Sri Lanka, history

This article covers the history of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972).

Dutch rule

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) dominated parts of Ceylon and South India in the 17th and 18th centuries. It maintained the position of the Protestant Reformed church within the Dutch community, but also ensured that the church did not interfere in politics or cause unrest among the believers of other religions. The VOC adopted a tolerant attitude toward all but Catholics, and when zealous pastors took actions deemed offensive to Hindus or Buddhists these were disowned by Company administrators. Their tolerance is an indication of how few Dutch, at home or overseas, were staunch Calvinists in this period.

English East India Company, 1796-1802

Agricultural production, based on the rice culture of small peasants in village communities, changed more and more to export crops and products like cinnamon, coconut, and tobacco.

Society: Plantation and peasant, 1800-1930

Under British rule extensive plantations were developed and the island became a large-scale producer of tea, rubber, and coconut products. The history of Ceylon in the 19th and 20th centuries was marked by the expansion - followed by depression - of a plantation economy whose investors included not only British colonists but also the Ceylonese bourgeoisie and a certain number of small rural entrepreneurs. The introduction of plantations transformed the rural environment. A new agricultural regime emerged, with sharp effects on the peasant milieu, and the social relations it established between Sinhalese farmers, Tamil coolies, and British planters. The worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s finally upset the system.

Muslims

Muslims settled in Sri Lanka as traders suffered discrimination during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch control. The British arrived in Colombo in 1796 to assist the Kandyan king in removing the Dutch. They used Muslims as interpreters and trade experts. The British took Kandy in 1815, deposing the Sinhalese king. Thereafter, the British protected Muslims' religious freedom, abolished their forced labor, allowed them to own property, and in 1889 allowed Muslims representation on the Legislative Council. In the first half of the 20th century, Sri Lankan Muslims were split between Arabs and Malays, with both groups pressuring for, but being denied, separate Legislative Council representation.

Caste

Rogers (2004) examines the history of caste in colonial Sri Lanka, especially from the time the British took over Dutch-held Ceylon in 1796 and the Buddhist Kandyan kingdom on the island in 1815. The British continued Dutch policy in appointing headmen and requiring compulsory labor, both determined by occupational caste. The British, after initially trying to work through traditional institutions and practices, ended up introducing a set of administrative reforms in 1832 and 1833 that were to have a profound effect on Ceylonese society. The Colebrooke-Cameron Reforms pushed the government to abolish compulsory labor in 1832 so as to create a free labor market that would foster capitalism. The government thus chose to ignore caste in its administration and repealed caste-defined policies. Unlike India, which was based on landholding, Ceylon's revenues were based on trade, making it easier to avoid caste issues. Rather than emphasize religion and caste as the principal social markers, as was the practice in India, British officials in Sri Lanka emphasized race and nation in their efforts at social differentiation. Ceylon's large Buddhist population also was not bound to caste as Hindus were. Still, caste governed social life, especially in gaining seats on the Legislative Council, upward mobility, and education.

Modernization, Religion and nationalism, 1860-1929

Government-supported education in Ceylon began in 1832 and by 1900, 25% of school-age children were in school. In the early 20th century, the colonial government began to expand educational opportunities and by the time Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, over half of the school-age population was in school. Near universal status was achieved by the 1960s. This achievement has been due to the realization of the importance of education on the part of parents who see it as the means for improving socioeconomic standing.

Perera (2002) Considers the indigenization of Colombo and the transformation of the city from an exclusive domain of British colonial power to a milieu that supported Ceylonese social and cultural practices. The city went from British to Ceylonese between the 1860s and the 1880s. Perera approaches indigenization from a reverse Orientalist perspective that focuses on the landscape produced by the emergence of national elite, the revival of Buddhism, and processes of naturalization and migration. Indigenization was integral to colonialism, which simultaneously instigated the Westernization of subjects and the indigenization of social and spatial structures. The resulting multilayered landscape, negotiated between imposing colonial structures and Ceylonese cultural practices, was characterized by irony, mimicry, ambivalence, liminality, and hybridity.

The communications and information explosion of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, occasioned by technological developments, growing literacy, and a print culture, gave educated and Westernized colonial subjects access to a wider and more diverse range of ideas and practices, anticipating what has become known as globalization. Evidence from nationalist literati in colonial Sri Lanka demonstrates that the dialogue was no longer simply between colonizer and colonized: the colonized from various parts of the Indian Ocean came into contact with one another, largely because of the growing role played by a bilingual intelligentsia. In the case of Sri Lanka, Buddhism played an important role, in that the Buddhist revival (hitherto interpreted largely in terms of the rise of nationalism) encouraged colonial subjects to pursue contacts with their coreligionists around the Indian Ocean.

Gokhale (1999) examines two leaders of the 20th-century revival of Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka: Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1892-1956) and Anagarika Dhammapala (1864-1933). Ambedkar, formally educated in the United States, used Buddhism to inspire faith to challenge the Hindu hierarchical caste system.

Dhammapala's movement in Sri Lanka, which strengthened Sinhalese cultural identity for many, combined traditional and modern aspects of Buddhism. Many efforts to understand the relationship between Buddhism and Sinhalese nationalism have looked to Dharmapala, whose writings were collected in 1965 into a set entitled Return to Righteousness. Explanations for Buddhist revivalism and its relationship to nationalism in the late 19th century as personified by Dharmapala have employed what has been labeled the Protestant Buddhist thesis, which argues that ideologies of nationalism and scholarship on Buddhism imported from Protestant Europe forced a transformation of Buddhism to bring it in line with nationalist aspirations. While partly accepting this theory, close scrutiny of Dharmapala's diaries indicates that Buddhist asceticism was a more powerful force than has hitherto been noted, and that Dharmapala was not simply reinterpreting Buddhism in light of nationalist ideologies and agendas.

Muslim girls in Sri Lanka were traditionally taught in the kuttabs (verandah schools) attached to mosques. These primary schools did not develop higher levels of education until the mid-18th century. Since the Portuguese, Dutch, and British brought missionary schools that stressed Christianity, Muslim women did not attend them and thus lagged behind in education. In 1891 the first modern schools were established for Muslim girls. Between 1931 and 1947 the minister of education wanted Muslim girls to receive the same education as Tamil and Sinhalese girls and pushed to include Islam and Arabic in secondary schools. By the 1960's, Muslim girls received a Western-style education, and into the 1980's Arabic colleges were established for women where degrees at the level of master of theology were offered.

Transfer of power: 1931-47

Between the adoption of the new constitution of 1931 and full independence in 1948, Indian immigrants were viewed with increasing hostility by the Sinhalese political leadership. In the 1930s, as a result of the serious unemployment caused by the Great Depression and the growing influence of Sinhala nationalism, anti-Indian feeling prevailed among the masses of Ceylon. A. E. Goonesinha and other politicians exploited the nationalistic feelings of the people. Malayalis, who had migrated to Colombo and other cities from the area in South India that is now Kerala State, were the main target of the agitations. Many Malayalis were employed as daily paid laborers in government and quasi-government institutions, commercial firms, and factories. They also worked as domestic servants, peons, garden coolies, and shopkeepers. The Malayalis were valued as efficient and obedient by their employers, but were criticized by chauvinistic politicians for ousting Ceylonese laborers by undercutting their wages. As ethnic tension grew, their shops were threatened and boycotted; Malayalis were insulted in public and occasionally even assaulted. Under these circumstances, the Ceylonese government adopted several policies of Ceylonization. The dismissal and repatriation of immigrant daily paid laborers in government employment in 1939 was one of the consequences of the anti-Malayali agitations. Sinhalese feared that if the Indians were given unrestricted political rights they would then swamp the Sinhalese in certain areas of the country, especially the plantation region of the central highlands. The British Colonial Office never found a satisfactory solution to the problem, and as soon as independence was gained in 1948 many Indians were disenfranchised by the Sinhalese-dominated government and left effectively stateless.

Linguistic nationalism 1956-80

In 1951 Solomon Bandaranaikeformed a new party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). It was strongly nationalist, demanding restoration of traditional culture and the eradication of Western influence. It swept the 1956 elections; Bandaranaike headed a coalition government, called the People's United Front (MEP), comprising the SLFP and a section of the LSSP.

Bandaranaike's MEP government pushed through far-reaching laws to promote its nationalist and socialist agenda. Sinhalese replaced English as the sole official language. The military alliance with Britain was ended; British naval and air bases were closed, and Ceylon assumed a neutral and nonaligned position in international affairs. The MEP government strongly supported Buddhist and Sinhalese cultural renaissance through financial aid through the ministry of cultural affairs. Some sectors of the economy, such as bus transport and the port of Colombo, were nationalized, and attempts were made to bring about land reform by purchasing and divding large plantations.

Resistance to the MEP's program was viocal. Imposing Sinhala as the only official language provoked Tamil opposition, and the Tamils, led by the Federal Party, began a struggle to secure official recognition of their language. The struggle inflamed communal dissension and resulted in widespread riots in 1958. In addition, there was labour union unrest and conflicts erupted among the Buddhist factions. Escalating the political unrest and social tension, Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist priest in September 1959. After months of political jockeying and confusion, the SLFP, reorganized under Bandaranaike's widow, was returned to power. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister.

The second SLFP government continued its agenda to transform Ceylon. To meet the demands of the Buddhists, all denominational schools, a majority of which were Christian, were nationalized. The use of Sinhalese as the language of administration and of the courts of law was speedily implemented. Insurance and the petroleum industries were nationalized. In 1964, to strengthen her dwindling support, Bandaranaike formed a coalition with the LSSP and the Communist Party. The government's program became even more socialistic.

The coalition government alienated the SLFP's right wing, which defected to the opposition, forcing a general election in May 1965. The UNP won a decisive victory, and Dudley Senanayake became prime minister. His government sought to expand the economy by encouraging private enterprise and eliminating restrictions on imports. Special attention was paid to productivity in agriculture, with self-sufficiency in food as the ultimate goal. For the first time since 1956 Tamils were brought into the government, and their language was given some official recognition. Communal tension eased and some economic growth was achieved. The SLFP and the Marxist parties formed a United Left Front (ULF) in order to defeat the government. They exploited the government's conciliatory policy toward the Tamils to rekindle Sinhalese communalism and attacked the granting of concessions to domestic and foreign capitalist interests. In the elections of May 1970 the ULF gained a massive majority in parliament, although it received less than 49 percent of the vote, and Bandaranaike again became prime minister.

Claiming a mandate for radical change, the ULF government greatly expanded state control of trade and industry. But its attempts to create a socialist state were stymied by a severe economic crisis caused by balance of payments deficits, rising foreign debts, and the need to maintain an expensive social welfare and food subsidy program. In March 1971 Bandaranaike declared a state of emergency, suspending many civil liberties. Immediately thereafter, Sinhalese students and unemployed graduates grouped in the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (JVP) attempted an insurrection in many parts of the island. The uprising received only moderate popular support and was quickly suppressed by the government. The ensuing repression cost more than 15,000 lives, and the state of emergency was maintained in effect until 1977. Afterward, the government moved further left, initiating radical land reforms in 1972 and nationalizing foreign-owned tea plantations in 1975. The new constitution, adopted on May 22, 1972, made Ceylon the socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, with Bandaranaike as prime minister. However, the ULF soon began to fall apart. In 1975 the LSSP was expelled from the government, and in 1976 the Communists withdrew from the coalition. Lacking a parliamentary majority, Bandaranaike was forced to call general elections for July 1977, two years after the date constitutionally required.

The elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the UNP. In October 1977 the constitution was amended to make the president a powerful executive head of state, and in February 1978 prime minister Junius Jayewardene, leader of the UNP, assumed the new office for a six-year term. On Sept. 7, 1978, a new constitution was adopted, incorporating the 1977 amendment and renaming the country the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The UNP government moved quickly to stimulate the stagnating economy by means of a sharp devaluation of the national currency, elimination of many economic restrictions, large foreign loans, and big increases in public spending for development projects. Helped by high tea prices in 1977 and 1978, Sri Lanka entered a period of rapid economic growth and falling unemployment--accompanied, however, by increased social inequalities and inflation. In 1982 president Jayewardene was reelected to a second six-year term, and a popular referendum extended the term of the 1977 parliament until 1989.

Civil war, 1980-present

In August 1983 a devastating explosion of communal violence saw Sinhalese mobs kill more than 300 Tamils, force more than 100,000 to become refugees, and destroy many Tamil-owned stores and factories.

Tamil Tigers

After 1983 the Tamil areas of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, especially the Jaffna Peninsula, were torn by violent attacks from Tamil terrorists and by violent repression from the army and police forces. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) took up arms to fight for an independent homeland in the north and northeast parts of Sri Lanka in 1983, tens of thousands of people were killed, wounded, or driven from their homes.

India's intervention

Because the Tamil guerrillas operated from bases and supply centers in the Tamil states of southern India, the Indian government became drawn into the conflict. At the end of July 1987, the governments of India and Sri Lanka worked out a political settlement. Sri Lankan troops were withdrawn from Jaffna to be replaced by an Indian peacekeeping force. Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern provinces were to be merged to form a Tamil autonomous region, but after a year the Eastern province, where neither Sinhalese nor Tamils are a majority of the population, would vote by referendum on whether to remain in the new autonomous region. Sinhalese communalists, including not only the JVP and SLFP but also a sizable fraction of the UNP itself, vehemently opposed the agreement as a surrender of Sri Lanka's sovereignty and an abandonment of its unity and territorial integrity.

LTTE strongholds

The Indian intervention failed to bring peace, since the largest Tamil terrorist group, the LTTE, continued to fight the Indians in the north while the JVP began its own terrorist campaign against Sinhalese moderates and government officials in the south. Despite massive disruption by the JVP, presidential elections were held on Dec. 19, 1988. The winner, by a narrow margin, was Ranasinghe Premadasa of the UNP. Indian troops were withdrawn by 1991, but the civil war continued unabated, even after the Indian government banned LTTE activities in India. In Aug. 1991, the opposition parties tried to impeach Premadasa for corruption and "abuses of power." The dissident UNP faction led by former interior minister Lalith Athulathmudali supported the impeachment motion and was accordingly expelled from the UNP. It formed its own Democratic United National Front party (DUNF), which attracted much support over the next year.

In April 1993, while campaigning for DUNF candidates in local elections, Athulathmudali was assassinated. The government accused the LTTE, which disclaimed responsibility, while the opposition blamed the UNP. The following week Premadasa himself was assassinated. The government again blamed the LTTE, which again denied the charge. In May 1993 parliament unanimously elected Vice-President Dingiri Banda Wijetonga to fill out the remainder (until December 1994) of Premadasa's term. In November 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunga, candidate of the leftist People's Alliance, was elected president. She appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, prime minister.

Tamil politics

Tamil nationalism grew out of a parliamentary system that was corrupted by majority opportunism and crass populism. Sinhala and Tamil elites competed increasingly with each other for power and resources. Even intra-Sinhala party conflicts resulted in the scapegoating of Tamils. In the 1950s the Federal Party, led by elite Vellala Tamils, advocated federalism as a solution to meet Tamil needs. By the 1970s a number of Tamil parties had emerged and united behind the idea of a separate Tamil state. In the wake of anti-Tamil riots, rural, non-Vellala Tamil paramilitaries grew in the 1970's and seized control of the Tamil separatist nationalist struggle. Eventually the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) gained supremacy among paramilitaries and in the 1980s and 1990s refused to work toward a negotiated settlement.

Religious dimension

The LTTE's successes as a liberation movement have been built on organizational skills and techno-military prowess. However they also mobilize both the Hindu majority and a significant Christian minority within the Sri Lankan Tamil population via modalities that are deeply rooted in the lifestyles and religious practices of Tamils in India and Sri Lanka. Roberts (2005) argues that to grasp these capacities, a reading of the history of Tamil civilization "writ large" as well as the anthropological literature on religious cross-fertilization in Sri Lanka is essential. Propitiatory rituals in Tamil culture inform the LTTE's burial of the dead and the building up of a sacred topography centered on their fallen (the mavirar). Just as heroic humans were deified in southern India's past, regenerative divine power is conceivably invested in today's Tiger mavirar. These facets of Tamil Tiger practice suggest that "enchantment" can nestle amid secularized rationality in the structures of a modern political movement.

Muslim role

Sri Lankan Muslim ethnic identity has emerged out of the ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils. The highly urbanized Muslims of the southwest are engaged in trade and commerce, whereas Muslims in the northeast are more rural and involved in agricultural production. The southwest Muslim middle class strengthened its religious identity when the government sought resources from Middle Eastern countries to deal with the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict. At the same time the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC) was formed in the northeast to cope with the security and self-defense needs there. The southwest Muslims' support of the SLMC disappeared when the SLMC supported revolution. Southwest Muslims shifted their support to Muslim moderates in the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, while others have rejoined the United National Party.

Bibliography

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Primary sources

• Ferguson, John. Ceylon in 1893: Describing the Progress of the Island Since 1803 (1893) 491 pages; full text online

Society, ethnicity and culture

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