ILAM (Eelam) = Sinhala Homeland !

This article appearing in today's The Nation paper throws more light to expose the 'Tamils Homeland' fantasy with a fine analysis of the Tamil lexicon meaning of the word Eelam itself which means the Sinhala Land. Lt Col. (Retd) Anil Amarasekera, a prolific writer and a scholar finely analyses some critical reasons behind the defeat of the LTTE in his latest article. The first reason he highlights is based on the fact that 'false claims cannot and will not succeed'. Therefore, the defeat of the LTTE is simply a story of the Truth's triumph over the falsehood.

I quote the relevant paragraph of his article which brilliantly exposes the fact that the word Eelam means none other than the Sinhala Land        

"With regard to territorial claims made by the LTTE the word ILAM (Eelam), comes into much prominence. It is, apparently, being used to connote the impression of "a land of the Tamils". Indeed, the Tamil word ILAM was never before used in that sense. On the contrary, this Tamil word ILAM did not refer to Tamil land but to the "Land of the Sinhala people". None other establishes this than the Tamil lexicon published under the authority of the highest seat of Tamil learning - the University of Madras. Page 328 of this Tamil lexicon has the following entry: ILAM, n< Pali, Sinhala, 1. Ceylon. What it says is that ILAM means the land of the Sinhala people. The Tamil word given as the meaning of ILAM reads "SINHALUM". The term ILA in Tamil means "SINHALA", having its origin in the word HELA, by which term the ancient people of LANKA were known. Thus ILAKKACHU in Tamil means "Sinhala Coins"- ILA means Sinhala, Kachchu means Coins. Similarly, since NADU means LAND, ILANADU means the Sinhala land. According to the said lexicon the word ILANADU was derived from ILAM. The foregoing establishes the fact that the word ILAM (Eelam) never referred to any Tamil land but always signified the Sinhala land. Therefore, if one were to ask for ILAM (Eelam), what is being asked for is the traditional homeland of the Sinhala people. Therefore, such false claims cannot and will not succeed and that perhaps is one reason for the defeat of the LTTE."

So the time is ripe for those who are in search of a homeland for Tamils to change its name first foremost and then start the search to locate where it truly exists. But it is certainly not in Sri Lanka!

Is there a need of a political solution to the “North East Problem”?

The loud and clear answer to this question is "NO". Why? Because there is no problem in the North and East in existence to give a solution!  Sri Lankan government seems to be now in a helpless situation, apparently with the pressure being exerted by India to go for this so called "political solution".   

As well known the demand for this so called political solution is very much based on the mythical "homeland" fantasy created by the power hungry Tamil elite. So this demand is purely aimed at satisfying desires of a few Tamil elites based on a fanatical idea perpetuated with nonexistent "grievances of Tamils". It is an undisputable fact that the most of the grievances which were supposed to have been in existence among Tamils some decades ago are no longer in existence. Solutions to the most of the so called grievances have well been addressed. Careful analysis reveals that the problems faced by the Tamils and Muslims in the North and East are same as the problems faced by the people in other parts of the country with no specific problems confining to the provinces which was discussed in my previous post regarding the subject.  There are no longer any injustices in existence in terms of Language, education, employment, security or any other ways. Tamils are the equal beneficiaries of all the rights enjoyed by the Sinhalese as well. The security related problems that prevailed during the war is non-existence now. The resettlement of the war displaced is being done at a remarkable pace while the remaining IDPs will be settled soon. The government has undertaken a massive development schemes in the regions ravaged by the war with most of the Eastern districts being first to get the benefits.      

Forefront among those who demand a political solution are Eelamists or supporters of Eelamists who live in the mythical Homeland fantasy. They are the same people who supported the LTTE to carry out mass scale Sinhala ethnic cleansing programmes in the North and East.

I will discuss here only a few among many grave consequences that would befall on the country in general and the Sinhalese living in the provinces in particular in the event of such a "political solution" is granted. Foremost among the so called political solution will consist of powers vested to use the lands and enjoy the police powers.   

Lands

Any so called political solution entails the power vested to control resources, the foremost among them being the lands. The lands are the most vital resources available in the North and East with the largest swathes of unused and very fertile lands still intact. This availability of lands is equally supported by the vast number of irrigation works constructed by the Sinhalese kings.

The scarcity of lands has been one of the major problems faced by the people from other part of the country especially by the Sinhalese. This scarcity among Sinhalese is well exemplified by the moves they have taken to encroach the lands in Somawathee and Kokilai national parks as reported recently.

It is the forefathers of Sinhalese with their sweat and blood who developed these regions and turned them into rice bowls with magnificent irrigation systems. So it will be a great injustice to them if their own future generations are deprived to reap the fruits of their toil by giving in to a bogus homeland fantasy created and forested by a bunch of racists.    

The Eelamists prime idea of creating a mono ethnic entity in the region will conveniently be fulfilled with the powers to control the lands being bestowed upon them as they will allow no future Sinhalese or Muslim settlements in the region claiming that there will be "changes to the demographic stability of the Tamils depriving their rights to have the homeland".        

Sinhalese who are the minority in the North and East have become unfortunate victims of racist approaches followed by the Tamil and Muslim government servants ably supported by their racist political brethren. It is a well accepted fact that the Tamil and Muslim government servants discriminate Sinhalese over their own communities which is very common in Trincomalee and Ampara districts respectively. The Sinhala villages in the districts are purposely neglected and deprived with the government schemes and other benefits being hardly channeled to them. This is being done from the Grama Niladhri level to Divisional Secretary level.  Landless Sinhalese are discriminated with no permits being issued to them. Therefore, Sinhalese have become a voiceless, marginalized and poverty stricken lot.

The acute housing problem among the Sinhalese is growing day by day while many houses built in the Trincomalee district in several villages with the support of pro-LTTE I/NGOs for LTTE martyrs are still unoccupied. The return of perceived "Tamil civilians" from India is the common excuse being used to keep these houses remain unoccupied by the Tamil government servants in the DS level. Under these circumstances it is very much clear the scenario that would emerge if any powers are vested to the Eelamist politicians well supported by racist government servants to control lands and other resources.  

Police Powers:

The memories of the Sinhalese who lived in the North and East are still fresh with the atrocities carried out by the Tamil National Army when the IPKF was in the provinces. Sinhalese were chased away from their ancient villages and their properties were destroyed and confiscated by this Tamil National Army with the support of IPKF. This is the sour consequences of the first attempt to give a sort of so called 'police powers' to the regions. So it is well understandable the consequences which will lay ahead to the Sinhalese in the event of police powers being granted to a bunch of racists.    

The fate of Buddhist temples and archeological sites:

As was highlighted in my many posts including my previous post great damages have been caused to the thousands of ancient Buddhist temples and archeological sites that scatter all over the North and East. There had been many instances where the Hindu kovils have been built over them in an attempt to prove that they were part of "Tamil homeland". So with powers being granted, the fate that would befall to them is very much certain. 

Therefore, this so called "political solution" will certainly be a great injustice to the thousands of people who scarified their lives to preserve the rights of any ethnic community to live peacefully any part of the country with no particular resources being deprived to them. As mentioned earlier it will be a great injustice to the Sinhalese forefathers too whose scarifies in lives, blood and sweat turned the region into a great civilization until it was destroyed by the foreign invasions and colonial occupation depriving Sinhalese their own homeland.

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries!

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya in Trincomalee have been a great tourist attraction. This has specially been the case after the war was over. The place is quite known among many as wells with hot water. But the most glaring fact, unknown to many, is that the place used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries spread over a vast area. The hot water wells are just a part of complex of ponds of the monastery.( pond complexes are common feature of Buddhist monasteries). Extensive changes have been made to these ponds to use as a bathing spot. 

As has always been the case with thousands of Buddhist places in North and Eastern part of the country this place too have not been able to escape the wrath of "Tamil Homeland Fantasy". An extensive destruction has been caused to the place and an attempt has been made to build a Hindu Kovil on parts of the ruins of the monastery in order to claim that the place was a piece evidence proving 'Tamil Homeland'.  One of the glaring examples of similar kind of many places which faced the same fate is the famous Koneswaran Temple in Trincomalee which was the Gokanna Viharaya before it was destroyed by the Portuguese. It was later turned into a Hindu place of warship after building a Hindu Kovil there. (The true history of the Temple is mentioned in this post).  

The photos show the attempts made to turn the place into a Hindu Kovil with a concrete foundation laid concealing the base of a Buddhist Pagoda (Degaba). The destructed parts of the stone monuments and bricks are strewn in all over the place.

A vast number of ruins of the Buddhist temples, caves, inscriptions and other works such as tank and irrigation works have been the major source of evidence to prove the existence of flouring Sinhala civilization in the North and East in Sri Lanka.  This is corroborated by the mentioning of the existence of them in the chronicles such as Mahavamsa, Deepavamsa and Chulavamsa etc. The Tamilinized place names which were earlier used to be the Sinhala place names are also strong evidences for the existence of a Sinhala civilization in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

Post Script: the funniest and bizarre part of the whole story is that a mosque is also being built close to the premises.