{"id":193294,"date":"2018-09-07T02:09:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T20:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=193294"},"modified":"2018-09-10T14:47:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T09:17:21","slug":"its-marks-of-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/its-marks-of-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"Thamil\u012blam\u00ad & Its Marks Of Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

This article is the second of those preparing the ground for a review of the new data on the last phase of Eelam War IV served up by access to the despatches<\/a>of British Defence Attache Lt. Col. Gash (the first being my analysis of Pirap\u0101haran\u2019s strategy of assassinations<\/a>). It concentrates on the character of the state of Thamil\u012blam\u00ad <\/em>throughout its period of existence, viz. from 1990-2009. It by-passes the pre-history when the Tamil New Tigers-become-LTTE was an incipient insurgent force competing with other Tamil militant organisations and with the GoSL and\/or the IPKF for control of terrain.<\/p>\n

Thamil\u012blam\u00ad <\/em>in its fuller emergent state form could be said to have originated in early 1990 when the Indian Peace Keeping Force departed and the LTTE insurgents gained control of most of the Jaffna Peninsula. This span of control increased in mid-1990s when the Tiger insurgents outmanoeuvred the Premadasa government and seized control of most of the Eastern Province after attacking and seizing several police stations and then massacring around 600 policemen who had surrendered. This spatial reach was reduced in mid-late 1995 when the SL Army attacked from the Palaly enclave and seized control of the Jaffna Peninsula. But it then expanded again when the Tiger forces overran the SL Army base at Mullaitivu in 1996 and then took control of Kilinochchi town and eventually the huge army base at Elephant Pass in 1999-2000.<\/p>\n

However, the LTTE and its supporters abroad always had larger territorial ambitions and their maps of the Eelam project were in step with the \u201ctraditional homelands\u201d claim presented by the ITAK (Federal Party) from 1949 onwards<\/a>[i]<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 thereby embracing Puttalam and Chilaw in the expansive world-view typical of all fascist states in their embryonic stage.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus, from 1990 one witnesses the LTTE setting up an independent administration in its territories with Velupillai Pirap\u0101haran as its \u201ctalaivar<\/em>\u201d or Supreme Leader and its military commanders as the dominant authority in all regional centres. There was a civil administration consisting of the previous Tamil civilians who had served the government of Sri Lanka and who retained the titles of yesteryear. Over time the LTTE inserted some of its own personnel alongside these posts or displaced these persons with their own appointees. This process involved the creation and\/or overseeing of the judicial organisation as well. The law courts were LTTE run and instruments of control as well as service.<\/p>\n

The LTTE\u2019s consolidation of state authority was enhanced by its military successes in the period 1996-2001. It reached out for international status with considerable assistance from Norway and the latter\u2019s point man Eric Solheim. The military clout secured after they brought the Kumaratunga government to its knees in 1999-2001 enabled the LTTE to sign a ceasefire via \u201cA Memorandum of Understanding<\/a>\u201d in April 2002 in formalities marked by all the characteristics of a state. This status was beamed to the whole world on the 10th<\/sup>April 2002 when media personnel from many countries assembled at Kilinochchi<\/a>to witness the Talaivar<\/em>Pirap\u0101haran, his de facto \u2018Foreign Minister\u2019 Anton Balasingham and the Political Commissar, Thamil Chelvam, hold court in solemn splendour.<\/a>[ii]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Thamil\u012blam <\/em>under the LTTE was an efficient authoritarian state run by a dictator who commanded widespread respect among its citizenry. Its propaganda capacities were as innovative as remarkable. Central to its process of cultivating respect was the homage paid to its fighting dead, the m\u0101veerar<\/em>, at a ceremony held on the 27th<\/sup>November every year at the 21 thuyilumilum<\/em>(\u201cresting houses\u201d) in LTTE territory \u2013 sites that were regarded as temples.<\/a>[iii]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

These events were preceded by several weeks of intense propaganda work with appropriate music \u2018blanketing\u2019 the air waves everywhere and\u00a0m\u0101veerar-<\/em>sheds depicting the dead\u00a0m\u0101veerar <\/em>from each locality at judicious locations in each locality. Remarkably, as I can attest from my experience in Jaffna Peninsula in late November 2004, such processes and events devoted to the deepening of Tamilness and obeisance to the talaivar\u00a0<\/em>and his martyr soldiers were freely pursued within GoSL territory as well.<\/p>\n

An Office of Great Heroes (m\u0101ee\u012brar<\/em>, was set up in 1995 and the head was Pon Thiyagam, an experienced grey-haired official whose no-nonsense capacities impressed me greatly when I met him briefly in Kilinochchi in 2004. The LTTE was well-served by the longstanding history of education in the Jaffna Peninsula and at such centres as Batticaloa: several generational cohorts of public servants were available to implement its programmes.<\/p>\n

Thamililam<\/em>was also an innovative state. State-of-the-art underground hospitals had been constructed in Jaffna town in the early 1990s; while the underground complex built subsequently at Mullaitivu was impressive. Its innovative building of fast shallow water attack boats gaveits Sea Tigers<\/a>considerable clout as a brown water navy. Its suicide cadre in the Black Tigers sharpened the LTTE\u2019s raiding capacity as well as assassination work<\/a>. The devastation of the Central Bank in Colombo Fort on<\/a>31 January 1996 and the Tamil commando strike on Katunayake airport on 24th<\/sup>July 2001<\/a>mark the capacity to inflict clinical assaults displayed by these personnel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My Ethnographic Experience in Kilinochchi in late November 2004<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through the good offices of the Uthayam<\/em>newspaper personnel and guidance from Tamil friends I travelled south from Jaffna to Kilinochchi with these friends on the 26th November and in doing so passed through border controls maintained by the government of Sri Lanka and that of Thamililam\u00a0<\/em>that were typical of all such practices world-wide (though not quite as mind-blowing as those I experienced at \u201cCheck Point Charlie\u201d in Berlin in 1976). The first event I attended at Kilinochchi was\u00a0the opening of a Media Centre on the 26th<\/sup>where Thamil Chelvam was the main speaker. However, my principal focus was the Kanagapuram Thuyilumilam south of the town where a huge gathering of perhaps 150,000 people<\/a>[iv]<\/strong><\/a>who assembled at this \u2018temple\u2019 in homage to their maaveerar on that \u2018sacred\u2019 day, 27th November<\/p>\n

The organisation at both events was exemplary. The arrangements on the 27th<\/sup>indicated attention to spatial requirements and participant comfort. Again, the restaurants in town and the bus services were state run (via delegation) and well-run. I was intrigued by the occasional scenes of cyclists and motor cyclists-towing-carts that moved hither and dither bearing two coconut seedlings, apparently gifts from the LTTE to householders on that day the 27th<\/sup>November which would therefore boost the productive capacity of the smallholdings everywhere \u2013 a simple innovation, yet so useful.<\/p>\n

In conversations in English with two Health Department officials who joined our little party at meals and in interviewing Thiru Master (a senior LTTE counsellor and one of the speakers at the media event) at his house, I was peppered with complaints about the Sri Lankan state\u2019s activities. These men were feisty and itching to return to war.<\/p>\n

These experiences helped me understand a point dinned into my ears subsequently (2010?) by Anoma Rajakaruna on the foundations provide by her frequent visits to Thamil\u012blam<\/em>on feminist projects during the ceasefire period 2002-06. The LTTE state, she said, had its fingers everywhere and most people were dependent on its \u2018arms\u2019 in one way or another \u2013 sometimes in several ways. Muralidhar Reddy and Silan Kadirgamar were therefore on the ball when (in conversations with me in 2010) they insisted that in 2006-to-2008 most of the residents in LTTE terrain were hostile to GoSL and in support of the LTTE\u2019s diktats.<\/a>[v]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Nor must we forget that the LTTE had spent time and effort in regimenting the ordinary civilians in martial formations through the makkal padai<\/em>training arrangements. Thus, a martial orientation had been instilled among the citizens. This was a state geared for war. One illustration of this commitment was provided by the sarong-clad manager of the guest house at which I was staying. He was an Indian Tamil from the Kandy locality whose family had migrated to the Vanni way back in the 1970s or so.<\/a>[vi]<\/strong><\/a>His son had died as a Tiger fighter and there was a little shrine in the son\u2019s memory in the guest-house vestibule. The father \u2013 a middle-aged man, perhaps in his 50s \u2013 was unequivocal: if the LTTE asked him to join their armed forces, he would gladly join.<\/a>[vii]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Hallmarks of Sovereignty<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is little doubt, therefore, that the Tiger leadership launched Eelam War IV in mid-2006 with a conviction that they could cap their existing paraphernalia of statehood with formal worldwide confirmation.<\/p>\n

The existing pillars of statehood included a little innovation on their part that also pointed to a shortfall. In April 1996 when astrologers and some bhikkhus persuaded the Kumaratunga government to adjust the Sri Lankan clocks by a reduction of one half-hour, the LTTE retained the old 24-hour schedule.<\/a>[viii]<\/strong><\/a>In effect, they did not adhere to official \u201cSri Lanka time\u201d and could display their \u201csovereignty\u201d in yet another way.<\/p>\n

However, this little sign highlights a fundamental shortfall. Throughout these decades the currency in use in Thamil\u012blam<\/em>was the Sri Lankan rupee. I paid for my meals and bought books and disks at Kilinochchi with my stock of rupees.<\/p>\n

Why, then, had there been no change on this front? Answer: because a significant number of residents in Thamil\u012blam<\/em>were either pensioners of the SL state or were serving officers in departments subject to directives from Colombo. They were recipients of pensions and\/or salaries from the government of Colombo. While dependent on the Colombo in this manner, they took orders from the LTTE.<\/p>\n

Thus, one pillar of the LTTE economy was the cash flowing in regular fashion from the GoSL. That foundation, and its tell-tell sign, the ubiquitous Sri Lankan rupee, marked an outstanding shortfall; in fact, it was an awful sore on the forehead of the Thamil\u012blam<\/em>body politic.<\/p>\n

The LTTE state, moreover, drew some of its wherewithal in food supplies and medicinal needs from the stocks despatched to \u2018their citizens\u2019 by the GoSL arms working in conjunction with UN and other humanitarian agencies. The government centred in Colombo was marking\/asserting its sovereign rights in this manner. The supplies were so useful that the LTTE chose to let them flow in. In this concession and in their continued dependence on the rupee as currency, they were conceding limits on the fullness of their statehood.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was not a major concern for <\/strong>talaivar <\/strong><\/em>Pirap\u0101haran in 2004. Bolstered by past success, he and his commanders were certain that they would finalize their nation-status by waging war.\u00a0<\/strong>Ramesh, the Tiger Propaganda Chief whom I met in Kilinochchi in November,<\/a>[ix]<\/strong><\/a>moved to Mullaitivu in December to prepare for this step. The ravages of the tsunami of 26th<\/sup>December that year delayed that move. However, the LTTE machinery of state regrouped and initiated Eelam War IV at Mavil Aru in August 2006.<\/p>\n

\n

BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is an extended set of references that will lead earnest readers to the cultural and religious background of Sri Lankan Tamils which informed the mobilisation work and ceremonies of homage to the hero-dead that figure in this article. These references, in their turn, will point towards the literature on South India which is pertinent for this type of exploration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bastin, Rohan<\/strong>2002a. The Domain of Constant Excess. Plural Worship at the Munnesvaram Temples\u00a0in Sri Lanka<\/em>. New York: Berghahn Books<\/p>\n

Bavinck, Ben<\/strong>2011 \u201cPirapaharan as uncompromising killer prone to vengeance: testimonies from the Jaffna heartland, 1989-91\u201d http:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress<\/a>. com\/2011\/11\/01\/Pirapaharan as uncompromising killer prone to vengeance: testimonies from the Jaffna heartland, 1989-91<\/p>\n

Chandrakanthan, Revd. A. J. V.<\/strong>2000 \u201cEelam Tamil Nationalism,\u201d in A. J. Wilson, Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism. Its Origins and Development in the 19th and 20th Centuries<\/em>, London, Hurst & Co., pp. 157-75.<\/p>\n

Chandradasa, Malaka<\/strong>2012 \u201cLearning from Our Enemies: Sri Lankan Special warfare against the Sea Tigers,\u201d\u00a0 \/\/globalecco.org\/learning-from-our-enemies-sri-lankan-naval-special-warfare-against-the-sea-tigers<\/p>\n

Guardian<\/strong>2002 \u201cFull Text of Memorandum of Understanding,\u201d 22 February 2002, \u2026. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2002\/feb\/22\/srilanka<\/a><\/p>\n

Gulf News <\/strong>2006 \u201cTime for change when Sri Lanka turns back the clocks,\u201d 13 April 2006.<\/p>\n

Harding, Luke <\/strong>2002 \u201cTamil leader signals the end of civil war,\u201d 11 April 2002.https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2002\/apr\/11\/srilanka<\/a><\/p>\n

Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D.<\/strong>1994 \u2018The \u2018groups\u2019 and the rise of militant secessionism,\u201d in C. Manogaran & B. Pfaffenberger (eds) The Sri Lankan Tamils. Ethnicity and Identity<\/em>, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 169-207.<\/p>\n

Hellman-Rajanayagam, Dagmar<\/strong>2005. \u201cAnd Heroes Die: Poetry of the Tamil Liberation Movement in Northern Sri Lanka,\u201d South Asia<\/em>28: 112-53.<\/p>\n

Hoole, Rajan<\/strong>2001 Sri Lanka:<\/em>The Arrogance of Power. Myths, Decadence, & Murder<\/em>, Nugegoda Wasala Publications for UTHR (Jaffna).<\/p>\n

Jeyaraj, D. B. S<\/strong>. 2009 \u201cPrabhakaran: Powerful Symbol of Tamil Armed Struggle<\/a>,\u201d 29 May 2009, in http:\/\/www.transcurrents.com<\/a>OR http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/archives\/650<\/a><\/p>\n

Natali, Cristiana<\/strong>\u00a02008 \u201cBuilding Cemeteries, Constructing Identities: Funerary Practices and Nationalist Discourse among the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.\u201d\u00a0Contemporary\u00a0South Asia\u00a0<\/em>16, no. 3: 287\u2013301<\/p>\n

Ragavan <\/strong>2018 \u201cYoung Pirapaharan\u2019s Inspirations and Ideology: Ragavan\u2019s Incisive Memoria, May 2009,\u201d 9 August 2018, https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/09\/young-pirapharans-inspirations-and-ideology-ragavans-incisive-memorial-in-may-2009\/#more-31113<\/a><\/p>\n

Reuter, Christoph <\/strong>2002My life is a weapon. A modern history of suicide bombing<\/em>, Princeton: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>1996 \u201cFilial Devotion and the Tiger Cult of Suicide,\u201d Contributions to Indian Sociology<\/em>30: 245-72.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2004Narrating Tamil Nationalism<\/em>. Subjectivities & Issues<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2005. \u201cTamil Tiger \u2018Martyrs\u2019: Regenerating Divine Potency?\u201d Studies in Conflict & Terrorism<\/em>28: 493-514.<\/p>\n

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

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2005 \u201cTamil Tiger \u2018Martyrs\u2019: Regenerating Divine Potency?\u201d Studies in Conflict & Terrorism<\/em>28: 493-514<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2006 \u201cThe Tamil Movement for Eelam,\u201d E-Bulletin of the International Sociological Association<\/em>No. 4, July 2006, pp. 12-24 [reprinted in Roberts, Fire and Storm<\/em>, Colombo, Yapa, 2010, pp. 203-18].<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>\u00a02006 \u201cPragmatic Action & Enchanted Worlds: A Black Tiger Rite of Commemoration,\u201d\u00a0Social Analysis<\/em>\u00a050: 73-102.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2007 \u201cSuicide Missions as Witnessing: Expansions, Contrasts,\u201d Studies<\/em>in Conflict and Terrorism<\/em>, vol. 30 (10): October 2007, pp. 857-88.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2007 \u201cBlunders in Tigerland: Pape\u2019s Muddles on \u2018Suicide Bombers\u2019 in Sri Lanka,\u201d\u00a0Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics<\/em>available at http:\/\/hpsacp.uni-<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>\u00a02008 \u201cTamil Tigers: Sacrificial Symbolism and \u2018Dead Body Politics,\u201d Anthropology Today\u00a0<\/em>24, no. 3: 22\u201323.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2009 Confrontations in Sri Lanka: Sinhalese, LTTE and Others<\/em>\u00b8 Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2010Fire and Storm. Essays in Sri Lankan Politics<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2010 \u201cSelf-Annihilation for Political Cause: Cultural Premises in Tamil Tiger Selflessness,\u201d in Roberts, Fire and Storm. Essays in Sri Lankan Politics<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, pp. 161-201.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael <\/strong>2010 \u201cHitler, Nationalism, Sacrifice: Koenigsberg and Beyond \u2026 Towards the Tamil Tigers,\u201d in https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/19\/hitler-nationalism-sacrifice-koenigsberg-and-beyond-%e2%80%a6-towards-the-tamil-tigers\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2013 <\/strong>\u201cTowards Citizenship in\u00a0Thamil\u012blam<\/em>\u00a0Sri Lanka\u2019s Tamil People of the North, 1983-2010,\u201d\u00a0South Asia Research<\/em>, 2013, 33: 57-75.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2014 \u201cInspirations and caste Threads in the Early LTTE,\u201d in Roberts, Tamil Person and State<\/em>, Essays,<\/em>Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014, pp, 1-43.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2014 \u201cHero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapaharan\u2019s Thinking,\u201d in Roberts, Tamil Person and State<\/em>, Essays,<\/em>Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2014, pp, 69-89.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael 2014 \u201c<\/strong>The Induction Oath of Tamil Tiger Fighters at their Passing-Out\u00a0Ceremony<\/a>,\u201d 23 June 2014, <\/u>https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/06\/23\/the-induction-oath-of-tamil-tiger-fighters-at-their-passing-out-ceremony\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2014 Tamil Person and State. Essays<\/em>,<\/strong>\u00a0Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.<\/p>\n

Roberts, Michael<\/strong>2014\u00a0Tamil Person and State. Pictorial<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.<\/p>\n

Schalk,<\/strong>Peter<\/strong>2003 \u201cBeyond Hindu festivals: the celebration of Great Heroes\u2019 Day by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in Europe,\u201d in Martin Baumann et al (eds.) Tempel und Tamilien in zweiter Heimat<\/em>, Ergon Verlag, pp. 391-411.<\/p>\n

Sumathy S.<\/strong>[2003] \u2018Militants, militarism and the crisis of Tamil) nationalism\u2019, Colombo: Marga Institute, A History of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, Monograph Series, No. 22.<\/p>\n

Tanaka, Masakazu <\/strong>1991Patrons, devotees and goddesses. Ritual and power among the Tamil fishermen of Sri Lanka<\/em>, yo,to: Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University<\/p>\n

Taraki [D P Sivaram]<\/strong>2004 \u201cLTTE develops Asymmetric Deterrence to stall Foreign Intervention.\u201d Daily Mirror<\/em>, 22 May 2004<\/p>\n

Taraki <\/strong>2005 \u201cWhat is the larger picture in Prabaharan\u2019s Mind?\u201d Daily Mirror<\/em>, \u00a09 March 2005 \u2013reproduced in Ilankai tamil Sangam, http:\/\/sangam.org\/taraki\/articles\/2006\/04-29_Larger_Picture.php?uid=1696<\/a><\/p>\n

END NOTES<\/strong><\/h3>\n

<\/a>[i]<\/a>For the Presidential Speech by Chelvanayakam and the title page of the pamphlet presented by \u201cThe Federal Freedom Party of the Tamil-speaking people of Ceylon\u201d on 18th<\/sup>December 1949 go to Roberts, TPS<\/em>.Pictorial<\/em>, 2014, pp 273-92.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[ii]<\/a>See Harding 2002 and Roberts,<\/em>TPS<\/em>. Pictorial<\/em>, 2014, Figs. 59-61.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[iii]<\/a>This point is clarified forcefully by Natali (2005) One should also visit the articles by Schalk (2003) and Hellmann-Rajanayagam (2005) both of whom are proficient in Tamil. The scenario is also set out in broader contextualization in Roberts \u201cSaivite Symbols\u201d 2005; Roberts. \u201cPragmatic Action,\u201d 2006 and Roberts, \u201cRegenerating Divine Potency?\u201d 2005.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[iv]<\/a>This estimate was presented by the late Joe Ariyaratnam of Reuters who was staying at the same guesthouse as myself. He indicated that more than half the Tamils of the north would have assembled at the various thuyilumilum<\/em>on that day 27th<\/sup>November.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[v]<\/a>These appraisals in their turn informed my conjectural assertion that the Tamil people resident in Thamililam <\/em>were firm supporters of the LTTE (see Roberts, \u201cCitizenship,\u201d 2014).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[vi]<\/a>Reference to the statistics from Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar Districts in the 1981 will, I think (from memory) indicate that about ten percent of the population were classified as \u201cIndian Tamil.\u201d In surmise, I suspect that this was in large part due to the land reform and other policies pursued in the hill country by the United front government of 1970-77.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[vii]<\/a>Taken in conjunction with other individual case histories (e. g. Thamil Chelvam), this tale points to an important process that calls for in-depth study: viz. the degree to which the rise of Tamil militancy, and the period of LTTE rule, assisted the Indian Tamils in the north and the depressed castes (Pallar, Paraiyar, Nallava) to raise their position in Tamil society.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[viii]<\/a>See Gulf News, 13 April 2006.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[ix]<\/a>I was introduced to him on the 28th<\/sup>November. THE poster of the early maeeirar <\/em>that is reproduced in miniature copy as Fig. 3 in my Tamil Person and State. Pictorial <\/em>remains in my hands as a rare document and memento.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":164808,"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-193294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThamil\u012blam\u00ad & Its Marks Of Sovereignty - 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\/its-marks-of-sovereignty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thamil\u012blam\u00ad & Its Marks Of Sovereignty - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/its-marks-of-sovereignty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-06T20:39:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-10T09:17:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Michael-Roberts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 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\/its-marks-of-sovereignty\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/its-marks-of-sovereignty\/\",\"name\":\"Thamil\u012blam\u00ad & Its Marks Of Sovereignty - 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