Dr. Susantha Gunathilake in an insightful article published in yesterday's Daily Mirror highlights the need of stringent measures that should to be taken to erase the fictional Tamil History and 'Homeland theory' implanted in minds of Tamil people in Sri Lanka, which has been created in order to meet the political aspirations of Vellala Tamil elite from Jaffna. Brainwashed and poisoned for years by this fabricated history Tamils in Sri Lanka are reluctant to shed the false concept of mono ethnic exclusively Tamil enclave in Sri Lanka. This idea is well reflected by the results of the recently concluded Local Government Election which gave the LTTE's proxy, TNA a victory in the majority of the local government bodies despite the fact that the unprecedented development efforts taken by the government in the "Northern Province giving its the highest rate of growth in the country with infrastructure reconstruction on a massive scale". The fiercely conceived fabricated history in the minds of the people makes it's easy to Tamil racist elements here and abroad to exploit them to furtherance their political aspirations. Dr. Gunathilke eloquently points out how the authorities took stupendous measures to erase the fascist Nazi ideology implanted in the minds of the people at the conclusion of the World War -11 in Europe though it took some time to completely erase it. The authorities went on to even banning 30,000 books on Nazi Ideology and "those who collaborated ideologically were removed from positions of influence".
Challenged and made helpless by the hard evidences in the form of archeological remains found length and breath of north east which are corroborated by the chronicles of their existences, the Eelamist have gone to the extent of resorting to claim an existence of a Tamil Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka. Case in point is Kadurugoda Viharaya Tamilnized as Kanthrodai
I quote some of the paragraphs of his very enlightening article
"The parallels between the LTTE and Nazi ideology are also revealing. Examples: a false exclusive mono-ethnic traditional homelands, ethnic cleansing, indoctrination of the gullible by raw racist propaganda, undisputed rule by one man, brainwashing of the young through a fictional history.
The Nazis were in power for its propaganda only for a period of 12 years from 1933 to 1945 compared with the nearly 35 years of propaganda the separatist forces carried out among Tamils in Sri Lanka. This propaganda extended to a massive invention of history. For example, the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) findings of Sinhala Buddhist remains at Kandarodai in Jaffna in 1917 by Paul Pieris and Rasanayagam, the author of Ancient Jaffna were changed by Jaffna academics during the LTTE control to be "Tamil Buddhist" unconnected with the rest of Sri Lanka. A total new fictional history indirectly justifying separatism was created and fed to the Northern population for several decades."
"The lessons learnt from Germany are very clear. Decades long, brainwashing does not vanish after a military victory. The problem is not with the Diaspora, it is here among the brainwashed. Concerted efforts should be made to clear the virus. In our case, it is to remove teaching a false invented history with fictional traditional homelands. All those who subscribe to this should be removed from government and university employment. Indian Tamil separatism was stopped after the 1962 China war through its 16th Amendment banning separatism."
I also take this as an opportunity to quote a few Tamilinized names of original Sinhala place names in north and east as I did in one of my previous articles as well. They were taken from 'Traditional Sinhala Place names of cities in Sri Lanka', a comprehensive work on the Sinhalese place names in the North and East, which have later been Tamilinized.
ATTANAVAEVA, අත්තනවැව- Achchankulam
Mannarama [Mannar district)
Meaning: There is no "achchan" listed in the usual Tamil dictionaries and Lexicons; however, close forms like 'accan' may be listed. 'Achchan' means "brother", (also father etc.) in Malayalam, and may be the source of the sinhala slang word "machang". However, there is no contextually useful meaning in it for a place-name. On the other hand, the sinhala word "Attana" refers to a plant species (Latin Dathura Alba, or Datura metal, Tamil "Umaththai"). Its occurrence in Sinhala place names is well established. The plant and seeds contain the alkaloids Hyoscine, hyoscyamine, norhyoscyanine and atropine. The plant as a whole is a narcotic, and the Tamil name "Ummaththai" is probably derived from the Sanskrit/Pali word which means (causing) "madness", or "ummmada" in Sinhala. It is poisonous. Its use in Ayurveda is well established.
ATHURUELIYA, අතුරුඑලිය- Achchelu
Jaffana (Yapanaya)
This is a common sinhala place name. "Athuru" mean "nearby" in the present context (also, it may in other contexts mean "supplementary", or "inter-mediating"). "Eliya" implies an "open place", a "cleared place", or a region held as a "common". In other contexts it may mean "a source of light". hist: Ancient Buddhist shrine and Dagoba, referred to by de Queyroz
ATHURUVAELLA- අතුරුවැල්ල -Achchuveli, Achuvely
Jaffna-(Yapanaya)
The etymology of this place-name is similar to that given in preceding discussions. "Vaella" means "shore", or a "sandy place". This name is often found in southern maritime areas in SL. This is a location of ancient Buddhist ruins; de Queyroz, discussing the fall of Jaffna says "It remained under the Portugezen sway for upwards of 40 years, wrested from the Emperor by Philippo d'Olivero when he defeated the Cingalezen forces near Achiavelli (Achuvely) by the great pagoda".
HADUGALA -හඩුගල- Adaichakal
Madakalapuwa[Batticaloa]
'Adai, Adicha, or related stubs do not occur in the Tamil Lexicons. There is a small Tank here;
HADUGALMOTTE- හඩුගල්- මොටේ- Adaikkalamoddai
Adaikkalmottai, Adukkalmoddai
Mannarama district [Mannar]
'Motte ← Modde ← Made' signifies a muddy, swampy place. The Latin word for 'marsh' is 'madeo', while Skrt. 'manda' means slime. In Tamil, Ala, Alaru Alakkar, Ceru etc., are used for mud.
AADAMPANA or AETTAMPANA or RAAMAPAENNA- ආදම්පන, ඇටිටංපන
රාම පැන්න රාමසේතු -Adampan -Adampanai, அடம்பன்
Mannarama District
Meaning. Tamil "Pan" by itself seems to have no immediate meaning, however, "pampan", and the sinhala "paalama" (පාලම) both means 'bridge'. This name may have been inspired by "Adam's bridge" near by, across the Falk straits. However, the name Adampan is found in several places which are far away from "Adam's bridge", e.g., in the North Vanni, and in the Trincomalee district (near Gomarankadavala), and hence it cannot be positively connected with Adam's bridge. Note that the old names "Rama bridge" (irāma;-cētu; இராமசேது in Tamil consistent with the Tolkkappiam rules), or Ramasethu, was replaced by "Adam's bridge" in 1804 by the British surveyor James Rennel. He was the first Surveyor General of British India. 'Siripada', (or 'Adams peak'), known also as 'Vishnupada' in the Mahabharata was also renamed "Adam's peak" by Rennel. "Setu" means bridge in Sanskrit and other source languages.
It has sometimes been claimed in some Internet blogs, without much foundation, that the Tamil word "Adampu" has been used for "bin-thambura", a creeper which grows by the sea shore, and found almost every where in the costal regions of SL. The well-known Tamil name for "bin thambura" is "attukkal". The placename "adampana" is not found in any early records, but came in during the British era. All these suggest that the place-name is unlikely to have originated from the construed name "Adampu". We believe that the old name is "aettampana". "Aettanpana', or "Aththampana" where "attana" or "Aththana" (Bot: Datura alaba)is well known. The word "aththana" occurs in plant names like Rukattana (bot:Alstonia scholaris), "Kaulaththana etc., and are well recognized plant species.
AETTAMPANA-ඇටිටංපන-Adampan
Giranikke-[Killinochchi]
See previous discussion under "adampana" in mannar
AETTAMPANTALA-AADAMPANTHALAVA, AADAMPANTHALAVA, RAAMANTALAVA- ඇටිටංපන්තල ආදම්පන්තලාව රාමන්තලාව-Adampantalavu
Mannarama
Read the discussion under "Adampan"
ATHTHANAMADE- අත්තනමඩ- Adampanmodddai
Giranikke-[Killinochchi]
Read the discussion under "Adampan", regarding the plant "aththana", and the etymology of the word "mada", "moddei" and the english "mud" under the entry "Athimottai".
ADDARAHENA –ATTAALAHENA- අද්දරහේන- Addalaichenai, Addalachenai, ApdalacChena
Ampare
Meaning: In Tamil "Addalai" has no immediate contextual meaning; it may have originated from the sinhala "addara" = "near by" , or "attaala" = "scaffolding". The sinhala, word ``attaala'' is related to the Sanskrit and Pali words for "scaffolding". It may mean a raised hut usually made of wooden beams, bamboo etc. But the common tamil usage for the latter is `Paran', and "addalai" may be a form which is not current. However, the word order is incorrect as "attaala" or "addala" is not used as an adjective. Thus "Addarahena", a common place name, is the most judicious choice for the origin of this name, while "attaalahena" is not prevalent and etymologically unlikely.
The remaining part of the name contains 'Chennai'. It is from the Sinhala "hena", i.e., 'slash-burn' cultivation plots. In Tamil 'Chenai' may mean 'army' and does not fit into the context here
AETAAPAENNAVEVA- ඇතා පැන්නවැව- Adappankulum
Mannarama-Mannar
This literarily means, in Sinhala,"The Tank into which the elephant jumped". "Aetapan" may also be a type of grass or reed (but not identified)
More names will follow with coming posts.
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