සෙංකඩගල රජ පෙලපතේ ආරම්භය. - The Beginning of the Senkadagala Dynasty

Thursday, February 13, 2014



1582 දී සීතාවක රාජසිංහ රජතුමා විසින් කන්ද උඩරට රාජදානිය ආක්රමණය කොට එවකට උඩරට පාලක කරලියැද්ද බණ්ඩාර සිහසුනේ පහකොට කන්ද උඩරට රාජදානිය සීතාවකට ඇද ගන්නා ලදි. මේ හේතුව නිසා කරලියැද්ද රජු තම බෑනනුවන් වූ යමසිoහ බණ්ඩාර සහ දියනිය වූ කුසුමාසන දේවියද රැගෙන පෘතුගීසී රැකවරනය පතා පලා ආහ. මෙසේ පලා යන අතරමගදී කරලියැද්ද බණ්ඩාර රජු මිය ගියේය. අනතුරුව යමසිංහ බණ්ඩාර  සහ කුසුමාසන දේවිය පෘතුගීසීන්ගේ රැකවරණ පතා කොළබට පැමිනි අතර එහිදී ඔවුන් බෞතීස්ම කිරීමට පෘතුගීසීහු පූජකයන් වෙත යොමු කරන ලදි. බෞතීස්ම කිරීමෙන් පසුව යමසිංහ බණ්ඩාර දොන් පිලිප් ලෙසත් කුසුමාසන දේවිය දෝන කතරිනා ලෙසත් හදුන්වන ලදි.


             මේ අතර උඩරට ආක්රමනයේදී සීතාවක රජුට සහය දුන් උඩරට රාජ සභාවේ ප්‍රභූවරයෙකු වූ පේරාදෙනියේ වීර සුන්දර බණ්ඩාර සීතාවක රාජසිංහ රජු විසින්වලගම වට්ටාරමදෙනවා යැයි කියමින් බොරු වලක දමා මරණයට පත් කරන ලදි. මෙහිවලගම වට්ටාරමයනු කුමක්දැයි අපැහැදිලිය. ඇතැම් විට වලගම් වට්ටාරම යනුවෙන් වූ ගම් පෙදෙසක් විය හැකි බව ඇතැමුන්ගේ මතයයි. වෙනත් ආකාරයකට ගතහොත් වලගම් වට්ටාරම යනු වල කපා වැටෙන්න සැලැස්වීම වැන්නක් විය හැක. මෙසේ පේරාදෙනියේ වීරසුන්දර බණ්ඩාර ප්‍රභූවරයා බොරු වලක දමා මරණයට පත් කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඔහුගේ පුත්රයා වූ කොනප්පු බණ්ඩාර පෘතුගීසීන් වෙතට පලා යන ලදි. පෘතුගීසීන් යටතේ ඔහු ඔස්ට්රියාවේ දොන් ජුවන් ලෙස බෞතීස්ම ලැබීය. කොනප්පු බණ්ඩාරට කුමාරසිංහ බණ්ඩාර නම් ගාතියෙක් ද සිට ඇත. ඔහුගේ තවත් ගාතියෙක් උඩරට විහාරයක පැවිදිව සිටියේය.
        මෙසේ පෘතුගීසීන්ගේ රැකවරනය යටතේ හැදී වැඩුනු කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර නොහොත් දොන් ජුවන් අතිදක්ශ රනශූරයෙකු බවද සදහන් වේ. ඔහුගේ රනශූරීත්වයට ගෝවේ පතිරාජයා පවා පැසසුම් කල බවද සදහන් වේ. මේ ආකාරයට කතෝලික ආගම අදහමින් පෘතුගීසීන් යටතේ සටන් පුහුනු වෙමින් ගෝවේ පතිරාජයා ගෙන් පවා පැසසුම් ලද ඔස්ට්රියාවේ දොන් ජුවන් නොහොත් කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර සීතාවකට එරෙහිව සටනේදී තමන්ට භාවිතා කල හැකි විශිෂ්ටතමයා බව පෘතුගීසීන් වටහාගෙන සිටියහ.
         මේ වන විට උඩරට රාජ්යයට නීත්යානුකූලව උරුමකම් කීමේ අයිතිය තමන්ට ඇති බව පෘතුගීසීන් විශ්වාස කලහ. එයට හේතුවූයේ උඩරට කරලියැද්ද බණ්ඩාර නොහොත් දොන් පිලිප් සහ කරලියැද්ද රජුගේ දියිණිය කුසුමාසන දේවිය නොහොත් දෝන කතරිනා කුමරිය තමන් සතු වීමයි.

     මේ කාලසීමාව වන විට සීතාවක රාජසිංහ රජුගේ පරිහානිය සිදුවෙමින් පැවති අතර අරිට්ටකී වෙන්ඩු පෙරුමාල් නම් බමුනෙකුගේ උපදෙස් ඇතිව බෞද්ධ විරෝදී ප්රතිපත්තියක් අනුගමනය කලේය. තවද ඔහු උඩරට රජපවුලට අයත් කුමාරයන් විනාශ කරදමමින් සිටි බවත් සදහන් වේ. රජුගේ උදහසින් බේරුනු කුමාරවරුන් පෘතුගීසි පිහිට පැතූහ. මායාදුන්නේ සහ රාජසිංහ රජවරුන් ගොඩනැගූ සීතාවක රාජ්යට ජනතා සහයෝගය නොඅඩුව ලබාදුන් සංඝ්‍යා වහන්සේගේ ආදාර විවිද හේතූන් නිසා අහිමි කරගත් රාජසිංහ රජු පෘතුගීසීන් හා උඩරට රාජ්ය යන බලවේග දෙක මත අසරන වී සිටියේය.


              කොළබින් ගෝවට යවන ලද කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර පෘතුගීසීන් යටතේ හමුදා පුහුනුවක් ලබා තුන් අවුරුද්දකට පසු ලංකාවට පැමිනියේ රාජසිංහ රජු එබඳු දුශ්කර අවස්තාවකට මුහුන දෙමින් සිටියදීය. රජු කොළඹ වටලා සිටියදීමාමන්නාරමින් ගොඩ බස්සා ඇරපුවොත්මට කන්ද උඩරට පෙරලි පුලුවනැයි කී කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර මන්නාරමින් ගොඩබැස උඩරට අවුල් වියවුල් ඇතිකොට බව රාජාවලිය පවසයි. කලින් උඩරට යටත් කිරීමට ගොස් සටනින් පැරදුනු වික්රමසිංහ මුදලි වෙනුවට රජු විසින් මෙවර කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර  මැඩලීම සඳහා මහ සෙනවි හා පුරෝහිත අරිට්ටකී වෙන්ඩු පෙරුමාල් යටතේ හමුදාවක් යවන ලදි. මේ හමුදාව බලන කපොල්ලේ දී පරාජය කර එලවා දැමීමට කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර යටතේ සංවිධානය වී පැමිනි කන්ද උඩරට හා පස්රට හමුදා වලට හැකි විය. දෙවන වරට රාජසිංහ රජු තමන් හමුදාවක් ගෙන උඩරට ආක්රමණය කල නමුත් කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර ඒ හමුදාවද බලනේදී පරාජයට පත් කලේය. මේ පරාජයෙන් පසුඑකලොස් වයස පටන් හේවාකම් කල මගේ ඉදිරියේ රජෙක් සිටියේ නැත. මෙදා උඩරටට පැමිනුනු අය පින් කල ඇති කෙනෙක. මගේ පින් බල අඩුය.” කියා පසු බැස්ස බව රාජාවලියෙහි සදහන් වේ.

         ඔස්ට්රියාවේ දොන් ජුවන් නමින් බෞතීස්ම ලබාසිටි කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩර උඩරටදී පෘතුගීසී හමුදා පලවා හැර උඩරට රජ බවට පත්විය.

       මේ අනුව 1593-1594 කාලයේදී පෘතුගීසී කපිතාන් පේරෝ ලෝපේස් ද සූසා යටතේ උඩරටට ආක්රමනයක් මෙහෙයවිනි. මෙම ආක්රමණය හමුවේ කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාර තාවකාලිකව පසුබැසීම නිසා පෘතුගීසීන් විසින් කුසුමාසන දේවිය උඩරට රැජින ලෙස පත් කරන ලදි. එහෙත් කිසිවෙකුටත් ඇය හමුවීමට හෝ දැකීමට අවස්තාව නොවීය. ඇයව පෘතුගීසි කුමාරයෙකුට විවාහ කරදීමට නියමිත බවට කතා පැතිරිනි.

    මෙම කාලසීමාව වනවිට  සීතාවක රාජසිංහ රජුද මියගොස් සිටි අතර රාජසිංහ රජුගේ පුරෝහිත තනතුර දැරූ අරිට්ටකී වෙන්ඩු පෙරුමාල්මාන්නප්පෙරුම මොහොට්ටාලලෙස නම් ගම් වෙනස්කර සීතාවක රජකම අපේක්ශාවෙන් සිටියේය. 1594 පෘතුගීසීන් උඩරට ආක්රමනයේදී ලස්කිරින්න හමුදාව මෙහෙය වූයේ ඔහුය. ඔහු කුසුමාසන ශේවිය විවාහ කොටගෙන උඩරට රජකම ලබාගැනීමට තැත් කරන බව දැනගත් පසු කෝපයට පත්වූ පේරෝ ලෝපේස් ද සූසා ඔහුව මරා දමන ලදි. මේ හේතුව නිසා කලබලයට පත්වූ සිංහල ලස්කිරින්න හමුදාව කොනොප්පු බණ්ඩාරට එකතු වී පෘතුගීසීන් කන්ද උඩරටින් පන්නා දැමීමට ඔහුට සහය දැක්විය. අනතුරුව පෘතුගීසීන්ව දන්තුරේ දක්වා පන්නා ගොස් සමූලඝාතනය ලද අතර පේරෝ ලෝපේස් ද සූසාවද මරා දමන ලදි.
1594 දන්තුරේ සටනින් පෘතුගීසීන් පරාජය කිරීමෙන් පසු කුසුමාසන දේවිය විවාහ කරගත් කොනොප්පු බන්ඩාරපළමු වන විමලධර්මසූරියනමින් උඩරට රජවිය. මේ අන්දමට විමලධර්මසූරිය රජු උඩරට රාජ්ය සදහාසෙංකඩගල රජ පෙලපතනමින් අලුත් රාජ වංශයක් ආරම්භ කල අතර එම පරපුරේ උරුමකරුවෝ සියවසකට අදික කාලයක් එනම් 1739 දක්වා කන්ද උඩරට රාජධානිය පාලනය කලේය.



Depression and Collapse of Indus Valley Civilization | ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ පරිහානිය හා බිඳවැටීම

Saturday, February 8, 2014


 
ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ බිඳවැටීම පිළිබද එක් නිශ්චිත මතයක් නොමති වුවද විවිද ඉතිහාසවේදීන් විසින් ඒ පිළිබඳව සැලකිලිමත් වෙමින් පිලිගත හැකි සාදකද සහිතව සාදාරන මත කීපයක් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇත ඒවා නම්,
*  ගංවතුරකින්
*  ගින්නකින්
*  වසන්ගතයකින්
*  ජන සoක්රමනයකින්
*  ස්වභාවික ආපදාවකින්
*  සතුරු ආක්‍රමණයකින්

බොහෝ දෙනෙක් පිලිගන්නා පරිදි ඉන්දු නිම්නය හදිසි විපතකට බාජනය වූවා යයි සැලකිය හැකිය. මේ පිලිබඳව අදහස් දක්වන ජෝන් මාර්ශල් සහ මොටිමර් පිලර් ප්රමුක පුරාවිද්යාඥයෝ පෙන්වා දෙන ආකාරයට මෙම ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ ගෙවල් වල තාප්ප හා පාදම වරින් වර උස්කල බවට සාදක සැලකිල්ලට ගෙන එහි සිදුවූ නිරන්තර ජල ගැලීම් නිසා ශිශ්ටාචාරය විනාශ වූවා යයි අනුමාන කල හැක.
        ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරය ගංගා නිම්න ආශ්රිතව පිහිටා තිබීමනිසා බොහෝ විට ජල ගැලීමක් හෝ ස්වභාවික විපතය යන මතය තහවුරු කරගත හැක. ගංගාවන් පිටාර ගැලීම මේ යුගයේදී වරින් වර නිතරම සිදුවන්නට ඇත. අධ්ක වර්ශාව සහිත කාල වලදී (වර්ශා කාලයේදී)  ගංගා පිටාර ගලා ජනපද යටවන්නට අති බවත් , අධික වියලි දේශගුනයක් පවතින කාල වලදී ගංගා වලට ඉහලින් වූ කඳුවල හිම දියවීම නිසා එවා ගංගා වලට එක්වීමෙන් ජලගැලීම් සිදුවන්නට ඇතයි සැලකිය හැක.
     
     

ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ ගෘහනිර්මාන ශිල්පය සහ නිවාස ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා යොදාගනු ලැබ අත්තේ පිලිස්සූ ගඩොල්ය එම ගඩොල් පිලිස්සීමේදී අධික ලෙස කැලෑ කපා දර ලබාගැනීම හේතු කොටගෙන සිදුවූ දේශගුනික වෙනස් වීමක් මෙම බිද වැටීමට හේතු විය හැක යයි ඇතැම්හූ අනුමාන කළහ. එහෙත් එම මතය පන්ජාබයේ සිවිල් සේවකයෙකු වූ ලැම්බ්රික් මහතා හේතු සාදක ඇතුව ප්රතික්ශේප කොට ඇත.
       තවත් මතයක් වන්නේ නිවාස තැනීමට පිලිස්සූ ගඩොල් භාවිතා කිරීමේදී, ගඩොල් පිලිස්සීමේදී ඇතිවූ ගින්නක් විශාල ප්රදේශයක් හ්තුල ව්යාප්ත වීමෙන් ශිශ්ටාචාරය විනාශයට පත්වූ බවයි.
     විවිද ප්රදේශයන් වල කළ කැනීම් වලදී හමුවූ විස්තර කෙරෙහි සැලකිලිමත් වූ පුරාවිද්යාඥයෝ අවධි තුනක ස්තර පිළිබඳව හදුනා ගත්හ. යටම ස්තරය ආරම්භක අවදිය ලෙසත් දෙවන ස්තරය සමුර්දිමත් අවධිය ලෙසත් උඩම ස්තරය පරිහානිකර අවදිය ලෙසත් හදුනාගෙන ඇත. මෙම පරිහානිය ස්වබාවික ආපදාවක්ද දේශපාලන ආපදාවක්ද යන්න පැහදිලි නැත.
   ජන ස්oක්රමනයකින් ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ අවසානය සිදුවන්නට ඇතැයි තවත් මතයක් පවතී. මෙම මතය සනාත කිරීමට ප්රභල කරුනු නොවූවත් ගංවතුර , ස්වභාවික ආපදා , වසංගත ආදී හේතූන් නිසා බොහො  වැසියන් මෙම ප්රදේශය අතහැර සුමේරියාව , මොසපතේමියාව ආදී ප්රදේශවලට ස්oක්රමනය වීම නිසා ශිශ්ටාචාරය බිඳවැටෙන්නට ඇතයි යන මතය ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇත.
      
මෙහි වැසියන්ට ආවේනික මලවුන් වලදැමීමේ ක්රමයට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් ආකාරයට වැලලීගිය ගිය ඇටසකිලි තිබේප්රදේශයේ ළිඳකට බසින පඩිපෙලේ පහතම පඩියේ තිබී ඇටසැකිලි 2ක් ද වීදියක තිබී තවත් දෙකක්ද ආවාටයක් වැනි ස්ථානයක තිබී තවත් නමයක් ද සොයාගනු ලබීයඉන් 5ක්ම ලමයින්ගේ ඇටසැකිලියවසන්ගත රෝගයක් සෑදීම නිසා ශිශ්ටාචාරය විනාශ වන්නට ඇතයි යන මතය මෙතුලින් පෙන්වා දිය හැකියවසන්ගත රෝග වැලදීම නිසාත් එම රෝගය සුළඟ හා වෙනත් ඉක්මන් ක්රම ඔස්සේ පැතිර යාම නිසාත් ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ විනාශය සිදුවන්නට ඇතයි මෙයින් පෙන්වාදිය හැකියබොහෝවිට මොවුන් වසන්ගතයෙන් බේරීම පිනිස මෙම ප්රදේශ තුලින් පලා යාම නිසා ශිශ්ටාචාරය විනාශ වන්නට ඇතැයි නිගමනයකට එලබිය හැකියඑහෙත් ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරය සතුරු ආක්‍රමණයකින් විනාශ වූවා යන මතය දරන්න්ට අනුව මෙය සතුරන්ගේ සමූහ ඝාතන පිලිවෙතක් යැයිද යන මතයක් පවතී.
   අවසාන වශයෙන් සතුරු ආක්‍රමණයකින් එම ශිශ්ටාචාරය විනාශයට පත් වූවාය යන මතය ඉස්මතු  වේ.ශිශ්ටාචාරයේ අවසාන වකවානුව වනවිට පැවති නිවාස වල හා වීදි නිර්මානවල අක්රමවත් ස්වරූපය කෙරෙහි සලකිලිමත්වූ සැමුවෙල් බට්ලර් සියවස් ගනනාවක් පැවති ඒකාකාරී පැවැත්මට හුරු පුරුදු වී සිටි ඉන්දු නිම්න වාසීන් හදිසි අවස්තා හේතු කොටගෙන සසලවීමකින් එම තත්වය පැනනැගුනැයි අනුමාන කොට ඇත. අභ්යන්තර වශයෙන් ඇතිවූ මෙම නොසන්සුන් තාව බාහිර ආක්‍රමණයකින් වේගවත් කරන්නට ඇතැයි ඔවුහූ තවදුරටත් පෙන්වා දේ.
   
මුල් යුගයන් තුලදී පැවති මලවුන් වලදැමීමේ ක්රමයට ක්රමයට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් ආකාරයෙන් වැලලීගිය ඇටසකිලි හමුවී තිබේ . කාමරයක තිබී ආභරන පැලදි ස්ත්රින්ගේ පිරිමියෙකුගේ ඇටසැකිලි හතරක් සොයාගැනුනි. මේවාගේ හිස් කබල් දෙකක් පොරෝ පහරවලට ලක්වීම නිසා ඇතිවූවා සේ සැලකෙන පැලුම් තුවාල ඇත. එසේම වානරයෙකුගේ හදිසි පහරදීමක් නිසා මැරී වැටුනයි සැලකෙන සතුන්ගේද ඇටකටු හා අතුන් දෙදෙනෙකුගේ දළ පැහදිලිව හදිනා ගත හැකිවී තිබේ. ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරය විදිමත්ව පැවති අවදියේ භූමදානය කරන ලද මිනී වලවල් 24ක හමුවූ ඇටසැකිලිද ඉහත සදහන් කල හදිසියේ මැරී වැලලීගිය සිරුරු වල ශේශවූ කොටස් සන්සන්දනය කල විට ඉන්දුනිම්නය හදිසියේ පහර දීමකට ලක්වී විනාශ වීය යයි යන මතය ශක්තිමත් වේ. මෙසේ හදිසියේ මැරී වැලලි ගිය ඇටකටු සහිත ස්තරයක තිබී මෙතෙක් භාවිතා නොවූ පොරෝතලයක් හමුවී ඇත. ඉන්දු නිම්නවාසීන් භාවිතා කල ආයුධ වලට වඩා දියුනු තත්වයක තබ නිර්මානයක් වන මෙම පොරෝ තලයේ පිටුපස කොට්ස වෑයක ස්වරූපයක් ඇත. තවද ශක්තිමත් වීම සදහා යෙදූ මැද නාරටිය සහිත කඩු කිහිපයක් ලැබී ඇත.
ඉහත සියලු කරුනු සැලකිල්ලට ගැනීමේදී පෙනීයන්නේ ඉන්දු නිම්න ශිශ්ටාචාරය භාහිර ආක්‍රමණයක් මගින් විනාශ වූවාය යන මතය බොහෝ දුරට සනාත වන බවය.             
         





History of Sri Lanka

Thursday, February 6, 2014

The history of Sri Lanka begins around 30,000 years ago when the island was first inhabited. Chronicles, including the Mahawansa, theDipavamsa, the Culavamsa and the Rajaveliya, record events[1][2] from the beginnings of the Sinhalese monarchy in the 6th century BC;[3] through the arrival of European Colonialists in the 16th century; and to the disestablishment of the monarchy in 1815. Some mentions of the country are found in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Lankavatara Sutra Mahayana Buddhism texts of Gautama Buddha's teachings. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BC by Arhath Mahinda (son of the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great).
From the 16th century, some coastal areas of the country were ruled by the PortugueseDutch and British. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 Kings and Queens from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods. [4] After 1815 the entire nation was under British colonial rule and armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion and the 1848 Matale Rebellion. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire.
In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. A constitution was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including an armed youth uprising in 1987–1989, with the 25 year-long civil war ending in 2009.

Prehistoric era of Sri Lanka[edit]

The earliest archaeological evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda. Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000 years ago and have been identified as 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 artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island.
Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. However, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BC suggests that agriculture had already developed at this early date.[5]
Several minute granite tools (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware, remnants of charred timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic stone age. Human remains dating to 6000 BC have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area.
Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BC, suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island. James Emerson Tennent identified Sri Lanka with Galle.[6]
The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BC, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000-800 BC at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of South India.[7]
Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron age in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BC. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BC, but by 700 BC it had expanded to 50 hectares.[8] A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.[9]
who still live in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first inhabitants, Balangoda man. They may have migrated to the island from the mainland around the time humans spread from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Around 500 BC, Sri Lankans developed a unique hydraulic civilization. Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like Stupa (Dagoba) architecture. This phase of Sri Lankan culture was profoundly influenced by early Buddhism.[citation needed]
Buddhist scriptures note three visits by the Buddha to the island to see the Naga Kings, who are said to be snakes that can take the form of a human at will. Snake transformation of the kings are thought to be symbolic and not based on historical fact.[10]
The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa, say that tribes of YakkhasNagas (cobra worshippers) and Devas (god worshippers) inhabited the island prior to the migration of Vijaya.
Pottery has been found at Anuradhapura bearing Brahmi script and non-Brahmi writing and date back to 600 BC – one of the oldest examples of the script.[11]

Ancient Sri Lanka[edit]

Landing of Vijaya[edit]

The Pali chronicles, the DipavamsaMahavamsaThupavamsa and the Chulavamsa, as well as a large collection of stone inscriptions,[12] the Indian Epigraphical records, the Burmese versions of the chronicles etc., provide information on the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th century BC.[3]
The Mahavamsa, written around 400 AD by the monk Nagasena, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the period. Indeed Emperor Ashoka's reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to be part legend. Proper historical records begin with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers. Vijaya was a Vangan (now Bengal, India) prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali who had their capital at Sihapura[13] (now Singur[14] in West Bengal, India). Both these Sinhala leaders were supposedly born of a mythical union between a lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa claims that Vijaya landed on the same day as the death of the Buddha. The story of Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.[15]
According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar[16]), and named[17] on the island of Thambaparni ("copper-colored sand"). This name is attested to in Ptolemy's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. It is said that on his last visit he left his foot mark on Siripada ("Adam's Peak").
Tamirabharani is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu Oya in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply route connecting the capital, Anuradhapura, to Mahathitha (now Mannar). The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese ships travelling the southern Silk Route.
Mahathitha was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian gulf.[18]
The present day Sinhalese are a mixture of the indigenous people and of other peoples who came to the island from various parts of India. The Sinhalese recognize the Vijayan Indo-Aryan culture and Buddhism, as distinct from other groups in neighboring south India.

Anuradhapura Kingdom[edit]

Pandyan Kingdom coin depicting a temple between hill symbols and elephant, Pandyas, Sri Lanka, 1st century CE.
In the early ages of the Anuradhapura Kingdom the Sinhalese economy was based on farming and they made their early settlements mainly near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The king was the ruler of country and responsible for the law, the army, and being the protector of faith. Devanampiya Tissa (250-210 BC) was Sinhalese was friends with the King of the Maurya clan. His links with Emperor Asoka led to the introduction of Buddhism byMahinda (son of Asoka) around 247 BC. Sangamitta (sister of Mahinda) brought a Bodhi sapling via Jambukola (Sambiliturei). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka.
Elara (205-161 BC) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the mahaweli) after killing King Asela. During Elara's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya Rata (in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna (in the south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa Maha ViharaDighavapi Tank and many shrines in Seruvila. Dutugemunu (161-137 BC), the eldest son of King Kavan Tissa, at 25 years of age defeated the South Indian Tamil invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in the Mahavamsa. The Ruwanwelisaya, built by Dutugemunu, is a dagaba of pyramid-like proportions and was considered an engineering marvel.[citation needed][citation needed][citation needed]
Bronze imitation of a Roman coin, Sri Lanka, 4-8th century CE.
Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), the first of The Five Dravidians, was deposed by Bahiya. He in turn was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88 BC. Mara was deposed by Valagambahu I (89-77 BC) which ended Tamil rule. The Mahavihara Theravada Abhayagiri ("pro-Mahayana") doctrinal disputes arose at this time. TheTripitaka was written in Pali at AluviharaMataleChora Naga (63-51 BC), a Mahanagan, was poisoned by his consort Anula who became queen. Queen Anula (48-44 BC), the widow of Chora Naga and of Kuda Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned by her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha (67-111 AD), named on the Vallipuram gold plate, fortified Anuradhapura and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts. Gajabahu I (114-136) invaded the Chola kingdom and brought back captives as well as recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha.
Sri Lankan imitations of 4th-century Roman coins, 4-8th century.
There was a huge Roman trade with the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern India) and Sri Lanka,[19] establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of theWestern Roman empire.[20]
During the reign of Mahasena (274-301) the Theravada (Maha Vihara) was persecuted and theMahayanan branch of Buddhism surfaced. Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu (429) was the first of seven Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya in 455. Dhatusena (459-477) "Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa (477-495), built the famous sigiriya rock palace where some 700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.

Medieval Sri Lanka[edit]

Kingdom of Rohana[edit]

Kingdom of Ruhuna(210 - 161 BC). The first king of the Rohana Kingdom was King Mahanaga.He was the brother of King Dewanampiyathissa in Anuradhapura main Kingdom. After king Mahanaga, his son Yatalathissa came as the new king in Ruhuna.he built The Yatala vehera (near Thissamaharama) & Kalaniya vehera. The third king of Ruhuna was King Gothabhaya. after him, King Kawanthissa built the Rohana Kingdom strongly. King Dutugemunu was the son of King Kawanthissa. He defeated the chola king Elara and united Sri Lanka under one government.
Kings In Rohana Kingdom
1.King Mahanaga
2.King Yatalathissa
3.King Gothabhaya
4.King Kawanthissa
The Kingdom of Ruhuna became the major kingdom on the island after a South Indian invasion by Rajaraja I of the Chola kingdom.

Kingdom of Polonnaruwa[edit]

The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the second major Sinhalese kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa came into being after the Anuradhapura Kingdom was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I and led to formation of the Kingdom of Ruhuna, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola occupation.

Kingdom of Dambadeniya[edit]

Kingdom of Jaffna[edit]

Kingdom of Gampola[edit]

Kingdom of Kotte[edit]

Kingdom of Sitawaka[edit]

Kingdom of Kandy[edit]

Colonial Sri Lanka[edit]

Portuguese Era[edit]

A Portuguese(later Dutch) fort in Batticaloa, Eastern Province built in the 16th century.
The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modern times were the PortugueseLourenço de Almeida arrived in 1505 and found that the island, divided into seven warring kingdoms, was unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city ofColombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.
Many lowland Sinhalese were forced to convert to Christianity while the coastal Moors were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the Central highlands. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences, welcoming any power who might rescue them. When the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen landed in 1602 the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.

Dutch era[edit]

Rajasinghe II, the king of Kandy, made a treaty with the Dutch in 1638 to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal area of the island. The main conditions of the treaty were that the Dutch should handover the coastal areas they capture to the Kandyan king and the king should grant the Dutch a monopoly over trade on the entire island. The agreement was breached by both parties. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy and it was not until 1656 that Colombo fell. The Dutch (Protestants) persecuted the Catholics and the remaining Portuguese settlers left the Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. The Dutch taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done.
In 1659 the British sea captain Robert Knox landed by chance on Sri Lanka and was captured by the king of Kandy, along with sixteen sailors. He and another sailor escaped 19 years later and he wrote an account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the British.
A legacy of the Dutch period in Ceylon are the Dutch Burghers, a people of mixed Dutch and local origin. A later definition of the Burgher people of Ceylon was handed down in 1883 by the Chief Justice of Ceylon, Sir Richard Ottley.

British era[edit]

Late 19th-century German map of Ceylon.
During the Napoleonic Wars Great Britain, 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 the Treaty of Amiens formally ceded the Dutch part of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony. In 1803 the British invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the first Kandyan War, but were repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was occupied in the second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence.
Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion the Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their lands by the Wastelands Ordinance, a modernenclosure movement, and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suitable for coffee, tea and rubber cultivation. By the mid-19th century, Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of white tea planters. The planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population.[citation needed] These workers had to work in slave-like conditions living in line rooms, not very different from cattle sheds.
The British colonialists favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history and the Burghers were given 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.

Independence movement[edit]

Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy, although the party was soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian K. M. de Silva has stated that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status is one of the main causes of the break up of the Ceylon National congress.[21] The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). What may be called the independence movement broke into two streams: the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon; and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright independence") following the Indian example when Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926.[22]The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore Commission reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. Senanayake.[21][22] The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy.[23] Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Colvin R. De SilvaLeslie GoonewardenaVivienne GoonewardenaEdmund SamarkodyNatesa Iyer and Don Alwin Rajapaksa. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by the British administration. The ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.
The Soulbury Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam, who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity".[24] Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa. One such conflict[specify] in Navalapitiya led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.[22][25] Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise, supported the caste system, and claimed that the protection of minority rights requires that minorities (35% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (65% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the buddhist temporalities act. TheSoulbury Commission rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character[clarification needed]. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centers, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury Commission without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.[22]
The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.

World War II[edit]

Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese during World War II. Sri Lankan opposition to the war led by the Marxist organizations and the leaders of the LSSP pro-independence group were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942 the Indian Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy bomb Colombo. The Japanese attack led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector, which removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government.[22] Marxist leaders also escaped to India where they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centers. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war the Senanayake government took advantage to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless the Sinhalese continued to push for independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed to establish a special relationship with Britain.
Meanwhile the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and desiring a proletarian revolution, chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied against British rule. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for mutiny during World War II.[citation needed]
Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in fighting the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the anti-British Indian National Army.
The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office.

Post war[edit]

The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle.[26] He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946,[27] when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. At the elections of 1947 the UNP won a minority of the seats in parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. The vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics, created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate, opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi ("Federal party"), a Tamil sovereignty party led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam who was the lawyer son of a Christian minister.

20th century Sri Lanka[edit]

Independence[edit]

Dominion status followed on 4 February 1948 with military treaties with Britain, as the upper ranks of the armed forces were initially British, and British air and sea bases remaining intact. This was later raised to independence itself and Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. In 1949, with the concurrence of the leaders of the Ceylon Tamils, the UNP government disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers.[22][28] This was the price that Senanayake had to pay to obtain the support of the Kandyan Sinhalese, who felt threatened by the demographics of the tea estates where the inclusion of the "Indian Tamils" would have meant electoral defeat for the Kandyan leaders. Senanayke died in 1952 after falling from a horse and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake, the then minister of Agriculture. In 1953 he resigned following a massive Hartal ("general strike") by the Left parties against the UNP. He was followed by John Kotelawala, a senior politician and an uncle of Dudley Senanayke. Kotelawala did not have the enormous personal prestige or the adroit political acumen of D. S. Senanayake.[29] He brought to the fore the issue of national languages that D. S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner, antagonising the Tamils and the Sinhalese by stating conflicting policies with regard to the status of Sinhala and Tamil as official languages. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters.

1956–72[edit]

In 1956 the Senate was abolished and Sinhala was established as the official language, with Tamil as a second language. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies".
In 1956 the Sinhala Only Act came into being. This established the Sinhalese language as the first and preferred language in commerce and education. The Act took effect immediately. As a consequence vast numbers of people mostly Burghers left the country to live abroad as they rightfully felt discriminated against.
In 1958 the first major riots between Sinhalese and Tamils flared up in Colombo which was a direct result of the government's language policy.

1971 Uprising[edit]

The leftist Sinhalese Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna drew worldwide attention when it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranaike government in April 1971. Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces. Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs.
The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, the son of a businessman from the seaport of Tangalla, Hambantota District. An excellent student, Wijeweera had been forced to give up his studies for financial reasons. Through friends of his father, a member of the Ceylon Communist Party, Wijeweera successfully applied for a scholarship in the Soviet Union, and in 1960 at the age of seventeen, he went to Moscow to study medicine at Patrice Lumumba University.
While in Moscow, he studied Marxist ideology but, because of his openly expressed sympathies for Maoist revolutionary theory, he was denied a visa to return to the Soviet Union after a brief trip home in 1964. Over the next several years, he participated in the pro-Beijing branch of the Ceylon Communist Party, but he was increasingly at odds with party leaders and impatient with its lack of revolutionary purpose. His success in working with youth groups and his popularity as a public speaker led him to organize his own movement in 1967. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the sixteen-to-twenty-five-age-group. Many of these new recruits were members of minority so called 'lower' castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The standard program of indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power.
Between 1967 and 1970, the group expanded rapidly, gaining control of the student socialist movement at a number of major university campuses and winning recruits and sympathizers within the armed forces. Some of these latter supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. In order to draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote areas along the south and southwestern coasts. These camps provided training in Marxism-Leninism and in basic military skills.
While developing secret cells and regional commands, Wijeweera's group also began to take a more public role during the elections of 1970. His cadres campaigned openly for the United Front of Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, but at the same time they distributed posters and pamphlets promising violent rebellion if Bandaranaike did not address the interests of the proletariat. In a manifesto issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the first time. Because of the subversive tone of these publications, the United National Party government had Wijeweera detained during the elections, but the victorious Bandaranaike ordered his release in July 1970. In the politically tolerant atmosphere of the next few months, as the new government attempted to win over a wide variety of unorthodox leftist groups, the JVP intensified both the public campaign and the private preparations for a revolt. Although their group was relatively small, the members hoped to immobilize the government by selective kidnapping and sudden, simultaneous strikes against the security forces throughout the island. Some of the necessary weapons had been bought with funds supplied by the members. For the most part, however, they relied on raids against police stations and army camps to secure weapons, and they manufactured their own bombs.
The discovery of several JVP bomb factories gave the government its first evidence that the group's public threats were to be taken seriously. In March 1971, after an accidental explosion in one of these factories, the police found fifty-eight bombs in a hut in Nelundeniya, Kegalla District. Shortly afterward, Wijeweera was arrested and sent to Jaffna Prison, where he remained throughout the revolt. In response to his arrest and the growing pressure of police investigations, other JVP leaders decided to act immediately, and they agreed to begin the uprising at 11:00 P.M. on April 5.
The planning for the countrywide insurrection was hasty and poorly coordinated; some of the district leaders were not informed until the morning of the uprising. After one premature attack, security forces throughout the island were put on alert and a number of JVP leaders went into hiding without bothering to inform their subordinates of the changed circumstances. In spite of this confusion, rebel groups armed with shotguns, bombs, and Molotov cocktails launched simultaneous attacks against seventy- four police stations around the island and cut power to major urban areas. The attacks were most successful in the south. By April 10, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining areas of Southern Province.
The new government was ill prepared for the crisis that confronted it. Although there had been some warning that an attack was imminent, Bandaranaike was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on India to provide basic security functions. Indian frigates patrolled the coast and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. Sri Lanka's all-volunteer army had no combat experience since World War II and no training in counterinsurgency warfare. Although the police were able to defend some areas unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three services in a ground force capacity. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside.
After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents- -many of them in their teens—died in the conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. In order to win over an alienated population and to prevent a prolonged conflict, Bandaranaike offered amnesties in May and June 1971, and only the top leaders were actually imprisoned. Wijeweera, who was already in detention at the time of the uprising, was given a twenty-year sentence and the JVP was proscribed.
Under the six years of emergency rule that followed the uprising, the JVP remained dormant. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977 elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. Wijeweera was freed, the ban was lifted, and the JVP entered the arena of legal political competition. As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes (as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). During this period, and especially as the Tamil conflict to the north became more intense, there was a marked shift in the ideology and goals of the JVP. Initially Marxist in orientation, and claiming to represent the oppressed of both the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, the group emerged increasingly as a Sinhalese nationalist organization opposing any compromise with the Tamil insurgency. This new orientation became explicit in the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983. Because of its role in inciting violence, the JVP was once again banned and its leadership went underground.
The group's activities intensified in the second half of 1987 in the wake of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. During 1987 a new group emerged that was an offshoot of the JVP—the Patriotic Liberation Organization (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya—DJV). The DJV claimed responsibility for the August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. In addition, the group launched a campaign of intimidation against the ruling party, killing more than seventy members of Parliament between July and November.
Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration of the armed forces. Following the successful raid of the Pallekelle army camp in May 1987, the government conducted an investigation that resulted in the discharge of thirty-seven soldiers suspected of having links with the JVP. In order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate again in the political arena. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political, against the government.

Republic of Sri Lanka[edit]

Socialist republic of Sri Lanka is established on 22 May 1972.

New constitution of 1978[edit]

By 1977 the voters were tired of Bandaranaike's socialist policies and elections returned the UNP to power under Junius Jayewardene, on a manifesto pledging a market economy and "a free ration of 8 seers (kilograms) of cereals". The SLFP and the left-wing parties were virtually wiped out in Parliament, although they garnered 40% of the popular vote, leaving the Tamil United Liberation Front led by Appapillai Amirthalingam as the official opposition. This created a dangerous ethnic division in Sri Lankan politics.
After coming to power, Jayewardene directed the rewriting of the constitution. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978, drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. It replaced the previous Westminster style, parliamentary government with a new presidential system modeled after France, with a powerful chief executive. The president was to be elected by direct suffrage for a six-year term and was empowered to appoint, with parliamentary approval, the prime minister and to preside over cabinet meetings. Jayewardene became the first president under the new Constitution and assumed direct control of the government machinery and party.
The new regime ushered in an era that did not augur well for the SLFP. Jayewardene's UNP government accused former prime minister Bandaranaike of abusing her power while in office from 1970 to 1977. In October 1980, Bandaranaike's privilege to engage in politics was removed for a period of seven years, and the SLFP was forced to seek a new leader. After a long and divisive battle, the party chose her son, Anura. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the Parliament.
The 1978 Constitution included substantial concessions to Tamil sensitivities. Although TULF did not participate in framing the Constitution, it continued to sit in Parliament in the hope of negotiating a settlement to the Tamil problem. TULF also agreed to Jayewardene's proposal of an all-party conference to resolve the island's ethnic problems. Jayewardene's UNP offered other concessions in a bid to secure peace. Sinhala remained the official language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was given a new "national language" status. Tamil was to be used in a number of administrative and educational circumstances. Jayewardene also eliminated a major Tamil grievance by abrogating the "standardization" policy of the United Front government, which had made university admission criteria for Tamils more difficult. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants.
While TULF, in conjunction with the UNP, pressed for the allparty conference, the Tamil Tigers escalated their terrorist attacks, which provoked Sinhalese backlash against Tamils and generally precluded any successful accommodation. In reaction to the assassination of a Jaffna police inspector, the Jayewardene government declared an emergency and dispatched troops, who were given an unrealistic six months to eradicate the terrorist threat.
The government passed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act in 1979. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became permanent legislation. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being incompatible with democratic traditions. Despite the act, the number of terrorist acts increased. Guerrillas began to hit targets of high symbolic value such as post offices and police outposts, provoking government counterattacks. As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support widened for the "boys", as the guerrillas began to be called. Other large, well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. The better-known included the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. Each of these groups had forces measured in the hundreds if not thousands. The government claimed that many of the terrorists were operating from training camps in India's Tamil Nadu State. The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. With the level of violence mounting, the possibility of negotiation became increasingly distant.

Civil war (1983–2009)[edit]

In July 1983 communal riots took place due to the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the Tamil Tigers using the voters list, which contained the exact addresses of Tamils. The Tamil community faced a backlash from Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops, homes and savage beatings. A few Sinhalese kept Tamil neighbours in their homes to protect them from the rioters. During these riots the government did nothing to control the mob. Conservative government estimates put the death toll at 400,[30] while the real death toll is believed to be around 3000.[31] Also around 18,000 Tamil homes and another 5,000 homes were destroyed, with 150,000 leaving the country resulting in a Tamil diaspora in Canada, the UK, Australia and other western countries.
In elections held on 17 November 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse, the son of Don Alwin Rajapaksa, was elected President after defeating Ranil Wickremasinghe. He appointed Wickremanayake as Prime Minister and Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister. Negotiations with the LTTE stalled and a low-intensity conflict began. The violence dropped off after talks in February but escalated again in April and the conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.

Defeat of the LTTE[edit]

President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse took decisive measures against the LTTE with the help of neighboring countries and suffering communities in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka government declared total victory on 18 May 2009. On 19 May 2009 the Sri Lankan military led by General Sarath Fonseka, effectively concluded its 26 year operation against the LTTE, its military forces recaptured all remaining LTTE controlled territories in the Northern Province including Killinochchi (2 January), the Elephant Pass (9 January) and ultimately the entire district of Mullaitivu.
On 22 May 2009 the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa confirmed that 6,261 personnel of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces had lost their lives and 29,551 were wounded during the Eelam War IV since July 2006. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara added that approximately 22,000 LTTE fighters had died during this time.