people of Sri lanka

People of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is the land of multi-ethnic groups distinctively divided by two main characteristics: language and religion which consequently intersect to create four principal ethnic groups.

The first one is the largest minority group of the country-that is Sinhalese people, accounting for 74% of its total population, densely populated in the southwest of the island.

The second largest group is Tamils which is subdivided into two groups: the Ceylon Tamils or Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils. Altogether, these two groups of Tamils account for 18% of the country's populace. The Ceylon Tamils concentrate in the northern and eastern parts of the country while the Indian Tamils separate to settle in the south central Sri Lanka.

The next group is Moors, the Arab origins, recognized as the Muslims of 7% of total population scattering around the Central Highlands. Actually, among Moors, themselves, comprises of three subdivisions: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Moors, and the Malays.

The fourth group is the Burghers who are the descendants of the Portuguese and the Dutch.

The ethnic division in Sri Lanka has brought conflicts to public life since the nineteenth century. Actually, ethnic divisions are not based on race or physical appearance; language and religious system are neither the officially social segregation among each ethnic group. Yet, certain historical circumstances played even more important role in animosity among them, leading to divergence and competition for political and economic power as seen today as an ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

Original inhabitants in Sri Lanka

Before the present ethnic groups of Sri Lanka today, it is said that Sri Lanka have been inhabited by the indigenous people called Yakka who lived in the Neolithic community, dating back to at least 16,000 B.C. or probably far earlier according to the current scientific hypothesis; they are believed to be the ancestor of the Wanniyala-Aetto ("forest-beings"), also known as the "Veddha" in Sinhalese language. Their life profoundly attaches to their tropical forest environment, enjoying their living as the hunter-gatherers for millenniums as there is a quotation of the leader of survival Veddhas defining himself and his fellows accordingly:

"I was born in the forest. My ancestors come from here. We are the forest beings, and I want to live and die here. And even if I were reborn only as a fly or an ant, I would still be happy so long as I knew I would come back to live here in the forest."

- Uru Warige Tissahamy 97-year old elder Wanniyala-Aetto wisdom keeper

In the course of the history, the Veddhas have undertaken the challenges of their identical survival along with various foreign invasions. First by the Sinhalese invasion in the 6th century and later by the Tamils from India; five centuries of Portuguese, Dutch and British colonization, and the Two World Wars. The Veddhas have constantly been forced to choose between two alternatives for the sake of their community's survival: either to be assimilated to other cultures or to retreat ever further into the reducing forest habitat. In the 1980s, the Veddhas were evicted from their home forest in the eastern highlands and relocated by the Sri Lankan government as a result of the Mahaweli Ganga Program and the establishment of the Maduru Oya National Park.

Resettled and also restricted from roaming the land, the Veddhas could not continue their ancestral life hunting. As a result, they are obliged to assimilate to the main stream culture for their community's survival. Their cycle of life has turned to money as their life earning; they sell honey and whatever they find in the jungle and get money in return. Nowadays, they are virtually dependent to money that they became the victim of commercialism. The extinction of the Veddhas' culture is imminent; that's why the Veddhas have decided to adapt and survive by practically giving up their hunter-gather lifestyle and selling their culture to both local and foreign tourists instead.

Nowadays, the wisdom and distinctive culture of these indigenous people attract the world interest. Supports and appeals from international organizations for turning the Veddhas back to their home jungles and for their struggle for their cultural survival are examples of consciousness of precious wisdom and fascinating culture of the forest-beings, Veddhas.

Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka

Sinhalese
The Sinhalese are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, accounting for 74 percent of the total population. The Sinhalese are not the indigenous people of Sri Lanka. According to the legend, the Sinhalese were descendants of Prince Vijaya and his fellows migrating from the northern India into the island in the 6th century B.C, bringing with them the agricultural economy and language. Later, Prince Vijaya and his Sinhalese immigrants inter-married with indigenous inhabitants. Hereby, they could conquer the whole island and developed their early Sinhalese Kingdom with Theravada Buddhism as the basis of political, social and economic ideology.

The Sinhalese was excellent in irrigation systems. With the challenging geology and climate in the northern and eastern parts of the island where they first settled, the Sinhalese tried to subdue the aridity by irrigating waters from the Mahaweli Ganga River through its irrigation network into plains, allowing then the sufficient water supplies for cultivation in the region. The excellent network of irrigation system consequently formed the basis of prosperous economy with a large agricultural surplus that sustained a vivacious civilization, and Buddhism was the core of that civilization, giving it more dignity and elegance.

Buddhism is the significant element for unifying Sinhalese people as an ethnic entity as well as their splendid culture and arts. It was formally introduced into Sri Lanka in the third century B.C. during the reign of Devanampiyatissa, a contemporary of the famous emperor of India, Asoka the Great who sent the first Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka.

Despite their homogenous feeling of being Sinhalese, there is difference among the Sinhalese themselves. The "Kandy" and the "low-country" Sinhalese are distinct from each other. The Kandy Sinhalese dwell in the highlands which remained independent until 1818. Consequently, they are more traditional with their conservative cultural and social forms. Traditional Buddhism was in force in education while English education was less respected. Caste system related to occupational role is still practiced among the Kandy Sinhalese with a slow change.

Unlike the Kandy Sinhalese, the low-country Sinhalese inhabiting in plains and the coast of Sri Lanka experienced significant change through 400 years of European rule. A number of coastal people, especially among the Karava caste, were converted to Christianity through the missionary efforts of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British. The old conceptions of noble and servile status declined, and the social mobility was based on economic opportunity or service to the colonial government. The wider and more cosmopolitan viewpoint differentiated then the low-country Sinhalese from the more conservative inhabitants of the highlands.

Tamils
The Tamils are the second-largest group in Sri Lanka after the Sinhalese, comprising approximately 18% of Sri Lanka population. They use Tamil language as their native tongue which is one of the Dravidian languages spoken in the Indian peninsular. Actually, the Tamil settlement can be traced back to the pre-historic times. But the substantial stream of Tamil immigration started during the centuries of the conflicts between the southern Indian kingdoms and the Sinhalese Kingdom on the island which ended up with the conquest over the northern Sri Lanka of one of those kingdoms, Chola (around the fifth and sixth century A.D.). Chola Dynasty from the southern India brought with them Hinduism which also flourished at that time in India. These Tamils established their kingdom in the northern region of Sri Lanka and later downed east. The Sinhalese were then evicted from the northern and eastern parts of the country to the southwest.

The Tamils in Sri Lanka, however, are divided into two groups which have differently historical background from each other. The first group is the so-called "Sri Lanka Tamils" or "Ceylon Tamils" whose origins can be traced back to more than thousand years; they are regarded as a native minority. The other group is the "Indian Tamils" whose ancestors were brought from southern India to work on tea plantations in the Central Highlands during the British Rule (1796-1948). Since the Indian Tamils lived on plantation settlement, they have not become an integral part of the society and in fact, seen by the Sinhalese as foreigners. The population of the Indian Tamils has been declining as they repatriated to Tamil Nadu, their home land in southern India.

Despite their division, the Tamils all have the common religions, beliefs, language and culture. Some 80 percent of the Sri Lanka Tamils and 90 percent of Indian Tamils are Hindus. Their religious beliefs, myths, literatures, and rituals are dissimilar from any cultural sources of the Sinhalese. The caste system which came alongside Hinduism also differs form that of the Sinhalese. Consequently, the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is obviously separated from the mainstream Sinhalese culture, creating somewhat the ethnic awareness between them. The Tamils dominate the Jaffna Peninsular as their main settlements with some minorities dwelling in other northern and eastern districts.

Muslims (Moors)
The Muslims have been an integral part of Sri Lankan society for over thousands years. Arab merchants and sailors from the Middle East have first landed on the coastal belt of Ceylon during the Prophet Muhammad's life time for trades and business. By the 10th century, the prominent Arab community came into existence in Sri Lanka and has held sway the trade of the southwest ports as they had cordial relations with local people. The Sinhalese kings, who were not specialized in trading, generally employed Muslims ministers to manage the state's commercial affairs, allowing then an overseeing growth of Muslim community in later times.

The Muslims in Sri Lanka today are the offspring of the intercourse between the Arabs and the local women, especially Tamil women, comprising 7 percent of the Sri Lankan population. They adopted Tamil language instead of retaining their complicated Arabian language for the reason that Tamil language was a common language for communication of trading along the coast, but they still practicing the religion of Islam. In the Muslim community, it is sub-divided into three groups of Muslims who have different roots and relations to the country: The Sri Lanka Moors, the Indian Moors, and the Malays.

The Sri Lanka Moors account for 93% of Muslim population in Sri Lanka. Their ancestry can be traced back to Arab traders who moved from the Middle East to the southern India and Sri Lanka some times between the eight and the fifteenth centuries. The Sri Lanka Moors scatter all over the Island, more densely on the northwest coast and east coast districts, preserving their Islamic heritage while adopting many South Asian customs and local conditions. They still play the significant role in trade and business of the country.

The Indian Moors originated from the Indian Muslims from various parts of India who migrated in to the Island for the search of business opportunity during the colonial periods. Some came to the country as far back as the Portuguese period (16th century); others arrived during the British rule for works on tea plantations.

The Malays trace their origins to the immigrants from Indonesia under the colonization of the Dutch. Most of early Malays were soldiers serving for the Dutch colonial administration who decided to make the island their home for good. Other immigrants were convicts or members of noble families from Indonesia who were exiled to Sri Lanka and have settled down here ever since. They are distinct from the other Muslims by their original language of Malay. Of total Muslim population in Sri Lanka, the Malays account for 5%. The majority of the Malays confine themselves nowadays in Colombo.

Burghers
The origins of the Burghers can be traced to the first colonization on the Island by the Portuguese. Since the Portuguese women coming to the Island at that time were very few, the Portuguese enhanced their populace in the new land by an inter-marriage with the native women. This method of settlement was very successful; there were more mixed Portuguese people speaking Portuguese, practicing Catholic, and better suited to the tropical climate than the European-born Portuguese.

After the Portuguese, the Dutch came in to their dominance over the island; they, too, searched for some colonies for Dutch citizens. The inter-marriage with native women (often the Indo-Portuguese women) was permitted only if that particular woman professed Christianity, and the daughters of this union had to marry to a Dutchman.
By then, the Portuguese and the Dutch were mixed together, allowing the growth of the European community in Sri Lanka in the 18th century. They dressed European, practiced the Dutch Reformed Church and spoke Dutch or Portuguese.

However, in the passage of time, the Burgher community developed into two distinct communities: Dutch Burghers and Portuguese Burghers. The Dutch Burghers were those who could demonstrate European ancestry (Dutch or Portuguese) through the male line; they were white, were adherents to the Dutch Reformed Church and spoke Dutch. The Portuguese Burghers were those who had a supposed European ancestry; they had dark skin, were Catholics, and spoke Creole Portuguese.

For generations, there has been the influx of newcomers from Europe which mixed with the Burgher families, making their community able to retain its distinctive cultural traditions. During the British rule, the Burghers were employed in the Colonial administration, and soon, they abandoned the use of Dutch language and adopted English as their own language. The Portuguese language continued to be used among the Dutch Burghers families as the colloquial language until the end of the 19th century.

By the end of the British rule, the Dutch Burgher community had lost its significant role and privilege in Sri Lankan society. Many of them emigrated to Australia and Canada after 1961. However, the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon founded in 1907 is the center of the European descendants who still live in Sri Lanka.

Rise of ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka: Sinhalese VS. Tamils

The ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese who now wield political and economic power of the country and the Tamils, the second-largest groups violently erupted in the late 1970s, and is still the ubiquitous issue of terrorism stirring the world security nowadays. The difference of religions, beliefs and historical background has provoked ethnic identity amongst them and also has considerably separated them from each other. Not only are those ostensible elements that cause the conflicts, certain times of discrimination, competition, and other pressures are also the subtle elements accumulated through the passage of time and came to its head when each side adopted the violent approach towards each other.

Chronicles and religious mythologies have been an essential role in the eruption of communal identity and animosity on the multi-ethnic island. It was the Sinhalese who are conscious of their majority community on the island and who have so profound faith in Buddhist religion that they regarded themselves as the "protector of Buddhism". Accordingly, their unity is as indispensable as the Buddhist stability, allowing denial of its multi-ethnic society. The strong faith, ethnic awareness associated with memories of frequently aggressive intrusion of the neighboring South India has imprinted the unfriendly image of the Tamil-speaking as invaders in both cultural and political sphere.

Around the sixth century A.D., the intrusion of the Hindu Tamils from the south India was more aggressive and could expel the Sinhalese inhabiting in the central-north of the island to move to the south-west coast. This event may have embedded the feeling of being menaced by the other groups of people-that is the Tamils.

The European colonization which began with the Portuguese followed by the Dutch, and finally the British, especially the latter, has made the ethnic situation in Sri Lanka more complex. During the British rule, the commercialization of agriculture and the registration of title to land have demarcated the fix boundaries for each ethnic group. This resulted in the effective consolidation of the Sinhalese community in the central and southwestern parts of the island and the Tamil community in the north and on the eastern seaboard. The discontent feeling from discrimination occurred this time among the Tamils since the economic developments mainly concentrated in the central and western areas where the majority Sinhalese inhabited. This left the Tamil community in a disadvantaged position. They tried then to overcome this by moving to the state employment. In the same time, the Tamil traders took this occasion to establish their trade in the central and western regions, too.

While the Tamils got better opportunities in professional field in the Colonial administration, education as well as trades supported by the British, the Sinhalese felt discriminated against the disproportion of their rights of holding economic power and access to good jobs and higher education compared to the Tamils. It was then that the anti-imperialist and anti-Christianity movements were shaped.

At the first steps, the issue of language was brought to public attention in the 1935 when the Lanka Samasamaja Party was formed. The Party introduced the objective of using Sinhalese and Tamil as the official languages in school, public service examinations and legislative proceedings instead of English which was widely use in administration, professions, commerce, higher education, and politics. This movement obviously showed the discontent Sinhalese who were deficient in English knowledge, leading to their limited chance to enter in the state employment and other domains unlike the Tamils.

The official national language issue was the major bone of contention between the Sinhalese and the Tamils which grew steadily after the time of independence in 1948. The Sri Lankan government adopted a policy of denying Tamils admission into higher and professional education. In the 1950s, the social and political atmosphere was filled with the emotional issues of language, religion and the revival ideology of the Sinhala Buddhist identity by the Sinhala leaders. The resurgence of Buddhism featured the image of the Sinhalese past using elements of the mythology incorporated with the faith in Buddhist religion. It is this Sinhala-Buddhist consciousness which has brought about the intolerance of multi-ethnic and multi-religious characters of Sri Lankan society. Eventually, it has come to the violence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamils Eelam (LTTE), causing the bloodshed on this "Emerald Island".


then sri lankan peopls are peaceful
they are brothers