History of Sri Lanka

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History

Pre and Proto history

During the last million years, when humans are known to have existed, Sri Lanka was connected to the sub-continent on numerous occasions. The rise and fall of sea level (due to cold/warm fluctuations in the global climate), & various tsunamis[link] [link] determined the periodicities of these connections, the last separation having occurred at ca. 7000 BP. There is secure evidence of settlements in Sri Lanka by 130,000 years ago, probably by 300,000 BP and possibly by 500,000 BP or earlier.[link]

Paleolithic human settlements by 125,000 year-old people using chert and quartz tools have been discovered at excavations in several cave sites in the Western Plains region and the South-Western face of the Central Hills region. The island is estimated to have been colonised by the Balangoda people (named after the area where their remains were discovered) about 34,000 years ago. They have been identified as a group of Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa-Hien Rock cave) have yielded many artefacts that points to them being the first inhabitants of the island.

It is estimated that during certain pluvial episodes in South Asia, as at ca. 125,000 BP, the population density in the Dry Zone of northern, eastern and southern Sri Lanka (for ecozones v. ibid.: app. I) could have ranged between 1.5 and 0.8 individuals per square kilometre, whereas the Wet Zone in the west would have had densities of 0.1 or less.[link]

Paleo-anthropologists have shown that burial rites and certain decorative artifacts show similarities between the first inhabitants of the island and the early Dravidian inhabitants of southern India.

The Balangoda people appear to have been responsible for creating Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, discovery of Oats and Barley on the plains dating to about 15,000 BC suggest they may have engaged in agriculture.[link]

Several minute granite tools of about 4 centimeters in length, earthenware and remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots that date back to the Stone Age Mesolithic Man who lived 8000 years ago have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara & also in Kalatuwawa area.

Cinnamon, which is native to Sri Lanka, was in use in Ancient Egypt in about 1500 BC, suggesting that there were trading links with the island. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island (James Emerson Tennant identified it with Galle).[link]

A large settlement appears to have been founded before 900 BC at the site of Anuradhapura and signs of an Iron Age culture have also been found. The size of the settlement was about 15 hectares at that date, but it expanded to 50 ha, to 'town' size within a couple of centuries. A similar site has been discovered at Aligala in Sigiriya.[link]

One of the first references to the island is found in the epic Ramayana. The Ramayana tells the story of Rama (an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu), Rama invaded the island through the Mannar causeway with the help of Vanara Army, to save his abducted wife, Sita, from Ravana the King of Sri Lanka. Plenty of archaeological evidence of been found that are supportive of the fact that Ravana did indeed rule over the island from his capitol.

While a majority of present day Sri Lankans are of Indian origin, it is believed that many of the first inhabitants also integrated with those of Indian origin. However, it is suspected that the hunter gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the North-Eastern parts of the island, are relatively direct descendants of the first inhabitants.

The earliest chronicles The Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa say that, before the migration of the Indo-Aryans, tribes of Yakkhas (demons) and Nagas (cobras) inhabited the island. These names might refer to the tribal totems of the people living in the island.

Early history

Pottery has been found at Anuradhapura, bearing Brahmi script and non-Brahmi writing, dating back to 600 BC, suggesting that the art of writing may have been re-introduced to the subcontinent via Sri Lanka.

Ancient epigraphic inscriptions found at Anuradhapura and some other places in Sri Lanka attest some important ethnic communities from north-west India like Kaboja (or Kamboja, & Kambodjin), Muridi (Muruda = Murunda)Since the epithet 'Muridi' is prefixed to the name '-Utara' (Skt. Uttara), Dr S. Paranavitana believed that Muridi is a derivative of Muruda, which is the same as Murunda in the compound Saka-Murunda that occurs in the Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta. Dr S. Konow (1929: XX), referring to the same inscription argued that murunda is almost certainly a Saka word meaning 'master', 'lord', and he argued that the word murunda has become synonymome with Saka, when applied to royalty., Meraya (Maurya? or else the inhabitants from Meru in Hindukush?) etc There is however attested one non-Aryan speaking predatory clan called Marayas in southern India--(probably Dravidian?). It is possible that Merayas referenced in the Sinhalese inscriptions may be from this people. There is also a reference to Dravidian community Dameda (Damila or Tamil). Besides, there is also reference to Jhavaka (?) and Mileka (=Mlechha), the latter has been assumed to refer to the aborigines i.e the Veddas. Very interestingly, the ancient epigraphic inscriptions of Anuradhapura do not contain any reference to Sinhala, an appellation which was later to apply to the predominant Indo-Aryan section of Sri Lankan population. Nor do they refer to people or tribes like Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Kosala, Kasi etc. Term Sinhala or names like Anga, Vanga, Magadha etc find mention for the first time in Dipavamsa of 4th century AD or in Mahavamsa of sixth century AD.

Of these several ethnic identities, the Kaboja (or Kamboja, Kambodjin) is the one most referenced and finds mention in seven or eight ancient inscriptions, whereas term Daemeda is referenced four times, Mileka occurs twice and the Muridi, Meraya and Jhavaka occur only once. Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 341-42, 347, Dr J. L. kamboj The Sihalavatthu, a Pali text of about the fourth century, also attests a group of people called the Kambojas living in Rohana. The third story of this text, called Metteyya-vatthu, reveals that the Elder named Maleyya was residing in Kamboja-gama, in the province (Janapada) of Rohana on the Island of Tambapanni (Sri Lanka).Ships and the Development of Maritime Technology on the Indian Ocean, 2002, pp 108-109, David Parkin and Ruth Barnes; The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia (Cambridge World Archaeology) 2003, p 206, Himanshu Prabha Ray, Norman Yoffee, Susan Alcock, Tom Dillehay, Stephen Shennan, and Carla Sinopoli (14 August, 2003) - Cambridge University Press; Nirvana and Other Buddhist Felicities, Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions, Steven Collins....See APPENDIX 4, Selections from the Story of the Elder Máleyya i.e Maleyyadevattheravatthu). Further, there is an ancient evidence from Mahavamsa that the Yonas or Yavanas (Greeks), the next door neighbors of the Kambojas in the north-west, had also their settlement in Pandukabhaya in Anuradhapura Mahavamsa X.90, XII.5, XII.37-39; Dipavamsa.VIII.9; Samantapasadika, (P.T.B.)..I.67; See: History of Ceylone, Vol I, Part I, pp 88-91, Dr S Parnavitana See: [link]; See also: [link]). The ancient inscriptions reveal that the Kambojas were actively involved in trade since there is reference to one 'Grand Trade Guild of the Kambojas' (Kabojhiya-mahapugiyana) and one 'Sangha of the Kambojas' (Gota-Kabojhi(ya]na) in Anuradhapura.Ships and the Development of Maritime Technology on the Indian Ocean, 2002, pp 108-109, David Parkin and Ruth Barnes; The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia (Cambridge World Archaeology) 2003, p 206, Himanshu Prabha Ray, Norman Yoffee, Susan Alcock, Tom Dillehay, Stephen Shennan, and Carla Sinopoli (14 August, 2003) - Cambridge University Press; The Beginnings of Civilization in South India, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 3 (May, 1970), pp. 603-616, Clarence Maloney) Scholars have dated these epigraphic inscriptions to atleast third century BCE (or probably earlier). This may imply that the Aryan speakers of Sri Lankan population may have materially descended from the north-western Kambojas and partly from the Saka (Murinda) and the Yavana colonists.

The ancestral home of Sinhalese, according to Mahavamsa tradition, is Sihapura (Simhapura) in the Lala Rattha (Lata Rashtra)Mahavamsa VI.34. The country is identified with the modern Gujarat, the Larika of PtolemyDictionary of Pali Proper Names, G. P. Malalasekera. Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature, p 38, J. W. McCrindle.. Lala is referred to as Lata-desa in Sanskrit texts. Apara-Malava-Pashcimena Lata-desa. Al Biruni calls it Lardesh Al Biruni’s India, p 205. There is an epic reference to one Simhapura kingdom located on the upper Indus which shared borders with Ursa, Abhisara, Bahlika, Darada and Kamboja Mahabharata: 2.27.18-22. Seventh century Chinese pilgrim Hiun Tsang also refers to this Simhapura (Sang-ho-pu-lo) and localises it on upper Indus, in Gandhara (north--west Punjab) Hiun Tsang, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. I. Trans. Samuel Beal, 1906, pp 142-150.. Scholars have identified it above Salt Range History and Culture of Indian Peole, Struggle of Empire, p 33; Classical Age, p 132. Yet another Sinhapura is referred to in Gujarat and has been attested in the Charter of Maitraka king Dhruvasena I (525 AD-545 AD). Its modern name is 'Sihore' (Sinhore?) of Kathiawad Epigraphica Indica, XVII, p 110. There is also an ancient place name 'Hingur' located 40 miles east from the apex of Indus delta which may also be a relic of ancient Sinhapura of the Sinhalese traditions (Hingur < Singur < Singhpur < Sinhapur) Cunningham mentions 'Hingur' as an ancient place name located 40 miles east from the apex of Indus delta (Ancient Geography of India, map facing p 248, A Cunningham). The Delta of Indus is still known as Lar and the Sinhapura of Sinhalese traditions was also located some where in this region. Scholars say that 'Hingur' could well be a corrupted version of Sinhapura (Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 351, Dr J. L. Kamboj). 'S' changing to 'h' is a speciality of north-western languages and it is also noticed in the ancient Sinhalese language.. It has been pointed out that the republican Gramaneyas of Sabhaparva of MahabharataMahabharata 2.32.9 may have been the ancestors of Sinhalese.History of Ceylon, Vol I, Part 1, p 91, Dr S. Parnavitana; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 320, Dr J. L. Kamboj.. The original home of the Gramaneyas seems to have been the Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja, but the people shifted to lower Indus and then, after defeat by Pandava Nakula, to Saurashtra Peninsula, centuries prior to common era. There they seem to have founded a principality and a city which they named Sinhapura probably to commemorate their past connections with Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja. In all probability, Vijaya and his 700 followers, the earliest known Aryan speakers of the island either belonged to the 'Sihore' (Sinhapura) of Kathiawad or else to Hingur (Sinhapura) east off the Indus delta from where they had sailed to Sri Lanka and settled there as colonists. Thus, it is argued by scholars that the name Simhapura, the eponymous of the Sinhalese, may have been carried into Sri Lanka (via Gujarat) by these Gramaneyas, which is believed by some scholars to be a section of north-west Gandharas/Kambojas Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 320, Dr J. L. Kamboj; cf: History of Ceylon, Vol I, Part 1, p 91, Dr S. Parnavitana Epic name Gramaneya is attested as Gramini in Panini's Ashtadhyayi. Gramini as a royal title is not referred to in ancient Buddhist or Brahmanical literature. Panini attests Gramini as a republican constitution prevalent among some Pugas (= Sanghas) of north-west. Panini specifically connects term Gramini with the Puga.(Pugannyo graminipurvat; See: Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, V.3.112). The Pugas derived their name after their leader or Gramini. (See: India as Known to Panini, pp 439-40, Dr V. S. Aggarwala, for full treatment). The Gramini type Pugas or Sanghas were mostly common in upper Indus in the area now known as Afghanistan and northwest frontiers of Pakistan i.e the land of Kambojas and Gandharas. Relics of Gramini type Pugas are still seen in some clans of the modern Afghans (Ref: India as Known to Panini, p 440, Dr Aggarwala). It is of great importance to note that ancient inscriptions of Sri Lanka powerrfully attest both the Puga as well as Gote (or Goshate = Sangha) of the Kambojas and that the Sinhalese, in fact, may have been, in general, the Kamboja colonists themselves.

There is another piece of evidence linking Kambojas with Sri Lanka. Ravana, king of Sri Lanka and the adversary of Vedic-Aryans is stated to have been a fan of raga Kambhoji. Raga Kambhoji, as the name itself implies, is connected with the Kambojas. Per Tamil tradition, Ravana had once played this raga to praise god Siva.Ancient Tamil traditions say that Ravana, king of Sinhala was once cursed by god Shiva’s bull Nandi. Being enraged, Ravana wanted to uproot Mount Kailasa, the abode of Shiva. But Shiva just pressed the Mount with the right thumb of his right leg. Ravana got stuck. Narada came and advised Ravana to praise Shiva to extricate himself out of the unsavory situation. Without any musical instruments, Ravana is said to have used his body and the nerves as the musical strings and sang a song in the raga Kamboji to praise Lord Siva This south Indian tradition, though rooted in mythology, still seems to hold a clue that the Kambojas colonists had influenced the cultural and social lives of the ancient Sinhalese. This again verifies ancient links of north-west Kambojas with Sri Lanka.

The stream of Indo-Aryan colonists from north-west India was later followed by one from the north-east region.

Ancient Capitals of Sri Lanka
Tambapanni
Vijitapura
Anuradhapura
Polonnaruwa
Sigiriya
Ruhuna
Dambadeniya
Yapahuwa
Kurunegala
Dedigama
Gampola
Rayigama
Kotte
Kelaniya
Sitawaka
Kandy

The tradition of Vijaya and his 700 acomplices (the supposed ancestors of Sinhalese) as embodied in the Mahavamsa does contain references to Vanga, Kalinga and Magadha also. But Mahavamsa is a very belated literary text, written more than 1000 years after Vijaya and his companions landed on Tambapani in 543 BCE (or 486 BCE). The story was handed over from generation to generation till it was reduced to writing by Buddhist Monk Mahanama thero, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, in 6th century AD. The oral accounts are always prone to alterations and additions. Therefore, oral tradition about Vijaya and his followers may have been altered and tuned to reflect the historical, political and social realities which prevailed in India and Sri Lanka around that time (i.e. 6th century AD). Or else, the later revisions of Mahavamsa may have been subject to alterations and interpolations by the later Monks under political influence from the ruling dynasties of later generations. There are obvious contradictions in the geographical setting of the Sihabahu/Vijay story as incorporated in the Mahavamsa (Chapter VI). Moreover, the actual story is too phantastic to be trusted at its face value. The earliest known records of the Island (i.e inscriptions) indisputably point to the earliest settlers/colonists to have come from a trader-group whereas the belated literary text Mahavamsa claims that the group was a royal one and was headed by a prince. The lack of references to the north-eastern states or its people in the ancient epigraphic inscriptions of Anuradhapura (the earliest known records of the island) is a clear indication that the immigrants from north-east India were the later players in the game. For more details, see: Kamboja Colonists of Sri Lanka.

Tamil presence is noted throughout the country's written history. Its origins are not dated, but must post-date the arrival of the Dravidian language group in South India sometime in prehistory. Given the island's proximity to the Deccan Plateau, people of different ethnicities must have traveled to and from it throughout human history.

There were repeated wars between the Sinhalese and Indian invaders, and for much of the first millennium AD the island was controlled by various Tamil princes. Vijayabahu I re-established a Sinhalese dynasty in the 11th century. The "golden age" of the Sri Lankan kingdom was in the 12th century, when the Sinhalese King Parakrama Bahu I united the whole island under his rule, and even invaded India and Burma.

Anuradhapura remained Sri Lanka's royal capital until the 8th century AD, when it was replaced by Polonnaruwa.

Sri Lanka was known to the Greeks and to the Romans, who called it Taprobane, probably after Tambapanni. In the 1st Century, the King sent an embassy to the Roman Emperor Claudius.

The island was known to the Persians and Arabs as 'Serendib', and features in the Sindbad stories in the 1001 Nights. After the Arab conquest of the Middle East Muslim traders frequently visited the island, and there has been a Muslim community in Sri Lanka since the 10th century. Ibn Batuta visited the island in the 14th Century.

In the 15th century the island was attacked by Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng He) of China, and for 30 years the kings paid tribute to the Chinese Ming emperor.

European occupation

Many lowland Sinhalese converted to Christianity, but the Buddhist majority disliked Portuguese occupation and its influences and welcomed any power who might rescue them. In 1602, therefore, when the Dutch captain Joris Spilberg landed, the king at Kandy appealed to him for help. But it was not until 1638 that the Dutch attacked in earnest, and not until 1656 that Colombo fell. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch persecuted the Catholics but left the Buddhists, Hindus and Moslems alone. But they taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sinhalese people known as Burgher peoples are a legacy of Dutch rule.

British Rule

-->During the Napoleonic Wars the United Kingdom, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. In 1802 by the Treaty of Amiens the Dutch part of the island was formally ceded to Britain, and became a crown colony. In 1803 the British invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the 1st Kandyan War, but were bloodily repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was occupied in the 2nd Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence. Following the bloody suppression of the Uva Rebellion or 3rd Kandyan War in 1817 - 1818, a treaty in 1818 preserved the Kandyan monarchy as a British dependency.

The British colonialists, following their usual practice, played off one ethnic group against the others. They favoured the semi-European Burghers and also certain high-caste Sri Lankans, fostering divisions and enmities which have survived ever since. The Burghers were given some degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began with a partly-elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1931, over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote.[link][link][link]

The struggle for independence

The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, was the first party to demand independence.[link] Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Natesa Iyer and Don Alwin Rajapaksa. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil.

Second World War

The Sri Lankan garrison on the Cocos Islands mutinied, partly because of the agitation by the LSSP. Three of the mutineers were the only British Commonwealth troops to be shot for mutiny during the Second World War. [link] Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese with a view to collaboration to oust the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army.

Post war

Independence

In 1956 the UNP was defeated at elections (being reduced to 8 seats in Parliament) by the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, which included the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Solomon Bandaranaike and the Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Philip Gunawardena. In 1957 British bases were removed and Sri Lanka officially became a non-aligned country. The Paddy Lands Act, the brainchild of Philip Gunawardena was passed, giving those working the land greater rights vis-a-vis absentee landlords.

The SLFP was ostensibly a socialist party, but some feel that its real agenda was Sinhalese nationalism, imposing Sinhala as the sole national language (by the Sinhala Only Act) and favouring Buddhism over other religions. Bandaraike entered into a pact with Chelvanayagam of the Tamil-based Federal Party to secure more rights for the Tamils, but this was torpedoed when JR Jayawardene of the UNP organised a "March on Kandy" in protest. This triggered hostility from the Tamil minority which soon led to disturbances, culminating in serious riots in 1958.

Philip Gunawardena was removed from the government as the right-wing of the governing coalition grew into the ascendent. Bandaranaike was assassinated in September 1959. His successor Wijayananda Dahanayake was unable to hold the government together, and elections in March 1960 brought the UNP under Dudley Senanayake back to office, but without a working parliamentary majority.

Fresh elections in July saw Bandaranaike's widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, lead the SLFP to power and become the world's first elected female head of government. Her government avoided further confrontations with the Tamils, but its socialist policies of nationalization led to a cut-off of United States aid and a growing economic crisis. After an attempted coup-d'etat by right-wing Army and Police officers, aimed at bringing the UNP back to power, Bandaraneike nationalised the oil companies. This led to a boycott of the country by the oil cartels, which was broken with aid from the Kansas oil producers co-operative. In 1964 she formed a coalition government with the LSSP, a Trotskyist party with Dr N.M. Perera as Minister of Finance.

Dissatisfaction with the economic situation brought the UNP under Senanayake back to office in 1965, but this government fared no better, since the underlying cause of Sri Lanka's problems was the declining market for its traditional commodity exports, tea, coffee and rubber. In 1968 Bandaranaike formed a coalition, the United Front with the LSSP and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which swept the 1970 polls on a platform of socialism.

Independent Republic

An attempt was made at economic independence, with a five-year plan to achieve industrial development. However, this was stymied due to a shortage of foreign exchange, which was exacerbated by the oil crisis of 1974, combined with an unprecedented drought which severely affected the harvest of rice, the staple food of the country's people. Strides forward were made in the fields of heavy industry, automotive spares and electronics.

In 1971 a group variously labelled Maoist or Guevarist, the People's Liberation Front (JVP) launched a rebellion, ostensibly revolutionary but considered by some to be motivated largely by anti-Tamil nationalism. Although the JVP rebellion was suppressed, the JVP established a permanent place in Sri Lankan politics as a voice of extreme Sinhalese chauvinism, along with the movement within the UNP associated with Cyril Mathew.

Tamil nationalists responded in kind, forming separatist groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ('Tamil Tigers'), demanding an independent Tamil state called Eelam, and the country began to slide towards civil war.

Second Republic

Bandaranaike had her civic rights removed by an act of Parliament. In 1978 Jayewardene introduced a new constitution making Sri Lanka a presidential 'Democratic Socialist' republic, with himself as executive President [link]. In 1980 he crushed a general strike by the trade-union movement, jailing its leaders. When the UNP member for the parliamentary constituency of Kalawana was removed on an election petition by his Communist opponent, Jayawardene allowed him to continue sitting in the house.[link]

The economy was opened up and import restrictions were removed. The automotive spares and electronics industries collapsed, with the loss of a hundred thousand jobs. The 'brain drain' of educated professionals was joined by an exodus of skilled workers to the Middle East. Sri Lanka now depended on massive foreign loans in order to bridge the balance of payments deficit. In spite of the worsening human rights situation in the country and open disregard for the law, US aid ballooned.

Elections to District Councils in 1981 were marred by the open theft of ballot boxes in Jaffna. The Jaffna Library, the repository of thousands of valuable documents was burned down by government thugs.

President Jayawardene had the constitution amended (one of 13 amendments during his 10 years in office) to allow presidential elections to be held early, in 1982. The main opposition candidate, Hector Kobbekaduwa was garlanded with onions by the farmers of the Jaffna peninsular, impoverished by the policy of unrestricted imports.

The Presidential election, held amidst widespread acts of electoral malpractice (Hector Kobbekaduwa arrived at the polling station only to find his vote had already been cast) resulted in Jayawardene's re-election. He followed this with an infamous plebiscite on postponing parliamentary elections for six years. Associates of Kobbekaduwa, such as TB Ilangaratne and Vijaya Kumaratunga, were jailed as 'Naxalites', a political creed unheard of in Sri Lanka, before or since. The Commissioner of Elections, in his report on the referendum, reported that it was flawed.

In 1983 following a demonstration against the US military occupation of Diego Garcia, former MP Vivienne Goonewardena was physically assaulted at a police station. Her fundamental rights application in this matter was upheld by the Supreme Court in an act of judicial independence. [link] Following this, thugs stoned the houses of the Supreme Court judges who had made the ruling and the police officer who had been convicted had his fine paid by the government and received a promotion.

Civil war

Jayewardene held office until 1989, ruling as a virtual dictator under emergency powers. In 1987, following an army offensive in the Vadamarachchi peninsular, India started getting deeply involved in the ethnic conflict.[link] A convoy sent by India was stopped in Sri Lankan waters by the Sri Lankan Navy and the Indian Air Force retaliated with an air drop of supplies onto the Jaffna peninsular. While the UNP organised street protests against India, Jayawardene declared that he would defend the country's independence to the last bullet.

However, the air drop also caused Jayawardene to reconsider his position and he then accepted the offer of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of a Peace Accord.[link] Gandhi's offer to send troops into Sri Lanka was deeply unpopular with the Sinhalese and, although initially popular with the Tamils, led to an outbreak of hostilities between the LTTE and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) - Eelam War II.

In 1989 Jayewardene was succeeded by his own choice as President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, who asked for the Indian troops to be withdrawn - which was later done by Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh. Premadasa was assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in 1993. Gandhi had already met a similar fate in 1991.

Premadasa was succeeded by Dingiri Wijetunge, with Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. In August 1994 the People's Alliance under Bandaranaike's daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga won legislative elections on a platform of concessions to the Tamils and a 'balanced economy'. Kumaratunga became Prime Minister and in November she was elected President, appointing her 78-year-old (but still active) mother Prime Minister. A ceasefire ensued, which broke down after several months - the beginning of Eelam War III. Under the Bandaranaikes the civil war dragged on, with the military unable to defeat the separatists and the government opposed to negotiations. By 2000 an estimated 65,000 people had been killed in the conflict.

Ceasefire

By 2005 there had been no further progress towards either a military or political solution. The assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005, allegedly by the Tigers (although they denied responsibility), further hardened attitudes. His successor was Anura Bandaranaike, the President's brother and putative political heir. Twenty years of civil conflict had done immense damage to Sri Lankan society and the economy, which has fallen behind other Asian economies, although it remains the second most prosperous nation in South Asia.

In elections held on 17 November 2005, Mahinda Rajapakse, the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President, defeating Wickremasinghe. He appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and low-key urban guerrilla war began. The violence dipped off after talks in February, but escalated in April; it remains to be seen whether or not the conflict will revert to full-scale war.

See also

• Pre History of Sri Lanka
• Irrigation Works of Ancient Sri Lanka
• Ancient Constructions of Sri Lanka
• Architecture of ancient Sri Lanka
• LTTE

References