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Sri Lanka Tamils (native)
Encyclopedia
Sri Lankan Tamil people , or Ceylon Tamils also known as Eelam Tamils in Tamil
, are a section of Tamil people
native to the South Asia
island state of Sri Lanka
. According to anthropological evidences and archaeological evidences, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lankan history
and have lived on the island since around the 2nd century BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan Tamils claim descent from residents of Jaffna Kingdom
, a former kingdom in the north of the island and Vannimai
chieftaincies from the east. They constitute a majority in the Northern Province
, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province
, and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country.
Although Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally and linguistically distinct, genetic studies indicate that they are closely related to other ethnic groups in the island. The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly Hindus with a significant Christian population. Sri Lankan Tamil literature
on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the civil conflict in the 1980s, it is distinguished by an emphasis on themes relating to the Sri Lankan Civil War
. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
are noted for their archaism
and retention of words not in everyday use in the Tamil Nadu
state in India.
Since Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain
in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities have been strained. Rising ethnic and political tensions, along with ethnic riots and pogroms in 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983, led to the formation and strengthening of militant groups
advocating independence for Tamils
. The ensuing Sri Lankan Civil War
has resulted in the deaths of more than 70,000 people and the forced disappearance
of thousands of others.
Sri Lankan Tamils have historically migrated to find work, notably during the British colonial period. Since the beginning of the civil war in 1983, more than 800,000 Tamils have been displaced within Sri Lanka, and many have left the country
for destinations such as India, Canada, and Europe. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, a number of Sri Lankan Tamils have sought refuge in countries like Canada and Australia.
in early
Tamil literature
, prior to the medieval Chola
period (circa 10th century AD). One theory states that there was not an organized Tamil presence in Sri Lanka until the invasions from what is now South India in the 10th century AD; another theory contends that Tamil people were one of the original inhabitants of the island. Theories about Tamil people's presence in Sri Lanka feed into the cycle of ethnic conflict.
The indigenous
Veddhas are physically related to Dravidian-speaking tribal people in South India
and early populations of Southeast Asia. It is not possible to ascertain what languages that they originally spoke as Vedda language
is considered diverged from its original source. The aboriginal Naga people of the island were Dravidian in origin and likely spoke Tamil, sharing some of the economic lifestyle and cultural and worship traits of the Dravdians of the Maldives
, Kerala
and the Coromandel Coast
. According to K. Indrapala, cultural diffusion
, rather than migration of people, spread the Prakrit and Tamil languages from peninsular India into an existing Mesolithic
population, centuries before the common era
. Tamil Brahmi and Tamil-Prakrit scripts were used to write the Tamil language
during this period on the island.
Settlements of culturally similar early populations of ancient Sri Lanka and ancient Tamil Nadu
in India were excavated at megalithic burial sites at Pomparippu on the west coast and in Kathiraveli
on the east coast of the island. Bearing a remarkable resemblance to burials in the early Pandyan kingdom
, these sites were established between the 5th century BCE and 2nd century CE. Excavated ceramic
sequences similar to that of Arikamedu
were found in Kandarodai (Kadiramalai) on the north coast, dated to 1300 BCE. Cultural similarities in burial practices in South India and Sri Lanka were dated by archeologists to 10th century BCE. However, Indian history and archaeology have pushed the date back to 15th century BCE. In Sri Lanka, there is radiometric evidence from Anuradhapura
that the non-Brahmi
symbol-bearing black and red ware
occur in the 10th century BCE. The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief were excavated in Anaikoddai, Jaffna
. The name 'Ko Veta' is engraved in Brahmi script on a seal buried with the skeleton and is assigned by the excavators to the 3rd century BCE. Ko, meaning "King" in Tamil, is comparable to such names as Ko Atan, Ko Putivira and Ko Ra-pumaan occurring in contemporary Tamil Brahmi inscriptions of ancient South India and Egypt
.
to the south in Tissamaharama
. They bore several inscriptions, including a clan name—vela, a name related to velir
from ancient Tamil country
. Epigraphic evidence shows people identifying themselves as Damelas or Damedas (the Prakrit
word for Tamil people) in Anuradhapura, the capital city of Rajarata
the middle kingdom, and other areas of Sri Lanka as early as the 2nd century BCE. Excavations in the area of Tissamaharama
in southern Sri Lanka have unearthed locally issued coins, produced between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, some of which carry local Tamil personal names written in early Tamil characters, which suggest that local Tamil merchants were present and actively involved in trade along the southern coast of Sri Lanka by the late classical period. Other ancient inscriptions from the period reference a Tamil merchant, the Tamil householder residing in Ilubharata and a Tamil sailor named Karava. Two of the five ancient inscriptions referring to the Damedas (Tamils) are in Periya Pullyakulam in the Vavuniya District
, one is in Seruvavila district in Trincomalee District
, one is in Kuduvil in Amparai District and one is in Anuradhapura. Mention is made in literary sources of Tamil rulers bringing horses to the island in water craft in the second century BCE, most likely arriving at Kudiramalai
. Historical records establish that Tamil kingdoms in modern India were closely involved in the island's affairs from about the 2nd century BCE. Kudiramalai
, Kandarodai and Vallipuram
served as great northern Tamil capitals and emporiums of trade with these kingdoms and the Romans
from the 6th–2nd centuries BCE. The archaeological discoveries in these towns and the Manimekhalai, a historical poem, detail how Nāka-Tivu of Nāka-Nadu on the Jaffna Peninsula
was a lucrative international market for pearl and counch trading for the Tamil fishermen. In Mahavamsa
, a historical poem, ethnic Tamil adventurers such as Elara
invaded the island around 145 BCE. Early Chola
king Karikalan
, son of Eelamcetcenni
utilized superior Chola naval power
to conquer Ceylon in the first century CE. Hindu Saivism, Tamil Buddhism
, Jainism and secularism were popular amongst the Tamils at this time, as was the proliferation of village deity worship. The Amaravati school
was influential in the region when the Telugu
Satavahana dynasty established the Andhra empire and its 17th monarch Hāla
(20-24 CE) married a princess from the island. Ancient Vanniars
settled in the east of the island in the first few centuries of the common era to cultivate and maintain the area. The Vanni region flourished. In the 6th century CE, a special coastal route by boat was established from the Jaffna
peninsula southwards to Saivite religious centres in Trincomalee (Koneswaram) and further south to Batticaloa
(Thirukkovil), passed a few small Tamil trading settlements in Mullaitivu
on the north coast. The conquests and rule of the island by Pallava King Narasimhavarman I
(630 – 668 CE) and his grandfather King Simhavishnu
(537 – 590 CE) saw the erection and structural development of several Kovils
around the island, particularly in the north-east
– these Pallava Dravidian rock temples remained a popular and highly influential style of architecture in the region over the next few centuries. Tamil soldiers from what is now South India were brought to Anuradhapura between the 7th and 11th centuries CE in such large numbers that local chiefs and kings trying to establish legitimacy came to rely on them. By the 8th century CE Tamil villages were collectively known as Demel-kaballa (Tamil allotment), Demelat-valademin (Tamil villages), and Demel-gam-bim (Tamil villages and lands).
In the 9th and 10th centuries CE, Pandya and Chola incursions into Sri Lanka culminated in the Chola annexation of the island, which lasted until the latter half of the 11th century CE. Raja Raja Chola I renamed the northern throne Mummudi Chola Mandalam after his conquest of the northeast country to protect Tamil traders being looted, imprisoned and killed for years on the island. Rajadhiraja Chola
's conquest of the island led to the fall of four kings there, one of whom, Madavarajah, the king of Jaffna, was a usurper from the Rashtrakuta Dynasty
. These dynasties oversaw the development of several Kovils that administered services to communities of land assigned to the temples through royal grants. Their rule also saw the benefaction of other faiths. Recent excavations have led to the discovery of a limestone Kovil of Raja Raja Chola I's era on Delft
island in North Jaffna, found with Chola coins from this period. The decline of Chola power in Sri Lanka was followed by the restoration of the Polonnaruwa monarchy
in the late 11th century CE. In 1215, following Pandya invasions, the Tamil-dominant Arya Chakaravarthi
dynasty established an independent Jaffna kingdom
on the Jaffna peninsula
and other parts of the north. The Arya Chakaravarthi expansion into the south was halted by Alagakkonara
, a man descended from a family of merchants from Kanchipuram
in Tamil Nadu. He was the chief minister of the Sinhalese king Parakramabahu V (1344–59 CE). Vira Alakeshwara, a descendant of Alagakkonara, later became king of the Sinhalese, but he was overthrown by the Ming
admiral Zheng He
in 1409 CE. The next year, the Chinese admiral Zheng He
erected a trilingual stone tablet
in Galle
in the south of the island, written in Chinese, Persian and Tamil that recorded offerings he made to Buddha, Allah and the God of Tamils Tenavarai Nayanar. The admiral invoked the blessings of Hindu deities at Tenavaram, Tevanthurai
for a peaceful world built on trade. The 1502 map Cantino represents three Tamil cities on the east coast of the island – Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Pannoa, where the residents grow cinnamon
and other spices, fish for pearls and seed pearls and worship idols, trading heavily with Kozhikode
of Kerala
. The Arya Chakaravarthi dynasty ruled large parts of northeast Sri Lanka until the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom in 1619 CE. The coastal areas of the island were conquered by the Dutch
and then became part of the British Empire
in 1796 CE.
The Sinhalese Nampota dated in its present form to the 14th or 15th century CE suggests that the whole of the Tamil Kingdom, including parts of the modern Trincomalee district, was recognised as a Tamil region by the name Demala-pattanama (Tamil city). In this work, a number of villages that are now situated in the Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee districts are mentioned as places in Demala-pattanama.
The English sailor Robert Knox
described walking into the island’s Tamil country in the publication An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon
, referencing some aspects of their royal, rural and economic life and annotating some kingdoms within it on a map in 1681 CE. Upon arrival of European powers from the 17th century CE, the Tamils' separate nation was described in their areas of habitation in the northeast of the island.
The caste structure
of the majority Sinhalese has also accommodated Hindu
immigrants from South India since the 13th century CE. This led to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups: the Salagama
, the Durava
and the Karava. The Hindu migration and assimilation continued until the 18th century CE.
and east coast chieftaincies called Vannimai
s. The Indian Tamils (or Hill Country Tamils) are descendants of bonded laborers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work on tea plantations. A significant Tamil-speaking Muslim population exists in Sri Lanka; however, unlike Tamil Muslim
s from India, they do not identify as ethnic Tamils and are therefore listed as a separate ethnic group in official statistics.
Most Sri Lankan Tamils live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital Colombo
, and most Indian Tamils live in the central highlands. Historically, both groups have seen themselves as separate communities, although there has been a greater sense of unity since the 1980s. In 1949, the United National Party
government, which included G. G. Ponnambalam
, leader of the Tamil Congress
, stripped the Indian Tamils of their citizenship. This was opposed by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
, the leader of Tamil nationalist Federal Party.
Under the terms of an agreement reached between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments in the 1960s, about forty percent of the Indian Tamils were granted Sri Lankan citizenship, and most of the remainder were repatriated to India. By the 1990s, most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.
, or Puttalam Tamils, are native Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the western Gampaha
and Puttalam
districts. The term does not apply to Tamil immigrants in these areas. They are distinguished from other Tamils by their dialects, one of which is known as the Negombo Tamil dialect
, and by aspects of their culture such as customary laws
. Most Negombo Tamils have assimilated into the Sinhalese ethnic group through a process known as Sinhalisation
. Sinhalisation has been facilitated by caste
myths and legends (see Passing (sociology)).
In the Gampaha
district, Tamils have historically inhabited the coastal region. In the Puttalam
district, there was a substantial ethnic Tamil
population until the first two decades of the 20th century. Most of those who identify as ethnic Tamils live in villages such as Udappu
and Maradankulama
. There are also Tamil Christians, chiefly Roman Catholics
, who have preserved their heritage in the major cities such as Negombo, Chilaw
, Puttalam, and also in villages such as Mampuri
. Some residents of these two districts, especially the traditional fishermen, are bilingual, ensuring that the Tamil language survives as a lingua franca
among migrating fishing communities across the island. Negombo Tamil dialect is spoken by about 50,000 people. This number does not include others, outside of Negombo city, who speak local varieties of the Tamil language.
Some Tamil place names have been retained in these districts. Outside the Tamil-dominated northeast, the Puttalam District has the highest percentage of place names of Tamil origin in Sri Lanka. Composite or hybrid place names are also present in these districts.
, Batticaloa
, and Ampara
districts. Their history and traditions are inspired by local legends, native literature, and colonial documents.
In the 16th century the area came under the nominal control of the Kandyan kingdom, but there was considerable local autonomy under native Vannimai
chiefs. From that time on, Eastern Tamil social development diverged from that of the Northern Tamils.
Eastern Tamils are an agrarian-based society. They follow a caste system similar to the South Indian or Dravidian kinship
system. The Eastern Tamil caste hierarchy is dominated by the Mukkuvar
. The main feature of their society is the kuti system. Although the Tamil word kuti means a house or settlement, in eastern Sri Lanka it is related to matrimonial alliances. It refers to the exogamous matrilineal clan
s and is found amongst most caste groups. Men or Women remain members of the kuti of their birth and be brother or sister by relation. No man can marry in the same kuti because woman is always become sister to him. But, a man can only marry in one of his sampantha kutis not in the sakothara kutis. By custom, children born in a family belong to mother's kuti. Kuti also collectively own places of worship such as Hindu temple
s. Each caste contains a number of kutis, with varying names. Aside from castes with an internal kuti system, there are seventeen caste groups, called Ciraikutis, or imprisoned kutis, whose members were considered to be in captivity, confined to specific services such as washing, weaving, and toddy tapping. However, such restrictions no longer apply.
The Tamils of the Trincomalee district have different social customs from their southern neighbors due to the influence of the Jaffna kingdom to the north. The indigenous
Veddha people of the east coast also speak Tamil and have become assimilated into the Eastern Tamil caste structure. Most Eastern Tamils follow customary laws called Mukkuva laws
codified during the Dutch colonial period
.
of being an independent kingdom lends legitimacy to the political claims of the Sri Lankan Tamils, and has provided a focus for their constitutional demands. Northern Tamil society is generally categorized into two groups: those who are from the Jaffna peninsula
in the north, and those who are residents of the Vanni District
to the immediate south. The Jaffna society is separated by caste divisions, with social dominance attained by Vellalar
by means of myths and legends. Historically, the Vellalar, who form approximately fifty percent of the population, were involved in agriculture, using the services of castes collectively known as Panchamar (Tamil for group of five). The Panchamar consisted of the Nalavar
, Pallar
, Parayar, Vannar, and Ambattar. Others such as the Karaiyar
(fishermen) existed outside the agriculture-based caste system. The caste of temple priests known as Iyers were also held in high esteem.
People in the Vanni districts considered themselves separate from Tamils of the Jaffna peninsula but the two groups did intermarry. Most of these married couples moved into the Vanni districts where land was available. Vanni consists of a number of highland settlements within forested lands using irrigation tank
-based cultivation. An 1890 census listed 711 such tanks in this area. Hunting and raising livestock such as water buffalo and cattle is a necessary adjunct to the agriculture. The Tamil-inhabited Vanni consists of the Vavuniya
, Mullaitivu
, and Eastern Mannar district
. Historically, the Vanni area has been in contact with what is now South India, including during the medieval period (see Vanniar
). Northern Tamils follow customary laws called Thesavalamai
, codified during the Dutch colonial period.
than any other Asian group, with the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil population sharing a common gene pool of 55%.
According to a genetic admixture study by Dr. Gautam K. Kshatriya in 1995, the Sri Lankan Tamil are closely related to Indian Tamils
. Kshatriya found the Sri Lankan Tamils to have a high contribution from Indian Tamils (16.63% +/- 8.73).
This is also supported by a genetic distance study, which showed dramatic genetic distance between Tamils and the Sinhalese.
This is confirmed by another study looking at Alu
polymorphism
, VNTR
and genetic distance have found the genetic relationship between the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese to be small (11–30%).
In 1981, about eighty percent of Sri Lankan Tamils were Hindus who followed the Shaiva sect. The rest were mostly Roman Catholics who converted after the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom
and coastal Sri Lanka. There is also a small minority of Protestants due to missionary efforts in the 18th century by organizations such as the American Ceylon Mission
. Most Tamils who inhabit the Western Province
are Roman Catholics, while those of the Northern
and Eastern Provinces
are mainly Hindu. Pentecostal and other churches, such as Jehovah's Witnesses
, are active among the internally displaced and refugee populations.
The Hindu elite follow the religious ideology of Shaiva Siddhanta
(Shaiva school) while masses practice folk Hinduism, upholding their faith in local village deities not found in formal Hindu scriptures. The place of worship depends on the object of worship and how it is housed. It could be a proper Hindu temple known as a Koyil, constructed according to the Agamic
scripts (a set of scriptures regulating the temple cult). More often, however, the temple is not completed in accordance with Agamic scriptures but consists of the barest essential structure housing a local deity. These temples observe daily Puja (prayers) hours and are attended by locals. Both types of temples have a resident ritualist or priest known as a Kurukkal. A Kurukkal may belong to someone from a prominent local lineage like Pandaram or Iyer community. In the Eastern Province, a Kurukkal usually belongs to Lingayat sect. Other places of worship do not have icons for their deities. The sanctum could house a trident
(culam), a stone, or a large tree. Temples of this type are common in the Northern and Eastern Provinces; a typical village has up to 150 such structures. The offering would be done by an elder of the family who owns the site. A coconut oil lamp would be lit on Fridays, and a special rice dish known as pongal
would be cooked either on a day considered auspicious by the family or on the Thai Pongal day, and possibly on Tamil New Year Day.
There are seven worshipped deities: Ayyanar
, Annamar, Vairavar
, Kali
, Pillaiyar
, Murukan
, or Pattini. Villages have more Pillaiyar temples, which are patronized by local farmers. Tamil Roman Catholics, along with members of other faiths, worship at the Madhu church. Hindus have several temples with historic importance such as those at Ketheeswaram, Koneswaram, Naguleswaram, Munneswaram
, and Nallur Kandaswamy
. Kataragama
temple and Adam's Peak
are attended by all religious communities.
are differentiated by the phonological changes and sound shifts in their evolution from classical or old Tamil (3rd century BCE–7th century CE). The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects form a group that is distinct from the dialects of the modern Tamil Nadu
and Kerala
states of India. They are classified into three subgroups: the Jaffna Tamil, the Batticaloa Tamil, and the Negombo Tamil dialect
s. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils
such as the Sinhalese, Moors
and Veddhas . Tamil loan words in Sinhala also follow the characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects.
The Negombo Tamil dialect is used by bilingual fishermen in the Negombo area, who otherwise identify themselves as Sinhalese. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala. The Batticaloa Tamil dialect is shared between Tamils, Muslims, Veddhas and Portuguese Burghers
in the Eastern Province. Batticaloa Tamil dialect is the most literary of all the spoken dialects of Tamil. It has preserved several ancient features, remaining more consistent with the literary norm, while at the same time developing a few innovations. It also has its own distinctive vocabulary and retains words that are unique to present-day Malayalam, a Dravidian language from Kerala
that originated as a dialect
of old Tamil around 9th century CE. The Tamil dialect used by residents of the Trincomalee District has many similarities with the Jaffna Tamil dialect.
The dialect used in Jaffna is the oldest and closest to old Tamil. The long physical isolation of the Tamils of Jaffna has enabled their dialect to preserve ancient features of old Tamil that predate Tolkappiyam
, the grammatical treatise on Tamil dated from 3rd century BCE to 10th century CE. Their ordinary speech is closely related to classical Tamil. The Jaffna Tamil dialect and the Indian Tamil dialects are not mutually intelligible, and the former is frequently mistaken for Malayalam by native Indian Tamil speakers. There are also Prakrit
loan words that are unique to Jaffna Tamil.
am classes on verandah
s (known as Thinnai Pallikoodam in Tamil) spread basic education in religion and in languages such as Tamil and Sanskrit
to the upper classes. The Portuguese introduced western-style education after their conquest of the Jaffna kingdom in 1619. The Jesuits opened churches and seminaries, but the Dutch destroyed them and opened their own schools attached to Dutch Reformed church
es when they took over Tamil-speaking regions of Sri Lanka.
The primary impetus for educational opportunity came with the establishment of the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna
, which started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
. The critical period of the missionaries' impact was from the 1820s to the early 20th century. During this time, they created Tamil translations of English texts, engaged in printing and publishing, established primary, secondary, and college-level schools
, and provided health care for residents of the Jaffna Peninsula. American activities in Jaffna also had unintended consequences. The concentration of efficient Protestant mission schools in Jaffna produced a revival movement among local Hindus led by Arumuga Navalar, who responded by building many more schools within the Jaffna peninsula. Local Catholics also started their own schools in reaction, and the state had its share of primary and secondary schools. Tamil literacy greatly increased as a result of these changes. This prompted the British colonial government to hire Tamils as government servants in British-held Ceylon, India, Malaysia, and Singapore
.
By the time Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, about sixty percent of government jobs were held by Tamils, who formed barely fifteen percent of the population. The elected leaders of the country saw this as the result of a British stratagem to control the majority Sinhalese, and deemed it a situation that needed correction by implementation of the policy of standardization
.
(3rd century BCE–6th century CE). These legends indicate that the Tamil poet Eelattu Poothanthevanar
(Poothanthevanar from Sri Lanka) lived during this period.
Medieval period Tamil literature on the subjects of medicine, mathematics and history was produced in the courts of the Jaffna Kingdom.
During Singai Pararasasekaran's rule, an academy for the propagation of the Tamil language, modeled on those of ancient Tamil Sangam, was established in Nallur. This academy collected manuscripts of ancient works and preserved them in the Saraswathy Mahal library.
During the Portuguese and Dutch colonial periods (1619–1796), Muttukumara Kavirajar
is the earliest known author who used literature to respond to Christian missionary activities. He was followed by Arumuga Navalar, who wrote and published a number of books. The period of joint missionary activities by the Anglican, American Ceylon, and Methodist Missions also saw the spread of modern education and the expansion of translation activities.
The modern period of Tamil literature began in the 1960s with the establishment of modern universities and a free education system in post-independence Sri Lanka. The 1960s also saw a social revolt against the caste
system in Jaffna, which impacted Tamil literature: Dominic Jeeva
, Senkai aazhiyaan, Thamizhmani Ahalangan are the products of this period.
After the start of the civil war in 1983, a number of poets and fiction writers became active, focusing on subjects such as death, destruction, and rape. Such writings have no parallels in any previous Tamil literature. The war produced displaced Tamil writers around the globe who recorded their longing for their lost homes and the need for integration with mainstream communities in Europe and North America.
The cuisine of Sri Lankan Tamils draws influence from that of India, as well as from colonialists and foreign traders. Rice is usually consumed daily and can be found at any special occasion, while spicy curries
are favorite dishes for lunch and dinner. Rice and curry
is the name for a range of Sri Lankan Tamil dishes distinct from Indian Tamil cuisine, with regional variations between the island's northern and eastern areas. While rice with curries is the most popular lunch menu, combinations such as curd
, tangy mango, and tomato rice are also commonly served.
String hoppers, which are made of rice flour
and look like knitted vermicelli
neatly laid out in circular pieces about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) in diameter, are frequently combined with tomato sothi (a soup) and curries for breakfast and dinner. Another common item is puttu
, a granular, dry, but soft steamed rice powder cooked in a bamboo cylinder with the base wrapped in cloth so that the bamboo flute can be set upright over a clay pot of boiling water. This can be transformed into varieties such as ragi
, spinach, and tapioca puttu. There are also sweet and savory puttus. Another popular breakfast or dinner dish is Appam
, a thin crusty pancake made with rice flour, with a round soft crust in the middle. It has variations such as egg or milk Appam.
Jaffna, as a peninsula, has an abundance of seafood such as crab, shark, fish, prawn, and squid. Meat dishes such as mutton, chicken, pork, and beef also have their own niche. Vegetable curries use ingredients primarily from the home garden such as pumpkin
, yam
, jackfruit
seed, hibiscus
flower, and various green leaves. Coconut milk
and hot chilli
powder are also frequently used. Appetizers can consist of a range of achars
(pickles) and vadahams. Snacks and sweets are generally of the homemade "rustic" variety, relying on jaggery
, sesame
seed, coconut, and gingelly oil
, to give them their distinct regional flavor. A popular alcoholic drink in rural areas is palm wine
, made from palm tree sap. Snacks, savories, sweets and porridge produced from the palmyra form a separate but unique category of foods; from the fan-shaped leaves to the root, the palmyra palm forms an intrinsic part of the life and cuisine of northern region.
community has been strained. Sri Lanka has been unable to contain its ethnic violence as it escalated from sporadic terrorism to mob violence, and finally to civil war. The Sri Lankan Civil War
has several underlying causes: the ways in which modern ethnic identities have been made and remade since the colonial period, rhetorical wars over archaeological sites and place name etymologies
, and the political use of the national past. The civil war has resulted in the death of over 70,000 people and, according to human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch
, the forced disappearance
of thousands of others (see White van abductions in Sri Lanka
). Since 1983, Sri Lanka has also witnessed massive civilian displacements of more than a million people, with eighty percent of them being Sri Lankan Tamils.
and Anglican churches led to a revival among Hindu Tamils who created their own social groups, built their own schools and temples, and published their own literature to counter the missionary activities. The success of this effort led to a new confidence for the Tamils, encouraging them to think of themselves as a community, and it paved the way for their emergence as a cultural, religious, and linguistic society in the mid-19th century.
Britain
, which conquered the whole island by 1815, established a legislative council in 1833 by unifying the Tamil and Sinhalese nations on the island and assigning three European seats and one seat each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Burghers
. This council's primary function was to act as advisor to the Governor, and the seats eventually became elected positions. There was initially little tension between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when in 1913 Ponnambalam Arunachalam
, a Tamil, was appointed representative of the Sinhalese as well as of the Tamils in the national legislative council. British Governor William Manning
, who was appointed in 1918 however, actively encouraged the concept of "communal representation". Subsequently, the Donoughmore Commission
in 1931 rejected communal representation and brought in universal franchise. This decision was opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament according to their proportion of the overall population. In 1944, G. G. Ponnambalam
, a leader of the Tamil community, suggested to the Soulbury Commission
that a roughly equal number of seats be assigned to Tamils and Sinhalese in an independent Ceylon—a proposal that was rejected. But under section 29(2) of the constitution formulated by the commissioner, additional protection was provided to minority groups, such requiring a two-thirds majority for any amendments and a scheme of representation that provided more weight to the ethnic minorities.
Following independence in 1948, G. G. Ponnambalam and his Tamil Congress joined D. S. Senanayake's moderate, western-oriented United National Party
. The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, which denied citizenship to Sri Lankans of Indian origin, split the Tamil Congress. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
, the leader of the splinter Federal Party (FP), contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court
, and then in the Privy council
in England, but failed to overturn it. The FP eventually became the dominant Tamil political party. In response to the Sinhala Only Act
in 1956, which made Sinhala the sole official language, Federal Members of Parliament staged a nonviolent sit-in (satyagraha
) protest, but it was violently broken up by a mob. The FP was blamed and briefly banned after the mini pogrom of May–June 1958
targeting Tamils, in which many were killed and thousands forced to flee their homes. Another point of conflict between the communities was state sponsored colonization schemes
that effectively changed the demographic balance in the Eastern Province, an area Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland, in favor of the majority Sinhalese.
In 1972, a newly formulated constitution removed section 29(2) of the 1947 Soulbury constitution that was formulated to protect the interests of minorities. Also, in 1973, the policy of standardization
was implemented by the Sri Lankan government, supposedly to rectify disparities in university enrollment created under British colonial rule
. The resultant benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant decrease in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student population.
Shortly thereafter, in 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand a separate Tamil state
. In 1975 they merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front
(TULF). By 1977 most Tamils seemed to support the move for independence by electing the Tamil United Liberation Front
overwhelmingly. The elections were followed by the 1977 riots
, in which around 300 Tamils were killed. There was further violence in 1981 when an organized mob went on a rampage during the nights of May 31 to June 2, burning down the Jaffna public library
—at the time one of the largest libraries in Asia—containing more than 97,000 books and manuscripts.
The individuals belonging to this younger generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the boys" (Potiyal in Tamil
), formed many militant organizations. The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July
pogrom, in which between 1,000- 3,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were killed, prompting many youths to choose the path of armed resistance.
By the end of 1987, the militant youth groups had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces and the Indian Peace Keeping Force
also among each other, with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) eventually eliminating most of the others. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations transformed into either minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance
or standalone political parties. Some also function as paramilitary groups within the Sri Lankan military.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
, as well as the United States Department of State
and the European Union
, have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Sri Lanka
, and both the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel LTTE have been accused of human rights violations. Although Amnesty International in 2003 found considerable improvement in the human rights situation, attributed to a ceasefire and peace talks between the government and the LTTE, by 2007 they reported an escalation in political killings, child recruitment, abductions, and armed clashes, which created a climate of fear in the north and east of the country.
ns killed up to the beginning of the last phase of the civil war. Over 300,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians were interred in special camps
and eventually released. As of 2011, there were still few thousand alleged combatants in state prisons awaiting trials. The government, international aid agencies and the Tamil Diaspora has been contributing towards reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in formerly war affected areas.
The earliest Tamil speakers from Sri Lanka known to have traveled to foreign lands were members of a merchant
guild
called Tenilankai Valanciyar (Valanciyar from Lanka of the South). They left behind inscriptions in South India dated to the 13th century. In the late 19th century, educated Tamils from the Jaffna peninsula migrated to the British colonies of Malaya
(Malaysia and Singapore
) and India to assist the colonial bureaucracy. They worked in almost every branch of public administration, as well as on plantations and in industrial sectors. Prominent Malaysian Ananda Krishnan
, included in the Forbes
list of billionaires and Singapore
's former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, S. Rajaratnam, are of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. C. W. Thamotharampillai
, an Indian-based Tamil language revivalist, was born in the Jaffna peninsula.
After the start of the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
, there was a mass migration of Tamils trying to escape the hardships and perils of war. Initially, it was middle class professionals, such as doctors and engineers, who emigrated; they were followed by the poorer segments of the community. The fighting drove more than 800,000 Tamils from their homes to other places within Sri Lanka as internally displaced person
s and also overseas, prompting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to identify them in 2004 as the largest asylum-seeking group.
The country with the largest share of displaced Tamils is Canada, with more than 200,000 legal residents, found mostly within the Greater Toronto Area
. The Tamil Canadians are a relatively wealthy group, and there are a number of prominent Canadians of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, such as author Shyam Selvadurai
, and Indira Samarasekera
, president of the University of Alberta
.
Sri Lankan Tamils in India
are mostly refugees of about over 100,000 in special camps and another 50,000 outside of the camps. In western European countries, the refugees and immigrants have integrated themselves into society where permitted. Tamil British singer M.I.A
(born Mathangi Arulpragasam) and BBC
journalist George Alagiah
are, among others, notable people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus have built a number of prominent Hindu temples across North America and Europe, notably in Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, and the UK.
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, are a section of Tamil people
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
native to the South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
island state of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. According to anthropological evidences and archaeological evidences, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lankan history
History of Sri Lanka
The History of Sri Lanka begins around 30,000 years ago when the island was first inhabited. Chronicles, including the Mahawansa, the Dipavamsa, the Culavamsa and the Rajaveliya, record events from the beginnings of the Sinhalese monarchy in the 6th century BC; through the arrival of European...
and have lived on the island since around the 2nd century BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan Tamils claim descent from residents of Jaffna Kingdom
Jaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
, a former kingdom in the north of the island and Vannimai
Vannimai
The Vannimais, or Vanni chieftaincies, were feudal land divisions ruled by petty chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in the present-day Northern, North Central and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdom's golden...
chieftaincies from the east. They constitute a majority in the Northern Province
Northern Province, Sri Lanka
The Northern Province is one of the 9 provinces of Sri Lanka. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was...
, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province
Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
The Eastern Province is one of the 9 provinces of Sri Lanka. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but they didn't have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was...
, and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country.
Although Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally and linguistically distinct, genetic studies indicate that they are closely related to other ethnic groups in the island. The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly Hindus with a significant Christian population. Sri Lankan Tamil literature
Sri Lankan Tamil literature
Sri Lankan Tamil literature or Ceylon Tamil literature refers to Tamil literature produced in the current day country of Sri Lanka by various Tamil speaking communities such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Muslims...
on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the civil conflict in the 1980s, it is distinguished by an emphasis on themes relating to the Sri Lankan Civil War
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil dialects form a group of Tamil dialects used in the modern country of Sri Lanka by Sri Lankan Tamil people that is distinct from the dialects of modern Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India...
are noted for their archaism
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
and retention of words not in everyday use in the Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
state in India.
Since Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain
British Ceylon
British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...
in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities have been strained. Rising ethnic and political tensions, along with ethnic riots and pogroms in 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983, led to the formation and strengthening of militant groups
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese...
advocating independence for Tamils
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
. The ensuing Sri Lankan Civil War
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
has resulted in the deaths of more than 70,000 people and the forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
of thousands of others.
Sri Lankan Tamils have historically migrated to find work, notably during the British colonial period. Since the beginning of the civil war in 1983, more than 800,000 Tamils have been displaced within Sri Lanka, and many have left the country
Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora
The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora refers to the global diaspora of the people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan as well as Tamil diaspora....
for destinations such as India, Canada, and Europe. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, a number of Sri Lankan Tamils have sought refuge in countries like Canada and Australia.
History
There is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as EelamEelam
Eelam also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Eelam is also a name for the spurge , toddy and gold. The exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly known, although there are number of...
in early
Sangam literature
Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...
Tamil literature
Tamil literature
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
, prior to the medieval Chola
Medieval Cholas
Medieval Cholas rose to prominence during the middle of the 9th century C.E. and established the greatest empire South India had seen. They successfully united the South India under their rule and through their naval strength extended their influence in the Southeast Asian countries such as Srivijaya...
period (circa 10th century AD). One theory states that there was not an organized Tamil presence in Sri Lanka until the invasions from what is now South India in the 10th century AD; another theory contends that Tamil people were one of the original inhabitants of the island. Theories about Tamil people's presence in Sri Lanka feed into the cycle of ethnic conflict.
Pre-historic period
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
Veddhas are physically related to Dravidian-speaking tribal people in South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
and early populations of Southeast Asia. It is not possible to ascertain what languages that they originally spoke as Vedda language
Vedda language
The Vedda language is the language of the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. But communities, such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas, that do not strictly identify themselves as Veddas also use the Vedda language in part for communication during hunting and or for religious chants,...
is considered diverged from its original source. The aboriginal Naga people of the island were Dravidian in origin and likely spoke Tamil, sharing some of the economic lifestyle and cultural and worship traits of the Dravdians of the Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
and the Coromandel Coast
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...
. According to K. Indrapala, cultural diffusion
Cultural diffusion
In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as first conceptualized by Alfred L. Kroeber in his influential 1940 paper Stimulus Diffusion, or trans-cultural diffusion in later reformulations, is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologies,...
, rather than migration of people, spread the Prakrit and Tamil languages from peninsular India into an existing Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
population, centuries before the common era
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. Tamil Brahmi and Tamil-Prakrit scripts were used to write the Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
during this period on the island.
Settlements of culturally similar early populations of ancient Sri Lanka and ancient Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
in India were excavated at megalithic burial sites at Pomparippu on the west coast and in Kathiraveli
Kathiraveli
Kathiraveli or கதிரைவெளி is a town in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It is located about 75 km Northwest of Batticaloa....
on the east coast of the island. Bearing a remarkable resemblance to burials in the early Pandyan kingdom
Early Pandyan Kingdom
The Early Pandyas of the Sangam period were one of the three main kingdoms of the ancient Tamil country, the other two being the Cholas and the Cheras. As with many other kingdoms around this period , most of the information about the Early Pandyas come to us mainly through literary sources and...
, these sites were established between the 5th century BCE and 2nd century CE. Excavated ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
sequences similar to that of Arikamedu
Arikamedu
Arikamedu is an archaeological site near Pondicherry, southern India, where Mortimer Wheeler conducted his best-known excavation in the 1940s. According to Wheeler, Arikamedu was a Tamil fishing village which was formerly a major Chola port dedicated to bead making and trading with Roman traders...
were found in Kandarodai (Kadiramalai) on the north coast, dated to 1300 BCE. Cultural similarities in burial practices in South India and Sri Lanka were dated by archeologists to 10th century BCE. However, Indian history and archaeology have pushed the date back to 15th century BCE. In Sri Lanka, there is radiometric evidence from Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
that the non-Brahmi
Brāhmī script
Brāhmī is the modern name given to the oldest members of the Brahmic family of scripts. The best-known Brāhmī inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dated to the 3rd century BCE. These are traditionally considered to be early known examples of Brāhmī writing...
symbol-bearing black and red ware
Black and red ware culture
The black and red ware culture is an early Iron Age archaeological culture of the northern Indian subcontinent. It is dated to roughly the 12th – 9th century BC, and associated with the post-Rigvedic Vedic civilization....
occur in the 10th century BCE. The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief were excavated in Anaikoddai, Jaffna
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
. The name 'Ko Veta' is engraved in Brahmi script on a seal buried with the skeleton and is assigned by the excavators to the 3rd century BCE. Ko, meaning "King" in Tamil, is comparable to such names as Ko Atan, Ko Putivira and Ko Ra-pumaan occurring in contemporary Tamil Brahmi inscriptions of ancient South India and Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
.
Historic period
Potsherds with early Tamil writing from the 2nd century BCE have been found from the north in Poonagari, JaffnaJaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
to the south in Tissamaharama
Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscriptions
Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription refers to a fragment of black and red ware flat dish inscribed in Tamil in the Tamil Brahmi script excavated at the earliest layer in southern town of Tissamaharama in Sri Lanka. It is dated to approximately 200 BC by German scholars who undertook the...
. They bore several inscriptions, including a clan name—vela, a name related to velir
Velirs
Velirs were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakkam in the early historic period of South India. Extolled in Sangam literature for their charity and truthfulness, they were the ancestors and head of the modern Tamil Vellalar caste...
from ancient Tamil country
Ancient Tamil country
The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
. Epigraphic evidence shows people identifying themselves as Damelas or Damedas (the Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
word for Tamil people) in Anuradhapura, the capital city of Rajarata
Rajarata
Rajarata is the name given to the region of Sri Lanka from which monarchs ruled the country from approximately the 5th Century BCE to the early 13th Century CE...
the middle kingdom, and other areas of Sri Lanka as early as the 2nd century BCE. Excavations in the area of Tissamaharama
Tissamaharama
Tissamaharama is a town in south-eastern Sri Lanka. It used to be the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Ruhuna as early as the 3rd century B.C. Only few buildings from that period can still be seen today. The large artificial Tissa Wewa lake, which was a part of a sophisticated irrigation...
in southern Sri Lanka have unearthed locally issued coins, produced between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, some of which carry local Tamil personal names written in early Tamil characters, which suggest that local Tamil merchants were present and actively involved in trade along the southern coast of Sri Lanka by the late classical period. Other ancient inscriptions from the period reference a Tamil merchant, the Tamil householder residing in Ilubharata and a Tamil sailor named Karava. Two of the five ancient inscriptions referring to the Damedas (Tamils) are in Periya Pullyakulam in the Vavuniya District
Vavuniya District
Vavuniya district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Vavuniya town...
, one is in Seruvavila district in Trincomalee District
Trincomalee District
Trincomalee district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka...
, one is in Kuduvil in Amparai District and one is in Anuradhapura. Mention is made in literary sources of Tamil rulers bringing horses to the island in water craft in the second century BCE, most likely arriving at Kudiramalai
Kudiramalai
Kudiramalai is a headland cape, point and ancient port town on the west coast of Sri Lanka. It was once a flourishing emporium of international trade and the capital of an ancient Kingdom based in Jaffna peninsula of the Naka, before the capital was moved to Nallur in the medieval period...
. Historical records establish that Tamil kingdoms in modern India were closely involved in the island's affairs from about the 2nd century BCE. Kudiramalai
Kudiramalai
Kudiramalai is a headland cape, point and ancient port town on the west coast of Sri Lanka. It was once a flourishing emporium of international trade and the capital of an ancient Kingdom based in Jaffna peninsula of the Naka, before the capital was moved to Nallur in the medieval period...
, Kandarodai and Vallipuram
Vallipuram
Vallipuram was an ancient capital of Northern Kingdoms of Sri Lanka. Point Pedro is the nearest town. Vallipuram is a part of Thunnalai.This place is settled by migrants from a town called Vallipuram near Namakkal which is near Coimbatore. Naga names are found in India. Nagpur, Nagar Kovil,...
served as great northern Tamil capitals and emporiums of trade with these kingdoms and the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
from the 6th–2nd centuries BCE. The archaeological discoveries in these towns and the Manimekhalai, a historical poem, detail how Nāka-Tivu of Nāka-Nadu on the Jaffna Peninsula
Jaffna Peninsula
The Jaffna Peninsula is an area in Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna and comprises much of the former land mass of the ancient Tamil kingdoms of the Nagas and the medieval Jaffna kingdom. The peninsula is mostly surrounded by water, connected to...
was a lucrative international market for pearl and counch trading for the Tamil fishermen. In Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
, a historical poem, ethnic Tamil adventurers such as Elara
Elara (King)
Elara , also known as Ellalan and Élaezha Chola , was a Chola king from the Chola Kingdom, in present day South India, who ruled Sri Lanka from 205 BC to 161 BC from the ancient capital of Anuradhapura. Often referred to as 'the Just King'. The Tamil name Elalan means, 'the one who rules the Ellai...
invaded the island around 145 BCE. Early Chola
Early Cholas
The Early Cholas of the pre and post Sangam period were one of the three main kingdoms of the ancient Tamil country. Their early capitals were Urayur and Kaveripattinam...
king Karikalan
Karikala Chola
Karikala Chola or Karikala Chozhan was one of the great Tamil kings of Early Chola during the Sangam period. He was the son of Ilamcetcenni and ruled around 270 BC....
, son of Eelamcetcenni
Ilamcetcenni
Ilamcetcenni was an early Tamil king of the Chola dynasty during the Sangam period.He was a great warrior and ruled the Chola kingdom with Puhar as the capital. He married a Velir Princess and the child born to the Royal couple was called Karikala Cholan. Cholas overpowered Cheras and Pandiyas...
utilized superior Chola naval power
Chola Navy
The Chola Navy comprised the naval forces of the Chola Empire along with several other Naval-arms of the country...
to conquer Ceylon in the first century CE. Hindu Saivism, Tamil Buddhism
Tamil Buddhism
Tamil Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that flourished in the ancient Tamil country which is corresponding roughly to the territories of the present-day Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Laccadives, parts of Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Karnataka, as well as...
, Jainism and secularism were popular amongst the Tamils at this time, as was the proliferation of village deity worship. The Amaravati school
Amaravati
Amaravati may refer to:* Amaravati, a Pali word meaning 'Abode of the Deathless' referring to nirvana* Amaravathi, surname, see Raju surnames* Amaravathi , a 1993 Tamil language film* Amaravathi , a Telugu language film...
was influential in the region when the Telugu
Telugu people
The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...
Satavahana dynasty established the Andhra empire and its 17th monarch Hāla
Hala
Hala can refer to:* Hala , an Arabic given name meaning "sweetness"* An informal salutation or greeting in the Arabic language* Hāla, an Indian king of the Satavahana dynasty* Hala , a clan of India and Pakistan...
(20-24 CE) married a princess from the island. Ancient Vanniars
Vanniar (Chieftain)
Vanniar or Vannia is a title of a feudal chief in medieval Sri Lanka who ruled the Vannimai regions as tribute payers to the Jaffna kingdom. They were intermittently subdued by other powers before being recovered. Vanniar is recorded as that of a name of a caste amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the...
settled in the east of the island in the first few centuries of the common era to cultivate and maintain the area. The Vanni region flourished. In the 6th century CE, a special coastal route by boat was established from the Jaffna
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
peninsula southwards to Saivite religious centres in Trincomalee (Koneswaram) and further south to Batticaloa
Batticaloa
Batticaloa is a city in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. It is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka. It is on the east coast, south by south east of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island.-Etymology:...
(Thirukkovil), passed a few small Tamil trading settlements in Mullaitivu
Mullaitivu
Mullaitivu is a small town on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka. It is the capital of Mullaitivu District in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. A largely fishing settlement, the town in the early 20th century grew as an anchoring harbour of the small sailing vessels transporting goods between...
on the north coast. The conquests and rule of the island by Pallava King Narasimhavarman I
Narasimhavarman I
Narasimhavarman I was a Tamil king of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630–668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mahabalipuram....
(630 – 668 CE) and his grandfather King Simhavishnu
Simhavishnu
Simhavishnu , also known as Avanisimha , son of Simhavarman III and one of the Pallava kings of India, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond Kanchipuram in the South...
(537 – 590 CE) saw the erection and structural development of several Kovils
Koil
Koil or Kovil "King's House" is the Tamil term for a distinct style of Hindu temple with Dravidian architecture.The koil in Tamil Nadu and kovil of Ceylon has a long history and has always been associated with the ruler of the time. Most kings patronised temple building in their kingdom, and...
around the island, particularly in the north-east
North Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
The North Eastern Province was one of the provinces of Sri Lanka. The province was created in September 1988 by merging the Northern and Eastern provinces. This merger was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2006. The province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern...
– these Pallava Dravidian rock temples remained a popular and highly influential style of architecture in the region over the next few centuries. Tamil soldiers from what is now South India were brought to Anuradhapura between the 7th and 11th centuries CE in such large numbers that local chiefs and kings trying to establish legitimacy came to rely on them. By the 8th century CE Tamil villages were collectively known as Demel-kaballa (Tamil allotment), Demelat-valademin (Tamil villages), and Demel-gam-bim (Tamil villages and lands).
Medieval period
Rajadhiraja Chola
Kōpparakēsarivarman Rājādhiraja Chōla I was one of the greatest emperors of the Chola empire succeeding his father in the 11th century. During his long reign, he helped his father conquer many territories and maintained the Chola authority over most of Lanka, Vengi, Kalinga, etc. and the relations...
's conquest of the island led to the fall of four kings there, one of whom, Madavarajah, the king of Jaffna, was a usurper from the Rashtrakuta Dynasty
Rashtrakuta Dynasty
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
. These dynasties oversaw the development of several Kovils that administered services to communities of land assigned to the temples through royal grants. Their rule also saw the benefaction of other faiths. Recent excavations have led to the discovery of a limestone Kovil of Raja Raja Chola I's era on Delft
Neduntheevu
Neduntheevu or Neduntivu is an island in the Palk Strait, northern Sri Lanka. This island is named as Delft in the Admiralty Chart unlike the other islands in the area which are named with their Tamil names. The island's area is 50 km² and it is roughly oval-shaped...
island in North Jaffna, found with Chola coins from this period. The decline of Chola power in Sri Lanka was followed by the restoration of the Polonnaruwa monarchy
Polonnaruwa
The second most ancient of Sri Lanka's kingdoms, was first declared the capital city by King Vijayabahu I, who defeated the Chola invaders in 1070 AD to reunite the country once more under a local leader.-History:While Vijayabahu's victory and shifting of Kingdoms to the more strategic Polonnaruwa...
in the late 11th century CE. In 1215, following Pandya invasions, the Tamil-dominant Arya Chakaravarthi
Arya Chakaravarthi
The Aryacakravarti dynasty were kings of the Jaffna Kingdom in Sri Lanka. The earliest Sri Lankan sources, between 1277 and 1283, mention a military leader of this name as a minister in the services of the Pandyan Empire; he raided the western Sri Lankan coast and took the politically significant...
dynasty established an independent Jaffna kingdom
Jaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
on the Jaffna peninsula
Jaffna Peninsula
The Jaffna Peninsula is an area in Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna and comprises much of the former land mass of the ancient Tamil kingdoms of the Nagas and the medieval Jaffna kingdom. The peninsula is mostly surrounded by water, connected to...
and other parts of the north. The Arya Chakaravarthi expansion into the south was halted by Alagakkonara
Alagakkonara
Alagakkonara or Allegakoen or Alakeshwara is a name of a prominent feudal family that provided powerful ministers and military rulers during the medieval period in Sri Lanka. Although some historian say that the family was of Malayalee origin others say it originated in Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu,...
, a man descended from a family of merchants from Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram, or Kanchi, is a temple city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district...
in Tamil Nadu. He was the chief minister of the Sinhalese king Parakramabahu V (1344–59 CE). Vira Alakeshwara, a descendant of Alagakkonara, later became king of the Sinhalese, but he was overthrown by the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
admiral Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
in 1409 CE. The next year, the Chinese admiral Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
erected a trilingual stone tablet
Galle Trilingual Inscription
The Galle Trilingual Inscription was a stone tablet inscription in three languages, Chinese, Tamil and Persian, that was erected in 1411 in Galle, Sri Lanka to commemorate the second visit to the island by the Chinese admiral Zheng He...
in Galle
Galle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
in the south of the island, written in Chinese, Persian and Tamil that recorded offerings he made to Buddha, Allah and the God of Tamils Tenavarai Nayanar. The admiral invoked the blessings of Hindu deities at Tenavaram, Tevanthurai
Tondeswaram temple
Tenavaram temple was a historic Hindu temple complex situated in the port town Tenavaram, Tevanthurai , in Maturai near Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Its primary deity was a Hindu god Tenavarai Nayanar and at its zenith was one of the most...
for a peaceful world built on trade. The 1502 map Cantino represents three Tamil cities on the east coast of the island – Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Pannoa, where the residents grow cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
and other spices, fish for pearls and seed pearls and worship idols, trading heavily with Kozhikode
Kozhikode
Kozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...
of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. The Arya Chakaravarthi dynasty ruled large parts of northeast Sri Lanka until the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom in 1619 CE. The coastal areas of the island were conquered by the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and then became part of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in 1796 CE.
The Sinhalese Nampota dated in its present form to the 14th or 15th century CE suggests that the whole of the Tamil Kingdom, including parts of the modern Trincomalee district, was recognised as a Tamil region by the name Demala-pattanama (Tamil city). In this work, a number of villages that are now situated in the Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee districts are mentioned as places in Demala-pattanama.
The English sailor Robert Knox
Robert Knox (sailor)
Robert Knox was an English sea captain in the service of the British East India Company. He was the son of another sea captain, also called Robert Knox....
described walking into the island’s Tamil country in the publication An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon together With somewhat Concerning Severall Remarkable passages of my life that hath hapned since my Deliverance out of Captivity is a book written by the English trader and sailor Robert Knox in 1681...
, referencing some aspects of their royal, rural and economic life and annotating some kingdoms within it on a map in 1681 CE. Upon arrival of European powers from the 17th century CE, the Tamils' separate nation was described in their areas of habitation in the northeast of the island.
The caste structure
Caste system in Sri Lanka
The Caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata, differing somewhat from the classic Varnas of North India but is similar in nature to the Jāti system found in South India...
of the majority Sinhalese has also accommodated Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
immigrants from South India since the 13th century CE. This led to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups: the Salagama
Salagama
Salagama is the name of a caste in Sri Lanka. The community was traditionally associated with the cultivation and management of cinnamon, and also as soldiers,and are found mostly in Southern coastal areas, especially in the villages around Rathgama , Boossa and Balapitiya in Galle...
, the Durava
Durava
Durave or Durava are Southern Sinhalese caste in Sri Lanka.-Origins:Sinhalese people claim Indian ethnic origins and are primarily engaged in agriculture...
and the Karava. The Hindu migration and assimilation continued until the 18th century CE.
Tamil-speaking communities
The two groups of Tamils located in Sri Lanka are the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils (also called Ceylon Tamils) are descendants of the Tamils of the old Jaffna KingdomJaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
and east coast chieftaincies called Vannimai
Vannimai
The Vannimais, or Vanni chieftaincies, were feudal land divisions ruled by petty chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in the present-day Northern, North Central and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdom's golden...
s. The Indian Tamils (or Hill Country Tamils) are descendants of bonded laborers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work on tea plantations. A significant Tamil-speaking Muslim population exists in Sri Lanka; however, unlike Tamil Muslim
Tamil Muslim
Tamil Muslim refers to those Muslims who have Tamil as their mother tongue. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia which is 2.6% of the total population of Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore.Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers...
s from India, they do not identify as ethnic Tamils and are therefore listed as a separate ethnic group in official statistics.
Most Sri Lankan Tamils live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, and most Indian Tamils live in the central highlands. Historically, both groups have seen themselves as separate communities, although there has been a greater sense of unity since the 1980s. In 1949, the United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
government, which included G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, leader of the Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress
All Ceylon Tamil Congress , is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka.-History:The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam asked for a 50-50 representation in parliament...
, stripped the Indian Tamils of their citizenship. This was opposed by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
, the leader of Tamil nationalist Federal Party.
Under the terms of an agreement reached between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments in the 1960s, about forty percent of the Indian Tamils were granted Sri Lankan citizenship, and most of the remainder were repatriated to India. By the 1990s, most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.
Regional groups
Sri Lankan Tamils are categorized into three subgroups based on regional distribution, dialects, and culture: Negombo Tamils from the western part of the island, Eastern Tamils from the eastern part, and Jaffna or Northern Tamils from the north.Negombo Tamils
Negombo TamilsNegombo Tamils
Negombo Tamils or Puttalam Tamils is a term usually used for native Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the western Gampaha and Puttalam districts of Sri Lanka. It does not apply to Tamil immigrants from other parts of Island into these districts...
, or Puttalam Tamils, are native Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the western Gampaha
Gampaha District
- Local Authorities in Gampaha district:Gampaha is the District Capital of Gampaha District and is a principal town around Colombo. It is about 4 km from Miriswatte on the Colombo - Kandy Road.- Urban Councils :* Katunayake-Seeduwa * Ja-ela* Wattala...
and Puttalam
Puttalam District
Puttalam is a district situated near to the west coast of Sri Lanka. It has an area of . Along with the Kurunegala District, it formulates the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The district capital is Puttalam, which borders the Kala Oya and Modaragam Aru in the north, Anuradhapura District and...
districts. The term does not apply to Tamil immigrants in these areas. They are distinguished from other Tamils by their dialects, one of which is known as the Negombo Tamil dialect
Negombo Tamil dialect
Negombo Tamil dialect or Negombo Fishermen’s Tamil is a Sri Lankan Tamil language dialect used by the fishers of Negombo, Sri Lanka. This is just one of the many dialects used by the remnant population of formerly Tamil speaking people of the western Puttalam District and Gampaha District of Sri...
, and by aspects of their culture such as customary laws
Custom (law)
Custom in law is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law." Customary law exists where:...
. Most Negombo Tamils have assimilated into the Sinhalese ethnic group through a process known as Sinhalisation
Sinhalisation
Sinhalisation is a term that has number of meanings in Sri Lanka. Etymologically it is derived from Sinhala.-Sociological:From a sociological point of view it could mean the assimilation of ethno cultural minorities in Sri Lanka such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, Colombo Chetties and indigenous Veddas...
. Sinhalisation has been facilitated by caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
myths and legends (see Passing (sociology)).
In the Gampaha
Gampaha
Gampaha is an urban city in Sri Lanka and is the capital of the Gampaha District in Western Province, north of Colombo. Gampaha District is separated from Colombo mainly by the Kelani River.-Namesake:...
district, Tamils have historically inhabited the coastal region. In the Puttalam
Puttalam
Puttalam is the capital city of the Puttalam District in North Western Province, Sri Lanka.-History:The history of this dry zone dates back to the arrival of Prince Vijaya, nearly 2500 years ago, when his vessel washed ashore. The name "Puttalam" may be a modification of the Tamil word Uppuththalam...
district, there was a substantial ethnic Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
population until the first two decades of the 20th century. Most of those who identify as ethnic Tamils live in villages such as Udappu
Udappu
Udappu or Udappuwa is a traditional Tamil fishing and shrimp farming village. situated north of Colombo the capital of Sri Lanka in the Western Province. It is situated few miles north of Chilaw city and Munneswaram temple.-Topography:...
and Maradankulama
Maradankulama
Maradankulama or Maradankulam is village situated within the Northwestern Province of Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest settlements within the geographic region that formed the medieval divisions of the country called Demala Pattuva...
. There are also Tamil Christians, chiefly Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, who have preserved their heritage in the major cities such as Negombo, Chilaw
Chilaw
Chilaw is a western seaboard town on the island of Sri Lanka.It is a bustling town with a famous fishmarket and beach...
, Puttalam, and also in villages such as Mampuri
Mampuri
Mampuri is a small village situated within the Puttalam peninsula in the Puttalam District in Sri Lanka. It has transformed since 1990's from a largely farming and seasonal fishing settlement into a fishing dominant village. Its population includes Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Sri Lankan...
. Some residents of these two districts, especially the traditional fishermen, are bilingual, ensuring that the Tamil language survives as a lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
among migrating fishing communities across the island. Negombo Tamil dialect is spoken by about 50,000 people. This number does not include others, outside of Negombo city, who speak local varieties of the Tamil language.
Some Tamil place names have been retained in these districts. Outside the Tamil-dominated northeast, the Puttalam District has the highest percentage of place names of Tamil origin in Sri Lanka. Composite or hybrid place names are also present in these districts.
Eastern Tamils
Eastern Tamils inhabit a region that spans the TrincomaleeTrincomalee District
Trincomalee district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka...
, Batticaloa
Batticaloa District
Batticaloa district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Batticaloa town...
, and Ampara
Ampara District
Ampara district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Ampara town...
districts. Their history and traditions are inspired by local legends, native literature, and colonial documents.
Vannimai
The Vannimais, or Vanni chieftaincies, were feudal land divisions ruled by petty chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in the present-day Northern, North Central and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdom's golden...
chiefs. From that time on, Eastern Tamil social development diverged from that of the Northern Tamils.
Eastern Tamils are an agrarian-based society. They follow a caste system similar to the South Indian or Dravidian kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
system. The Eastern Tamil caste hierarchy is dominated by the Mukkuvar
Mukkuvar
Mukkuvar also Mukkuva are a social group or caste primarily a fishing community, living in the coastal districts of Kerala, south Tamil Nadu in India and also in Sri Lanka. It is a community that has differing ethnic identities based on the state or country of domicile...
. The main feature of their society is the kuti system. Although the Tamil word kuti means a house or settlement, in eastern Sri Lanka it is related to matrimonial alliances. It refers to the exogamous matrilineal clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s and is found amongst most caste groups. Men or Women remain members of the kuti of their birth and be brother or sister by relation. No man can marry in the same kuti because woman is always become sister to him. But, a man can only marry in one of his sampantha kutis not in the sakothara kutis. By custom, children born in a family belong to mother's kuti. Kuti also collectively own places of worship such as Hindu temple
Hindu temple
A Mandir, Devalayam, Devasthanam, or a Hindu temple is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism...
s. Each caste contains a number of kutis, with varying names. Aside from castes with an internal kuti system, there are seventeen caste groups, called Ciraikutis, or imprisoned kutis, whose members were considered to be in captivity, confined to specific services such as washing, weaving, and toddy tapping. However, such restrictions no longer apply.
The Tamils of the Trincomalee district have different social customs from their southern neighbors due to the influence of the Jaffna kingdom to the north. The indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
Veddha people of the east coast also speak Tamil and have become assimilated into the Eastern Tamil caste structure. Most Eastern Tamils follow customary laws called Mukkuva laws
Mukkuva laws
Mukkuva laws is the traditional law of Tamil inhabitants of Batticaloa district, of Sri Lanka codified by the Dutch during their colonial rule in 1707.the Law in its present form applies to most Tamils in eastern Sri Lanka...
codified during the Dutch colonial period
Dutch period in Ceylon
Ceylon was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company between 1658 and 1798 on the island currently known as Sri Lanka.In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and the Sinhala kingdom, who were constantly battling each other...
.
Northern Tamils
Jaffna's historyJaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
of being an independent kingdom lends legitimacy to the political claims of the Sri Lankan Tamils, and has provided a focus for their constitutional demands. Northern Tamil society is generally categorized into two groups: those who are from the Jaffna peninsula
Jaffna Peninsula
The Jaffna Peninsula is an area in Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna and comprises much of the former land mass of the ancient Tamil kingdoms of the Nagas and the medieval Jaffna kingdom. The peninsula is mostly surrounded by water, connected to...
in the north, and those who are residents of the Vanni District
Vanni (Sri Lanka)
The Vanni is the name given to the mainland area of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It covers the entirety of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts, and most of Kilinochchi District. It has an area of approximately 7,650 km2...
to the immediate south. The Jaffna society is separated by caste divisions, with social dominance attained by Vellalar
Vellalar (Sri Lankan Tamil)
Vellalar amongst Sri Lankan Tamils are a dominant group of formerly agricultural landlord related caste from Sri Lanka that is found amongst all walks of life and around the world as part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.- Origins :...
by means of myths and legends. Historically, the Vellalar, who form approximately fifty percent of the population, were involved in agriculture, using the services of castes collectively known as Panchamar (Tamil for group of five). The Panchamar consisted of the Nalavar
Nalavar
Nalavar also Nalava is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste of traditional agriculturalists and toddy tapers. But today they are found in all aspects of the society. They are part of a new amalgamation of castes in Jaffna peninsula called as Panchamar or Fives...
, Pallar
Pallar
The Pallar are a caste from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They are mostly agriculturalists in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and amongst the Tamil diaspora...
, Parayar, Vannar, and Ambattar. Others such as the Karaiyar
Karaiyar
Karaiyar, also known as Karayar, Karaiar or Kurukulam, is traditionally both a seafaring and warrior caste found in the Tamil Nadu state of India, coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora.-Origins:...
(fishermen) existed outside the agriculture-based caste system. The caste of temple priests known as Iyers were also held in high esteem.
People in the Vanni districts considered themselves separate from Tamils of the Jaffna peninsula but the two groups did intermarry. Most of these married couples moved into the Vanni districts where land was available. Vanni consists of a number of highland settlements within forested lands using irrigation tank
Irrigation tank
For etymology, see Storage tank#Etymology.In India, an irrigation tank or tank is an artificial reservoir of any size. . It can also have a natural or man-made spring included as part of a structure...
-based cultivation. An 1890 census listed 711 such tanks in this area. Hunting and raising livestock such as water buffalo and cattle is a necessary adjunct to the agriculture. The Tamil-inhabited Vanni consists of the Vavuniya
Vavuniya
Vavuniya is a town in northern Sri Lanka. This town is situated in the Northern Province. Vavuniya was often referred to as the gateway to Vanni....
, Mullaitivu
Mullaitivu
Mullaitivu is a small town on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka. It is the capital of Mullaitivu District in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. A largely fishing settlement, the town in the early 20th century grew as an anchoring harbour of the small sailing vessels transporting goods between...
, and Eastern Mannar district
Mannar District
Mannar district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Mannar, Sri Lanka...
. Historically, the Vanni area has been in contact with what is now South India, including during the medieval period (see Vanniar
Vanniar (Chieftain)
Vanniar or Vannia is a title of a feudal chief in medieval Sri Lanka who ruled the Vannimai regions as tribute payers to the Jaffna kingdom. They were intermittently subdued by other powers before being recovered. Vanniar is recorded as that of a name of a caste amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the...
). Northern Tamils follow customary laws called Thesavalamai
Thesavalamai
Thesavalamai is the traditional law of the Sri Lankan Tamil inhabitants Jaffna peninsula, codified by the Dutch during their colonial rule in 1707. The Thesawalamai is a collection of the Customs of the Malabar Inhabitants of the Province of Jaffna and given full force by the Regulation of 1806...
, codified during the Dutch colonial period.
Genetic affinities
Genetic studies indicate that they are most closely related to Indian TamilsTamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
than any other Asian group, with the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil population sharing a common gene pool of 55%.
According to a genetic admixture study by Dr. Gautam K. Kshatriya in 1995, the Sri Lankan Tamil are closely related to Indian Tamils
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
. Kshatriya found the Sri Lankan Tamils to have a high contribution from Indian Tamils (16.63% +/- 8.73).
This is also supported by a genetic distance study, which showed dramatic genetic distance between Tamils and the Sinhalese.
This is confirmed by another study looking at Alu
Alu sequence
An Alu element is a short stretch of DNA originally characterized by the action of the Alu restriction endonuclease. Alu elements of different kinds occur in large numbers in primate genomes. In fact, Alu elements are the most abundant mobile elements in the human genome. They are derived from the...
polymorphism
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
, VNTR
Variable number tandem repeat
A Variable Number Tandem Repeat is a location in a genome where a short nucleotide sequence is organized as a tandem repeat. These can be found on many chromosomes, and often show variations in length between individuals. Each variant acts as an inherited allele, allowing them to be used for...
and genetic distance have found the genetic relationship between the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese to be small (11–30%).
Religion
Portuguese conquest of Jaffna Kingdom
The Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom occurred after Portuguese traders arrived at the rival Kotte Kingdom in the southwest of modern Sri Lanka in 1505...
and coastal Sri Lanka. There is also a small minority of Protestants due to missionary efforts in the 18th century by organizations such as the American Ceylon Mission
American Ceylon Mission
The American Ceylon Mission to Jaffna, Sri Lanka started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions . The British colonial office in India and Ceylon restricted the Americans to the relatively small Jaffna Peninsula for...
. Most Tamils who inhabit the Western Province
Western Province, Sri Lanka
The Western Province is the most densely populated province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenapura as well to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center.-Districts:Basnahira is divided into 3 districts:...
are Roman Catholics, while those of the Northern
Northern Province, Sri Lanka
The Northern Province is one of the 9 provinces of Sri Lanka. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was...
and Eastern Provinces
Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
The Eastern Province is one of the 9 provinces of Sri Lanka. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but they didn't have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was...
are mainly Hindu. Pentecostal and other churches, such as Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, are active among the internally displaced and refugee populations.
The Hindu elite follow the religious ideology of Shaiva Siddhanta
Shaiva Siddhanta
Considered normative tantric Saivism, Shaiva Siddhanta provides the normative rites, cosmology and theological categories of tantric Saivism. Being a dualistic philosophy, the goal of Shaiva Siddhanta is to become an ontologically distinct Shiva . This tradition was once practiced all over India...
(Shaiva school) while masses practice folk Hinduism, upholding their faith in local village deities not found in formal Hindu scriptures. The place of worship depends on the object of worship and how it is housed. It could be a proper Hindu temple known as a Koyil, constructed according to the Agamic
Āgama (Hinduism)
Agama means, in the Hindu context, "a traditional doctrine, or system which commands faith".In Hinduism, the Agamas are a collection of Sanskrit scriptures which are revered and followed by millions of Hindus.-Significance:...
scripts (a set of scriptures regulating the temple cult). More often, however, the temple is not completed in accordance with Agamic scriptures but consists of the barest essential structure housing a local deity. These temples observe daily Puja (prayers) hours and are attended by locals. Both types of temples have a resident ritualist or priest known as a Kurukkal. A Kurukkal may belong to someone from a prominent local lineage like Pandaram or Iyer community. In the Eastern Province, a Kurukkal usually belongs to Lingayat sect. Other places of worship do not have icons for their deities. The sanctum could house a trident
Trident
A trident , also called a trishul or leister or gig, is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and was also a military weapon. Tridents are featured widely in mythical, historical and modern culture. The major Hindu god, Shiva the Destroyer and the sea god Poseidon or Neptune are...
(culam), a stone, or a large tree. Temples of this type are common in the Northern and Eastern Provinces; a typical village has up to 150 such structures. The offering would be done by an elder of the family who owns the site. A coconut oil lamp would be lit on Fridays, and a special rice dish known as pongal
Pongal (dish)
Pongal is a popular rice porridge dish based in South India. Pongal is unique to Tamil cuisine, but many other widely consumed Indian dish Khichdi....
would be cooked either on a day considered auspicious by the family or on the Thai Pongal day, and possibly on Tamil New Year Day.
There are seven worshipped deities: Ayyanar
Ayyanar
Ayyanar is a Hindu village god, worshipped predominantly in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Tamil villages in Sri Lanka. He is primarily worshipped as a guardian deity who protects the rural villages...
, Annamar, Vairavar
Bhairava
Bhairava , sometimes known as Bhairo or Bhairon or Bhairadya or Bheruji , Kaala Bhairavar or Vairavar , is the fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva associated with annihilation...
, Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, Pillaiyar
Ganesha
Ganesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati , Vinayaka , and Pillaiyar , is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
, Murukan
Murugan
Murugan also called Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya, is a popular Hindu deity especially among Tamil Hindus, worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the...
, or Pattini. Villages have more Pillaiyar temples, which are patronized by local farmers. Tamil Roman Catholics, along with members of other faiths, worship at the Madhu church. Hindus have several temples with historic importance such as those at Ketheeswaram, Koneswaram, Naguleswaram, Munneswaram
Munneswaram
*Munneswaram temple - The Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva*Munneswaram - The village in which the Munneswaram temple is situated...
, and Nallur Kandaswamy
Nallur Kandaswamy temple
-External links:****]]** requires silverlight...
. Kataragama
Kataragama
Kataragama is a pilgrimage town popular with Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and indigenous Vedda communities of Sri Lanka and South India. The town has Ruhunu Maha Kataragama devalaya, a shrine dedicated to Skanda-Murukan also known as Kataragamadevio...
temple and Adam's Peak
Adam's Peak
Sri Pada , is a tall conical mountain located in central Sri Lanka...
are attended by all religious communities.
Language
Tamil dialectsTamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
are differentiated by the phonological changes and sound shifts in their evolution from classical or old Tamil (3rd century BCE–7th century CE). The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects form a group that is distinct from the dialects of the modern Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
states of India. They are classified into three subgroups: the Jaffna Tamil, the Batticaloa Tamil, and the Negombo Tamil dialect
Negombo Tamil dialect
Negombo Tamil dialect or Negombo Fishermen’s Tamil is a Sri Lankan Tamil language dialect used by the fishers of Negombo, Sri Lanka. This is just one of the many dialects used by the remnant population of formerly Tamil speaking people of the western Puttalam District and Gampaha District of Sri...
s. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
such as the Sinhalese, Moors
Sri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
and Veddhas . Tamil loan words in Sinhala also follow the characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects.
The Negombo Tamil dialect is used by bilingual fishermen in the Negombo area, who otherwise identify themselves as Sinhalese. This dialect has undergone considerable convergence with spoken Sinhala. The Batticaloa Tamil dialect is shared between Tamils, Muslims, Veddhas and Portuguese Burghers
Portuguese Burghers
The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are Roman Catholic and spoke the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school...
in the Eastern Province. Batticaloa Tamil dialect is the most literary of all the spoken dialects of Tamil. It has preserved several ancient features, remaining more consistent with the literary norm, while at the same time developing a few innovations. It also has its own distinctive vocabulary and retains words that are unique to present-day Malayalam, a Dravidian language from Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
that originated as a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of old Tamil around 9th century CE. The Tamil dialect used by residents of the Trincomalee District has many similarities with the Jaffna Tamil dialect.
The dialect used in Jaffna is the oldest and closest to old Tamil. The long physical isolation of the Tamils of Jaffna has enabled their dialect to preserve ancient features of old Tamil that predate Tolkappiyam
Tolkappiyam
The Tolkāppiyam is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language and the earliest extant work of Tamil literature. It is written in the form of noorpaa or short formulaic compositions and comprises three books - the Ezhuttadikaram, the Solladikaram and the Poruladikaram. Each of these books is...
, the grammatical treatise on Tamil dated from 3rd century BCE to 10th century CE. Their ordinary speech is closely related to classical Tamil. The Jaffna Tamil dialect and the Indian Tamil dialects are not mutually intelligible, and the former is frequently mistaken for Malayalam by native Indian Tamil speakers. There are also Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
loan words that are unique to Jaffna Tamil.
Education
Sri Lankan Tamil society values education highly, for its own sake as well as for the opportunities it provides. The kings of the Aryacakravarti dynasty were historically patrons of literature and education. Temple schools and traditional gurukulGurukul
A gurukul is a type of school in India, residential in nature, with shishyas living in proximity to the guru, often within the same house...
am classes on verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
s (known as Thinnai Pallikoodam in Tamil) spread basic education in religion and in languages such as Tamil and Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
to the upper classes. The Portuguese introduced western-style education after their conquest of the Jaffna kingdom in 1619. The Jesuits opened churches and seminaries, but the Dutch destroyed them and opened their own schools attached to Dutch Reformed church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
es when they took over Tamil-speaking regions of Sri Lanka.
Jaffna
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
, which started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
. The critical period of the missionaries' impact was from the 1820s to the early 20th century. During this time, they created Tamil translations of English texts, engaged in printing and publishing, established primary, secondary, and college-level schools
Batticotta Seminary
The Batticotta Seminary was an educational institute founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 's American Ceylon Mission at Vaddukodai, in the Jaffna Peninsula north Sri Lanka in 1823. It was closed in 1855. The reason for such a decision being that it was not successful...
, and provided health care for residents of the Jaffna Peninsula. American activities in Jaffna also had unintended consequences. The concentration of efficient Protestant mission schools in Jaffna produced a revival movement among local Hindus led by Arumuga Navalar, who responded by building many more schools within the Jaffna peninsula. Local Catholics also started their own schools in reaction, and the state had its share of primary and secondary schools. Tamil literacy greatly increased as a result of these changes. This prompted the British colonial government to hire Tamils as government servants in British-held Ceylon, India, Malaysia, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
By the time Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, about sixty percent of government jobs were held by Tamils, who formed barely fifteen percent of the population. The elected leaders of the country saw this as the result of a British stratagem to control the majority Sinhalese, and deemed it a situation that needed correction by implementation of the policy of standardization
Policy of standardization
The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1973 to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule.-The reasoning for the law:...
.
Literature
According to legends, the origin of Sri Lankan Tamil literature dates back to the Sangam periodSangam literature
Sangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...
(3rd century BCE–6th century CE). These legends indicate that the Tamil poet Eelattu Poothanthevanar
Eelattu Poothanthevanar
Eelattu Poothanthevanar was one of the earliest known classical Tamil poets. His poems were included in the Tamil sangam or Cankam poetry anthologies compiled in Tamilakam before 250 AD...
(Poothanthevanar from Sri Lanka) lived during this period.
Medieval period Tamil literature on the subjects of medicine, mathematics and history was produced in the courts of the Jaffna Kingdom.
During Singai Pararasasekaran's rule, an academy for the propagation of the Tamil language, modeled on those of ancient Tamil Sangam, was established in Nallur. This academy collected manuscripts of ancient works and preserved them in the Saraswathy Mahal library.
During the Portuguese and Dutch colonial periods (1619–1796), Muttukumara Kavirajar
Muttukumara Kavirajar
Muttukumara Kavirajar , the Ceylon / Sri Lankan Tamil poet, was one of the earliest Hindus to protest via published native literature the conversion attempts by the various Protestant missionaries within the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka. He wrote the Jnanakkummi or Kummi Song on Wisdom and...
is the earliest known author who used literature to respond to Christian missionary activities. He was followed by Arumuga Navalar, who wrote and published a number of books. The period of joint missionary activities by the Anglican, American Ceylon, and Methodist Missions also saw the spread of modern education and the expansion of translation activities.
The modern period of Tamil literature began in the 1960s with the establishment of modern universities and a free education system in post-independence Sri Lanka. The 1960s also saw a social revolt against the caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system in Jaffna, which impacted Tamil literature: Dominic Jeeva
Dominic Jeeva
Dominic Jeeva is a prominent minority Sri Lankan Tamil author and literary figure from Sri Lanka. He is also a member of the marginalized Dalit caste. Dominic Jeeva was for a period of time forgotten as a writer...
, Senkai aazhiyaan, Thamizhmani Ahalangan are the products of this period.
After the start of the civil war in 1983, a number of poets and fiction writers became active, focusing on subjects such as death, destruction, and rape. Such writings have no parallels in any previous Tamil literature. The war produced displaced Tamil writers around the globe who recorded their longing for their lost homes and the need for integration with mainstream communities in Europe and North America.
Cuisine
Curry
Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...
are favorite dishes for lunch and dinner. Rice and curry
Rice and curry
Rice and curry is a popular dish in Sri Lanka and the Southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.Rice and curry dinner comprises the following:* A large bowl of rice, most often boiled, but frequently fried...
is the name for a range of Sri Lankan Tamil dishes distinct from Indian Tamil cuisine, with regional variations between the island's northern and eastern areas. While rice with curries is the most popular lunch menu, combinations such as curd
Curd
Curds are a dairy product obtained by curdling milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins to tangle into solid masses, or curds. The remaining liquid, which contains only...
, tangy mango, and tomato rice are also commonly served.
String hoppers, which are made of rice flour
Rice flour
Rice flour is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye....
and look like knitted vermicelli
Vermicelli
Vermicelli is a traditional type of pasta round in section that is thicker than spaghetti.-Vermicelli thickness comparison:In USA, the National Pasta Association, founded in 1904, lists, together with various spelling mistakes, vermicelli as a thinner type of spaghetti.-History in Italy:In...
neatly laid out in circular pieces about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) in diameter, are frequently combined with tomato sothi (a soup) and curries for breakfast and dinner. Another common item is puttu
Puttu
Puttu is a South Indian and Sri Lankan breakfast dish of steamed cylinders of ground rice layered with coconut. It is popular in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as in areas of Sri Lanka, where it is also known as pittu...
, a granular, dry, but soft steamed rice powder cooked in a bamboo cylinder with the base wrapped in cloth so that the bamboo flute can be set upright over a clay pot of boiling water. This can be transformed into varieties such as ragi
Finger millet
Eleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
, spinach, and tapioca puttu. There are also sweet and savory puttus. Another popular breakfast or dinner dish is Appam
Appam
Appam, Aappam hoppers, are a type of food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan cuisine. It is called chitau Pitha in Oriya, Paddu or Gulle Eriyappa in Kodava. It is known as ආප්ප in Sinhala. It is eaten most frequently for breakfast or dinner.Appum or aapum – pronunciation varies between regions...
, a thin crusty pancake made with rice flour, with a round soft crust in the middle. It has variations such as egg or milk Appam.
Jaffna, as a peninsula, has an abundance of seafood such as crab, shark, fish, prawn, and squid. Meat dishes such as mutton, chicken, pork, and beef also have their own niche. Vegetable curries use ingredients primarily from the home garden such as pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
, yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
, jackfruit
Jackfruit
The jackfruit is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family . It is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, . The jackfruit tree is believed to be indigenous to the southwestern rain forests of India...
seed, hibiscus
Hibiscus
Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world...
flower, and various green leaves. Coconut milk
Coconut milk
Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...
and hot chilli
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
powder are also frequently used. Appetizers can consist of a range of achars
Indian pickle
Indian pickles are made from certain individual varieties of vegetables and fruits that are chopped into small pieces and cooked in edible oils like sesame oil or brine with many different Indian spices like asafetida, red chili powder, turmeric, fenugreek and plenty of salt. Some regions also...
(pickles) and vadahams. Snacks and sweets are generally of the homemade "rustic" variety, relying on jaggery
Jaggery
Jaggery is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal whole cane sugar consumed in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in color...
, sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
seed, coconut, and gingelly oil
Sesame oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. Besides being used as a cooking oil in South India, it is often used as a flavor enhancer in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and to a lesser extent Southeast Asian cuisine.The oil from the nutrient rich seed is popular in alternative...
, to give them their distinct regional flavor. A popular alcoholic drink in rural areas is palm wine
Palm wine
Palm wine also called Palm Toddy also called "Kallu" written in Malayalam and கள்ளு in Tamil or simply Toddy is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, and coconut palms...
, made from palm tree sap. Snacks, savories, sweets and porridge produced from the palmyra form a separate but unique category of foods; from the fan-shaped leaves to the root, the palmyra palm forms an intrinsic part of the life and cuisine of northern region.
Politics
Sri Lanka became an independent nation in 1948. Since independence, the political relationship between Sinhalese and Sri Lankan TamilTamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
community has been strained. Sri Lanka has been unable to contain its ethnic violence as it escalated from sporadic terrorism to mob violence, and finally to civil war. The Sri Lankan Civil War
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
has several underlying causes: the ways in which modern ethnic identities have been made and remade since the colonial period, rhetorical wars over archaeological sites and place name etymologies
Sri Lankan place name etymology
Sri Lankan place name etymology is characterized by the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the island of Sri Lanka through the ages and the position of the country in the centre of ancient and medieval sea trade routes. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of Sinhalese origin vastly dominate,...
, and the political use of the national past. The civil war has resulted in the death of over 70,000 people and, according to human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, the forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
of thousands of others (see White van abductions in Sri Lanka
White Van Abductions in Sri Lanka
Thousands of people have disappeared in Sri Lanka since the 1980s. A 1999 study by the United Nations found that Sri Lanka had the second highest number of disappearances in the world and that 12,000 Sri Lankans had disappeared after being detained by the Sri Lankan security forces. A few years...
). Since 1983, Sri Lanka has also witnessed massive civilian displacements of more than a million people, with eighty percent of them being Sri Lankan Tamils.
Before independence
The arrival of Protestant missionaries on a large scale beginning in 1814 was a primary contributor to the development of political awareness among Sri Lankan Tamils. Activities by missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and MethodistMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
and Anglican churches led to a revival among Hindu Tamils who created their own social groups, built their own schools and temples, and published their own literature to counter the missionary activities. The success of this effort led to a new confidence for the Tamils, encouraging them to think of themselves as a community, and it paved the way for their emergence as a cultural, religious, and linguistic society in the mid-19th century.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
, which conquered the whole island by 1815, established a legislative council in 1833 by unifying the Tamil and Sinhalese nations on the island and assigning three European seats and one seat each for Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, and Burghers
Burgher people
The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.Today the mother tongue of the Burghers...
. This council's primary function was to act as advisor to the Governor, and the seats eventually became elected positions. There was initially little tension between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, when in 1913 Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Ponnambalam Arunachalam
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachchalam, CCS was a Tamil political leader in Ceylon and a member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council.-Early life:...
, a Tamil, was appointed representative of the Sinhalese as well as of the Tamils in the national legislative council. British Governor William Manning
William Manning (colonial governor)
Brigadier-General Sir William Henry Manning GCMG KBE CB was a British soldier and colonial administrator.Manning was educated at the University of Cambridge as a non-collegiate student and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers in 1886...
, who was appointed in 1918 however, actively encouraged the concept of "communal representation". Subsequently, the Donoughmore Commission
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
in 1931 rejected communal representation and brought in universal franchise. This decision was opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realized that they would be reduced to a minority in parliament according to their proportion of the overall population. In 1944, G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, a leader of the Tamil community, suggested to the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
that a roughly equal number of seats be assigned to Tamils and Sinhalese in an independent Ceylon—a proposal that was rejected. But under section 29(2) of the constitution formulated by the commissioner, additional protection was provided to minority groups, such requiring a two-thirds majority for any amendments and a scheme of representation that provided more weight to the ethnic minorities.
After independence
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
. The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, which denied citizenship to Sri Lankans of Indian origin, split the Tamil Congress. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
, the leader of the splinter Federal Party (FP), contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
, and then in the Privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
in England, but failed to overturn it. The FP eventually became the dominant Tamil political party. In response to the Sinhala Only Act
Sinhala Only Act
The Sinhala Only Act was a law passed in the Ceylonese parliament in 1956...
in 1956, which made Sinhala the sole official language, Federal Members of Parliament staged a nonviolent sit-in (satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
) protest, but it was violently broken up by a mob. The FP was blamed and briefly banned after the mini pogrom of May–June 1958
Sri Lankan riots of 1958
1958 riots in Ceylon also known as 58 riots was first island wide ethnic riots that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils in Ceylon after it became an independent country from Britain in 1948. The riots lasted from May 22 until May 27, 1958 although sporadic disturbances happened even after the...
targeting Tamils, in which many were killed and thousands forced to flee their homes. Another point of conflict between the communities was state sponsored colonization schemes
Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes
Sri Lankan state sponsored colonisation schemes refers to government backed establishment of Sinhalese communities in regions traditionally considered to be Sri Lankan Tamil lands in the northern or eastern parts of the Sri Lanka...
that effectively changed the demographic balance in the Eastern Province, an area Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland, in favor of the majority Sinhalese.
In 1972, a newly formulated constitution removed section 29(2) of the 1947 Soulbury constitution that was formulated to protect the interests of minorities. Also, in 1973, the policy of standardization
Policy of standardization
The policy of standardization was a policy implemented by the Sri Lankan government in 1973 to rectify disparities created in university enrollment in Sri Lanka under Colonial rule.-The reasoning for the law:...
was implemented by the Sri Lankan government, supposedly to rectify disparities in university enrollment created under British colonial rule
British Ceylon
British Ceylon refers to British rule prior to 1948 of the island territory now known as Sri Lanka.-From the Dutch to the British:Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for...
. The resultant benefits enjoyed by Sinhalese students also meant a significant decrease in the number of Tamil students within the Sri Lankan university student population.
Shortly thereafter, in 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand a separate Tamil state
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
. In 1975 they merged with the other Tamil political parties to become the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
(TULF). By 1977 most Tamils seemed to support the move for independence by electing the Tamil United Liberation Front
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front is a political party in Sri Lanka which seeks independence for the Tamil-populated areas of Sri Lanka.-Formation:...
overwhelmingly. The elections were followed by the 1977 riots
Sri Lankan riots of 1977
The 1977 riots in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes in which it stood for secession...
, in which around 300 Tamils were killed. There was further violence in 1981 when an organized mob went on a rampage during the nights of May 31 to June 2, burning down the Jaffna public library
Burning of Jaffna library
The burning of the Jaffna library was an important event in the Sri Lankan civil war. An organized mob went on a rampage on the nights of May 31 to June 2, 1981, burning the Jaffna public library. It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century...
—at the time one of the largest libraries in Asia—containing more than 97,000 books and manuscripts.
Rise of militancy
Since 1948, successive governments have adopted policies that had the net effect of assisting the Sinhalese community in such areas as education and public employment. These policies made it difficult for middle class Tamil youth to enter university or secure employment.Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
), formed many militant organizations. The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July
Black July
Black July is the commonly used name for the anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by a Tamil militant organization known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers...
pogrom, in which between 1,000- 3,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were killed, prompting many youths to choose the path of armed resistance.
By the end of 1987, the militant youth groups had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces and the Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990...
also among each other, with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
(LTTE) eventually eliminating most of the others. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations transformed into either minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance is a powerful minority Sri Lankan Tamil political alliance in Sri Lanka. It was formed as an amalgamation of moderate Tamil parties as well as number of former rebel groups...
or standalone political parties. Some also function as paramilitary groups within the Sri Lankan military.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, as well as the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Sri Lanka
Human rights in Sri Lanka
Major human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the United States Department of State and the European Union, have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Sri Lanka. Both the government of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of...
, and both the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel LTTE have been accused of human rights violations. Although Amnesty International in 2003 found considerable improvement in the human rights situation, attributed to a ceasefire and peace talks between the government and the LTTE, by 2007 they reported an escalation in political killings, child recruitment, abductions, and armed clashes, which created a climate of fear in the north and east of the country.
End of the civil war
In August 2009, the civil war ended with total victory for the government forces. During last phase of the war many Tamil civilians and combatants were killed. The government estimated that over 22,000 LTTE cadres had died. The civilian death toll is estimated to vary from 6,500 to as high as 40,000. This is in addition to the 70,000 Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
ns killed up to the beginning of the last phase of the civil war. Over 300,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians were interred in special camps
Sri Lankan IDP camps
The final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War created 300,000 internally displaced persons who were transferred to camps in Vavuniya District and detained there against their will. This process, together with the conditions inside the camps and the slow progress of resettlement in 2009 had...
and eventually released. As of 2011, there were still few thousand alleged combatants in state prisons awaiting trials. The government, international aid agencies and the Tamil Diaspora has been contributing towards reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in formerly war affected areas.
Pre-independence
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
called Tenilankai Valanciyar (Valanciyar from Lanka of the South). They left behind inscriptions in South India dated to the 13th century. In the late 19th century, educated Tamils from the Jaffna peninsula migrated to the British colonies of Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
(Malaysia and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
) and India to assist the colonial bureaucracy. They worked in almost every branch of public administration, as well as on plantations and in industrial sectors. Prominent Malaysian Ananda Krishnan
Ananda Krishnan
Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan is a Malaysian businessman and philanthropist of Tamil origin. Nicknamed A-K, he is estimated to have a net worth of US$9.6 billion according to Forbes' latest annual list of wealthiest people, making him the second wealthiest in Southeast Asia behind Robert Kuok,...
, included in the Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
list of billionaires and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
's former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, S. Rajaratnam, are of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. C. W. Thamotharampillai
C. W. Thamotharampillai
C.W. Thamotharampillai also sometimes the initials are used as S.V , devoted his energies to the work of editing and publishing some of the oldest works of classical Tamil poetry and grammar.Pillai along with his contemporaries such as U. V...
, an Indian-based Tamil language revivalist, was born in the Jaffna peninsula.
Post civil war
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
, there was a mass migration of Tamils trying to escape the hardships and perils of war. Initially, it was middle class professionals, such as doctors and engineers, who emigrated; they were followed by the poorer segments of the community. The fighting drove more than 800,000 Tamils from their homes to other places within Sri Lanka as internally displaced person
Internally displaced person
An internally displaced person is someone who is forced to flee his or her home but who remains within his or her country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the current legal definition of a refugee. At the end of 2006 it was estimated there were...
s and also overseas, prompting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
(UNHCR) to identify them in 2004 as the largest asylum-seeking group.
The country with the largest share of displaced Tamils is Canada, with more than 200,000 legal residents, found mostly within the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
. The Tamil Canadians are a relatively wealthy group, and there are a number of prominent Canadians of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, such as author Shyam Selvadurai
Shyam Selvadurai
Shyam Selvadurai is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist who wrote Funny Boy , which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and Cinnamon Gardens...
, and Indira Samarasekera
Indira Samarasekera
Indira Vasanti Samarasekera, OC is the 12th and current President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alberta. Succeeding Roderick Fraser on July 1, 2005, she was the first female president of any university in Alberta.-Biography:...
, president of the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
.
Sri Lankan Tamils in India
Sri Lankan Tamils in India
Sri Lankan Tamils in India mainly refer to Tamil people of Sri Lankan origin in India and non resident Sri Lankan Tamil. They are partly who migrated to India and their descendants and mostly refugees from Sri Lanka because of the recently concluded Sri Lankan Civil War...
are mostly refugees of about over 100,000 in special camps and another 50,000 outside of the camps. In western European countries, the refugees and immigrants have integrated themselves into society where permitted. Tamil British singer M.I.A
M.I.A. (artist)
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...
(born Mathangi Arulpragasam) and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
journalist George Alagiah
George Alagiah
George Maxwell Alagiah OBE is a British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter.Since 3 December 2007, he has been the sole presenter of the BBC News at Six and has also been the main presenter of GMT on BBC World News since its launch on 1 February 2010...
are, among others, notable people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus have built a number of prominent Hindu temples across North America and Europe, notably in Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, and the UK.
See also
- List of Tamils of Sri Lanka
- Sri Lankan Tamil diasporaSri Lankan Tamil diasporaThe Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora refers to the global diaspora of the people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan as well as Tamil diaspora....
- Tamil Canadians
- Tamil MalaysiansTamil MalaysiansTamil Malaysian or Malaysian Tamil refer to the Malaysians of Tamil ethnic origin from India and Sri Lanka in Malaysia. They make up over 70% of the Indian Malaysian population group in Malaysia...
- Tamil South AfricansTamil South Africans-External links:**...
- Sri Lankan Tamils of India
- MalbarsMalbarsMalbars are an ethnic group of Tamil origin in Réunion, a French island in the Southwest Indian Ocean, estimated to number 180,000. There are no official figures because the French government does not collect census data on ethnic groups....
External links
- Tamil social formation in Sri Lanka:A historical outline
- Sri Lankan Tamil society and politics
- Chronology of events related to Tamils in Sri Lanka (1500 -1948)
- Minorities at Risk assessment data for Sri Lankan Tamils
- Sri Lankan Tamil identity and aspirations
- Iraivan temple in Hawaiian Islands built and cared for by the monks of the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga order, who follow the guru lineage of Yogaswami of Jaffna