Comments for Thuppahi's Blog

Comment on Symbolic Postscript: A Terrible Violence by Possessing memories, designing cemeteries – EelamView

Possessing memories, designing cemeteries – EelamView — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:55:46 +0000

[…] 3. http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/symbolic-postscript-a-terrible-violence/2 […]

Comment on The BBS That My Mother Likes = An Emblem for the Sri Lankan Equivalent of Middle America by Happy Heathen

Happy Heathen — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:48:41 +0000

Prof. Roberts,

I beg to differ on one point….

“…….a questionable imposition of European Enlightenment philosophy on an Asian situation”
As per my humble understanding of eastern/Indian philosophy, neither atheism nor secularism is an exclusive tenet of European Enlightenment.
My interpretation of concepts such as Cārvāka /Lokāyata through the writing of Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya tells a different story, which got lost due to overbearing power of religions in this region.

Comment on The BBS That My Mother Likes = An Emblem for the Sri Lankan Equivalent of Middle America by thuppahi

thuppahi — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:26:56 +0000

Chandre is spot on in pinpointing the failures of our policing and judicial processes. This has got worse over time – beginning with the political encroachments directed at the “kachcheri system” by the both Leftist and nativist strands in politics from the 1950s. Note, however, that however, that even during the marakkala kolahālaya of 1915 policemen in some localities seem to have been partial to those set on assailing the Moors, while headmen in many localities were instigators or participants. That policemen under the strict discipline of the British colonial authorities revealed such sympathies highlights the strength of affinity towards the Sinhala Buddhist cause in a situation where the Moors were seen to be “insulting our nationality and religion” when they deployed British cultural premises vested in legislation and opposed the sabda pūjā of Buddhist processions as they passed places of worship (mosques in this instance). I note here that on several occasions the crowds that assembled before venturing forth on missions of arson and plunder directed against Moor boutiques and mosques shouted “sādhu! sādhu!” as they marched off or even as they burnt goods gathered from Moorish stores.
While applauding Happy Heathen’s affirmation of every individual’s right to be an aetheist and his comprehension of the Ratnawalli article, his insistence on hundred per cent secularism is a questionable imposition of European Enlightenment philosophy on an Asian situation. In this enthusiasm he misses the import of one of Ratnawalli’s major contenitons. From her experiential reading of her mother’s way of seeing and being, Ratnawalli argues that the criticism of BBS in the ways pressed by Galkande Dhammananda thera, Sudharshan Seneviratne and those on Candlelit Vigils are not going to be effective among those segments of Sri Lanka she typifies as equivalent to Middle America (a major constituency that I will re-name “Middling Sinhala Buddhist Lanka” or ML in short).
From a position outside Buddhism I was impressed by the power of Galkande Dhammananda thera’s message. But Ratnawalli has indicated that this type of discourse is part of bookish Buddhism – text-grounded, erudite and philosophical. This characteristic is shared by the criticisms presented by the others railing at BBS, including here the more qualified comments of Malinda Seneviratne. It is a form of Buddhism that SJ Tambiah called “the Pali Text Society” view of Buddhism (though himself, in my reading, pursuing a question in his Buddhism Betrayed that embodied this pitfall).
While agreeing that the BBS programme is debased and dangerous (a sharp criticism on her part missed by some readers), Ratnawalli’s argument is that the Buddhism valued by the ML constituency in Sri Lanka is not of this Pali Text Society kind. Rather the attachment is emblematic in a deeply meaningful way. It is a feeling for the Sāsana linked to place and people, to heritage. Person YZ may visit Huniyam to invoke an assassination job on someone who has harmed him without seeing this as inconsistent with his/her being a Buddhist – because it is a righteous act of retribution in his/her thinking (read Obeyesekere on sorcery acts, in his 1975 article in Ethnology vol. 14, 1975). And the same (murderous) person YZ will side with those who step forth, like the BBS, to defend the honour of the Sāsana. Quoting segments of the Dhamma will not deter their loyalty to the Sāsana in situations where threats are IMAGINED and FELT. Neither, of course, will they be ‘converted’ by high-flown principles rooted in European philosophy.
Ratnawalli has marked the importance of evolving intelligent strategies to win over the ML constituency. It is in this manner that one can displace BBS. One must seek to render them irrelevant. That will not be an easy task. But the first step is to recognise the type of audience and the type of Buddhism one is trying to win over. That constituency is not the Buddhism of the Book favoured by many elements of the literate educated urban middle class in Lanka – good souls no doubt, but not the strategic ‘majority’ in Lanka whom one must convert to one’s good cause: the restraining of the BBS.
SEE http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/marakkala-kolahalaya-mentalities-directing-the-pogrom-of-1915/

Comment on Velupillai Pirapāharan: VEERA MARANAM by Language and National Identity: The Sinhalese and Others over the Centuries | Thuppahi's Blog

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:04:24 +0000

[…] 2012 “Velupillai Pirapāharan: Veera Maranam,” 26 August 2012, http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/velupillai-pirapaharan-veera-maranam/ […]

Comment on Sinhalaness and its Reproduction, 1232-1818 by Language and National Identity: The Sinhalese and Others over the Centuries | Thuppahi's Blog

Mon, 13 May 2013 06:25:08 +0000

[…] in print in The Republic at 40 (Colombo, CPA, 2013). This article has also been reproduced in http://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/sinhalaness-and-its-reproduction-1232-1818-2/. Other writings on my part which pertain to the domain of this article are listed in an Addendum. […]

Comment on Burning with Zealotry by thuppahi

thuppahi — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:17:47 +0000

I am not technically proficient myself so that shoudl encourage you. Get a pal to help you with WORDPRESSafter googling the term

Comment on Burning with Zealotry by global limits

global limits — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:03:15 +0000

Hello! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an
established blog. Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but
I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Thank you

Comment on A Story of Southern Sinhala Recalcitrance: How the Devolution Gestures of 1981-83 moved NOWHERE by chandre DW

chandre DW — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:55:15 +0000

This story shows that there were well-meaning administrators in the North who were looking for peaceful solutions. However, the cannons had already been loaded in Vauddkkoddai (old Batakotte) in 1976, or indeed even before, at Maradana in 1949 with the cry of Arasu. There would have been well-meaning administrative people in the South as well, but by 1983 the politicians had firmed up and drawn their battle lines. The southern politicians worked under the suspicion that the North will ask for more and more power (provincial devolution and then separation instead of DDCs), and this suspicion was voiced at the last meeting where JR said "WE PART". In effect, by 1983 things had moved to an incendiary situation where suspicion was too high. Even today, the TNA has not done much to alley the fires of suspicion that exist in the south. Mr. Sampanthn's speech in Batti (Madakalapuwa) last September, and statements made by them at the GTF, Geneva, India and other fora have not helped at all. The belief that any devolution (e.g, 13th amendment) is just the thin end of the wedge of separatism is strongly entrenched in the south today. It will take a generation (no matter in what society) after a civil war to alley such suspicions. So I believe that the best approach to `reconciliation' is to start by NOT asking for contentious powers like police powers and power over land registration; and ask merely for administrative decentralization during the first 5 years. That would be good for every PC and not just for the north! The increased power of provincial politicians has been a direct source of increased lawlessness in the country. The north can make a surprise concession by saying, we can even give up some constitutional provisions contained in the 13th amendment if some other administrative powers (e.g., finance) are devolved. There has to be a spirit of give and take for reconciliation to happen, and such healing needs about 15 years of stagnation after any war, in any society How ever, what if JR had conceded, and given wider powers to the Northern DDC? The Militant nationalists of Yalpanam who even opposed the Banda-Chelvanayagam pact had by then morphed into uncompromising Eelamists. The `boys' of the TULF had already killed many Tamils who were trying to find a solution of co-existence rather than separation, labeling them as `traitors thurohi '. By then JR, Athulathmudali, et al had already developed a siege mentality. Even if they had sensed the feelings of the North at that moment and conceded to some of the proposals coming from the North, there would have been little change in the turn of events. In fact, the budding LTTE would have declared the executives of the DDC as traitors who forged a compromise with JR and hunted them out - a few more good men who had not read the poetry of Kasi Ananthan would have been put to death.

Comment on The BBS That My Mother Likes = An Emblem for the Sri Lankan Equivalent of Middle America by chandre DW

chandre DW — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:16:53 +0000

It is not necessarily a problem with the constitution, but more a problem with ensuring that the constitutional and legal rights are enforced . The problem arises in secular or `in God we trust' nations, or those in between. As the writer has pointed out: " archeological site in the North and the East obliterated by a bulldozer, built upon or otherwise encroached into under the aegis of uncouth, unscrupulous and unethical Muslim and Tamil politicians, whose regional political clout earns them Government sanction, deserves a candle. We need to searchlight the literal excrement dumped into the Dīghavāpi site (the encroachment into this ancient archeological site also consisted of building toilet complexes on it[1] as well as the metaphorical excrement dumped by the BBS upon the Lankan social fabric. Every ancient landmark such as Mātota (Manthai)[2] and Kuragala targeted by agendas devoted to their obliteration should be co-candled with every Muslim enterprise threatened. The psychical darkness[3] that begets all brands and hues of intolerance should be switched off equally." When the law is not enforced, distraught Muslims or distraught Buddhists or angry secular Lokayathas would get organized to take the law into the hands.

Comment on Julie Bishop pulverizes ABC’s prejudiced misinformation by saman

saman — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:09:47 +0000

to also add to my previous comment.. The so called Persecuted now Cash rich and financially stable have not just returned to sri lanka and invested in property and business. they go to the North of Sri Lanka and have even bribed officials there to displace other Tamils to Pass their Land deeds. Its the Poor Tamil who were forced at Gun point by the LTTE to die for the Canadian, Australian, British, Norwegian Tamil who were quick to arm the LTTE and help oppress the freedom of Tamil in the north, are today fighting other Int Tamils and the Tamil of the north to file false deeds to displace and get Land in the North.