-Shenali D Waduge
We must owe a lot of gratitude to the
Northern Provincial Chief Minister for his racism which has helped wake up
quite a lot of Sinhalese from their slumber. We must confess that the Chief
Minister has achieved what many of us have been trying to do. With the recently
concluded Jaffna protests coupled with the attacks on the Sathosa retail outlet
and Jaffna university students openly commemorating a dead LTTE cadre
(Thileepan), the Sinhalese are taking out their history books and questioning
the legitimacy of what Wigneswaran and other Tamil racists are now demanding.
Let’s just logically assess the
situation. For any ethnic group to be demanding that they were the historical
inhabitants of an area they must forward historical proof and not propaganda. The
island was invaded 17 times by South Indians and inspite of the destructions
there still remains Buddhist sites in the North which further reveals that
there would have been plenty of Buddhist sites in the North before they were
destroyed by both Indian and the 3 colonial invaders. Finally, Sinhalese are
also thinking on these lines.
If Tamils were the original
inhabitants how can there be Tamils in South India as well? The same ethnic
group cannot evolve from 2 different countries? Lets not forget that Tamil Nadu
has been claiming the self-determination rights before the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
There cannot be 2 homelands for the same ethnic people. More and more Sinhalese
are now asking this question too.
The other important factor is that
there is sufficient evidence historically to prove that Sinhalese were living
and having a civilization in the North from 1st century AD. Thankfully
the Sinhalese are waking up.
The Tamils cannot plug a period that
Tamil Nadu invaders ruled after the Sinhale kings and then say this was their
homeland. By all logic the Sinhalese must say the North was the homeland of the
Sinhalese as well and historical proof is ample to showcase this.
Wigneswaran
claims Tamil Homeland – Where?
The Sinhalese are now asking. All agree
it is nowhere but in South India where Tamils originally came from, where Tamil
language and culture originate from and where Tamil customs and traditions. Every
aspect of Tamil culture and traditions finds their root to Tamil Nadu therefore
there is nothing to claim anything as having evolved in North Sri Lanka. Apart
from spending a lot of money on plugging ‘Tamil Homeland’ to every demand there
is absolutely no historical proof of such to claim that Tamils evolved from
this so-called area.
Wigneswaran
claims no Buddhist history in North Sri Lanka
Thankfully the Sinhalese are not only
asking each other this question but also taking out the books, some are even
googling articles – what a relief! Jaffna
peninsula and Nagadipa is mentioned when Buddha first visited Sri Lanka. Yapane
derives from Sinhalese Yapapatuna. Nagas who were related to the ruling royal
family in Kelaniya were the ancient inhabitants of Jaffna. A Kiripalu tree was
said to have been consecrated by Buddha while in 2nd century AD King
Bhatikatissa built a relic house at the foot of this tree. King Aggbodhi II
during the 6th century AD patronized this same vihara.
King Devanampiyatissa’s envoys set off
to India from Jambukola port the same port that Sanghamitta theraniya came with
the sacred Bodhi tree. Here too a temple was built and a sapling planted by
King Devanampiyatissa. King Kanithatissa in the 2nd century AD
repaired the Tissamahavihara builty by King Devanampiyatissa and was improved
by Voharikatissa in 3rd century AD. In the 11th century
King Vijayabahu I repaired the Jambukola vihara. The Vasabhas gold plate found
in Vallipuram near Point Pedro mentions a vihara built by Piyaguka tissa where
some 12,000 monks are said to have resided. Another vihara (Mangala vihara) was
restored by King Dhatusena in the 5th century AD. There are many
other viharas that have been built by Sinhala kings in the North.
A Chola inscript in the 8th
year of Rajadhiraja II rule mentions preparations for a port in Uratota today
known as Kayts another evidence that Sinhalese Kings were ruling the North. Port
Valigama (Vallikaman) is mentioned in Sigiri Graffiti which again proves that
Valigama was populated by Sinhalese in 8th century.
All these proves beyond a shadow of a
doubt that from 1st century to 11th century the Sinhalese
royal authority prevailed and Sinhalese people were living in the Northern
peninsula.
Wigneswaran can please disprove above
with historical evidence only!
So when and
from where did Tamils come?
Tamils never
evolved in Sri Lanka. They came as migrants and after invasions first with the Chola
invasions during the 13th century till the Aryacakravarti rule.
The take
away from this is that these were invasions and the Tamils that remained were
not originally from North Sri Lanka. To claim Tamil homeland the Tamils must have
been born and formed a civilization. There has to be remnants of that
civilization. We cannot find any such.
However, the
Sinhalese have enough of Buddhist remains to showcase.
Kantaroda
– near Valigama (Valikaman) where 22 dagabas are
found. There is a huge limestone Buddha statue recovered from excavations in
the Jaffna Archaeological Musuem (hopefully it is still there)
Neelavehera
(Nilavarai) situated in Valigama where the upper part of a Buddha statue
modelled in the Abhaya-mudra has been discovered. Another dagaba close to the
statue dates back to 10th century.
Hunugama
(Chunnakam) is where another dagoba was found near the rail track. There are
many other dagobas found throughout the Jaffna peninsula.
Gothamaluwatta
(Gottamalivattai) is where several Buddhist sites have been found along the
route taken by Sangamitta theri. Gotha is taken as an abbreviated term for
Gotami/Gautami which means honoured.
What is also
important to note is that all these place names now Tamilized were originally
in Sinhala. Please refer work of Prof. Chandra Dharmawardha.
Kamalika
Pieris in several articles covering Buddhism in Ancient Jaffna highlights that
Buddha’s first visit to Sri Lanka was to Nagadipa which is part of the
‘solosmastana’ (16 places of worship of Buddhists).
Paul E
Pieris claims that Nagadipa was the name given to Jaffna peninsula and its
islands – even addressing the Royal Asiatic Society reconfirming that Jaffna
was part of the ancient Sinhala Buddhist civilization. The Vallipuram gold
plate found around 1936 confirmed Nakadiva (Nagadipa) was the ancient name
given to Jaffna. Jaffna was an island separated from the mainland by a narror
strip of water and became linked to the mainland only in the 18th
century.
Therefore,
theatrics aside Jaffna must be renamed Nagadipa and the Nainativu temple must
be relocated to Jaffna.
There are
hundreds and hundreds of artefacts and historical proof to show the Sinhalese
were living in the North – what can Wigneswaran show to claim Tamils were
living in the North BEFORE the Sinhalese and that Tamils evolved in the North?
This should be the question that needs to be answered. However you cannot have
the same people evolving in two places. In other words you cannot have Tamils
evolving in Tamil Nadu at the same time Tamils evolving in Sri Lanka. Let us
not forget that the self-determination struggle started in Tamil Nadu and that
was the key reason why the struggle was palmed off to Sri Lanka by India
through militancy.
We must also
not fall prey to Sinhalese originating from Prince Vijaya. This is another myth
fed into our system. The 4 tribes were known as Sivu-hela and this in time came
to be Sinhale and they were living in the island far before Vijaya and his men
landed.
A further
search and queries will bring to light that King Senarath despatched Mudaliar
Attapattu to Jaffna in 1619 following the Portuguese conquest. Why would King
Senarath the Kandyan King despatch his finest officer to Jaffna? Good question
– the simple answer is that Jaffna was a kinglet of the Kandyan Kingdom as was
the East. According to Father Queyroz the King had despatched 10,000 men to
defend Jaffna. The last battle for the defense of Jaffna before it fell to
European powers was fought not by a Tamil army but by Sinhalese men sent by the
King of Kandy. As Queroyz says “as long as Rajapure (Anuradhapura) was the
capital of Ceylon, the whole island was subject to one kng” If it was so with
Anuradhapura, it was so with the rest of the capitals. When the Portuguese
arrived in 1505 there were 15 ‘kinglets’ subject to the King of Kotte of which
Jaffnapatao kinglet was one and none of them were independent or separate from
the rest.
Leaving all
this aside – the simple logic is that if the Tamils evolved in the island then
they should not be called Tamils. Sinhalese
are not found anywhere else in the world except in Sri Lanka. Vijaya didn’t
speak Sinhala nor is there any people called Sinhalese in any of the
independent kingdoms that became known as India when British amalgamated these
kingdoms. Sinhalese people, Sinhalese language all evolved in Sri Lanka.
Now let us
take the demands placed during Wigneswarans racist protests.
1.
Stop Sinhala
Buddhisization of Tamil Homeland – Reading
the above, you will realize what an absurd and preposterous demand this is. It
is no surprise that there are steps underway funded by foreign sources to have
integrit-less academics re-write bizarre history in keeping with this. Please
must be aware of ground realities and refuse to play a part. First it was Stop
Sinhala Colonization now its Stop Sinhala Buddhisization –what will be the next
slogan?
2.
Federal
Solution recognizing the Tamil nation, its
sovereignty and its right to self-determination – A federal solution is just a
form of system to facilitate governance how can it recognize a Tamil nation? If
its sovereign is it part of a nation? How can there be self-determination…
please don’t fall for these lies.
3.
International
investigation for genocide –It’s now 7 years Wigneswaran
nor any of those claiming x number of people died have yet to produce the
names. We have given a list of over 200 Tamils killed by LTTE – isn’t that
genocide too?
4.
Remove
occupying forces – A national army of a country does
not occupy. They are the legitimate unit to defend the nation and protect its
people. If anyone is occupying the North it is Wigneswaran who was parachuted
from Colombo and made the Chief Minister of the North. Ideally a man living in
the North should have been allowed to contest the post not a man who had been
living all his life in the South with the Sinhalese.
5.
Ensure the
safety, security and dignity of Tamil women – where was
Wigneswaran when Tamil women and children were taken by force and turned into
child soldiers and LTTE cadres? Who are raping these children and women – is it
not the Tamil fathers and relations? Who are supplying liquor and narcotics
that have turned the Jaffna youth into druggies and boozers? Isnt these
narcotics coming from India and LTTE runs international narcotics while the
taverns are all run by Tamils?
6.
Stop
harassing former combatants? What kind of demand is this?
The Sri Lankan Army rehabilitated them, the child soldiers were given a
Presidential amnesty, they were given tutors and they passed their exams, they
were married in ceremonies organized by the army, some of them are filmstars,
singers and actors – who enabled all of these? It was not Wigneswaran or the
TNA but the Sri Lankan Army and the former government. Nowhere in the world are
combatants treated like ours – in other countries LTTE would have been charged
for their crimes as should have been all others linked to LTTE. Its not too
late though.
7.
Restore our
lands – we return to the same question. What lands,
prove so first.
8.
Stop
plundering our marine resources – was this demand drafted by
the Indians because if anyone is plundering Sri Lanka’s marine resources it is
not Sri Lankans but the Indians.
9.
Prevent
unlawful and forcible encroachment and fishing by Southern fishermen on our
coasts and seas! Remove existing illegal encroachments
– What kind of demand is this? Southern Sri Lankan fishermen cant fish in the
North but the Indian fishermen can steal our fish from the North. Very funny!
10.
Prevent
forcible & arbitrary entry of Southern fishermen into our seas
– these demands are getting really hilarious – Wiggy says Indians can steal
fish but the rest of the country’s fishermen cant fish in their country’s
legally provisioned seas!
11.
Release
political prisoners unconditionally – For an
ex-judge Wigneswaran really needs to take out his books and realize that LTTE
who took up arms against a state and killed unarmed civilians are not qualified
to be categorized as political prisoners.
12.
Ensure
justice for the forcibly disappeared – Names please,
and then we can check how many of these disappeared are living in foreign
shores.
13.
Stop seizing
our traditional lands – this is a repeat of demand 7
14.
Stop
destroying our culture – what culture is that? The
Tamils in the North are fixated to everything South Indian – why not tell them
to stop destroying your culture
15.
Stop
subjecting us to total economic depression – wonder what
type of economic development existed under 30 year rule of Prabakaran in the
North. Can we please have some statistics of the booming economy in the North
when LTTE ruled… some districts didn’t even have electricity and were restored
by the former government, some areas didn’t even have schools and not even a
road was built?
It is seriously advised that the
racism of Wigneswaran stop. All that the Sinhalese say is that Tamils have no
right to demand a homeland and seek to separate our small island nation.
We are a small island nation and the
country is for all of us to live in. No one has any right to be dividing and
cutting up the country to pieces plucking out terminologies used to carve out
other nations.
If the Tamils are coming out with lies
to secure bogus demands we will challenge this by demanding proof because we
are well aware that a Sinhale civilization existed and there are ample proof of
this existence.
The bottomline is that while the
Sinhalese are prepared to share the country we will not agree to any sharing
that compartmentalizes people on ethnic or religious lines. Therefore the
Sinhalese are advised to be alert to the attempts being made to change the
constitution using these bogus demands to justify the existence of a bogus
homeland theory.
If
so the Sinhalese must place their demands for Sinhale homeland that
existed until it was handed over to foreign powers by local traitors as
is happening now.
It is good for some patriotic academics and researchers to
come out with more facts to demolish this myth being floated just like the lies
floated to justify military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now
Syria. Yes, the same culprits are involved and are working with local traitors
in Sri Lanka.
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