INTRODUCTION
This survey is an extraordinary journey through ages. From ancient to modernity through the countless invasions from the mainland to the Island. Through the colonial legacy, ethnic strife and the civil war, death and destruction. And all through the lens of a common cultural tradition shared across Park Straight right from the times immemorial. This is a story of ancient symbols rituals and practices that that were long forgotten coming alive and fuel the imagination of an oppressed population, made them dream about an independent homeland.
KEYWORDS
Tamilakam, Ealam, ethnicity, civil war, Liberation, Cholas, LTTE, RAW, Hero worship, South East Asia, suicide attacks, de-Aryanisation
Tamilakam And Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka was interconnected and interrelated to Mainland India from ancient time especially the Tamilakam and Eelam share and umbilical cord relationship. every successful king of Tamil countries would mount an invasion to Eelam. Some would be complacent by taking the Jaffna Peninsula. Some would proceed further South to Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and even to Kandy! These intermingling resulted in a cultural and linguistic unification of Tamilakam and northern Sri Lanka. Eelem was Virtually and offshore province of ancient Tamilakam.[i]
Culture of ancient Tamilakam: Its symbols
The
society and culture of ancient Tamilakam were unique. Its symbols, rituals and
practices were largely developed independently of the Aryan culture which
dominated rest of India. The Puram texts of Sangam literature speak volumes
about this culture
which was dominated by warfare and polity. War was a daily affair. Innumerable texts
describe heroes going into battle, about their heroic exploits, death and
veneration the thereafter. Thousands of veerakkals or natukals still stand aas testimonials to this culture. It is this culture and its symbols were adopted
and used into good effect by one of the prominent and ruthlessly efficient guerrilla
army in the contemporary history.[ii]
Ethnic Strife in Sri Lanka
The seeds of ethnic conflict were sown at the very dawn of Independence. The hardcore Sinhalese resented the disproportionate numbers of Tamils in civil service. Actually, this was not an accident but by design. The British Missionaries concentrated their activities and started schools mainly in the Jaffna Peninsula. As a result, more and more Tamil were Western educated and their numbers swelled disproportionately in the Civil Service ranks. Succumbing to the mounting pressure from Sinhala groups the government passed the Official Language Act in 1956, making Sinhala the only official language and thus curtailing the entry of Tamils into civil service to an extent. Tamils protested, but these protests were met with brutal reprisals by the state as well as Singhala groups. Pogroms of 1956 and 58 proved dear to the Tamils. This state of affair continued throughout the 1960’s.
In early 70’s the government introduced standardisation of marks for the entry in the universities. This move effectively restricted the number of students from Jaffna entering the universities. Tamil students and youth were enraged. They wanted to fight back. The vaddukkoddai resolution of 1976 which called for the creation of an independent state for the Tamils made the youth more assertive. They were thinking of armed Revolution by then. Initially there were around 36 organisations fighting for independence in the Peninsula. But by the end of the 1970’s only five prevailed. They were the better organised, better led PLOTE, TELO, EPRLF, EROS and LTTE. They were trained and armed by the Indian External Intelligence Agency RAW. For the next one decade these five organisations vied with each other to become prominent and the sole representative of the Eelam Tamils. A brutal fratricidal war and ensued and by the mid 1980's the LTTE or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam emerged victorious by virtually eliminating The other four. The reason; LTTE being the most disciplined and the core of their ideology was Tamil nationalism. It was led by an enigmatic but shrewd Youth from Valvettithurai, Veluppillai Prabhakaran.[iii]
The Leader
Indian freedom struggle, about revolutions and freedom movements from all over the world and also the History of the Tamils. The exploits of the ancient Tamil kings fascinated him. Especially the cholas. He meticulously studied about the Chola symbols and iconography. And the rituals and practices embedded in the roots of ancient Tamil culture. It was these symbols, rituals and practices which he would later adopt and assimilate into his guerrilla organisation to present it as a true Tamil nationalist movement.[iv]
The Flag
A red banner with a ferocious jumping tiger on it fluttered in ancient Tamilakam. It also flew from numerous ships those crisscrossed the Bay of Bengal and reached every nook and corner of Southeast Asia. It was the flag of the Imperial Cholas.[v] When LTTE became prominent force in the Jaffna Peninsula, Prabhakaran did not think twice while selecting a flag for the organisation and also for the independent Tamil nation which he dreamt to build in the near future. He simply assimilated the tiger emblem which was designed by a Madurai artist way back in 1977 according to his instructions into a red banner. The new age Chola flag has two crossed rifle bayonets behind the Tigers head which were fashioned like the crossed swords from the flag of the legendary Tamil chieftain of Northern Sri Lanka, Pandaravanniyan. Around the tiger’s head, 33 bullets were arranged in a circle. The LTTE adopted this flag on 21 November 1990. Since than it became the most recognisable and potent symbols of Tamil resistance until the Tigers were military defeated in the summer of 2009. And the Tamil diaspora still uses it in their protest or memorial marches in Western Europe Australia and Canada.[vi]
Hero worship; Celebrating the dead
Many said,
That old woman, the one whose veins show on her week, dry arms where the flesh is hanging, whose stomach is flat as a Lotus leaf, has a son who lost his nerve in the battle and fled.
At that, she grew enraged and she said,
"If he has run away in the thick of the battle, I will cutoff these breasts from he sucked, and, sword in hand, she turned over fallen corpses, groping her way on the red field.
Then she saw her son lying there in pieces and she rejoiced more than the day she bore him.
-Purananuru 278: the song of Kakkaipatiniar Nachelliar. [vii]
A heroic death in the battle was an honour for a warrior and his family. Glorification of the 'Veerachavu' was a norm in ancient Tamilakam. A poem in the Purananuru suggests that the bodies of Warriors who did not die in battle were cut with swords before funerary rites. To simulate death in battle. This shows how powerful this symbol was.
Prabhakaran realised this potential of heroic death very early. Most Tiger cadres were Hindus. Their custom dictates cremation. But Prabhakaran insisted on burial. As of 2006, there were 8 martyr cemeteries for the fallen LTTE cadres in all over Vanni and contained the burials of around 17000 fighters. On each burial erected a headstone which revealed the real name of the cadre, his/her birth and death date, details of their final battle. This was indeed a modern day Natukal.
Prabhakaran foresight was correct. On the Maveerar Naal that falls on 27 November each year almost the entire population of Vanni thronged the Maveerar Thuyilum Illams as the martyr cemeteries were called in order to pay homage to the fallen heroes. The sad truth is that at least a member of every family got buried there.[viii]
Suicide as a Political and Military tool
Ending one’s life for a cause is considered and celebrated as a Supreme sacrifice in ancient Tamilakam. Sangam texts speak about at least three kings who ended their own lives by sitting on a fast unto death facing the North and holding a sword. The reasons vary from insult from a prison guard or wounded in the back or defeated by another king. Any way these deaths were held in high honour by the contemporary population and poets. Prabhakaran realised the power of this self-sacrifice when Jaffna mourned the death of Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran, a Jaffna Rebel youth who committed suicide by swallowing cyanide capsule to avoid capture when cornered by the police. This was in 1974. Sivakumaran was hailed as a martyr, who sacrificed his life for the cause of Eelam. The ‘Kuppi’ culture of LTTE was born out of this incident. Each and every cadre was given a cyanide vial which he/she worn around his/her neck. They would bite and swallow the cyanide to avoid capture by the security forces.
When Thileepan died on the 12th day of his hunger strike in Nallur Kantha Swami Temple, it was hailed as a Supreme sacrifice for the Tamil cause and he was elevated to a demigod status by LTTE literature thereafter. Same kind of glorification and exaltation to larger than life happened when 12 tiger cadres including senior leaders Kumarappa and Pulendiran committed suicide by swallowing cyanide capsule while in the custody of Sri Lankan Navy. They were later venerated as 'Panniruvengaikal.[ix]
Suicide To Kill.
LTTE songs often describe themselves as 'Maravar Padai'. Maravars are the fierce warriors of 'Palai Tinai' of ancient Tamilakam. They have fought along with every army of the land. And had a reputation of fighting unto death.
The self-sacrifice was taken to the next level on 5th July 1987 as 21 year old captain Miller (Vallipuram Vasanthan) drove an explosive laden truck into Nelliyadi Madhyamika Vidyalaya which was turned into an army base camp. Detonating the explosive killing himself and scores of Sri Lankan soldiers and also completely destroying the camp. Thus, born the fearsome division of 'Black Tigers'. This unit comprised the most fanatic and committed cadres who wouldn't think twice to die for the cause. They fought and died on land, in the sea and also in the air. [x]As the war ended in May 18, 2009 there were around 330 black tiger attacks, including the one executed by Dhanu aka Kalaivani Rajarathnam to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi[xi]. There were numerous songs and documentaries which glorified and celebrated black tigers, mostly produced by LTTE media divisions. One song goes like this.
'The heroes brought the moonlight to bring smiles to faces - that were in darkness… '
'The black suicide tigers are like the sun that brought light to the suffering people... '
'The fighters gave their lives as Gods, to carry the lamps to lighten the darkness of the people…’
Name Sakes
Prabhakaran's all-time favourite book was Kadal Pura (Sea Pigeon). A historical Tamil novel written by Sandiliyan. It tells the story of Chola Empire’s invasion of the Sri. Vijaya Empire based in Sumatra Islands of Indonesia.' Kadal pura' what's the name of the fictional ship built and commanded by the novel’s protagonist Karunakara Thondaiman. It is no wonder that when LTTE built its first boat, a troller, its name was unmistakably ‘Kadal Pura’. The name of the first LTTE cargo ship was MV Cholan. At the height of its power, the LTTE had 14 merchant ships. All traversing through the same route of the ancient Chola ships. Ironically the LTTE vessels’ objective was to smuggle arms, ammunition and military hardware from the black markets of South East Asia to Northern Sri Lanka.
King Ellalan or Manuneedhi Cholan (Elara in Sinhala) was a Chola king who reigned in the first half of the second century BCE, famously attacked and captured the Anuradhapura Kingdom and established himself as the sole ruler of Rajarata. Two millennia later, when LTTE conducted an audacious commando raid on the Anuradhapura base of the Sri Lanka Airforce with 21 Black Tigers and 2 lite aircrafts; There were no other names in the mind of Prabhakaran for it. ‘Operation Ellalan’ was successful as the Tigers destroyed 9 aircrafts and damage another 10!
De-Aryanisation Of Names
Every LTTE cadre had a nom de guerre and it was his/her identity in the movement. Earlier there were many Sanskrit names adopted by the cadres. Apart from these, there were also some western names such as Miller, Borg, Leo, Victor etc. As the LTTE consolidated its power and established a de facto state in the Vanni, Prabhakaran asked his cadres to adopt pure Tamil names instead of Sanskrit or western names in order to portrait LTTE as a true Tamil Nationalist movement. The Tigers duly obeyed this order. For example, Tigers’ second in command and political secretary S. P Tamilselvan discarded his Sanskrit nom de guerre Dinesh and retained his original name. Finance controller Ranjit Appa became Tamilendi. Interestingly Prabhakaran retained his pure Aryan name!
CONCLUSION
The Saga of LTTE and the struggle for an independent Eelam ended on the shores of Nandikadal lagoon in the summer of 2009. LTTE was militarily defeated on 18th may 2009. Sri Lankan Army eliminated all the top leadership of the movement and blasted or bulldozed every symbol of it including the 8 martyr cemeteries. As a scholar indifferent to the Tigers’ cause, it is really fascinating to study how a guerrilla organisation revived and used many ancient symbols and traditions in a modern-day conflict. The glimpses of antiquity they have shown and relived in half a century of their existence is worth remembering.
ENDNOTES
[i] Champakalakshmi, R: Trade, ideology and urbanization in South India ; 300 BC to AD 1300- Oxford India 1996
[ii] Iyengar Srinivasa PT: History of the Tamils; from the earliest Times to 600 AD. 1929
[iii] Subramanian, Samantha; This divided Island, Penguin books 2014
[iv] Sabaratnam T, pirapapaharam volume 1&2, Ilankai Tamil Sangam, Sangam.org 2002-2005
[v] Wikipedia.org and Wikimedia commons
[vi] Richards J; institutional history of the Liberation tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) graduate Institute 2014
[vii] Singh, Upinder; a history of ancient and early medieval India PEARSON 2008
[viii] Malathi, N; A fleeting moment in my country; The last years of the LTTE facto state. 2012
[ix] Balasingham, Adele; Will to freedom, Fire Max publishing Ltd 2003
[x] BBC Inside Story; Suicide Killers, 1991. Stephen Lambert and pole hammer
[xi] Gopal, Neena; The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Penguin random house. 2016
[xii] Journeyman pictures TV UK documentaries on Sri Lankan conflict 1193-2006
