By H. L. D. Mahindapala 

H. L. D. Mahindapala

One of the main obstacles standing in the way reconciliation, based on a reasonable and lasting solution, is the refusal of the Jaffna Tamils to face the realities of their history. By and large, the average …

H. L. D. Mahindapala

The Dutch, British and post-independent administrators have left behind in their records grim accounts of how the Saivite-Vellahla casteists distorted and perverted the Jaffna political culture. Modern scholars (Jane Russell and Prof. Bryan Pfaffenberger etc), who …

After the Dutch it was the British who had to police Vellahla violence erupting in Jaffna. Caste wars escalated to a new level. Jaffna under the British was a battleground for mini-wars waged by the Vellahlas …

H. L. D. Mahindapala

The status and power of the Vellahlas took a dramatic turn with the coming of the Dutch. The Vellahlas were elevated officially by a foreign power to the top of the caste hierarchy when the Dutch …

H. L. D. Mahindapala

I wish to forward the following e-mail I received from Mr. Ramachandra Sunderalingam, the Police Superintendent of Jaffna when the Maviddipuram revolt of the low-castes was at its peak. I think this letter has value for …

H. L. D. Mahindapala

After enduring the indignities and humiliations of oppression and persecution of the Vellahla supremacists, the “Minority Tamils” – a euphemism for the untouchables — launched their first organised revolt in 1968 at Maviddipuram Temple. Earlier attempts …

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Chelvanayakam and Prabhakaran are two sides of the same Tamil coin : Chelvanayakam laid the ideological and the political foundations for  the Vadukoddai war and Prabhakaran executed it. Chelvanayakam was acclaimed as the “father of the …

By H. L. D. Mahindapala

The Tamils have a great culture. One of the best. But that is not found in Jaffna – the so-called heartland of the indigenous Tamils. Though they crow about their culture loudly and interminably, there …