Camp disappearances reach alarming levels

Camp disappearances reach alarming levels - Rights advocate
TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2009

Sunila Abeysekera, a human rights activist and executive director of INFORM human rights documentation center in Sri Lanka, in an interview to Real News Network in Toronto, accused the Sri Lanka Government authorities of not providing enough attention to the welfare of the nearly 300,000 people in the internment camps who have come to these camps after months of deprivation, and said that the lack of proper registration procedures for the people inside the camp is providing Colombo a free hand in facilitating the Paramilitaries to take youths out of the camps in large numbers without any accountability.

"Many of the people are dehydrated and have infected wounds," Abeysekara said, and pointed to the April 11th statement by the High Court Judge in Vavuniyaa that fourteen elderly people died of starvation in one day.

Abeysekara said that she cannot accept Sri Lanka Government's stand that they will screen the 300,000 people before giving access to independent NGOs including ICRC, and UNHCR, and that independent observers should be allowed to monitor the screening process.

She also said that more than 200 youths between the ages of 11 and 17 were taken from the Manik farm camp in Vavuniyaa last week, and the Government has not disclosed the list of the youths taken. "The parents of these youths are desparate," Ms Abeysekera said.

Government admits that they have 10,000 LTTE surrendees and captives in who have surrendered, Ms Abeysekera said. "We don't know where they are. We don't have a list of who they are. There are families of senior LTTE cadres are in Government custody. For example, Soosai's wife and children are captured by the Sri Lanka Navy. We are trying to find where these people are. And it is impossible," Ms Abeysekara added.

Ms Abeysekera was honored as a Human Rights Watch Defender at the 2007, Voices for Justice Dinner Worldview.


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External Links:
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SkyNews:    The disappearing act in Sri Lanka
AFP:           Children abducted from S.Lanka camps: rights group
AP:              Rights group: Paramilitaries take Sri Lanka youth
UN:            Special Rapporteur on Torture Concludes Visit to Sri Lanka

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Camp disappearances reach alarming levels - Rights advocate

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29593

Vanni IDPs live under appalling condition: Sri Lankan Chief Justice

Vanni IDPs live under appalling condition: Sri Lankan Chief Justice
TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009

"Vanni IDPs sheltered in transit centres in Cheddiku'lam cannot expect justice under the Sri Lanka’s law. Law of the country does not show any interest on these IDPs. I openly say this. The authorities can penalize me for telling this," said Sri Lanka's Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva when he addressed a public meeting which followed the ceremonial opening of a court complex at Marawila in Negombo district Tuesday. These transit centres are described as internment camps by human rights activists.

Sarath N. Silva further said:

“I visited 'relief villages' where Vanni IDP families are sheltered. I cannot explain their suffering and grief in words. It is an utter lie if we continue to say that there is only one race and no majority or minority in the country. I visited Cheddiku'lam camps where IDP families live. I cannot explain the pathetic situation they undergo. I was unable to console them. They survive amid immense suffering and distress.

"We construct massive building on our side. But these IDPs live in tent-shelters. Ten IDPs live in one tent-shelter. They could stand straight only in the centre of the tent shelter. Their neck will break down if they move to aside of the tent-shelter.

"IDPs are seen waiting in queues, extending from 50 to 100 yards to take their turn to answer a call of nature. This is the life of Vanni IDPs in Cheddiku'lam camp

"I attempted to smile at these IDPs. But it was without success. I failed to express my feeling towards them. I was unable to tell them that we also were crying with them for their suffering. I was unable to tell them that I would supply new clothes to them.

"They should be provided with enough relief. We would be blamed if we fail to supply them with enough relief.

"They cannot expect justice from the law of the country. Their plight and suffering are not brought to the court of law in our country. I openly say this. I will be penalized for telling this”, said Mr.Sarath Silva who is to retire from the post of Chief Justice at the end June when he reaches 60 years of age.

Sarath Silva's address was aired with Tamil translation Wednesday night in MTV News bulletin.


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Vanni IDPs live under appalling condition: Sri Lankan Chief Justice (04-06-2009 - TamilNet)
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29520

International media abetted death of journalism in Sri Lanka

'International media abetted death of journalism in Sri Lanka'
TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2009


Following the latest assassination of prominent editor Lasantha Wickramatunge of The Sunday Leader, four notable journalists, have reportedly fled Sri Lanka last week. "Had the international media, which was refused access to the war front and LTTE held territories, boycotted the government news, from the beginning itself as a measure of asserting media rights, the casualty of journalism in the island could have been avoided. But, the international media, especially the popular news agencies, are part of the game and they pay only lip service at every media casualty in the country," says a journalist formerly based in Colombo and now operating in the West.



The journalist, who wishes to withhold his name, as he often visits Colombo, said that
in the current war, the international media forfeited its privileges to Colombo
government and was functioning almost like mouthpieces, helping the propaganda war,
showing only superficial resentment.
"This has happened, as the major agencies of the international media have become
handmaids of Bush's 'War on Terror'. Such an outlook encouraged Colombo
government to pounce on whatever little remaining traces of independent journalism in
Sri Lanka," he argues.
Sri Lanka ranked 165th out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2008
press freedom index. This was the lowest ranking of any 'democratic' country.
The international media reproducing Colombo's version of a story, without critical
investigation of the logic and the source, failed to maintain a positive balance of media
etiquette, commented the journalist.
Even though the informed readership always manage to filter away the bias in the
reporting, the buying agencies in various countries only reproduce the version of the
Sri Lankan government, rendered through the news agencies.
Apart from the role of the international media, various media outlets controlled by the
government or serving the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist agenda, have portrayed many
International NGOs, the peace facilitator Norway, eminent Human Rights defenders
and even the visiting former UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour as Tiger
agents. This kind of biased reporting, which gets blown up in Colombo media, became
a tool in the hands of the government and was used to control and define the attitude
and agenda of the personalities involved. The international media didn't care to counter
this with critical reporting, according to the journalist.
As a result of such tarnishing of image, the Norwegian facilitators were blackmailed
against criticising the Sri Lankan government. While having a free ticket to criticise the
Tigers, they were reluctant to issue statements that blamed Sri Lanka for rights and
ceasefire violations. This has eventually become a major setback to Norway, which was
openly acknowledged by the Norwegian peace facilitators to their media.
Despite the fact that the war has been taking place for decades between two regions,
the international media failed to establish parallel centres in the island of Sri Lanka. For
instance, Jaffna was a pioneering media centre in Asia running its own daily
newspapers right from 1840s. But, the international media agencies, for ages, have
concentrated only on Colombo and have developed a Colombo-centric media culture
for which they have become victims.
TamilNet's own experience is the web-blockade of the Colombo government since June
2007.


The Free Media Movement reported, back in 2007: "The ban on Tamilnet is the first
instance of what the FMM believes may soon be a slippery slope of web & Internet
censorship in Sri Lanka."
ARTICLE 19, an independent human rights organisation that works around the world to
protect and promote the right to freedom of expression, in a press release stated: "
“This is a blatant and unjustified attack on freedom of expression. [...] Until now,
control measures have largely been directed at local media. Applying these measures
to the Internet represents a serious escalation, which threatens to cut off an important
source of independent and alternative news. This not only threatens press freedom but
also undermines efforts to address the conflict.”
The media watchdog described TamilNet in the following words: "Although some claim
it has an LTTE bias, the online paper has, over its ten-year life span, earned a solid
reputation for providing alternative news and opinions with a particular focus on the
North and East of the country, operating under the banner of 'Reporting to the World
on Tamil Affairs'. It is relied upon as a credible news source by journalists, civil society
and the diplomatic community, both within Sri Lanka and globally. Over the years, the
site has endured various threats and attacks, including the gunning down in April 2005
of editor, Sivaram Dharmaratnam."
However, the international media continue to discredit the Tamil national perspectives
of TamilNet, by labelling it as a 'pro-rebel' website, copying Colombo-centric rhetoric
and thus weakening alternative perspectives of journalism in the island.
When the late senior editor, Mr. Sivaram (Taraki), a few years before his assassination
asked the then Colombo Bureau Chief of Reuters why they needed a special adjective
to TamilNet, there was no answer.
None of the countries of the International Community thought that they should
condemn when Sivaram was assassinated, which was the second TamilNet casualty
after Nimalarajan, and was an irreplaceable loss to Eezham Tamil journalism. Such was
the awe and respect for alternative journalism.

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Find this article at:
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=28060

Boston Globe: Grant Tamils autonomy in homelands

Boston Globe: Grant Tamils autonomy in homelands
TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008

Boston Globe in an editorial published today warned that Sri Lanka’s military campaign will only produce a “new phase of protracted guerrilla warfare,” and that lasting peace is possible only when Sri Lanka's government “grant[s] the Tamils meaningful autonomy in their homelands.” The paper also asserted a cautionary note to the Sri Lanka Government that “[e]thnic or nationalistic pride should not be allowed to inflict such suffering on civilians who committed no crime but to be trapped in a war zone.”

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Full text of the editorial follows:

ASIA'S longest civil war is building to a violent crescendo. In the island nation of Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese-majority government should be pressed to accept a cease-fire, to permit a political settlement. Government
forces are besieging the rebel Tamil Tigers in the north of the country. Since abandoning a ceasefire in 2006 and a Norwegian-sponsored peace process earlier this year, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, Defense Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, have been vaunting their intention to crush the Tigers once and for all.

There is little chance the brothers' military campaign will produce anything other than a new phase of protracted guerrilla warfare. Meanwhile, over 200,000 civilians have been uprooted from their homes. On ground flooded by monsoon rains, they struggle to survive in frail lean-tos, dependent on aid
agencies that operate under the Sri Lankan army's severe restrictions.

Both sides have abused civilians. The Sri Lankan military has bombed and shelled villages, schools, hospitals. An official of the World Food Program told the BBC recently that conditions for displaced people in the
northern conflict zone are "as basic as in Somalia." And Human Rights Watch has accused the Tigers of preventing 230,000 displaced civilians from fleeing the war zone so they can be used as human shields, and
to provide a pool of potential recruits.

Tamil civilians of northern Sri Lanka are suffering a man-made disaster. Ethnic or nationalistic pride should not be allowed to inflict such suffering on civilians who committed no crime but to be trapped in a
war zone.

Only when the shooting stops can Sri Lanka's government pursue a lasting peace - by granting the Tamils meaningful autonomy in their homelands.



Quotes from Boston Globe's Past editorials:
--------------------------------------------------

July 2008: The solution to Sri Lanka's conflict must be political, not military. Rajapakse should be encouraged to strike a deal that grants Tamils substantial autonomy in their own homeland areas. If not, the war will drag on, and Sri Lanka's government may find itself classified alongside the regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan as an international pariah.


March 2008: The reality is not so simple. A recent Human Rights Watch report shows how Rajapaksa's government has committed grave human rights abuses. In its 241-page report, "Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for 'Disappearances' and Abductions in Sri Lanka," the human rights group documents a pattern of abductions of civilians by security forces. The report calls on the government to acknowledge its "responsibility for large-scale disappearances and take all steps necessary to stop the practice."


November 2007: There ought to be an international arms embargo on Sri Lanka. If President Mahinda Rajapaksa wants to end the conflict, he could point to the damaging effects of such an embargo to persuade Sinhalese nationalists they must accept a meaningful devolution of power to the Tamil areas ... And then Rajapaksa should back constitutional changes that would allow for Tamil self-government in a confederal Sri Lanka.


October 2006: To demonstrate Washington's seriousness about a permanent peace that provides for Tamil self-government and human rights in a confederal Sri Lanka, the [U.S.] administration ought to prevail on the central government to withdraw its armed forces from the Tamil areas in the north of the island.


June 2006: This [U.S's] acknowledgment of a Tamil right to self-rule in their own homeland marks a welcome evolution in US policy. The international community should press the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers alike to come to the negotiating table in Oslo and work out a loose confederation that retains Sri Lanka's unity, grants the Tamil northeast self-governing autonomy, and puts an end to the island's long agony.


December 2005: India and the United States should bring international pressure to bear on the island's belligerents to sustain the current ceasefire and craft a political resolution that recognizes the Tamil need for self-government.


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Find this article at:
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=27841

Boston Globe: Sri Lanka, in danger of becoming a rogue state

Boston Globe: Sri Lanka, in danger of becoming a rogue state
TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2008

"The solution to Sri Lanka's conflict must be political, not military. Rajapakse
should be encouraged to strike a deal that grants Tamils substantial
autonomy in their own homeland areas. If not, the war will drag on, and Sri
Lanka's government may find itself classified alongside the regimes in
Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan as an international pariah," Boston Globe, in
an editorial published Thursday said.

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Full text of the editorial follows:

Sri Lanka's forgotten conflict

PARTISANS of human rights have been rightly outraged this year by the behavior of
ruthless regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan. But when the government of Sri
Lanka was stripped of its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council this spring -
a body that includes Saudi Arabia, Cuba, and Russia among its members - hardly
anyone noticed, outside of the small community of human-rights organizations.

This inattention has a price. It means there is scant outside pressure on President
Mahinda Rajapakse to protect civilians caught up in a vicious war between the army
and separatist guerrillas known as the Tamil Tigers. Tamil civilians in the northern
Jaffna peninsula are exposed to indiscriminate bombing and artillery shelling, and a
strict army pass system keeps much of the civilian population from escaping.

Human Rights Watch has called on the government to stop the arbitrary detention of
Tamil civilians, who have been held in a kind of concentration camp in the north. "The
Sri Lankan government shouldn't treat civilians as criminals just because they're fleeing
a conflict area," said a recent statement from the group's Asia director.

China and competing Asian powers India and Pakistan could help end the conflict. But
they have been more interested in doing business in Sri Lanka and securing geopolitical
influence there - just as they have in Burma and elsewhere. The solution to Sri Lanka's
conflict must be political, not military. Rajapakse should be encouraged to strike a deal
that grants Tamils substantial autonomy in their own homeland areas. If not, the war
will drag on, and Sri Lanka's government may find itself classified alongside the
regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe, and Sudan as an international pariah.

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Editor's note:
The editorial features the use of a term 'pariah'. This word of Tamil etymology stands
for an ancient and prestigious community of drummers who later came to be
considered 'untouchables' by another section of people. The word got into colonial
English diction and is internationally used today in phrases such as 'Pariah states,'
without knowing the etymology that it is a racially discriminatory term against a poor
and oppressed section of Tamils and Tamils in general. See a related article in
TamilNet: "Para Demala". TamilNet protests the use of this term, but reproduces it
here for faithful reporting of news. We request the International lexicographers to
de-list this word from the English dictionaries as it offends and commits injustice to the
self-esteem of a people.

Setting the hands of the clock right

Setting the hands of the clock right
TamilNet, Monday, 01 June 2009

The Eezham Tamils and their political representatives have no obligation to anyone now, to engage in the deliberations of fruitless alternatives. But the world has an obligation now to tell the Tamils whether its opposition is to what it has perceived as 'terrorism' or to Tamil nationalism. The Eezham Tamil mainstream has a historic responsibility on its shoulders to be performed right now. If the oppression to their nationalism is trans-national, the Eezham Tamils have to respond by forming a trans-national government fully responsible to them based on democracy, to negotiate with the world and to look after their own affairs.

TamilNet Editorial Board
The events of the past few weeks, while marking a dark phase of Tamil history and indelible shame on contemporary world leadership, have imperceptibly brought in new equations in global power politics.

The onslaught on Eezham Tamil liberation, wrongly chosen by a brutal alliance of the world to test the effectiveness of 'War on Terror' and the diplomatic con of 'Human Rights', aiming at world domination, not only backfired at the perpetrators, but has also paved way for the emergence of a counter alliance, worst in its outlook. The world will be witnessing the results very soon.

But, the unfortunate irony is that the Eezham Tamil question is always kept at the receiving end, as a 'punishment' for upholding the independence of the struggle.

The bias of the Indian Establishment towards the independence of Eezham Tamils and their liberation movement played a crucial role in keeping the genocidal Sri Lanka at the crest of the waves and the Tamils at the receiving end.

But this treacherous foreign policy of India is heading for the same disaster Krishna Menon led India into in the 50s and 60s on the question of Tibet and China.

The stubbornness of the Indian Establishment in refusing to recognise the need for the liberation of Eezham Tamils is what that paved way for the Co-Chairs meddling cum failure and the prolonged agony in the island. The 'punishment' meted out by India for Tamils accepting Co-Chairs mediation is massacre and incarceration.

Now, all those who were a party to the war crimes, especially the new Strategic Partners, India and China using UN, are busy in masking the war criminals and in abetting Colombo in treating all Tamils as Prisoners of War.

The camps and the 'rehabilitation' model adopted by Colombo and endorsed by the UN is explicit about it. The West backing a similar move in Pakistan's Swat Valley can afford to make only a verbal fuss of what is happening in the island, in making a whole nation as prisoners of war.

The trauma faced by Eezham Tamils everywhere, including in the diaspora, is immense. They have demonstrated a hitherto unseen solidarity with their cause. Now, their trauma has come to a stage of not merely denouncing all leaders of the world, but even cursing their own deities.

The world leadership, which didn't care for the will of the people didn't demonstrate its own will to bring in a solution either, other than confirming genocide. Therefore, the struggle is only further imposed on Eezham Tamils.

The sentiments expressed by the Eezham Tamils in the last few days show that they have not conceded 'victory' to Colombo.

The general thinking among them, is that the agenda for the catastrophe was set by the Indian Establishment with the connivance of M. Karunanidhi, and the coup de grace was served by the White House administration by its failure to act at the right time in doing what it was telling.

Tamils have still not seriously started thinking about the gravity of the treacherous roles played by China, Japan, Pakistan and some others.

The sentiments of the Eezham Tamils also show that Pirapaharan is not a mortal or physical entity, but a symbol for them. The symbol will be there and the 'file' cannot be closed as long as the issues are alive.

Colombo and the Indian Establishment, harping on the scenario created by them, are in a hurry to close the file and turn the hands of the clock backwards by talking about the implementation of the 13th Amendment as solution.

The Congress President Sonia Gandhi, even at the height of the election campaign, didn't move an inch from the 13th Amendment.

Tamils find it a mockery that it took decades of their struggle for India to come out with this half-baked solution and it took another two decades of bloodbath of Tamils just for India to talk about implementing it.

Adding insult to injury is Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement of sending the Eezham Tamil refugees in India back to join the already incarcerated people in the camps and the open prisons in the island.

Meanwhile, Eezham Tamils closely watch the various circles that come out with different shades of political formulas as solution, with an excuse that independence and sovereignty to Eezham Tamils is impossible in this generation, as the present world doesn't have 'appetite' for new nation states.

India's Home Minister Chidambaram himself, slightly differing from his party chief, has called for a federal solution during his election campaign.

Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim advocates federal with 'some autonomy'.

The main political parties of Tamil Nadu have said Thamizh Eezham is the solution. But, one has to wait and see whether they would be sticking to that agenda in practice.

Now it seems that some well-wishers in India are embarked upon promoting a confederation model.

While thanking good intention, what the Tamil circles wonder is that who is going to deliver these verbal proposals, when all leverages of Colombo are forfeited.

The reality faced by Tamils today is multifaceted genocide by Colombo.

Political circles in Colombo tell that no solution will be forthcoming until the demographic and structural genocide of Tamils are completed. When something in the name of a solution is finally delivered to hoodwink, it will be only symbolic.

The Eezham Tamils and their political representatives have no obligation to anyone now, to engage in the deliberations of fruitless alternatives.

But the world has an obligation now to tell the Tamils whether its opposition is to what it has perceived as 'terrorism' or to Tamil nationalism.

Whether the need for another armed struggle, more effective than ever, is going to be imposed upon the Tamils or not, lies very much on the responses of the International Community to the precarious situation created by it.

It is also the responsibility of the International Community now to demonstrate in deeds, and not in words, the viability of political alternatives in the context of Sri Lanka that has beyond any doubt proved its genocidal capabilities during the current war.

Everybody knows that without the de-construction of the Sri Lankan state and its concept of 'Sinhala Only' sovereignty, no viable alternative can emerge.

Therefore, the Tamils are not at all impressed by any of the empty statements and diplomatic deliberations of the IC pleading Sri Lanka drunk with 'victory' to come out with 'political solutions', unless the IC directly takes over the Tamil provinces without caring for Sri Lanka's sovereignty, in order to bring in a political solution satisfying the national aspirations of Tamils.

Leaving such matters to the conmen and the gullible, the Eezham Tamil mainstream has a historic responsibility on its shoulders to be performed right now, without wasting any time.

The foremost is the task of re-structuring the political struggle. All the anger, frustration and unfulfilled aspirations have to be now translated into positive energy of formulating a political idiom suitable enough for a global discourse to achieve liberation.

Among the very few classical as well as living cultures of humanity, such as the Chinese, Hebrews and Arabs, the Tamils, especially the Eezham Tamils, have become an endangered identity. The world neither protected them nor allowed them to protect themselves.

The response of Eezham Tamils to such a situation should suit their great cultural heritage.

If the present world system is working against them in toto and if the world doesn't have enough appetite to look into their righteous aspirations, then the Tamils matching to their civilisation should come out with introducing something innovative and creative to the world system itself.

If the oppression to their nationalism is trans-national, the Eezham Tamils have to respond by forming a trans-national government fully responsible to them based on democracy, to negotiate with the world and to look after their own affairs.

Needless to say, the appropriate beginning is re-mandating the fundamentals of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, and based on that democratically endorsed commitment, electing representatives for a trans-national assembly and government.

The Eezham Tamils democratically denouncing the shackles of Sri Lankan identity imposed on them is an important step.

Equally important is that the innovative models should originate from within the Eezham Tamil nation.

It may not be immediately possible to involve people who have no political freedom in the camps and in the open prisons in the island of Sri Lanka and people in the camps for over quarter a century in India.

But, the global Eezham Tamil diaspora is free to demonstrate this noble venture.

Eezham Tamils in Norway have already set a model for conducting democratic elections in diaspora context. A publication on the procedures experimented in Norway are awaited soon.

The Tamil request to the civilised world at this juncture is to support their democratic experiment and to listen to their democratic voices.

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Setting the hands of the clock right
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=99&artid=29504

Sri Lanka hunting media’s Tamil sources - RSF

Sri Lanka hunting media’s Tamil sources - RSF
TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009

Apart from threatening to prosecute journalists who attempt to visit the northern areas captured from the Liberation Tigers, Sri Lanka’s military is trying to identify Tamil civilians who provided information to the foreign press by infiltrating paramilitaries into their military-run refugee camps, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) said Friday. While the Army general appointed in charge of resettling refugees says “all foreign journalists are working against his homeland,” the country’s police chief claims that several journalists, “mostly Sinhalese”, were on the payroll of the LTTE and were involved in the insurgency.

RSF said Friday it is “extremely worried” by statements by Sri Lankan officials, including Army commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka, that journalists who visited areas formerly controlled by the Tamil Tigers will be prosecuted.

“At the same time, access to refugee camps and Tamil areas in general is still severely regulated, preventing the press from obtaining information about the fate of the Tamil population,” RSF noted.

“Journalists and witnesses who dared to speak out have been intimidated and arrested.

“The army is trying to identify Tamils who provided information to the foreign press. … Members of Tamil paramilitary groups have been infiltrated into some camps with the aim of identifying those who are trying to get their stories to the media,” RSF said.

“The army recently blocked the arrival of several dozen nuns who had obtained health ministry permission to visit camps to help refugees, especially those who have been psychologically traumatised.”

RSF protested that access for humanitarian agencies to the militarized camps in which 300,000 shell-shocked Tamil people are detained is being restricted.

The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 27 May praising the Sri Lankan government was an insult to the Tamil victims, RSF added.

RSF condemned the military’s treatment of Vavuniya-based journalist Mahamuni Subramaniam, a stringer for various news media including Reuters.

Subramaniam was arrested on 14 May while covering the Sri Lankan justice minister’s visit to the Ramanathan refugee camp.

Claiming that only journalists with the ITN and (official) Rupavahini TV stations were allowed to film or take pictures of the minister’s meeting with a general, the police confiscated Subramaniam’s expensive camera. He has petitioned the High Court for its return.

“During these inquiries once Major General Chandrasiri came out and verbally abused me saying I am a LTTE suspect and ordered the military to check me thoroughly.” Subramaniam said in a letter.

“When I claimed that I am a reporter for Reuters, he vehemently said all foreign journalists are working against his homeland.”

Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri was two weeks ago appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse to be the competent authority to supervise the relief programme for the hundreds of thousands of Tamils interned in the camps.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jayantha Wickramaratne claims to have identified journalists, “mostly Sinhalese” reportedly on the LTTE payroll. He did not provide names.

“"Although the Police know more details of this treason I do not like to reveal all of them since it might obstruct further investigations,” the Police chief said.

“They betrayed the noble profession and not only distorted and misreported against Sri Lanka but also worked for cash and other fringe benefits like fully funded foreign trips."

The Daily Mirror quoted him as saying many of these journalists were connected with international organizations and had been always clamouring for media freedom and democratic and human rights of the people.

These journalists had fled Sri Lanka, alleging threat against their life but actually they had fled the country as they were involved in a crime, the Police Chief said.

"They simply could not face the law," he said explaining the reason for their departure from the country as the LTTE was losing the war.

The IGP said some of these journalists were misreporting, at the behest of the LTTE, that the Sri Lanka Army was shelling civilians. They were simply trying to concoct evidence to help friends of the LTTE to prosecute Sri Lanka leaders on war crimes, the IGP alleged.

Strategic Partners

Strategic Partners
TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008

"The American ban on the LTTE, which was followed by several other countries, also cut the flow of money and weapons to the Tigers, the result of which could be seen in their recent military defeats", said the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka in an interactive session at Chennai last month, as reported by The Hindu. The other side of the result story is that the same American policy tilted the balance in favour of a genocidal government, precipitated aggressive war on a grand scale and thus deepened immensely the divide between the concerned ethnicities, making reconciliation unfeasible more than ever.



Opinion Columnist Chivanadi

A devastating tragedy of the times we live is the absence of mass-oriented political ideologies in directing international relations. Deconstruction and postmodernism are just honourable terminologies signifying the vacuum. The result faced by people all over the world is unchecked machinations of the strategic partners of the geopolitical game, who contribute nothing but a culture of insatiable greed that enslaves people in the name of 'development'.

It is not that the writer is not aware of the fact that the world of ideology is far apart from the world of politics and politicians are licensed for not practising what they say. But, this piece of writing is not intended for politicians. Writing to politicians on behalf of politicians is left to 'award winning' journalists.

People of India may not have forgotten so soon how the strategic partnership, in collaboration with Pakistan and Sri Lanka worked in Indra Gandhi’s time to nullify the pre-eminence of India in South Asia.

What the strategic partnership now aims at is the sovereignty of the peoples of South Asia: first the Eezham Tamils, the weakest, the next in line logically will be the Sinhalese and then one may guess where it may go.

A convenient strategy adopted by the partners to muffle the voice of the struggling people in the island of Sri Lanka was labeling the historical, ideological and humanitarian national question of the Eezham Tamils as mere LTTE ‘terrorism’.

The LTTE has become an eyesore because of its refusal to be a strategic partner.

The LTTE is a manifestation of an age-old structural crisis in the island. It is the crisis that needs to be addressed with priority. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rhetoric of ‘a military solution is for the terrorists, a political solution is for the people living in this country’ is only a mischief, meaning that there will be no solution.

The same tone but in different phrases is heard from time to time from the strategic partners too, on the question of Eezham Tamil rights. What is implied is that they are more concerned about the challenge to the Establishment than the grievances of the people. They are not prepared to acknowledge the structural interconnection between grievance and challenge and fact that the flaw is in their outlook.

What is refreshingly new in the otherwise rotten scenario of geopolitics, power politics and bureaucratic intrigues is the phenomenal awakening of the people of Tamil Nadu. It is a new dimension – a people’s dimension – unforeseen or perhaps unexpected at this magnitude by the strategic partners. It now seems to have snowballed into a mass movement and have gone beyond the schemes of politicians.

The Washington-Delhi-Chennai-Colombo axis of the strategic partners are now in its last ditch face-saving attempt to thrust a semblance of a solution upon the Tamils. The gestures seen hitherto only indicate that they are still not prepared to concede the fundamental aspirations of Tamils, but are only concerned about seeking space for the interests of the Establishment.

However, what is sensed in them is a sort of haste, as time is running out with changes anticipated shortly in the attitude of Washington along with possible new leadership. Even though there may not be fundamental policy changes, at least strategies and tactics are expected to undergo revision. Signals are already there that national struggles may be viewed different from that of the issue of terrorism.

In the meantime, media sources reveal plans of a British mission and a Mahinda mission to work hard in Chennai in trying to convince influential circles why secession, or even substantial federal status, is not needed for the Eezham Tamils.

The chorus of the strategic partners heard now, and will continued to be heard is the Mantra called ‘development’ which they advocate as a remedy for all crisis, but don’t ask whose development.

What is disgusting is the childish talk of some of the partners, still harping on the 13th amendment, when the child in concern had grown far too big for the suit in 1987 itself.

The longer the war, the more the chances of separation, is common sense to understand.

What the Sinhala people has to acknowledge is that the war waged by their government is not on terrorism but on a people and on their aspirations.

When the war is on people, victory and subjugation are not possible in modern times, especially in the context of South Asia and in the context of the concerned ethnicity.

The war has dragged on far too long for patchwork solutions.

It is mutually beneficial for Sinhalese and Tamils to agree peacefully to get separated first and then perhaps to rediscover co-existence freshly.

Half-baked solutions will only lead to further crisis and to the loss of sovereignty of both the Sinhalese and Eezham Tamils.

The stance of the JVP on not conceding anything at all to Tamils and its anti-India, anti-US outbursts may look funny but they need serious perusal.

The harder the line of JVP, easier becomes the secession. The JVP is indirectly or knowingly contributing to secession, perhaps envisaging that its only chance of coming at the helm of affairs of the Sinhalese depends very much on the secession of Tamileelam.

Geopolitics and strategic partnerships can work only when they match with noble ideologies and when they are in tune with righteous aspirations of people.

But strategic partners, or more precisely those who steer the affairs, live in a different world, caring the interests of a different world. They never listen to reason unless their interests are at stake or their arms are twisted by the will of people.

The saying in Tamil is that a child who cries only will get the milk (Azhutha pi’l’lai paal kudikkum).

The uprising of the people in Tamil Nadu, cutting across party lines, is a rare phenomenon and is a reminiscence of the times of the freedom movement. Such a spirit will go a long way not only in the cause of Eezham Tamils but also in the awakening of people’s power in our region, provided the spirit is not hijacked.

However, if the insistence of our times is going to be only on geopolitics and strategic partnerships, but not caring for the voices of the masses, it is not that only the Sinhala politicians could always hold all the cards. It is high time that Tamils in Tamil Nadu, Eezham and elsewhere evolve a consensus on a global Tamil foreign policy and decide on the cards they ought to play.

When the national governments have opened up their gates, foreign policy is no more a prerogative of governments. Even societies can exercise it. The Sri Lankan government was steadily working for years with selective social groups in India to counter the Tamil question. The news of a British group visiting Tamil Nadu to talk about Sri Lanka shows that barriers of internal affairs are melting and foreign relations have permeated to the level of societies.

The public opinion of a society counts a lot, whether it is internal or external matter.

Having a powerful global diaspora, Tamils are a privileged lot and have a considerable leverage in this respect, if they can mobilize themselves and exercise their consensus.

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Strategic Partners
TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2008

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=99&artid=27363

Etymology: Eezham

TamilNet - Etymology:  Eezham  /  E'lu  /  He'la
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Know the Etymology: 142
Place Name of the Day: Friday, 01 January 2010

Eezham / E'lu / He'la
ஈழம் / எளு / ஹெள
Īḻam / Eḷu / Heḷa

The gold (land)
The land of metal

Eezham Name of the island called Sri Lanka today. In this sense it is found written in Tamil literature and Tamil Brahmi inscription dating back to the dawn of the Common Era (1st century BCE / 1st century CE); Eezham: Name of the country equated with Chingka’lam and another meaning given is gold (Tamil lexicons Cheanthan Thivaakaram of 8th century CE and Pingkalam of 10th century CE, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 550); An additional meaning toddy is given by Choodaama’ni lexicon of 13th century CE; Eezhak-kaasu: Gold coin (comes in Tamil inscriptions dating from 912 CE); Eezha-vi’lakku: A kind of lamp made of Eezham alloy of metal or in the style of Eezham (Comes in Tamil inscriptions dating from 808 CE; Illama: A vein of metal (Sinhala, Clough’s Dictionary); Eezhavar: Name of a community that was climbing coconut and Palmyra palms (comes in Tamil inscriptions dating from 789 CE). The community found in Kerala today traces its origins to the island of Eezham; Heḷa-divi, Heḷa-ṭuva, Heḷa: The He'la Island (Sigiri graffiti, c.8-9th century CE, Dhampiyaa aṭuvaa gæṭapadaya, Sinhala literature, 10th century CE, Clough’s Dictionary); Heḷa-basa, Heḷu: The language of He'la; Dhampiyaa aṭuvaa gæṭapadaya, Sinhala literature, 10th century CE, equated with E'lu or ancient language of Ceylon (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary); Eḷu: The country of E'lu as in the title of the Sinhala literature Eḷu Bōdhi Vamsa. Also language in later usages; Eḷuwa: The ancient Sinhalese language (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary); E’lu-dhoo-karaa: (Eḷu dū karā): The land / coast / border of the E’lu Island. The traditional way Maldivians called today’s island of Sri Lanka in their literature and speech (Dhivehi Bas Foi, Maldivian Dictionary).

More details of usage and related words are given at the end of the column and in the re-appraisal of Thirupparangkun'ram Tamil Brahmi inscription of Eezha-kudumpikan Polaalaiyan. Also see the column on Sinhala / Chingka’lam / Ceylon


Among all the names that are currently in use for the island of Sri Lanka, Eezham seems to be the oldest one simultaneously attested by literature as well as epigraphy.

ETE 507 / 55
Estampage of Thirupparangkun'ram inscription: This one-line inscription is given here in two pieces of estampags. Note the vertical line separating two sentences after the 18th character [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 507]
ETE 390 / 55
The lettering of the Thirupparangkun'ram inscription in Tamil language and Tamil Brahmi writing. This one-line inscription is reproduced here in two lines in the sentence order, as given by Mahadevan. Note the writing Eezha in the 6th and 7th letters of the inscription [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 390]
Eezham, clearly spelt with the retroflex Ḻ (ZH) peculiar to Tamil, Malayalam and Old Kannada / Telugu, is found in Changkam literature (Paddinappaalai) and in the Thirupparangkun’ram Tamil Brahmi inscription dateable to the dawn of the Common Era, if not earlier.

The writer’s re-appraisal on the interpretation of Thirupparangkun’ram inscription is given at the end of this column.

It is a well-established fact that at least over two thousand years Eezham was in continued use without any change in its form in Tamil usage to denote the entire island.

Another name Tamba-pa’n’ni in Prakrit, so far the earliest definitely dateable name for the island, found in Asoka’s inscription of 3rd century BCE and in Greek records became obsolete later.

The names Seeha’la, Saimha’la, Sinha’la etc, which are yet another set of terms most probably of Dravidian origin and became Ceylon eventually, are two or more centuries late in their epigraphical appearance compared to Eezham.

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ETE 508 / 57
Muththuppaddi Tamil Brahmi inscription of 1st century CE, giving a personal name Chaiy-a'lan [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 508]
ETE 394 / 57
The lettering of the inscription. Note the name Chaiy-a'lan in the first five letters [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 394]
If a term Chaiy-a’lan found in a Tamil Brahmi inscription of 1st century CE could be accepted as meaning a person from Chaiy-a’lam and this place is nothing but Seeha’la of the Prakrit inscription of 2nd-3rd century CE, then the origins of the above set of terms could go on par with Eezham in antiquity. (See column on Seeha’la / Chingka’lam / Ceylon)

Such parallel occurrences around the dawn and early centuries of the Common Era make it very clear that Eezham and Seeha’la were parallel names for the island and they are not derivates of one into the other in their formulations.

Some early writers have surmised that the Sanskrit name Saimha’la became Seeha’la in Prakrit and this in turn has become Se’la, He’la, E’lu etc, and Eezham was derived from E’lu.

Even the authors of Dravidian Etymological Dictionary tend to infer this origin for Eezham (DED 550, note the direction of the arrow mark in the entry in the dictionary).

Such etymological conclusions stemming from norms that Sanskrit is always older than Prakrit and Sinhala is an ethnic name of protohistoric origins, do not find support in objective epigraphical or literary evidences and in their chronological order.

Whether the Dravidian term See-a’la / Chai-a’lam (red tract of land) was Prakritised and then Sanskritised or vice versa is the question. If we go by inscriptions it should be the former.

The names Siele, Sele for the island appear for the first time in a Greek work of 6th century CE. The form He’la appears for the first time as an adjective for the geographical identity of the island in 8th century CE Sigiri Graffiti and as an adjective for the name of the language in a 10th century CE Sinhala literature. The form E’lu comes afterwards.

There is no logic in saying that the 2000-years-old word Eezham came form terms that appeared 1000 years later.

On the contrary, the stronger possibility is for He’la and E’lu to be derivates of Eezham.

The initial S / H in Se’la or He’la commonly occurs in Prakritising / Sanskritising Dravidian words, just like the initial addition of A or I or U in Tamilising Sanskrit / Prakrit words.

Also note how the retroflex Ḻ (ZH) is retained in He’la and E’lu as palatal ‘L, compared to alveolar L in Sele and in today’s spelling of Sinhala.

K. Indrapala traces another cognate of Eezham i.e., I’la in the Brahmi inscriptions of Sri Lanka and in Mahavamsa. (The Evolution of an Ethnic Identity, 2006, pp 144-145.) The evidences are weak but he makes an interesting point by showing how I’la-Naga of Mahavamsa became E’lun-Na in later literature and thus tracing the development of the word E’lu from I’la.

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Coming to the meaning of the word Eezham, the word was clearly used in a geographical sense in Paddinappaalai. In the Thirupparangkun’ram inscription even though the word is associated with migrant identity it doesn’t go against understanding the word in a geographical sense that the person or his clan had come from the geographical space called Eezham.

Lexicons equate Eezham with Chingka’lam another geographical identity and at the same time give two more meanings, gold and toddy.

Much significance is attached to the omission of the meaning toddy in the earlier lexicons Thivaakaram and Pingkalam and its inclusion in the later lexicon Choodaama’ni. This excludes the possibility of toddy or coconut being the original meaning for the name Eezham. Obviously the meaning toddy got included in the later lexicon because of the specialisation of the migrant community from Eezham in the produce of coconut palm, especially toddy, for centuries.

The meaning gold given in the early Tamil lexicons needs closer scrutiny to get a cue for the origin of the name Eezham. There is another related Tamil word Eekai that stood for gold in the Changkam literature. Yet another related word Eeyam originally meant a variety of metals.

It should be noted here that in Tamil tradition a word Pon for gold meant five metals, gold, silver, copper, iron and lead as found in usages such as Aim-pon – five varieties of gold. Old lexicons also attest to such an idea about gold (Pingkalam, 10:871).

The island of Eezham was well known for metallic ores since distant past. Iron, copper and to some extent gold – three of the five-gold were found in the island.

Gold is found in small quantity in the beds of Maha Oya and in the rivers flowing to the west in the island, and the ancients were not unaware of finding gold in the island, says Emerson Tennent (1860), citing Mahavamsa.

There is a reference in later literature of the popularity of Eezhaththu-Irumpu (Iron from Eezham). We do not know the antiquity of this nomenclature but a kind of sword called Eeli in both Sanskrit and Prakrit could probably be of Eezham origins.

Interestingly, Sinhala vocabulary has retained a term Illama for a vein of metal.

Medieval Tamil inscriptions, apart from coming out with a number of references to Eezhak-kaasu (a gold coin) also let us know about a kind of metal lamp called Eezha vi’lakku, Eezha-nilai vilakku etc.

We do not know what was special about this lamp; whether it was an import from Eezham to Tamil Nadu or recognition of a style, but there is a strong possibility that the reference was for the metal or metal alloy.

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Eezham was probably the Tamil way of naming the land of metal ores just like the Sanskrit tradition of naming some of the Southeast Asian countries as Swrna-dvipa (Island of Gold) and Swarna-bhumi (Land of Gold).

This etymology for the word Eezham tally well with the other early names for the island, i.e., Tamba-pa’n’ni (the copper-coloured land) and See-a’la (the red tract of land), which are obvious references to the iron-rich red earth of the island.

Ample archaeological evidences attest to the flourishing iron industry in the length and breadth of the island in the megalithic protohistoric times and in the early historic times, when the island names discussed above probably originated

All the three identities, Tamba-pa’n’ni, Eezham and Seeha’la, the first one in Prakrit and the other two in Dravidian, are perhaps generically related to one another in meaning. They are geographical and descriptive of the landscape of the island and its metallurgical potentialities.

Lanka, another name for the island, considered to be older than the ones discussed above because of its Austro Asiatic origins, belongs to a different genre and will be taken up for a separate study in a subsequent column.

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A list of original references to the terms and their chronology is given below, followed by a re-appraisal of the Thirupparangkun’ram inscription, for those who wish to pursue the investigation further:

Geographical Meaning:

Eezhaththu-u’navu: ஈழத்து உணவு: Food from Eezham (arriving in shipment to Kaavirippoom-paddinam); Changkam Diction, Paddinappaalai, c. 1st century CE.

Izha Kudumpikan / Eezha Kudumpikan: ஈழ குடும்பிகன்: Householder from Eezham / of the clan of Eezham; Thirupparangkun’ram Tamil Brahmi inscription, c. 1st century BCE / CE

Eezhaththup-Poothan Theavanaar, Mathurai Eezhaththup Poothan Theavanaar: ஈழத்துப் பூதன் தேவனார், மதுரை ஈழத்துப் பூதன் தேவனார்: The poet coming from Eezham / the poet hailing from Eezham but settled in Mathurai; One of the Changkam poets whose poems are found in Akanaanooru, Ku’runthokai and Natti’nai – early layer of Changkam literature dateable to centuries before the Common Era. But the compilation of the works giving his name is dated to c. 5th century CE.

Eezham Chingka’lam: "ஈழம் சிங்களம்": Eezham is geographically equated to Chingka’lam in this verse found in old lexicons; Tamil lexicons, Cheanthan Thivaakaram (8th century CE); Pinkalam (10th century CE) and Choodaama’ni (13th century CE)

Ilangkai Eezhaththu: இலங்கை ஈழத்து: Eezham that is Ilangkai or Eezham that is in Ilangkai; Eezham is geographically equated with Ilangkai; Perungkathai / Kongkuvea’l Maakkathai, Jaina Tamil literature of 10th century CE.

Eezham: ஈழம்: Used in geographical sense; Tamil inscription 905 CE, (TASSI 1962-65 p 1-31, also Glossary of Tamil Inscriptions)

Eezhaththaraiyan: ஈழத்தரையன்: The king of Eezham; Tamil inscription 919 CE, (SII iii p99, also GTI).

Eezha-ma'ndalam: ஈழ மண்டலம்: The geographical region of Eezham (as part of the Chola Empire); Tamil inscription 1012 CE (SII vii p863, also GTI).

Eezhap-padai: ஈழப் படை: The army of Eezham; Tamil inscription 1168 CE (SII vii 456, also GTI).

Eezham: ஈழம்: In Tamil literature and Epigraphy, this is the word that is found used with the longest continuity over two thousand years to mean the entire island. Tamil literature that arose in the island as well as inscriptions such as the one found at Fort Hammenhiel, Kayts (1017 CE) also have used the term. Somewhat a modern sense of national identity could be traced in the use of the word in Pa’raa’lai Vinaayakar Pa’l’lu, an Eezham Tamil literature of the Dutch period, in which the senior wife of the cultivation worker while challenging the junior who had come from the Chola country would assert “ Eezham is our country” (Eezha ma’ndala naadengka’l naadea / ஈழ மண்டல நாடெங்கள் நாடே).

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Meaning Gold / Coin / Metal:

Eezham: ஈழம்: Gold; Tamil lexicons Cheanthan Thivaakaram (8th century CE), Pingkalam (10th century CE), Choodaama’ni (13th century CE), Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 550

Eezhak-kaasu: ஈழக் காசு: Gold coin / the money of Eezham; Tamil inscription 912 CE (MCCM viii p144-09, also GTI)

Eezhak-kazhagnchu: ஈழக் கழஞ்சு: Gold coin / Gold coin of Eezham; Tamil inscription 950 CE (TASSI 1962-65 p32-52, also GTI)

Eezhak-karung kaasu: ஈழக் கருங் காசு:A kind of coinage / a kind of coinage from Eezham; Tamil inscription 960 CE (SII xiii p84, also GTI)

Eezhang-kaasu: ஈழங் காசு: Gold coin / the money of Eezham; Tamil inscription 1189 CE (CHEN xxviii p 144, also GTI)

Eekai: ஈகை: Gold; Tamil, Changkam Diction, dateable to the dawn of the Common Era (Puranaanoo’ru 99:5, 353:3, Ku’rignchippaaddu 126, Malaipadukadaam 72), Tamil lexicon, 10th century CE (Pingkalam 10:155)

Eeyam: ஈயம்: Lead, originally a common name for several metals, lead, graphite, copper etc. (Lexicons, Thivaakaram, 6:26, Pingkalam10:509, Choodaama’ni 11:299); One of the five metals, gold, silver, copper, iron and lead. All five of them were often called Aim-pon – the five kinds of gold. The usage of ‘five kinds of gold’ is also attested to by one of the lexicons (Pingkalam 10:871). The island of Sri Lanka is a well-known source for iron, copper and graphite (Kaar-Eeyam); Eeyan, Eeyam, Eeyama: Lead (Sinhala)

Illama: A vein of metal (Sinhala)

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Meaning an identifiable community engaged in tapping toddy or climbing palmyra and coconut palms to get their produce.

Eezhap-poochchi: ஈழப் பூச்சி: A kind of tax on the community of Eezhavar who were tapping toddy, Tamil inscription 750 CE, (EI vol 8, also GTI)

Eezham-poodchi: ஈழம் பூட்சி: A kind of tax levied from the community of Eezhavar tapping toddy; Tamil inscription 789 CE (SII ii p99, also GTI)

Eezhavar: ஈழவர்: The name of the community indicated as those who climb coconut palms and palmyra palms; Tamil inscription 789 CE (SII ii p99, also GTI)

Eezhavar, Eezhak-kaiyar: ஈழவர், ஈழக் கையர்: The community of Eezhavar and those who belong to the code of conduct of the guild of Eezhavar; (Tamil inscription 849 CE (TAS ii p 67-68, also GTI). One shade of meaning for the word Kai in old Tamil is code of conduct. The word was used in this sense in the names of guild-based identities such as Kaikkoa’lar and in the names of identities such as Valang-kai, Idang-kai etc.

Eezhach-chaan’raan: ஈழச் சான்றான்: The one who draws toddy belonging to the Eezham community; Tamil inscription 929 CE (SII iv 533, also GTI)

Eezhak-kula-theepan: ஈழக் குல தீபன்: The light of the community of Eezhavar. Reference to a Saiva saint Eanaathi-naatha-naayanaar by Nampiyaa’ndaar Nampi in Thiruththo’ndar Thiruvanthaathi, verse 10, 10th century CE

Eezhavan: ஈழவன்: The community tapping toddy mentioned along with Kollan (black smith), Va’n’naan (washerman), Pa’rampan (leather workers / a hill tribe) and Pa’raiyan (drummers); Tamil inscription 1000 CE (EI xxxiii p 33, also GTI)

Eezhap-poodchi: ஈழப் பூட்சி: A kind of tax levied on the community of Eezhavar who were tapping toddy; Tamil inscription 1008 CE (EI xxii p 34, also GTI)

Eezhach-cheari: ஈழச் சேரி: The settlement of Eezhavar; Tamil inscription 1014 CE (SII ii p 4, also GTI)

Eezham: ஈழம்: Toddy; Tamil lexicon (Choodaama’ni 13th century CE)

Eezhavar: ஈழவர்: Today this is the name of a caste associated with drawing toddy in southern Kerala. Migration is remembered in the legends and folklore of this community, which traces its origins to the island of Eezham.

Eedi, Eedigaa, Eedigitti: ஈடி, ஈடிகா, ஈடிகித்தி: Toddy, toddy-tapping man, toddy-tapping woman respectively (Kannada, note the ZH / D interchange, DED 549, 550)

Eedigaa, Ee’ndra, Ee’ndradi: ஈடிகா, ஈண்ட்ரா, ஈண்ட்ரதி: Toddy, man and woman of the toddy-tapping community (Telugu, note the ZH / D interchange, DED 549, 550)

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Lamp made in the style of the country of Eezham or lamp made of a particular alloy of metal

Eezha Vi’lakku: ஈழ விளக்கு: The lamp of Eezham; Tamil inscription 808 CE (EI vi p29, also GTI)

Eezha Nilai-vi’lakku: ஈழ நிலை விளக்கு: Stationary lamp of Eezham; Tamil inscription 923 CE (SII xix 397, also GTI)

Eezhach-chiyal vi'lakku, Eezha-achchiyal vi'lakku: ஈழச்சியல் விளக்கு, ஈழ அச்சியல் விளக்கு: A kind of Eezham-lamp; Tamil inscription 1009 CE (SII v p521)

Eezhap-parisu: ஈழப் பரிசு: A lamp made in the Eezham way – an eight sided or eight angled lamp made of brass as we come to know from the ionscription; Tamil inscription 1014 CE (SII ii p36, also GTI)

GTI: Glossary of Tamil Inscriptions (In Tamil), Santi Sadhana, Chennai, 2002
EI: Epigraphia Indica
SII: South Indian Inscriptions
TASSI: Transactions of the Archaeological Society of South India
TAS: Travancore Archaeological Series
CHEN: Chenthamizh, Journal of Madurai Thamizh Changam
MCCM: Madras Christian College Magazine

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Cognates in Sinhala:

I'la-barata: (Iḷa-barata) Whether this phrase found in a Brahmi inscription of Sri Lanka means a person of Parathavar community of Eezham or whether the phrase as one word means a place name as the word in the inscription is followed by a locative case ‘hi’ (Iḷabaratahi) are debatable (Brahmi inscriptions of Ceylon, Paranavitana, 1970, No 94; Seneviratne. S., 1985 and Indrapala K., 2006)

I'la-naaga: (Iḷa-nāga) Name of a 1st century CE ruler of the island found mentioned in Mahavamsa compiled in 5th century CE. Sinhala chronicles of the later period rendering the name as Eḷun-Nā may imply that I'la of the early centuries and E'lu of the later centuries were cognates. However, whether the word I'la in this case means Naga of I'la country / identity or whether it was an adjective to mean younger or junior is debatable (Indrapala K., 2006)

He'la-divi: (Heḷa-divi) The ‘He'la island’; (Sigiri graffiti, c.8-9th century CE)

He'la-tuva: (Heḷa-ṭuva) The He'la island; Dhampiyaa aṭuvaa gæṭapadaya, 10th cenury CE Sinhala literature (K. Indrapala, 2006 p 369)

He'la-basa: (Heḷa-basa) The language of He'la; Dhampiyaa aṭuvaa gæṭapadaya, 10th cenury CE Sinhala literature (K. Indrapala, 2006 p 369), Elu or ancient language of Ceylon (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary)

He'lu: (Heḷu) The country or language of He'lu; Dhampiyaa aṭuvaa gæṭapadaya, 10th cenury CE Sinhala literature (K. Indrapala, 2006 p 369)

He'la: (Heḷa) The ancient name of Ceylon; (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary traces the origin of the word to Sihala > Seela > Sela > Hela)

E'lu: (Eḷu) The country of E'lu as in the title of the Sinhala literature Eḷu Bōdhi Vamsa. Also language in later usages

E'luwa: (Eḷuva) The ancient Sinhalese language (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary)

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Cognate in Maldivian / Dhivehi:

E’lu-dhoo-karaa: Eḷu-dū-karā: (in Maldivian transcription, Elhu dhoo karaa): This is the traditional Maldivian way found in literature and usage to refer to the island called Sri Lanka today. Any foreign country is referred to as Karaa in Maldivian (Karai : coast, border etc in Tamil). In Tamil the phrase literally means ‘the coast of the island of E’lu / Eezham’ (E’lu: Eezham; Dhoo: island; Karaa: coast / border / land)

* * *





Thirupparangkun’ram Tamil Brahmi Inscription of Eezha Kudumpikan (Īḻa kuṭumpikaṉ): a Re-appraisal:

ETE 507 / 55
Estampage of Thirupparangkun'ram inscription: This one-line inscription is given here in two pieces of estampags. Note the vertical line separating two sentences after the 18th character [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 507]


This inscription in Tamil language and Tamil Brahmi characters, palaeographically dateable to the dawn of the Common Era, appears in one line on the ledge above a row of stone beds made for Jaina monks in a cave in Thirupparangkun’ram hill near Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

The inscription was first published in Annual Report of Epigraphy of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1908 and 1911-12.

The latest study of the inscription can be found in Iravatam Mahadevan’s, Early Tamil Epigraphy, Harvard Oriental Series no. 62, 2003, p 142, 390, 393, 583 and 584.

Mahadevan dates the inscription to c. 1st century CE. Some earlier studies dated it back to c. 1st century BCE.

The text could be transcribed as follows. Note that pure consonants had no special markers in old Tamil writing system. They were identified and differentiated by context.

* * *





ETE 390 / 55
The lettering of the Thirupparangkun'ram inscription in Tamil language and Tamil Brahmi writing. This one-line inscription is reproduced here in two lines in the sentence order, as given by Mahadevan. Note the writing Eezha in the 6th and 7th letters of the inscription [Image courtesy: Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Tamil Epigraphy, pp 390]


Transcription of the inscription letter by letter:

e ru kā ṭu ra i ḻa ku ṭu ma pi ka ṉa po lā lai ya ṉa |
ce ya tā ā ya ca ya ṉa ne ṭu cā ta ṉa

எ ரு கா டு ர இ(ஈ) ழ கு டு ம பி க ன பொ லா லை ய ன |
செ ய தா ஆ ய ச ய ன நெ டு சா த ன

The one-line inscription is separated after the 18th character by a vertical line to indicate there are two sentences. The characters of the second sentence are smaller than the first.

Applying the conventions of Tamil epigraphy and treating characters in certain contexts as pure consonants, Mahadevan reads the text in Tamil as follows:

erukāṭur iḻa-kuṭumpikaṉ polālaiyaṉ |
ceytā[ṉ] āycayaṉ neṭucātaṉ

After the 21st character Mahadevan adds an N. He says that this is “supplied here from the evidence of the noun which follows.” This is not necessary as we shall see later.

“(The gift of) Polālaiyaṉ, the Īḻa-householder from Erukkāṭṭūr. Āyccayyaṉ Neṭucāttaṉ made.” is the meaning given by Mahadevan.

The gift made is the stone beds as understood from the context of the inscription.

The writer prefers to read the second line without supplementing an N, as ceyta Āyccayyaṉ, Neṭucātaṉ.

The preferred version of the writer in Tamil:

எருகாடூர் ஈழகுடும்பிகன் பொலாலையன் |
செய்த ஆய்சயன், நெடு சா(த்)தன்

See table at the end of the column for discussions on the phrases.

* * *





In his interpretation Mahadevan says Ila-householder (Īḻa-kuṭumpikaṉ) more appropriately means a householder of the Eezhavar community (tree climber caste) than a householder from the island of Eezham. He also attributes Kannada connections to the personal names appearing in the inscriptions but the explanations are not convincing. (Mahadevan,I., Early Tamil Epigraphy, 2003, p584-585)

Indrapala argues in favour of interpreting the adjective Īḻa of the phrase Īḻa-kuṭumpikaṉ of the inscription as a cognate of Eezha, I'la, E'lu He'la etc., and as an ethnic name for the dominant ethnicity of the island now called Sri Lanka. (Indrapala.K., The Evolution of an Ethnic Identity, 2006, pp 140-149)

It seems the key lies in satisfactorily interpreting Polaalaiyan, the personal name of the Īḻa-householder.

* * *





The name Polaalaiyan has three components: Pol+ aal+aiyan.

Pol is a unique word found today only in Sinhala language to mean coconut. The Sinhala vocabulary has a number of derivates from the word Pol to stand for various produces of the coconut palm.

Interestingly the Sinhala word Pol is of Dravidian origin and is a cognate of the Tamil word Pul (Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 4300), which was originally a generic term for plants such as coconut palm, palmyra palm, arecanut palm, bamboo as well as varieties of grass.

“Pu’rak-kaazhanavea pul ena mozhipa; Akak-kaazhanavea maran enappadumea” புறக் காழனவே புல் என மொழிப; அகக் காழனவே மரன் எனப்படுமே (all those plants for which the exterior is harder than the core are Pul and all those for which the core is harder than the exterior are Maram: Tholkaappiyam 27: 86-87

Tholkaappiyam further clarifies that coconut palm along with other palms is classified as Pul, by bringing out the conventional names that are used for parts of such plants in the next stanza 27:88:

Thoadea madalea oalai en'raa
Eadea ithazhea paa'lai en'raa
Eerkkea kulaiyea chearnthana pi'ravum
Pullodu varumenach chollinar pulavar

தோடே மடலே ஓலை என்றா
ஏடே இதழே பாளை என்றா
ஈர்க்கே குலையே சேர்ந்தன பிறவும்
புல்லொடு வருமெனச் சொல்லினர் புலவர்

This earliest available grammar in Tamil, dateable to c. 5th century CE if not earlier says, Thoadu (leaf), Madal (leaf-branch and its base), Oalai (leaf), Eadu (flat and long single leaf), Ithazh (leaf), Eerkku (the spine of a leaf), Kulai (bunch of fruits) etc are names of parts applicable only to Pul variety of plants.

Anyone who is familiar with Tamil usage could see from the names how the generic term for coconut palm in old Tamil was Pul.

However the Tholkaappiyam classification doesn’t explain the etymology of Pul. This is better explained by other terms such as Pulli in old Tamil for outer leaf of a plant. It seems all those plants having leafs as branches were called Pul.

In modern Tamil Pul means only grass but in old Tamil usages there are clear examples for the use of the word for Palmyra palm, bamboo etc.

In Sinhala vocabulary too the word Pol, besides being the name of coconut palm is also the prefix of the names of a few variety of grasses. (See table below)

P.C. Bagchi (1929), Prof D.E. Hettiarachchi (University of Ceylon History of Ceylon vol I and Prof K Indrapala (2006 p 312) have perhaps missed the obvious affinity between Sinhala Pol and Tamil Pul in surmising Austro Asiatic origins for the word Pol and its meaning as coconut palm. (Indrapala K, 2006, pp 312-314.)

Probably people of the island of Eezham applied the Dravidian generic term Pul / Pol to name the coconut palm that is not native to the island and the name stayed in Sinhala language. Coconut palm is believed to be native to Southeast Asia / Pacific islands and the island of Eezham could have been one of its first habitats in South Asia.

* * *





Coming to the inscription under discussion, the second component of the word Aal is another old Dravidian word meaning water.

The third component Aiyan meant leader, father, elder brother etc. in old Tamil and is listed in the Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. Meaning elder brother in Sinhala, the word Ayiyaa is a common suffix found in Sinhala usage in respectfully addressing experts of any trade.

Polaalaiyan simply means the ‘Toddy Elder’ or ‘the elder of the profession of tapping toddy / coconut palm water.’

If this interpretation is acceptable then the whole context only favours the deduction that the householder was of the origins of the island of Eezham and the adjective Eezha of Eezha-kudumpikan originally stood for the geographical identity of Eezham, even though it might have also stood for that migrant community specialized in tapping the produce of palm trees.

* * *





The folklore and legends of the community of Eezhavar, found mainly in Kerala today, are full of references about their origins from the island of Eezham and about their community introducing the coconut palm to Kerala.

Indrapala cites the literature Kēralōtpatti, and the following publications: A Aiyappan, Iravas and Culture Change, Madras Government Museum; Travancore State Manual I and II, 1906 and 1940 and Cochin State Manual, 1911.

Even though Indrapala’s argument that Eezham itself might have originally meant coconut to render the name to the island seems not well attested to, his citations strongly suggest that right from early times coconut palm could have been associated with the island of Eezham and the migrant community of Eezhavar. He cites that the names Thennai and Thengku in Tamil and Malayalam for the coconut palm inferring its introduction from the south.

Whether Eezham originally meant coconut is very doubtful because the early lexicons do not give the meaning toddy for Eezham. This meaning is found only in a late lexicon Choodaama’ni of 13th century CE.

However the Eezhavar community and their profession of climbing not only coconut palms but also Palmyra palms is specifically mentioned in a Tamil inscription dated to 789 CE.

“Thengkum panaiyum Eezhavar ea'rap pe'raathaaraakavum”

தெங்கும் பனையும் ஈழவர் ஏறப் பெறாதாராகவும்

“Coconut palms and palmyra palms (in this endowed land) are prohibited for Eezhavar to climb.” (South Indian Inscriptions, ii p99)

There are hundreds of later inscriptions attesting to the wide prevalence of the identity of this community, which might have ultimately equated the term Eezham with toddy.

* * *





The Thirupparangkun’ram Tamil Brahmi inscription under discussion is an evidence of very early times, going back to the dawn of the Common Era, for the arrival and identity of the migrants from the Eezham island and at the same time attesting to the antiquity of the name Eezham for the island.

The inscription not only evidences the use of Tamil by this community that migrated from the island by or before the dawn of the Common Era but also indicates through words such as Pol, the Dravidian substratum of their language that caused the subsequent formations of Sinhala and Eezham Tamil.

Perhaps Eezhavar were the first known community of migrants or what we call diaspora today that has come the other way round in considerable numbers- from the island of Eezham to the sub-continent and retained the identity for over two millennia.

* * *





See table below for discussions on the other words found in the inscription and their meanings:

Erukaadoor: எருகாடூர்: The village where the householder of the clan from Eezham was residing in Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, this village name, spelt as Erukkaaddoor is found mentioned in the Changkam literature too as the home village of a poet Erukkaaddoorth-thaayam Ka’n’nanaar. The affix Thaayam a term like Kudumpikan suggests that the poet belonged to a household of matriarchy in that village or to the matriarchal part of the village. Thaayam, from Thaay (mother) means matriarchy, matrilineal property, matriarchal household etc. Also note the words Thaayaththaar, Thaayaathi etc in Tamil, identifying close relatives in terms of matriarchy. Etymologically Eruk-kaaddoor > Erukku+kaadu+oor means the village of Erukku (Calotrophis gigantean) shrubs. Compare Erukkalam-piddi in Mannaar.

Izha-Kudumpikan: ஈழ குடும்பிகன்: Palaeographically it can also be read as Eezha-kudumpikan. The householder from the island of Eezham / the householder from the clan of the island of Eezham / the householder from the clan of the island of Eezham engaged in activities related to palm trees.

Polaalaiyan: Pol+aal+aiyan: பொல்+ஆல்+ஐயன்: The elder of the profession of tapping toddy / coconut palm water

Following are words and phrases in Sinhala related to Pol, meaning coconut and kinds of grasses:

Pol: பொல்: Matured coconut, also a grass Paspalum cora; Pol-gaha: Coconut palm; Pol-raa: Coconut toddy (Raa: toddy; Na'raa in old Tamil); Pol-atta: Dried coconut palm leaf, plaited; Pol-ula, Pol-koora: pointed stick to peal coconut; Pol-kaṭuwa, Pol-kōmbe: Shell of a coconut; Pol-kiri: juice of coconut; Pol-kuḍu: refuse of scraped coconut after extracting milk, also a sort of grass; Pol-kuḍupalā, Pol-palā: Knot-grass; Pol-amu: kind of grass, Paspalum scrobiculatum; Pol-æl-vī: Kind of paddy; Pol-kohu: Coconut fibre; Pol-tel: Coconut oil; Pol-walla: Bunch of coconut; Pol-waakara: Arrack of the first distillation.

The following are the references for the word Pul in Old Tamil, meaning palm varieties of trees as well as grass:

Pul: புல்: Generic term for grass family; Plants like grass, coconut palm, palmyra palm, arecanut palm, bamboo etc (Glossary of Historical Tamil Literature, Santi Sadhana, vol 4 2002, p 1730); Any plant for which exterior is harder than the core is Pul (Earliest Tamil grammar Tholkaappiyam, 27:86: “Pu’rak-kaazhanavea pul ena mozhipa;” புறக் காழனவே புல் என மொழிப; Grass, grass family (Tamil, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 4300); Grass family (Old lexicons); Palmyra palm (Thivaakaram 4:73 and Choodaama’ni 4:10 lexicons): Pulli: Outer leaf of a plant, filament of stamen (Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 256). This explains the name Pul for plants having leafs as branches.

Also note the following stanza of Tholkaappiyam (27:88) that gives the conventional names for the parts of Pul variety of plants. The long popular use of these terms for parts of coconut palm in Tamil convention attests to the identification of the plant as a Pul in Tamil.

Thoadea madalea oalai en'raa
Eadea ithazhea paa'lai en'raa
Eerkkea kulaiyea chearnthana pi'ravum
Pullodu varumenach chollinar pulavar

தோடே மடலே ஓலை என்றா
ஏடே இதழே பாளை என்றா
ஈர்க்கே குலையே சேர்ந்தன பிறவும்
புல்லொடு வருமெனச் சொல்லினர் புலவர்

The following reference in Kallaadam (39:10), means a palmyra palm by the word Pul:

An'ril pul cheakkai pukku
அன்றில் புல் சேக்கை புக்கு

The An'ril bird reached its nest in palmyra palm (this bird always lives in palmyra palms)

Aal: ஆல்: Also, Aalam, Aali: Water, raindrops (Tamil and Malayalam, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 384); Aali-neer: Water of dew (DED 384); Aali: Oozing water (Tamil literary usage); Æla: stream of water, brook, rivulet, canal (Sinhala); Æliya: River, drain (Sinhala). See column on Ællegoda.

Aiyan: ஐயன்: Also, Ayyan: Father, sage, priest, teacher, Brahmin, superior person, master, king (Tamil, DED 196); Ai: Lord, master (Tamil, DED 196); Aiyan: Husband, lord, elder, father, gods Murukan and Chaaththan (Tamil, Changkam Diction and lexicons); Aiyanmaar, Aiyar: Elder brothers (Tamil, Changkam Diction); Tham-Aiyan: Elder brother (Tamil, Malayalam DED 196); Ayiyaa: Elder brother (Sinhala); Ayiyaalaa: Elder brothers (Sinhala)


Second sentence:

Cheytha Aaychayan Nedu Chaathan: செய்த ஆய்சயன் நெடு சாதன்: The bed-cutter who made was Nedu-Chaathan. There is no need to add an N after Cheythaa to make it Cheythaan. Instead it should be read as Cheytha.

Cheytha: செய்த: Adjective meaning ‘made by.’ From the verb Chey (to do, make, creat, cause; Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 1957)

Aaychayan: ஆய்சயன்: Probably Aayvai-cheyan or Aayvai-cheyyan: The bed-cutter. Aayvai: ஆய்வை: Bed, sleeping place (Pingkalam lexicon 4: 260; Cheyan, Cheyyan: செயன், செய்யன்: one who makes

Nedu-chathan: நெடு சாதன்: Nedugn-chaaththan (நெடுஞ்சாத்தன்); the tall / great / senior / esteemed Chaththan. (Chaaththan is a common name found in old Tamil literature and epigraphy, probably for a member of an artisan guild or trade guild.)

First published: Thursday, 31 December 2009, 23:47


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TamilNet - Etymology: Eezham / E'lu / He'la
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=98&artid=30919

Etymology: Sinhala

TamilNet -- Etymology --- Sinhala / Chingka'lam / Ceylon
ஸிங்ஹல / சிங்களம் / ஸிலோன்
Siṅhala / Ciṅkaḷam / Ceylon
See+a'la > Seeha'la > Sinhala
The red tract of land 
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Know the Etymology: 141
Place Name of the Day: Monday, 14 December 2009

Sinhala / Chingka'lam / Ceylon
ஸிங்ஹல / சிங்களம் / ஸிலோன்
Siṅhala / Ciṅkaḷam / Ceylon

See+a'la > Seeha'la > Sinhala

The red tract of land

Seeha'la (adjective) Found written in a Prakrit inscription dateable to 2nd or 3rd century CE. This is the earliest known evidence for the prevalence of this name for the island now called Sri Lanka (Nagarjunakonda inscription, Epigraphia Indica XX p 1-37); Chaiy-a'lan: Probably a person from Chaiy-a'lam (See-a'lam / Chingka'lam), Tamil Brahmi inscription, dated to c. 1st century CE, found at Muththuppaddi, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu (Mahadevan 2003, p 396); Saimha'la: Name of the island in a Sanskrit inscription of 4th century CE (Corpus Inscriptions Indicarum III, 1888 p 8); Simha'la: Sanskrit form of the name for the island found in Mahabharata, an 8th century CE inscription found in Java and some 9th century CE Sanskrit literature; Chingka'lam: Equated with Eezham (Tamil, Cheanthan Thivaakaram Nika'ndu 5:128, C. 8th century CE); listed as a place along with other places (Tamil inscription 921CE, Glossary of Tamil Inscriptions); Chingka'la Meykaappaan: The bodyguard came from Chingka'lam, Ulalur inscription of Pallava Nandivarman II, 8th century CE (T.V.Mahalingam, 1988 p 330); Chingka'lar: People of Chingka'lam (Tamil, Kalingkaththup-para'ni, 12th century CE); Salike: (Ptolemy, Greek, 2nd century CE, comes as a place name probably meaning ‘the island of Salai); Sele, Siele: Sele-diba and Siele-diba come as variants of place name for the island (Greek, Cosmas Indicopleustes, 6th Century CE); Seren-dib: Arab version of Sele-diba (L / R interchange, 8th century CE); Seilan: Italian traveller Marcopolo's reference to the island (1292 CE); Seyllao, Ceilao, Ceylao: Portuguese versions of the name for the island (16th century CE); Ceilon, Ceylon: Name of the island in Dutch, the latter was continued by the British; Si / Chi, Che, Chea, Chey, Cheyya: Adjective forms and root word, meaning red, red-coloured etc. (Tamil and Dravidian languages, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 1931); A'lam: (noun, A'la adjective) Tract of land, coastal land (Tamil, other Dravidian languages, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 299); A'lakkar: Coastal tract of land (A'la+ekkar; A'la: coastal; Ekkar: dunes; Tamil, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 299, 770); A'lavan, A'laththi: Masculine and feminine terms for a person hailing from A'lam (maritime tract), DED 299; Kera'la: Adjective of Keara'lam, found in Asoka’s inscription dated to 3rd century BCE, for the Cheara country or today’s Keara'laa. Cheara /Chaaral+a'lam, meaning ‘the hilly tract’, synonym of Malai-a'lam > Malayaa'lam; Tambapa'n'ni: Tampa+va'n'ni; The name of the island found in Prakrit inscription of Asoka dated to 3rd century BCE, meaning the copper-coloured (land); Taprobane: The Greek form of Prakrit Tambapa'n'ni, found in early Greaco-Roman literature. Cosmas of 6th century CE says that Taprobane is Greek name for what the Indians call Siele-diba.


Today, almost everybody seems to have taken it for granted that the word Sinhala stands for a particular ethnicity in the island and for the language they speak.

An irrational mythology fabricated at a later time when the original etymology was lost, that Sinhala means descendants of a lion (Siṅha) and thus means the ‘lion race’ has pervaded the minds and hearts of the people for centuries.

Most of the ethno-national identities of South Asia have in fact originated primarily from geographical identities. Such identities later stood for who ever inhabited those lands and eventually stood for the languages evolved in those lands. (Identities of classical languages don't come under this pattern)

For examples note terms like Paagnchaala /Panjab (land in between five rivers), Karu-naadu / Karnāṭakā / Kannada (country of black tract of land); Malayaa'lam / Malai-a'lam (hilly tract of land) etc.

The Sinhala identity is not an exception and there is no unambiguous evidence that the word either stood for ethnicity or language in the early usages of the word.

On the contrary, early evidences of usage and etymology strongly suggest that the term was geographical in origin and was more or less the same in meaning to Tambapa'n'ni in Prakrit and Eezham in Tamil.

The earliest available written form of the word is Seeha'la.

This form of the word, as an adjective, comes in the context of a phrase Seeha'la Vihaara (Sri Lankan monastery) and is found in a Prakrit inscription dateable to 2nd-3rd century CE, from Nagarjunakonda, of Andra Predesh, South India.

Seeha'la is the conjunction of the two components See and A'la linked by typical Prakrit conjunction phoneme H. In Dravidian it should become Seeya'la or See'la.

The obvious meaning of the word in Dravidian is ‘red tract of land.’ (See table)

A comparison of this meaning derived for Seeha'la with the meaning of another early Prakrit name for the island, i.e., Tamba-pa'n'ni (Tampa-va'n'ni: copper-coloured land), would tell that Seeha'la and Tampapa'n'ni of 3rd century BCE Asokan inscription were actually synonyms in Dravidian and Prakrit. Note that the Tamil word Chempu for copper is due to the reddish colour of the metal.

An interesting Tamil Brahmi inscription dated to c. 1st century CE, found in Muthtuppaddi, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, comes out with a name of a person as Chaiy-a'lan of Vinthai-oor (I Mahadevan, 2003).

"Vinthai-oor chaiy-a'lan kaviy"
விந்தை-ஊர் சைய்-அளன் கவிய்

The text of the inscription means 'The cave [is the gift] of Chaiy-a'lan of Vinthai-oor." (Kaviy: cave; Chaiy / chey: red)

For the word Chaiy-a'lan, other than giving the meaning Chingka'lan (a person from Chingka'lam), Mahadevan tends to interpret Chaiy as Sahyadri mountain and a'lan as a nominal suffix. He also writes on Chaiy indicating 'lion lineage' (Early Tamil Epigraphy, 2003, p 587).

But, considering the way the word was spelt in split form, and considering parallels discussed in this column, the stronger possibility is that the word Chaiy-a'lan meant a person from Chai-a'lam, the red tract of land (the island under discussion).

If so, this evidence in Tamil is not only earlier than Seeha'la found in the Prakrit inscription of Nagarjunakonda, but also explains the Dravidian etymology and geographical origins of the name in a clear way.

In this context, also note that another early name of the island Eezham has a meaning ‘gold’ in old Tamil, and the name too could have originated from the colour of the earth.

Large tracts of the island of Sri Lanka are in fact reddish or brownish in colour.

Significantly, the earliest Tamil lexicon Cheanthan Thivaakaram of 8th century CE, equates Chingka'lam with Eezham in a geographical sense and there is no connotation of ethnicity or language.

Another comparison that can be drawn out here is the adjective Kera'la found in the Prakrit phrase Kerala-puto of Asoka’s inscriptions of 3rd century BCE. Keara'la is the Prakrit form of Cheara-a'lam (K/CH interchange). Chaaral / Cheara means hill-range and Cheara-a'lam means the tract of hill-range (the land of Western Ghats). It is a synonym of another Dravidian word Malai-a'lam > Malayaa'lam (Malai: hill, mountain).

Seeha'la was Sanskritised as Saimha'la and Sinha'la in Sanskrit usages of later period. The word form found in the Mahabharata text available today doesn’t mean much in fixing dates. Sankritisation and Prakritisation were never a one-way process. Contrary to popular beliefs, many words found in Sanskrit diction are Sanskritised derivations of non-Sanskrit words than vice versa. Sanskrit influence can also be seen in the 8th century Tamil form Chingka'lam.

When the original etymology was lost, Buddhist chronicles Dīpavaṅsa and Mahāvaṅsa of the 5th century CE probably conflated words and beliefs to create the myth of the ‘lion race.’ Yet, etymologically there is no explanation how Siṅha could become Siṅhala to stand for people or ethnicity.

Siṅha'la as an adjective standing for people from the island of Sinha'la was a secondary meaning. By 12th century CE, Tamil references added the suffix ‘R’ to the word and made it Chingka'lar to mean people.

Until 9th-10th century CE, there is no reference in literature or inscriptions about Sinhala language. Identifiable Sinhala language of literary status appears with Sigiri Graffiti of 9th century CE. Even when the language evolved with an identity to call it self by a name around 10th century CE, it was referred to as He'la-basa (K. Indrapala cites Dhambiyā-aṭuvā gæṭapadaya). The word Sinhala standing for the language was a much later development.

The geographical term See-a'la with an addition of Dīpa / Diba / Diva / Dīv / Dib etc to mean island, was extensively used by Graeco-Romans, Arabs and other Westerners as Siele-diba, Sele-diba, Seren-dib etc., to finally become Ceilao /Ceylao in Portuguese times and to become Ceylon under the Dutch and the English.

While the word Sinhala is exclusively understood today in terms of ethnicity and language, note that the derivate Ceylon retained the geographical meaning.

In the context of the historically constructed belief of ‘Aryan’ origins for Sinhala ethnicity, it may sound an irony that the very etymology of Sinhala is linguistically Dravidian (not necessarily Tamil), but sensible alternative etymological explanation is not traceable through Indo-Aryan.

The writer has no claims of absolute explanation, but taking the word Sinhala as originally meaning an ethnicity in the island doesn’t seem to have logical validity in view of the word’s early usages.

Even as late as early 20th century, the Tamil poet Bharathi used the word in a geographical sense as Chingka'lath-theevu.

The terms Eezham, He'la, E'lu etc and whether they have any connections with Seeha'la will be discussed in a subsequent column.

Related Place names:

Keara’laa: This modern name for the southern state in India has been taken from the Prakrit version of the geographical identity found in the Asoka's inscription of 3rd century BCE. Asoka's inscription refers to the ruler of the country as Kerala-puto an obvious translation of Cheara-maan (Cheara-makan) of the Tamil / Malayalam references. CH and K are interchangeable in South Asian languages, even within Dravidian languages (noticeable between Tamil and Kannada).

Keara'la as an adjective has to be compared with terms Chearalan, Chearal, and Chearal-aathan, used for the rulers of the territory in Changkam literature.

Cheara-a'lam means the tract of the hill range. (Cheara / Chaaral: hill range). The country and the ruler received their names from the geography. Compare the terms with Malaiyamaan (Malai-mahan; Malai: hill), a synonym of Chearamaan in Tamil / Malayalam.

Puththa'lam: (Puthu-a'lam): The new tract of land. The entire Katpiddi Peninsula off Puththa'lam is a new tract of land formed by accumulation of sand deposits and this is a landscape still emerging from the sea to this day. Puththa'lam is the headquarters of the North Western Province of Sri Lanka.

First published: Monday, 14 December 2009, 21:19

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http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=98&artid=30799

Etymology: Sri Lanka

TamilNet: Etymology: Sri Lanka / Langkaa / Ilangkai
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Know the Etymology: 144
Place Name of the Day: Sunday, 28 February 2010

Langkaa / Ilangkai / Sri Lanka
லங்கா / இலங்கை / ஸ்ரீ லங்கா
Laṅkā / Ilaṅkai / S'rī Laṅkā

Langkaa
Sri+Lanka

The island

Langkaa 1: A generic term for any island, presumably belonging to Munda or Austro-Asiatic strain of languages. In this sense it was found used in Old Tamil and Maldivian and is found used in the place names of Andhra, Orissa and Assam; 2: The island / city of Ravana in the epic Ramayana (Sanskrit); 3: Specifically stood for the island called Sri Lanka today; Ilangkai: 1: The Tamil form of Langkaa, used since Changkam times (Dawn of the Common Era), to mean several places in the ancient Tamil country as well as the island called Sri Lanka today; 2: Any island in a river (Old Tamil Lexicons c.8th-13th centuries CE); 3: The island of the Epic Ramayana (in this sense appears first in post-Changkam literature of c. 5th century CE); 4: Specifically meant the island called Sri Lanka today; Sri Lanka: Addition of the ‘Sri’ part of the name, meaning auspiciousness, resplendent etc in Sanskrit, is an innovation of Sinhala nationalism in the 20th century. The addition became popular through the 1940 lyric of Ananda Samarakoon, which became the national anthem in 1951. Since 1948 Lanka added with Sri was used in the Sinhala legend of postal stamps and since 1956 it was introduced in the Sinhala legend of currency notes. In 1972, with the republican constitution, the country became officially named as Sri Lanka. However, Ilangkai continued in all official usages in Tamil.

For detailed usages of Langkaa / Ilangkai since early times see the table at the end of the column. Also see columns appeared earlier on Ceylon and Eezham.


As could be deduced from the usage found in several languages of South Asia, Langkaa is a generic term, meaning any island.

Langkaa-related island names are found from Maldives to Malaysia, in between covering Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Assam of the Bay of Bengal coast, showing that there is a clear pattern in the distribution. (See the table at the end of the column)

Ilangkai, the Tamil form of the word was in use in Tamil literature at least since the dawn of the Common Era, for place names in ancient Tamil Nadu as well as for the island called Sri Lanka today. As Tamil words do not begin with L, one of the three vowels, A, I or U is usually added in front of such words.

According to Changkam Tamil literature Pu’ranaanoo’ru 379, Ilangkai was a walled settlement, surrounded by a deep moat, and it was the seat of the chieftain Oaymaan Villiyaathan. He was referred to as Ilangkaik-kizhavan, meaning the owner or lord of Ilangkai. This Ilangkai was located in the Tho’ndai-Naadu (Kaagnchi region) of the ancient Tamil country. The place was probably like an island with its deep moat around it.

In Pu’ranaanoo’ru 176, another descendant of the same clan, Oaymaan Nalliyakkoadan is called as the lord of the great, big, Ilangkai (Peru-maa-Ilangkaith-thalaivan).

Chi’rupaa’naattuppadai of Paththuppaaddu, a long Changkam poem on Nalliyakkoadan, says he was the lord of ‘good great Ilangkai’ the name of which is parallel in antiquity to that of the ‘old, great Ilangkai’ (an obvious reference to the island called Sri Lanka today).

“Thol-maa-Ilangkaik karuvodu peyariya nal-maa-Ilangkai”
(Chi’rupaa’naattuppadai 119-120)
“தொல்மா இலங்கைக் கருவொடு பெயரிய நல்மா இலங்கை”
(சிறுபாணாற்றுப்படை)

From the inference we come to know that at least since the Dawn of the Common Era, even Langkaa or the island called Sri Lanka today was known by the name Ilangkai in Tamil usage.




* * *


However, the term Ilangkai in its early usages in Tamil, strictly adhering to its original meaning standing for any island, is quite evident from the old lexicons.

The meaning given for the word Ilangkai in the Tamil lexicons, Cheanthan Thivaakaram (c.8th century CE), Pingkalam (c.10th century CE) and Choodaama’ni (c. 13th century CE) is that it is an island or islet in a river.

This is exactly the way the word is found used in Oriya and in some Munda languages (Austro-Asiatic languages) of Orissa.

An islet in the river at Sonepur in the Balangir district of Orissa is even today called Langkaa.

Langkaa also means any distant land in Oriya language.




* * *


Associating Ilangkai with Ramayana mythology appears in Tamil literature only from c. 5th century CE. The early references in this connotation come from Chilappathikaaram and Pazhamozhi Naanoo’ru, both post-Changkam in date.

The Tamil Buddhist literature Ma’nimeakalai of c. 5th century CE is the first to come out with another Tamil form Ilangkaa-theevam (the island of Ilangkaa) instead of Ilangkai.

A tendency noticed in Tamil literature and inscriptions is the practice of adding phrases of description before the word Ilangkai. Phrases such as Thol-maa-Ilangkai (the old big Ilangkai), Kadal-choozh-Ilangkai (the island surrounded by sea), Then-Ilangkai (the island in the south) etc found in Tamil usages in the context of identifying todays island of Sri Lanka only indicate that there was a necessity to differentiate this Ilangkai from the others.




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An interesting clue in this respect comes from usages in the Maldivian language Dhivehi.

In old Maldivian language, Ahi-Langkaa means their own country of islands (Maldives) and Mahi-Langkaa means other countries. (Aha > Ahi: home, inner, inside, our etc; Mahaa > Mahi: great, big etc. For Maldives islands others are great countries / islands).

The Maldivian usage is another evidence that Langkaa meant any island and phrases were added whenever specific identification was needed.

Many Maldivian island names also provide valuable inferences that the very root syllable of Langkaa, i.e. Laa, Le, Lee, Lu etc as nouns and Lai, Lan, Lankan etc as adjectives themselves mean island. About 32 island names of this category are listed in the Etymological Dictionary of Maldivian Island Names (pp 163-165).

An example is Maa-le, the name of the capital island. The adjacent island where the international airport is situated is Hu’lu-le. Obviously they mean the big island and the small island, and Le in this context simply means island.

Laa and Le (as in legung) in certain contexts of Maldivian usage mean deposits (by waves etc) putting something (like an island) to take shape.

Parallels could be seen in Sinhala usages also.

Lak is a word equivalent to Langkaa in Sinhala. This is also evident from the Sinhala phrases, Lak-diva for the island of Langkaa and Lak-wæsiya for an inhabitant of Langkaa (Clough’s Sinhala Dictionary).




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To which language family the word Langkaa belongs is a question.

As the Sanskrit or Pali / Prakrit diction has nothing to offer more than the geographical meanings standing for the island of Ramayana epic and the meridian of astronomical calculations passing through Ujjayini, the chances of Langkaa meaning any island originating fro Indo-Aryan family of languages is very remote.

Noting usage and distribution of the word, many scholars believe that it is a Mundari word originating from the Austro-Asiatic family of languages. In the case of Langkaa meaning today’s island of Sri Lanka, it is presumed that either the name originated from a usage of the Veddahs of the island or that it was a continental reference to the island originating from Austro-Asiatic vocabulary.

However, an old glossary of Maldivian language brings out another word ‘Hilang’ when it explains the word Langkaa and says Hilang is an evidence of anything (like a land) existing (Ghiyaasuddin Bas Foi and also Dhivehi Bas Foi). This brings a connection between Langkaa and the Tamil word Ilangku meaning the prominent existence of something.




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Many of today’s generation think Sri Lanka is an old name for the island. It is not so as far as the Sri part is concerned.

Sri Lanka was an innovation of 20th century Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists who resented the colonial usage, Ceylon.

Ananda Samaracone composed a lyric popularising the term Sri Lanka in 1940. It later became the national anthem in 1951, with a parallel translation in Tamil made by Muthu-thamizhip-pulavar Mu. Nallathambi.

Early Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists had a fervour for Sanskrit and note that this Sri was not spelt or written in the Pali / Prakrit / Sinhala form, Siri.

The postal stamps of independent Ceylon carried the legend Sri Lanka in Sinhala script and Ilankai in Tamil script in them, since 1949. Ilangkai was long in usage and no addition was made to it.

With the government of SWRD Bandaranayake coming to power in 1956, Sri Lanka first appeared as part of the name of the bank in currency notes, only in Sinhala script. After 1965 the bank name had the Tamil version with Ilangkai in it.

In 1972, with the republican constitution of Mrs Srimao Bandaranayake’s government, Sri Lanka became the official name of the country. However, its official name in Tamil remains Ilangkai.




Examples for the usage of the word Langkaa / Ilangkai

Meaning places other than the island that is politically called Sri Lanka today:

Ilangkaik-kizhavoan: Villi-Aathan, the lord of a walled city called Ilangkai or Maa-Ilangkai, surrounded by a moat, in Tho’ndai-naadu of the ancient Tamil country (Pu’ranaanoo’ru, 379:6, Dawn of the Common Era)

Peru-maa-Ilangkaith-thalaivan: The chief of the great Maa-Ilangkai, (Oay-maan Nalliyak-koadan, Pu’ranaanoo’ru 176:6

Nan-maa-Ilangkai: The capital of Nalliyak koadan of Oaviyar clan, in the ancient Tamil country. The name of the place is compared with the old great island of Ilangkai either in greatness or in antiquity (Chi’rupaa’naattuppadai: 120, c.1st century CE);

Ilangkai: An islet in a river (Aattidaikk-ku’rai: Old Tamil Lexicons, Thivaakaram, c. 8th century CE, 5:63, Pingkalam, c. 10th century CE, 4:104, Choodaama’ni, c. 13th century CE, 5:24)

Ahi-Langkaa: The Maldives islands, differentiated from Mahi-Langkaa, the other countries. This is a traditional usage in Maldivian language to refer to their country (Ahi: ours), differentiated from the other great lands (Mahi < Mahaa: great). (Dhivehi / Maldivian, Dhivehi Bas Foi, Dictionary of Maldivian Language, Ghiyaasuddin Bas Foi, Glossary of Old Dhivehi Words, a hand-written document prepared in 1769, NCLHR, Male, Etymological Dictionary of Maldivian Island Names, 2008, pp163-164)

Mahi-Langkaa: Means the other great lands in Maldivian language in the context of differentiating them from their own islands (Ahi: ours; Mahi: great). (Dhivehi / Maldivian, Dhivehi Bas Foi, Dictionary of Maldivian Language, Ghiyaasuddin Bas Foi, Glossary of Old Dhivehi Words, a hand-written document prepared in 1769, NCLHR, Male, Etymological Dictionary of Maldivian Island Names, 2008, pp163-164)

Lan, Lang, Le, Laa, Lee, Lu, Lai, Langkan: Components indicating island in Maldivian island names (Example: Maa-le: The big island compared to Hu’lu-le the small island adjacent to it; Etymological Dictionary of Maldivian Island Names, 2008, pp163-164)

Laa, Le, Legung: In sentence formations may mean deposits by waves placing an island (Maldivian / Dhivehi)

Hilang: Evidence of the existence of land or anything physically appearing (Dhivehi / Maldivian); Ilangku: prominent existence, clear appearance etc (Tamil, Changkam Diction); Il: place (Tamil, Changkam Diction);

Lakka-div: The Laccadives archipelago in the Arabian Sea. There is a strong possibility that the word Lakka by which the islands were traditionally called itself stood for islands. Whether the name was Sanskritized as Dweepa Laksham as appearing in a Pallava inscription of 7th century CE, or whether Lakka is the Prakrit / Tamil / Malayalam form of Laksha needs investigation. However, Government of India officially uses the Sanskritized form, and not the traditional usage of the people of these islands. (Laksha: one hundred thousand)

Langkaawi: Name of an island in Malaysia, in the Bay of Bengal, bordering Thailand at the Isthmus of Kra. Actually the name stands for a group of around hundred islands.

Langkaasuka: Name of an ancient kingdom in Kedah (Kaazhakam or Kadaaram) in Malyasia, situated at the Isthmus of Kra, separating Bay of Bengal and South China Sea. The place in mentioned in the Chola inscriptions of Rajendra I (1014-1044 CE). The group of islands called Langkawi today were part of this kingdom.

Langkaa: Name of an island in Sonepur in the Balangir District of Orissa. Also means a distant land in Oriya language (Dr. Subrat Kalyan Pattanayak, Sociolinguist from Orissa)

Langkaa: A component found in the names of several islands in the Krishna-Godavari Delta in Andhra Predesh

Bobbar Langkaa: An island in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh (K. Indrapala 2006: p 356)

Agadala-Langkaa: An island in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh (K. Indrapala 2006: p 356)

Gudivaka-Langkaa: An island in West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh (K. Indrapala 2006: p 356)

Nagaya-Langkaa: An island in the Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh (K. Indrapala 2006 p.356)

Maayilangkai: A place in Karnataka, (Epigraphia Carnatica III, pp. 147-148, cited by K Indrapala)

Langkaa: a place name in Assam, (cited by K Indrapala, 2006, p 356)




Langkaa / Ilangkai meaning the island politically called Sri Lanka today:

Thon-maa-Ilangkai: The old great island of Ilangkai (Chi’rupaa’naattuppadai, 119, c. 1st century CE)

Kadal-choozh-Ilangkai: The island of Ilangkai, surrounded by sea, from where king Kayavaaku came to the court of the Chera king Chengkudduvan (Chilappathikaaram, 30: 160, Uraipe’ru-kaddurai, 3)

Thol-Ilangkai: The old island of Ilangkai, referred to in the context of the story of Ramayana (Chilappathikaaram, 17, Padarkkaipparaval, 3)

Ilangkai Kizhavan: The lord of Ilangkai, Raava’na, Pazhamozhi Naanoo’ru, Post Changkam literature, c. 5th Century CE)

Ilangkaa Theevam: The island of Ilangkai (Ma’nimeakalai, 28:107, c. 5th century CE)

Then-Ilangkai: The island of Ilangkai in the south (Thevaaram hymns of 7th century CE); Then-Ilangkai-valagnchiyar: A trade guild of Ilangkai, the island in the south, operated in South India (Subbarayalu and Shanmugam 2002, cited by Indrapala K., 2006 p.254, 283

Ilangkaa-puram: (The island of Ilangkai, Tamil inscription, c.1000 CE, SII, IV, 167)

Ilangkeasan: The king of the island of Ilangkai, Vikkirama Paa’ndiyan who went to Eezham of the seas and became the king of that island (Tamil inscriptions, C. 1046 CE, SII, VII, 3, GTI)

Langkai: The island of Ilangkai (In the context of Ramayana, Addappirapantham 3:34)

Langkaa: Traditional name of the island politically called Sri Lanka today (Sinhala)

Lak: Equivalent to Langkaa (Sinhala);

Lak-diva: The island of Langkaa (Old Sinhala)

Lak-wæsiya: An inhabitant of the island of Langkaa (Sinhala)

Langkaa: 1. The city of Ravana, the island of Langkaa; 2. The first meridian or longitude in ancient Indian astronomical calculations that passes through Ujjayini in present Madhya Pradesh of India; 3. A female evil spirit; 4. An unchaste woman; 5. A branch; 6. A kind of grain (Sanskrit)

Langkaa-mirichi, Longkaa: Red Chillies (In most of the modern North Indian Languages). Probably red chillies were introduced to North India from the island of Langkaa as a substitute for pepper or Mirichi, (in old Tamil Miriyal). The island of Langkaa in turn received red chillies through the Portuguese. The pod that came as substitute for Mi’laku (pepper) became Mi’la-kaay in Tamil and Sinhalese differentiated the native pepper Gammiris, by adding Gam (native) to Miris. Another usage in Tamil, Kochchi-kaay, for red chillies suggests that it came from Cochin where it was probably first introduced by the Portuguese.


Colonial stamp
Postal stamp of colonial Ceylon, showing no legend in Sinhala or Tamil [Image courtesy: about.com]

Stamp independent Ceylon
Postal stamp of independent Ceylon. The name of the country is found written in 3 different ways, Ceylon in English, Sri Lanka in Sinhala and Ilangkai in Tamil. [Image courtesy: flagsonstamps.info]

Republic stamp
The postal stamp of the republic, showing the name Sri Lanka in Sinhala and English. The legend in Tamil is written as Ilangkai. [Image courtesy: post-stamps.blogspot.com]

Fifty cents
Colonial currency of Ceylon without any legend in Sinhala or Tamil for the name of the country.
[Image courtesy: numismundi.com]

One Rupee Ceylon currency
Pre-1956 currency of independent Ceylon, showing no name of the country in Sinhala or Tamil [Image courtesy: omarhadad.blogspot.com]

One Rupee Sri Lanka currency
Post-1956 and pre-1965 currency note, showing Sri Lanka in Sinhala only in the name of the bank. No equivalent legend in Tamil or English.

Ten Rupees Sri Lanka
Post-1965, but pre-1972 currency note. While Sri Lanka in Sinhala is displayed in the name of the bank, Ilangkai and Ceylon are found in smaller letters in the legends in Tamil and English. [Image courtesy: www.tomchao.com]

Sri Lanka 1000 rupees
Post-1987 currency in which Sri Lanka in Sinhala and English is found in the name of the bank whereas Ilangkai continues in Tamil.

[Image courtesy:mebanknotes.com]

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TamilNet Etymology: Sri Lanka
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