who were the lap dogs of the British than the Tamils.

      STARTING FROM Don Stephen Senanayake (son of Don Spater Senanayake), through Dudley Shelton Senanayake, Sir John Lionel Kotelawala, Neelaperumalge Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (previously Kalukapuge), Wijeyananda Dahanayake, Sirimavo Banadaranaike (of Mawalatenne Mohattala lineage), Thambi Mudiyansalage Junius Richard Jayawardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa (son of Richard Ranasinghe), Dingiri Banda Wijetunge, Chandrika Banadaranaike Kumaratunge and Mahendra PERCIVAL Rajapakse (Son of GEORGE Rajapakse), among our heads of government from Independence to date, I find only two men who can claim to have been untainted by the `ADAPTATION TO COLONIAL SYNDROME`, in name, religion or way of life.

      The lap dogs of the colonial rulers of the past, had however very quickly become the keepers of a pernicious Sinhala-Buddhist ideology.

      • 2
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        Kumar,
        Don’t be a biggott and racist. It is well documented that Sir Lenard Woolf lost his virginity to a jaffna Tamil girl when he assumed his job as the government agent. People in glass houses should not throw stones. Its this communal mentality of ignorant people like you who used the poor Tamil child soldiers as cannon fodder whilst being in the safety amongst the Sinhalese that should be blamed for a never ending communal disharmony.

        • 2
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          “Sir Lenard Woolf lost his virginity to a jaffna Tamil girl when he assumed his job as the government agent.”

          Ha, ha, ha

          This Vas fellow seems to be an expert in creating fairy tales from thin air… LOL!

  • 0
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    [Edited out]

    • 2
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      Censor ?? Are you guys bum sucking this terroristidiot?

  • 8
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    Dr. Brian Senewiratne

    RE: What The majority Sinhalese Must Know

    What The majority Tamils Must Know too, about the Vellahalas.

    Both these Para-Idiots believe that the Sun goes around the earth, in addition to Mahawansa Tales and Vellahala Tales.

    There are at least four important factors that have to be addressed:

    The failure of the colonial British to see the difference between a nation and a community. Sri Lanka is a British colonial construct that has failed – as have so many colonial constructs.

    The Mahavamsa and the Mahavamsa mind-set that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala-Buddhist nation. If it is, then there is no alternative to setting up a separate Tamil State since the Tamils are neither Sinhalese nor Buddhist.

    Yes. Please refer to Sinhala as Para-Sinhala, and Tamils as Para-Tamils and the Land as the Land of Native Veddah Aethho.

    Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations.

    Journal of Human Genetics (2014) 59, 28–36; doi:10.1038/jhg.2013.112; published online 7 November 2013

    Lanka Ranaweera1,3, Supannee Kaewsutthi1,3, Aung Win Tun1, Hathaichanoke Boonyarit1, Samerchai Poolsuwan2 and Patcharee Lertrit1

    http://www.nature.com/jhg/journal/v59/n1/full/jhg2013112a.html

    Through a comparison with the mtDNA HVS-1 and part of HVS-2 of Indian database, both Tamils and Sinhalese clusters were affiliated with Indian subcontinent populations than Vedda people who are believed to be the native population of the island of Sri Lanka.

    The Sinhalese people, Para-Sinhala, will have to decide whether they want to live with the Tamils, Para-Tamils, in the North and East in amity or permanent enmity. The latter is what is happening today, and will continue to do so unless there is a change in strategy between the two Paras.

    Can you ask the Paras to get back to their homeland, Hindia, or India?

  • 2
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    [Edited out]

  • 9
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    jim softy the dimwit

    “[Edited out]”

    Thanks for keeping it brief.

    • 2
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      Dumb Native Veddo:

      What else to say about Dalit Tamils ?

      That includes you.

      CT editorial board includes Dalits.

      • 8
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        jim softy

        “CT editorial board includes Dalits.”

        Are you a descendant of Brahmin kallathoni who is now converted to Sinhala/Buddhism?

        Would you like to replace the current CT editorial team with your kallathonie converts?

        Instead try build your own anti sudra website and see how long you can survive in this 100% Sudra world.

  • 6
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    The author must generate a Sinhala version and distribute among the Sinhalese. They will realize the magnitude of the threat and it is no time to be complacent.

    Soma

    • 6
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      soma,

      Brian has not prevaricated; he has laid bare everything that needed to be said. You appear to hide behind the general Sinhala public; what is in your view “the magnitude of the threat”?

      • 0
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        May be I am wrong here. They will realise the truth in his clear logic(after 2000 years) and accept the boundaries set by Devanampiyatissa. BI, probably you can organize a Sinhala version for publication in Sinhala media.

        By the way, those who practice Islam have been expelled from the club? Which side of the line they are supposed to sit?

        Soma

        • 4
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          soma,

          You have not answered my question? What is in your view “the magnitude of the threat”? You made this statement and you should have a rational for it.

  • 6
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    What about India ? How many little states can we have there ?

    • 2
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      Thats our problem, we know how to settle, unlike you idiots

  • 9
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    Hi Brian,
    All what is said in your article is true.
    The main cause of all the communal, religious and other faction in Sri Lanka is that we are all not Sri Lankans.
    We are catagorised by a race catagory. Please refer to your birth certificate as see if are a Sri Lankan or a Sinhalese, Tamil, Burger, Malay or a muslim.
    None of us are Sri Lankans we are catagorised by are caste.

    See the birth certificates of any other country like India, Australis or England to name a few.
    They are Indians, Australians or British and they are proud to be called Indians or Australians or British.

    Can all Sri Lankans who are actually not change the system and have the Birth Certificate classed as Sri Lankans and not by the ethanic class.

    • 4
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      Very true, Kumar!

  • 3
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    Thanks uncle Brian for the Thamil take on our Sinhala History.

    You have done it better than the best Ve;llas who are tutoring us.

    TNA Araham promised the SLMC that Vellala Smabandan wouldn’t call them Thami anymore..

    And allow the Vellala CM to reclassify then in to a subclass even in the North let the East..

    So it is all go for the Vellala dream of Eelaam although it will a sort of Clayton.version with out the East.

    But Vellala Wiggy’s Two in One aka Ponna’s old 50 : 50 is a problem.

    I am not saying this.

    It comes from the big ass UNP MP Ajith Perera’ who says vellala Sambandan must be kidding if he thinks Batalanda will give him Federal.

    Looks like there is Manday Cathal ( Shit Fight in the UNP Board Room) although Batta has his MOU with the TNA boss Vellala Sambandan and reformed Tiger. Surendran.

  • 7
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    Brian, the same issue is burning every citizens mind. Politicians has secured themselves with the power of corruption. Forces are tamed to protect the corrupt from citizens who raise questions. Judiciary is appointed by the politicians, high ranking public officials are appointed by politicians, then how can justice prevail? Now they allocate billions worth of luxuries for themselves while taking hefty loans from IMF to ease the economic stress. Any person with common sense will cut down unnecessary expenditures, whereas Ministers are over spending. This is day light robbery and crime against the state. We have executives who should be executed first.

  • 11
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    Dr Brian Senivirutne is seeing the truth like Lord Buddha himself. But the fact is the Sinhala politicians want to make Sri-Lanka a Sinhala land irrespective of the myth that the Sinhala race is a mixture of all races on earth. This is not to claim that the Tamils are pure as a Dravidian race.

    Historical facts points to the truth that the founders of the Mohande Jaro- Harappa civilisation were Drvidians and they were more advanced than the present Western civilisation. The barbarians or Nature did the havoc and that civilisation was liquidated. The people of South India and the North of Sri-Lanka are the remnants of that majestic civilisation.

    Even as late as 1918 the Sinhalese people were leaderless and trusted the South Indians to rule them eg Sri Wicremarajasinghe alias Kandasamy. Even as late as 1918 the Sinhala leaders pulled the chariot where Sir Pon Ramanathan was seated after returning from England saving the Sinhala leaders who were imprisoned for communal violence against the Muslim minorities in Galle etc.
    Memories are short for some humans who are sadistic.

    The British were a nation of shop keepers as described by Nepoleon Bonaparte. They were the least concerned about the rights of the indigenous people. They just wanted to control the natives and carry on their tea and condiments trade.

    After independence in 1948 some Sinhala leaders foolishly thought to keep the power of government for themselves as they were the majority and were misguided by extremist. This ultimately resulted in the genocide of May 2009 in Mullivaikal. Is there any deadly war crime than what was staged at Mullivaikal. Channel 4 Video of Mr Callum Macray is the evidence for this.

    Now the two races who were kept together by the British have parted their ways and the Sinhalese are trying to patch up the cleavage by drawing a new constitution and shelving the International Inquiry into the war cremes that was mandated by UNHRC.

    The respect of the Sri-Lanka nation is at stake. Better late than never. Have an inquiry into the war crimes of May 2009 and devolve power to the Tamils Nations on this findings else this rot will go on for ever to the detriment of the pearl of the Indian Ocean.

    It will be foolish to educate the already convinced Sinhalese who thinks that Sri-Lanka is their’s only. Most Sinhalese know their history and origin. Why waste time?

    • 4
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      Dr Thiagarajah

      “It will be foolish to educate the already convinced Sinhalese who thinks that Sri-Lanka is their’s only. Most Sinhalese know their history and origin. Why waste time? “

      I am with you.

      Soma

  • 11
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    Its people like you Brian, who keep the mistrust and hatred burning. Your many articles push moderate Tamils and Sinhalese into the arms of racists.

  • 9
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    Oh Brian! Brian! Brian!

    You march us up to the top of the hill, then down again. You lead us round and round the Mulberry Bush till we are giddy, then abandon us in the dusty wastelands of uncertainty. You are a proper caution.

    Only thing is, all this is a bit rich coming from you who have sought peace in a British Colonial creation that happily trampled on the indigenous peoples for years.

    Leave us be Brian, and let us work our way to that Happy Dawn when WE are all finally one happy nation.

    • 5
      6

      Spring Koha,

      Brian’s article is needed badly to educate the Sinhala and remind everyone that, the Tamils will eventually be subjugated lock, stock and barrel if nothing is done. He echoed the age old sentiment among the Tamils that the Sinhala will not give anything!

      Are we working our way towards that happy Dawn? I think not!

      • 2
        2

        Yes, the doughty Brian’s consistency is to be admired, but the thing is he goes a bit too far.

        And I think that the Thomian fraternity will soon enough cotton on to the fact that he has written something again.

        Dear Spring Koha, I guess you know Brian personally; I don’t, but I know many of his relatives. All in all, it’s strange, but methinks not unwelcome to have a Sinhalese “spitting in the air”. Brian must be as old as Izeth Hussain, actually!

  • 10
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    Dr.Brian Senewiratne.

    My admiration and Gratitude to an exceptional Srilankan like you as well,in addition to Adrian Wijemanne.
    I am just gazing at a Photo with you and Adrian at the latters residence at Cambridge.
    This is in the book Sri Lanka: Witness to History by S.Sivanayagam.
    Be Thou Forever!

    • 0
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      Plato

      What is the purpose of this write-up by Mr Brian Seneviratne?

      Soma

  • 7
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    Dear Dr Brian,

    When many other countries with many ethnic diversity and multiculturalism have developed and prospered, Sri Lanka is buried with prejudice in the so called Mahavamsa mindset. They have missed the bus.

    Please add another question to your list.

    Do the majority Singhalese realise and want to live and let live with the Tamils to prosper and develop together as two separate nations, or be eaten by their own conscience of Mahavamsa mindset, into debt, poverty, misery and the inherited karma, as a pariah state.

    Manicka Vasagar

    • 3
      3

      Mr. Manicka Vasagar,
      In Colombo now there are more Tamils than Sinhalese. I do not see any Mahawamsa Mindset among the Sinhalese who live in harmony with Tamils. This time when I was in Sri Lanka I visited a place where people from Galle who were affected by Tsunami are settled. There Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims live in harmony. If the Tamils who live all over Sri Lanka buying property from Sinhalese have a problem they will not stay. On the contrary more and more Tamils are moving from North to South. The problem is only for the Vellala Tamil politicians who want to thrive by creating tension among Tamils and Sinhalese. First, Vellala Tamils should eradicate discrimination against low cast Tamils before they talk about discrimination by Sinhalese. What I understand is it is in the rise after the death of Prbhakaran. So first get your house in order without talking about Mahawamsa mindset.

  • 3
    1

    There does need to be a political solution that is fair by all people,
    so that Sri Lanka can move forward as a nation. That’s the path an intelligent
    and humane populace would take.

    This fact must not be ignored amidst the never-ending mudslinging over
    Dutugamunu and Elara and the like.

  • 2
    5

    When Brian Seneviratne is hilarious this time,too

  • 1
    3

    [Edited out] no country in the world should be divided , all those so called Tamils adapt to all deferent western countries taking their way of life but in sri lanka they need 1/2 for 11 % of the population, world has changed a lot during last 20 years, just live happily

  • 0
    1

    Hi Brian Indians in other Indian colonies are no different to Indian in the island nation.

    Indian colonial parasites are the problem whwereever they are. Mauritius and Guyana are Indian States,

    Ceylon got all these Indians the same way Indians went to Fiji that is close to Australia.

    • 3
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      “Indians in other Indian colonies are no different to Indian in the island nation.”

      You are right!

      They came in a boat (Vijaya and 700 men)from India and grabbed other people’s country.

  • 4
    2

    I suggest Brian to send a translation of this write-up in Sinhala to
    the media in the hope some will get educated – a need in this century.
    It is far better for Sri Lanka in the long run, to settle the issue
    with a Federal Division. I hear that Tamil is so honoured, among 4000 languages, by a TAMIl verse on the lentil of a UN Hallway in NY?

  • 4
    3

    Brian Seneviratne, driven by his pet peeve against the Sinhala people and their leaders through whom he could not get his personal ambitions fulfilled, and frustrated beyond measure, has gone global for years with his anti-Sinhala diatribes regarding the latter’s various deficiencies and ineptitudes (although he comes from the same gene pool). His antipathy to Sri Lanka being recognized historically as a Sinhala Buddhist nation and anything recorded in the “Chronicles”,i.e., the Mahawamsa, Chulawamsa, etc, which were respected by all the successive colonial administrations, is also well known. He has lost no opportunity to decry them.
    The post-Independence efforts of Tamil leaders aiming at a separate state and the ensuing 3 decades of ethnic conflict brought out a hate-filled rejection of what is derogatorily described by Sinhala haters as the “Mahawamsa mindset”, a term that recurs ad nauseam in these CT columns. However, these Chronicles are national archaeological treasures and are treated as such by the world’s Museum Libraries and archival collections.
    Brian Seneviratne’s rantings have been heard for decades and no one including his own son, takes him seriously.

  • 2
    3

    This ‘Kalu Sudda’ is repeating the same old Bshit. Although he has a doctorate, this man knows very little about history of the country called ‘Ela Nadu’ by Tamils. Ela Nadu means country of ‘Helayas’. It is true that a Tamil was ruling the northern part of Sri Lanka at the time of the arrival of Portuguese. Before this Tamil ruler established his authority, this area was ruled by Sinhala kings. If you read the history of Sri Lanka it is a tale of South Indians invading Sri Lanka and Sinhala kings waging wars to chase them out. At times, Sinhala kings succeeded and at times they failed. When they failed the conquerors established their rule. Prabhakaran’s attempt to create a separate State is a continuation of that old trend.

    Talking about the recent situation, who started racial riots after independence. It was Tamils after the official language was changed from English to Sinhala. They started attacking Sinhala people who lived in Jaffna and burnt down the only Sinhala school in Jaffna. I personally know some people who were chased out from Jaffna. All the bakeries in Jaffna were run by people from Matara, my home town. All of them were chased out and never got a chance to return. In 1950s Tamil politicians had uttered in public meetings “Sinhalyange ham waling sapaththu mahanawa” kiyala. So do not point finger at Sinhalese saying that the racial problem is due to their Mahawamsa mindset. King Dutugemunu is a hero to Sinhalese but I have noticed that ‘Kalu Suddas’ make deliberate attempts to tarnish his image. I hope CBK will not propose to delete his name from history books. I heard this ‘Chaura Regina’ saying in a public gathering that certain sections in history books that are detrimental to reconciliation will be removed.

  • 2
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    Soma.

    You pose the question…
    What is the purpose of this write-up by Mr.Brian Seneviratne?
    Perhaps,to scan the Conscience of those who are unrepentant!

  • 4
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    In this otherwise interesting study Dr. Brian S appears to have missed some important points. Bhikku Mahanama, widely believed to have written the Mahawansa, was a Tamil – probably from the then Madurai kingdom.
    Yet another point is the Sinhalese Buddhists became aware of the existence of this epic only from British historians here – said to be less than 200 years ago.

    Pandaranayagam

  • 2
    1

    Thank you BS for highlighting the obstacles created by the majority of the majority. These obstacles caused Sri Lanka to go down the slippery slope since 1948. SL has not reached the bottom to get up and go up the hill.

    The Sinhalese politicians, media and ethno religious bigots work only for their self interests. Ruling of the country is controlled by these 3 groups. The majority of the majority mainly votes for either UNP or SLFP. The media and the ethno religious bigots mainly patronises either UNP or SLFP or vice versa.
    What personages of the majority of the majority votes for JVP or other left parties and national parties ?
    After 2009, the political leaders missed the opportunity to resolve many of the national issues.
    Now only the youths from the majority whether they are in SL or living as diaspora groups overseas can bring that political change through parliamentary system. MaRa Bros & Co must not be brought back to power. It is time for MR to gracefully retire from active politics in the best interest of the country.

  • 2
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    Dr. Brian Seneviratne, though you condemn Mahawanse, you seem to have a knack for believing in the rot in it. Gemunu was 25 yrs when he killed Elara 75 yrs.There could have been no fight between them. As a Doctor of Medicine you should realize that it is impossible to hold such a fight.

    Secondly the story about pouring molten ore on Gemunu’s elephant is pure bunkum.Where was the ore melted, on top of the palisade – impossible, the palisade would have collapsed at the high temperature that has to be attained to melt the ore.If it was on the ground, how was the vessel raised as described in the Mahawanse? The foolish man who wrote this does not realize a container of molted ore cannot be raised, unless one use high temperature with standing “rope”.No such rope had been referred to. Secondly while being raised from the ground, due to the temperature difference, the molten ore will solidify.Even if the molten ore was at the top of the palisade, when poured it will solidify withing seconds.

    “From this deed arises no hindrance in they way to heaven….Unbelievers and men of evil life were they, not more to be esteemed than beasts. But for thee, thou will bring glory to the doctrine of Buddha in manifold ways. Therefore cast away care from thy heart, O ruler of men”. -” This is sacrilege, an insult to Buduhamuduruwo.

    I have read that kavantissa’s relations were Hindus and not Sinhalese, this can be believed because even in the South, there many remnants of Hindu culture available even today.Those archeological remnants unless destroyed during the past 20-30 years, should be there.

    Mahawanse also falsified the story about the Lion.Who sutured the lady’s vagina after it had been ruptured by a lion’s penis entering her.The lion must be having a penis a foot long. That would have ruptured the lady’s kidneys,diaphragm As a Doctor can you tell me of a single human species produced through zoophilia.

    Mahawanse also says that Buduhamuduruwo wanted God Saman to protect Vijaya. Considering what had been said of Vijaya ancestry and the reason for his expulsion, do you think that Buduhamuduruwo would have done that.

    Then Mahawanse says that 700 “princesses” was brought down to Lanka for Vijaya and his crew.Who is the Princess who will cohabitate with a criminal Vijaya ( as had been described by Mahawanse)and a prostitutes son?( Mahawanse describes Vijaya’s mother as a prostitute.

    After reading that people from India had migrated to far away places like Australia centuries ago, with the Sethusamudran crossing in place, I suspect that Kuveni was of Indian stock and was a “Hindu”.If that is so that makes Kuveni’s people the original inhabitants of Lanka.

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    Dr Seneviratne,
    what the majority sinhalese must know in relation to their lovely land that has been blessed in abundance and is now tottering on the brink of utter failure to a failed state is,

    1. When Ceylon was given independance it was handed over in a perfectly faultless condition. Every part of the machinery of governance was ticking perfectly, so much so that there was not a single damn local politician who had brains to maintain that fine ticking mechanism of governance.

    2. There were many, repeat many a good civil and public servants and educated, sane thinking, intelligent people from all ethnic backgrounds who did their best, very best to do their jobs but were intimidated by the up and coming sinhalese politicians who realised in their cynical ways that they would never have a ghost of a chance of coming into power if those hardworking public servants continued to do their jobs perfectly.

    3. The shroud, cynical, vulgar, sinhalese politicians realised that the only potent ingredient that was available to them to add into the ugly pot of rascism slowly brewing at that time was to whip up some sort of anti ethnic unrest that would be the begining of the end of the bright light of progress and prosperity that lay ahead.
    One does not need to go into detail about the starting of it all but if you need a reminder dear Sir, then your pm SWRDB was the man who started it all. Once again details are to much to put down here but any fool knows about it.

    4. The good sinhalese people were taken as fools, idiots, yakkos, buffoons etc from that time onwards for all politicians to ride on till now, why !!!!!!! because there was no proper leader to lead them and say ” this is our land, the land of all and not of any particular individual or individuals, and if you do not learn, earn and work hard then its all lost.”
    If there were honest silent leaders in the waiting they were hounded and silently done awqay with.
    The ugly majority politicians knew that as long as they fooled and kept fooling the masses they would prosper in a bloody corrupt manner.
    Its too late now to undo what has been done as the damage is beyond reality and repair.
    The good people are no more good now, but corrupted like their masters.
    It was seen then, it can be seen now and it will be seen.

    5. Please dont blame the former colonial British rulers for faults,
    yes !!! your faults, they are not the underdog, but the damn politicians who are still walking around in a bloody drunken stupor trying to prevent a blessed land of plenty from falling down.
    Who built your country’s infrastructure as it stands today. ??????
    Your leaders. ????????? No. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    They built hatred, enimity, jealousy, anger, destruction, so on and so forth together with the country’s foremost clergy.

    If you think that the minorities are not a part of the nation and only the two major communities, then you to are in a drunken stupor.
    The minorities many of them or all have left for greener pastures and are doing bloody well. They were chased out and off in a cynical way because they were a hindrance to the ugly politicians and their evil progress. Thank God they had places to go.
    If they were allowed to stay then Ceylon ( Sri lanka ) would be a lovely , bright, diversified melting pot of culture, ethnic harmony, unbeleivable progress and prosperity. Take Malaysia as a example.

    5. Finally there is no need to divide Sri lanka, and pray it will not happen. There is no need even to mention about division. Good Godly people dont divide. They share and bring together.
    Evil, selfish, people divide and dont share. !!!!!!!!!!!

    6. What Sri lanka needs is good governance, and for that to happen something similar to major surgery is needed even though the post surgery pain may be felt for sometime. Religion must be reigned in and qurantined inside the walls of worship. Vulgar politicians must be done away with even in the most vile manner. Budding vulgar politicians must be reigned in, warned and re-educated the hard way if kindness does not apply. Honest, good, sincere, persons given a chance to prove their abilities. The past completely forgotten and new start made.
    Yes !!! its not easy but it can be done. If there is a will there is away. Its sad that the majority sinhalese people have been hijacked all the way since 1948 and they must be made to know that.

    Finally dont take all to be fools. ” Some fools try to fool all the people all the time and can only fool some of the people some of the time. ”

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    You keep on claiming falsely that you’re a cousin of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge. Can you please tell us all how you’re related. No one has heard of you in the political circles. What exactly is your family tree. Why is this relevant? Because you keep bolstering your arguments by dropping names all the time about how you’re CBK’s cousin. PROVE IT.

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