By C.V. Wigneswaran –
Justice C.V. Wigneswaran MP
Someone asked me three questions; A. The majority of this country are Sinhala Buddhists. What is wrong in calling this country Sinhala Buddhist? B. You welcomed certain aspects of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s policies. Yet you oppose the 20th Amendment which clothes him with power to carry out his policies. Why? C. You are on record as a person wanting peace and reconciliation in this Country. Why have you started on the wrong foot? You have already been branded as an extremist, separatist and a friend of terrorists. How are you going to retrieve the respect and goodwill that you have lost in recent times?
My responses were: I thank you for these questions. They are very comprehensive to answer yet topical. Let me deal with them one by one.
A. Is this Country Sinhala Buddhist?
Reply: This country at one time in History was majority Buddhists. But the Country was never Sinhala Buddhist. Those who received Buddhism into this Country were the Tamils. Devanampiya Theesan was certainly a Tamil. His father was Mootha Sivan. The Westerners who wrote our History did not realize that the Sinhala Language and the Sinhala people came in much later in History. Almost a thousand years after introduction of Buddhism into this Island did the mixed language called Sinhala come into being. Sinhalese are those who spoke the Sinhala language. Nowhere have those who spoke Pali been called Sinhalese. They were Tamils who spoke Pali. In any event when this Country was divided into 3 or 4 kingdoms the Citizens were of those Kingdoms. They were not identified as Tamils and Sinhalese as we do today.
In recent times there is a new language being formed in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It might be called Tamlish. They speak Tamil interspersed with lots of English words. And that language is very popular in TVs, Films, Radios and at various public meetings. Soon with a Tamil background English will be spoken or with an Anglo Saxon background Tamil would be spoken. And that would take the form of a new language.
The Sinhalese language came about by speaking the Tamil and Pali languages interspersed with each other. Tamil with Pali or Pali with Tamil. Even certain Dialects contributed to the formation of the new language called Sinhalese in the 6th and 7th Centuries after Christ (Anno Domino).
So to speak of this Country being Sinhala Buddhist is erroneous. Original Buddhists throughout the Country were Demala Baudayos or Tamil Buddhists. There were no Sinhalese then. Thus Dushta Kaamini was a Tamil Buddhist while Ellalan was a Tamil Saivite.
All this certainly will sound crazy to many Sinhalese who have been conditioned to believe otherwise. We now have many historical evidences which confirm that those who received Buddhism into this Island were Tamils. There was no Sinhalese language at the time of arrival of Buddhism. I have suggested the formation of a Commission to probe into this and write a true history of this Country.
Simply because the majority in this Country are Sinhala Buddhists does not give the right to call the Country Sinhala Buddhist. The North and East have been majority Tamil speaking areas throughout history. They jettisoned Buddhism at some stage of our history. May be because of the rise of the Bakthi Cult in South India which spilt over into the North and East of this Country. This Country had been blessed with five Shivalingams from pre historic times. The Naguleswaram at Kirimalai in Jaffna District; The Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar District; The Thirukoneswaram in Trinco District; The Thondeswaram in Matara District at Dondra and Munneswaram in Chilaw . Until 100 years ago Negombo, Chilaw and Puttalam Districts were majority Tamil speaking areas. When I went to my friend’s house in Negombo as a boy the parents spoke to me in good Tamil. I found even later the grandparents of modern day Sinhala Catholics there spoke Tamil and used the Tamil Bible at Services. Their old title deeds were in Tamil.
The miracles performed by Saivite holy men among Hindus must have attracted the Tamil Buddhists back to Hinduism in the early days.
Even in recent times it were the miracles performed by Sai Baba which attracted many Buddhists towards him. Therefore the areas in the North and East to which our Sinhalese brethren were only brought in recent times under the guise of colonization and other means must not be termed Sinhalese areas. North and East have been traditionally Tamil speaking areas. Now Buddhism does not exist in those areas. Islam, Christianity and Hinduism are the religions of the North and East. Not Buddhism. How could you then call the entire Country as Sinhala Buddhist?
The Country came together as one Country only in 1833 under the British. The Jaffna kingdom was not Buddhist. Therefore we must allow North and East to be secular while you call the other seven Provinces Sinhala Buddhist if you want or in the alternative make the entire Country secular. If majority in numbers must be considered, the majority in the North and East have always been non Sinhala Buddhist. Certain Sinhala areas in Amparai District were added for Political reasons. But by and large the North and East are non-Sinhala Buddhist areas. Therefore this Country being referred to as Sinhala Buddhist is factually wrong.
B. Why do you oppose 20th Amendment?
Reply: Supporting good aspects of an administration does not mean we must help to corrupt such administration to indulge in anti- social activities in the future. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely said Lord Acton. This is true unless the Head of administration has a religious background like Sita’s father King Janaka. He was a saint at heart but an administrator by profession. Such People would never act against the interests of any human being however much they may be clothed with power and authority. In this respect the present President has a lot of minus points. (1) He has a military background. Therefore by nature he cannot brook any opposition. He is used to commanding and others carrying out his commands. Democracy would suffer under him. (2) He belongs to a political family which has taken over from the Bandaranaikes the whip hand with regard to governance. He would consider himself divinely brought to power to do as he pleases. Twentieth Amendment would clothe him to jettison democracy to the dustbin. All in the name of the people! (3) He is already conditioned to believe this Country is Sinhala Buddhist which it is not. He would go on to do much mischief and harassment in the North and East clothed with so much of power wanting to transform Non Sinhala and Non-Buddhist North and East into Sinhala Buddhist areas. Though he would be committing genocide by his acts he would not bother much about it because majority Sinhala Buddhists of other seven Provinces would support him. (4) He is a suspect in the eyes of the UN as having been connected to the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the War which ended on 18th May 2009. He would do everything to save himself and his acolytes with so much of power reposed in him.
I have referred only to the present incumbent. Absolute power in the hands of any other person too could lead to corruption and dictatorial tendencies which is not healthy to a democratic public life.
20th Amendment seeks to get rid of the checks and balances placed on the executive presidency. If 20th Amendment is passed there would be dictatorship in Sri Lanka for a long time. There could be no doubt about it. For example I will not be able to write like this. Next day I would be gone!
C. Are you an extremist, separatist and a terrorist?
Reply: By nature I cannot be an extremist, separatist nor a terrorist. I love humanity. I love all beings. There are no White and Blacks, Westerners and Easterners, Chinese and Indians, Sinhalese and Tamils in my perception. They are all humans. But I also love Truth. Anyone prevaricating Truth, deceiving the people, stating diabolical lies raises my wrath.
Who is an extremist?
When you think you are in the middle and I am found to speak against your views I am an extremist, right or left. Am I not? The Sinhalese and even some Tamils (mainly such Tamils were in the TNA) have set down a view that this Country is Sinhala Buddhist and that both Sinhalese and Buddhism must receive special status. I have started questioning that view. Therefore I am now called an extremist. The moment it is proved North and East were never Sinhalese and that Buddhism was jettisoned centuries ago by the Tamils, then I become the norm and the Sinhala Buddhists and their Tamil acolytes become extremists. So the word “extremist” depends on the stand point form which I am looked at from.
Then the word ‘separatist’ if used against me it is by those who have a conditioned mind already. They think this Country has always been Sinhala Buddhist. Any attempt to question that view would be perceived as divisive and separatist. I ask them to look at it this way. When you go by train on the Yarl Devi you would notice the passengers to the North starting to talk in Tamil quite loudly after they leave Medawachiya even if Sinhalese soldiers are in the Train. This is because the Tamil speaking feel they are on Tamil ground. They were mum earlier during their journey because they were on Sinhala soil. Despite all the colonization and attempts to change the Demography of the North and East by successive governments the dominant language in the North and East is Tamil. In 1958, 1977, 1983 Tamils affected by the pogroms in the South were sent to the North and East. They were considered Tamil areas. Tamil might be spoken by Hindus, Muslims, Christians and even Buddhists today in the North and East. Why? Because the separation between Sinhala speaking areas and Tamil speaking areas is already a fact. The Tamil speaking areas have continued to be Tamil speaking from Pre – Historic times. So, to say I am trying to separate the North and East from the rest of the Country is a misnomer. What I am trying to do is to give legal status to a situation that already exists. I am not trying to separate the North and the East from the rest of the Country. North and East are part of this Island but they have existed separately with their own language, religions, culture, way of life, climate, topography and so on. They are separate though part of the Island. I want the Country to remain as it is, but to cloth those who occupied the North and East with powers so that the Southerner would not commit further genocide in the North and East. Already that is what has happened in this Country. Steady and continuous genocide!
The Tamils were throughout this Island. My young days were in Kurunegala and Anuradhapura. My father also worked in Kandy and Tangalle. We used to travel with our father to Mahiyangana and Teldeniya sixty five years ago. We were chased out in 1958 and thereafter. Now the successive Sinhala majority Governments are trying to change the demography of the North East wanting to make North and East Sinhala Buddhist. So any one who objects to such attempt by the Sinhala majority Central Governments is called a separatist by those who are conditioned by this false idea that this Country is Sinhala Buddhist.
Who is a Terrorist?
As I have many a time asked “Was Keppetipola Dissawe a Terrorist or a Hero?” If he was a hero, all those who fought the Government of Sri Lanka after 1983 from among the Tamils were heroes and not terrorists. The activities of the Tamil youths was a reaction against State Terrorism. So there are worse terrorists among the Sinhalese than among the Tamils. The Sinhalese Politicians must stop referring to Tamils and Muslims as Terrorists. They indulge in anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim activities and if the Tamils and Muslims react the latter are called terrorists!
So one man’s terrorist is another man’s hero. I am neither extremist nor separatist nor terrorist. I am questioning the wrong perceptions among the Sinhalese in order to carry them too to find a solution to the Tamil speaking people of the North and East.
I certainly want reconciliation in this Country. How would reconciliation be possible if the Sinhalese stand outside a well and shake hands with us who are at the bottom of the well? Surely you must bring us back to even ground and we should shake hands on terra firma if reconciliation is to come!
My statements and activities are directed towards the Sinhalese for them to come out of their false perceptions such as this Country is Sinhala Buddhist, the archaeological Buddhist findings in the North and East are those of the Sinhalese, that Sinhalese is an ancient language existing in Sri Lanka from the time Buddhism was introduced, that Tamils are recent immigrants from outside the Island, that North and East were Sinhala speaking areas before the Tamils came from outside and so on.
It might be difficult to decondition the Sinhalese who have been fed with false information so far by a single individual like me. But I am happy to note that Sinhalese Youth are taking to the Study of their history impartially. One such person phoned me and said “Sir! I wanted to kill you! But on a study of our past I am reluctantly compelled to agree with you”.
That is the sprit I am expecting from my Sinhalese brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They will retrieve the good will I have lost in recent times according to you.
*Justice C.V. Wigneswaran – Member of Parliament, Jaffna District
Thanga / October 4, 2020
Maganaga’s son was Yalata Tissa and his son was Gotabhaya (205 BC) and his son was Kavan Tissa (161BC).
Duttu Gemenu’s march northwards in his campaign against Elara was along the right bank of the Mahaveli River. During his march Duttu Gemenu had to defeat 32 Tamil chieftains.
During the war between Elara and Duttu Gemunu, there were Tamils in the latter’s army and Nagars in the Elara army. There were no ethnic divisions at this time of history. Any division was along religious lines.
The Theravada Bhikkus of Mahavihra who were at loggerheads with Mahayana bhikkus of Abhayagiri vihara wanted to give a separate identity to Buddhist Nagars.
They invented a new language in the 7th or 8th century AD called Sinhala and the people who spoke Sinhala were called Sinhalese. What happened to the Nagars who were Hindus? They were assimilated by the Tamils.
After the demise of Vijaya, those who ascended the throne were Hindu Nagars who formed the majority of the populace. According to Mahavamsa Nagas occupied the North and West of Ceylon.
The New Year and the attendant rituals are common to both Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils since the former are descendants of Hindu Nagars!
3/3
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Punchi Point / October 4, 2020
Thanga, Tamils speak Tamil because you are a relatively recent diaspora of Tamilnadu. There is no debate about that.
Sinhalese language is well attested from at least 3rd century BC in few thousand rock/cave/stone/pillar inscriptions in Sinhala Brahmi script all over the island. Also, Sinhala Brahmi inscribed potsherds were found at Anuradhapura by Professors Allchin and Connigham in 1995 carbon dated to 550 BC, and Prof. Deraniyagala in 1989/1990 dated to slightly earlier. Besides these archaeological finds, there are ample literary evidence for the antiquity Sinhala language. Another thing is natural languages do not get invented all of a sudden. They evolve. For the Tamils Mahaviharaya and Abhayagiri viharaya are just things you read about in Sinhalese history or our chronicles, and then you go about making theories. But like everything else in Sinhalese history, these things have profound meaning and significance to the Sinhalese and some of them also to the Buddhist world. But you have no cultural or religious or historical basis and background to understand it, so you just make stupid theories using the little bit you have heard about. Its actually comical to see Tamils beating one to the other to make new nonsensical theories.
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Punchi Point / October 4, 2020
Here is a Sinhala Brahmi inscription on a gold plate from ancient Vaelipura (now Tamilized into Vallipuram). This gold plate was issued in the reign of king Vasaba (67-111 A.D) and is known as king Vasaba’s gold plate:
සිධ මහරජ වහයහ රජෙහි අමෙතෙ
ඉසගිරියෙ නකදිව බුජමෙනි
බඳකර අතනෙහි පියගුක තිස
විහර කරිතෙ
Transliteration:
Sidha! Maharaja Vahayaha rajahi amete
Isigiraye Nakadiva Bujameni
Badakara atanehi Piyaguka Tisa
Vihara karite
Translation:
Hail! In the reign of the great king Vaha and when the minister
Isigiraya was governing Nagadipa
Piyaguka Tsisa caused a vihara to be built at Badakaraatana
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KA / October 5, 2020
You can’t even do you job of attempting deception on others properly, can you?
By the way, when did your (fool) archaeologists bury or issue this?
Learn properly to do you trade (of deception) first.
My dog can do a better job.
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
KA,
From PP’s comment it is very clear that deep down in the Sinhala psyche, there has always been the nagging doubt about their real origin, despite all their brave talk about their ‘Hela’ origin and their presence in the island, before the Dravidian Tamils.
The distinguished scholar and historian Dr. Paul E. Pieris establishes that the Tamils had been in the island centuries before Vijaya was born and north Ceylon was a flourishing settlement of the Tamils.
Sinhala-Buddhist culture/rituals is based on Hinduism/Saivaism. Auspicious time is a Hindu concept, Buddhism has no concept of auspicious times. Even the Bodhi Pooja and tying the blessed pirith noola are Hindu concepts/tradition. They break coconuts, wear surei, light the khoodu for Bhairava, hang ash pumpkins in a newly built house to avoid evil befalling any member of the house-hold, carry kavadi, walk on red hot cinders, chant Seth and Vas kavi, etc., etc. (nothing to do with Buddhism).
The Sinhalese observe the Hindu New Year Day, April 14 as their New Year. The first month of the Buddhist lunar calendar 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.
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KA / October 5, 2020
Scum of the Scum,
“The inscription is important as it confirms that King Vasabha was ruling the whole country including Nakadiva (Nakadiva in Old Sinhala is the equivalent of Pali Nagadipa). The language of the inscription is disputed. According to Peter Schalk, this inscription bears Dravidian influences and the name Nakadiva is a Tamil fiefdom corresponding to modern Jaffna Peninsula, which was ruled under the Tamil minister Isikiraya. The inscription is identified by Senarath Paranavithana as however belonging to Sinhalese Prakrit.
The Buddhist list of holy places (“Nampotha”) names it as “Vallipuram” or sand city. The exact details of the temple complex are not known, and the famous ‘Vallipuram” Buddha statue from the 3rd–4th century AD built in the Dravidian art of Amaravathi style was found under the Vallipuram Aalvar temple. “
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
PP
Nice try with old obsolete theory/(biased) interpretation by Paranavithana that was proved with evidence to be incorrect. There is nothing Sinhala in the Vallipuram Buddha image and the gold plate. Isigiraya is not Sinhala but the Prakrit format of Tamil Isikirayan and Nakadiva is the Prakrit version of Nakatheev. It also shows that Nakatheev had its own chieftain with its own independent sect of Buddhism without any attachment to Buddhist sects of Anuradhapura.
Yalppana Vaipavamalai says that Ukkiracinkan after having lost his kingdom went north (Thamilakam) and brought an army and ruled northern Sri Lanka from Katiramalai in 795 A.D and later his son Valacinkan succeeded him.
King Vaha can also be King Valacinkan, why assume as king Vasaba?
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Punchi Point / October 7, 2020
Oh… oooff…. the foul language! Wonder what linguistic genre it is… Tamil English? You Tamils come here, kill us and ethnic cleanse the north and take possesion of our land and now you call us scum?
Peter Shcalk? Don’t make me laugh. He is not a serious scholar, but an anti-Sinhalese zealot. No serious scholar takes him seriously. As far as I can remember he has refused to give a reading for Vasabha’s gold plate, and he also mentions that there are similar Sinhalese inscriptions. He has not given any reading on the inscription itself, but taking a couple of the Sinhalese words and going on endlessly about Tamilized forms of them. It is no secret that Amaravathi and Sinhalese schools of art are connected. I wonder what “Dravidian art of Amaravathi style” is. Is it written Dravidian on them or? Telugus even today hardly subscribe to the Dravidian identity. There are many Buddha statues in Srilanka which resemble the Vaelipura (Vallipuram) Buddha statue, and they are all classified as Sinhalese Buddha statues or Sinhalese statues with Andhra influence. We don’t need Paranavitana or anybody else to see that the inscription is in Old Sinhalese.
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Lanka Canuck / October 8, 2020
PP
True to the tradition of the early Buddhist writers in Sri Lanka who had twisted the Tamil words sometimes out of recognition in transforming Tamil names into Prakrit or Pali forms, Dr. Paranavitane continued the same tradition. Further, his research was one sided (biased), he even redefined/misinterpreted them using his own theories, assumptions, hypothesis and analogies to prove that it was all Old Sinhala.
Ancient Brahmi inscriptions of Lanka had been written in South Asian Prakrit language. Wilhelm Geiger named/labelled it (misinterpreted) as Sinhala Prakrit and Paranavitane named it as Old Sinhala. The hilarious part is, if you remove all the Sanskrit and twisted/corrupted Tamil words from the so called ‘Sinhala Prakrit/Old Sinhala’ there will be nothing left. LOL!
Both of them never bothered to learn the Dravidian languages to interpret the Ancient Brahmi inscriptions more correctly. A considerable number of them appear to be Tamil terms and they could be easily explained drawing comparable material from ancient Tamil Sangam literature as well as ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.
It was Paranavitane who analyzed the Vallipuram (NOT Vaelipura) gold plate and misinterpreted the Prakrit as old Sinhala where King Vaha became king Vasaba, LOL!
Thanks to the South Asian history and epigraphy researcher Dr. Peter Schalk from Uppsala University in Sweden for removing the twist that Paranavitane created.
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KA / October 5, 2020
You and your professors of lying,
“Having gone through the words in this inscription and having seen the Tamil background of several terms, we question the statement by Paranavitana that the language is old Sinhalese conforming, in general, to the grammatical standards followed in other documents of that period. We can see that there is a Tamil substratum and that there are some rather crude Prakritisations of Tamil words in the text.”
…
“The language of the text [19], the palaeography of the text and the Buddha image itself point as source of inspiration
towards Amaravati- again. Vallipuram was then part of South Indian Buddhist culture. A lower limit for both the inscription and the image is the 2nd century AD. and an upper limit is the 4th century AD: It is quite possible that Nakanatu as a fief under the leadership of a Tamil feudal lord under a King enjoyed royal patronage to fortify Buddhism. That was related to the art school of Amaravati.
The initiative came evidently from a Tamil feudal lord mentioned as Isiki-rayan in the inscription. Rayan is the Tamilised form of raja. That gives us a second thought. It fits well with what has been said about Nakanatu as a natu.”
Thank you for accepting it a Eezham Tamil country.
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Punchi Point / October 7, 2020
The reference 19 in the write up above, is to A. H. Dani and his book “Indian Palaeography”. Dani never said anything to doubt that the language of the Vasbha’s gold plate is in Sinhalese. Infact Dani calls it “Vallipuram gold plate inscriptions of Vasabha” . In the Ceylon section in his book he has categorized inscriptions into 14 groups, each group consisting of one or several inscriptions. Vallipuram Gold Plate, which he calls “Vallipuram gold plate inscriptions of Vasabha” is categorized under group 6, together with 2 other Sinhalese inscriptions.
“D. Pl. XIX. 6 is taken from Perumaiyan-kulam rock and Vallipuram gold plate inscriptions of Vasabha and from the Jetavanarama inscription of Malutissa. Of these the gold plate inscription has an individual character of its own. In this particular case the lower curves of the verticals are over-emphasized, and the medial i has a sharp curve to the left. ….”
https://archive.org/details/indianpalaeographyahmadhasandaniuniversityofpeshawar/page/n251/mode/1up
Are we really to believe Schalk and his mate Velupillai’s numerous writings with fabricated claims on the Vallipuram Buddha image and inscription, when they actually have said nothing of value other than falsifying published scholarly works and presenting useless nonsensical theories?
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Punchi Point / October 7, 2020
Nobody is doubting about Amravati being a Buddhist center and having influenced Sinhalese art, the question is how the Tamils who have trouble showing any kind of significant presence in the island, can lay claims to the inscription and the Buddha image. The inscriptions is clearly not in Tamil and the Buddha image is what Schalk himself calls Amravati style – why isn’t there a Ilattamil style? If there was such a style, then we won’t be having any trouble, since things would have had a natural development in the course of history with Tamils having their own art, history, inscriptions, literature etc. What we have today is an immigrant community from Tamilnadu, having nothing to show here, after ethnically cleansing us from the north and taking our land and actually destroying Buddhist viharas and temples, according to their own Yaalpana Vaipava Malai, now trying to claim everything the Sinhalese left behind as theirs. Had the Sinhalese been allowed to live there and the Tamils not destroyed Buddhist places of worship, Vaelipura/Vallipuram would still be a functioning vihara and the Vaelipura/Vallipuram Buddha image with its hands cut off/broken, now repaired and in Thailand would have been where it belongs.
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Mallaiyuran / October 8, 2020
PETER SCHALK has very clearly said that at Vallipuram, no recognized Buddhist temple existed. When European were dismantling Buddhist and Hindu temples, this could have been transported from Nagativu to Vallipuram temple. He is not able to pin point the Original location of the statue. Further he unequivocally said that at Amaravati time, or this statue time, there was only Buddhism in Ceylon, no Sinhala Buddhism existed. The propose of his revelation of this sentence is he is well aware the Sinhalese are claiming the whole country is Sinhalese, because Buddhist antiques can be found all over the Island and he wants to say that is not a hold-able argument. He probably understands that because the whole country having Hindu artifacts, it shows that some kind of Tamils was living all over the Island, but the Buddhist arthritics not establishing the inverse. Because the country north to the Island had large Buddhist Community, large seminaries, large team of Monk who even traveled to China to introduce Buddhism there by southern sea water, ever before the turn of the first millennium of the CE, the North of Ceylon had Buddhist communities for long time (from 3CE to 6AD at least).
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Mallaiyuran / October 8, 2020
“The inscriptions is clearly not in Tamil and the Buddha image is what Schalk himself calls Amravati style – why isn’t there a Ilattamil style? “
Dear friend please don’t put words in Peter Schalk’s mouth. He very clearly said it was Dravidian style art piece.
Don’t write frauds here man.
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Lanka Canuck / October 8, 2020
PP
Your comments are becoming more and more hilarious, LOL!
Somewhere in 12 CE, even the Chola Emperor Rajaraja had inscribed in a South Indian temple about the Singalas of Ila-mandalam (Lanka) as warlike people who possessed rough strength, and you are saying, the Tamils chased away the Sinhalese from the North. So they (Sinhalese) simply packed their bags and went to the South leaving all their lands to the newly arrived Tamils without any protest/rebellion. LOL! Did anybody record this as part of history (Chulavamsa or any other?) about the exodus of Sinhalese from the North to the South? If not, why?
You are asking why isn’t there a Ilattamil style Buddha image, have anybody ever found a Sinhala style Buddha image, tell me where it is said?
By the way, the Tamils NEVER destroyed any Buddhist structures or artifacts in the North. Instead, they preserved them even during the 30 years’ war. Even today if you go to the Naga Vihara Buddhist temple in Jaffna town (not Nagadipa), you will be able to see locals (Tamils) worship the Buddha/Dagoba. The Tamil Hindus NEVER disrespected the Buddha but they hated the Sinhala-Buddhist Sangha. It was the Portuguese who destroyed the Hindu-Buddhist structures in the North.
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Native Vedda / October 5, 2020
Punchi Point
Punchi Brain
Punchi Willi
–
“Here is a Sinhala Brahmi inscription on a gold plate from ancient Vaelipura (now Tamilized into Vallipuram).”
–
I can sense your desperation.
–
Tell me this how come South North Sri Lankans and Thamil Nadu Tamils have similar names for the same vegetables?
Don’t waste time looking for a clever answer:
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Tomato – Thakkali – තක්කාලි – தக்காளி – Thakkali
Okra – Bandakka -බණ්ඩක්කා – வெண்டைக்காய் – vendaikkai
Drumstick – Murunga – මුරුංගා – முருங்கைக்காய் – Murungakkai
–
Battaramulla- බත්තරමුල්ල – Pather Moolai – பத்தர் மூளை-Goldsmith Corner
–
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KA / October 6, 2020
I think you made typo, or if you do not know,
“Battaramulla- බත්තරමුල්ල – Pather Moolai – பத்தர் மூளை-Goldsmith Corner”
Battaramulla- බත්තරමුල්ල – Pather Moolai – பத்தர் மூலை -Goldsmith Corner
மூளை = Brain
மூலை = Corner
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
Native Vedda,
Punchi Point looks and sounds like Darshanie Ratnawalli in disguise, so its pointless talking about Punchi Willi LOL!
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old codger / October 7, 2020
L.C,
Re your comment on Dutch tombos, there is plenty of interesting reading here:
http://www.archives.gov.lk › web
Web results
Thombu Index – The Department of National Archives
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Native Vedda / October 6, 2020
Punchi Point
Punchi Brain
Punchi Willi
–
“Here is a Sinhala Brahmi inscription on a gold plate from ancient Vaelipura (now Tamilized into Vallipuram).”
–
Here is the original research and authentic Plate:
The Vallipuram Buddha Image “Rediscovered”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326888292_The_Vallipuram_Buddha_Image_Rediscovered
Peter Schalk
–
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Lanka Canuck / October 6, 2020
PP
Regarding the Vallipuram Buddha image and the Vallipuram gold plate, please refer to the paper written/submitted by Dr. Peter Schalk, Uppsala University, Sweden. He has conducted extensive research including fieldwork in the South and Southeast Asia.
http://www.lacnet.org/academic/research/serendipity/ser23.html
Abstract
This paper takes up an old discussion about the significance of the Vallipuram image and the Vallipuram gold plate inscription in the history of religions of the Ilattamils. The new point of this old discussion is that we now know what we talk about-we have found the buddha image after almost 90 years disappearance. It shows that the image belongs to a South Indian sculptural tradition. It cannot be politically exploited to rationalize Sinhala settlements in
Vatamaracci.
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Mallaiyuran / October 8, 2020
Peter Schalk has explained Nakativu is Tamil word and the Pirakirit used in the gold plate shows the Tamil influence. None of us denying that this plate was written by Monks. We don’t object them to using Pirakirit to write, because most Buddhist writing (By 6 CE) on that time has Pali writing. There is no where in Lankawe a gold plate was hidden under a Buddha statue those years. But it is from Indus Valley time Hindus have habit of installing the god on on Yanthra and putting under the statute. So this Nainativu plate was brought & placed under Hindu God removing the Yantra is recent incidence (200 years?). Further Sinhala Word for Vallipuram is Vallipurama.
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Mallaiyuran / October 8, 2020
This gold plate could be 100% hoax as the leaf at the museum and the plate in photo are completely two different things. Somebody created a leaf first to create a Sinhala Brahmi story. Then to make it more reliable, they created a gold plate. The gold plate was never tested on any Western lab for its antiquity then they destroyed it. The question is when they had a good photo why did they created a left (Photocopy?) is question. Strangely Peter doesn’t know the places of all these happened. He in only saying the Statute is a Dravidian art work. So we are dependent for the proof for gold plate on story tellers like the Punchi Point, the ultra-extreme Sinhala Buddhists & some Jaffna University Sadampies. . Because the theory behind this completely disagree with true history of Sinhala Script, (But called by Punchi as Sinhala Brahmi) that is another layer that this gold plate story is a hoax.
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KA / October 8, 2020
“This gold plate could be 100% hoax”
This I suspected and thus my first question of as to when it was buried or issued.
“The gold plate was never tested on any Western lab for its antiquity then they destroyed it. “
Where did you learn that the gold plate was destroyed? I understood that it is still displayed Colombo museum.
“some Jaffna University Sadampies.”
I am not that.
“Because the theory behind this completely disagree with true history of Sinhala Script”
This is your understanding and view (i.e. Tamil Brahmi). Then LC say there was only Asoka Brahmi. What is the widely accepted understanding?
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SJ / October 4, 2020
PP
I serached high and low for “Sinhala Brahmi”
The best I could find was:
“Sinhala script is a Brahmi derivate, and was imported from Northern India, around the 3rd century BCE. Sinhala script developed in a complex manner, part independent but also strongly influenced by South Indian scripts at various stages, manifestly influenced by the early Grantha script. Pottery from the 6th century BCE has been found in Anuradhapura, with lithic inscriptions dating from 2nd century BCE written in Prakrit” (note: Prakrit not Sinhala).
This does not mean that there was no Sinhala language then, but there was no Sinhala writing there.
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KA / October 5, 2020
“This does not mean that there was no Sinhala language then, but there was no Sinhala writing there.”
I retort your catch phrase, where is the evidence.
Mind you the King’s name, which of course was given by the lying professors like Paranavitana and claimed by the likes of EE as Vasaba, is actually written VAHA.
See the reference : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallipuram
The gold plate, which the Sinhalese stole and claimed theirs for making the belief that whole Island was theirs at one point in history, is the contrary evidence (at the least as an example) that was analysed and attested by independent archaeology experts.
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old codger / October 5, 2020
I think CVW deserves some kind of award from CT for consistently attracting hundreds of comments from all quarters.
Dr. DJ could learn a thing or two from him.
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leelagemalli / October 5, 2020
OC,
–
where had you been all these days ?
–
I thought, MEDAMULANA pattapal horu might have taken away.
See, they talked high… about COVID until yestreday. But today unsubstantiated sources say, over thousands are already infected but the state make every effort to hide it away from the people.
–
Hope not that poor people would be double hit.
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old codger / October 6, 2020
LM,
I am still around, as you can see!
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leelagemalli / October 6, 2020
where had you been hidden all these days Mr Codger ?
–
Tell us more about the increasing number of COVID patients in the country.
:
I cant rely on Rajaakshe-Virologist Ms SCP anymore.
:
I thought as they self congradulated, COVID would never come back to the SRILANKEN population. Their political masturbation would ruin this country making a somalia sooner than later.
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old codger / October 7, 2020
LM,
Be careful when you talk about Covid. The sacred tri-forces must not be criticized, even by doctors.
/
Native Vedda / October 6, 2020
old codger
–
“Dr. DJ could learn a thing or two from him.”
–
Learning, …… DJ ?????
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old codger / October 6, 2020
Native,
I’m sure DJ would love to have 300 comments. What wouldn’t he do, including learning……
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SJ / October 6, 2020
OC
CVW has greater ambitions than DJ.
He wants to be the First Citizen of Tamil Eelam or Tamil Federal State or Tamil Autonomous Government.
DJ aims to be a high ranking Second Fiddle.
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Mallaiyuran / October 6, 2020
This essay is appearing in Wikipedia edited by some bald heads. No southern writings have any connections to northern writing. They both are complete mutually exclusive. Sinhala Writing are 100% based on Tamil Brahmi frame work. They descended from Pallava writing. Kirantham to descended from Pallawa. Sinhala was dependent on Pallava from to Ha, Sha, ga. Pallava format had not decended from Tamil Brahmi in 3A. When Malipiralavam lost acceptance in Tamil, Pallava style lost usage. But this what latter, Telugu, Sinhala, & Malaiyalam using, in that Order.
This serious problem is these guys cannot understand what frame work what is script is. Frame work reduces the voice sound into coding. That is a technology. There are apples, or windows, computers but all use binary. So binary is a frame work for computers to do calculation (to work). So there is no apple binary and windows binary. In reality it should not have been named Tamil Brahmi, because it is now creating Knnada Brahmi, Malaiyala Brahmi, and Sinhala Brahmi…….. It should have been named as Tamils’ sound coding system.
Sinhala voice——->Tamil Brahmi Engine——->Sinhala Mapping (scripts)- Sinhala writings
Tamil voice———>Tamil Brahmi Engine——->Tamil Mapping (Scripts)- Tamil writings
Malaiyala voice—->Tamil Brahmi Engine——->Maliyala Mapping (Scripts)-Malayalam writings
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Mallaiyuran / October 6, 2020
This we have explained many times. Even the o/l Physics students should have understood by my explanation, by now. Tamil Brahmi was not language. It was an invention at its time. There is no need to reinvent the wheel to use it in another language. You guys may know there are many African languages use English Alphabet to write their languages because there was no script for them or their scripts’ coding system was not satisfactory. Likewise those days many languages used the Tamil Brahmi for their scripts. The first Tamil scripts came into existence when Tamil Brahmi was invented. The voice’s sound is based on wave. Unfortunate any coding system can imitate only digital sound. So if a language had started before its wring system is developed, never its writing system can satisfy that the need of that language’s sounds. That is why Agastya corrected the Tamil’s voice system to align with letter system. A language which was not aware of writing in its birth will have the problem Tamil had because one cannot have unlimited alphabets to generate all possible voice sounds. When Original Tamil Brahmi came and Palava scripts too showed up that problem was solved.
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Mallaiyuran / October 6, 2020
But by that time Agastya had edited Tamil voice system. The lucky other southern Languages used edited Pallava system, though it is built on Original Tamil Brahmi.
Tamil Brahmi is a concept of coding the voice sound. Further it was never a complete sound system now & then. But the current scripts using the Tamil Brahmi has passed the original expectation at the time Agastya- Tholhapier like pundits were working on the “Ezhuththaiharam”. Think of an Old Tape music recorder. It tapes with magnetic imprinting with analog format. It is highly accurate recording, but not permanent like digital. Digital create substantial gaps in between, low quality, but convenient for technical manipulation by software. Analog (wave) is best format to original voice sound. This is not available for languages sound recreation. Alphabets are only codes. This is similar to music digital coding, the letters. The Alphabets captures the minor moments of a big spectrum of sound. Tamil Brahmi “aana” attempts to imitate a, ä, ɑ, ɒ, æ, ă, â et al & more “a” sound”. We understand even that is the case in English to. So a Language’s Alphabets are like the modern, digital recording inferior.
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Mallaiyuran / October 8, 2020
Pallava format had not descended from Tamil Brahmi in 3A
Please read it as “even Pallava format had not descended from Tamil Brahmi. in 3AD ” That means actual Sinhala scripts started to appear after 6th century. The order is Tamil Brahmi>Pallva Scripts> Kirantha Scripts> Sinhala Scripts.
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
SJ, You must be searching another internet than me, because there are ample results in my internet. Here is a link from a Tamil site in India:
“Brahmi is the earliest Indian alphabetical script. As per its regional variations, it is identified as Tamil-Brahmi, Asokan-Brahmi, Northern-Brahmi, Southern-Brahmi and Sinhala-Brahmi. All modern Indian scripts are the evolved forms of Brahmi. Tamil- Brahmi inscriptions about 93 in number are found on natural caverns and rock beds in 31 places of Tamil Nadu. ”.
https://www.tnarch.gov.in/epigraphy/inscriptions-thamizhi-tamil-brahmi-script
All the historical linguistic studies on the evolution of Sinhala has been done using these inscriptions. How the sound changes have occurred etc have been very well documented, already by Geiger in his numerous writings. If Sinhala Brahmi didn’t exist then all the linguistic studies done on Sinhala for the past 150 years must just be thrown out of the window. No serious scholar has ever claimed that the language of the Brahmi inscriptions in Srilanka is another language than Sinhala/Old Sinhala/Sinhala prakrit.
Here is an article at CT about this issue:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/a-historian-in-focus-the-dark-side-of-s-pathmanathan/
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
“note: Prakrit not Sinhala” The language you call “Prakrit not Sinhala” has special features that make it into Sinhala and not any other Prakrit. Examples:
The peculiar genitive suffix “-ha” and “-śa”. The absence of aspirates, The use of “jha” for “ja”, The use of “d” for “j” on some occasions, the use of 2 sibilants i.e “s” and “śa”. According to scholars Old Sinhala has both western and eastern IA features. Geiger meant Sinhala is descendant from a western Prakrit while others have argued for an eastern prakrit.
Whatever the actual case may be, already in the first attested Sinhala Brahmi inscriptions found in Anuradhapura one can see that the language has its special features and is different from the mainland prakrits, which means that it had been here many centuries prior to 6th century BC, for such differentiation to happen, even if we disregard the early Sinhala Brahmi inscriptions from Anuradhapura and go by the rock/cave inscriptions starting from Asoka’s time. So Vijaya bringing this language in the 6th century BC is not possible.
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
As said many times, there is no language called the “Prakrit language” or “Prakrit”. Prakrit is a term used by ancient grammarians for the different vernacular dialects of Indo-Aryan languages. All Indo-Aryan vernaculars are prakrits. Prakrit simply means natural language. Even today you can call all the IA vernaculars as Prakrits. Its just a matter of definition and terminology. The language of all Brahmi inscriptions on stones and caves in Sri Lanka is Sinhala of those times, named by linguists and historians as Sinhalese Prakrit or Old Sinhalese and more recently as Sri Lankan Prakrit or insular Prakrit.
The Brahmi script used to write Sinhala has been termed Sinhala Brahmi, by none other than the Tamil scholar Iravatham Mahadevan. He categorically rejected calling the language of the inscriptions in Srilanka as Prakrit and named the inscriptions and the script as “Sinhala Brahmi”. Others call it Sri Lankan Brahmi or Insular Brahmi. Whatever you call the language or the script it doesn’t make any difference at all, as it is the same language, changed during the course of 2500 years and the descendants of the people who wrote those Brahmi inscriptions, today speak modern Sinhala.
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
Iravatham Mahadevan says:
“Sinhalese ……. was the language of administration, instruction and public discourse. Brahmi was received but, as happened in the Tamil country, was substantially modified to suit the phonetic pattern of the Old Sinhalese language. Thus while Tamil-Brahmi eliminated aspirates, voiced consonants and sibilants, Sinhala-Brahmi did away with long vowels and aspirates not present in Old Sinhalese. The Brahmi character for long ī was used to denote the short i, and the Brahmi character jha stood for ja in the Sinhala-Brahmi. The letter ḷa was taken over from Tamil-Brahmi, while the latter took over from Sinhala-Brahmi the practice of using the long ī character to denote the short i.”… In my view it is misleading to refer to the early cave inscriptions of Sri Lanka as ‘Prakrit’ inscriptions in the ‘Brahmi’ script, as such a description obscures the fact that Old Sinhalese was quite different from the Indian Prakrits and consequently the script tailored to its phonetic system was also different from the north Indian Brahmi, though not perhaps to the same degree as in the case of Tamil-Brahmi. – From Orality to Literacy (1995).
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Mallaiyuran / October 7, 2020
Punchi,
I feel sorry for you, as usual the Bald Head who gave this out of context para fooled you. What Iravatham saying is there isn’t difference between the Tamil Brahmi and Sinhala Brahmi; practically they are one. Then he says, contrary to the popular believe, Old Sinhala is Tamil like language, rather has no connection with Pali (Prakrit version). In simple word he says, nobody spoke or wrote a language connected northern Pali in Lankawe. Old Sinhala is completely different from all those people has been thinking so far (i.e it is not Pali and there are no Pali stone wring in Lankawe; it old Sinhala- The Tamil used in Ceylon). Here he is using Sinhala Brahmi in the meaning of Sinhala Script. Unless you understand what Tamil Brahmi is (please read again my above explanation) you cannot swim out of this Maya.
Irawatham too saying Sinhala Scripts descended from Tamil Brahmi. Here he is not establishing Sinhala Birahmi is a unique coding system, but a child of Tamil. But, like you wish to call yourself a SinhaLE lion pup, descended from your great great great Grandpa, he is calling Sinhala Scripts from where they descended, the Tamil Brahmi. There is no contest that Sinhala Scripts are from Brahmi, but the frame work is Tamil Brahmi. There isn’t special frame work in Sinhala and no decedents are using that frame work either.
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Lanka Canuck / October 6, 2020
PP,
When Emperor Asoka sent the Buddhist missionary monks lead by his eldest son Mahinda to spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the third century BC, along with the Asoka Buddhist Dhamma, he also sent the Asoka Bhrami Script, the Pali Language, the Asoka Buddhist Culture and the Technology to build Stupas, Chaitya, Viharas, Sangharama, etc.
There is nothing called Sinhala Brahmi or Tamil Brahmi. The authors of the early Brahmi inscriptions in the island which are in the Pakrit language were almost certainly Buddhist monks. These inscriptions mainly record the donation of caves to the Buddhist Sangha. Even the Buddhist Sangha in South India had used the same script (Asokan Brahmi) and the same language (Prakrit) in their cave writings and stone inscriptions. The language of these inscriptions should not be assumed to be that of the common people.
The Sinhala language started developing very much later and first appeared only in the 8th century CE Sigiri mirror wall writings. That is why the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa – 6th century AD was not written in Sinhala. What good does it make to the Sinhalese in writing them in a language (Pali) that the Sinhalese cannot read or understand? The Sinhala-Buddhists had to wait till the 20th century AD for someone to translate it from Pali to Sinhala for them to read and understand the Mahavamsa.
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SJ / October 6, 2020
LC
This is from Wikipedia. (It is not the last word, but credible.):
Brahmic scripts descended from the Brahmi script. Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ashoka, who used the script for imperial edicts, but there are some claims of earlier epigraphy found on pottery in South India and Sri Lanka. The most reliable of these were short Brahmi inscriptions dated to the 4th century BC and published by Coningham et al. (1996).[2] Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the medieval period. Notable examples of such medieval scripts, developed by the 7th or 8th century, include Nagari, Siddham and Sharada.
.
The Siddhaṃ script was especially important in Buddhism, as many sutras were written in it. The art of Siddham calligraphy survives today in Japan. The syllabic nature and dictionary order of the modern kana system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism.[3]
.
Southern Brahmi evolved into Old Kannada, Pallava and Vatteluttu scripts, which in turn diversified into other scripts of South India and Southeast Asia.
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Lanka Canuck / October 6, 2020
SJ
Which is from Wikipedia???
There is a BBC documentary on this subject, regarding the Asoka Brahmi script and a lot more. May be the Wikipedia would have adopted details from it.
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
LankaCanuk, Please get over your Mahavamsa fetish, and your fetish for Sinhalese historical heritage. Mahavamsa is a chronicle of the Sinhalese people, whatever language it was written in has little to say, as it was written and preserved by the Sinhalese. Besides as I have shown you earlier, historical records amply prove that the Mahavamsa was written using earlier Sinhalese atthakathas. Also, we didn’t have to wait for the British to understand the Mahavamsa – our sangha who wrote and preserved these chronicles would have gladly translated and explained them to us, had we wanted to know. You have a very unreal idea about who the Sinhalese are or how we might have lived in ancient times. You think everything has to be recorded for it to be history. Not so. But you think so, because you do not have an ancient history here and you are very much aware that the historical and archaeological record of this island could never have produced Tamils. So you are trying your best to find any reference to Tamils in the Sinhalese literary works and trying to twist and turn everything to prove that Sinhalese didn’t exist, as much as Tamils didn’t.
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Punchi Point / October 6, 2020
According to you there were 4 languages:
1. Paali
2. Some language which is not Sinhalese but called Prakrit; which incidentally was used to write thousands of inscriptions all over the island for a good 8-900 years (250 BC to about 650 A.D)
3. Tamil
4. Sanskrit.
Funny the two indigenous languages of the island Sinhalese and the Vaedda language were not present at all!
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
PP
You are making me laugh LOL!
It is being said (even though nothing ‘ancient’ has been found as historical evidence till today to prove it) that the beginning chapters of the Pali Chronicle was translated into Pali by the scholarly monks of the Mahavihara from the Vamsa text (original source preserved for many centuries) known as “Sihala atthakatha” written in Sihalabhasa. If the Mahavamsa is the history of the Sinhalese, what good does it make to the Sinhalese in translating it from Sihalabhasa into a language that they (Sinhalese) cannot understand? What happened to the original Vamsa text written in Sihalabhasa? In a land where all the ancient Buddhist artifacts are being preserved for millenniums by the Monks and the Kings, why such an important thing has not been kept safely? If they had preserved it for many centuries, they could have continued to preserve it till today but unfortunately it disappeared without any trace after the Mahavamsa was written (in Pali) or rather destroyed. Is that not a crime committed by the Mahaviharic Bikkus to the Sinhala nation of Sihaladipa that you are unable to read and understand your own history but expect the monks to read it for you? LOL!
Continued…
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
Continued from above…
However the truth is something else. There is also a commentary to the Mahavamsa written in Pali by an unknown Buddhist monk (definitely with ulterior motive) in the 13th century AD known as the ‘Tika’ or Vansatthappakasini to explain/interpret the verses in Mahavamsa. It is the ‘Tika’ that talks about a mysterious “Sihala atthakatha” (Vamsa text known as original source written in Sihalabhasa), the main reason for calling the Pali chronicle of the Mahavihara as the chronicle of the Sinhalese.
In order to interpret the Mahavamsa, the 13th CE Tika has re-fabricated and re-written or rather concocted new stories. So, we can see who is trying to twist and turn everything to prove something that did not exist. However, what the Tamils are trying to do is, help the Sinhalese to unlearn the Myths, fallacies, fictions, concoctions and lies that they had been believing as gospel for a long time and relearn the factual history.
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Punchi Point / October 7, 2020
May I ask what exactly is making you laugh, suddenly? Because the same comment you just posted has been posted at least 4 times within the last few weeks. How ever many times you write it, it doesn’t change the historical fact that the Mahavamsa is based on Sinhalese atthakatha. All your theories are dumb. Who are you to question what is written and accepted until now? On what basis are you saying that the authour of Vamsathapakasini had an ulterior motive? Also, it is dated actually to 10th century by some scholars, as said earlier. I have answered you and proven you utterly wrong here:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/how-have-i-provoked-anyone/
The Sinhalese did a big mistake by letting the British translate our ancient chronicles and even a bigger mistake by letting them interpret them. Suddenly king Pandu became “The Pandyan king” and southern Mathura became Madurai, and we have Tamils laying claims to our island.
Here is a Mahavamsa manuscript, use your two brain cells to figure out why this is a chronicle of the Sinhalese:
https://archive.org/details/rassinhalese9/page/3/mode/1up
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
PP
Pali chronicle is wrongly believed as the chronicle of the Sinhalese because the 13th CE author of Mahavamsa Tika has concocted something called Sinhala atthakatha which seems to have disappeared.
The Sinhalese (other than the monks) did not know about the Pali chronicles until the British found it and first translated it from Pali to English (long before it was translated to Sinhala) by George Turner in 1837? Even if the Sinhalese knew, it is useless because they cannot read or understand the so called ‘chronicle of the Sinhalese’. LOL!
Please tell me where (in which chapter) does the Mahavamsa talk about a Sinhala country or a Sinhala kingdom or a Sinhala king or a Sinhala civilization or a Sinhala nation? I repeat, Please show us where.
You boast about a ‘chronicle of the Sinhalese’ that was neither written in Sinhala nor says anything about Sinhala. You boast about an ancient Sinhala history and civilization which is not mentioned anywhere in the ancient texts or inscriptions as Sinhala, you boast about Sinhala Kingdoms which nobody, even Ven. Mahanama the author of Mahavamsa has never mentioned.
You people are experts in importing or borrowing or stealing everything from others, corrupting the names and then calling them your own native language, native people and native what not.
And you are asking me why I am laughing at you!
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Punchi Point / October 8, 2020
If the Mahavamsa is not a chronicle of the Sinhalese people, then whose it? Tamils? You must be joking.
Mahavamsa is what it is. Its not a political history book. Its a chronicle where they recorded what they thought was important, with a good portion of myths and legends mixed up. Why should it specifically write “this is a Sinhala kingdom” or “this king Sinhala” or “this is a Sinhala country” ? There was no dispute that this was a Sinhala country and the kings regardless of their ancestry were Sinhala, even if they had come from China or planet Mars, as long as they did the best for the Sinhalese.
I am not boasting about anything. I am just replying to the claims made by you. There’s actually nothing to boast about – having an ancient chronicle or civilization is nothing to boast about. It becomes boasting if I were to claim that we had the best civilization etc etc. It wasn’t even close to any of the best and biggest civilizations, but it was ours. Tamils have all your history and civilization in Tamilnadu, which is bigger and better. We have only this.
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Lanka Canuck / October 8, 2020
PP
Your jokes are turning funnier.
Let’s get back to basics.
The Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle of Buddhist historical poem) is NOT a ‘Chronicle of the Sinhalese’. It was written not as a history of Sri Lanka (or Sinhalese) but as a history of the Mahavihara (Theravada Buddhists). The Mahavamsa speaks ONLY of Theravada Buddhists and NOT Sinhala Buddhists.
Of course, it is a fact that the Mahavamsa is one of the greatest Epic Poem written in Pali in our country. The author of this poetic literature (Mahavamsa) says that he wrote it for the ‘serene joy and emotion of the pious’. We are not even sure if the Sinhala race/language existed when the Mahavamsa was written in the 6th CE. There is no clue even in the Mahavamsa. For example, it says the missionary monk Mahinda Thero preached Buddhism to the people of the island in Dipa basa (language of the island) but it does not say that the Dipa basa was ‘Sinhala basa’. It can be Prakrit or even ancient Tamil.
Sinhala appears for the first time in the 8th century AD Sigiri Graffiti and Sinhala/Helu literature appeared only after the 9th century AD.
You are asking, why should Mahavamsa talk about Sinhala, why not? When you call everything Sinhala, eg. Sinhala Vedakama (medicine), Sinhala Avurudda (New Year) and even Sinhala uluketa (roof tiles). WHY NOT?
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RAVI PERERA / October 7, 2020
Canuck Gona,
If you believe the Sinhalese are not the owners of this Island take it up at an international forum, call for an international inquiry to verify your homeland and also the fact that you were here before the sinhalas.
First convince the embassies in Colombo.
Accept man your homeland is Tamil Nadu and you Tamils are part of the Tamil Nadu Diaspora. You are second class citizen of this country.
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
RP
I have stopped replying to totally ignorant absolute morons, buffoons, and goofs. Sorry!
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Lanka Canuck / October 7, 2020
Sorry for the error, it should be “The Sinhala-Buddhists had to wait till the 19th century AD…”
It was translated into Sinhala in 1883 by Ven. Hikkaduwe Sumangala thero and Don Andris de Silva Batuvantudave.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 5, 2020
Dear All
Now I confirm you are all amazingly well versed/demonstrated the depth knowledge, History of SL courtesy of the elected MP for Jaffna Hon CJ Sir. Thank you
Can someone tell me how this will develop Jaffna to be another historical city our future generation few thousand years down the road can look back in a Victorian way say “it looks like Rome” or another models or be it a unique city the world historians will bench mark this to be and say built by our ancestors (us) with all the environmental considerations for the time period….what an amazing lot of people/civilisation written in……….
Or is this work pending…………………….
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 5, 2020
Even before well before the war Jaffna and all her functions were built and served by the Traitors and Turncoats who were all gunned down.
Following the success of the “war and destruction” once more all the infrastructure (including post 2009 roads/railway/landmine removal) work was all carried out by the GOSL including the planting of Mangroves in Karainagar by the Navy…….not sure what was the school chidden participation with this plants too??
Anyone got the NPC list of projects/Jaffna past and Present MP’s action list for the past 11 years since the war ended?? anyone got the list of resolutions and the respective departments action list etc??
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Dear Hon CJ MP for Jaffna
Can you kindly ask your counter parts the TNA MP’s to publish the development work/list of deliverables to their electorate ever since inception of the FP/ITAK (70 years ago) then TULF and now TNA to date to the entire world please. Have the entire list audited by the UN (just to please the TNA that has some western input) and report back to the people of Sri Lanka please. We are not responsible if the UN audit team has a heart attack during the review is not the fault of the Sri Lankan people please as we all died already/dead walking for this Ratha Pottu mafia Killing Fields in Jaffna…sorry do the review at your own risk as you will be all shocked to learn how did these spandrels got away with literally murder not just conning the Jaffna man at gun point but the entire planet.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Can you also translate the Suthenthiran news paper and publish to it for the entire Sri Lankan and the UN review please.
Publish the list of the FP/TULF/TNA funeral attendance of their opponents who were massacred/killed/gun down in-front of the entire worlds eyes and the same free to fly around the world/ their media interviews condemning the violent acts / asking the world for help when the children were smuggled out of the country for rape in foreign lands to turn them into killers etc. Let the UN make a comprehensive review and discuss matters with The Hague please.
Can you also publish the JVP and Tamil militant movement connections and the slaughter that ensued by these children of the citizens of the Nation and ask the UN to investigate how other nations help the GOSL/stood by and hindered her from maintaining a sense of law and order so the Nation was saved from becoming another Lebanon ?? hence we have a Nation today that we can even democratically object constitutions…..the opportunist who are exploring legality aren throes who were legitimised the killing of the fellow country men and women en I thousands for their own uneducated mafia ventures??
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Dear Hon CJ
Therefore it is important you ask the entire Diaspora to return home immediately with their families and their wealth and brain power to give you the assistance to do the development work has been on hold for 70 years in Jaffna. Alternatively you can ask the UN to facilitate forced expulsion of those who is refusing to return now the country has no more killing fields please. This will free up space in the western countries for the new lot of toilet washers we keep producing by selling arms, toppling governments around the world a full time occupation of the UN Security Council Nations………….and kindly explain to these Nations we are a poor and innocent non aligned Nation with mixed economy may be a bit in the socialist mindset does not mean we are left nor right but very neutral people like to be left alone and never be a threat to anyone else ever please. You can make this speech during one of your foreign visits please.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Explain to the Diaspora holding flags in foreign countries does not do a single thing for the innocent Mother Lankan children died in the miserable war be it Tamil or Sinhalese.
Alternatively ask them replace the local children with their own children should you wish to escalate this to another round of destruction for the Nation…as I am enlisting those who will sacrifice their children from western countries/Tamil Nadu/Malaysia/Singapore…etc where we will bring them in and take out the innocent Tamils from Jaffna to those countries inlace of the returning enlists please.
This way they can all say they are fighting for your language cause…as we do not want make anyone left out in this rather amazing history of which language came to SL first as an important element for the breathing and breeding patterns of the Tamil speaking correct??
You Can also ask the Diaspora where they were in the final phase of war?? ask some detailed question why they were not in the front line with their families too….make a trip to Tamil Nadu/Singapore/Malaysia/Western Countries just for this mission and report back to us please. I WILL BY YOU THE TICKET.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Dear Hon CJ
(1) As the UN investigate what is so criminal about the Standardisation please
(2) Ask the UN to Investigate what is so wrong about a Nation considering a common language that is to cater the majority in a post colonial Nation please.
(3) As the UN to investigate what is so wrong about Sinhalese people wanting their space back from the Indian workers who were in the Nation within the stipulated 10 year period to return home vs the International norm them?? ask them to explain to us why SJV formed a party on this subject and brought this issue to North and East of the Nation please but not addressing this in the upcountry?? someone else space??
(4) Ask the Indians/Singaporeans/Malaysians Tamils and Western nations what is so Unacceptable about the GOSL placing the SL citizens evenly around the Nation as required??? specially when the Tamil are colonies placed by the few hundred years of colonial rule around the Nation and around the world too???
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Punchi Point / October 7, 2020
Dear Thiagarajah Venugopal, I thank God for fair thinking people like you. As you know, the standardization was an effort to bring fair and equal distribution of higher education to the population. But the Tamil politicians distorted it into an affair about Tamils being discriminated. We must take all the issues you have mentioned in the UN as these issues are serious allegations against the Sinhalese, and they are being used to brainwash and poison new generations of innocent Tamil minds against the Sinhalese. In the meantime, we can also get experts to analyse and calculate how the distribution of educated people would have been and the adverse result of a select few regional elite groups (Tamils in Jaffna and Sinhalese in Colombo) having the unfair advantage they had in those days and entry to higher education, had the standardization of university entrance not been brought.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 8, 2020
Dear PP
All was possible and a journey of a Developing Nation. These were amazingly fair and socialist/visionary policies to care and share…and give and take too .this has gone a long way to address the JVP demands too that they were willing to topple the government then the Indians have to bail the Nation?? I still do not know how the JVP got back in the second wave of activity even after Sinhala only act/Standardisation/Buddisham state religion etc so the GOSL can navigate this treacherous path avoiding the Nation from falling apart? the GOSL being fired from both end?? up north and down south…….the soldiers paid the price….then we have to deal with the fallout/aftermath too??
Did the UN come to help us dealing with the colonial crimes and the mess?? then again they all needed more toilet washers for their economies.
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Punchi Point / October 8, 2020
The original JVP’s cause was not a nationalist cause, but a cause for social justice for everybody. They didn’t care about Buddhism or language issues. It morphed into a nationalistic movement later. That the JVP could have even thought that they had the slightest chance of toppling the government and taking over control of the country, shows how foolish they were. JVP was a product of disgruntled youth from the poor classes as the Tamil militant groups too were, although the Tamil movement was driven by Tamil nationalism. Both resorting to violence was not necessary, but they wanted quick solutions. Who gained from all this were infact the elites, and the heaviest price was paid by the poorest in both cases. Today the JVP leaders have climbed into elite social positions, their original cause for social justice thrown in the dustbin.
The cause of all the post colonial political issues is the policies and economic system that was put in place by the British. There are people who talk as if the best thing that happened to us was British rule, and that when the British left, they handed over a prosperous country.
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Punchi Point / October 8, 2020
But what the British actually handed over was a country totally dependant on plantation economy, where the price was still decided by them and western economies. It is still upto this day the same. We get absolutely minimum prices for our tea and all other produce like rubber and coconut and even cinnamon. Although we became so-called independent, our economy was not independent. This is the case for all third world countries, but still we have people believing whatever comes from our colonial masters is the best. First the British systematically destroyed all indigenous industry and huge areas of land were expropriated and taken for plantations, then they made us dependant on the new economy, so after independence, although the British were not physically present here, a good deal of the profits still went to Britain, through companies like Lipton etc. The poor became more poor and the growing nationalistic issues of both Tamils and Sinhalese created more poverty and disorganisation. It was convenient for the Sinhalese and also the Tamil political leaders to have the population polarized along ethnic lines and fighting.
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Punchi Point / October 8, 2020
Just take the standardization issue – has the Srilankan government ever spoken to the Tamil public and explained the basis of this? No. This enormously important policy was just dumped on all of us. Same with the official language issue. It was handled badly. In my opinion, if it was done in a proper and nice way, without the needless demonstration of power and arrogance, but involving the Tamils in every step of the way, the Tamils would have more than willingly accepted it. One can just wonder how our country has actually managed to function and show the little progress we have had, given all the political trouble. Now after 65years of foreign aid, we are more poor than ever. UN has all the declarations etc on paper, but will they ever go into taking a full audit of British rule in Srilanka, India and Africa? If we just take our small country, the amount the British stole from us would amount to many billions of dollars, not to mention all the destruction the wars and rebellions against the British caused and the cultural and historical artefacts they took to Britain, as if these artefacts their own.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
(5) ask the UN investigate why we need devolution or separation please after explaining to them in writing how the mandates were obtained against all the norms of democratic values??? at gun point?? tell them about the losers voted out by the people of Jaffna and how they found their seats back killing their opponents whom the foreign delegates met to discuss me and you (Tamils) as though we were their subjects/slaves?????????yet we live around the world in other mans countries…settelrs countries….invaded countries without the permission from the Natives in the first place????
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 6, 2020
Most importantly explained to them the sequencing of the events.time lining them how the wonderful innocent Sinhalese people were made to look like some evils in the world??? JVP can explain their policies and knowledge and their actions at the same time with you to the world too.
let us not only get the facts correct for our Nation of people we can also be the moral guidance for all in the world to….one for all and all for one justice starts at home…………tell the world how wonderful you had your education/carrier and even your children married to Sinhalese people please….explain to the world how Tamils would not even choose to leave the country to Toilet was anywhere else in the world please??
Please do the required PR for our Nation of people will bring justice Naturally to us all……undermining the elected will not speak good of you either………my Father accepted when the TULF was elected be it with a heavy heart but spent the next few years -1977-1981 furthering his studies/PhD on Sri Lankan development work in Madras University.
He did not spent time insulting/undermining the peoples elect then was TULF with their undemocratic mandate then again we did not have any election observers then….
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 7, 2020
….we did not even have the Police/Security to protect the Jaffna man from the FP thuggery/assassinations asking children openly to do the Lynch mob of their oppoenets in political stages whist the entire leadership sat on the stage/published the demands in their party political news papers ?????? tell the world the real stories please the Hindu God will give you the blessings accordingly…god bless.
May be you want also to add the caste system practised in Jaffna in the 20/21st centuries can only be compared to the Slavery……crime against humanity……..you as a judge can explain this in exact details how this contravenes with the law of the land too. I can provide all the written details of this inhumane act/practise that existed right under the nose of FP/ITAK elected without being brought to the UN?????? I can also provide you details of the animal behaviour unleaded on those even attended the Temples as equals….as a judge of a Hindu background you may want to revisit all this crime…….to rid of any karma we carry….
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / October 7, 2020
I understand your NPC has changed the name of my Fathers school (Thiagarajah Maha Vidayalam) back to Hindu college…………….not only he was the principle for nearly 30 years but worked with his folks to build this from a school to a college …where the GOSL procedurally changed the name to my Fathers name after he was assassinated by FP/ITAK/TULF/TNA in 1981 DDC elections as a respect to him.
This college had Christian principle and Low Caste Principle thereafter and I know the hard times they had one more than the other……important to note is my Father made all these social changes possible through his journey. You have the honour of changing this name back to Hindu colleague (we love the place irrespective of the name as I studied their too) under you NPC rule????????? admire your courage. May be you want to explain this to all the Sri Lankans please the historical prospect as you are now referring to history predates your lifespan in our planet. Issue of trust/betrayal on your part perhaps?????/
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KA / October 6, 2020
I think you made typo, or if you do not know,
“Battaramulla- බත්තරමුල්ල – Pather Moolai – பத்தர் மூளை-Goldsmith Corner”
Battaramulla- බත්තරමුල්ල – Pather Moolai – பத்தர் மூலை -Goldsmith Corner
மூளை = Brain
மூலை = Corner
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old codger / October 7, 2020
Will CVW hit 400 comments, and break some kind of record?
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KandyanSam / October 8, 2020
Quote from Wikpedia “Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1780 – January 30, 1832, born Kannasamy Nayaka) was the last of four Kings, to rule the last Sinhalese monarchy of the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka. The Nayak Kings were of Telugu origin who practiced Shaivite Hinduism and were patrons of Theravada Buddhism.[1][2] The Nayak rulers played a huge role in reviving Buddhism in the island.[3] They spoke Tamil, which was also used as the court language in Kandy alongside Sinhalese.”
Didnt this King Sign the Kandyan.
So then what about The Tamil signatures on the Kandyan Convention of 1815?????
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