"Tamilisation" and "Sinhalisatation" by Kamalika Pieris

The word ‘Sinhala’ applied to all those who peopled Sri Lanka in the ancient period. Sri Lanka was known as Sinhaladvipa, with the Sinhala people and Sinhala language. K. M. de Silva in his introductory remark to his book " History of Sri Lanka" suggests that ethnicity was not an important point of division in ancient Sri Lanka. He suggests that pre-colonial Sri Lanka was a multi-ethnic society (a conception which emphasised harmony and a spirit of live and let live) rather than a plural society (in which tension between ethnic and other distinctive groups is a main feature). (K. M. De Silva."History of Sri Lanka’ p 13)

The Sinhala kings had a policy of encouraging foreign contacts , specially those who could help in trade. This was possibly a factor in the assimilation of Tamil traders and Arab traders (Muslims) since both groups were very strong commercial powers in the Indian Ocean during the medieval period . The Muslims were also useful during the Portugese and Dutch occupation. They acted as envoys of the Kandyan king, to South Indian rulers. They were also probably acting as spies in the low county where the Portugese and Dutch were. This assimilation was done in a controlled manner. When the Muslims fled to the Kandyan Kingdom during Portugese times, King Senerat sent them to the Batticloa region, with the instruction that they were to take Sinhala vasagam and integrate into the community within a few generations.

Until recently the Muslims did not bother to publicise the fact that they had Sinhala vasagam. Now they do. At a recent Muslim function, N. M. Ameen pointed out that ‘Our forefathers married Sinhalese women. Some of our names such as Waidyasekara Mudiyanselage are in fact Sinhala names.’ Faiz Mustapha also said that he had a Sinhala vasagama and that he had been described as a "Kandyan Arab". (Daily News. 25.2.99 p3) The Al Islam Foundation appealed to all Muslim states and organisations throughout the world to fully support the call made by the International Buddhist conference that the United Nations declare Vesak as a UN holiday. It said: "The overwhelming majority of Buddhists in Sri Lanka have practised tolerance and lived in harmony for centuries with the local Muslims and it is but correct that the Ummah reciprocates. Of course there are chauvinists and buffaloes claiming to be animal lovers who are tyring to create a Muslim-Buddhist conflageration, but these are just a few on the lunatic fringe the vast majority are for amity in the correct Buddhist spirit." (Daily News. 25 .2 .99 p3)

The Portuguese and Dutch married local women. Therefore assimilation involved these groups too. Though Portugese and Dutch had fair hair and blue eyes, everybody in Sri Lanka has black hair and brown eyes. There is also evidence that from about the 16th century to about the 18th, the low country had waves of immigrants from South India, specially Kerala. Descendants of the southern coastal towns are now finding seventh generation ancestors who were from Kerala.

Tamils have assimilated into the Sinhala nation, at all times in its history. Some of these links are now dug out laboriously and presented as indications of Tamil domination. They are not. They are examples of assimilation. For example James Rutnam pointed out that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had a direct ancestor called Nilaperumal, a Tamil from South India who arrived in Sri Lanka in the 16th century. The history of Nilaperumal’s descendants was given. What this history actually indicated, was how anxious the descendants were to shed their Tamil origins through a series of marriages to foreigners and locals. (Sunday leader 18.10.98 p 11). Ralph Pieris has said that Keppetipola was a Tamil. This again indicates the degree of assimilation which was permitted in the Kandyan Kingdom.

Assimilation also extended to religion. A very special and unique feature of the Sinhala civilisation was its tolerance and hospitality to the various religions which took root in the country, such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. This is a unique feature not commonly found in other civilisations. We should keep in mind at this point that the Tamil separatist movement has issued a voluminous literature saying that the Sinhala Buddhists are regularly killing Tamil Hindus. Hinduism operates at two levels in Sri Lanka. Some of the Hindu deities are selectively included in popular Buddhism, but at a minor level. Sri Pada was also called Adam’s Peak and was venerated by Muslims.

Medieval Sinhala culture demonstrated a high degree of assimilation of foreign cultures. The ability to assimilate immigrants is surely an indication of the greatness of a culture, and also an indication of its confidence in itself. This assimilation was controlled and selective. For example, at no time was the Tamil-Hindu culture allowed to submerge the Sinhala culture. Tamil language and Hinduism were selectively incorporated into the medieval Sinhala culture, specially in the royal court. It was not allowed to dominate or overwhelm the Sinhala culture, which continued to roll along gloriously. (I have included the concept of ‘integration’ also in the term "assimilation".)

"Hindu and Tamil influences were increasingly felt in Sinhalese society of the 14th century and after. This has the result of active social and cultural contacts between the Sinhalese kingdom and South India. Such influences were strengthened by the arrival of a considerable number of Indian Brahmins,the activities of mercantile communities of Indian origin and the settlement of several such groups of Indians in the towns and the coastal regions. The Brahmins were Tamil and Telegu speakers. The court which inherited the legacies of the Malabar aristocracy of Gampola was very receptive to the new influences. Some members of the royal family had even Tamil names. The daughter of Parakramabahu VI had the name Ulakudayadevi. Sapumal, the adopted son and general of Parakramabahu VI is known to have had the name Canakapperumal. The two most influential and powerful families in the Sinhalese kingdom during 14th and 15th centuries were those of Alagakkonara and Senalankadhikara both of which were of Malayali extraction. Both families were from the Menon community. The use of Sanskrit and Tamil languages during the time, was because the court officials were familiar with those languages. South Indians were employed as court officials in the Kotte period. Tiruvarangaperumal, a Tamil officer of Indian extraction was in charge of royal documents in the reign of Buvanekabahu VII during the 16th century. (S Pathmanathan Journal Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. 18 n.s.1974 p61-62)

The notion of the pure Aryan Sinhala race is a notion invented by Europeans and picked up by the Sinhalese later on. The Tamil Separatist Movement forgets this, when it sneers at the Sinhalese. In his novel "the Lost Lenore" Regi Siriwardene deals with the issue of racial hybridity (1996). The characters are a Portugese Burgher, whose mother was half Tamil, with a Sinhalese wife. There is a great grandmother from Negombo who is a Tamil Catholic. In Negombo ‘there are even people there who call themselves Sinhalese but speak Tamil at home’. Then there are the Rangamas, probably Kandyan ‘aristos’ who would objects to ‘mikos’. A bizarre collection (p 40,66,68). We are told in this novel that Sri Lanka is one of the most hybrid nations on God’s earth. However Sri Lankans held hybridity in low esteem. Sinhalese themselves are utterly hybrid. "There are few people in the world whose culture is more hybrid than that of the Sinhalese". Their food is from South India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tamilnadu. Their weddings are a cultural mishmash with a lot of Christian borrowing. Sri Lankan dress is eclectic too. The heroine remarks "There are deep racial prejudices in this country". Portugese Burghers are called thuppahi, miko, lafai or karapoththa. (Regi Siriwardene, "The Lost Lenore". p 41,42,43,44,65,70)

There is little indication of an inter-penetration of Sinhala and Tamil cultures. Both languages have borrowed words from each other. The Tamil language has borrowed words like "murunga’ from Sinhala. In the North and East there are personal names such as Mudiyanse Sinnethamby, Ratnayake Ramalingam, or even a combination like Ponnambalam Babunhamy (Names fictitious). Such combinations can found even today in parts of the Eastern Province. One explanation offered is that the first registrars of births were Tamil and they gave a Tamil name to each baby.

What is far more visible in Sri Lanka however are the stages in the progressive assimilation of the Tamil immigrants into the Sinhala culture. The Census for 1911 stated that ‘Many branches of the Tamil race have however settled in Ceylon and have been absorbed into the population and adopting Sinhalese custom. Certain castes in Ceylon trace their descent directly from South Indian tribes and along the coast from Negombo to Puttalam Tamil is as much spoken as Sinhalese by villagers calling themselves Sinhalese but undoubtedly of Tamil descent. In the Hiriyala Hatpattu (in Kurunegala district) there are Sinhalese who are Hindus and speak Tamil. They can read and write in Sinhala but speak Tamil at home (Census of 1911 pp 209, 222). "Though Tamils describe themselves in the Census Schedule as Buddhists and Sinhalese entered Tamil as the only language they could read and write, it is inconceivable that any Sinhalese would enter himself as Tamil or a Tamil as a Sinhalese" (p 196). If we ignore the idiotic conclusion it is clear, that ethnicity was not important in rural British Ceylon. The natives spoke Sinhala and Tamil, were Hindu and Buddhist and mingled comfortably with each other. These intermingled groups were mostly in the coastal areas, where the Tamil speakers first landed. As they established themselves and moved further into the interior of the country, they dropped Tamil and spoke Sinhalese. That is why even today, the Tamil speakers are to be found hugging the coast, while the interior is Sinhala speaking.

The history of the Sri Lanka Tamils as a distinct group can be traced back to the residual group left in the Jaffna Peninsula, after the South Indian invations of the 10th-13th centuries had come to an end. This residual group thereafter developed into as weak and wobbly kingdom which lasted from 13th to 16th century. It only included the Jaffna Peninsula and its environs and did not include even the Wanni. This kingdom does not have a clear history, let alone a glorious one. Its records are unsatisfactory and it lacks a systematic listing of its kings. That is because this kingdom was in fact, the landing pad for the later South Indian kingdom of Pandya and Vijayanagara, in their efforts to take over Sri Lanka. It was thus, during its 300 year history, often under subjugation, thus indicating how weak it really was and why its kings were sometimes called ‘kinglets’.

The Portugese, Dutch and British helped in the creation of a Tamil linguistic group, by providing western education in Tamil medium for North and East. In addition, the British encouraged the Jaffna Tamils to settle in or near Trincomalee. The Sinhalese villages in the East were starved off. The Census of the British period started calling North and Eastern Provinces, "Tamil areas". They also defined the Tamils as a separate race in Sri Lanka. Population density was ignored.