Understanding Sinhala identity

Concept of Unitary State and its Roots in the Sinhala Consciousness - Historical Hints from Michael Roberts's 2003 book Thu, 2007-02-15 03:48 Dr. Siri Gamage - University of New England

At a time when the political opinion in Sri Lanka is divided between the concepts of federalism vs. unitary State as a solution to any form of devolving power to resolve the conflict with the LTTE, it is important to take a step back and examine the origin of these concepts and the contexts which gave meaning to them.

There is a common understanding that these concepts are 'modern' concepts deriving their meanings-theoretical and operational-from the Western European political histories and thoughts.

There is also a question as to whether they are rooted in the democratic forms of government as found in the same geographical areas, therefore deriving their legitimacy from lands afar than the country of focus - which is Sri Lanka.

Modernist forms of thinking as well as political, economic, educational, and administrative institutions and processes inscribed into the persona of colonised countries and bodies by the colonising empires during the pre-independence periods have come under severe criticism from the academics and activists who adopt postcolonial approaches-especially those from the Southern hemisphere.

In this context, we can learn a great deal about the roots of the concept of unitary State and sovereignty as existed in the pre-British Kandyan Kingdom or Sinhala as Roberts calls it. A careful reading of his work 'Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period' provides valuable clues to show that the concept existed in Sri Lanka itself rather than one imported from overseas. In this article, I elaborate this point further with the help of Roberts' path breaking work.

Even though the book is about the identity and consciousness of those who spoke Sinhala during 1590s to 1815/18 particularly in the Kandyan Kingdom, chapters dealing with the King's relations with the foreign powers that occupied low country areas of the island, Vanni chiefs or rajavaru, and the chiefs administering outlying areas of the Kingdom shed much light on the nature of associated concepts such as Chakravarti, and Trisinhalesvara.

The analysis of correspondence between the King and the officials of foreign powers in the low country, war poems (hatan kavi), classical poems and paintings in image houses as well as oral histories as recorded in the foregoing etc. point out to the fact that these relationships were based on the King's expectation that he was the king for the entirety of the island.

This expectation has continued up to the time of dethroning of the last king in 1815. It was not only the thinking of maha vasala (king's palace) in Senkadagala or Mahannuwara.

The book includes a meticulous analysis of historical sources including those written by vernacular scholars that such a unitary concept or sovereignty over the whole island was deeply rooted in the identity and consciousness of the Sinhalese.

Performative mechanisms that existed in the society at the time such as Kavikara maduwa, Kohomba Kankariya, Dekum reinforced this image of the King and unitary nature of his kingdom. The relations between the King and other centres of power were unequal. This was particularly seen in dekum - a practice that all visiting chiefs and delegates from the foreign powers inhabiting in the low country had to conform to. The intentions of the latter were to obtain trading rites and commodities while the King's and his officials' expectation was the adherence of those subordinate to him to the performative rites like Dekum.

The system of governance existed in the kingdom has been labelled by Roberts as Centre-Periphery. 'The capital city of Senkadagala or Kandy was a cosmic centre that could stand as a sign for the whole kingdom - a centre within the agrarian heartland that was the core of the Kandyan polity, the Govigama dominated area' (2003:70).

He characterises the form of government in the kingdom as a 'tributory overlordship' where gift giving by subordinates to the superordinates was a key feature in a chain of command structure. It is a concept that he developed from the indigenous rite of dekum and a number of other practices. Even Vanni chiefs who administered some autonomous centres of power at times engaged in this practice. The social order did not distinguish the "religion" and the "political".

The King derived his authority from cosmic powers. 'Each ruler of the principal Sinhala State considered himself to be Trisinhalesvara or Chakravarti covering the whole island of Trisinhale' (2003:71). He points out that in the 16th century, as the power of Kotte declined some of the Vanniyars began to acknowledge the overlordship of Kandyan king (2003:75). This would have been even more possible because of the Nayakkar roots of the Kings of Kandy in the later phase. Along with dekum, Roberts examines other practices such as panduru and pakkudam.

Godly powers of the King were associated with the Buddhist righteousness.

According to Roberts, with the expanding standardization of "modern" education, the teaching of Sinhalese history, particularly its literary historical works, authors, and the role they played in the socio-political organization of society disappeared.

By incorporating vernacular scholarly sources such as poems and paintings, story telling via sermons, oral histories embodied in this etc. he has adopted a noval approach to reconstructing history and articulating the identity and consciousness of the Sinhale during the Kandyan Kingdom period. In doing so, he makes valuable comments on what he calls the middle period in Sri Lankan history also (1232-1818).

He charges authors like Nissan, Stirrat, and Spencer as engaging in 'simplistic theorizing' when they used the flexibility in the social order that existed in the Kingdom allowing non Sinhala-Buddhist migrants from South India to assimilate into the Sinhala identity and social organization to argue that the society in the pre-British period was not ethnically prejudiced.

Through his analysis of a range of sources, Roberts substantiates the fact that the relationships were rather unequal (centre-periphery), yet the non-Buddhist migrants were able to change their identity to be included in the mainstream Sinhala-Buddhist identity. This is a major thesis that illuminates a vexed issue pertaining to the modern and post-modern conceptualizations of ethnic relations, identity, polity, and ideologies.

This contention also shows the vast gap between 'modernist' and 'post-colonial' interpretations of history and society pertaining to the Sri Lankan case. Roberts also criticizes the habit of applying 20th century readings and understandings of history to the 19th century social and political organization as well as associated ideologies.

The book contains valuable insights and interpretations about the practices adopted by contending parties during the violent periods in 1983, and 1989-90,e.g.

Acts of mutilation and decapitation as part of the politics of terror defusing fear in the whole body politic and local areas (2003: 152). He asks the question as to why the dismemberment has been such a favoured tool of punishment in Sri Lanka during periods of political upheaval? Coupled with accounts of sorcery and similar practices including war poems, Roberts provides a fascinating interpretation to the manner by which the polity performed during times of peace and conflict in Sinhale.

Given these accounts and interpretations about the Sinhala as well as the Sinhala consciousness included in this book, one could understand why so many Sinhalese have been resisting the concept of federalism and argued for the concept of unitary State covering the whole of Sri Lanka.

The book provides a window to the vast literature available on the topic along with relevant pictures. What the analysis in the book tells us is that for any understanding of Sri Lankan polity, its leadership, core principles or foundations as well as the politics of unitary State, one has to understand Sinhala identity and consciousness deeply rooted in the history of the country rather than 'modern' Western political concepts and ideologies.

(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/02/18/fea01.asp)