Sunday, 10 Sep 2023
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BY H. L. D. Mahindapala
Jaffnaites have a rather ambivalent attitude towards their history. Either they go over the top to glorify their origins and raise it to an imagined past that never existed, or they withdraw into a shell like the snail unable to face their ignominious and inhuman past.
Their claims to a glorious past are derived mainly from the brief kingdom of Jaffna (1215 - 1619) – the...
A leader is one who can mobilise a following to achieve selected goals. In this sense Sirisena Cooray was an exceptional leader. His leader, President R. Premadasa, was a charismatic leader who could mobilise a following to follow his vision, breaking through barriers, into new frontiers. Premadasa defined and set the goals. Cooray was there always to help him achieve...
Opinion
The year 1505 is a memorable date etched in the minds of those who know anything about the history of Sri Lanka. It is the year in which the Portuguese arrived and opened a new chapter in the history of the nation. But hardly anyone remembers 1215 – the year in which the Malabaris of South India invaded Jaffna and paved the path for changing the history of the peninsula....
Opinion: Reply to C. V. Wigneswaran’s attack on Prof. G. L. Peiris – Part 3
All Sri Lankans are descendants of migrants. We are a nation of migrants. Even the Jaffnaites who claim to be descendants of Tamils who arrived in pre-historic times filled the Northern strip of land, which they called their sacred homeland, with South Indian migrants only in the 12th and 13th centuries. They were known as Malabaris since they came from Malabar, not...
Reply to Wigneswaran’s attack on Prof. G. L. Peiris – Part 2:
“The cruelty of Sangkili (and his avatar Prabhakaran) increased with his power.....” Yalpana Vaipava Malai
Jaffna has been the dark side of the Sri Lankan moon: its’ history has been consistently hidden from public scrutiny. Reason: It is politically disadvantageous to reveal the horrors of Jaffna Vellala rulers oppressing their own Tamil people throughout its history...