by J.L. Devananda
5. How Sinhalese becoming Majority and the Tamil ‘Vellalar Migration’ theory
(February 04, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The ethnic Tamils have found themselves in Sri Lanka in a political culture that promoted Buddhism from the beginning of written history. As a consequence, Tamils have assimilated into the Buddhist tribes at varying rates. During the last 2500 years, more Tamils and South Indians mixed with those who call themselves Sinhalese today than anybody else. If a comprehensive genetic study is conducted on the Sinhalese population, it will reveal this fact.
5.0. Colonial Aided colonization
In the 16th century, the Portuguese colonized a large number of South Indians (mainly from Cochin in the Malabar coast/presently Kerala and from Tutucorin in the Coromandel Coast/presently Tamil Nadu) in the entire western coast of Sri Lanka from Mannar to Matara. Of course, those settled in Mannar remained as Tamils but all others got converted to Sinhala Buddhists and Sinhala Catholics and today their descendents (6th generation from the South) have become distinct, ‘North Indian Vijaya’s Lion-blooded Sinhala Aryans’, the Nationalist Patriots and guardians of Sinhala, Sri Lanka and Buddhism, the job that Lord Buddha assigned to the Hindu God Vishnu as per the Mahavamsa. If these so called “Sinhaputhra/Boomiputhra of Heladiva” had remained as Tamils, (without assimilating with the Sinhalese) today the Tamils would have been the majority in Sri Lanka or if they had assimilated with the Veddas instead of Sinhalese, today the Veddas would have been considerably a large population in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Bandu De Silva accepts the fact that the Tamils and the low-country Sinhalese are heavily mixed but strangely he leaves out the up-country Sinhalese. The last four Kings who ruled Kandy from 1739 – 1815 were Nayakkar from Madurai (Tamil Nadu). During the 75 years period how many of their people (close associates and others), would have come from there and mixed with the up-country Sinhalese. It is said; the King had them married to Kandyan Sinhalese women of distinction (a royal affair). In fact the Kandyan rulers had close ties with Tamils than with low country Sinhalese.
5.1. Dutch and the Vellalars
A few Sinhalese pseudo ‘Intellects’ talk as if they have witnessed the Dutch bringing Vellalars to Jaffna from South India (Vellalar migration). While the Tamils ridicule such cheap His-story created by some charlatan for the serene joy of a few non-rational gullible and bigoted Sinhalese chauvinists, even the majority of the Sinhalese do not believe in such stories. This myth was concocted by those who are totally ignorant about Vellalar and the Jaffna society. I am really surprised that Mr. Bandu De Silva, once a diplomat who represented our country at international level believing in such myths.
The theory (myth) fabricated by a Sinhalese pseudo-scholar Gamani Iriyagolla, (Lawyer cum civil servant), without any recorded proof was "Many Tamils in Jaffna were brought in the 17th century by the Dutch to work in the tobacco plantations". Later his theory was further modified by naming those imaginary migrants as ‘Vellalar’ and the reason behind the introduction of Thesawalamei Law (adopted from Malabar Muslim Customary Law) by Dutch was to encourage the Vellalar of South India to come and grow tobacco.
It was Markus Vink, a Dutch historian who first mentioned quoting a Dutch Record, in an article published in the 'Journal of World History', the Slave trade was flourishing during the Dutch period (17th century AD). There was a famine in South India during that period and slaves were brought to Sri Lanka and to a few other countries from the Coromandel Coast in South India in 1658-1663, 1670/71-1689/90. Although he mentioned that, ten thousand slaves were settled in the South of Sri Lanka (Colombo, Galle and the entire South West) where cinnamon grew to perfection; he did not say how many were settled in Jaffna.
5.2. Cinnamon Trade
From the time of the Portuguese, who had a monopoly of trade in spices, they developed the cultivation of spices in Sri Lanka and established a lucrative trade. Cinnamon was the staple export. It was 'the Helen or bride of contest' (as Baldaeus called it) for whose exclusive possession successive European invaders had in turn contended. Dutch Governor Rijckloff van Goens Jr. (1675-80) stated cinnamon is said to be the bride around whom they dance in Ceylon. If not for cinnamon, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British would not have taken such interest in this tiny island of Sri Lanka.
Other than for Cinnamon, coffee and coconut plantation in the South, the Dutch also used them for domestic purpose.
Let me quote from the report of the Dutch writer Markus Vink:
“In 1661, 10,000 slaves had been put to work by the company and by private individuals on the lands in South-western Ceylon, including 2,000 company slaves. In 1694, the city of Colombo alone had a slave population of 1,761.”
The Sinhalese population increased exponentially and became a majority in Sri Lanka only after these people brought by the Portuguese and the Dutch assimilated with the local Sinhalese population.
Only those that the British brought in the 19th century AD and settled in the upcountry did not assimilate with the Sinhalese (even though they were highly discriminated by the Vellalar Tamils) because the British had a different policy/agenda and they maintained it till they left the island in 1948. (If given a choice, they will prefer to join with the Sinhalese rather than Tamils).
5.3. Vellalar Domination
When the last Tamil king of Jaffna, Cankli Kumaran was fighting decisively with the Portuguese forces, Jaffna was well populated with Tamils.
The ‘Cambridge History of India’ says,
“The Tamils formed the three kingdoms of the Pandya, Chola, Chera, where the ruling element was the land tilling classes, the Vellalars.” (ibid. p. 539).
“Even in the fifth century AD, the South seems to have felt little influence of Aryan culture but the Dravidian Society was still free from the yoke of Brahmin caste system” (p. 540).
In other words, the Vellalars were the dominating caste among the Damelars (Tamils) and not the North Indian Brahmin caste.
From 13 Century AD, the economy of the Jaffna kingdom had been based exclusively on agriculturalists, predominantly of the Vellalar caste. The Vellalars were the land owners and they were dominating the entire peninsula. It is true that the Dutch also settled some of those slaves in Jaffna in the Tobacco fields to help the Vellalars but it is ridiculous to assume (without any proof) that there are considerable amount of recently migrated Tamils in Jaffna brought by the Dutch for Tobacco plantation or to say Vallalar community of Jaffna was brought from South India during the Colonial period. The Dutch did not bring Vallalar from South India; they brought labourers/slaves from South India to help the Vallalar with Tobacco cultivation and those labourers/slaves remained as a distinct caste until recently. Encouraged by the ambiguities in Dutch law which interpreted the bonded status of landless labourers as slave labour, vellalar landowners claimed ownership of these landless labourers, similar to western slavery.
The people of Jaffna knew very well right from the beginning, who is an original inhabitant and who were those tobacco cultivation laborers/slaves. They only ridicule at such myths created by the so called ‘Educated’ Sinhalese. Right from Ven. Mahanama, it has become a tradition for the Sinhalese-Buddhists to create myths whenever they feel there is a threat to [Rata (Sinhala Country) – Jathiya (Sinhala Nation/Race) – Aagama (Sinhala Buddhist Religion]. It is so contiguous that it has spread to some Sri Lankan Tamils as well who in turn have come up with another myth that there was a permanent Tamil kingdom in the North/East for 3000 years. (Myth creating more and more myths).
5.4. Tobacco Cultivation
Prof. Sinnappah Arasaratnam published an article on the very subject in 1994 where he took Markus Vink's article and further elaborated on the Jaffna issue. According to him, the Dutch fully supported the local Vellalar farmers to grow Tobacco which was extensively cultivated in Vadamarachchi and in parts of Valikamam. The Dutch helped the Vellalar by bringing in workers/slaves from South India. He also says, these vellalar elites were able to command the labour of untouchable castes, who were migrating from south India until the 18th century. It is also very clear from his article that, the tobacco cultivation labourers/slaves were none other than the untouchable castes from South India who remained in Jaffna until recently as low castes. Even Prof. Sinnappah Arasaratnam does not say how many were settled in Jaffna. What he said was, consequently, due to this settlement, the populations of the already densely populated provinces of Valikamam and Vadamarachchi increased and the older villages, with their intensively cultivated and subdivided land, recorded populations of as much as 5000 each (those already living plus those settled).
The Dutch Predikant Philippus Baldaeus in his famous 1682 historical account 'A True and Exact Description of the Island of Ceylon' says he first landed in the Malabar Coast (presently Kerala), stayed there for a very short time moving along the Malabar Coast to Coramandel Coast (presently Tamil Nadu) up to Nagapatnam, and then to Galle, and finally Jaffna (presently Sri Lanka). He was living in Jaffna during the period when the Dutch slave trade was flourishing, when tens of thousands of slaves were brought to Sri Lanka from Coromandel. He was preaching Christianity in the Tamil language (he learnt Tamil just enough to preach) to the people of Jaffna.
With regard to the similarity in the languages spoken in both Jaffna and Coromandel, this is what he said,
“I have HEARD it often asserted by the inhabitants of Jaffna Patnam that, that part of the country was TIMES PAST peopled from the Coromandal coast and hence the dialect of their fatherland.”
This statement is usually quoted out of context (misquoted) by the Sinhalese scholars. If we analyze the above statement, this Dutch officer says, he has only heard the peasants of Jaffna talking that the similarity in language is because, in the past history, the people of Jaffna were from Coromandal He did not say anywhere that he saw/witnessed people from Coromandal settling in Jaffna (Dutch settlements/Vellalar settlement). Without reading such historical accounts in full and without analyzing them, these pseudo-scholars not only misinterpret them but also make assumptions and come to wrong conclusions.
5.5. Tesavalamai Law
The adherence of special laws such as Tesavalamai by the Northern Tamil society in Sri Lanka is NOT due to any South Indian Vellalar or any Tobacco cultivation. It was only a customary law that governs property rights among the Tamils of Jaffna, codified by the Dutch in 1707 under the heading 'The Malabar Laws and Customs', under which not all property could be given away. A person could give away only the tetiatettam, i.e. property acquired by either husband during the period after married life and or the priests acquiring from such properties. Even of the tetiatettam property, the husband cannot alienate the whole property; the wife is entitled to half of it. Those properties inherited from the parents cannot be given away according to ones own wish. The Thesavalamai is part of some ancient customs of Tamils in Sri Lanka and India on the matrimonial rights and Inheritance with respect to property and intestate succession and has no relationship what so ever with the Malabar Muslim Customary Law of India.
As the rulers of Jaffna, the Dutch accepted the customs of the Northern Tamil society and by the order of the Governor Simons in 1706 it was promulgated by the Dutch Government as a customary law of Jaffna and codified it under the heading 'The Malabar Laws and Customs'. These Sinhala pseudo-scholars have totally misinterpreted the customary law of Jaffna Tamils (Thesawalamai) by comparing it with the Muslim Customary Law of India. Not only Thesawalamai Law, it should be noted that the colonial rulers also accepted Kandyan Law, Muslim Law, Buddhist Law and Hindu Law in Sri Lanka in addition to their Roman-Dutch Law and English Law.
5.6. Converting to Christianity
Like the the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British colonial powers who only dealt with the Vellalar who were so powerful within the Jaffna Tamil society, even the Sinhala dominated governments in the South continued the same practice after independence.
The Portuguese went about converting the remaining members of the royal family and the Vellalar Tamil aristocrats of the Kingdom of Jaffna (after its fall) into Catholicism. They made them the headmen of Jaffna and give them the Portuguese title Don. These titles continued into the Dutch period as seen in the names of signatories of the Thesavalami laws and customs of Jaffna which was codified under the Dutch.
For example,
The signatories of the Thesavalami laws and customs of Jaffna were, Don Philip Villaivarasa Mutaliyar, Don Anthony Narayanan, Don Frnscisco Arulampalam Mutaliyar, Don Juan Chantirasekara Mana Muthaliyar, Don Martino Manappuli Mutaliyar, Don Franscisco Vanniyarasa Mutaliyar, Don Juan Chayampunata Mutaliyar, Don Juan Chutukavala Chenathirayan Mutaliyar, Don Louwys Putar, And Don Francisco Rasarathina Mutaliyar.
During the Dutch rule, in an attempt to control the powerful Vellalar elite, all the holders of Muthaliyarships were asked to present their letters of appointment and prove their titles. The census indicated that in the four provinces of Jaffna there was a total of 516 Mudaliyars. However hard they tried, the Dutch could not break the dominance of the Hindu Vellalar land owners. Finally, the Dutch introduced a legislation, no native could have title to land without becoming a Christian (Protestant) and being baptized. As a result, most Vellalar families who were agricultural land owners in Jaffna accepted baptism but behind closed doors they still practiced Hinduism. Dutch religious leaders lost hope and departed from Jaffna. As a result, the local Christians (Protestant) had no religious leadership and many of them converted back to Hinduism. Even though the Dutch could build Forts, they could not establish a Dutch Reformed Church in Jaffna like what they did in many places in Colombo and Galle. The British who succeeded the Dutch were also unsuccessful, unlike in the South; their mission could not establish a Church of England in Jaffna.
The first Christian missionary; American Mission (Congregationalists), under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, landed in Ceylon in 1812. When the American missionaries first arrived in Jaffna, they found that the greatest impact they could make on the powerful Tamil Hindu Vellalar community was through education. They put up well equipped Schools, hospitals, etc and established the Church of South India. Some of the Vellalar Tamil families became Christians and took American names permanently when they were baptized.
For example,
Murugesar Ramanathar became Francis Asbury, Ambalavanar Chitampalam became Nathan Strong, Ethirnayagam Murugesar became Cyrus Mills, Muttukumaru Sithamparapillai became William Nevins, Arumugam Nannithamby became Robert Williams, Vairavanathar Sinnathamby became William Cotton Mather and many others followed.
After the Americans established their mission schools, churches and hospital with the help of the powerful Vellalar, they deviated from the system by taking in "low caste" Tamils, and started baptizing them giving them Christian/Western names so as to erase their "low caste" identities. The Hindu Vellalar Tamil nationalist Arumuga Navalar launched a campaign to deny "low caste" Tamils access to missionary schools but failed.
5.7. Tracing the Tamil Ancestry
Mr. Bandu De Silva goes on to say, the Tamils do not have a continuous history going back to a date beyond the seventeenth century. I do not know how he came to such a conclusion? In the case of the Sinhalese, their family name/surname is constantly carried forward from generation to generation (Eg, Ratwatte, Don Hewavitharana, De Silva, etc), where as the Tamils do not carry forward a constant family name/surname and their ancestors are not known beyond three generations. (Eg, we do not know who Don Philip Villaivarasa Mutaliyar’s forefathers/decedents are). Only a very few Vellalar families opted to constantly carry forward their family name/surname and therefore their ancestors can be traced back up to the 17th century and not beyond.
5.8. Colonial Lackeys
It was neither the Dutch nor the British but the Americans who built those leading schools in Jaffna which helped the Tamils to receive an English education, an advantage they had over the Sinhalese when it came to white collar government jobs under the British. There is no truth in the Sinhalese claim that the Tamils collaborated with the British against the Sinhalese. Very similar to some of the Sinhala rebellion against the British rule even the Tamils have rebelled. Pandara Vanniyan (Kulasegaram Vairamuthu Pandaravanniyan) was known as one of last native Tamil chiefs to challenge British rule.
In fact it was not the Tamils but the Sinhalese who collaborated with the British. Unlike the Indians (Mahatma Gandhi, Jawalhal Nehru, Mohd Ali Ginna, Subash Chandra Bose, and others) who suffered for their Independence, the Sinhalese whom Anagarika Dhammapala termed as ‘Kalu Suddho’ collaborated with the British (not a bad move anyway), who gave us Independence on a platter (without shedding a single drop of tears, sweat or blood) and made them leaders to rule the entire country.
5.9. Yarlpana Vaipava Malai
Just like Dhatusena invited Ven.Mahanama to compile the Mahavamsa, the Dutch Governor Jan Maccara may have had an interest in knowing the history of the people who were dominating one part of the country and he invited Mayilvagana Pulavar, the right person who could compile it. This has nothing to do with tobacco cultivation as some of the Sinhalese charlatans are trying to misinterpret. Just like the Mahavamasa written by a the poet monk Ven. Mahanama in 6th century AD who glorified the Theravada Buddhists, the Yarlpana Vaipava Malai is a book written by the Tamil poet Mayilvagana Pulavar in 1736 AD and he glorified the supremacy of the Tamil Hindu Vellalar. Like the Mahavamsa, it also contains folklore, legends and myths mixed with historical anecdotes, most of them cannot be proved.
The only good thing that the Tamil militancy did to the Sri Lankan Tamils was, getting rid of the caste system and the Vellalar supremacy but in doing so, they got rid of most of the well educated Vellalar Tamils.
To be continued...
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