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The ethnic conflict of Sri Lanka is a conflict mainly between Sinhalese and Tamils and conflict between Tamils and Muslims. The conflict started to appear when Kalinga Magha, a Tamil invader claiming Kalinga (Orissa) lineage invaded Kingdom of Rajarata in 1215. He invaded the North part of Sri Lanka with a huge Pandyan army. From 1215 to 1326 significant Tamil migration happened from India to Sri Lanka in the form of invasions. They settled mainly in the Jaffna Peninsula. Small settlements were also occurred in Vanni. Many battles erupted between Sinhalese and Tamils between 1215 to 1450. But during the times of Portuguese, Dutch, British; conflicts between Sinhalese and Tamils settled down. They tried to cooperate with each other to face the common enemy. But since the later stage of British administration and after the independence, conflicts started rising again. It started as a political battle for power in the Parliament. In the 20th century, the minority Tamils demands became excessive and unfair and the majority Sinhala community started discriminating against the minority. Ultimately a civil war erupted from 1983 to 2009. In 2009 Sri Lankan armies defeated the LTTE to end the civil war. Even after the civil war, there were conflicts between different ethnic groups. There was also a conflict for chief minister post and majority of power in Eastern province council between Muslims and Tamils. Also Tamils resisted the Sinhalese settlements in districts of North province - Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu which have the lowest population densities in Sri Lanka.

History

Before kingdom of Rajarata

Evidence of first colonies in Sri Lanka appeared in Southern wet zone of the Island. The earliest archaeological evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda. Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000 years ago and have been identified as Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well known Batadombalena, Fa-Hien Rock cave,Beli-lena, Alu-lena have yielded many artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island.

Ramayana, Mahabaratha, Mahavamsa revealed about early civilization of Sri Lanka. According to Ramayana and Mahavamsa Sri Lanka had 4 tribes.

• Raksha - Ravana, Indrajit
• Yaksha - Kubera, Kuveni, Pandukabhaya
• Naga - Indrajit's wife, Chulodara and Mahodara,Maniakkhika
• Deva - Ravana is also describe as a god worshiper, Sumana Saman

Even though two ancient Indian epics were based on Myths, authors were aware of tribes lived within Sri Lanka at the time of writing epics. Mahavamsa which widely accepted as a reliable source, is mentioned about existence of these tribes in Sri Lanka before Sri Lanka converted into Buddhism in 250BC. Pandukabhaya(437 BC – 367 BC), king who established the Kingdom of Anuradhapura is belonged to Yaksha tribe. Mahallaka Naga (135-141 CE), Bhatika Tissa (141-165 CE), Kanittha Tissa (165-193 CE),Cula Naga (193-195 CE) belonged to Naga tribe. There are references about these tribes from different sources in different countries.

It has been found that inhabitants of Sri Lanka around 1000 B.C. Anuradhapura began to developed as a city around 900 BC. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BC, but by 700 BC it had been expanded to 50 hectares. A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.

Kingdom of Rajarata

Establishment of kingdom of Rajarata

It was centered around the ancient cities of Tambapanni, Upatissa Nuwara,Anuradhapura, Sigiriya,Polonnaruwa. Ancient Sri Lanka was ruled by several tribunal leaders. First known kingdom in the Rajarata was established in 543 BC by Prince Vijaya of Sinha tribe. After killing local regional rulers with the help of local princess Kuveni, he was able to take the power of Rajarata. But administration was again come to the hand of natives when king Pandukabhaya, a price of Yaksha and Sinha tribes defeated and killed Sinha rulers in 437 BC. He was able to unified Sri Lanka and unified all the tribes (Yaksha, Naga, Raksha, Deva, Sinha) to one administrative center. During the rule of king Devanampiya Tissa Sri Lanka was converted to a single religion. This led to loss the identification of Yaksh,Raksha,Deva,Naga who were divided according to religions(Yaksha,..). After converting to Buddhism, king Devanampiya Tissa restructured the administration of the country. He unified the country based on territories instead of tribes. He appointed two of his brothers to rule Maya rata and Ruhuna.

1. Tambapanni - Prince Vijaya - Founded in 543 BC
2. Upatissa Nuwara - Founded by King Upatissa in 505 BC
3. Anuradhapura - Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 377 BC
4. Sigiriya - Built by King Kashyapa (477 – 495 CE), but after the death of the king center moved to Anuradhapura.
5. Polonnaruwa - Founded by King Vijayabahu I

Era of Rajarata

The genesis myth and early recorded history of the Sinhalese is chronicled in two documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pali around the 4th century CE, and the much later Chulavamsa (probably penned in the 13th century by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These records describe the kings who ruled Sri Lanka, developments by the kings (reservoirs, stupas), invasions faced by the country , details about royal marriages between Sri Lanka and South India and other significant historical events. It seems Tamil groups came to Sri Lanka as wives to Sinhalese king in Rajarata era were not related to the Tamils who came with Magha in 1215. These Tamils were from royal families in South India. They were offered higher ranks in the kings court and they lived as a powerful people. Ruins of ancient Shiva temples within the castle of Pollonnaruwa show that these Tamils lived within the kingdom as powerful group. Tamils came during kingdom of Rajarata era had mixed with the Sinhalese community. The adopted son of King Parâkramabâhu VI, Sapumal Kumaraya was a Tamil who lived with the Sinhalese kingdoms.

Falling of Rajarata

In 1215 Kalinga Magha invaded Rajarata with a huge Pandyan army. Magha was a minister to Pandyan empire. Magha ruled Pollonnaruwa for several years but later drawback to Vanni and Jaffna. During next 100 years many battle occurred to take the control of Rajarata between Sinhala Kingdoms and different invaders from South India. But Tamil power in Sri Lanka started to weaken after the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by army General Malik Kafur of Delhi Sultanate Muslim Empire. Rajarata area was divided into 3 areas. Jaffna peninsula was controlled by Tamils, neutralized Vanni forest was ruled by Tamils and Sinhalese and new Rajarata was ruled by Sinhalese.

Kingdoms from Dambadeniya to Kandy

• Kingdom of Dambadeniya
• Kingdom of Yapahuwa
• Kingdom of Kurunegala
• Kingdom of Gampola
• Kingdom of Kotte
• Kingdom of Sitawaka
• Kingdom of Kandy

Kalinga Magha's invasion made Sinhalese to move toward south. Magha invaded Rajarata and Malaya-rata. During the rise of Kingdom of Dambadeniya under the king Vijayabahu III (1220- 1224 AC), Magha lost the control of south to Vanni forest. Parakramabahu II extended power to Vanni. With the strong repulse, Polonnaruwa, the capital of Rajarata was again selected as administrative center. But endless Tamil invasions from South India lead to move the Sinhala kingdom towards South East. In 1323 Sinhalese kingdoms started to dominate Island after Pandyan defeated by Delhi Sultane. In 1450 Jaffna was annexed by the Kingdom of Kotte. The death of king Parâkramabâhu VI lead to divide the Sinhala kingdom into three parts. Kotte, Sitawaka, Kandy. Sinhala power was weaken in the Island. This made a series of internal wars among 3 Sinhala kingdoms. Also Portuguese came to Sri Lanka in 1505. Since the beginning, Kandy rulers made strong links with Jaffna kingdom and aided military support against Portuguese. But Kandy fell to Sitawaka ( See the The growth picture of the kingdom of Sitawaka, in Kingdom of Sitawaka). Sitawaka dominated other kingdoms and annexed most part of them by the powerful king Rajasinghe I. Between 1591 and 1594 Vimaladharmasuriya I established a kingdom in Kandy after the death of Rajasinha I of Sitawaka King Wimaladharmasuriya. Kandy dominated as most powerful kingdom in Sri Lanka after falling of Sitawaka. In 1628 king Senerat of Kandy invaded Jaffna to terminate Portuguese administration in Jaffna. Time to Time kingdom of Kandy annexed Jaffna kingdom. The east area of the Island was ruled by Kandian rulers. The East was under Kandian power since the Sitawaka time. In 1626, the Portuguese expelled the Muslims from Kotte. The Muslims ran to Senerat who settled some four thousand of them in Batticaloa as farmers. Also in 1659, English sailor Robert Knox was arrested by guards of Kingdom of Kandy when his ship was ashore near Trincomalee

Jaffna Kingdom

Jaffna Kingdom was established in 1323 when it was freed from Pandyan empire. Sinhalese were expelled from the Kingdom of Rajarata which ruled the North part of Sri Lanka and Tamil expanded colonies to the boundaries of Malaya rata. It was restricted to Jaffna peninsula after Tamils were withdrawn from Vanni in 1323 and before British started dry zone colonizations south to Paranthan (Paranthan, Kilinochchi, Iranamadu) in 1936. In 1450, king Parâkramabâhu VI's adopted son annexed Jaffna to Sinhala kingdom of Kotte. That was the last battle between Sinhala and Tamil kingdoms. After the death of king Parâkramabâhu, Jaffna kingdom was reestablished.

Portuguese who came to the Island in 1505 tried to take the control of coastline areas in the Island for trading interests. With less help from South India, Jaffna kings tried to cooperate with Kandy rulers against Portuguese. Kandy rulers provide aids for battles in 1560. Ports under Tamil power were provided to Kandyan rulers with out a restrictions. No more fight erupted between Sinhalese and Tamils and it was apparent that they had common alliance against power of Portuguese. But Kandy was fell to the Sitawaka in 1582. In 1591, André Furtado de Mendonça invaded isolate Jaffna, killed king Puvirasa Pandaram and installed his son Ethirimanna Cinkam as client king. Vimaladharmasuriya I established a kingdom in Kandy in 1594. Yet again Jaffna started to cooperate with kingdom of Kandy and Portuguese influence in Jaffna was neutralized. Marriages between two royal families started to occur. Princesses of Jaffna had been married to Senarat's stepsons, Kumarasingha and Vijayapala. In 1619 Portuguese defeated the last rulers of Jaffna kingdom, Cankili II with a help from Portuguese Indian unit in Goa. Later in 1628 King Senerath invaded Jaffna with his two stepsons Vijayapala and Kumarasingha.King Senerath was able to limit Portuguese powers only to the Colombo fort In 1658 Dutch invaded Jaffna which belonged to king Wimaladharmasuria I of Senkadagala. However when the Kandyan convention was signed with British, Jaffna was a part of a Kandyan kingdom.

Under and after British

British administration in later stages

After a short time of signing the Kandyan Convention in 1815 between British and Sinhalese chiefs to deposition Nayak king, in 1833 British introduce Colebrooke-Cameron Commission based on recommendations of King George IV appointed Royal Commission. In which there were 3 local members. One Sinhalese and two people from minor nations. Most of the administration positions in the government were filled by the Tamils since most of the Sinhalese people didn't like to serve under British rule. But British tried to bring Sinhalese to the administration since at that time Sinhalese was the clear majority of the country. According to the census done in 1980s, Sinhalese were more than 73% (10,979,568) of the total(14,846,750) population of Sri Lanka before the war was started. The reformed legislative council "First Manning Reforms", introduced in 1921 by the British was based on principles of Communal and territorial representation. Tamils rejected the proposal and demand 50% for minorities solely based on Communal representation. Political tension between Sinhalese and Tamils were increased due to determining constitution of the future parliament. This inter ethnic and political stress led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939. Some words exchanged between Mr Solomon Bandaranaike and Mr G. G. Ponnambalam. In 1936 British started Colonies in dry zones south to Paranthan (Paranthan, Iranamadu,Kilinochchi). Until 1936 the majority of Tamils were restricted to Jaffna Peninsula after they had withdrawn from Vanni in the 13th century.

Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka

Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka is a parallel event of Tamil nationalism in India. A new morphed ideology of the Dravidian/ Dravida Nadu, nationalism gained momentum within the Tamil speakers during the 1930 and 1960. Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact, Dudey-Chelvanayakam pact was proposed to reduce tension between Sinhalese and Tamils but it was rejected by majority Sinhalese saying Tamils trying to divide the country. In a pure Hindu Tamil country the future for Muslims who were 32.34%(1981 Census) of Sri Lanka's Eastern population and for Sinhalese who were 24.99% of Eastern population (1981 Census) was unclear. Also more than 50% population (81.6% in Ampara, 65.7% in Trincomalee) of the Eastern districts except Batticallo district weren't Tamils.

Dravida Nadu

Dravidastan is a proposal new country in South Asia, by dividing Tamil Nadu from India, the Northern and the Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka from Sri Lanka to create a pure Hindu Tamil country Dravida Nadu, which later extended to more Dravida territories in India. The movement for Dravida Nadu was at its height from 1940s to 1960s. Tamil politicians in both countries publicly supported the pure Tamil country.

Ethnic cleansing in North East

All the nations except Tamil Hindus were ordered to leave from North within 24 hours including Muslims, a community of Tamil speaking non Hindus. They executed several masscars against Muslims who weren't participated to this war. In Kachchankudi mosque more than 150 Muslims were massacred. More than 75,000 Muslims from the Jaffna peninsula. Also LTTE executed 600 police officers who worked in North & East.

Existence of armed groups

With the idea of creating a Pure Tamil country in divided India and Sri Lanka, it saw emergence of more than 30 Tamil militant groups in Sri Lanka in 1970s. Later Tamil Militant groups tried to take control of Northern province. from time to time they attacked army soldiers. In 1983, 13 Sri Lankan army soldiers worked in North were killed by these groups.

Other factors

• Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956 to replaced English as the official language of Ceylon with Sinhala. Muslims , Hill country Tamils who were among Sinhalese and able to speak Sinhalese didn't object much to the act. But Sri Lankan Tamils didn't know anything about Sinhalese has to face problems. The act was controversial as supporters of the act saw it as an attempt by a community that had just gained independence to distance themselves from their colonial masters, while its opponents viewed it as an attempt by the linguistic majority to oppress and assert dominance on minorities.

• UNP government made serious changes to the constitution in 1978 to weak all other opposition parties. They introduced executive presidency with supreme powers to the country. With the executive presidency, power of the parliament was weaken. It was seriously affected to parties other than 2 major political parties in the country and specially, the parties with ethnic background. Their representation, legitimate share and demanding power in the parliament was started to shade

• Politicians from both parties made verbal threatens against each other. The most famous and serious threaten made by Mangayarkarasi Amirthalingam, the wife of famous Tamil leader. She stated that she wants to swim in the blood of the Sinhalese people in 1977 election campaign.

• Sixth amendment to the Constitution was passed in August 1983. This amendment required all the members of Parliament to take oath of allegiance to the Constitution of 1978. 15 members of the parliament from Tamil parties refused to take oath due to requirement of disavowing separatism.

Black July

Black July was the Sinhalese response to killing 13 army soldiers in Jaffna. Some of the innocent Tamils were attacked and some of their properties were destroyed. This anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983

Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009)

Sri Lanka Civil war was came to exist in major scale since 1983. It was happened mainly between Sri Lankan Armies and LTTE. There are four stages of the war namely Eelam War I,Eelam War II,Eelam War III, Eelam War IV. Indian Peace Keeping Force (1987–90) also fight against LTTE. Civil war was ended on 17 May 2009 when LTTE was defeated by Sri Lankan forces.

Assassinations

After the Civil War

Conflicts between Sinhalese and Tamils

Tamils resisting Sinhalese colonization in most low populated districts in Sri Lanka. North province consist with 5 districts in which Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu are recorded as districts of lowest population density. Government has expressed the possible housing schema for disabled war heroes in Mullaitivu district. Tamil politicians give strong opposite to settling disabled war heroes in North region saying the land is only belongs to Tamils (Traditional Tamil Lands).

Conflicts between Muslims and Tamils

Also there are conflicts between Tamils and Muslims for lands in Mannar district. Muslims and Tamils claims they need the chief minister post in Eastern province of Sri Lanka. Most influenced political parties in the Eastern province come with either Tamil or Muslim ethnic background. In the 2012 provincial election equal number of seat distributed among Tamils and Muslim parties and United People Freedom Alliance(UNFA). But Muslims supported to UPFA neglecting offers by Tamil parties.

References

1. Chattopadhyaya, Haraprasad. Ethnic unrest in modern Sri Lanka: an account of Tamil-Sinhalese race relations. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
2. ^ Deraniyagala, Siran U. "Pre- and Protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka". XIII U. I. S. P. P. Congress Proceedings- Forli, 8 – 14 September 1996. International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. Retrieved 09-08-2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. Buddha averts Chulodara-Mahodara battle over gem-studded throne
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5. Proto-Historic and Early Anuradhapura Eras
6. A glimpse of Rajarata Sunday Times
7. Vijaya marries Kuveni, wins kingdom
8. A tale of two nation
9. The Mahávansi, the Rájá-ratnácari, and the Rájá-vali. Parbury, Allen, and Co. 1833.
10. Shiva temple, Pollonnaruwa
11. THE POLONNARUWA KINGS
12. From Coffee to Tea Cultivation in Ceylon page 23 by Roland Wenzlhuemer
13. Yapahuwa: stronghold of resistance
14. Dambadeniya Era
15. The History of Sri Lanka By Patrick Peebles page 31
16. page 31 Sri Lanka By Joe Cummings
17. A history of Sri Lanka by K. M. De Silva Page 82
18. ^ A Histroy of Sri Lanka by K.M. De Silva page 87
19. Mahavamsa
20. Portuguese Period
21. Kin
22. King Senerat
23. Robert Knox in the Kandyan Kingdom And the various editions of KNOX’s Ceylon
24. De Silva, K. M. A History of Sri Lanka. p. 64.
25. Ethnic conflicts and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
26. "Don – Jao, The Black Prince of Lanka".
27. "The Island". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
28. "Sunday Observer".
29. Sri Lanka: Current Issues and Historical Background Walter Nubin, page 114
30. Sri Lankan Population data before the ethnic war in 1983
31. Communal Politics Under the Donoughmore Constitution page 187 onwards Jane Russel
32. The Island
33. Language, Religion, and Ethnic Assertiveness By Kē. En. Ō Dharmadāsa, page 295 onward
34. Ethnic conflicts and reconciliation in Sri Lanka
35. K.M. De Silva, A Histroy of Sri Lanka, p. 64.
36. The Island
37. Defence Sri Lanka
38. The Hindu
39. The Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka
40. Asian Tribune
41. The Island
42. Asian Tribune
43. By Anushiya Ramaswamy
44. Asian Tribune
45. Asian Tribune
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47. http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=61719 The Island]

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