SSC PAMPHLET PROJECT
Some of you may remember this project in Sri Lanka in the 1990s directed towards making selected academic articles on the history & politics of Sri Lanka available to the English-reading public at affordable rates. My unreliable memory indicates that the personnel behind this enterprise were myself, Ananda Chittampalam, Willa Wickramasinghe and our engine, so to speak, was the press operated by Haris Hulugalla.
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Item in Tamil Nation ……………………………………… https://tamilnation.org/books/eelam/buddhismbetrayed
Given Budd
hism’s presumed non-violent philosophy, how can committed Buddhist monks and laypersons in Sri Lanka today actively take part in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils?
Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah’s Buddhism Betrayed? seeks to answer this question by looking closely at the past century of Sri Lankan history and tracing the development of Buddhism’s participation in such ethnic conflict and collective violence. Tambiah analyses the ways in which this participation has, over time come to alter the very meaning of Buddhism itself as a lived reality.
Filed under anti-racism, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, electoral structures, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, language policies, legal issues, life stories, nationalism, parliamentary elections, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Goolbai Gunasekara in The ISLAND Newspaper, 17 March 2024 … entitled “My time at Hindu Ladies College”
Following in her mother, Clara Gunaskara nee Motwani’s footsteps, principal and teacher Goolbai Gunasekara revolutionised the sphere of English education in Sri Lanka …. & this account is her trip down memory lane.
Mrs. Visaladhy Sivagurunathan, a philanthropic Hindu lady, had gifted the property of Hindu Ladies’ College to the school in 1943. [My] Mother […. of the Motwani lineage] …. was the school’s fifth Principal. Under her, the first Past Pupils’ Association was formed, with Mrs. Jeevaratnam Rasiah as its first President. Miss Thambu (Mother’s long suffering Tamil tutor) was its Secretary. Just recently, I was invited to speak to the Colombo branch of the HLC alumni.
I met a former HLC teacher there — Mrs Navaratna, formerly Leela Ponniah — along with many old friends. The reverence in which Mother was held was very heartwarming, and it was a moving experience to hear the stories they related of instances in which Mother had touched — and sometimes directed — their lives.
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Uditha Devapriya & Uthpala Wijesuriya, … with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
Background: In Sri Lanka, social science research witnessed an expansion in the 1950s. Various scholars, including Stanley Tambiah and Gananath Obeyesekere, found their calling in anthropology, and went on to introduce and popularise the subject in local universities. This period also witnessed an increasing interest in Sri Lankan and specifically Sinhala society from Western scholars, including Edmund Leach, James Brow, and Richard Gombrich. While many local scholars active in that period have commented on how social science research evolved at Sri Lankan universities, no proper study of this has been done yet.
Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, commoditification, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, female empowerment, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, immigration, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, NGOs, parliamentary elections, patriotism, photography & its history, plantations, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, press freedom & censorship, Rajapaksa regime, religiosity, riots and pogroms, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, tourism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Lam Seneviratne, whose preferred title is “100 Years of Royal College at Reid Avenue”
A centenary in the life of an Institution is a very long period and calls for much celebration. However, for Royal College, now 188 years old, a grand celebration to mark 100 years at Reid Avenue may not be appropriate.
Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, Colombo and Its Spaces, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, education policy, Empire loyalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, life stories, modernity & modernization, patriotism, Royal College, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Michael Roberts
On the 27th of January 1985 The lsland newspaper presented a cartoon sketch of a lion being confronted by a cockroach possessing the same physical scale as the lion under the caption “Hoisting the Flag for Lansi Eelam.” The lion denoted the Sinhala people, that is, the Sinhala nation in all its deep history and majesty. The cockroach signified the Burgher people of Sri Lanka, namely the “lansi.” The cartoon was supported by a letter attributed to a “Sharm De Alwis.”
Voila! So, it has come, but sooner than I expected: the call for a unified Lansieelam.
When I anticipated such a move I did tell a friend that were I the President I’d give the Burghers the Bambalapitiya Flats with the sea frontage thrown in for good measure. They would then be free to harness their intrinsic but long-forgotten skills in reclaiming the sea and build derricks to Mozambique or even Rotterdam.
But what bugged me was when my friend took me at my word and produced the next day the visual of the Lansieelam map. Not that I would have any objections to the apt depiction of the cockroach but that the pest had assumed the same proportions of the Sinhala Lion.
My friend re-assures me that what she has in mind is not a separate state but an isolated plot fully integrated with the Sinhala state and the cockroach, large as it now is, gives ample muscle aid to the Lion to combat other opposing factors.
Sharm de Alwis, 82/1, Kandy Road,, Kiribathgoda
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, demography, devolution, discrimination, disparagement, education policy, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Islamic fundamentalism, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, working class conditions, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts
In re-visiting an assortment of historical episodes in Sri Lanka’s past in unsytematic fashion I have been led to Tarzie Vittachi’s Emergençy ’58 (published in 1958) by Sugath Kulatunga’s detailed and invaluable recounting of his experiences as a government official in Polonnaruwa in the 1950s (an item still being processed).
While Vittachi was an experienced journalist, we cannot take every ‘fact’ that he presents as indubitable. However, this pointer towards his slim volume should, hopefully, bring new generations of Sri Lankans and outside observers into reflections on the consequences of the political currents unleashed in the general election in 1956 — notably the upsurge of the underprivileged classes and the demand for Sinhala Only.
This focus, however, should not promote currents of denunciation which throw the baby out with the bathwater. The inequalities of the pre-existing dispensation must be clinically drawn out as well.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, democratic measures, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, life stories, power politics, propaganda, racist thinking, riots and pogroms, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, trauma, vengeance, violence of language, world events & processes
Mt. Lavinia 1954 Prize Giving-Address by the Right Honourable Sir John Kotelawala, K.B.E., M.P. — with thanks to Harry De Sayrah of Sydney, who added this little preface “When politicians were literate and articulate …………………..” with a few highlights and an arbitrary selection of photographs inserted by The Editor, Thuppahi
1954 PRIZE GIVING. Presided by The Warden, Canon R.S.de Saram, MA , OBE.,St. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia. ……………. *Prime Minister of Ceylon, at the Distribution of Prizes,* …………. *S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, Saturday, 31 st July,1954*
When I played for Royal against S. Thomas’ many years ago my intention, which was shared by my team-mates, was to give the Thomians a good drubbing, and, if that was not possible, at least to give them a test of endurance. Much as I value the opportunity which I now have of presiding at your Prize Distribution, I shall endeavour to do neither this afternoon. I mist congratulate the Warden on his Report, which illustrates what opportunities schools like S. Thomas’ have of continuing to play a leading part in the training of our youth and the moulding of their character.
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Sarath Amunugama, on “Visit to Jaffna and the Evolving Tamil Political Scene” …. https://island.lk/visit-to-jaffna-and-the-evolving-tamil-political-scene/ ….. Being an Excerpt from volume two of His Autobiography
While tensions were rising between the two communities in 1978 I suggested to my Minister Wijetunga that we should visit the Jaffna peninsula for an inspection tour since Kokavil had a radio transmitter and the Japanese planners were proposing the erection of a TV transmitter also in the same location.
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Ahilan Kadirgamar, in Daily Mirror, 21 November 2022, where the title reads “Hill-country Tamils and Crisis Times” …. with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
When our country collapses before our own eyes with one of the deepest crises in historical memory, from what vantage point should we analyse our predicament? Sri Lanka’s political economy over the last two centuries is anchored in the travails and strivings of Hill Country Tamils. Their sweat and blood, that began with the horrifying journey from South India two centuries ago as indentured labour to work in the coffee and later tea plantations, were central to building the country’s modern economy under British colonialism. However, their position in society, and for that matter even the writing of their history, was marginalised. And despite the great democratic and social welfare advances in Sri Lanka with universal suffrage in 1931 and a powerful legacy of free healthcare and education, the social, economic and political life of the Hill Country Tamil community is characterised by struggle amidst persistent crisis times.
‘Ceylon tea’ gave Sri Lanka the recognition in the world map, but the plantation workers are still languishing in their ages-old abode, known as line rooms and continue to be marginalised in education, community wellbeing and healthcare.
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thuppahi
