Sri Lankan Tamil people
History
There is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as Eelam 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 the original inhabitants of the island.
[edit] Pre-historic period
Dakhinathupa in Anuradhapura, currently identified as a Buddhist temple, but considered until the 1900s CE the tomb of 2nd century BCE Tamil king Elara. The identification and reclassification is considered controversial.[13][14] The indigenous Veddhas are physically related to Dravidian-speaking tribal people in South India and early populations of Southeast Asia. They no longer speak their native languages.[15] It is believed that 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.[16]
Settlements of people culturally similar to those of present-day Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in modern India were excavated at megalithic burial sites at Pomparippu on the west coast and in Kathiraveli on the east coast of the island. These villages were established between the 5th century BCE and 2nd century CE.[17][18] 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.[19]
[edit] Historic period
Potsherds with early Tamil writing from the 2nd century BCE have been found in excavations in Poonagari, Jaffna. They bore several inscriptions, including a clan name—vela, a name related to velir from ancient Tamil country.[20] EpigraphicPrakrit 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.[21]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,[22] which suggest that local Tamil merchants were present and actively involved in trade along the southern coast of Sri Lanka.[23] Historical records establish that Tamil kingdoms in modern India were closely involved in the island's affairs from about the 2nd century BCE.[24][25] In Mahavamsa, a historical poem, ethnic Tamil adventurers such as Elara invaded the island around 145 BCE.[26] 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.[27] By the 8th century CE there were Tamil villages collectively known as Demel-kaballaDemelat-valademin (Tamil villages), and Demel-gam-bim[28] evidence shows people identifying themselves as Damelas or Damedas (the Excavations in the area of (Tamil allotment), (Tamil villages and lands).
Inscription dated to 1100 CE left by Tamil soldiers in Polonnaruwa
[edit] Medieval period
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.[29][30][31][27] The decline of Chola power in Sri Lanka was followed by the restoration of the Polonnaruwa monarchy in the late 11th century CE.[32] In 1215, following Pandya invasions, the Tamil-dominant Arya Chakaravarthi dynasty established an independent Jaffna kingdom[33] on the Jaffna peninsula and other parts of the north. The Arya Chakaravarthi expansion into the south was halted by Alagakkonara,[34] 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,[35] but he was overthrown by the Ming admiral Cheng Ho in 1409 CE. 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 DutchBritish Empire in 1796 CE. Drawings and maps from the time of the Greek explorer Ptolemy, and later from the period when the British came to the island, show how the areas of the Tamils and the Sinhalese were recorded separately from antiquity.[36] Upon arrival of colonialist powers from the 17th century CE, the Tamils were recognized as a separate nation of ancient origins in their areas of habitation in the northeast of the island.[37][38][39] and then became part of the
The caste structure of the majority Sinhalese has also accommodated HinduSalagama, the Durava and the Karava.[40][41][42] The Hindu migration and assimilation continued until the 18th century CE.[40] immigrants from South India since the 13th century CE. This led to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups: the
[edit] Society
[edit] Tamil-speaking communities
Percentage of Sri Lankan Tamils per district based on 2001 or 1981 (italic) census 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 Kingdom and east coast chieftaincies called Vannimais. 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.[43] A significant Tamil-speaking Muslim population exists in Sri Lanka; however, unlike Tamil Muslims from India, they do not identify as ethnic Tamils and are therefore listed as a separate ethnic group in official statistics.[44][45]
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.[45][46] 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.[47] Historically, both groups have seen themselves as separate communities, although there has been a greater sense of unity since the 1980s.
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.[48][48] By the 1990s, most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Negombo Tamils
Main article: Negombo Tamils Negombo Tamils, 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.[49] 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.[49][50][51] 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)).[52]
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.[52][53][54] Most of those who identify as ethnic Tamils live in the coastal village Udappu.[55] 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.[52] 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.[51]
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.[56]
[edit] Eastern Tamils
Eastern Tamils inhabit a region that spans the Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Ampara districts.[57] Their history and traditions are inspired by local legends, native literature, and colonial documents.[58]
In the 1500s the area came under the nominal control of the Kandyan kingdom, but there was considerable local autonomy under native Vannimai chiefs.[60][61] 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.[62] 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 clans and is found amongst most caste groups;[63] men do not remain members of the kuti of their birth, instead joining the wife's kuti upon marriage. Kuti also collectively own places of worship such as Hindu temples.[63]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. Each caste contains a number of
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.[63]indigenous Veddha people of the east coast also speak Tamil and have become assimilated into the Eastern Tamil caste structure.[64] Most Eastern Tamils follow customary laws called Mukkuva laws codified during the Dutch colonial period.[65] The
[edit] Northern Tamils
Jaffna's history 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.[66] 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.[66] Others such as the Karaiyar (fishermen) existed outside the agriculture-based caste system.[67] The caste of temple priests known as Iyers were also held in high esteem.[67]
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).[66]Thesavalamai, codified during the Dutch colonial period.[68] Northern Tamils follow customary laws called
[edit] Genetic affinities
Sri Lanka's important position on trade routes has brought people from many places, such as Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South East Asia, and neighboring India. The heterogeneous origins of the current Sri Lankan people can also be read in the mythical, legendary, and historical records of Sri Lanka.[69] A study by G.K. Kshatriya et al. compared the degree of gene diversity and genetic admixture among the Sri Lankan population groups with the populations of southern, northeastern, and northwestern India, the Middle East, and Europe. The results showed that Sri Lankan Tamils have a greater contribution from the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka (55.20% +/- 9.47) than Indian Tamils (16.63% +/- 8.73). With both the Sri Lankan tamils and Sinhalese sharing a common gene pool of 55%. Sri lankan tamils are farther removed from Gujaratis and Punjabis of northwest India and farthest from the indigenous Veddahs.[69] The study did not find any genetic correlation with population groups in India's northwest.[69] A further study by Papiha et al. confirmed the Sri Lankan Tamil population's close genetic affinity to the Sinhalese.[70]
[edit] Religion
In 1981, about eighty percent of Sri Lankan Tamils were Hindus who followed the Shaiva sect.[71] 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.[72] Most Tamils who inhabit the Western Province are Roman Catholics, while those of the Northern and Eastern Provinces are mainly Hindu.[73] Pentecostal and other churches, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, are active among the internally displaced and refugee populations.[74]
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.[73] 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 the Iyer community or be someone from a prominent local lineage.[73] 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.[73] Tamil Roman Catholics, along with members of other faiths, worship at the Madhu church.[75] Hindus have several temples with historic importance such as those at Ketheeswaram, Koneswaram, Naguleswaram, Munneswaram, and Nallur Kandaswamy.[76] Kataragama temple and Adams Peak are attended by all religious communities.
[edit] Language
Tamil dialects 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 TamilTamils such as Muslims, Veddhas, and Sinhalese. Tamil loan words in Sinhala also follow the characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects.[77] dialects. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than
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.[50] 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.[78][79] The Tamil dialect used by residents of the Trincomalee District has many similarities with the Jaffna Tamil dialect.[77]
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,[77] the grammatical treatise on Tamil dated from 3rd century BCE to 10th century CE.[80] Their ordinary speech is closely related to classical Tamil.[77] The Jaffna Tamil dialect and the Indian Tamil dialects are not mutually intelligible,[81] and the former is frequently mistaken for Malayalam by native Indian Tamil speakers.[82] There are also Prakrit loan words that are unique to Jaffna Tamil.[83][84]
[edit] Education
Sri Lankan Tamil society values education highly, for its own sake as well as for the opportunities it provides.[51] The kings of the Aryacakravarti dynasty were historically patrons of literature and education. Temple schools and traditional gurukulam classes on verandahs (known as Thinnai Pallikoodam in Tamil) spread basic education in religion and in languages such as Tamil and Sanskrit to the upper classes.[85] 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 churches when they took over Tamil-speaking regions of Sri Lanka.[86]
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 1900s. 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.[87]
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.[88][89]
[edit] Literature
According to legends, the origin of Sri Lankan Tamil literature dates back to the Sangam period (3rd century BCE–6th century CE). These legends indicate that the Tamil poet Eelattu Poothanthevanar (Poothanthevanar from Sri Lanka) lived during this period.[90]
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.[85][91]
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.[90] The period of joint missionary activities by the Anglican, American Ceylon, and Methodist Missions also saw 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 was a product of this period.[90]
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.[90] 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.[90]
[edit] Cuisine
String hoppers, known as Idiyappam in Tamil, is a popular breakfast and dinner dish.
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.[92]
String hoppers, which are made of rice flour and look like knitted vermicelli neatly laid out in circular pieces about 12 centimeters (4.7 in) in diameter, are frequently combined with tomato sothi (a soup) and curries for breakfast and dinner.[93] 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.[94] Another popular breakfast or dinner dish is Appam, a thin crusty pancake made with rice flour, with a round soft crust in the middle.[95] It has variations such as egg or milk Appam.[92]
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 chilly 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.[92]
[edit] Politics
Sri Lanka became an independent nation in 1948. Since independence, the political relationship between Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil 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.[96] 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.[97] The civil war has resulted in the death of over 70,000 people[98] 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).[99][100][101] 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.[102]
[edit] 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 Methodist 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.[103][104]
A 1910 postcard image of a Sri Lankan Tamil girl 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.[37] This council's primary function was to act as advisor to the Governor, and the seats eventually became elected positions.[105] 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".[106] 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.[107] 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.[108]
[edit] After independence
Following independence in 1948, G. G. Ponnambalam and his Tamil CongressD. 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.[109] 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.[110] 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.[111][96] joined
In 1972, a newly formulated constitution removed section 29(2) of the 1947 Soulbury constitution that was formulated to protect the interests of minorities.[112] 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.[113]
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). [114] [96][111] By 1977 most Tamils seemed to support the move for independence by electing the Tamil United Liberation Front overwhelmingly.[115] The elections were followed by the 1977 riots, in which around 300 Tamils were killed.[116] 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.[117][118]
[edit] 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.[119] These policies made it difficult for middle class Tamil youth to enter university or secure employment.[119][120]
The individuals belonging to this younger generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the boys" (Potiyal in Tamil), formed many militant organizations.[119]Black July pogrom, in which between 1,000[121]- 3,000[122] Sri Lankan Tamils were killed, prompting many youths to choose the path of armed resistance.[119][123][122] The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the
By the end of 1987, the militant youth groups had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces and the Indian Peace Keeping Force, but they also fought 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.[119]
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the United States Department of State[124] and the European Union,[125]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,[126] 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.[127] have expressed concern about the state of
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