S. A. David

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S. A. David
எஸ். ஏ. டேவிட்
Born(1924-04-24)24 April 1924
Died11 October 2015(2015-10-11) (aged 91)
Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
OccupationArchitect

Solomon Arulanandam David (

Sri Lankan Tamil
architect, activist and founder of the Gandhiyam Movement.

Early life

David was born on 24 April 1924

Velanaitivu in northern Ceylon.[2] After school David won a scholarship to study architecture at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a B.Arch. degree.[1][2][3]

Career

After returning to Ceylon David worked as an assistant architect at the Public Works Department.

town planning in Leeds.[3] He subsequently held several positions overseas including senior town planner in Liverpool and chief architect/town planner in Mombasa.[1][3] Whilst in Mombasa David became interested in Gandhism, spending most evenings at Mombasa library studying the 9,000 books on India donated to the library by an Indian lawyer’s clerk.[3] He returned to Sri Lanka in 1972 to devote his "heart and soul to alleviate the suffering" of his people.[1][5]

David, along with S. Rajasundaram, founded the Gandhiyam Movement in 1977 in

Gandhiyam way of life.[6] By 1982 the Gandhiyam Movement was operating in Batticaloa District, Jaffna District, Kilinochchi District, Mannar District, Mullaitivu District, Trincomalee District and Vavuniya District, teaching over 10,000 children the Gandhiyam way of life, assisting refugees, setting up farms and distributing food.[6] It worked with other local charities as well as international charities.[6]

The

Colombo Fort.[4] Rajasundaram was also arrested.[3][5] David was assaulted, tortured and threatened by CID officers.[4] He was then transferred to the Panagoda Cantonment where he was assaulted, tortured and humiliated by the Sri Lanka Army.[4] Commander Udugampala would regularly threaten to kill David.[4] School cadets were brought to watch Sri Lankan soldiers perform their sadism on the Tamil prisoners.[4] The violence meted out to Rajasundaram was worse.[4]

David and some other Tamil prisoners were transferred to Welikada Prison on 27 June 1983.[4] Although there was no torture at Welikada, the conditions were terrible and Tamil prisoners who fell ill were treated badly by the Sinhalese medical staff.[4] David and Rajasundaram were brought to court on 22 July 1983 and were told that they were being charged with meeting and assisting in the escape of People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leaders Uma Maheswaran and Santhathiar.[4] The judge ordered David, Rajasundaram and a few other prisoners to be moved to the Welikada's Youth Ward.[4]

On 25 July 1983 the Black July anti-Tamil riots spread to Welikada's Chapel Ward and around 35 Tamil prisoners were massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, aided and abetted by Sinhalese prison officers.[2][3][4] Two days later armed Sinhalese prisoners broke into the Youth Ward and started attacking Tamil prisoners.[4] Rajasundaram was dragged out of the cell and beaten to death.[2][3][4] David and others managed to keep the attackers at bay until the Army arrived to disperse the attackers.[4]

After the massacre Tamil prisoners, including David, were transported to

Madras in 1984.[3]

The Gandhiyam Movement helped the up-country Tamil victims of the Black July riots to resettle in the Vanni.[2][3]

David lived in exile in Anna Nagar and wrote about the plight of Tamil refugees.[5] He returned to Sri Lanka in 2015.[2] He died on 11 October 2015 in Kilinochchi.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Another source gives David's date of birth as 6 November 1916.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon (PDF). pp. 47–48.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Veteran Eezham Tamil freedom fighter Gandhiyam David passes away". TamilNet. 11 October 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kolappan, B. (2 August 2012). "Reminiscences of a Sri Lankan Gandhian". The Hindu.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u David, S. A. (November 1983). "Detention, Torture and Murder: An eye witness account of the Welikade Prison Massacre". Tamil Nation.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Veteran Tamil activist and humanist reaches 88 in exile". TamilNet. 23 April 2012.
  6. ^ a b c David, S. A. (November 1982). "Gandhiyam - An Appeal for Support" (PDF). Tamil Times. II (1): 8.
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