Sinhala Tamil new year. Look no further. The very basis of both the communities in which they arrange time( read year in tis instance) is the same. cant find anything more common than that…

Dear Sach,

True. I read too much into your responses. My bad. My observations are relevant in light of the resurgent rise of Sinhala chauvinism. They were misdirected at you. Apologies.

Regards
GTBP

the kralaconnection to Sri Lanka is so under researched. Love to see more. Even women in Kerala villages wear a reddhe and hate style clothing.
when did these exchanges take place? was it before or after Malayalam became a separate language from the Tamil or was it whilst it was still a dialect of Tamil. Assume it happened over time due to the proximity along with other parts of SOuth India to Sr Lanka. Love to know

‘Indian kings like Asoka do have a hero status in Sinhala culture more than in his land.’
The Indian flag has got Asokas dharmachakra
There cannot be more cult status than that.

You have a remarkable ability of living according to your name, confused. I was talking about a cultural conflict. The conflict was in a political nature, not cultural. And I was talking about hundreds of years of history not a mere fraction of our history. Tamil culture did flourish in the south even during conflict times. There was no objection to tamil culture or tamil cultural elements in SL. That is why you see Hindu gods inside buddhist temples and even inside buses on the roads, next to buddha images. I am not for the gov and they havent even paid compensation for many sinhala victims as well. It is sheer incompetence and total disregard of its people.

Where have I demonstrated any discomfort with the article? I have only rejected some of the claims of the ones who commented here. If you have any problem with what I said there, please try to counter argue. Again where have I showed that I perceive Sinhala culture to be radically distinct? Actually in my comment I have showed how it is not. Please read my comment again. It may be confusing to you that sinhala language sharing a lot from Tamil language but it is not to anyone who can understand how possible it is because both the tamil and sinhala cultures flourished in the same region and especially since sinhala nation experienced many migrations from TN. I guess for a person who grew up thinking indiappa was originally from SL these things are confusing.
Naganathan’s article mainly describes how modern day sinhala language has been formed with the help from Tamil language. He doesn’t bring a new thesis all are widely accepted and widely available knowledge. That is why I said I had read about it before. I didn’t see how he was trying to disprove a theory of so called sinhala chauvanists. I will tell you first I am not a follower of Gunadasa Amarasekara or Nalin De Silva so it would save you a lot of time. How did you guess that I was trying to safeguard any argument of your sinhala chauvanists. Another tube light moment for you?
Dont get confused, I am not talking about a Sri Lankan identity. Sri Lanka has a Tamil part in its identity. I am a person who has always been against defining SL as a sinhala buddhist nation. It was the Sinhala identity that I was talking about. Are you trying to say both are the same? If you again read my comments I have acknowledged how Tamil had been used to form sinhala language. You do really have a lot of tube light moments.
It is you who has extended Sinhala culture to mean Sri Lanka. I was not talking about SL. So how can it be trying to undermine any potential for reconciliation? Where have I tried to reimaging SL? When I said, “something new bridging many cultures” I was talking about Sinhala people. Is it that difficult for you to understand? Also just because I said sinhala people formed something new even after coming from different cultures, how come it is an attempt to show exclusivity?
Banning the Tamil language national anthem is a stupid and a racist act by the gov. And again how related it is to my comment?
“What Naganathen’s article shows is how the adoption of Tamil words into the Sinhala lexicon have shaped Sinhala culture and its institutions. “
Yes the article is showing about the adoption of tamil words into sinhala lexicon and where have I rejected it?
How come acknowledging the adoption of tamil words into sinhala language makes the sinhala culture not a distinct one. I am not saying we are different in the sense that there is a difference in the cultures like in between American and Japanese. Tamil language heavily did impact the evolvement of the sinhala language but it does not make sinhala culture a total derivative of a tamil culture. As much as there are similarities, there are differences. We do acknowledge the impact of tamil language on sinhala culture. But still we are distinct. Many immigrant sinhala people did come from other parts of India, especially bengal so there is another cultural baggage.
Are you suggesting that we sinhalese need to think we are truly Tamil and sinhala is a false reimagining of ourselves for the sake of reconciliation? And I do not think that is needed. Anyone can distinguish sinhala and tamil cultures, because they are different.

Re: “There was hardly a cultural conflict in SL. SL is a place where different cultures lived with each other in amity in such a small geographical location for centuries”

I wonder who will believe the above statement. What happened since the mid 1950s up to this minute in Sri Lanka to the minorities is well documented all over the world.

What is the reason for the STATE ORGANISED POGROMS against the minorities which happened periodically against the unarmed Tamils? If every one lived in amity, why so much killing, torturing, abductions, murders, burning of property and business belonging to minorities took place? Why did the libraries, schools, temples in the Tamil areas got destroyed?

There was no effort on the part of the government to find the culprits? In some cases the culprits are known, but there was no effort to prosecute them!! No compensation paid to the victims.

Even now Tamil peoples lands have been forcibly taken from them and being given to thugs from the Majority community. No compensation paid.
The list of atrocities are endless. Killings, torture, imprisonment without charges, abductions, killings of Tamils are still continuing!!!All this will be denied or ignored and the atrocities will continue!!!

Dear Sachs,

Despite what you write here, your discomfort with Naganathan’s article is palpable. Leela above demonstrates a similar unease. Finding out what is considered to be quintessential Sinhala culture and institutions as being etymological derivations of Tamil can be quite confusing. It would be all the more disconcerting if you perceive Sinhala culture as being radically distinct, especially in relation to Tamil culture.

The way you interpret Naganathan’s article as being a vindication of the Sinhala people’s openness is an inelegant way of avoiding accepting the more obvious point – that the “distinctiveness” argument forwarded by the Sinhala chauvinists is nothing but a rotten fallacy.

Continued attempts at trying to define Sri Lanka as only a Sinhala-Buddhist nation is creating a movement to expunge all features that are of Tamil origin from the Sri Lankan identity. Sinhala is defined in only exclusivist terms and as you put it, “inventing something new bridging many cultures”, and hence not requiring acknowledgement. The outcome of this “reimagining” of Sinhala culture, and by extension Sri Lanka, is undermining any potential for reconciliation and the creation of a pluralistic society. Banning the singing of the Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil, is a classic example of a distorted reimagining of Sri Lanka.

What Naganathen’s article shows is how the adoption of Tamil words into the Sinhala lexicon have shaped Sinhala culture and its institutions. Acknowledging this requires us to view Sinhala culture as not some distinct entity but a blending with Tamil (something that was obvious in the past but is gradually being eroded). Upon closer examination, what is considered “authentic Sinhala”, turns out to be actually of Tamil origin. This poses a dilemma for the chauvinist as he now has to find something else to support his perception of distinctiveness so that he may continue to legitimize his scheme of exclusion. We don’t need that. What we do need is an unembarrassed acknowledgement and celebration of our commonalities and to marginalise the delusional chauvinists.

Regards
GTBP