Sri Lankan Tamils

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Not to be confused with Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Tamils
ஈழத்தமிழர்
இலங்கை தமிழர்
A postcard image of a Sri Lankan Tamil woman, 1910.
Total population
~ 3.0 million
(estimated; excluding Moors and Indian Tamils)
Regions with significant populations
 Sri Lanka2,270,924 (2012)[1]
 Canada~300,000[2][3][4][5][6]
 United Kingdom~120,000 (2006)[7]
 India~100,000 (2005)[8]
 Germany~60,000 (2008)[9]
 France~50,000 (2008)[10]
  Switzerland~50,000 (2022)[11]
 Singapore~30,000 (1985)[12]
 Australia~30,000[13]
 United States~25,000 (2010)[14]
 Italy~25,000[13]
 Malaysia~24,436 (1970)[15]
 Netherlands~20,000[13]
 Norway~10,000 (2000)[16]
 Denmark~9,000 (2003)[17]
Languages
Tamil
(Sri Lankan dialects)
Religion
Majority
[18]
Buddhism[19]
Related ethnic groups
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Sri Lankan Tamils (

island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.[1]

Modern Sri Lankan Tamils descend from residents of the

chieftaincies from the east. According to the anthropological and archaeological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since at least around the 2nd century BCE
.

The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly

Christian population. Sri Lankan Tamil literature on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1980s, it is distinguished by an emphasis on themes relating to the conflict. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are noted for their archaism and retention of words not in everyday use in Tamil Nadu
, India.

Since Sri Lanka gained

allegations of atrocities being committed by the Sri Lankan military.[24][25][26] A United Nations panel found that as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war.[27] In January 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that the estimated 20,000+ disappeared Sri Lankan Tamils were dead.[28] The end of the civil war has not fully improved conditions in Sri Lanka, with press freedom not being restored and the judiciary coming under political control.[29][30][31]

One-third of Sri Lankan Tamils now live outside Sri Lanka. While there was significant migration during the

LTTE, has become a symbol of Tamil nationalism for some Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.[39][40]

History

Part of a series on
Sri Lankan Tamils
Ancient era
Middle Ages
Colonial
Post independence
Civil war

There is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Sri Lankan Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as Eelam in Sangam literature.[41] One older theory states that there were no large Tamil settlements in Sri Lanka until the 10th century CE.[42] According to the anthropological and archaeological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since at least around the 2nd century BCE.[43][44]

Prehistoric period

National Museum of Colombo
.

The Indigenous Veddas are ethnically related to people in South India and early populations of Southeast Asia. It is not possible to ascertain what languages that they originally spoke as Vedda language is considered diverged from its original source (due to Sinhalese language influence).[46]

According to

Tamil Brahmi and Tamil-Prakrit scripts were used to write the Tamil language during this period on the island.[48]

During the

pottery, iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti.[50][51] This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as the Velir, prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers.[52][53][50]

Settlements of culturally similar early populations of ancient Sri Lanka and ancient

megalithic burial sites at Pomparippu on the west coast and in Kathiraveli on the east coast of the island. Bearing a remarkable resemblance to burials in the Early Pandyan Kingdom, these sites were established between the 5th century BCE and 2nd century CE.[45][54]

Excavated

black and red ware occur in the 10th century BCE.[56]

The skeletal remains of an

Tamil Brahmi inscriptions of ancient South India and Egypt.[57][58]

Historic period

See also: Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka

ancient Tamil country.[59]

Once

Pandya Kingdom to the Anuradhapura Kingdom in the early historic period.[60]

Epigraphic evidence shows people identifying themselves as Damelas or Damedas (the Prakrit 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.[61] Excavations in the area of 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,[62] which suggest that local Tamil merchants were present and actively involved in trade along the southern coast of Sri Lanka by the late classical period.[63]

Other ancient inscriptions from the period reference a Tamil merchant,[a] the Tamil householder residing in Iḷabharata[b] and a Tamil sailor named Karava.[c] Two of the six ancient inscriptions referring to the Damedas (Tamils) are in Periya Pullyakulam in the Vavuniya District, one is in Seruvavila in Trincomalee District, one is in Kuduvil in Ampara District, one is in Anuradhapura and one is in Matale District.[64]

Literary sources make references about Tamil rulers bringing horses to the island in water crafts in the second century BCE, most likely arriving at

Manimekhalai, a historical poem, detail how Nāka-Tivu of Nāka-Nadu on the Jaffna Peninsula
was a lucrative international market for pearl and conch trading for the Tamil fishermen.

In

village deity worship
.

The

Amaravati school was influential in the region when the Telugu Satavahana dynasty established the Andhra empire and its 17th monarch Hāla (20–24 CE) married a princess from the island. Ancient Vanniars settled in the east of the island in the first few centuries of the common era to cultivate and maintain the area.[68][69] The Vanni region flourished.[70]

In the 6th century CE, a special coastal route by boat was established from the Jaffna peninsula southwards to Saivite religious centres in Trincomalee (Koneswaram) and further south to Batticaloa (Thirukkovil), passed a few small Tamil trading settlements in Mullaitivu on the north coast.[71]

The conquests and rule of the island by

Pallava king Narasimhavarman I (630–668 CE) and his grandfather King Simhavishnu (537–590 CE) saw the erection and structural development of several Kovils around the island, particularly in the north-east—these Pallava Dravidian rock temples remained a popular and highly influential style of architecture in the region over the next few centuries.[72][73][74] 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.[75] By the 8th century CE Tamil villages were collectively known as Demel-kaballa (Tamil allotment), Demelat-valademin (Tamil villages), and Demel-gam-bim (Tamil villages and lands).[76]

Medieval period

The Jaffna royal family, first from the right is Cankili I, who held off the Portuguese Empire.
Coylot Wanees Contrey (Coylot Vanni country), Malabar country in the northeast of the island on a 1681 CE map by Robert Knox as published in his book.[77]

In the 9th and 10th centuries CE,

Rashtrakuta Dynasty.[84] These dynasties oversaw the development of several kovils that administered services to communities of land assigned to the temples through royal grants. Their rule also saw the benefaction of other faiths. Recent excavations have led to the discovery of a limestone Kovil of Raja Raja Chola I's era on Delft island, found with Chola coins from this period.[85] The decline of Chola power in Sri Lanka was followed by the restoration of the Polonnaruwa kingdom in the late 11th century CE.[86]

In 1215, following Pandya invasions, the Tamil-dominant

Tenavaram, Tevanthurai for a peaceful world built on trade.[90]

The 1502 map

Dutch and then became part of the British Empire
in 1796 CE.

The Sinhalese Nampota dated in its present form to the 14th or 15th century CE suggests that the whole of the Tamil Kingdom, including parts of the modern Trincomalee District, was recognised as a Tamil region by the name Demala-pattana (Tamil city).[92] In this work, a number of villages that are now situated in the Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee districts are mentioned as places in Demala-pattana.[93]

The English sailor Robert Knox described walking into the island's Tamil country in the publication An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon, referencing some aspects of their royal, rural and economic life and annotating some kingdoms within it on a map in 1681 CE.[94] Upon arrival of European powers from the 17th century CE, the Tamils' separate nation was described in their areas of habitation in the northeast of the island.[d]

The caste structure of the majority Sinhalese has also accommodated Tamil and Kerala immigrants from South India since the 13th century CE. This led to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups: the Salagama, the Durava and the Karava.[95][96][97] The Tamil migration and assimilation continued until the 18th century CE.[95]

Society

Main article:
Sri Lankan society
See also: Caste system in Sri Lanka § Sri Lankan Tamils

Demographics

Distribution of Sri Lankan Tamil people in Sri Lanka by DS Division according 2012 census.

According to the 2012 census there were 2,270,924 Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka, 11.2% of the population.[1] Sri Lankan Tamils constitute an overwhelming majority of the population in the Northern Province and are the largest ethnic group in the Eastern Province.[1] They are minority in other provinces. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.[1]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1911 528,000—    
1921 517,300−2.0%
1931 598,900+15.8%
1946 733,700+22.5%
1953 884,700+20.6%
1963 1,164,700+31.6%
1971 1,424,000+22.3%
1981 1,886,900+32.5%
1989 2,124,000+12.6%
2012 2,270,924+6.9%
Source: [1][98][99][e]
Distribution of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka (2012)[1]
Province Sri Lankan
Tamils 		%
Province 		% Sri Lankan
Tamils
 Central 128,263 5.0% 5.7%
 Eastern 609,584 39.3% 26.8%
 Northern 987,692 93.3% 43.5%
 North Central 12,421 1.0% 0.6%
 North Western 66,286 2.8% 2.9%
 Sabaragamuwa 74,908 3.9% 3.3%
 Southern 25,901 1.1% 1.1%
 Uva 30,118 2.4% 1.3%
 Western 335,751 5.8% 14.8%
Total 2,270,924 11.2% 100.0%

There are no accurate figures for the number of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the diaspora. Estimates range from 450,000 to one million.[100][101]

Other Tamil-speaking communities

Main articles: Sri Lankan Moors and Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
Indian Tamils are classed as a separate ethnic group.

The two groups of Tamils located in Sri Lanka are the Sri Lankan Tamils and the

Sri Lankan government.[106][107][108]

Sri Lankan Tamils (also called Ceylon Tamils) are descendants of the Tamils of the old

Vannimais. The Indian Tamils (or Hill Country Tamils) are descendants of bonded labourers sent from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work on tea plantations.[109][110]

Most Sri Lankan Tamils live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital

repatriated to India.[112] By the 1990s, most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.[112]

Regional groups

Sri Lankan Tamils are categorised 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.

Eastern Tamils

Thirugnana Sambanthar[113]
See also: History of Eastern Tamils

Eastern Tamils inhabit a region that spans the Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Ampara districts.[114] Their history and traditions are inspired by local legends, native literature, and colonial documents.[115]

In the 16th century the area came under the nominal control of the Kingdom of Kandy, but there was scattered leadership under Vannimai chiefs in Batticaloa District[116][117] who came with Magha's army in 1215.[118] 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

toddy tapping
. However, such restrictions no longer apply.

The Tamils of the Trincomalee district have different social customs from their southern neighbours due to the influence of the Jaffna kingdom to the north.

Dutch colonial period.[123]

Northern Tamils

Kammalar also serve as Kudimakkal, and consists of the Kannar (brass-workers), Kollar (blacksmiths), Tattar (goldsmiths), Tatchar (carpenters) and Kartatchar (sculptor). The Kudimakkal were domestic servants who also gave ritual importance to the dominant castes.[129][130]

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

Dutch colonial period.[131]

Western Tamils

Main article: Negombo Tamils

Western Tamils, also known as

customary laws.[132][133][134] 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.[135] The Western Tamils caste hierarchy is principally dominated by the maritime Karaiyars, along with other dominant groups such as the Paravars.[136]

In 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.

Tamil Christians, chiefly Roman Catholics, have preserved their heritage in the major cities such as Negombo, Chilaw, Puttalam, and also in villages such as Mampuri.[135]

Some residents of these two districts, especially the Karaiyars, are bilingual, ensuring that the Tamil language survives as a lingua franca among migrating maritime 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.[133] The bilingual catholic Karavas are also found in the western coastal regions, who trace their origins to the Tamil Karaiyar however identify themselves as Sinhalese.[140]

Negombo Tamil indicates that the Karavas immigrated to Sri Lanka much later than Tamils immigrated to Jaffna. This would suggest that the Negombo dialect continued to evolve in the Coromandel Coast before it arrived in Sri Lanka and began to get influenced by Sinhala. So, in some ways, the dialect is closer to those spoken in Tamil Nadu than to Jaffna Tamil.[141]

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.[142]

Genetic affinities

Main article: Genetic studies on Sri Lankan Tamils

Although Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally and linguistically distinct, genetic studies indicate that they are closely related to other ethnic groups in the island while being related to the Indian Tamils from South India as well. There are various studies that indicate varying degrees of connections between Sri Lankan Tamils, Sinhalese, and Indian ethnic groups.

A study conducted by Kshatriya in 1995 found that both ethnolinguistic groups of Sri Lanka, including the Tamils, were closest to the Tamil population of India and also the Muslim population of South India. They were found to be the most distant group from the Veddahs, and quite distant from both North-West Indians (Punjabis and Gujratis) and North-East Indians (Bengalis).[143] In comparison to Indian Tamils, the Tamils of Sri Lanka had a higher admixture with the Sinhalese, though the Sinhalese themselves share a 69.86% (+/- 0.61) genetic admixture with the Indian Tamils.[143] The study stated that any admixture from migrations several thousand years ago must have been erased through millennia of admixture among geographically local peoples.[143]

Religion

A Hindu gentleman of North Ceylon (1859)[144]
Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil
, one of the main Kovil in Sri Lanka.
See also:
Village deities of Tamils of Sri Lanka

In 1981, about eighty percent of Sri Lankan Tamils were

Pentecostal and other churches, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, are active among the internally displaced and refugee populations.[148] The 2012 Sri Lanka Census revealed a Buddhist population of 22,254 amongst Sri Lankan Tamils, i.e. roughly 1% of all Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka.[18]

The Hindu elite, especially the

Thai Pongal day, and possibly on Tamil New Year Day
.

There are several worshipped deities:

Tondeswaram, and Nallur Kandaswamy.[151] Kataragama temple and Adam's Peak
are attended by all religious communities.

Language

Main article: Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
See also:
Sinhala words of Tamil origin

Sri Lankan Tamils predominantly speak Tamil and its Sri Lankan dialects. These 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 Tamil dialects. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils such as the Sinhalese, Moors and Veddhas. Tamil loan words in Sinhala also follow the characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects.[152] Sri Lankan Tamils, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak Sinhala and or English. According to the 2012 Census 32.8% or 614,169 Sri Lankan Tamils also spoke Sinhala and 20.9% or 390,676 Sri Lankan Tamils also spoke English.[153]

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

Dravidian language from Kerala that originated as a dialect of old Tamil around 9th century CE.[154][155] The Tamil dialect used by residents of the Trincomalee District has many similarities with the Jaffna Tamil dialect.[152]

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,[152] the grammatical treatise on Tamil dated from 3rd century BCE to 10th century CE.[156] Also, a large component of the settlers were from the Coromandel Coast and Malabar Coast which may have helped with the preservation of the dialect.[157][158] Their ordinary speech is closely related to classical Tamil.[152] Conservational Jaffna Tamil dialect and Indian Tamil dialects are to an extent not mutually intelligible,[159] and the former is frequently mistaken for Malayalam by native Indian Tamil speakers. [160] The closest Tamil Nadu Tamil variant to Jaffna Tamil is literary Tamil, used in formal speeches and news reading. There are also Prakrit loan words that are unique to Jaffna Tamil.[161][162]

Education

A group of American Ceylon Mission missionaries in Jaffna (circa 1890)

Sri Lankan Tamil society values education highly, for its own sake as well as for the opportunities it provides.

Dutch Reformed churches when they took over Tamil-speaking regions of Sri Lanka.[164]

The primary impetus for educational opportunity came with the establishment of the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna District, which started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the

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.[165]

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 Sinhalese 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.[166][167]

Literature

Main article: Sri Lankan Tamil 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.[168]

Medieval period Tamil literature on the subjects of medicine, mathematics and history was produced in the courts of the Jaffna Kingdom. During

Tamil Sangam, was established in Nallur. This academy collected manuscripts of ancient works and preserved them in the Saraswathy Mahal library.[163][169]

During the Portuguese and Dutch colonial periods (1619–1796),

Methodist
Missions also saw the spread of modern education and 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, Senkai aazhiyaan, Thamizhmani Ahalangan are the products of this period.[168]

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.[168] 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.[168]

The Jaffna Public Library which contained over 97,000 books and manuscripts was one of the biggest libraries in Asia, and through the Burning of the Jaffna Public Library much of Sri Lankan Tamil literature has been obliterated.[170]

Cuisine

String hoppers
, known as Idiyappam in Tamil, is a popular breakfast and dinner dish.
See also: Tamil cuisine and Sri Lankan cuisine

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 favourite 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.[171]

String hoppers, which are made of rice flour and look like knitted vermicelli neatly laid out in circular pieces about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) in diameter, are frequently combined with tomato sothi (a soup) and curries for breakfast and dinner.[172] 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 savoury puttus.[173] Another popular breakfast or dinner dish is Appam, a thin crusty pancake made with rice flour, with a round soft crust in the middle.[174] It has variations such as egg or milk Appam.[171]

Jaffna, as a peninsula, has an abundance of seafood such as crab, shark, fish, prawn, and squid. Meat dishes such as mutton, chicken and pork also have their own niche. Vegetable curries use ingredients primarily from the home garden such as pumpkin,

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 flavour. A popular alcoholic drink in rural areas is palm wine (toddy), made from palmyra tree sap. Snacks, savouries, 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.[171]

Politics

See also: Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism, Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war, Sri Lankan Civil War, and Tamil Eelam

Sri Lanka became an independent nation in 1948. Since independence, the political relationship between the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil communities 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.

White van abductions in Sri Lanka).[178][179][180] 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.[181]

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

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.[182][183]

Britain, which conquered the whole island by 1815, established a legislative council in 1833. During the 1833 Colebrooke-Cameron reforms the British centralised control to Colombo and amalgamated all administrative territories including the Tamil areas which had previously been administered separately.[184] A form of modern central government was established for the first time in the island, followed by gradual decline of local form of feudalism including Rajakariya, which was abolished soon after.

In the legislative council the British assigned three European seats and one seat each for Sinhalese, Tamils and

universal franchise. This decision was opposed by the Tamil political leadership, who realised 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 Sinhalese and minorities in an independent Ceylon (50:50)—a proposal that was rejected.[188] 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.[189]

After independence

Territorial claims for the state of Tamil Eelam by various Tamil groups

Shortly after independence in 1948, G.G. Ponnambalam and his

state sponsored colonisation schemes that effectively changed the demographic balance in the Eastern Province, an area Tamil nationalists considered to be their traditional homeland, in favour of the majority Sinhalese.[175][193]

In 1972, a newly formulated constitution removed section 29(2) of the 1947 Soulbury constitution that was formulated to protect the interests of minorities.

Policy of standardization was implemented by the Sri Lankan government, supposedly to rectify disparities in university enrolment 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.[194]

Shortly thereafter, in 1973, the Federal Party decided to demand a

burning down the Jaffna public library—at the time one of the largest libraries in Asia—containing more than 97,000 books and manuscripts.[198][199]

Rise of militancy

Main article: Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups
See also: Human rights in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka and state terrorism, and List of attacks attributed to the LTTE
Killinochchi
in 2004

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.[200] These policies made it difficult for middle class Tamil youth to enter university or secure employment.[200][201]

The individuals belonging to this younger generation, often referred to by other Tamils as "the boys" (Podiyangal in Tamil), formed many militant organisations.[200] The most important contributor to the strength of the militant groups was the Black July massacre, in which between 1,000 and 3,000[202][203] Tamils were killed, prompting many youths to choose the path of armed resistance.[200][203][204]

By the end of 1987, the militant youth groups had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces and the Indian Peace Keeping Force also 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 organisations 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.[200]

Human rights groups such as

child recruitment, abductions, and armed clashes, which created a climate of fear in the north and east of the country.[208]

End of the civil war

In August 2009, the civil war ended with total victory for the government forces. During the last phase of the war, many Tamil civilians and combatants were killed. The government estimated that over 22,000 LTTE cadres had died.

special camps and eventually released. As of 2011, there were still a few thousand alleged combatants in state prisons awaiting trials.[212] The Sri Lankan government has released over 11,000 rehabilitated former LTTE cadres.[213]

Bishop of Mannar (a northwestern town) Rayappu Joseph said that 146,679 people seemed to be unaccounted between 2008 October and at the end of the civil war.[214]

The Tamil presence in Sri Lankan politics and society is facing a revival. In 2015 elections the Tamil national alliance got the third largest number of seats in the Parliament and as the largest parties UNP and SLFP created a unity government TNA leader R. Sampanthan was appointed as the opposition leader.[215][216] K. Sripavan became the 44th Chief justice and the second Tamil to hold the position.[217]

Migrations

Sri Kamadchi Ampal temple in Hamm, Germany, built primarily by Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates[9]
Main article:
British Tamil

Pre-independence

The earliest Tamil speakers from Sri Lanka known to have travelled to foreign lands were members of a

UK
.

Post civil war

Sri Lankan-Canadian Tamil children in traditional clothes in Canada

After the start of the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, there was a mass migration of Tamils trying to escape the hardships and perils of war. Initially, it was middle class professionals, such as doctors and engineers, who emigrated; they were followed by the poorer segments of the community. The fighting drove more than 800,000 Tamils from their homes to other places within Sri Lanka as internally displaced persons and also overseas, prompting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify them in 2004 as the largest asylum-seeking group.[8][223]

The country with the largest share of displaced Tamils is Canada, with more than 200,000 legal residents,[2] found mostly within the Greater Toronto Area.[224] and there are a number of prominent Canadians of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, such as author Shyam Selvadurai,[225] and Indira Samarasekera,[226] former president of the University of Alberta.

M.I.A (born Mathangi Arulpragasam)[227] and BBC journalist George Alagiah[228] are, among others, notable people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus have built a number of prominent Hindu temples across North America and Europe, notably in Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, and the UK.[9][17]

Sri Lankan Tamils continue to seek refuge in countries like Canada and Australia.[229][230] The International Organization for Migration and the Australian government has declared some Sri Lankans including Tamils as economic migrants.[231] A Canadian government survey found that over 70% of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have gone back to Sri Lanka for holidays raising concerns over the legitimacy of their refugee claims.[232] However, the inability of Tamils to settle in their own lands indicate the ongoing hostilities and differential treatment of Tamils even after the end of armed war in May 2009.[233]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Dameda vanija gahapati Vishaka.
  2. ^ Iḷa bharatahi Dameda Samane karite Dameda gahapathikana.
  3. ^ Dameda navika karava.
  4. ^ Upon arrival in June 1799, Sir Hugh Cleghorn, the island's first British colonial secretary wrote to the British government of the traits and antiquity of the Tamil nation on the island in the Cleghorn Minute: "Two different nations from a very ancient period have divided between them the possession of the island. First the Sinhalese, inhabiting the interior in its Southern and Western parts, and secondly the Malabars [another name for Tamils] who possess the Northern and Eastern districts. These two nations differ entirely in their religion, language, and manners". McConnell, D., 2008; Ponnambalam, S. 1983
  5. Sri Lankan Government
    census except 1989 which is an estimate.

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  229. ^ Kamanev, Marina (11 February 2009). "Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia-Australia Standoff". Time. Archived from the original on 5 November 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  230. ^ Fong, Petti (19 October 2009). "Migrants said to be Tamils". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  231. ^ March, Stephanie (7 November 2012). "Sri Lankans heading to Australia 'economic migrants', not refugees: IOM". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  232. ^ Lilley, Brian (22 August 2010). "Refugees go home for holidays". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  233. ^ "Statement by the Prime Minister on the 13th anniversary of the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka". Prime Minister of Canada. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.

Further reading

External links

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