{"id":154722,"date":"2015-12-20T16:09:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T10:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=154722"},"modified":"2015-12-26T14:28:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-26T08:58:45","slug":"pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Roberts<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Michael Roberts<\/p><\/div>\n

Way back in the 1960s the scholar Sinnappah Arasaratnam noted that in Sri Lanka two (communal) extremisms were feeding off each other and thereby sharpening conflict (1967, 1974 & 1979). This was, of course, just one factor contributing to a developing crisis that requires a careful analysis that identifies the multiple factors aggravating division. The tragic tale remains true today: Sinhalese and Tamil extremists continue to stir the pot and gain vigour by attacking each other (and others too).<\/p>\n

The vehemence is all the greater because the vanguard of such fervour resides among migrants in Western lands who are encouraged by the freedom of the internet to ride the waves of communication with slander and sarcasm as their principal weapons. Among the Sri Lankan Tamils of the diaspora, of course, this venom has been grounded in the bitter experiences that induced so many to leave Sri Lanka in the last three decades of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Via familial stories as well as the vast propaganda machinery built up by the LTTE over the last 25 years this fervour has been transmitted to some of the second\/third generation migrants brought up in these lands. As with so many Tamils living in Sri Lanka in the 1990s and 2000s Velupillai Pirap\u0101haran<\/span><\/a>, the talaivar of Thamil\u012blam, was more or less a deity among these migrant peoples. In fact, he was likened to a Sun God<\/span><\/a> (Jeyaraj 2009).<\/p>\n

\"Heroes<\/a>During the halcyon days of the LTTE this worship was expressed on his birthday 26th November[1] \u2013 a day that happened to precede an even more important moment of Tamil Tiger bonding, M\u0101v\u012brar N\u0101l<\/span><\/a> celebrated every 27th November to pay homage to the Tiger dead<\/span><\/a> and re-affirm the peoples\u2019 commitment to the goal of Eelam (Schalk 2003; Roberts 2009; Natali 2008).<\/p>\n

The demise of Pirap\u0101haran on 18th May 2009 has not dented this worship of the Sun God or the commitment to the liberation struggle among many Tamils in the island and abroad. The 18th May has now been added to the ritual calendar<\/span><\/a> of Thamil\u012blam as \u201cGenocide Day<\/span><\/a>,\u201d with protest events being organized by the faithful in many cities in the West.<\/p>\n

Likewise, conventional Saivite ceremonies of goodwill and sustenance for Pirap\u0101haran are still conducted in some places in Sri Lanka and abroad to bestow blessings on his life\u2019s journey on 26th November every year. A large Tamil gathering at Wembley in London to mark Pirap\u0101haran\u2019s greatness by commemorating his birthday (captured on camera by a Sinhalese migrant) recently raised a minor storm among Sinhalese of the internet communication chain, adding to the fuel planted by the success of the Sri Lankan Tamil networks in persuading USA, the West and the UN bureaucracy to press war crimes charges against the government of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

However, it is the commemoration of Heroes\u2019 Day on the 27h November every year in many cities and towns in the West that marks the commitment of Sri Lankan Tamils (and other supporters<\/span><\/a>) to the cause of an independent Tamil state of Thamil\u012blam. These gatherings in 2015 were not confined to London and Toronto, but seem to have been mounted in numerous cities \u2013 for instance from Fribourg in Switzerland to Oslo in Norway. Such moments of coordinated activity must surely sustain the fervour displayed on the streets of so many cities in the West in March-April-May 2009 as the LTTE slid to comprehensive military defeat.<\/p>\n

In the course of researches into the last stages of the war through studies of the Wikileaks exposure of the US ambassador\u2019s dispatches to Washington, I perceived a chance process which may have contributed to the success of Tamil agitation in penetrating official US thinking in 2009. In my surmise, logically, similar processes could be occurring now as we speak. My write-up<\/span><\/a> was placed in the Colombo Telegraph<\/em> on the 9th December 2015. As expected, it drew the ire of the many piranhas (in this instance SL Tamil) who inhabit the air waves.<\/p>\n

However, one of these sniper attacks by one \u201cThanga\u201d on the 11th December 2015 was, as Neville Jayaweera<\/span><\/a> intimated, carefully crafted and quite clever. Thanga challenges my characterization of the LTTE as \u201cfascist\u201d and insists that the LTTE was a party of freedom fighters and therefore remains popular among Tamils unlike Hitler and Mussolini in their countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LTTE was immensely popular with the masses. \u2026. the armed struggle was a direct result of state violence inflicted on Thamils ever since independence. Chandrika Kumaratunga put it succinctly when she said Prabhakaran is the product of Sinhala racism. One cannot create a fighting force from thin air. Concrete socio-political-economic conditions must exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanga\u2019s neat sound-bites and part-truths do not a comprehensive argument make. He is guilty of gross oversimplification. It is entirely feasible for a freedom fighter movement to be fascist in structure and organizational form.[2] The dead bodies of so many Tamil parliamentarians gunned down by the Tigers<\/span><\/a> and the heaps of TELO and EPRLF dead are grotesque testimony to Pirap\u0101haran\u2019s killer mentality (Hoole 2001).[3] As a reporter for the Economist indicated, Pirap\u0101haran was \u201ca textbook fascist who went on to murder his Tamil rivals, inspire love and terror among his followers and monopolise the Tamil nationalist cause.\u201d[4]<\/p>\n

Alas, this has not dimmed his popularity both within Thamil\u012blam and in some drawing rooms in Colombo and in many drawing rooms of the diaspora. On this count I do not question Thanga. Pirap\u0101haran remains venerated today.<\/p>\n

But Thanga also requires a little history lesson. With Hitler and Mussolini after 1944\/45, the German and Italian peoples had no choice: occupying armies sat astride their countries for decades; while the Allies, quite intelligently, deployed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany and Europe in ways which have enabled Germany today to become the headmistress of the European Union. The US Army had contingents at strategic sites in West Germany, including Heidelberg when I resided there for spells in 1976 and 1987.<\/p>\n

But it is with reference to Sri Lankan history in the period 1948 to 1983 that Thanga requires a history caning. Part-truths do not a story make, the more so when — as I indicated as the outset \u2013 a complex configuration of forces sharpened the pre-existing ethnic divide to a point of bitter conflict.<\/p>\n

The ethnic (also called \u201ccommunal\u201d) differentiation between Sinhalese and SL Tamils in Sri Lanka has been long-standing and grounded in cultural practices as much as political history. What sharpened the divisions in the independence era was the process of democratic politics from 1948-1970 within (A) a particular political structure and (B) the island\u2019s peculiar demographic configuration (Roberts 1978; Wilson 1975).<\/p>\n

Point A refers to the Westminster system of parliamentary elections based on first-past-the post electoral constituencies set up (in good faith but with disastrous results) by the Soulbury Constitution. Given the specific distribution of ethnic groups in the island, the political parties discovered over the decade 1956-1960s that a small swing in votes led to a landslide victory for either the SLFP or the UNP. Robert Kearney\u2019s studies reveal this aspect quite clearly (1967 & 1973).[5] There was a structural disincentive for anyone to promote compromise politics across the ethnic divide (Roberts 1978). That is why the main Leftist parties abandoned their principled support for \u201cparity of status for both languages\u201d and joined Mrs. Bandaranaike\u2019s alliance in 1964. In blaming the demagogy of her father and mother (plus the UNP) Chandrika Bandaranaike is oversimplifying. The failures were system induced.<\/p>\n

Yes, Sinhala prejudices, the political demagogues and the work of prejudiced bureaucrats after the Sinhala Only Act was in place also contributed to the polarization. However, Sinhala politicians were not the only demagogues (as Neville Jayaweera has clarified in his biography — 2014). The Tamil politicians were not without their prejudices and also indulged in demagogic activity. The Tamil intelligentsia also practiced considerable dissimulation by proposing that the whole of the Eastern Province was part of their \u201ctraditional homelands.\u201d As early as the 19th December 1949 this specific dishonesty was embedded in the manifesto of the \u201cFederal Freedom Party of the Tamil-speaking People of Ceylon\u201d (ITAK 1949). This particular Tamil argument can be interpreted as a maximization claim of the sort seen in the history of Japanese and German fascism too \u2013 a form of \u201clebensraum\u201d that forcibly embraced the Sri Lankan Muslims as Tamil.<\/p>\n

I do not expect Thanga to take kindly to this brief history lesson. My schoolmaster tones will him repel. Besides, he is hardcore Tiger and venerates Pirap\u0101haran. In brief, he is probably incorrigible. That fact is a pointer to the vast network of support and tutelage to the memory of Pirap\u0101haran and his Tigers that exists among the Sri Lankan Tamil peoples all over the world today. This is the most significant contention that I leave for readers to ponder. In such a milieu, the positions of moderate Tamils like David Jeyaraj and Rajan Hoole will, as Thanga affirms, carry little weight among the Tamil masses. Democratic politics trumps sensibility and produces, well, Trumps \u2013 Donald Trumps of the Sri Lankan Tamil variety.<\/p>\n

\n

Select Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arasaratnam, Sinnappah 1967 \u201cNationalism, Communalism and National Unity in Ceylon,\u201d in Philip Mason (ed.) India and Ceylon. Unity and Diversity, OUP, pp. 26078.<\/p>\n

Arasaratnam, Sinnappah 1979 \u201cNationalism in Sri Lanka and the Tamils,\u201d in M. Roberts (ed.) Collective Identities, Nationalisms and Protest in Modern Sri Lanka, Colombo: Marga, pp. 500-19.<\/p>\n

Chandrakanthan, A. J. V. 2000. \u201cEelam Tamil Nationalism: An Inside View.\u201d Pp. 157\u2013175 in Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, ed. A. Jeyaratnam Wilson. London: Hurst and Company.<\/p>\n

Daniel, E Valentine 1989 \u2018Three dispositions towards the past: one Sinhala, two Tamil\u2019, Social Analysis 25: 22-41.<\/p>\n

Economist 2010 \u201cVictory for the Tiger Slayer,\u201d 28 January 2010, http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/15393468<\/p>\n

ITAK 1949 \u201cInaugural Meeting of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, Colombo, 18December 1949\u2026 with Presidential Address by SJV Chelvanayakam,\u201d in M. Roberts, Tamil Person and State. Pictorial, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, pp. 273-92.<\/p>\n

Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar 1994 The Tamil Tigers: Armed Struggle for Identity. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.<\/p>\n

Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar 2005. \u201c\u2018And Heroes Die\u2019: Poetry of the Tamil Liberation Movement in Northern Sri Lanka.\u201d South Asia 28, no. 1: 112\u2013153.<\/p>\n

Hoole, Rajan 2001 The Arrogance of Power. Myths, Decadence, Murder, Nugegoda: Wasala Publications for the UTHR<\/p>\n

Jayaweers, Neville 2014 Jaffna: Exorcising the Past and Holding the Vision<\/p>\n

Jeyaraj, DBS 2009 \u201cPrabhakaran: Powerful symbol of Tamil armed struggle,\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/archives\/650<\/p>\n

Kearney, Robert N. 1967 Communalism and language in the politics of Ceylon, Durham, N C: Duke University Press.<\/p>\n

Kearney, Robert N. 1973 The Politics of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Ithaca.<\/p>\n

Manikkalingam, Ram 1995 Tigerism, Colombo: a pamphlet.<\/p>\n

Manogaran C and Bryan Pfaffenberger 1994 The Sri Lankan Tamils. Ethnicity and identity, Boulder: Westview Press.<\/p>\n

Natali, Cristiana 2008. \u201cBuilding Cemeteries, Constructing Identities: Funerary Practices and Nationalist Discourse among the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.\u201d Contemporary South Asia 16, no. 3: 287\u2013301.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Duffy, Brendan 2007 \u201cLTTE: Majoritarianism, Self-Determination, and Military-to- Political Transition in Sri Lanka.\u201d Pp. 257\u2013287 in Terror, Insurgency, and the State: Ending Protracted<\/p>\n

Conflicts, ed. Marianne Heiberg, Brendan O\u2019Leary, and John Tirman, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.<\/p>\n

Pfaffenberger, Bryan 1979. \u201cThe Kataragama Pilgrimage: Hindu-Buddhist Interaction and Its Significance in Sri Lanka\u2019s Polyethnic Social System.\u201d Journal of Asian Studies 38, no. 2: 253\u2013270.<\/p>\n

Pratap, Anita 2001. Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Other South Asian Flashpoints. New Delhi: Viking.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 1978 “Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to Accommodation,” Modern Asian Studies, 12:353-76.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2003a \u201cThe Agony and Ecstasy of a Pogrom: Southern Lanka, July 1983,\u201d Nethra special issue, 6: 199-213.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2003b \u201cLanguage and National Identity: The Sinhalese and Others over the Centuries,\u201d Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 9: 75-102.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2005 \u201cSaivite Symbolism, Sacrifice and Tamil Tiger Rites\u201d, Social Analysis 49: 67-93.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2006 \u201cPragmatic Action & Enchanted Worlds: A Black Tiger Rite Of Commemoration,\u201d Social Analysis 50: 73-102.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2007 \u201cSuicide Missions as Witnessing: Expansions, Contrasts,\u201d Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 30, no. 10: 857\u2013887.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2008. \u201cTamil Tigers: Sacrificial Symbolism and \u2018Dead Body Politics\u2019, \u201d Anthropology Today 24, no. 3: 22\u201323.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2010. \u201cKilling Rajiv Gandhi: Dhanu\u2019s Sacrificial Metamorphosis in Death?\u201d South Asian History and Culture 1, no. 1: 25\u201341.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2011 \u201cDeath and Eternal Life: Contrasting Sensibilities in the Face of Corpses,\u201d 29 June 2011, https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2011\/06\/29\/death-and-eternal-life-contrasting-sensibilities-in-the-face-of-corpses\/<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2012 \u201cVelupillai Pirapaharan: VEERA MARANAM.\u201d Thuppahi\u2019s Blog, 26 November. http:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2012\/11\/26\/velupillai-pirapaharan-veera-maranam.<\/p>\n

Footnotes & Citations<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] I have seen photographs of ceremonies involving pandals or a circle of pots in his honour held in places in Thamililam and the north of Sri Lanka during the 1990s and 2000s but will need to search for them.<\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0Apart from the verdict of Benjamin Bavinck on the basis of his life in the Jaffna Peninsula from 1994-2001, note that the Economist concluded that the Leader of the LTTE was a \u201ctextbook fascist\u201d (see main text and \u2018Victory for the Tiger Slayer,\u201d 28 January 2010, http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/15393468<\/p>\n

[3] Also see the following sources:<\/p>\n

\u00b7 http:\/\/www.defence.lk\/new.asp?fname=Tamil_Politicians_Priests_Public_Officials_and_Academics_killed_by_the_LTTE_20131103_01<\/p>\n

\u00b7 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_assassinations_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_War<\/p>\n

[4] See \u2018Victory for the Tiger Slayer,\u201d 28 January 2010, http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/15393468<\/p>\n

[5] I benefited from personal interaction with Kearney during his visits to Sri Lanka where on one or two occasions he presented a paper before the Ceylon Studies Seminar at Peradeniya. This seminar series and personal interaction with such personnel as AJ Wilson. KM de Silva, Shelton Kodikara, Gerald Peiris and other colleagues at Peradeniya helped me sharpen my analytical skills\u2026 and provided the grounding for my arguments in \u201cEthnic conflict in Sri Lanka & Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to accommodation,\u201d Modern Asian Studies, 1978 \u2013 an article drafted in Germany in 1976 where I forecast the sharpening of Sri Lanka\u2019s ethnic conflict to a situation similar to Cyprus and Lebanon [partially wrong\u2014it has been more severe].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":101329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nPirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-20T10:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-26T08:58:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"105\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"116\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/\",\"name\":\"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-20T10:39:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-26T08:58:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg\",\"width\":\"105\",\"height\":\"116\",\"caption\":\"Dr. Michael Roberts\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2015-12-20T10:39:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-26T08:58:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":105,"height":116,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/","name":"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-20T10:39:52+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-26T08:58:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg","width":"105","height":"116","caption":"Dr. Michael Roberts"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pirapaharan-as-inspiring-deity-yesterday-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pirap\u0101haran As Inspiring Deity Yesterday & Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-Roberts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154740,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154722\/revisions\/154740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}