One of the favorite theories of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese academicians and historians is that they are descendants of the Aryan race and are superior to the Tamils who are regarded as Dravidians. Any body who has significant association with Sinhalese would have experienced such attitudes. Although generally speaking Sinhalese people are good mannered, amiable and sociable, most are politically conditioned to believe in such views. Any Sinhalese historical chronicle will expound such views. In recent times, their intention has been to show their associations with North Indians to say that they are closer to North Indians and it is Tamils who are the only and real problem there. Hindi films and stars enjoy a huge fan following amongst the Sinhalese.
Any record of their history will give prominence to how they drove the Tamil invaders (including Cholas) out of their country at many different times of their history etc. The fact that the Sinhalese kingdoms collaborated extensively with the Pandyas (for instance) is conveniently ignored.
I wonder if there is any genetic variation between the Tamil and Sinhalese speaking people. They are indeed culturally similar too. However, as a result of the politics of the last 50 years, a deep chasm has developed between the 2 communities and any Sinhalese interpretation of historical events and history has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
>>>>One of the favorite theories of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese academicians and historians is that they are descendants of the Aryan race and are superior to the Tamils who are regarded as Dravidians.
sinhalese are supposedly from kalinga. certaily sinhalese as a language is closer to northindian languages than tamil
>>>>Any body who has significant association with Sinhalese would have experienced such attitudes. Although generally speaking Sinhalese people are good mannered, amiable and sociable, most are politically conditioned to believe in such views.
sorry to differ. i have spent a good deal of time in lanka interacting with a lot of politicians and business people. one thing i learnt was we cannot generalise. the sinhalese hated the JVP as much as the ltte. in some cases more.
>>>>Hindi films and stars enjoy a huge fan following amongst the Sinhalese.
true. any standard housewife there would ask if you have met sharukh or aamir.
> Any record of their history will give prominence to how they drove the Tamil invaders (including Cholas) out of their country at many different times of their history etc. The fact that the Sinhalese kingdoms collaborated extensively with the Pandyas (for instance) is conveniently ignored.
collabarated with the pandyans??????
the sinhalas have at every point colabarated with chola chera pandya's. the pandyas were their last sworn enemy, having taken their most precious relic- the tooth of buddha to madurai.
Logical thinking will clear all the clouds. As per the aryan theory, aryans are brahmins and dravidians are non-brahmins.
But, in Ramayan, Rama is a kshatriya, a non-brahmin and Ravana is a brahmin. So supremacy of aryan over dravidian, means brahmins supremacy over non-brahmin. Than the story should have ended as if Ravana won and rama lost. But we all know what the story is. As long as people dont think, any body can say anything.
>>>>Any body who has significant association with Sinhalese would have experienced such attitudes. Although generally speaking Sinhalese people are good mannered, amiable and sociable, most are politically conditioned to believe in such views. >>>
[[[sorry to differ. i have spent a good deal of time in lanka interacting with a lot of politicians and business people. one thing i learnt was we cannot generalise. the sinhalese hated the JVP as much as the ltte. in some cases more.]]]
We surely cant generalize anywhere. However, I notice a huge change in attitude of the Sinhalese general public over the last couple of years - after Mahinda came to power, more nationalistic themes (or a return to the Sinhala nation theories), openly racist posters even at Colombo etc. At one point, when the Sri lankan army was loosing their war against the LTTE, there was more understanding of Tamil issues and a general feeling that better coexistence and progress was preferable to continuing the conflict. Now, after some military gains have been made by the SLA, there is a change in attitude. Just visit some of the popular discussion forums and you will see how much of hatred is being spewed against Tamils (http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/index.jsp - one of the better ones actually). Often this Aryan supremacy topic appears. Even if the Sinhalese were from Kalinga, over the last 2000 years, with so many wars being fought, so many social relocations, so much close interaction between the communities, such claims of cultural supremacy are nothing but a joke. I guess this applies to our culture too. You can look for purity only in arrack not in culture!
The aryan-dravidan theory was propounded by the british with flimsy evidences from the archeological and linguistic areas, virtually making a mountain of a mole hill. Fortunately, all the theories are now questioned for thei validity; new theories AMG (aryan migration theory), OIT (out of india theory) and what not!
We have a large number of terms - vamsha, kula, jati, varna and people proud of their antecedents - it will be highly inaccurate to if conclusions are drawn ignoring the plurality of the past. It is a shame that we are solidly wedded to the 'caste' concept thrust on us by the british.
Even the time frames are pushed backwards everywhere. We will also be wrong if we conclude that our rich civilisation and culture is only 3000 to 5000 years old.
An open mind, exposure to multiple sources and rational evaluation is the requirement.
Kindly direct reference to any Personality / System on issues of sensitive nature.
A Popular TV Channel is planning to serialise Ramayana in Tamil. This is upsetting Power Seat because it may create negative impact on Sethu - reported a Tamil magazine last Saturday.
We ALSO do have our social obligations.
Satish mail states :: Arya - Dravida issue is wrongly projected, since Ravana is in effect supposedly Arya.
Kumurguruparan mail states :
" ... In this context, Aryans mean thoughts and beliefs practiced by the so called upper class people and their tactics and strategies to keep the varnasrama concept intact.
Dravidian movements oppose Ramayana for its justification and support of varnasrama concept like sudras are not supposed to do penance, brahmins deserved to be worshipped, etc... "
If you ask what similarity is likely to emerge, the first and most important similarity is linguistic. Culturally, there is a problem. The modern speakers of Dravidian languages are the result of millennia long intermixture of races. There are no Aryans in India, nor are there any Dravidians. Those who talk about Dravidians in the political sense, I do not agree with them at all. There are no Dravidian people or Aryan people - just like both Pakistanis and Indians are racially very similar. We are both the product of a very long period of intermarriage, there have been migrations. You cannot now racially segregate any element of the Indian population. Thus there is no sense in saying that the people in Tamil Nadu are the inheritors of the Indus Valley culture. You could very well say that people living in Harappa or Mohenjo-daro today are even more likely to be the inheritors of that civilization.
As we a forum devoted to Cholas and Raja Rajan, we can discuss the social nature of the sociey during that time, without using harsh words or losing one's cool. Mahadevan has also said that his observations are only hypotheses.
What would be the issue here in bringing up the truth or getting closer to the truth. In TN, it is even very difficult to put a hypothesis that there is no such dravidian, aryan racial division, and if you go to North, similar things about Ramayana and all. And if you ask Sinhalese, no difference.
I think it is the issue of land ownership, who settled up first and later to determine who has got more rights to the land. to Australians, no one really owns a land appropriately. Everyone were nomadic and settlers.
Real historians should dare to put new hypotheses and challenge the belief system. Otherwise history subject will not be that interesting, and will continue to be a subject of low rank students.
Gentlemen - can we mainthan the decorum in this forum. you can have your bouts in private. at times we do stray away from our set group goals, but idea is to avoid such potentially disturing discussions in a public forum....sudum enru therinthum theeyil kaiyai veikka naam siruvar alla.
For some time at least I have felt this forum is losing its way and instead of discussing PS has been concentrating on extraneous matters, often becoming boring. I may be in the minority, but want to still pen my feelings.
Why not bring back the discussions to PS. For example, why can't we discuss the underlying humour in the novel whether it be the confrontation between VD and Azhvarkadiyan or between VD and Poongudhali or between VD and Nandini. I especially like the conversation between VD and Nandini in the first part where they meet at the latter's palace garden.
When Nandini asks VD what's "Mugasthuti" VD replies, "It's when one is praised skyhigh on his or her face", then Nandini tells him "OK, then turn your face away from me" and immediately comes VD's repartee --- "Ammaneee! (Madam) porkalithilagattum alladu pengalathilagattum (whether it's in war or against women) I don't show my back (like a coward). "Neengal tharalamai ennai Mugasthuthi seyyalam" (You can praise me skyhigh on my face, no problem) which evokes unbridled laughter from Nandini.
I am sure all of us have enjoyed reading passages such as these - prime examples of how humorous Kalki's writings were.