Thursday, September 29, 2005

Destination: Bihar, North India
Who owns this island and where do we come from anyway?

I think if anyone can actually say this island belongs to them, it's the Veddhas. But all us invaders have treated them pretty much like the 'Australians' have treated their natives. We've turned them into semi-animal being who have been denied the right to hunt in the forests, and to continue to live their lives as they have for for thousands of years. They have been forced to turn into showpeices who perform tricks for tourists who come to Sri Lanka with unassailable notions of orientalism.

Despite our collective attempts to stamp out the fact that both the Sinhala and Tamil people are as alien to this country as the British and the rest of the colonials were, the truth still subconsciously nags every Sri Lankan.

So, for all the Sinhalese who say that the Tamils should go back to where they came from, I'd say that's a damn good option considering the fact that the Sinhalese wouldn't really want to go back to where we came from. Bihar and Jharkand in North India aren't really the best places to live, if you can call survival in a lawless barbarian state life.

My favourite joke about Bihar is a one liner that goes like this:

The last intelligent man to come from Bihar was the Gautama Buddha, and that was over 2,500 years ago.

I suggest the Sinhala right wingers google Bihar and Jharkand and find out how things are back home. If we were all to get kicked out of this country by the Veddhas I'd throw in my lot with the Tamils and go to South India. At least I wouldn't have to hunt my own food there like I'd have to if I went back to North India with the Sinhalese :)

Lissen up y'all my Tamil brothas and sistahs! I'm catching your boat!

Note: Apologies for this slightly confused post. I'm a little out of sorts today.

posted by Morquendi @  11:52 PM   || 11 opinion/s ||
Comments:
# posted by Blogger Morquendi : September 29, 2005 12:51 PM
 
Mephisto, man I'm talking about people who still think we sprang forth from the loins of a lion!

You can't really expect someone like that to know Gananath's work.

Yes I was thinking about bring a bit of Gananath's work into this but thought I would leave it for a later, more deserving post.

Have you read 'The Work of Culture'? I wanted to write a post about patricide. I've never wanted to kill my dad though. Maybe I would've if he had a throne. That would've been fun :)
# posted by Blogger sittingnut : September 29, 2005 1:20 PM
 
devil1981:
agree with you. i think most of the people now living here came after 16th century. i posted something similar to what you wrote just now in 'being sri lankan' thread before reading this.

its about time someone did a comprehensive study.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : September 30, 2005 4:28 AM
 
Well, the symbolism says it all does'nt it?

The Sinhalese use the lion in their flag, the LTTE use the tiger yet neither animal ever lived in the country.

Both, however, are native to India.

Is this some subconscious association with their real roots?
# posted by Blogger sittingnut : October 01, 2005 7:56 AM
 
ashanthi:
do stop apologizing for capitalizations please. others might think you are apologizing for the argument. :-)
# posted by Blogger sittingnut : October 02, 2005 4:53 AM
 
MERCI :-) see i am pleased.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 12, 2005 11:52 PM
 
Hi there Ashanti!Was curious abt the kind of racism Sri lankans show towards Indians?Do u mean that they just deny their roots or is it at some other level/
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 17, 2005 2:01 AM
 
Thanks for all that! well, coming from India myself, I had no clue abt the inter-racial relations except in SL. Was informative...thanks!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 19, 2005 4:31 PM
 
i would say the tamils and sinhalese are distinct (contrary to the opinion of most people here). perhaps that' because im sinhalese. perhaps its also because i dislike people taking authors (obeysekera) out of context. obeysekera talks about a period when most of western europe was ruled by tribes. over time these people intermingled and formed the modern modern English, German and French 'races' (though the more correct term would be ethnicities). But this in no way breaks the distinction between French and English (for instance). in fact in western europe most of those states shared a common religion ie. roman catholicism. This is unlike the Buddhist-Hindu relationship which exists between Sri Lanka and mainland India. Even accounting for the diffusion of Hindu practices in Buddhism they are still quite distinct. The caste system is also different for Tamils and Sinhalese. So I don't believe we all belong to one race called the "Sri Lankan Race". There was no such thing except in ancient Sri Lanka when the country's native inhabitants were collectively known as Sinhala. This blanket term also included a significant number of naturalised tamils. But they were not known as Tamils, they were simply known as Sinhala; the native inhabitants of the island of sihela. On the other hand, whenever there is a reference to Tamils (Demala) in the Mahavamsa, its pointing to 'foreign elements' (usually hostile).

Also, there is no such thing as 'pure' vaddas in Sri Lanka anymore. It should be pointed out that whoever or whatever the Vadda was, their genes have now been absorbed into mainstream Sri Lankan society. So you could argue that the Vaddas are in effect "us". In fact Sinhalese words like "kukula" (leg)are Vadda words. There is a whole vocabulary of "hela" words in the Sinhalese lexicon. But what we refer to as Sinhalese has always been a vehicle for that extinguished language. Let me reiterate the point: the Sinhalese language is the last vestige of Vadda language. It is not simply a cultural borrowing from the Vaddas. Sinhalese people in rural areas (who tend to use a more archaic dialect) still use a lot of the hela terms.

During particular phases of the evolution of the Sinhalese langauge, ancient writers tended to use more or less of the hela terms. Sanscrit and pali borrowings from India often took precedence over the common language of the people. Nevertheless, despite these foreign intrusions, the hela language continued to be preserved through everyday usage. To the best of my knowledge I don't believe Tamil contains any Vadda terms? Perhaps someone here might be able to inform me otherwise.

So that, I hope, clears up my position on the debate. And yes, I believe Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese country. And if you think about it that makes a lot of sense. In Britain there are numerous ethnic groups: Celts (mainly Irish), Scots (who are a hybrid of Celt and Germanic tribes), Welsh ..etc. But what language do all Britons speak fluently? Yes you guessed it, English! The the ethnic group which now calls itself the "English race" (Welsh, Scot, English) is therefore a myth, but nonetheless the basis for a potent political concept: nationhood. If the English nation is founded on this 'myth', why is it that in Sri Lanka we denounce every counter argument to pluralism as 'racist' or discriminatory against minorites. One begins to wonder who the discriminated party really is.

Have a good one guys. A great site by the way.
# posted by Blogger sittingnut : October 20, 2005 2:46 PM
 
j5:
have to disagree on several points
This is unlike the Buddhist-Hindu relationship which exists between Sri Lanka and mainland India- not so, there were times when buddhism was the dominant religion in india including south india at least politically.

The caste system is also different for Tamils and Sinhalese- not by much actually.

if veddahs have become mixed with sinhalese what makes you think tamils haven't? there certainly are more tamil words in sinhala than veddah language words. in fact current veddah language is probably a derivative of sinhala(not the other way round as you argue), their original language has probably died out.

racial purity is a myth everywhere on earth.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 29, 2005 11:54 PM
 
LOL, lemme know if u do catch the boat.... You always have a place!! ( unlike the singalese with thier barbarian brothers)lol!!

sorry for being anon my email is here so no worries. ysmustudent@yahoo.com
# posted by Blogger Abid Hussain : October 27, 2008 12:17 AM
 
Sorry, but your article doen't carry any reference of Singhalese beig Bihari and u firangi, better u know that all the IT hypes and best brains still hails from Bihar. For better intidimacy consult your any Indian friend and discuss about the different competitive exams reults (IIT/CAT/ Civil Services etc) of throughout, which is thought to be mother of all exams world over. pls, show toleration towards others while expressing ur views in the common forum. Mind it.......

AB
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