Michael Roberts
Biographical tales and investigations serve as one pathway to historical enquiry. Because they resonate with readers interest in their own personal journeys this fascination seems to evoke continuous appeal. The WORD PRESS record of readers hits on items in THUPPAHI confirm this fact. Let me, therefore, provide TPS readers with a list of some of the items that drew at least one reader …. that is one HIT …. today/yesterday.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, British colonialism, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, discrimination, disparagement, economic processes, education, ethnicity, female empowerment, foreign policy, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, Left politics, life stories, literary achievements, LTTE, military strategy, modernity & modernization, patriotism, performance, photography, plural society, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, prabhakaran, press freedom, religiosity, Royal College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, terrorism, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, unusual people
BEING Chapter 3 of Palmyra Fallen, from Rajani to War’s End, by Rajan Hoole ….. Published 2015 …. a book printed and bound by Global Printing Works, 5 Stork Place, Colombo 10 …. a chapter entitled “Some Crucial Pieces of the Jigsaw” … [with the highlights here –– except for those in black — being impositions by The Editor, Thuppahi]
“To everything there is a season…A time to be born and a time to die…A time to weep and a time to laugh: a time to mourn and a time to dance…I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it”- The Book of Ecclesiastes
Dayapala & Rajani Thiranagama in 1984 .. . well before her assassination in late 1989
3.1 The Sands Run Out
More recently, we have been able to put together more detailed information about Rajani’s killing. Given that much water has since flowed under the bridge, we felt that while placing the truth about her murder on a record that adequately traces its manner, purpose and the parties involved, it would also be appropriate to bring out a publication that allows today’s reader to see her relevance to the present. As is evident from our account, Rajani’s killing was well planned, mobilising a network of LTTE contacts and agents. Here in Chapter 3, we detail the cold-blooded murder and cover-up by the LTTE and the names of those who were involved at the time. In Chapter 4, we discuss who within the LTTE was involved.
Filed under accountability, asylum-seekers, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, citizen journalism, communal relations, disparagement, education, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, insurrections, language policies, life stories, LTTE, nationalism, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, racism, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, terrorism, trauma, world events & processes, zealotry
A NOTE from Michael Roberts, 15 July 2025
Biographical tales are one of the paths in historical investigation. Such tales attract many readers because they flesh out lifeways and resonate with personal recollections. The WORD PRESS website provides the Thuppahi-Editor with figures on the HITS which the site receives every day,
Because of the ‘picture’ óf READER INTEREST served up by such figures the “TALE” may interest some readers. If interested in a particular item just copy the title … ADD “thuppahis.com” and search the web.
A MEMO From Michael Roberts as Editor, Thuppahi, July 2025
The Word Press system keeps me informed about the HITs on TPS items everyday and also assembles figures for each week. Reviewing these details provides one with a glimpse of internet viewers and their interests. As an exercise with this objective I provide figures of HITS on items carrying biographical tales.
HEREWITh, then, are the figures of such hits — HITS on bio-tales –– during the past week.
Filed under accountability, art & allure bewitching, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cricket selections, cultural transmission, disparagement, economic processes, Eelam, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, literary achievements, modernity & modernization, nationalism, performance, politIcal discourse, population, power politics, S. Thomas College, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, Tamil Tiger fighters, teaching profession, theatre world, unusual people, world affairs, world events & processes
bull-mascot-team-logo-design-longhorn-133746227 Presented here at ……………………………………………………….. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/nationalism-the-past-and-the-present-the-case-of-sri-lanka/…. & thus in need of updating.; while being dedicated to a Peradeniya University buddy -alas deceased– with whom I shared notes and thoughts during undergraduate days and thereafter in the 1970s & 1980s in Chicago: namely, Ananda Wickremeratne …
Amunugama, Sarath 1979 ‘Ideology and class interest in one of Piyadasa Sirisena’s novels: the new image of the “Sinhala Buddhist” nationalist’ in M Roberts (ed.) Collective identities, nationalisms and protest in modern Sri Lanka, Colombo:: Marga Institute, pp 314-36
Anderson, Benedict 1983 Imagined communities. Reflections on the origin and spread of Nationalism. London: Verso
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, constitutional amendments, cultural transmission, demography, devolution, discrimination, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, education policy, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, hatan kavi, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, island economy, Kandyan kingdom, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, power politics, racism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, transport and communications, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Michael Roberts
An ‘outfit’ named ACADEMIA.COM has sent me digital links to old articles from my ‘pen’ on web that have attracted HITS. This is a flattering nudge to my weakening memory bank. As new generations of ‘students’ of the Sri Lankan scene may be interested in these old engagements, I place the A1 generated summaries here.
ONE …. “Empowering the Body and Noble Death,” By Michael W Roberts in Social Analysis, 2006
AI-generated Abstract: The paper “Empowering the Body and ‘Noble Death'” explores how specific cultural practices in Asia, particularly those associated with martial arts, facilitate a sense of empowerment in the face of death. It discusses the interplay of mind and body in rituals and practices that foster a unity with cosmic forces, enabling practitioners to confront death fearlessly. Through a comparative analysis of various contributions in this domain, the authors reflect on the complexity of participant observation in ethnographic studies and the challenges faced by researchers in fully engaging with the cultural contexts they study.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Dr Muralidaran Ramesh Somasunderam, in LankaWeb, 10 February 2o25, with this title “The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam. Funding and Training of the Organization”
The LTTE got their training and funding from the PLO, which is the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the arms they gained or got from Pakistan. This is why the Indian Central Government was very much against the LTTE and its leadership group.
In fact, the LTTE was an organization which diversified their businesses and even sold things like oils and soups to more dangerous items such as drugs and weapons. It is true that Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in overseas countries funded LTTE. The real fact was most of the Sri Lankan Tamils did ordinary jobs in the Western Countries and if the LTTE did not have diverse business interests and support from overseas countries, especially Palestine for tanning (sic) and Pakistan for military equipment, they would not have been able to carry out a civil war against the army of Sri Lanka for more than thirty odd years. This is why if Kittu Master who was in the LTTE leadership group was able to smuggle the arms the government of Pakistan loaded in the ship he came on outside the port of Madras it would have been very hard to defeat and bring the LTTE down.
Filed under accountability, caste issues, communal relations, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, sea warfare, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes
WIKIPEDIA Item: … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kittu_(Tamil_militant)
Colonel Kittu (Tamil militant)
| Born | S. Krishnakumar
2 January 1960 |
| Died | 16 January 1993 (aged 33) |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Years active | 1978 –1993 |
| Organization | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam |
Sathasivam Krishnakumar (Tamil: சதாசிவம் கிருஸ்ணகுமார்; 2 January 1960 – 16 January 1993; commonly known by the nom de guerre Kittu) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.
Filed under accountability, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, caste issues, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, Eelam, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, immolation, insurrections, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, racism, riots and pogroms, Saivism, sea warfare, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, world events & processes, zealotry
DBS Jeyaraj in The Daily Mirror, 20 January 2025, where the title reads “How Tiger ‘Col’ Kittu lost a leg when a bomb was thrown at him in Jaffna”
Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Jaffna District Commander Sathasivamillai Krishnakumar alias ‘Col’ Kittu was regarded as the uncrowned king of Jaffna in the mid-eighties of the twentieth century. The greater part of Jaffna peninsula was under LTTE control then. This state of affairs [received] a rude shock when an unknown person lobbed a bomb into the vehicle driven by Kittu. The incident which rocked Jaffna in 1987 resulted in the Tiger commander losing a leg. The third part of this article focuses primarily on matters related to that explosive incident.
Filed under atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, discrimination, Eelam, ethnicity, historical interpretation, insurrections, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
Mario Arulthas, in Al-Jazeera, 9 January 2025 …. with highlightinging emphasia imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi
The Maaveerar Dead as A Perpetual Inspiration For Eelam
The nationwide electoral success of the anti-establishment NPP does not mean Tamil nationalism is on the decline.
An election official holding a ballot box gets off the bus outside a vote counting centre after the voting ended for the parliamentary election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 14, 2024 [Thilina Kaluthotage/Reuters]
“They’re trampling on our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a Tamil woman, as the torrential rain lashing our faces washed away her tears. Standing barefoot and ankle-deep in mud at the site of a former cemetery in Visuvamadu, Sri Lanka, she was lamenting the adjacent military base built on the graves of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters, including that of her brother.
Filed under accountability, anti-racism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, disparagement, economic processes, education, Eelam, electoral structures, ethnicity, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, insurrections, language policies, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, parliamentary elections, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, prabhakaran, propaganda, racist thinking, religiosity, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes, zealotry
thuppahi
