When it comes to India’s neighbors, Pakistan and China are almost always in the limelight. The small island nation to our south, Sri Lanka is often disregarded. Sri Lanka has a rich cultural history that ties in to Indian history and mythology on a number of different levels, making the country quite important to our own. Geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, Sri Lanka has had a continuous record of human settlement for more than two millennia, and its civilization has been shaped largely by that of the Indian subcontinent. The island’s two major ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Tamils, and its two dominant religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, made their way to the island from India.
PREHISTORIC RECORDS OF SRI LANKA
The prehistoric era of this island nation spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and early Iron Ages, and goes as far back as 500,000 years. Geologically, Sri Lanka is an extension of peninsular India that separated from the mainland about 25 million years ago. Archaeological excavations undertaken since the latter part of the 20th century, in the caves of Pahiyangala (named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian), Batadombalena Belilena, indicate that the island already supported human inhabitants some 75,000 to 125,000 years ago. The earliest occupants of the region were hunter-gatherers who made and used fairly rough stone tools. Remains discovered in these sites also suggest that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game. Evidence of finer tools, made of quartz and chert, were found in archaeological records about 28,000 years ago.
During the protohistoric period (1000-500 BCE), Sri Lanka had a strong cultural connection with southern India, and shared the same megalithic burials, graffiti, pottery and farming techniques.
The earliest human settlers in Sri Lanka were likely peoples of the proto-Australoid group. Remnants of these early inhabitants were absorbed by the Indo-Aryans, who immigrated from northern India in 5th century BCE and later developed into the Sinhalese people. The Tamil population were later immigrants from areas of central, eastern, and southern India where Dravidian languages were spoken. Sir James Emerson Tennent, a 19th century Irish historian theorized that Galle was the ancient seaport of Tarshish from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks, and other valuables. Galle is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka and is the capital of the Galle District.
ORIGINS OF SRI LANKA ACCORDING TO LEGEND
Sinhalese lore says that the first Indian settlers on Sri Lanka were Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers. This is recorded in the Mahavamsa, a meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the style of an epic poem. Legend says that the land of Sri Lanka was occupied by the yakshas, who were defeated by King Vijaya, who also married a yaksha princess and had two children by her.
Vijaya settled down to reign as the king of Sri Lanka after a ceremonial enthronement and founded a dynasty. He had no heir to the throne, and toward the end of his reign he sent for his younger brother at Sinhapura. The brother sent his youngest son, Panduvasudeva, to Sri Lanka, who landed with 32 followers at Gokanna (now Trincomalee) on the east coast. He was enthroned at Upatissagama and continued the Vijaya dynasty.
BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA
According to Sinhalese tradition, Buddhism was first brought to Sri Lanka by a mission sent out from eastern India during the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Ashoka’s son, Mahendra, led the Buddhist mission to Sri Lanka where they met the Sinhalese king Tissa, whom they preached to about Buddhism. The king was brought into the Buddhist fold, and he invited Mahendra and his followers to the city. In the city, Mahendra and his followers set to work on their goal of spreading the ideologies and tenets of Buddhism to the royal family as well as the common people. Many embraced the new religion, some taking holy orders and joining the Buddhist community of monks, also called a “sangha”. The king donated the Mahamegha park to the sangha. The monastery of Mahavihara was also established, which became the prime centre of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Sanghamitta, Mahendra’s sister also arrived in response to her brother’s summons, and founded an order of nuns. King Tissa built the Thuparamacetiya, a shrine, for popular worship. The construction of this shrine, along with the establishment of a number of other institutions dedicated to the practice and preaching of Buddhism, cemented its status as an established religion in Sri Lanka.
Through the conversion of King Tissa and the missionary activity of monks in the villages, the Sinhalese had accepted Buddhism by 2nd century BCE. This faith helped produce a unity and consciousness on which subsequent political and economic strength was founded.
Coming to more recent times, as of 2012, Theravāda Buddhism is the most common form of the religion practised in Sri Lanka. Practiced by 70.19% of Sri Lanka’s population, it is the largest, oldest and official religion of the nation. In contrast to the other schools of Buddhism like Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. Modern Theravāda derives from the Mahāvihāra sect.
In 3rd century BCE, the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi was brought to Sri Lanka by the daughter of Emperor Asoka, Sangamitta Theri, and then planted by King Devanampiya Tissa in the Mahamevnāwa Park in Anuradhapura. It is a sacred fig tree. It is said to be the southern branch from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India under which Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment. The tree currently holds the world record for being the oldest tree ever with a known planting date. It is sacred to Buddhists all over the world and a sacred relic for the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka. In April 2014, the government banned all construction within 500 meters of the tree.
INVASIONS BY FOREIGN POWERS
Sri Lanka experienced the first of many foreign invasions during the reign of Suratissa. Suratissa was an early monarch of Sri Lanka of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura, based at the ancient capital of Anuradhapura from 247 BC to 237 BC.
The next invasion came in 205 BCE by a Chola ruler named Elara, who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugamunu, the eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa, defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura.
In 993 CE, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sinhalese ruler Mahinda V to flee to the southern part of Sri Lanka. Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I, led a massive invading army in 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura causing the fall of Anuradhapura Kingdom.
Vijayabahu I was a medieval king of Sri Lanka. Born to a royal bloodline, he grew up at a time when, part of the country was occupied by invaders from the Chola Kingdom. Following a seventeen-year-long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century. At his petition, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign.
The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the Sri Lankan kingdom from which Sinhalese kings ruled the island from the 11th century until 1310 CE. In 1215, Kalinga Magha, an invader whose origins are not clearly known but is identified as the founder of the Jaffna kingdom, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. Unlike previous invaders, he looted, ransacked, and destroyed everything in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms. His reign was marked by the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into the highland interiors, in attempts to escape his power. Sri Lanka carried the scar left by Magha’s reign, never fully recovering from the damage he caused.
THE PORTUGUESE AND THE DUTCH IN SRI LANKA – THE EARLY MODERN ERA
By about 1500 trade in the Indian Ocean was dominated by Arab, Indian, Malay, and Chinese merchants, who together used various seafaring craft to transport a spectrum of cargo, from spices to elephants. In the early 16th century a new force, in the form of Portuguese ships with mounted guns, arrived in the ocean.
In 1505 a Portuguese fleet commanded by Lourenço de Almeida, made an emergency landing in Colombo to escape an oceanic storm. Almeida received a friendly audience from the king of Kotte, Vira Parakrama Bahu. The Portuguese soon returned and established a regular trade with Kotte. In 1518 they were permitted to build a fort at Colombo and were given trading concessions. The Portuguese gradually extended their control over the region. They meddled in local affairs and used their military superiority to gain control of most of the region. In 1592, after decades of intermittent warfare with the Portuguese, Vimaladharmasuriya I moved his kingdom to the inland city of Kandy, a location he thought more secure from attack. In 1619, succumbing to attacks by the Portuguese, the independent existence of the Jaffna kingdom came to an end. Although Portuguese possessions in Sri Lanka became a part of the Portuguese State of India, the administrative structure of the Kotte kingdom was preserved. The island was separated into four provinces. Portuguese people held the highest offices, though local officials came from the Sinhalese nobility loyal to the Portuguese.
During the reign of the Rajasinha II, Dutch explorers arrived on the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas. The ensuing Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in a Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in the areas they had captured, thereby violating the treaty they had signed in 1638. The Dutch and the Sri Lankans lived together during this period of Dutch occupation, giving rise to a race of mixed blood (Dutch and Sri Lankan) people called the Burgher people.
THE BRITISH IN SRI LANKA
During the Napoleonic Wars, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, British forces occupied the coastal areas of the island in 1796. In 1798, Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha, King of Sri Lanka, died of a fever. Following his death, a nephew of Rajasinha, eighteen-year-old Kannasamy, was crowned. The new monarch, now named Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, faced a British invasion in 1803 but successfully defended his kingdom. The First Kandyan War ended in a stalemate.
By then the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company as a result of the Treaty of Amiens. On 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British in the second Kandyan War, ending Sri Lanka’s independence. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka, was exiled to India. The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire.
The Colebrooke–Cameron Commission was appointed in 1833 as a Royal Commission of Eastern Inquiry by the British Colonial Office. The Commission introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to the country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government. An executive and a legislative committee were established, later becoming the foundations of a representative legislature.
Towards the end of the 19th century, a new educated class arose from among the Sri Lankan people as a result of British endeavors to staff the Ceylon Civil Service and other necessary professions like medicine, law and engineering with natives. New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. Buddhist and Hindu believers reacted against Christian missionary activities. In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organizations came together to form the Ceylon National Congress, pressing their colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But without massive popular support, the Congress lost momentum towards the mid-1920s.
CONTEMPORARY SRI LANKA – POST INDEPENDENCE
The Soulbury constitution ushered in Sri Lanka’s dominion status, with independence proclaimed on 4 February 1948. With Sri Lanka’s status as a free nation, D.S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of the country, prominent Tamil leaders like Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joining his cabinet. Even though Sri Lanka was no longer under British rule, the British Royal Navy remained stationed at Trincomalee until 1956.
S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was elected prime minister in 1956, after Senanayake’s resignation due to nationwide protests (called Hartal 1953). The Hartal 1953 was a country-wide demonstration of civil disobedience and strike, commonly known as a hartal, held in Ceylon on 12 August 1953. The purpose of this demonstration was to protest against the policies of Senanayake, especially the withdrawal of rice rations. Bandaranaike, a man with strong nationalist ideals, introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act, recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although partially reversed in 1958, the bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community. This bill was viewed as a direct threat to Tamil culture and the people. The Federal Party, which represented Sri Lankan Tamil interests launched a civil non-violence movement against the bill, leading to the formation of the Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact between Bandaranaike and Chelvanayakam. This pact however, proved ineffectual against protests by the opposition and the Buddhist clergy. Bandaranaike was ultimately assassinated in 1959 by a Buddhist extremist monk.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the widow of Bandaranaike, took office as prime minister in 1960, and withstood an attempted coup d’état in 1962. During her second term as prime minister, the government instituted socialist economic policies, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection, which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, the country became a republic named Sri Lanka, relinquishing its status as a dominion state.
The rift between the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Sinhalese only grew deeper, aggravated by political parties who exploited feelings of nationalism and community, gerrymandering and introducing affirmative action policies that divided the nation. Tensions reached a tipping point with the emergence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who assassinated Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975. This caused a national crisis.
The government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the largely unpopular United Front government. Jayawardene introduced a new constitution, together with a free-market economy and a powerful executive presidency modeled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka the first South Asian country to liberalize its economy.
THE LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM (LTTE)
The LTTE was a Tamil militant organisation that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. Tamil nationalism was the primary basis of its ideology. Its aim was to secure an independent state for the Tamil community in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments that were widely considered discriminative towards the minority Sri Lankan Tamils.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, a Tamil guerrilla leader, founded this terrorist group in 1976. Following the week-long July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom carried out by Sinhalese mobs that came to be known as Black July, the LTTE’s escalation of intermittent conflict into a full-scale nationalist insurgency began, which started the Sri Lankan Civil War. The LTTE was once widely regarded as the most dominant Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka and among the most feared guerrilla forces in the world, Prabhakaran’s actions being widely viewed as extremist. Over the course of the civil war, the LTTE often exchanged control of territory in the north-east with the Sri Lankan military. It was involved in a number of unsuccessful rounds of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government. At the height of its power in 2000, the LTTE was in control of 76% of the territory in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected as the president of Sri Lanka in 2005. During the same time, after a brief period of negotiations, the LTTE pulled out of all peace talks indefinitely. Following these events, on 25 April 2006, the LTTE tried to assassinate Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka. The European Union proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, as a result of their actions.
The Sri Lankan military launched a major offensive against the Tigers, defeating the LTTE militarily and regaining control over territories previously held by the militant organization. This victory was however, met with criticism from human rights groups around the world, on account of the fact that a lot of Tamil civilians were interned in concentration camps with no contact with the outside world.
The Sri Lankan army captured Mavil Aru in 15 August 2006. After this victory, Sampoor, Vakarai, Kanjikudichchi Aru and Batticaloa also came under military control. The military then captured Thoppigala, the Tiger stronghold in Eastern Province on 11 July 2007. The LTTE also began losing ground in the North, their defense lines gradually shrinking under the onslaught of the Sri Lankan Army. Then on 2 November 2007, a government air raid killed S. P. Thamilselvan, who was the head of the rebels’ political wing. Subsequent Sri Lankan air strikes on 26 November 2007 seriously injured Prabhakaran, who was hiding out in a bunker.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, announced that the Sri Lankan troops had captured Kilinochchi from the rebels. The LTTE had held on to this city for more than a decade, and it was the capital of LTTE held territories. On 8 January 2009, the LTTE abandoned its strongholds on the Jaffna peninsula and fled to the jungles of Mullaitivu to make a last stand. The Jaffna Peninsula fell to the Sri Lankan Army by 14 January. On 25 January 2009, Sri Lankan troops captured Mullaitivu town, the last major LTTE stronghold. The war ended with the defeat of the militant LTTE organization, their head of international relations Selvarasa Pathmanathan conceding defeat on 17 May 2009. On 19 May 2009, Sri Lankan government forces terminated Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE terrorist movement.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE CIVIL WAR
With the end of the hostilities in 2009, 11,664 LTTE members, including 595 child soldiers surrendered to the Sri Lankan military. Around 150 seasoned LTTE veterans managed to escape to India. The surrendering LTTE members were split into three categories – hardcore, non-combatants, and those who were forcibly recruited (including child soldiers). The government set up two dozen rehabilitation centers in the country under a National Action Plan for the Re-integration of Ex-combatants.
SRI LANKA TODAY – POLITICS AND RELATIONS WITH INDIA
Currently, politics in Sri Lanka is a contest between two national coalitions led by the centre-leftist and progressivist United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the comparatively right-wing and pro-capitalist United National Party (UNP). This is similar to bipartisan politics in the USA – the Republicans and the Democrats. Sri Lanka is divided into provinces, governed by provincial councils. Each provincial council is an autonomous body not under the authority of any ministry, but the councils have no authority over land and the police force.
Sri Lanka is a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). While ensuring that it maintains its independence, Sri Lanka has cultivated relations with India. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. Only 4% of Sri Lankans have a negative view on India. The two nations have close economic ties, with India being the island nation’s largest trading partner. India and Sri Lanka also share a maritime border. There are deep racial and cultural links between the two countries.
