78

CHAPTER 3
THEMES OF IMMIGRATION IN LITERATURE AND MEDIA
OF THE PRE-CONFLICT CEYLON

This chapter will set forth the issue of immigration of Tamils to Sri Lanka, or
Ceylon as it was once called. The central focus here is to set the parameters of the
Tamils already in the country through history and the differentiations between the
Tamils in the country, pre-colonial, the colonial drift and the Tamil indentured
labourers who were brought to Ceylon. The social and political hindrances that
bothered them, themes of immigration, displacement, uprooting, homelessness,
refugees and diaspora will be analysed using the primary and secondary sources that
are relevant to these themes.
Sri Lanka consists of three major ethnic groups the majority Buddhists
Sinhalese, the linguistic / religious minority Tamils and the Moor Muslims. History
speaks volumes about settlement of Tamils in Sri Lanka. In order to understand this
concept better it is essential for us to know that there are two groups of Tamils in the
country. The Sri Lankan Tamils a group of who were brought by the Chola and
the Pandiyan invasions, majorly soldiers and the administrators, Secondly The
Indian Tamils a group of plantation labourers who were brought into the island
by the colonial masters by the infamous Kangani system to serve their plantation
fields.
On one hand the Indian mythology through its epics Ramayana [ 147] and
Mahabharatha [148] mentions of Lanka. In Ramayana we are told of the story of
King Rama and his wife Sita. Rama in a mission to fulfill his vow to his father King
Dhasaratha travels to a forest region in Uttarpradesh, India along with Sita and his

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brother Lakshmana. When they were in Panchavati in Andrapradesh, Sita is abducted
by Ravana King of Lanka.
A grief stricken and angry King Rama went in search of Sita. He is aided by
Sugriva and Hanuman to construct a bridge from Rameshwaram (Tamilnadu, India)
to Talaimannar (Sri Lanka) While parts of the bridge - known as Adam's Bridge are still visible, NASA's satellite has photographed an underwater man-made bridge
of shoals in the Palk Straits, connecting Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar.[ 149] This
being the state, archaeological facts has been confirmed by scholars. Sri Lanka also
has relics of the Ramayana. There are several caves, such as Ravana Ella Falls,
where Ravana is believed to have hidden Sita to prevent Rama from finding her. The
Sitai Amman Temple at Numara Eliya is situated near the ashokavana where Ravana
once kept her prisoner." [150]
Major Forbes [151] in his book titled Eleven Years in Ceylon" gives a good
account of the various sites in this island whose names are connected with those in
the Epic. The three prominent peaks in the Kandyan Hills are identified with the
Trikuta Parvata and the barren area above Halaghatta with the gardens of Ravana that
were burnt down by Hanuman. Sita Talava, the place where Sita was kept confined,
Nikumbha where Indrajit did his penance, the Suvela Parvata and several other
places connected with the Epic are shown and their respective locations appear to
agree so closely with what is stated in the Epic.
Rama fights his war with Ravana with the help of Hanuman and his clan and
brings his wife back to India. In the meantime when people of Lanka set Hanumans
tail on fire, he ensured that every house and wooden structures were set on fire and
escorted Sita to the banks of the Indian Ocean and leisurely dipped his tail in water
and watched Lanka burn. Sri Lankan folklore also accounts the story and has the
minutest details including Ravanas pushpakavimaana to precision.
Mahabharata - The life history of the Pandavas has a sequel to this story
though a very small segment. After defeating Ravana, King Rama crowned
Vibhishana brother of Ravana as the King of Lankapuri. The section of Sahadeva
speaks of messengers being sent off shore to the illustrious King Vibhishana. And as

80
the story develops we find King Vibhishana gracing the occasion of Yudhrishtiras
Rajasuya sacrifice. There are also fragmentary references to the horses, warriors,
palaces and wealth of Lanka.
There have always been strong ties between India and Sri Lanka culturally
and historically based on the evidences of epics, literature and folklore. A number of
researches on anthropology and sociology have been conducted by various scholars
from around the world to prove their stand debating the authenticity of the natural
inhabitants of Ceylon. This dissertation is not attempting to definitively argue one
way or the other but only to point out the various schools of thought.
3.1

DRAVIDIANS AN OUTLOOK
The term Dravidian comes from the Sanskrit word Dravida which means

the southern. Anthropologists, Historians and Sociologist describe the Dravidians as

dark skinned inhabitants of the subcontinent who spoke the Dravidian languages
such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Brahui and Tulu. Their distinctive
physical and linguistic features have been their characteristic identity.

The origins of the Dravidian people and language has been

difficult to ascertain. Anthropologists are largely at odds. A number
of earlier anthropologists held the view that the Dravidian peoples
constituted a distinct race. Some argue the origin of Dravidian
before the Indo-Aryan invasion, making the Indus Valley
civilization Dravidian. Still others argue that Dravidian held sway
in a much larger region, replacing Indo-Aryan languages. Genetic
studies have concluded that the Dravidian people are not a distinct
race but, rather, a common genetic pool between the Dravidian and
non-Dravidian people in South India. [152]
According to Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a geneticist, the Dravidians were
preceded in the subcontinent by Austroasiatic speakers, and were followed by IndoEuropean speaking migrants sometime later.[153]
Few linguists hypothesized that Dravidian-speaking people were spread
throughout the Indian subcontinent before a series of Indo-European migrations. In
this view, the early Indus Valley civilisation (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) is often

81
identified as having been Dravidian. Cultural and linguistic similarities have been
cited by researchers such as Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola as being strong
evidence for a proto-Dravidian origin of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation.[154]
Some scholars like J. Bloch and M. Witzel believe that the Indo-Aryan
moved into an already Dravidian speaking area after the oldest parts of the Rig Veda
were already composed. The Brahui population of Balochistan has been taken by
some as the linguistic equivalent of a relict population, perhaps indicating
that Dravidian languages were formerly much more widespread and were supplanted
by the incoming Indo-Aryan languages. [155]
Francis Whyte Ellis a prominent scholar or the East India Company was the
one to identify the Dravidian languages as a separate family of languages. In 1816 he
proposd his Dravidian proof which claimed that the languages of South India are
inter-related and that they were not derived from Sanskrit. [156]
Robert Caldwell in 1856 published Comparative Grammar of the South
Indian Family of Languages. He proclaimed that the Dravidian language grouping
was one of the major language groups in the world. Listing seventy three languages
in the family he says that people speaking these are geographically spread over India,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, South Western Iran and some parts of Pakistan and
South Afghanistan.[157]
Thomason and Kaufman[158] state that there is strong evidence that Dravidian
influenced Indo-Aryan through shift, that is, native Dravidian speakers learning and
adopting Indo-Aryan languages. Erdosy states that the most plausible explanation for
the presence of Dravidian structural features in Old Indo-Aryan is that the majority
of early Old Indo-Aryan speakers had a Dravidian mother tongue which they
gradually abandoned. Even though the innovative traits in Indo-Aryan languages
could be explained by multiple internal explanations, early Dravidian influence is the
only explanation that can account for all of the innovations at once it becomes a
question of explanatory parsimony; moreover, early Dravidian influence accounts for
several of the innovative traits in Indo-Aryan languages better than any internal
explanation that has been proposed. Zvelebil remarks that

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"Several scholars have demonstrated that pre-Indo-Aryan
and pre-Dravidian bilingualism in India provided conditions for the
far-reaching influence of Dravidian on the Indo-Aryan tongues in
the spheres of phonology, syntax and vocabulary."[159]
Clyde Winters in his historic research article The Dravidian Origin of the
Mountain and Water Toponyms in Central Asia quotes that the ancestors of the
Dravidians lived in Middle Africa. He has proved his hypothesis by making linkages
to linguistic and archaeological evidences. Theories of how these people migrated by
sea and entered India through the Andaman are still being debated. [160]
"Dravidians, whose descendents still live in Southern India,
established the first city communities, in the Indus valley,
introduced irrigation schemes, developed pottery and evolved a
well ordered system of government." [161]
Clyde Ahmad Winters, who has written extensively on Dravidian origins
commented:
"Archaeological and linguistic evidence indicates that the
Dravidians were the founders of the Harappan culture which
extended from the Indus Valley through northeastern Afghanistan,
on into Turkestan. The Harappan civilization existed from 26001700 BC. The Harappan civilization was twice the size the Old
Kingdom of Egypt. In addition to trade relations with Mesopotamia
and Iran, the Harappan city states also had active trade relations
with the Central Asian peoples."[162]
He has also explored the question whether the Dravidians were of African
origin.
3.2

THE TAMIL PEOPLE

People belonging to the Dravidian race settled in South India speaking the

language Tamil are the Tamils. Predominantly Hindus, they have

The Tamil have a long history of achievement; sea travel, city
life, and commerce seem to have developed early among them.
Tamil trade with the ancient Greeks and Romans is verified by
literary, linguistic, and archaeological evidence. The Tamil have
the oldest cultivated Dravidian language, and their rich literary
tradition extends back to the early Christian era. The Chera, Chola,
Pandya, and Pallava dynasties ruled over the Tamil area before the

83
Vijayanagar empire extended its hegemony in the 14th century, and
these earlier dynasties produced many great kingdoms. Under them
the Tamil people built great temples, irrigation tanks, dams, and
roads, and they played an important role in the transmission of
Indian culture to Southeast Asia. The Cholas, for example, were
known for their naval power and brought the Malay kingdom of Sri
Vijaya under their suzerainty in AD 1025. Though the Tamil area
was integrated culturally with the rest of India for a long time,
politically it was for most of the time a separate entity until the
advent of British rule in India. [163]
Robert Caldwell wrote in 1875:
"... From the evidence of words in use amongst the early Tamils,
we learn the following items of information. They had 'kings' who
dwelt in 'strong houses' and ruled over 'small districts of country'.
They had 'minstrels', who recited 'songs' at 'festivals', and they
seem to have had alphabetical 'characters' written with a style on
palmyra leaves. A bundle of those leaves was called 'a book'; they
acknowledged the existence of God, whom they styled as ko, or
King.... They erected to his honour a 'temple', which they called
Ko-il, God's-house.
They had 'laws' and 'customs'... Marriage existed among them.
They were acquainted with the ordinary metals... They had
'medicines', 'hamlets' and 'towns', 'canoes', 'boats' and even 'ships'
(small 'decked' coasting vessels), no acquaintance with any people
beyond the sea, except in Ceylon, which was then, perhaps,
accessible on foot at low water.. They were well acquainted with
agriculture.... All the ordinary or necessary arts of life, including
'spinning', 'weaving' and 'dyeing' existed amongst them. They
excelled in pottery..." [164]
India, situated at the central point of the ocean that washes on its coast on
three sides, seemed destined very early for a maritime future. In the Rig Veda[ 165], a
passage (I. 25.7) represents Varuna having a full knowledge of the sea routes, and
another (L. 56.2) speaks of merchants going everywhere and frequenting every part
of the sea for gain. The Ramayana refers to the Yavan Dvipa and Suvarna Dvipa
(Java and Sumatra) and to the Lohta Sayara or the Red Sea. The drama Sakuntala,
Ratnavali of King Harsha, Sisupalvadha of Magha, relates stories of sea voyages of
merchants and others, and the fabulous literature of India is replete with stories of sea
voyages by Hindus. Historian R. C. Majumdar states:

84
"The representation of ship on a seal indicates maritime
activity, and there is enough evidence to show that the peoples of
the Sindhu valley carried on trade not only with other parts of India
but also with Sumer and the centers of culture in Western Asia, and
with Egypt and Crete." [166]
There was a time in the past, when Indians were the masters of the sea borne
trade of Europe, Asia and Africa. They built ships, navigated the sea, and held in
their hands all the threads of international commerce, whether carried on overland or
sea. In Sanskrit books we constantly read of merchants, traders and men engrossed in
commercial pursuits. Manu Smriti, the oldest law book in the world, lays down laws
to govern commercial disputes having references to sea borne traffic as well as
inland and overland commerce. India, according to Chamber's Encyclopedia, "has
been celebrated during many ages for its valuable natural productions, its beautiful
manufactures and costly merchandise," [167] was, says the Encyclopedia Britannica,
once the seat of commerce. Sir William Jones was of opinion that the Hindus must
have been navigators in the age of Manu. Lord Elphinstone has written that "The
Hindus navigated the ocean as early as the age of Manu's Code because we read in it
of men well acquainted with sea voyages." [168] Ms. Manning, author of Ancient and
Mediaeval India writes: "The indirect evidence afforded by the presence of Indian
products in other countries coincides with the direct testimony of Sanskrit literature
to establish the fact that the ancient Hindus were a commercial people."[ 169]
Indian traders would set sail from the port of Mahabalipuram, carrying with
them cinnamon, pepper and their civilization to the shores of Java, Cambodia and
Bali. Like the Western world, the Indian world stretches far beyond its border,
though India has never used any violence to spread her influence. Noted historian, R.
C. Majumdar observed: "The Indian colonies in the Far East must ever remain as the
high watermark of maritime and colonial enterprise of the ancient Indians."[170] It
has been proved beyond doubt that the Indians of the past were not, stay-at-home
people, but went out of their country for exploration, trade and conquest. Sir Aurel
Stein (1862-1943) a Hungarian, whose valuable researches have added greatly to our
knowledge of Greater India, remarks:
"The vast extent of Indian cultural influences, from Central Asia in
the North to tropical Indonesia in the South, and from the

85
Borderlands of Persia to China and Japan, has shown that ancient
India was a radiating center of a civilization, which by its religious
thought, its art and literature, was destined to leave its deep mark
on the races wholly diverse and scattered over the greater part of
Asia." [171]
As much as the civilization of the Tamils and their tradition is strongly
rooted, After the colonization a mass exodus of people under various categories
scattered them all over the globe. As a result of which a strong network of diasporic
Tamils are found in Western, European and Asian countries. C. Kumarabharathy of
Wellington, New Zealand looked at Tamil culture from the standpoint of an
expatriate Tamil in an emerging post modern world.
"..We tend to think (implicitly), that culture is embodied in
Bharatha Natyam, Film Songs, Films, Dramas and having thus
externalised "Culture", we then send our children to 'study' them.
This way, parents 'make up' for their supposed lack of culture, by
the alleged accomplishments of the children. It is generally, not
clear to us, that behaviour, our conflicts and relationships also form
the bedrock of culture. The dance and songs are external
manifestations of this inwardness..."[172]
3.3

PATTERNS OF MIGRATION

Pre Colonial Migration

Migration During Colonisation

The pre colonial migration of Tamils to Sri Lanka can roughly be dated to the
Chola invasions during 900AD. Valiant rulers of the dynasty like Raja Raja Chola I
and his son Rajendra Chola I had been successful rulers in Sri Lanka. While King
Raja Raja I conquered the regions in northern region of the island, his son Rajendra
Cholan I was able to capture further territories. History claims that the Cholas were
ruling the nation for over 75 years.
The Sankam age was the golden era in the history of Tamil civilisation. The
Literature of this period that consists of poems give a vivid description of the life and
culture of the Tamils. The account is so elaborate and comprehensive that even after
2000 years it is widely accepted and appreciated. Of all the works in the Sankam
Literature the texts of Silapathikaram and Manimegalai the twin epics are essential

86
to this research because they mention of Lanka / Ceylon and of the establishment of
Tamil colony in the Island Nation.
Silapathikaram[173] (The Tale of an Anklet) written by a Jain prince - poet,
Ilango Adigal . This unlike its contemporaries is not a religious poem but a moralist
one. The story revolves around Kannagi who seeks justice in the court of a
Pandiyan king who had killed her husband assuming him to be a thief. This work
highlights some of the major historical occurrences in the process. Silapathikaram
describes the lifestyle of people in Kumari kanndam the landmass that was attached
to the tip of South India. This was reported to have undergone changes due to
tsunami in the 2 Century. The text also mentions of King Gajababu, the one who
ruled Ananthapura.
Silapathikaram has a couple of references to King Gajabahu of Sri Lanka.
One appears in the introductory passage where many Kings are described as offering
sacrifices to Kannagi who had already been deified as a goddess. The second
reference is towards the end of Silapathikaram where Gajabahu is described in the
company of Senguttuvan. Mahavamsa is silent about Gajabahu's visit to India but
some scholars have accepted the authenticity of this account in Silapathikaram for
establishing Gajabahu-Senguttuvan synchronism. These and perhaps other materials
are used to date the period of Karikala Chola and Atiyaman Nedumananji to the
second century A. D. [174]
R. Cheran a profound poet of the 80s in his poem Amma, Do Not Weep,
gives an inter- textual reference to the anklet and the Pandiyan King in
Silapathikaram. His voice is one of the strongest in expressing his anger against the
oppression. Written in the times of anti Tamil riots and the over powering oppressions
of the Sri Lankan army, Cheran through this poem quotes the life of ordinary couple
during the period of the pogroms. In this poem in particular, he speaks of a young
couple who even before they could relish the joy of a newborn son were brutally
separated as the husband was killed in the conflict. The poet says that the lady should
not weep as there are no mountains to shoulder her sorrows and no rivers to dissolve
her tears. The minute the husband gave her the baby from his shoulder, the gun fired
and that very moment all their dreams of the future shattered. Life of civilians caught

87
in the chaos, unaccounted lists of collateral damage, callousness of the militants and
the military in the bloodshed by innocent people is uncalled for.
What splattered from your anklet
were neither pearls
nor rubies:
there is no longer a Pandiyan king
to recognize blood guilt. [175]
In the above lines the poet refers to the text Silapathikaram (The Tale of an
Anklet). In the epic poem, When King Pandiyan realizes that he had made an unjust
conclusion by ordering the death of Kovalan assuming the latter had stolen the anklet
of the queen, he died of guilt. The story is a sovereign sample of how the Tamil kings
governed their subjects. The right to question the mistakes of their rulers and the
democratic approach is an outstanding feature of this poem.
Amma, Do not weep is the outburst of an angry young man who realizes that
the death of an innocent man. He says that there is no longer a Pandiyan king to
recognize the blood guilt. In the further lines of the poem he urges the lady to tell the
truth of the matter to her son when he would enquire about his father. He tells her that
hiding things from children is not a way of handling this situation. Awareness of what
is happening around should motivate them to wage a war against terrorism.
Manimekalai[176] (Dancer with Magic Bowl) written by the Buddhist poet
Chithalai Chathanaar is a sequel to Silapathikaram. It revolves around the daughter
of Kanagi. The poem is set in Kaveripattinam (Poomphuhar) and Nainatheevu
(Nakanadu) a small island in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The protagonist, Manimekalai
converts to Buddhism in this work.
One of the great epics of Tamil literature Manimekalai - has reference to
Jaffna. Jaffnas Tamil equivalent Yaalpanam itself refers to the mythical harp
player from Kanchipuram receiving the land as a royal gift. Tamil intellectuals and
scholars from Jaffna like Arumuga Navalar and C.W.Thamodaram Pillai have
enriched Tamil literature by their deep understanding and study of ancient Tamil
literature.

88
Bewildered at her loneliness in strange surroundings Manimekala roams
about the place until she comes upon the site hallowed by the visit of the Buddha.
This was the site where according to legends, the Buddha landed and settled a
growing strife between two warring Naga. Princes for a gem-set throne left to them
by an ancestress. The episode of the Buddha's visit to the Island of Nagadipa, where
he preached a sermon of reconciliation between the two Naga princes, is sung in
Buddhist legends of Ceylon, chronicled in Sinhalese Mahavamsa. Circumambulating
the holy seat, and prostrating herself before it, memories of her past life miraculously
dawns on her.[177]
To release her from this attachment and to help her to fulfil the Karma was
the mission of Goddess Manimekalai who spirited her away to the Island of
Manipallavam. In her past birth she was one of the three daughters of King
Ravivarman and his Queen Amudapati, of Yasodharanagari. The other two daughters
were Tarai and Virai, married to King Durjaya. On a certain day returning from a
visit to the hills by the side of the Ganges, the royal party came upon Aravana
Adigal, the great Buddhist saint. [178]
Another reference is from the famous novel Ponniyin Selvan[179] written by
the legendery Kalki Krishnamurthy. This story traces the life of the young prince
Arulmozhivarman, who travels to Sri Lanka to strengthen the army and capture the
fort at Anantapura and on his sucessful completion of the mission is celebrated King
Raja Raja Chola I.
When the story starts, the emperor Sundara Chola is ill
and bedridden. Aditha Karikalan is the general of the Northen
Command and lived in Kanchi and Arulmozhi Varman (who would
be famous later as Rajaraja Chola I) is in Sri Lanka in battle and
their sister Kundavai Piratti lived in Chola royal household at
Pazhayari. [180]
From the Sri Lankan perspective

Mahavamsa (483 BCE) The great

chronicle of Sri Lankan Buddhism, in its sixth chapter The Coming of Vijaya talks
of Prince Vijaya , the eldest son of a brother and sister, who in turn were children of
a human princess and a lion. [181] The Sri Lankans are convinced that Prince Vijaya
and the Sinhalese clan that evolved from there were descendants of the Aryan stock

89
and not that of Dravidian. Mahavamsa thus gives Sri Lanka to the Sinhalese twice
over: first by celebrating them as the islands original settlers, and then by bestowing
upon them the emphatic protection of the Buddha. [182]
Mahavamsa is a book with many missions. One of them is to provide proof
such as it is of the antique enmity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. [183]
Samanth Subramanian says that the backbone of Mahavamsa is the legend of King
Dutugemunu. He was a celebrated Sinhalese ruler who kept the Tamils at bay.
When his mother consulted her Buddhist soothsayers, they advised her The queens
son will vanquish the Damilas, (Tamils) unify the kingdom, and will make Faith
shine, [184]
Dutugumunu fights the Tamil king Elara for almost 13 years and kills him in
the end. During the post war period when he reminisces of the destruction and the
lives he had slaughtered in the battle field In truth, venerable sirs, ... How can there
be comfort to me that I caused the destruction of a great army of myriads of
men?[185]
There is no hindrance on the way to heaven because of your acts a monk
assures him. Slaughtering Tamils is no moral mistake. Only the equivalent of one
and a half men died at his hands, according to the Sanghas official arithmetic,
because the Tamils were heretical and evil and died as though they were animals.
You will make Buddhas faith shine in many ways. [186]
3.4

COLONISATION OF CEYLON
Ceylon prior to the colonisation had three distinct kingdoms, one that of the

Tamils in Jaffna, and two belonging to the Sri Lankans in Kotte and Kandi
respectively. The sixteenth century witnessed a massive invasion of the Europeans in
the Asian countries. Accordingly in 1505 AD the Portuguese reached the Island
Nation by sea route and were lured by the spices such as cinnamon, ginger and
pepper, valuable pearls, conch shells and elephants, all found in abundance in the
island were prime factors that drew the Portuguese to Sri Lanka. [187]

90
Kotte was considered indispensible by the Portuguese and they sought to
enter a trade agreement with King Parakramabahu. The King agreed hoping that the
military power of the Europeans would protect him from the boundary disputes from
the King of Kandy. Few years from then the Portuguese built a fort in Colombo. The
fall of the Kotte kingdom and the political independence steered the Portuguese
towards the Tamil settlement in the north. Meanwhile in Jaffna, The Tamil Sangam
was inaugurated and was paving way for a Tamil renaissance, A Tamil Library was
built promoting educational growth, Ayurveda and Siddha medical faculties were
developed and a medical book entitles Pararajasekaram was published during this
period. [188]
The kingdom of Jaffna was then ruled by Cankili I, a valiant King who tried
to prevent the invasion of the Portuguese by the military support extended by South
India however the vigour and strength of the European army shattered him and he
gave in to them by means of a peace treaty. Gulf of Mannar that was located in this
region was flourished with exquisite pearls and the Portuguese were attracted toward
it. Apart from this, they also realised that the port of Mannar was of great importance
as it was the gateway to the island. The incident that spiked the anger of King Cankili
was the conversion of the indigenous people to Catholics by the Portuguese. He
indulged in anti Portuguese acts that sketched him an enemy. The Kingdom of
Kotte had a different reception to Catholicism, The King Buvanakebahu was an
eager convert and he was christened Dom Luis
The Portuguese captured the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1619. The Portuguese
made several attempts to conquer Kandy, in 1594, 1603 and 1629, without success.
The access to two major kingdoms flourished them and they contributed by way of
churches, missionary schools and medical facilities to the locals. King Rajasinha II
of Kandy sought the help of the Dutch to fight the Portuguese. This paved way for
the Dutch East India Company, which was authorised by the Dutch crown, to intrude
into Sri Lanka in 1638. Driven by the single agenda of trade, the Dutch camped at
the Trincomale a natural harbour and dreamed of a single monopoly of the spice
trade in Sri Lanka. The also tried to abolish Catholicism and seeded the roots of
Protestantism.

91
The Dutch with their advanced war techniques and canons were able to
capture Colombo and a number of ports which they choose to hold on to than to hand
them over to Kandyan King as they had not received their tributes from them. Forced
to exist beside a hostile Dutch colony that had in a number of ways replaced the
Portuguese in devastating the resources of the soil, Kandy waged war with the Dutch
in 1760 in which it lost its power to the European.
In 1796 Dutch rule gave way to the British that had annexed Colombo and
Jaffna. The British rule in Ceylon was important for two historic reasons, one for
unifying the kingdoms as Ceylon and two for bringing in indentured plantation
labourers. Unmindful of the ethnic tensions between the Tamils and Sri Lankans in
the island, the British unified them under a single administration that forced two
entirely different race of people to live uncomfortably.
In his book War or Peace in Sri Lanka, T. D. S. A. Dissanayaka records,
I was a 20 year old undergraduate at the University of
Ceylon. I was amazed how S. J. V. Celvanayakam had predicted
the relationship between the Sinhalese and Tamils. His basic
thinking was as follows,
1. Before the British unified Ceylon, there was no kingdom that united the
entire Island from Point Pedro to Dondra Head.
2. When the Portuguese arrived in the sixteenth century there were basically
three kingdoms
a) Kotte (Sinhalese)
b) Kandy (Sinhalese)
c) Yalpanam (Tamils)
3. Culturally the Sinhalese and Tamils are two distinct races which for over
two thousand years had their own kingdoms. (The Indian Tamils had no
such Kingdoms. They were merely plantation labourers brought by the
British.)

92
4. In the modern world Sinhalese and Tamils can live together with peace and
with dignity as two different entities only within a Federal system.
5. It is a pity the Tamil community did not clamour for a federal set up before
the Soulbury Commission. Instead the Tamil community clamoured for
fifty- fifty which was unrealistic. [189]
This unification created chaos in the island that was never exposed to such
administration before. This created unrest in the society. The Britishers were proud
of their Coffee and Tea plantations. The lands acquired from the Sinhalese in the
Kandy region was planned for the cultivation. The Sinhalese felt that they were
abducted of their birthright when their lands were taken away from them and they
refused to work for the British. Using their political monopoly in South India, the
British brought in indentured labourers Indian Tamils who were affected by
drought in their homeland into the island. This fuelled the already simmering hatred
amongst the Sinhalese.
3.5

INDENTURED LABOURERS
In Sri Lanka, the first immigrants arrived towards the end of the 1820s, and

their numbers increased in the coming decades. Considered as indentured labour,

these immigrants were subject to a quasi-military regimentation, which was later
replaced by the kangani system, a more flexible arrangement. The size and
direction of migration flows at different periods are the complex outcome of the three
factors: the availability and the demand for labor on one hand, and the other, the
institutional conditions (social and political) which permits migration.
Because of its geographical and cultural closeness, the Island of Ceylon
enjoyed the ideal conditions for the massive transfer of labor from south India. The
migrants were organized by an overseer, the kangani. The kanganis traveled with the
groups of Tamils all the way from the place of recruitment to Sri Lanka, advancing
them the money required on their journey to the plantations. They continued to act as
supervisors and were responsible to the plantation owners or managers and for the

93
workers they had brought, who were usually also indebted to them for the advances
given.
The system was soon complicated by the introduction of a very Indian
stratification of power distribution, with different types of kanganis ranged one
above the other. The role of the kanganis was very important because of the social
and financial powers they exercised within the limited geography of the plantations.
The advantage of the system were naturally distributed, the migrants were taken care
of from beginning to end without having to risk anything in the process of
transplantation except their freedom and health, and the kanganis and planters
shared the profits from a labor force that could be recruited in the most flexible
manner.
The hill country of the Island experienced cycles of prosperity depending on
productivity and the world market for the produce like coffee, rubber and tea which
grown there. Tea cultivation brought about a qualitative change in the work force of
the plantation , because it requires continuous care and the economy of the island
absorbed more than 3,00,000 Tamils, not only plantation workers but also both
laborers going to work in the towns and merchants. In 1927 alone, the official
statistics recorded the arrival of 2,85,000 Indians in Sri Lanka. So the migration
became less seasonal and more stable and started to involve families. Unpredictable
in the work force would endanger the schedule of cultivation and the settlement of
entire families on the plantations, besides stabilizing the labor force, made it possible
to employ women and children for the regular plucking of the leaves.
In her short story The Journey Jean Arasanayagam describes the state of the
plantation labourers as,
I am reminded of the stories about the plantation workers who
were brought to our island two hundred years or more ago. Brought
from South India in theirs in ships. Disembarking at Talaimannar,
they made the long trek from the north, through thick, animal
infested jungles, to the central highlands to work on tea estates. So
many died on the way of cholera, dysentery, malaria. Many were
left behind to be attacked by wild bears and leopards or to grow
weaker and weaker and die, leaving their skeletons as new
landmarks on the terrifying journey. And of those who reached the

94
central highlands, many hundreds died of fever, chills, pneumonia
in those mist veiled mountains. Always the weak have had to
succumb... [190]
An impoverished India after the First War of Independence, or Great Mutiny
in 1857, became the perfect source of cheap labour for recruitment. A new system of
contractual slavery termed Indentured Labor Contract, was soon developed by the
colonial administration to bring migrant laborers from the Indian subcontinent.
For nearly eighty years, between 1834 and until the abolition of
indenturedship in 1917, the plantation economies in countries ranging from Sri
Lanka in South Asia to Surinam (formerly Dutch Guiana) in South America
imported hundreds of thousands of Indians as indentured labourers or Coolies. The
Indians who left under this notorious contract or GIRMITIA from the ports of
Calcutta, Madras, Pondicherry and Karaikal were thrown to the wilderness of the
NEW WORLD to generate wealth for European planters. [191]
The Indian Indentured immigration was first accounted for in the 1830s and
over a period of roughly 100 years 1,194,957 Indians were relocated to 19 colonies.
These records are the only documents for ancestral and lineage research for the
numerous descendants of those Indian Labourers. The arrival of large groups of
Indian labourers in the receiving colonies had immense repercussions, many of
which are still being felt today. The Indian Diaspora had an enormous impact on the
local economy, the politics and the socio-cultural make up of the colonies. [192]
By the twentieth century, Ceylon Nationalism grew. The Ceylon National
Congress(CNC) was formed in 1919. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was the
founding president of the party. In December 1919 the Ceylon National Congress
adopted the following resolutions:
"The congress declares that, for the better government of
the island and the happiness and contentment of the people, and as
a step towards the realization of responsible government in Ceylon
as an integral part of the British Empire, the constitution and
administration of Ceylon should be immediately reformed in the
following particulars, to wit: That the Legislative Council should
consist of about 50 members, of whom at least four-fifths should be
elected on the basis of a territorial electorate, upon a wide male

95
franchise and a restricted female franchise, and the remaining onefifth should consist of official members and of unofficial members
to represent important minorities, and the council should elect its
own speaker.'[193]
Thus Sir Arunachalam was assured of, the representation of the Tamils, as
envisaged by them in the territorial representation scheme, were as follows:
Three seats in the Northern Province
Two seats in the Eastern Province
One seat in the Western Province
In addition, possible seats for Tamils in other provinces and in the
Colombo municipality
Their willingness to support the Muslim member in the Western
Province. [194]
Donoughmore and the Soulbury(1944) Commissions are of great importance
as they assure that no one ethnic group will have supremacy in the political arena.
Minorities were given equal rights and were acknowledged in the political
environment. This was good news for the Tamils as they has an access to
standardised education and most of them took up civil services as they were fluent in
English due to the missionary schools made available to them.
The Tamils had always had a strong conviction in their caste system. The Sri
Lankan Tamils were considered high class-caste people and the Indian Tamils were
always looked down as low class-caste. This had disadvantaged the Indian Tamils
in ways more than one. The final phase of colonization and the abolition of caste
system paved ways of uplifting environment for them. They had access to education
due to the missionary schools and as a result a number of Tamils found a position in
the civil service of the nation. This spiked the sentiments of the Sinhalese.
The Sinhalese had always seen Tamils as a threat to their nation. As a tribe of
evil people who had come to take away their motherland and plunder its wealth. This
attitude only intensified the homelessness of the Tamils. In his poems entitled In
Ceylons Tea Gardens [195] written in English Velupillai expresses his strong feeling
for the plantation workers and their plight.
My men!
They lie dust under dust

96
Beneath the tea,
No wild weed flowers
Or memories token
Tributes raise
Over their humble mould. [196]
The conditions of the Tamil plantation labourers were much talked about and
debated. A short lived streak of Marxism in the Island Nation voiced the suppression
and unhealthy living conditions of the Tamils. This poem speaks of how they had to
toil in the soil, removing weed flowers all day long. These people one should
remember had been displaced and were alienated in the society. Primarily because of
the caste the belonged to or for the condition in which they were brought to Lanka
famished, malnourished and were easily manipulated by the colonizers for cheap
labour.
My bronze bodied men
Noose the morning light;
From dell to dale
From uplands and inclines
Echoes rise and fall
To the rhythm of pickaxe
Mammoty fork and crowbar. [197]
Bronze bodied refers to the dark texture of their colour. In these lines the
poet expresses his anger at the work hours of the labourers. They he says put in their
best effort from morning till evening not minding the external weather conditions
and the only sound that was heard from the area was that of the tools they used.
Silence and the with drawl symptoms are the evidence of the initial depression the
migrant experiences in the settled country. He or she uses this space to think of the
home and family that was left behind, not all of them wanted to think of the future as
there was a huge amount of uncertainty associated with it.
They enter the field.
Disturbed beehives their hearts
Their hands honey combs
Drip warm with the sweat,
Eight hours in a day
Seven times in a week;
Thus their life blood flows
To fashion this land
A paradise for some [198]

97
The colonizers were probably celebrating the deal they had stuck with the
plantation workers who slogged eight hours a day and seven times a week. This
statement assures the fact that they were not permitted a holiday. By referring their
hearts to a disturbed honey comb the poet signifies the uncontrolled flow of thought
process and emotional outbursts these workers were exposed to. However unplanned
of uncontrolled a disturbed honey comb looks, the bees still manage to do their job.
Similarly however powerful their thoughts and emotions are the workers still
dragged themselves to toil in a land that refused to assimilate them.
From their vote less gloom
From their stateless doom
Of rights withered dross
Shall wake another dawn;
In that mating hour
Where once life decayed
Shall spring a fire-throb,
In the breathing of men [199]
A close observation of these lines will probably tell us that the identity of the
Tamils became political. As mentioned previously there were two divisions of
Tamils in Sri Lanka, One the Sri Lankan Tamils who were there in the country
before colonization. Despite the fact that they were for long enemies, the Sri Lankan
Tamils managed to assimilate in Ceylon and were given privileges of a citizen. It was
the upcountry Tamils or the plantation workers who had difficulties settling in as
the majority Sinhalese alienated them.
Vote less gloom and Stateless doom are the foundation stones of a three
decade ethnic conflict. Deprived of their right to vote as they were considered as
outsiders and their inability to own a piece of land agitated the plantation
community by large. They were not entitled to enjoy the breath of freedom as their
identity was simply ignored and negated. There was zero scope for proper housing,
education for children, healthcare facilities. In other words their very existence was
put to stake.

98
As conditions worsened, the rise of the Tamil nationalism bonded the
plantation workers together and they started staging protest and fought for the
visibility of their identity in the social fabric of Sri Lanka. This infuriated the
Sinhalese and there were instances of anti Tamil riots right from the late fifties and
early sixties. However it gained prominence and attention after the Black July
episode in 1983. This resulted in the fleeing of Tamils from the country to various
places all over the globe. To understand this displacement better, here is Song of
Refugee a collection of songs on life of a refugee written by V. I. S. Jayapalan in the
poem Memory of Autumn
My son in Jaffna
My wife in Colombo
My father in Vanni
At this old age
My mother in Tamilnadu
Relatives in Frankfort
One sister in France
But me
In Oslo
As a camel that has strayed to Alaska losing its way.
What is our family?
Is it a cotton pillow
Torn and flung into the wind
By Fate the monkey? [200]
One striking feature of any form of literature written by a diasporic Sri
Lankan writer is that the expression is never fabricated in glamour. A simple, straight
forward narration is what we find in the poems, stories and essays. Because of which
the honesty in the content is expressed modestly. The displacement of a family
Writers of the Indian Diaspora, who were earlier called expatriate writers,
have carved for themselves a niche in the arena of literature. Tapping their varied
experiences and rich exposure to advantage, the writers wrote with a broad vision
and perspective. In the modern world of flux, fluidity, uncertainty confusion, and
constant erosion of identities, they explore major issues like cultural conflicts,
immigrants alienation and changing social values.

99
Most of the writers endeavour to define the experience of migrancy. They
made a substantial contribution to the expatriate sensibility, which is considered to be
a phenomenon in commonwealth literature. In a way, all diasporic writing exhibit
dual pulls alien and indigenous and cultural comparisons are inevitable at every
step. The binary opposition between us and they, the land of immigration and
mother country are inevitable. There is an attempt to homogenize Indian Culture
and Indian Cultural identity in the use of the term Indian Diaspora. A working
class definition of identity is accepted in Cultural studies.
Expatriation as a theme in Third World literature has not been the
subject of any comprehensive, full-length analysis despite the large
scale occurrence of migration from the Third World to the
metropolitan writers. Only a few individual migrant writers have
sometimes been discussed in short critical pieces. The aesthetic
implications of expatriation for the fictional genre have not been
investigated so far. [201]
Migration is as old as human history. The Bible talks about the exodus of
Israelies from Egypt to Canaan, the Promised Land. Exodus of a different kind and
for a different purpose takes place every day in different parts of the world. In world
history, the dispersal of the Jews in different parts of the world away from their
homeland is referred to as diaspora. Etymologically, the term diaspora is derived
from the Greek term diasperien. Dia means across and sperien means to sow
or scatter seeds. The term diaspora now refers to displaced communities which
have been dislocated from their homeland through migration, immigration or exile.
Diaspora is a dislocation from a geographical location of origin and relocation in
another transitory or country. Another historical reference is the Black African
Diaspora which began in the sixteenth century with slave trade. West Africans
were taken from their native land through the infamous Middle Passage and
scattered in New World North America, South America and the Carribean. Since
that time, the phrase Middle Passage has become a metaphor to refer to such forced
displacements. These diasporas have been followed by numerous fractured
diasporas like the migration of Blacks living in North America. Diaspora, in the
fast changing world, refers to the thousands of displaced persons and communities
moving across the globe. To be precise, Diaspora is used as an umbrella term to

100
refer to all such movements and dislocations from the native country / culture. These
people usually have a hope, or at least a desire to return to their homeland, but they
are partly alienated from their homeland.
The term Diaspora has lost its original connotation, yet simultaneously it has
also emerged in another form, healthier than the former. At first, it is concerned with
human beings attached to the homelands. Their sense of yearning for the homeland, a
curious bondage with its traditions, religions and languages gives birth to diasporic
literature which is primarily concerned with the individuals or communitys
bondage to the homeland.
Diasporic authors engage in cultural transmission that is equitably exchanged
in the manner of translating a map of reality for multiple readerships. They are
equipped with bundles of memories and articulate an amalgam of global and national
strands that embody real and imagined experiences. Diasporic writings to some
extent are about finding new avenues of reality. Ahmad Aziz in his In Theory:
Classes, Nations, Literatures states that one of the most relevant aspect of diasporic
writing is that it forces, interrogates and challenges the authoritative voices of time
(history).
Most of the novels on migration have a first person narration. It brings to focus
the idea of flux and fluidity associated with identity and the act of writing becomes a
means to work out ones sense of self. Memory is therefore invoked in a big way, ,
since the past is revisited or reconstructed in an attempt to consolidate the present.
Memory fails to constitute a cohesive framework for the journey into the fractured
past. The narratives of these novels are broken, fragmented and discontinuous.
As expatriate writers they write from a position and perspective of perpetual
exile. For the writer, decolonization involves a process of building or reconstructing
an identity which he / she has been denied or deprived of. The very act of writing
becomes a means of self realisation. The quest for identity is found in all post
colonial writings. A large number of South Asian writers who have published their
works in English. Many of the best known South Asian writers now active are in fact
expatriates or second generation emigrants, based in Britain, the US or Canada. In

101
this category fall Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh;
and others, and female writers including Anita Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharati
Mukherjee and Arundhati Roy.
Some writers have noted that Diaspora may result in a loss of nostalgia for a
single home as people re-root in a series of displacements. In this sense,
individuals may have multiple homes throughout their diaspora, with different
reasons for maintaining some form of attachment to each. Since being diasporic is a
matter of personal choice the journey of life becomes an exploration of an
individuals sense of self and quest for the liberation of the human spirit. The
possibilities are diverse and varied as there are individuals. Characters in diasporic
literature, particularly those in Mukherjees novels provide a key to unravel the quest
of the diasporans. They relate to the country of origin and their immigrant status in
different ways. Ultimately, it is creating ones own cultural space in the adopted
home and that matters. In other words, Diaspora is all about creating new identities
achieving cultural hybridity, acquiring spaces for growth, resolving cultural conflicts
and forging a new culture either composite or plural. Diasporic traversals interrogate
the rigidity of identity.
Identity is an important issue in diasporic literature. Stuart Hall contends that
identity should not be thought of as an accomplished fact, but should be seen as a
production which is never complete. This view problematises the authenticity of the
term Cultural identity. Says Stuart Hall,
There are atleast two different ways of thinking about Cultural
Identity. The first position defines Cultural Identity in terms of
one shared culture, a sort of collective one true self, hiding inside
the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed selves,
which people with shared history and ancestry hold in common...
Cultural Identity, in this second sense, is a matter of becoming as
well as being. It belongs to the future as much as to the past. It is
not something which already exists, the transcending place, time,
history and culture. Cultural identities come from somewhere, have
histories. But, like everything which is historical, they undergo
constant transformation. Far from being eternally fixed in some
essentialised past, they are subject to the continuous play of
history, culture and power. [202]

102
Cultural Identity is not a fixed essence nor is it some universal spirit within
us... It is not a fixed origin to which we can make a final and absolute Return. [203]
At the same time, it is not a figment of imagination. Instead cultural Identity is the
point of identification which is not an essence, but a positioning. Mukherjees novels
interrogate the notion of cultural identity through the characters. Most of us think
that identity as transparent medium devoid of problems but in reality identity is
problematic.
Diasporic identities constantly bring out transformation and difference.
Hybridity also opens diasporic subjectivity to a luminal, dialogic space wherein
identity is negotiated. Thus diasporans experience double identification that
constitutes hybrid forms of identity which are separate from the essential form of
cultural identity with its affiliations to the construction of a nation or homeland.,
Diaspora concepts shift from essentialist notions of homeland, national or ethnic
identity, probe multiple belongings and address the conditions that allow people to
inhabit more than one national space. In such a diasporic context, the United States
which is a land of immigrants, finds itself not as a melting point but as another
diasporic switching point. The diasporans in their journey through space deterritorialise and re-territorralise the blurring boundaries of nations.
By virtue of its authenticity and appeal, diasporic literature has become a
genre in itself. It deals invariably with themes like:

Nostalgia for a home that exists only in memory.

Failed quests and thwarted dreams.

The utter loss of a support system and futile attempts to forge a new
support system.

Identity crisis

Painful quest for the lost self.

Intergenerational conflict between the expatriate first generation

parents and the immigrant assimilated second generation children.

Marital conflicts, as spouses adapt to the new culture differently.

103

Misreading of cultural codes.

The experience of racism in all its manifestations, brute rejection

humiliation, and physical torture.

Attempts to conjure up sustaining myths and symbols of the past.

As a community, they had done everything together - grief, celebrations and

festivals to mention a few. Relationships with relatives, neighbours and friends had
always regulated every aspect of their lives. Once these people left their original
homeland they were really alone. Like a fish out of water, even while standing in a
crowd a person feels isolated, alienated and totally alone. So the first step that
immigrants takes in the new land - the promised land, the land of golden
opportunities - is to come out of their deliberate independent choice to emigrate from
their mother country. And to deal with people essentially different from them; they
have to learn and understand alien ways, languages; face unaccustomed problems; in
short to survive in a grossly foreign environment. As Oscar Handlin says,
U long of course for the safety, U cherish still the ideals of the nest.
But the dangers of insecurity are other words for freedom and
opportunity. You are alone in a society without order; You miss
the support of a community, the assurance of a defined rank. But
you have also quit traditional obligations of the confinement of a
given station. [204]
Mukherjees major theme is the condition of Asian immigrants (especially
from India) in North America, particularly the changes that takes place in South
Asian women in the New World.

In her 1990 Iowa Review Interview, She

emphasizes that many of her stories are about psychological transformation

especially among women immigrants from Asia. According to her, Asian males
tend to be too preoccupied with economic transformation to change mentally and are
thus less interesting as fictional subjects. The wives, on the other hand, run through
the emotional process in their bid to adjust themselves in a new world.

Thus

Mukherjee writes about women leading lives of quiet desperation, but at least a few
of her heroines are shown as warriors who triumph over the obstacles and who take

104
control over their destinies by crossing cultural lines. As a novelist, Mukherjee has
clearly portrayed her aim in her novels as,
We immigrants have fascinating tales to relate. Many of us
have lived in newly independent or emerging countries which are
plagued by civil and religious conflict... when we uproot ourselves
from those countries and come here, either by choice or out of
necessity, we suddenly must absorb 200 years of American
history... I attempt to illustrate this in my novels and short stories.
My aim is to expose Americans to the energetic voices of new
settlers in this country.[205]
William Safrans definition of Diaspora seems to be the accepted one, but it
does not quite fit our present context. He defines Diaspora as expatriate minority
communities that share several of the following:
They or their ancestors have been dispersed from a specific
homeland to another country; retain a collective memory, vision or
myth about their original homeland; experience a feeling of
alienation and antagonism from the host society and feel they can
never fit in; regard their ancestral homeland as their true home and
that their sojourn is temporary; that they or their descendants would
someday return; treasure their collective past, and are bound to the
homeland; this bond can express itself in actively participating in or
contributing to what is happening in the homeland. [206]

105
END NOTES
147

Rajagopalachari. C (1951). Ramayana. Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan

148

Rajagopalachari. C (2012). Mahabharata. Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan.

149

http://www.stephen-knapp.com/lord_rama_fact_or_fiction.htm

150

Ibid

151

Forbes, J., & Turnour, G. (1841). Eleven years in Ceylon: Comprising

sketches of the field sports and natural history of that colony, and an account
of its history and antiquities. London: R. Bentley.

152

http

153

Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Menozzi, P., & Piazza, A. (1994). The history and

://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dravidian_peoples

geography of human genes. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

154

http://historum.com/asian-history/82372-indus-valley-civilisation-protodravidian.html

155

Witzel, M. (1999). Substrate Languages in Old Indo-Aryan (Rgvedic, Middle

and Late Vedic). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 5(1), 1-67.

156

Asher, R. E. (2010). The Madras School of Orientalism: Producing

knowledge in colonial South India. Historiographia Linguistica, 37(1-2),
226-229.

157

Caldwell, R. (1856). A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or SouthIndian family of languages. London: Harrison.

158

Thomason, S. G., & Kaufman, T. (1988). Language contact, creolization, and

genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

159

Zvelebil, K. (1978). A sketch of comparative Dravidian morphology. The

Hague: Mouton.

160

Winters, C. (May 01, 2007). Did the Dravidian speakers originate in

Africa?. Bioessays,29, 5, 497-498.

161

Ibid

162

Ibid

163

http://www.oocities.org/bhel_ywca/Tamil.htm

164

Caldwell, R. (1856). A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or SouthIndian family of languages. London: Harrison.

106
165

Frawley, D. (2001). The Rig Veda and the history of India: Rig Veda Bharata
itihasa. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.

166

Majumdar, R. C. (1964). Ancient India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

167

The Chambers encyclopedia. (2001). Edinburgh: ChambersHarrap.

168

http://hinduonline.co/FactsAboutHinduism/Commerce.html

169

Ibid

170

Majumdar, R. C. (1964). Ancient India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

171

Wang, H. (2002). Sir Aurel Stein in The Times: A collection of over 100
references to Sir Aurel Stein and his extraordinary expeditions to Chinese
Central Asia, India, Iran, Iraq and Jordan in The Times newspaper 19011943. London: Eastern Art Pub.

172

http://www.tamilnation.co/culture/index.htm

173

Siromoney, G. (1982). The origin of the Tamil script. Tamil Studies, 2(1), 823.

174

Ibid

175

Cheran, R., & Kanaganayakam, C. (2011). You cannot turn away: Poems in
Tamil. Toronto: TSAR Publications.

176

http://www.slhcindia.org/index.php? option=com_ content& view=

category&layout=blog&id=54&Itemid=54&limitstart=4

177

de Silva, P. L. (1997). The growth of Tamil paramilitary nationalisms:

Sinhala Chauvinism and Tamil responses. South Asia: Journal of South Asian
Studies,20(s1), 97-118.

178

Ibid

179

Krishnamurthy, K. (1950). Ponniyin Selvan (Son of Ponni). Kalki.

180

Ibid

181

Subramanian, S. (2015). This divided island: Stories from the Sri Lankan
war. Penguin. India

182

Ibid

183

Ibid

184

Ibid

185

Ibid

186

Ibid

107
187

Subrahmanyam, S. (1997). The career and legend of Vasco Da Gama,

Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, p21

188

UPHS

189

Dissanayaka, T. D. S. A. (2005). War or peace in Sri Lanka. Popular

Prakashan.

190

Arasanayagam, J. (1995). All is burning. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books.

191

http://ignca.nic.in/id_indentured_001.htm

192

Documentary heritage submitted by Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and

Tobago and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register
in 2011.

193

http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI01Df03.html

194

http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI01Df03.html

195

Velupillai, C. V. (1957). In Ceylons Tea Garden. Harrison Peiris. Colombo

196

Ibid

197

Ibid

198

Ibid

199

Ibid

200

Kannan, M., & Whittington, R. (Eds.). (2014). Time Will Write a Song for
You: Contemporary Writing in Tamil from Sri Lanka. Penguin UK.

201

Kirpal, V. (1989). The Third World novel of expatriation: A study of emigre

fiction by Indian, West African, and Caribbean writers. New Delhi: Sterling
Publishers.

202

Hall, S., & Du, G. P. (1996). Questions of cultural identity. London: Sage.

203

Ibid

204

Handlin, O. (1951). The uprooted: The epic story of the great

migrations that made the American people. Boston: Little, Brown.

205

Mukherjee, B., & Edwards, B. C. (2009). Conversations with

Bharati Mukherjee. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

206

Safran, W., Sahoo, A., & Lal, B. V. (2013). Transnational Migrations: The
Indian Diaspora. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.