I found this is an interesting article to read.
Examine the names of the early rulers and the Naga tag to their names. We are told that Dutu Gemunu had TAMIL GENERALS (VELU SUMANA) and that Elara had Sinhala soldiers and Generals. It is highly doubtful that either Dutu Gemunu or Elara` advanced `Sinhala/Tamil` nation theories.
However modern day nationalists seem to have HIJACKED THIS STORY and put an ethno-linguistic spin on it to justify and buttress an ethno-linguistic agenda.
Dutu Gemunu is presented as a `SINHALA HERO`, but WAS HE OF THE SINHALA TRIBE? DOES THE MAHAVAMSA REFER TO HIM AS BEING A `SINHALESE`? We are told that his mother was from Kelaniya and father from Magama, both well-known Naga settlements.
Is Tissa a name of the Sinhala tribe or the Naga tribe? Who gave Dutu Gemunu a `Sinhala` tag? Where is the evidence? A person being a Buddhist does not provide him with a `Sinhala` tag as during this period Tamils too were Buddhists, (i.e Velu-Sumana) and there were many eminent Tamil Buddhist scholars such as Buddhaghosa.
The fact that the Mahavamsa refers to Elara as a Tamil, does not automatically provide Dutu Gemunu with a `Sinhala` tag.
In fact there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE to indicate that Dutu Gemunu in approximately 200 BC had any links to the `Sinhala` tribe that arrived with Vijaya in approximately 548 BC a mere 348 years previously.
Is it possible that a `Sinhala` tribe that arrived in the island around 548 BC, which was one among many tribes on the island, succeeded in establishing a `Sinhala` identity and consciousness by 200 BC (348 years) to provide Dutu Gemunu with a `Sinhala` tag? `WAS HE A HERO`?
Dutu Gemunu advanced on Anuradhapura and vanquished the Tamil king Elara, after Elara had challenged him to single combat. But then, Elara was over 70 years old and Dutu Gemunu was in his 20s. Does a 20-year-old Dutu Gemunu, killing a 70-year-old Elara in single combat, make him a hero?
I would suggest that while Dutu Gemunu`s `Sinhala` credentials are open for debate, his `heroic` credentials are also suspect. There are also his Buddhist credentials as the murderer of a geriatric. Are murderers of Tamil geriatrics considered champions in our culture?
The same way that nationalists have taken Perumal with a Tamil father who built a Hindu temple in Jaffna and made him a `Sinhala` hero Sapumal have nationalists taken 20 odd year old Gemunu who killed a 70 odd year old Tamil in single combat, whose parents are from two Naga settlements and turned him into a `Sinhala` hero, all done in the cause of buttressing a `SINHALA` NATIONALIST AGENDA?
For those with an enlightened mind, there is a need for closer examination of the facts as presented to us and expose the ethno-linguistic agendas of a nationalist minority who have destabilised our ancient nation of Lanka.
I would suggest that the Dutu Gemunu-Elara episode is less of a Sinhala/Tamil conflict and more one of real-estate acquisition, by an astute statesman, perhaps manipulating the insecurities of the general population.
It could be suggested that the political strategy in building a tomb for Elara and the Ruvanveliseya itself may be to placate a hostile Buddhist population in Anuradhapura who loved and respected Elara who has been described as being noble.
Even the meaning of the word Sinhala seems to have changed over the years. Today it refers more to a narrow exclusive ethno-linguistic identity. In the past the word Sinhala seems to have had a much broader meaning similar to Chola, Pandya, Pallava etc, with the emphasis not on ethno-linguistic identity, but the Royal house, as allegiance was not to ethnicity, but to King, caste, religion.
Source(s)
http://www.lankapages.com.au/readarticle.php?article_id=9-
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/3/41476_space.html
by Dushy RANETUNGE
Who gave Dutu Gemunu a SINHALA tag? Where is the evidence? A person being a Buddhist does not provide him with a SINHALA tag as during this period Tamils too were Buddhists( Velu-Sumana) there were many eminent Tamil Buddhist scholars such as Buddhaghosa.
Examine the names of the early rulers and the Naga tag to their names. We are told that Dutu Gemunu had TAMIL GENERALS (VELU SUMANA) and that Elara had Sinhala soldiers and Generals. It is highly doubtful that either Dutu Gemunu or Elara` advanced `Sinhala/Tamil` nation theories.
However modern day nationalists seem to have HIJACKED THIS STORY and put an ethno-linguistic spin on it to justify and buttress an ethno-linguistic agenda.
Dutu Gemunu is presented as a `SINHALA HERO`, but WAS HE OF THE SINHALA TRIBE? DOES THE MAHAVAMSA REFER TO HIM AS BEING A `SINHALESE`? We are told that his mother was from Kelaniya and father from Magama, both well-known Naga settlements.
Is Tissa a name of the Sinhala tribe or the Naga tribe? Who gave Dutu Gemunu a `Sinhala` tag? Where is the evidence? A person being a Buddhist does not provide him with a `Sinhala` tag as during this period Tamils too were Buddhists, (i.e Velu-Sumana) and there were many eminent Tamil Buddhist scholars such as Buddhaghosa.
The fact that the Mahavamsa refers to Elara as a Tamil, does not automatically provide Dutu Gemunu with a `Sinhala` tag.
In fact there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE to indicate that Dutu Gemunu in approximately 200 BC had any links to the `Sinhala` tribe that arrived with Vijaya in approximately 548 BC a mere 348 years previously.
Is it possible that a `Sinhala` tribe that arrived in the island around 548 BC, which was one among many tribes on the island, succeeded in establishing a `Sinhala` identity and consciousness by 200 BC (348 years) to provide Dutu Gemunu with a `Sinhala` tag? `WAS HE A HERO`?
Dutu Gemunu advanced on Anuradhapura and vanquished the Tamil king Elara, after Elara had challenged him to single combat. But then, Elara was over 70 years old and Dutu Gemunu was in his 20s. Does a 20-year-old Dutu Gemunu, killing a 70-year-old Elara in single combat, make him a hero?
I would suggest that while Dutu Gemunu`s `Sinhala` credentials are open for debate, his `heroic` credentials are also suspect. There are also his Buddhist credentials as the murderer of a geriatric. Are murderers of Tamil geriatrics considered champions in our culture?
The same way that nationalists have taken Perumal with a Tamil father who built a Hindu temple in Jaffna and made him a `Sinhala` hero Sapumal have nationalists taken 20 odd year old Gemunu who killed a 70 odd year old Tamil in single combat, whose parents are from two Naga settlements and turned him into a `Sinhala` hero, all done in the cause of buttressing a `SINHALA` NATIONALIST AGENDA?
For those with an enlightened mind, there is a need for closer examination of the facts as presented to us and expose the ethno-linguistic agendas of a nationalist minority who have destabilised our ancient nation of Lanka.
I would suggest that the Dutu Gemunu-Elara episode is less of a Sinhala/Tamil conflict and more one of real-estate acquisition, by an astute statesman, perhaps manipulating the insecurities of the general population.
It could be suggested that the political strategy in building a tomb for Elara and the Ruvanveliseya itself may be to placate a hostile Buddhist population in Anuradhapura who loved and respected Elara who has been described as being noble.
Even the meaning of the word Sinhala seems to have changed over the years. Today it refers more to a narrow exclusive ethno-linguistic identity. In the past the word Sinhala seems to have had a much broader meaning similar to Chola, Pandya, Pallava etc, with the emphasis not on ethno-linguistic identity, but the Royal house, as allegiance was not to ethnicity, but to King, caste, religion.
Source(s)
http://www.lankapages.com.au/readarticle.php?article_id=9-
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/3/41476_space.html
by Dushy RANETUNGE
