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Sri Lanka Tamils (Indian origin)
Encyclopedia
The Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people
of Indian origin in Sri Lanka
. They are also known as Hill country Tamils, Up-country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils
. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India
to Sri Lanka
in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee
, tea
and rubber
plantations. Some also migrated on their own as merchants and as other service providers. These Tamil
-speakers mostly live in the central highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country yet others are also found major urban areas and in the Northern province. Although they are all termed as Tamils today, some have Telugu
and Malayalee origins as well as diverse South Indian caste
origins. They are instrumental in the plantation sector economy of Sri Lanka. In general socio economically their standard of living is below that of the national average. In 1964 a large percentage were expatriated back to India but left a considerable number as stateless people. By 1990’s most of these have been given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them. Politically they are supportive of trade union derived political parties that have supported most of the ruling coalition since the 1980s.
There are today two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The first are the Sri Lankan Tamils, who either descend from the Tamils of the old Jaffna kingdom
or who migrated to the East coast
. The second are the Indian Tamils or Hill Country Tamils, who are descendants of bonded labourers
sent from Tamil Nadu
to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work in tea
plantations. Sri Lankan Tamils mostly live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital of Colombo, whereas hill-country Tamils largely live in the central highlands. The Hill Country Tamils and Ceylon Tamils historically have seen themselves as separate communities. In 1949, the United National Party
Government, which included G. G. Ponnambalam
, a leader of the Tamil Congress and of the Sri Lankan Tamils, stripped the Indian Tamils of their nationality, including their right to vote. Prominent Tamil political leaders such as S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
and his Tamil opposition party opposed this move.
Under an agreement between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments in the 1960s, around 40% of Hill Country Tamils were granted Sri Lankan nationality, and many of the remainder were repatriated to India
. However, the ethnic conflict has led to the growth of a greater sense of common Tamil identity, and the two groups are now more supportive of each other. By the 1990s most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.
, number service groups from Pandyan kingdom
in present day Tamil Nadu
accompanied the settlement of Anuradhapura
by Prakrit
speakers. There is epigraphic evidence of traders and others self identifying as Damelas or Damedas (Sinhala and Sinhala prakrit for Tamils) in Anuradhapura
and other areas of Sri Lanka as early as 2nd century BCE. The idea of looking upon the Demedas as aliens was not prevalent in the Early Historical Period.
South Indian soldiers were brought to Anuradhapura in ever larger numbers in the seventh, eight, ninth and tenth centuries ACE leading to number of rulers relying on their help to consolidate and rule, Raja Raja Chola (Who had a Hon.title UDAYAR was from the Raja Kula Agammudayar caste) created a town called Jananathamangalam,near Anuradhapura and settled Velakkara(Maravar), & Agampadi (Agampu+adi) soldiers(Agammudayar),(These two Castes were sub divisions from the Tamil Mukkulathor caste),they eventually got assimilated to Sinhala society,the sinhala family name Palihakkara (Palaikkarar) originated from the Velakkara soldiers and the suffix Agampodi in front of some names of the Salagama sub caste "Hewapanne"(militia)originated from the agampadi soldiers,who married Salagama Hewapanne women, There was also large scale mercantile activity from peninsular India primarily from the Coromandel Coast
.
The majority Sinhalese caste structure, which is a flexible system with no religious sanctions attached to it, has accommodated the recent Hindu
immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups-the Salagama
, the Durava
and the Karava. This migration and assimilation happened until the eighteenth century. Salagamas whose caste legends allude to South India, came as Nambudiri Brahmins from Kerala, for the coronation ceremony of King Vijayabahu I, & for the coronation ceremony of Prince Wathhimi,& also as specialized service providers as weavers
& as mercenary soldiers (Agampadi soldiers) from Tamil Nadu, but some of them, were punished by the King of Kotte who imposed cinnomon as a tax, eventually a section of them became cinnamon
peelers. How and when this happened is unclear, but according to some historians it was in 1406 by the King of Kotte.& another section is called "Hewapanne" or soldiers.
The Hill Country Tamils derive their origins from a British
colonial
era project. According to Professor Bertram Bastianpillai, workers around the Tamil Nadu
cities of Thirunelveli, Tiruchi, Madurai
and Tanjore were recruited from 1827 by Governor Sir Edward Barnes
on the request of George Bird, a pioneering planter. There is also a trading community of Indian Tamils who were not part of the plantation economy. As soon as these migrant workers were brought to Mannar
, the port at which they landed on their arrival by boat from South India, they were moved via Kurunegala
to camps in the town of Matale
. There they were quarantined for a period of a week or more, examined for infectious diseases such as small pox, cholera
or typhoid and vaccinated them against these diseases before they were sent to Kandy
, from where they were dispersed to locations where they would either work on estates already established by a previous gang of workers or clear the jungle to establish new ones. Many died during their firs few months of employment. They were instrumental in the establishment of tea
, rubber
, coffee
and coconut
plantations. They formed the bulk of the labour force that turned the malaria-infested forests of Sri Lanka into rich plantations, which sustains the Sri Lankan economy until now.
Population figures
Census
operations started in Sri Lanka in 1871. The Census of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 had lumped together Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils. Since 1911, Indian Tamils have been shown as a separate category. The population statistics are revealing. In 1911, Indian Tamils constituted 12.9 per cent of the population, whereas Sri Lankan Tamils formed 12.8 per cent; in 1921, 13.4 per cent and 11.5 per cent; in 1931, 15.2 and 11.3; in 1946, 11.7 and 11.0; in 1953, 12.0 and 10.9; in 1963, 10.6 and 11.0; in 1971, 11.6 and 11.2; and in 1981, 5.5 per cent and 12.7 per cent respectively.
The statistics reveal a more than 50 per cent fall in the Indian Tamil population between 1971 and 1981. The main reason for the fall was the repatriation of Indian citizens to India. Another fact is that that many Indian Tamils, after acquiring Sri Lankan citizenship, declared themselves as Sri Lankan Tamils. Some Tamils who migrated to urban areas and also to the North and the East also followed this same example.
Caste orientation of a plantation
The social structure of the plantation
s resembles the South Indian rural social structure. The community is generally bound by caste
system. In a plantation, the tea
factory is the center of activities and it stands in the central part of the plantation. The office adjoins this and these are surrounded by the quarters of the staff members such as clerks, tea makers, conductors, petty accountants or kanakkupillais, and supervisors. The bungalow
s of the planter and his assistants are in an isolated areas. These will be in close proximity to the office. The dwellings of the workers called line rooms are situated a little further away from the factories.
Those who are considered to be of higher castes such as Vellala
s, Kallar, Agamudaiyar
, Maravar
, Naidu
s, Reddiar
s and Nairs occupy the first row of line rooms. They perform respectable jobs such as factory work and grinding of tea as minor labor work. Even though they belong to the labor category they are influential among conductors, tea makers, kanganies (or supervisors) and other officials. The workers considered low castes live in the dwellings that are away from the center and these dwellings are called distant or lower lines. This group consists of Pallar
, Paraiyar
s, Sakkiliar
, washers and barbers. The yard sweepers and changers of clothes are in the lowest rank.
Survival of customs
These groups follow the customs, traditions, and festivities of the South Indian Tamil ancestor
s. The traditional musical instruments such as Thappu
and Parai
are used and folk dances such as Kavadi
, Kummi
and Karaga Attam are performed. Folk dramas called Koothu
in their various forms such as Ponnar Koothu, Sangaran Koothu, Arujunan Thabas, Kaman Koothu are still prevalent among them along with Silambadi as an important feature.
In general they use Hindu
beliefs to guide their day to day lives. There are number of temples and places of worship for deities on estates and in villages, towns and other places within Sri Lanka to which they have migrated. When a place is decided to be settled, the settlers would institute, under a banyan
or bo
tree, a triangular shaped stone or figure of a deity, plant a weapon of a popularly worshiped god such as a spear, trident or sword and worshiped these. The main deities worshiped ay are, in order of popularity, the goddess Mariamman
, Murugan
and his consorts, Valli
and Theivanai, Pillayar, Siva
, Parvathi, Vishnu
and Laxmi, and the goddess of wisdom Saraswati
.
In 1981 about 90 percent of the Indian Tamils were Hindus. They have little contact with Buddhism
, and they worship the Hindu pantheon of gods. Their religious myths, stories of saints, literature, and rituals are distinct from the cultural sources of the Sinhalese. Furthermore, a minority of the Indian Tamils- 7.6 percent are converts to Christianity
, with their own places of worship and separate cultural lives. In this way, the large Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is effectively separated from the mainstream Sinhalese culture and is fragmented into two major groups with their own Christian minorities
The first known temple was built in Matale. It began as a stone an icon of the goddess Mariamman
. At this very location where the worship of her began in 1820, the now-famous Matale Sri Muthumariamman Temple was built in 1852. The trading community of the Nattukotai Chettiars
introduced the worship of Murugan in his form as Lord Kathiresan at Matale and was to subsequently build the Kathiresan temple at Matale. The annual festival of this temple is celebrated in the month of July. Devotees of the plantation sector walk from the tea estates and hometowns they live in to Kathirkamam, a place considered sacred by both Buddhists and Hindus, in the South of Sri Lanka, where Murugan is worshiped in the form of Skanda.Deepavali, Pongal
and Tamil New Year
are commonly celebrated as festivals.
Folk deities
Each caste has its own deity based on caste predecessors and are worshiped as guardian angels, such as the Kallar caste had Nallananpillai Perumal as their guardian angel to whom vows and sacrifices made. Deities such as Madasamy, Muniandi
, Kali
, Madurai Veeran, Sangili Karuppan, Vaalraja, Vairavar
, Veerabathran, Sudalai Madan
, and Roda Mini are also worshiped.
Temple societies
There were 104 registered Hindu temples in the Nuwara Eliya
District
, 153 in Kandy region and 62 in Matale in 2001. Religious schools or Araa Nerri Padasaligal are conducted throughout the Central Province and registered schools of such nature are, Nuwara Eliya 22, Kandy 54 and Matale 11. A considerable number of Hindu associations and Institutions have been established and are functioning actively. There is a serious effort at conversions to other religions as well. Many have converted to Christianity
and Islam
. Hindu organizations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad
tries to stem the tide of conversions.
The community was a closed community confining themselves to the plantations, while t actively contributed and contributes to the economic well-being of this country but the socio economic indicators of the community was amongst the worst in the country. The community in general was isolated, living in ghettoes within the central region as well as linguistically isolated from the majority Sinhalese villagers who live in the valleys. They were captive labor whose life in its entity was decided by the employers. Any social relationship or cultural ties were only among themselves or with South India. In the 1940s the trade union movement had galvanized the plantation workers into a militant working class. They joined hands with the Lanka Sama Samaja
(or Socialist) Party, which carried the message of a working-class struggle for liberation from the exploitation by mostly British plantation companies.
Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 and the community believes that it became the first community marked out for discrimination by the new state of Ceylon in 1948. In the elections to the first parliament
of Ceylon, seven Indian Tamil representatives were returned to Parliament. The plantation workers voted either for Indian Tamil candidates or for Lanka Sama Samaja Party
candidates. Dr.N.M.Perera was the leader of the opposition in the 1st parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the second largest party after the United National Party
.
The first Prime Minister
, D.S. Senanayake of the conservative United National Party
reacting to the possibilities of losing power to leftist political parties, commenced the task of weakening the leftist parties and their associate organizations. Indian Tamil labor had overwhelmingly supported these organizations. According opposition parties he was also influenced by segments of the majority Sinhalese population who felt their voting strength was diluted due to Indian Tamils. He introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, the Indian-Pakistani Citizenship act of 1949 and amended the parliamentary elections act and disfranchised
the Indian Tamils along with many persons of Indian and Pakistan
i ancestry. As they had no means of electing any one to the Parliament they ceased to be the concern of parliamentary politicians. The plantation workers were thus forgotten from 1948 - 1964. They were unable to profit by any progressive legislation. The housing, health and education of the plantation workers were neglected. Infant mortality
was highest in the country. Although since the introduction of universal franchise in 1931, strong traditions of social welfare in Sri Lanka have given the island very high indicators of physical well-being. Impressive national statistics tended to hide the existence of deprived pockets within the population and the most deprived population group has been the plantation labor, which had been economically, politically and socially deprived.
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission
of 1928 recommended universal franchise, and this was also meant to include the plantation workers as well. Page 57 of the report proposed However, the very concept of Universal Franchise was anathema to most of the political leaders of that era. Ponnambalam Ramanathan
, a highly respected leader, opposed universal franchise as he felt that the caste system was an integral part of the Hindu way of life, and led a delegation to London
seeking to legally enshrine the caste hierarchy, and dethrone universal franchise. The Kandyan Sinhalese also objected to the enfranchisement of the Indian estate workers as they feared that their electoral base would be diluted by a large influx of Indian Tamil votes. They also argued that the Tea estates were land plundered by the British, and that the Kandyan peasants have been driven from their traditional lands and those injustices would be compounded if the Indian workers were legitimized. Governor Stanley, by an order in Council introduced restrictions on the citizenship of Indian workers to make the Donoughmore proposals acceptable to the Ceylonese leaders. Thus the first state council of 1931, which consisted of many Tamil and Sinhalese members, agreed to not to enfranchise the majority of the Indian estate workers. (p 36 ),
Soulbury Commission
A decade later, the Soulbury Commission
, which paved the way for the independence of Ceylon
recognized the , The Commission, therefore, left the existing basis of franchise in Sri Lanka undisturbed( p. 217).D. S. Senanayake had led the 1941 talks with Sir G. S. Bajpai of India and had reach agreement on modalities of repatriation and citizenship, although they were finally not ratified by Indian prime minister Nehru. D. S. Senanayake had expressed the wish to , and had been relatively sympathetic, as early as 1928, and as late as 1941,to the granting of citizenship to Indian workers who wished to become permanent residents of the Island.
The Soulbury constitution came into effect in 1946. In trying to cobble an all-party cabinet inclusive of the Tamils, led by G. G. Ponnambalam
, the Sinhalese nationalist groups led by S. W. R. D Bandaranaike
, the Kandyan Sinhalese, Senanayake had to find a compromise formula. The 1947 elections had returned 6 representatives from the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC), based on the votes of the franchised Indian workers and hill-country Tamils. Although this worried the Kandyans, the main reason for Senanayake and others to review their attitude to Indian workers was the growing threat of Marxist infiltration into estate trade unions. In this he had won the concurrence of G. G. Ponnambalam for the second citizenship act, which required ten years of residence in the Island as a condition for becoming citizens of the new nation. Senanayake, who had been very favorable to easy citizenship to the Indian workers had increasingly modified his views in the face of Marxist trade union activity. The Bracegirdle affaire ( p539) was regarded as the harbinger of such dangers. The fear of left-wing politics began to grow in the minds of Sri Lankan politicians of the era. The Colonial government responded to the agitation of the Leftists by imprisoning N. M. Perera
, Colvin R. de Silva
and other Left leaders. Anti Marxist feelings were shared by the main-stream Sinhalese and Tamil leaders alike. . The criticism in the house was leveled by Tamil members of the upper chamber (senate), like Senator Natesan, who pointed out that Senanayake had supported the franchise of the Indian Tamils till recently, and had "caved in" more recently.
Parliamentary acts
As the first Prime Minister
, D.S. Senanayake, leader of the United national Party (UNP), feared the strong possibilities of Marxist disruption of government and commenced the task of weakening the Marxist parties and their associate organizations. Thus the newly independent first cabinet introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, the Indian-Pakistani Citizenship act of 1949 and amended the parliamentary elections act. The requirements of ten years of residence for married persons, and seven years for unmarried persons, stipulated in the 1949 act were in line with the legislation used by European nations at the time. It also allowed citizenship to “a person born in Ceylon prior to the date of the Act coming into force, of a father born in Ceylon”. However, this was in effect a continuation of the older, somewhat harsher status quo of the Indian workers in the 1930s, prior to the Donoughmore constitution, which called for only five years' residence.
Opposition views
However, Ponnambalam and Senanayake were strongly criticized by the Marxist groups as well as by the pro-Sri Lankan Tamil Federal Party (Sri Lanka), it branded Ponnambalam a "traitor", and Senanayake a "Sinhala extremist.". S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
, the leader of the Tamil Arasu Kachchi, contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court, and then in the Privy council
in England
, on grounds of discrimination towards minorities but the decision concluded that the citizenship act stipulated conditions well in line with those of Europe
an states. As the President of the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC), S. Thondaman had contested the Nuwara Eliya seat at the 1947 general election and won. His party put forward seven candidates in the plantation electorates and six of them were returned. Thus Thondaman became the spokesperson of the plantation workers. The CIC sat with the opposition, which included the Marxist parties. He opposed the 1948 citizenship act. Mr.Thondaman supported the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)in the 1960 elections; after the victory of the SLFP he was appointed to the House of Representative as a nominated Member of Parliament. However, he opposed the 1964 Sirima-Shastri Indo-Ceylon citizenship act. After the victory of the UNP in 1965, S.Thondaman was named as appointed Member of Parliament by the UNP.
Final rectification
The J.R.Jayawardene government that came to power in 1977 rectified the existing shortcomings of the Indian citizenship act and granted citizenship to all Indian Estate workers (see below). Even at that time, Thondaman was the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, the party of the Hill-country Tamils, and had become a skillful player of minority-party politics. He had avoided joining with the Tamil United Liberation Front TULF resolutions of 1974, which had continued with the policies of the ITAK. Thus the hill-country Tamils have successfully charted a course of cooperating with successive Sri Lankan governments.
Based on the cultivation of cash crops, it is the dominant sector in the country's economy. It is a major earner of foreign exchange and the largest employer. Cheap labor is one of the essential ingredients of its success. Hence these immigrants were bonded and under paid. In 1921 workers were empowered to break these bonds of indebtedness tying them to the estates. The minimum wages ordinance was extended to plantation labor in 1927 marginally raising the wages that had not changed since the 19th century. This daily wages was 41 Cts. in 1933. Owing to trade union activities it was raised to Rs 17/83 in 1983, Rs 72/24 in 1993 and became Rs 101 in 1998. The wages of female workers was lesser than males but has been equalized since1984. Even though there was an increase in wages, the living wages are not sufficient to meet their day to day needs. The plantations were nationalized under the 1972 land reform law and its 1975 amendment. The state owned plantations are managed by the Sri Lanka Plantation Corporation & Janatha Estate Development Board. The nationalization did not result in any basic change on the plantation sector. The state has been forced to take a greater interest in the health, housing and general well-being of the laborers. Hence estate schools were nationalized and brought into the general educational system with the grant of Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) many schools were built. This helped the slight growth of literacy rates. With the increased unemployment, plantation sector youths looked for other avenues. A considerable number of Indian Tamil girls are employed in garment factories. Some work in the Middle East
as housemaids. There is net migration towards urban areas as well as foreign countries. Prior to the commencement of the Sri Lankan civil war
many had migrated to the northern province. Now the plantation communities have the Plantation Human Development Trust, developed to protect their rights and ensure adequate facilities are provided such as creches and toilets. Other NGOs work towards the development of the plantation communities such as Shining Life Children's Trust
and Hanguranketha Women's Foundation.
The Srima-Shastri pact of 1964 and Indira-Sirimavo supplementary agreement of 1974 paved the way for the repatriation of 600,000 persons of Indian origin to India. Another 375,000 persons were to accepted as citizens of Sri Lanka, which made them enter the polity. These repatriation agreements were the harbingers of the destruction of this community, which had evolved into a composite group with a distinct culture of its own. In the fifties and sixties this community was clamoring for education and recognition of its distinctive culture. This brought in the emergence of a community consciousness and the artesian of a distinct community. An educated middle class made up of teachers, trade unionists and other professional began to make its appearance. There was a vigorous campaign for social ameliorations and increased educational facilities. There was a growing spirit of resistance. People destroyed Indian passports and refused to go to India. Repatriation was resisted. International opinion was canvassed against deprivation of citizenship rights. The plantation people who were not prepared to leave, destitute, the land whose property they had built . They were prepared to fraternize within the Sinhalese and accept Sri Lankan leadership in the trade union movement. In the general election of 1977
they were able to elect 11 candidates. This helped the emergence of the plantation people as a political force, but they were faced with communal violence
in 1977
, 1983
and in 2000. In 1984-5, to stop India intervening in Sri Lankan affairs, the UNP government eventually granted citizenship right to all stateless persons. The late Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
was instrumental in using this electoral strength in assuring the socioeconomic conditions of hill country Tamils to improve. The plight of the repatriated persons in India has not been good.
Other Indian derived communities in Sri Lanka
Palani Thigambaram (Member of Parliament)
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
of Indian origin in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. They are also known as Hill country Tamils, Up-country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils
Indian Tamils
Indian Tamils may refer to:* Tamil people from or living in India* Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka...
. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
and rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
plantations. Some also migrated on their own as merchants and as other service providers. These Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
-speakers mostly live in the central highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country yet others are also found major urban areas and in the Northern province. Although they are all termed as Tamils today, some have Telugu
Telugu people
The Telugu people or Telugu Prajalu are an ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language, the most commonly spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali...
and Malayalee origins as well as diverse South Indian caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
origins. They are instrumental in the plantation sector economy of Sri Lanka. In general socio economically their standard of living is below that of the national average. In 1964 a large percentage were expatriated back to India but left a considerable number as stateless people. By 1990’s most of these have been given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them. Politically they are supportive of trade union derived political parties that have supported most of the ruling coalition since the 1980s.
Tamil-speaking communities
Jaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...
or who migrated to the East coast
History of Eastern Tamils
History of Eastern Tamils of Sri Lanka is informed by local legends,native literature and other colonial documents. Sri Lankan Tamils are subdivided based on their cultural, dialects & other practices as into Northern, Eastern and Western groups...
. The second are the Indian Tamils or Hill Country Tamils, who are descendants of bonded labourers
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
sent from Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work in tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
plantations. Sri Lankan Tamils mostly live in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in the capital of Colombo, whereas hill-country Tamils largely live in the central highlands. The Hill Country Tamils and Ceylon Tamils historically have seen themselves as separate communities. In 1949, the United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
Government, which included G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, a leader of the Tamil Congress and of the Sri Lankan Tamils, stripped the Indian Tamils of their nationality, including their right to vote. Prominent Tamil political leaders such as S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
and his Tamil opposition party opposed this move.
Under an agreement between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments in the 1960s, around 40% of Hill Country Tamils were granted Sri Lankan nationality, and many of the remainder were repatriated to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. However, the ethnic conflict has led to the growth of a greater sense of common Tamil identity, and the two groups are now more supportive of each other. By the 1990s most Indian Tamils had received Sri Lankan citizenship.
History
Flow of immigrants
Historically Sri Lankan monarchs have used the services of South Indian labor since centuries BCE. According to the primary source MahavamsaMahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
, number service groups from Pandyan kingdom
Pandyan Kingdom
The Pandyan dynasty was an ancient Tamil dynasty. The Pandyas were one of the four Tamil dynasties , which ruled South India until the 15th century CE. They initially ruled their country Pandya Nadu from Korkai, a seaport on the Southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and in later times moved...
in present day Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
accompanied the settlement of Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
by Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
speakers. There is epigraphic evidence of traders and others self identifying as Damelas or Damedas (Sinhala and Sinhala prakrit for Tamils) in Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
and other areas of Sri Lanka as early as 2nd century BCE. The idea of looking upon the Demedas as aliens was not prevalent in the Early Historical Period.
South Indian soldiers were brought to Anuradhapura in ever larger numbers in the seventh, eight, ninth and tenth centuries ACE leading to number of rulers relying on their help to consolidate and rule, Raja Raja Chola (Who had a Hon.title UDAYAR was from the Raja Kula Agammudayar caste) created a town called Jananathamangalam,near Anuradhapura and settled Velakkara(Maravar), & Agampadi (Agampu+adi) soldiers(Agammudayar),(These two Castes were sub divisions from the Tamil Mukkulathor caste),they eventually got assimilated to Sinhala society,the sinhala family name Palihakkara (Palaikkarar) originated from the Velakkara soldiers and the suffix Agampodi in front of some names of the Salagama sub caste "Hewapanne"(militia)originated from the agampadi soldiers,who married Salagama Hewapanne women, There was also large scale mercantile activity from peninsular India primarily from the Coromandel Coast
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian Subcontinent between Cape Comorin and False Divi Point...
.
The majority Sinhalese caste structure, which is a flexible system with no religious sanctions attached to it, has accommodated the recent Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
immigrants from South India leading to the emergence of three new Sinhalese caste groups-the Salagama
Salagama
Salagama is the name of a caste in Sri Lanka. The community was traditionally associated with the cultivation and management of cinnamon, and also as soldiers,and are found mostly in Southern coastal areas, especially in the villages around Rathgama , Boossa and Balapitiya in Galle...
, the Durava
Durava
Durave or Durava are Southern Sinhalese caste in Sri Lanka.-Origins:Sinhalese people claim Indian ethnic origins and are primarily engaged in agriculture...
and the Karava. This migration and assimilation happened until the eighteenth century. Salagamas whose caste legends allude to South India, came as Nambudiri Brahmins from Kerala, for the coronation ceremony of King Vijayabahu I, & for the coronation ceremony of Prince Wathhimi,& also as specialized service providers as weavers
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
& as mercenary soldiers (Agampadi soldiers) from Tamil Nadu, but some of them, were punished by the King of Kotte who imposed cinnomon as a tax, eventually a section of them became cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
peelers. How and when this happened is unclear, but according to some historians it was in 1406 by the King of Kotte.& another section is called "Hewapanne" or soldiers.
Initial recruitment
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
era project. According to Professor Bertram Bastianpillai, workers around the Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
cities of Thirunelveli, Tiruchi, Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
and Tanjore were recruited from 1827 by Governor Sir Edward Barnes
Edward Barnes (British Army officer)
Lieutenant General Sir Edward Barnes, GCB was a British soldier who became governor of Ceylon.-Military career:Barnes joined the 47th Regiment of Foot in 1792, and quickly rose to field rank. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1807, serving in the Invasion of Martinique in 1809, and colonel...
on the request of George Bird, a pioneering planter. There is also a trading community of Indian Tamils who were not part of the plantation economy. As soon as these migrant workers were brought to Mannar
Mannar, Sri Lanka
Mannar , formerly spelled Manar, is the capital of Mannar District, Sri Lanka. It is located on Mannar Island.Mannar is known for its baobab trees and for its fort, built by the Portuguese in 1560 and taken by the Dutch in 1658 and rebuilt; its ramparts and bastions are intact, though the interior...
, the port at which they landed on their arrival by boat from South India, they were moved via Kurunegala
Kurunegala
Kurunegala , is the capital of the North Western Province, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was also an ancient royal capital for 50 years, from the end of the 13th century to the start of the 13th century. The town itself is a busy commercial and a transport hub...
to camps in the town of Matale
Matale
Matale is a town in the hill country of Sri Lanka, from Colombo and from Kandy. It is an area steeped in history and village living. The mayor of Matale is Hilmy Careem, as of May, 2006....
. There they were quarantined for a period of a week or more, examined for infectious diseases such as small pox, cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
or typhoid and vaccinated them against these diseases before they were sent to Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
, from where they were dispersed to locations where they would either work on estates already established by a previous gang of workers or clear the jungle to establish new ones. Many died during their firs few months of employment. They were instrumental in the establishment of tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
plantations. They formed the bulk of the labour force that turned the malaria-infested forests of Sri Lanka into rich plantations, which sustains the Sri Lankan economy until now.
Society
Census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
operations started in Sri Lanka in 1871. The Census of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 had lumped together Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils. Since 1911, Indian Tamils have been shown as a separate category. The population statistics are revealing. In 1911, Indian Tamils constituted 12.9 per cent of the population, whereas Sri Lankan Tamils formed 12.8 per cent; in 1921, 13.4 per cent and 11.5 per cent; in 1931, 15.2 and 11.3; in 1946, 11.7 and 11.0; in 1953, 12.0 and 10.9; in 1963, 10.6 and 11.0; in 1971, 11.6 and 11.2; and in 1981, 5.5 per cent and 12.7 per cent respectively.
The statistics reveal a more than 50 per cent fall in the Indian Tamil population between 1971 and 1981. The main reason for the fall was the repatriation of Indian citizens to India. Another fact is that that many Indian Tamils, after acquiring Sri Lankan citizenship, declared themselves as Sri Lankan Tamils. Some Tamils who migrated to urban areas and also to the North and the East also followed this same example.
Caste orientation of a plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s resembles the South Indian rural social structure. The community is generally bound by caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system. In a plantation, the tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
factory is the center of activities and it stands in the central part of the plantation. The office adjoins this and these are surrounded by the quarters of the staff members such as clerks, tea makers, conductors, petty accountants or kanakkupillais, and supervisors. The bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
s of the planter and his assistants are in an isolated areas. These will be in close proximity to the office. The dwellings of the workers called line rooms are situated a little further away from the factories.
Those who are considered to be of higher castes such as Vellala
Vellala
Vellala is a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is near the town of Proddutur in the Kadapa District.The village got its name from the locally famous "Vellala sanjevaraswami ", a temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman....
s, Kallar, Agamudaiyar
Agamudaiyar
Agamudayar is a Tamil community found throughout the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In southern Tamil Nadu, the Agamudayar are one of the three castes which make up the Mukkulathor community;- Etymology :...
, Maravar
Maravar
Maravar are a Tamil community of the state of Tamil Nadu, southern India, and are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy.Maravars are found predominantly in the Southern districts of Tamilnadu viz., Madurai, Theni, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Thirunelveli,...
, Naidu
Kapu (caste)
Kapu refers to a social grouping of the sub-castes Telaga, Balija found primarily in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The etymology of the name is variously given as "to protect",, "agricultor" , "watchman", or "watching"...
s, Reddiar
Reddiar
Reddiar also Reddiyar is caste title of prominent land owning, farming and mercantile social group of Tamil Nadu and abroad. Most of the reddiars are Zamindars and Landlords. They are a group with very rich cultural heritage...
s and Nairs occupy the first row of line rooms. They perform respectable jobs such as factory work and grinding of tea as minor labor work. Even though they belong to the labor category they are influential among conductors, tea makers, kanganies (or supervisors) and other officials. The workers considered low castes live in the dwellings that are away from the center and these dwellings are called distant or lower lines. This group consists of Pallar
Pallar
The Pallar are a caste from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They are mostly agriculturalists in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and amongst the Tamil diaspora...
, Paraiyar
Paraiyar
Paraiyar, Parayar, and Sambavar, anglicised by Europeans as Pariah are a social group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in Sri Lanka . In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, though they have been enumerated under three different caste names, they have generally been referred to as...
s, Sakkiliar
Sakkiliar
Arunthathiyar are one of the most marginalized social groups or castes from Tamil Nadu and Arunthathiyar are one of the most marginalized [[social groups]] or castes from [[Tamil Nadu]] and...
, washers and barbers. The yard sweepers and changers of clothes are in the lowest rank.
Survival of customs
These groups follow the customs, traditions, and festivities of the South Indian Tamil ancestor
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
s. The traditional musical instruments such as Thappu
Thappu
For thappu hand drum, see patayani thappu.The thappu, thapu, dappu or parai drum is a frame drum of India.It consists of a circular wood frame with one end closed with cow skin membrane and the other end open. Thappu is played with two sticks, being one larger and thinner than the other one...
and Parai
Paraí
-See also:*List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul...
are used and folk dances such as Kavadi
Kavadi
Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God...
, Kummi
Kummi
Kummi is a folk dance, popular in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India, danced mostly by Tamil women in circle. Dancing may be different. In some places, it is very simple, with rhythmic clapping. In other places dancers imitate various harvesting activities. Kummi often accompany by songs, called...
and Karaga Attam are performed. Folk dramas called Koothu
Koothu
Koothu , means dance or performance in Tamil language, is a folk art originated from the early Tamil country. But more precisely Koothu refers Therukoothu that is street dance or street play since it will be performed village squares. At early age the art of entertainment reached its peak in...
in their various forms such as Ponnar Koothu, Sangaran Koothu, Arujunan Thabas, Kaman Koothu are still prevalent among them along with Silambadi as an important feature.
Religion
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
beliefs to guide their day to day lives. There are number of temples and places of worship for deities on estates and in villages, towns and other places within Sri Lanka to which they have migrated. When a place is decided to be settled, the settlers would institute, under a banyan
Banyan
A banyan is a fig that starts its life as an epiphyte when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree...
or bo
Bo
-People:*Bo , name origin, plus people with the name*Bo , name origin, plus people with the surname**Bo , Chinese family names*Bo people , extinct minority population in Southern China famous for hanging coffins...
tree, a triangular shaped stone or figure of a deity, plant a weapon of a popularly worshiped god such as a spear, trident or sword and worshiped these. The main deities worshiped ay are, in order of popularity, the goddess Mariamman
Mariamman
Māri ,Tulu, also known as Mariamman , both meaning "Mother Mari", spelt also Maariamma , or simply Amman or Aatha is the South Indian Hindu goddess of disease and rain. She is the main South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and...
, Murugan
Murugan
Murugan also called Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya, is a popular Hindu deity especially among Tamil Hindus, worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the...
and his consorts, Valli
Valli
Valli is a Goddess and the divine consort of the prominent Hindu God Murugan, according to Hindu mythology. She represents the "Ichha Shakti" , and Goddess Deivayanai depicts "Kriya Shakthi" , and the Vel embodies "Gnana Shakthi" .Valli in Tamil language means a creeper and is also used as a title...
and Theivanai, Pillayar, Siva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, Parvathi, Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
and Laxmi, and the goddess of wisdom Saraswati
Saraswati
In Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
.
In 1981 about 90 percent of the Indian Tamils were Hindus. They have little contact with Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and they worship the Hindu pantheon of gods. Their religious myths, stories of saints, literature, and rituals are distinct from the cultural sources of the Sinhalese. Furthermore, a minority of the Indian Tamils- 7.6 percent are converts to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, with their own places of worship and separate cultural lives. In this way, the large Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is effectively separated from the mainstream Sinhalese culture and is fragmented into two major groups with their own Christian minorities
The first known temple was built in Matale. It began as a stone an icon of the goddess Mariamman
Mariamman
Māri ,Tulu, also known as Mariamman , both meaning "Mother Mari", spelt also Maariamma , or simply Amman or Aatha is the South Indian Hindu goddess of disease and rain. She is the main South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and...
. At this very location where the worship of her began in 1820, the now-famous Matale Sri Muthumariamman Temple was built in 1852. The trading community of the Nattukotai Chettiars
Nagarathar
The Nagarathars is a Chettiar community in Shaivism that originated in Kaveripoompattinam under the Chola kingdom of India. They are a prominent mercantile Vaishya, caste in Tamil Nadu, South India...
introduced the worship of Murugan in his form as Lord Kathiresan at Matale and was to subsequently build the Kathiresan temple at Matale. The annual festival of this temple is celebrated in the month of July. Devotees of the plantation sector walk from the tea estates and hometowns they live in to Kathirkamam, a place considered sacred by both Buddhists and Hindus, in the South of Sri Lanka, where Murugan is worshiped in the form of Skanda.Deepavali, Pongal
Pongal
Thai Ponggal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry and in Sri Lanka. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill over". The boiling...
and Tamil New Year
Tamil calendar
The Tamil calendar is a solar and sidereal Hindu calendar used in Tamil Nadu. It is also used in Pondicherry , and by the Tamil population in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. It is also used by Telugu speaking people in Tamil Nadu...
are commonly celebrated as festivals.
Folk deities
Each caste has its own deity based on caste predecessors and are worshiped as guardian angels, such as the Kallar caste had Nallananpillai Perumal as their guardian angel to whom vows and sacrifices made. Deities such as Madasamy, Muniandi
Muniandi
Muniandi is a regional Tamil guardian deity. The deity Muniandi refers to the Munis wroshipped by the Tamil people. Munis are a class of guardian deities which are classified as Siva Gana. They are servants of the Supreme God Siva and his female half Sakthi. The Munis could be former warriors,...
, Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, Madurai Veeran, Sangili Karuppan, Vaalraja, Vairavar
Bhairava
Bhairava , sometimes known as Bhairo or Bhairon or Bhairadya or Bheruji , Kaala Bhairavar or Vairavar , is the fierce manifestation of Lord Shiva associated with annihilation...
, Veerabathran, Sudalai Madan
Sudalai Madan
Sudalai Madan or Madan, is a regional Tamil male deity who is popular in South India, particularly Tamil Nadu. He is considered to be the son of Shiva and Parvati...
, and Roda Mini are also worshiped.
Temple societies
Nuwara Eliya
Nuwara Eliya , meaning "city on the plain " or "city of light", is a town in the central highlands of Sri Lanka with a picturesque landscape and temperate climate. It is located at an altitude of 1,868 m and is considered to be the most important location for Tea production in Sri Lanka...
District
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
, 153 in Kandy region and 62 in Matale in 2001. Religious schools or Araa Nerri Padasaligal are conducted throughout the Central Province and registered schools of such nature are, Nuwara Eliya 22, Kandy 54 and Matale 11. A considerable number of Hindu associations and Institutions have been established and are functioning actively. There is a serious effort at conversions to other religions as well. Many have converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. Hindu organizations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad
Vishva Hindu Parishad
' , which is usually known more simply as the VHP, is an international Hindu organization, which was founded in India in 1964. Its slogan is "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ", which is supposed to mean "Dharma protects its protector"...
tries to stem the tide of conversions.
Politics
Community DevelopmentThe community was a closed community confining themselves to the plantations, while t actively contributed and contributes to the economic well-being of this country but the socio economic indicators of the community was amongst the worst in the country. The community in general was isolated, living in ghettoes within the central region as well as linguistically isolated from the majority Sinhalese villagers who live in the valleys. They were captive labor whose life in its entity was decided by the employers. Any social relationship or cultural ties were only among themselves or with South India. In the 1940s the trade union movement had galvanized the plantation workers into a militant working class. They joined hands with the Lanka Sama Samaja
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
(or Socialist) Party, which carried the message of a working-class struggle for liberation from the exploitation by mostly British plantation companies.
Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 and the community believes that it became the first community marked out for discrimination by the new state of Ceylon in 1948. In the elections to the first parliament
Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1947
General elections were held in Ceylon from August 23 to September 20, 1947.-Background:This is considered the first national election held in Sri Lanka...
of Ceylon, seven Indian Tamil representatives were returned to Parliament. The plantation workers voted either for Indian Tamil candidates or for Lanka Sama Samaja Party
Lanka Sama Samaja Party
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is a Trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka....
candidates. Dr.N.M.Perera was the leader of the opposition in the 1st parliament and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party was the second largest party after the United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
.
Disenfranchisement
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is the functional head of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka. However, the President is both head of state and head of government in Sri Lanka...
, D.S. Senanayake of the conservative United National Party
United National Party
The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP ), , is a political party in Sri Lanka. It currently is the main opposition party in Sri Lanka and is headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe...
reacting to the possibilities of losing power to leftist political parties, commenced the task of weakening the leftist parties and their associate organizations. Indian Tamil labor had overwhelmingly supported these organizations. According opposition parties he was also influenced by segments of the majority Sinhalese population who felt their voting strength was diluted due to Indian Tamils. He introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, the Indian-Pakistani Citizenship act of 1949 and amended the parliamentary elections act and disfranchised
Disfranchisement
Disfranchisement is the revocation of the right of suffrage of a person or group of people, or rendering a person's vote less effective, or ineffective...
the Indian Tamils along with many persons of Indian and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i ancestry. As they had no means of electing any one to the Parliament they ceased to be the concern of parliamentary politicians. The plantation workers were thus forgotten from 1948 - 1964. They were unable to profit by any progressive legislation. The housing, health and education of the plantation workers were neglected. Infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
was highest in the country. Although since the introduction of universal franchise in 1931, strong traditions of social welfare in Sri Lanka have given the island very high indicators of physical well-being. Impressive national statistics tended to hide the existence of deprived pockets within the population and the most deprived population group has been the plantation labor, which had been economically, politically and socially deprived.
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission
Donoughmore Commission
The Donoughmore Commission was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon...
of 1928 recommended universal franchise, and this was also meant to include the plantation workers as well. Page 57 of the report proposed However, the very concept of Universal Franchise was anathema to most of the political leaders of that era. Ponnambalam Ramanathan
Ponnambalam Ramanathan
Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, KCMG, KC was a Solicitor-General and Tamil political leader in Sri Lanka.-Early life:...
, a highly respected leader, opposed universal franchise as he felt that the caste system was an integral part of the Hindu way of life, and led a delegation to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
seeking to legally enshrine the caste hierarchy, and dethrone universal franchise. The Kandyan Sinhalese also objected to the enfranchisement of the Indian estate workers as they feared that their electoral base would be diluted by a large influx of Indian Tamil votes. They also argued that the Tea estates were land plundered by the British, and that the Kandyan peasants have been driven from their traditional lands and those injustices would be compounded if the Indian workers were legitimized. Governor Stanley, by an order in Council introduced restrictions on the citizenship of Indian workers to make the Donoughmore proposals acceptable to the Ceylonese leaders. Thus the first state council of 1931, which consisted of many Tamil and Sinhalese members, agreed to not to enfranchise the majority of the Indian estate workers. (p 36 ),
Soulbury Commission
A decade later, the Soulbury Commission
Soulbury Commission
The Soulbury Commission, announced in 1944 was, like its predecessor, the Donoughmore Commission, a prime instrument of constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The immediate basis for the appointment of a commission for constitutional reforms was the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers,...
, which paved the way for the independence of Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
recognized the , The Commission, therefore, left the existing basis of franchise in Sri Lanka undisturbed( p. 217).D. S. Senanayake had led the 1941 talks with Sir G. S. Bajpai of India and had reach agreement on modalities of repatriation and citizenship, although they were finally not ratified by Indian prime minister Nehru. D. S. Senanayake had expressed the wish to , and had been relatively sympathetic, as early as 1928, and as late as 1941,to the granting of citizenship to Indian workers who wished to become permanent residents of the Island.
The Soulbury constitution came into effect in 1946. In trying to cobble an all-party cabinet inclusive of the Tamils, led by G. G. Ponnambalam
G. G. Ponnambalam
Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam , known as G.G. Ponnambalam, was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician in British Ceylon, and then after independence, in Ceylon. He founded the first Sri Lankan Tamil political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ponnambalam stood for the principle of minority...
, the Sinhalese nationalist groups led by S. W. R. D Bandaranaike
Solomon Bandaranaike
Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ் பண்டாரநாயக்கா)Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (Sinhala:සොලමන් වෙස්ට් රිජ්වේ ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක)(Tamil:சாலமன் வெஸ்ட் ரிச்சர்ட் டயஸ்...
, the Kandyan Sinhalese, Senanayake had to find a compromise formula. The 1947 elections had returned 6 representatives from the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC), based on the votes of the franchised Indian workers and hill-country Tamils. Although this worried the Kandyans, the main reason for Senanayake and others to review their attitude to Indian workers was the growing threat of Marxist infiltration into estate trade unions. In this he had won the concurrence of G. G. Ponnambalam for the second citizenship act, which required ten years of residence in the Island as a condition for becoming citizens of the new nation. Senanayake, who had been very favorable to easy citizenship to the Indian workers had increasingly modified his views in the face of Marxist trade union activity. The Bracegirdle affaire ( p539) was regarded as the harbinger of such dangers. The fear of left-wing politics began to grow in the minds of Sri Lankan politicians of the era. The Colonial government responded to the agitation of the Leftists by imprisoning N. M. Perera
N. M. Perera
Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, better known as Dr. N. M. Perera, was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party...
, Colvin R. de Silva
Colvin R. de Silva
Colvin R. de Silva was a former Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party – the first Marxist party in Sri Lanka.-Personal...
and other Left leaders. Anti Marxist feelings were shared by the main-stream Sinhalese and Tamil leaders alike. . The criticism in the house was leveled by Tamil members of the upper chamber (senate), like Senator Natesan, who pointed out that Senanayake had supported the franchise of the Indian Tamils till recently, and had "caved in" more recently.
Parliamentary acts
As the first Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is the functional head of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka. However, the President is both head of state and head of government in Sri Lanka...
, D.S. Senanayake, leader of the United national Party (UNP), feared the strong possibilities of Marxist disruption of government and commenced the task of weakening the Marxist parties and their associate organizations. Thus the newly independent first cabinet introduced the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, the Indian-Pakistani Citizenship act of 1949 and amended the parliamentary elections act. The requirements of ten years of residence for married persons, and seven years for unmarried persons, stipulated in the 1949 act were in line with the legislation used by European nations at the time. It also allowed citizenship to “a person born in Ceylon prior to the date of the Act coming into force, of a father born in Ceylon”. However, this was in effect a continuation of the older, somewhat harsher status quo of the Indian workers in the 1930s, prior to the Donoughmore constitution, which called for only five years' residence.
Opposition views
However, Ponnambalam and Senanayake were strongly criticized by the Marxist groups as well as by the pro-Sri Lankan Tamil Federal Party (Sri Lanka), it branded Ponnambalam a "traitor", and Senanayake a "Sinhala extremist.". S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament. He was the political leader and father figure of the Sri Lankan Tamil community for more than two decades...
, the leader of the Tamil Arasu Kachchi, contested the citizenship act before the Supreme Court, and then in the Privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on grounds of discrimination towards minorities but the decision concluded that the citizenship act stipulated conditions well in line with those of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an states. As the President of the Ceylon Indian Congress (CIC), S. Thondaman had contested the Nuwara Eliya seat at the 1947 general election and won. His party put forward seven candidates in the plantation electorates and six of them were returned. Thus Thondaman became the spokesperson of the plantation workers. The CIC sat with the opposition, which included the Marxist parties. He opposed the 1948 citizenship act. Mr.Thondaman supported the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)in the 1960 elections; after the victory of the SLFP he was appointed to the House of Representative as a nominated Member of Parliament. However, he opposed the 1964 Sirima-Shastri Indo-Ceylon citizenship act. After the victory of the UNP in 1965, S.Thondaman was named as appointed Member of Parliament by the UNP.
Final rectification
The J.R.Jayawardene government that came to power in 1977 rectified the existing shortcomings of the Indian citizenship act and granted citizenship to all Indian Estate workers (see below). Even at that time, Thondaman was the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, the party of the Hill-country Tamils, and had become a skillful player of minority-party politics. He had avoided joining with the Tamil United Liberation Front TULF resolutions of 1974, which had continued with the policies of the ITAK. Thus the hill-country Tamils have successfully charted a course of cooperating with successive Sri Lankan governments.
Labor practices
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
as housemaids. There is net migration towards urban areas as well as foreign countries. Prior to the commencement of the Sri Lankan civil war
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
many had migrated to the northern province. Now the plantation communities have the Plantation Human Development Trust, developed to protect their rights and ensure adequate facilities are provided such as creches and toilets. Other NGOs work towards the development of the plantation communities such as Shining Life Children's Trust
Shining Life Children's Trust
Shining Life Children's Trust , also known as Dylana Jeevanthe Children's Trust is a UK registered charity "working to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and communities in Sri Lanka"...
and Hanguranketha Women's Foundation.
Current status
Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 1977
The 1977 Sri Lankan election heralded the beginning of a new period of Sri Lanka's history - a period of unprecedented violence.-Background:Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had become extraordinarily unpopular. Her economic policies had led to industrial growth and self-reliance, but was...
they were able to elect 11 candidates. This helped the emergence of the plantation people as a political force, but they were faced with communal violence
Communal violence
Communal violence refers to a situation where violence is perpetrated across ethnic lines, and victims are chosen based upon ethnic group membership...
in 1977
Sri Lankan riots of 1977
The 1977 riots in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes in which it stood for secession...
, 1983
Black July
Black July is the commonly used name for the anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by a Tamil militant organization known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers...
and in 2000. In 1984-5, to stop India intervening in Sri Lankan affairs, the UNP government eventually granted citizenship right to all stateless persons. The late Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
Savumiamoorthy Thondaman
Savumiamoorthy Thondaman also spelled Saumyamurthy Thondaman. is a Sri Lankan politician who represented the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka of which he was a member...
was instrumental in using this electoral strength in assuring the socioeconomic conditions of hill country Tamils to improve. The plight of the repatriated persons in India has not been good.
Prominent people
- Muthiah MuralidaranMuttiah MuralitharanMuttiah Muralitharan , often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002...
– Sri Lanka international spinOff spinOff spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
bowlerBowling (cricket)In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder...
; world record holder for most wickets taken in Test cricketTest cricketTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days... - Savumiamoorthy ThondamanSavumiamoorthy ThondamanSavumiamoorthy Thondaman also spelled Saumyamurthy Thondaman. is a Sri Lankan politician who represented the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka of which he was a member...
- Post-independence politician - K. Natesa IyerK. Natesa IyerKothandarama Natesa Iyer or S. K. Natesa Iyer was a Sri Lankan journalist, trade union leader and politician of Indian Tamil origin, had pioneered the labour movement in the plantations in the early 1930s.-Early life:...
- Pre-independence politician - Mano GanesanMano GanesanMano Ganesan MP is a Sri Lankan politician and member of parliament and the current leader of the Democratic People's Front, a political party in Sri Lanka, President of Democratic Workers Congress, a trade union and Convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission, a human rights monitoring peoples...
- Prominent Human RightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist and a politician - Arumugan Thondaman - Sri Lankan politician
See also
- Sri Lankan Tamils of India
Other Indian derived communities in Sri Lanka
- Colombo ChettiesColombo ChettiesColombo Chetty, also known as Colombo Chetties, Colombo Chittis or Colombo Hetties, are a formerly endogamous Sri Lankan social group or caste.- Origins :...
- BharatakulaBharatakulaBharathas also Bharatakula are a Sri Lankan caste of Paravar immigrants from Tamil Nadu in India.-Origins:In India they were traditional fishers' merchants and traders. Most are Roman Catholics although a significant minority practice Hinduism....
Palani Thigambaram (Member of Parliament)