What is ‘Dravidian Culture’?

| by K. S. Sivakumaran

(September 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This writer is not a historian nor a political scientist nor a politician nor a social-scientist, but simply a person interested in the arts and literature. However, he has to report what people of the minority communities think and feel on many matters expressed in the print media to show the other side of the picture. This is because their voices are not heard prominently in either the Sinhala or English media, because according to Prof. Nalin de Silva and others, particularly a few young columnists, who pitch their slogans, grounded on dominant and domineering culture that precedes anything else. This is part of our malady. That’s why the attitudes of all communities have hardened over the years.

In this picture taken on July 1, 2006, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) home guard walks down the main street of the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi. Sri Lankan troops have engaged Tamil Tiger forces on the outskirts of the northern rebel capital Kilinochchi, killing at least 13, the defence ministry said September 26, 2008. The government, which pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in January, wants to capture the town and deal what would be a major military and psychological blow to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

This situation apart let us talks about the main subject – Dravidian Culture. In the first place, is there an exclusive Dravidian Culture? As I said earlier, I am not an authority to answer this question. Therefore, let us look at what a senior writer in Thamil - Sakkthie A Bala-Iah - has said in a book titled ‘Analysis of Ages of Lives on Earth and Dravidian Culture’ that was launched in Colombo, recently.

We must take into account what the writer has said in his Preface: "This book is a gathering from legendaries, historical references and on research from the traditional customs, culture, religious faiths and the social developments pertaining to languages and races. The verifications and analysis are described with the research concepts of scholars and the combining facts relying about the origin of races."

Without any comments by me, I simply quote what the writer has written for scholars to argue and weigh the pros and cons of his statements in the Preface.

1. Particularly the Indian and Sri Lankan social customary rites, their faiths and the South and South eastern customs and languages virtually derived from Dravidian. The language that was practiced firstly in the Southern and South Eastern regions was the Thamil language from which Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Thulu and the Sinhala languages were formed. Latterly, Sanskrit also got interconnected into the languages.

2. A section of the Dravidians during Portuguese rule and British rule got converted to Christianity. Thus, the interested Thamil and Sinhala people followed Christianity, but the majority Sinhala learnt Dravidians, having the Buddhist practical social life traditionally followed the devotion of Saiva Siddhantha and still worship the Hindu religious idols.

3. Further, the culture of Dravidians still remains freshly in the social life of the Sinhala race to prove their Dravidian ancestral culture. The Thamil race in the North and East have the genetic mixed identity of Kerala or Malayala race, which proves from their expressions of speaking the Thamil language with the tone of Malayala language mixed in their Thamil utterance. They are descendants of ancient indigenous Dravidians of Alankam (Ilankai).

4. The Kandyan Sinhalese have the mix of the Telugu race and Thamil race and also hold the controversial caste differences observed by the ancestral Dravidian races. The Kandyan Sinhalese do not give equal preference to the Southern area Sinhala people, calling them low-country Sinhalese and the Kandyan Sinhalese call themselves up-country Sinhalese. In the Sinhala language (Uda-Rata and Pahala Rata) is ample proof for their different social systems.

The Thamil race of the North and east has the caste monopoly and most of the population from the adjoining Islands of the Jaffna peninsula are still considered lower class, because of which it was easy to spread Christianity to the Islands.

5. The up-country Thamil population of recent Indian origin migrated from South India during British rule, since 1760 composed of Dravidian which was a mix of Thamil, Telugu, Malayaam and Kannada. They became the Thamils of recent Indian origin in Sri Lanka, who served this Island laboriously, developing plantations, agricultural and industrial enterprises, making roads and canals for transportation to the ports for the export of the produce. The tea plantations still prove their ancestral sacrifices of their blood, sweat and life to make this Island Sri Lanka a ‘Heaven of Prosperity’. But since 1948 and after the Independence, Sinhala majority governments betrayed the Thamil’s of recent Indian origin and they became stateless people by withdrawing their citizenship rights.

6. Since the political policies of the Sinhala Governments made the country to hold racial hateful policies against the Thamil race by declining the official status of the Thamil language. Even after recognition as an Official language it does not have equal status in the government’s administration.

7. Generally, the Sinhala communities have been misled by politicians to adopt a near hostile attitude towards the Thamil ethnic groups of Sri Lanka, whereas most of the Sinhala people have had better relationships with the Thamil communities. However, the sentiment of political leaders for their power-politics and positions maintain using racial-hatred against all the Thamil speaking people. The languages Thamil, Sinhala and English should be given official status for the future progress of Sri Lanka in deed."

I shall stop here. If the Editor allows, I shall give excerpts and comments on the main points in the book by Sakkthie A Bala-Iah in future columns.