Analysis of Sri Lanka_s Ethnic Inequality Through the Lens of Pol

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

The existing political and social turmoil within Sri Lanka has been observed as an

ongoing issue from 1948 to date without a resolution. Despite having obtained its

independence on February 4, 1948, Sri Lanka has yet to enjoy a sustained state of actual

political, sociological, economic growth and development due to ongoing conflicts

between the ethnic majority and minorities (Holt, 2016). This study was authored to

promote a better understanding and encourage post-colonial ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka

by scrutinizing the pre-colonial, colonial, and the post-colonial Sri Lankan forms of

democracy. Polarity management (PM) addresses problems that are considered difficult

or impossible to solve (Jones, 1996), like the conditions in Sri Lanka. But PM theory

does not assess governing and democracy. Because of that, the current study used

polarities of democracy as its theoretical framework that utilizes the PM conceptual

framework.

In shedding light on the problem and the study’s purpose, I sought to answer in

what ways polarities of democracy has detracted or contributed to Sri Lankan pre-

colonial (5 BCE-1505 AD), colonial (1506-1948), and post-colonial (1949-Present)

governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic harmony to support its future

socioeconomic growth and development. This study was designed to address multiple

periods of Sri Lanka, which were used as individual cases to be scrutinized through the

lens of polarities of democracy as an historical-comparative case study (Bartlett &

Vavrus, 2017). I investigated the data needed and then reviewed it through document

analysis that supplied adequate data (V. Jupp, 2006). I considered three periods in history

as trigger points for change.

This study’s significance includes being among the first to explore the pre-

colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods of Sri Lanka through the lens of polarities of

democracy. The results present new research, contributing to studies already completed.

The study can also support future Sri Lankan leaders seeking social change by allowing

them to be better informed (Midtbøen, 2018). This study’s findings support my efforts to

present, implement, and support multi-ethnic laws for Sri Lanka as obligations to social

justice within Sri Lanka.

Background

The background information included in the study contains various research

addressing Sri Lanka’s ethnocratic regimes and the systematic marginalization of the Sri

Lanka Tamil minority population. The present study, building on preceding research,

offers new perspectives through current materials integrated into the research, enriching

the existing knowledge of the topic. This is the first study using all 10 values of the

polarities of democracy theoretical framework, and its conceptual framework PM,

addressing ethnic separatism within a state. In exploring this topic, I noticed two gaps.

First was the absence of addressing Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem from the polarities of

democracy lens, and second, I noticed a multitude of gaps in the compiled research work

on Sri Lankan studies due to political influences and censorship.

I expanded on these findings and developed the present study to explore Sri

Lanka’s persistent ethnic separatism through the lens of polarities of democracy because

ethnic marginalizing is one of the primary causes for insurgencies (Nacos, 2016). The

ongoing political turmoil, the marginalizing of Sri Lankan Muslims, and the lack of

opportunity and growth within the state makes it vulnerable for another insurgency.

Therefore, it is vital for Sri Lanka to seek a resolution to its ongoing ethnic separatism in

sustaining a solid economic and development plan.

Problem Statement

The area of inquiry for this research is how Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic

separatism, which continues to intimidate its ethnic minorities of 29.9%, causing violence

and unrest throughout the nation, hindered its sustained growth and development (see

Figure 1). From the 5th century BC, much of the written evidence found to date depicts a

nation with multiple ethnicities coexisting while sustaining a sound economy until 1815.

Following its independence in 1948, ethnic separatism kept the nation in a state of

political and civil unrest twice in two internal uprisings and one large scale ethnic conflict

from 1983 to 2009. The current phase of history shows ongoing communal unrest,

victimizing the Sri Lankan Muslims from 2009 to 2019 (Rather & Jhariya, 2016).

Figure 1

Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Distribution

Intelligence Agency.

The growth and development of a nation are dependent on its economy. Ethnic

tension, despite not directly correlated to economic growth, can still affect the economy

by influencing other social institutions that directly impact its economy (Choudhary &

Reksulak, 2011; Sonntag, 2016). The internal struggles, fueled by ethnic unrest in Sri

Lanka since the 50s, caused an eruption of violence in July 1983, affecting its economy

by acquiring a national debt of US$ 68.58 billion and loss in human capital of 65,373,

hindering its future growth and development (UCDP, 2018). However, Sri Lanka has the

potential for securing a strong economy, as it features abundant natural resources and a

favorable geographical location.

The first studies done on this topic from 1948 to 1983 focused on the post-

colonial elitist governing system, the conventional Westminster model, and the enforced

monolinguist, mono-religious, and mono-ethnic policies that marginalized the minorities

(Balasundaram, 2016; Barter, 2015; Welikala, 2015). Having significant lapses in

literature from 1983 to 2019, much scholarly research focused on addressing the question

of Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism from a devolution aspect of distributing power or failed

efforts of reconciliation following the Eelam conflict of 2009 (Amarasinghe et al., 2010).

This study sought to provide an in-depth historical assessment of Sri Lanka’s ethnic

separatism and its evolution, addressing gaps in the literature on the nation’s ethnic

dilemma to further the understand the value of ethnic assimilation through the

management of polarities of democracy.

Purpose of the Study

This qualitative historical-comparative case study’s purpose was to enhance the

understanding of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism since 1948 by observing

each of three crucial stages of its history, considered as individual cases through the lens

of polarities of democracy in support of the nation’s future growth and development. This

study contributes its findings to writings on polarities of democracy theory as well as

being a guide for present and future leaders of Sri Lanka seeking positive social change.

This study pursued a deeper understanding of the value of ethnic assimilation and

national integration by emphasizing economic value.

Research Question

In what ways have the polarities of democracy detracted or contributed to Sri

Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial governance from sustaining a steady

state of ethnic harmony?

Conceptual Framework

Polarity Management Theory

I explored, through the lens of polarities of democracy, Sri Lanka’s post-colonial

ethnic separatism, a problem that has persisted for almost a decade. The theoretical

framework for this study is based on the conceptual framework of PM theory. In

addressing PM, Johnson (1996) argued that many of the issues observed in various

stratum as unsolvable are polarities to manage rather than problems to solve. The Sri

Lankan ethnic crises are polarities to manage rather than problems to solve. To visualize

problems, Johnson created PM in which a square is divided into four parts. The right and

left halves of the square are identified as poles, and the upper levels are positive or

upsides, whereas the lower levels are negative or downsides. Once a problem is assessed

as a polarity to manage, both interdependent poles are taken into consideration, and an

effort is placed to balance the polarity pairs, maximizing the upsides while minimizing

the downsides of both poles (Johnson, 2014).

Adhering to the PM concept, Sri Lanka’s growing post-colonial ethnic separatism

is a problem without a solution. Following Sri Lankan independence on February 4,

1948, it has operated as a Democratic Republic with a functional government in the most

undemocratic form (Balasundaram, 2016). A government, by definition, holds the

responsibility of meeting the needs of the governed equally, setting aside ethnicity and

religion (Mikesell, 2017; Slaughter, 2017). Not adhering to this, the post-colonial leaders

favored the Sinhala Buddhists choosing majoritarianism as their governing philosophy.

Sri Lanka being a historic monarchy, had maintained sound governance and economic

growth as well as managed to secure ethnic peace among its minorities (Mendis, 1951).

In 1815, the monarchy was ended, and colonialism was ended in 1948 with the promise

of democracy, but the nation has yet to see it in action among its minority population (K.

M. De Silva, 1981). Therefore, it is important to explore Sri Lanka’s existing democracy

through the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. A theoretical framework

such as the polarities of democracy supported this effort.

Polarities of Democracy

The theoretical framework for this study is Benet’s (2013) polarities of

democracy, which recognizes 10 values contained within a democracy. These values are

freedom, authority, justice, due process, diversity, equality, human rights, communal

obligations, participation, and representation. Because of the interdependent nature of

these values, Benet proposed to pair them into five interdependent pairs that include

freedom and authority, justice and due process, diversity and equality, human rights and

communal obligations, and participation and representation. The chosen theoretical

framework provided a tool to compare and assess Sri Lankan pre-colonial, colonial, and

post-colonial periods in seeking the answer to the research question and problem

statement (Benet, 2012).

Nature of the Study

This study observed Sri Lanka’s growing ethnic separatism in three cases, or

periods, to gain a better understanding of the problem through the theoretical framework

of polarities of democracy (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2017; Benet, 2012). The design chosen for

the present study was a historical-comparative case study (HCCS). In general, within

qualitative methodology, case studies are most often used to test specific theories and

models and apply their findings to the real world. Document analysis and survey-based

case studies provide for the use of multiple sources while keeping the costs of travel

down; but such case studies are bound to the observation of one-setting (Bartlett &

Vavrus, 2017; Danzl et al., 2016; Kleining & Witt, 2000; Ravitch & Carl, 2016).

A case study is an experimental investigation used to examine a recent occurrence

in depth within its actual setting (Yin, 2009, p. 18). The cases are bound by time and

activity (Creswell, 2013; Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009) as well as definition and context (Miles

& Huberman, 1994). The bounding factor poses a challenge to the present study of pre-

colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. However, general case studies not

considering the “dead past” (the time in the past where there were no people to interview)

does contain valuable patterns of real-world phenomenon (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2017, p.

29; Yin, 2009), such as Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism. Comparative case studies (CCS)

present the best solution, which do not start with a bound case; instead, a case is formed

by drawing information across sites and measures to develop an understanding of how

the situation came to be in Sri Lanka’s separatist ethos (Street & Heath, 2008). CCS

emphasizes how different players adopt the central issue, and how CCS has been altered

in practice, to take into consideration the contextual information as historical

circumstances, or daunting concepts, from one site onto another (Van der Veer, 2016).

Considering all factors, I deemed a historical comparative case study an appropriate

design to focus on Sri Lankan history by describing three periods using the polarities of

democracy theoretical framework.

Definition of Terms

The following definitions clarify and restrict the meaning of the terms for the

purposes of this case study.

A Wewa: Sinhalese for a human-made irrigation water reservoir, many such

reservoirs were widespread throughout the country which served in supporting Sri

Lanka’s ancient Argo-economic system (Needham et al., 1971, p. 368).

Bandaranaike - Chellanayagam pact of 1957: Signed on July 26, 1957, is an

agreement between Prime Minister S.W.R.D Bandaranayke and S.J.V Chelvanayakam, to

address the discontent over the Sinhala only Act 1956 (Manogaran, 1987, p. 49).

Black July of 1983: The name given to the anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka on July

23, 1983, that became a turning point in Sri Lankan history that became the foundation of

the Eelam conflict (Ananthavinayagan, 2019, p. 49).

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS): Is an ultra-nationalist Buddhist organization founded by

Reverend Kirama Wimalajothi. Today advocating an anti-minority agenda for the

nation’s future, it is led by the radical monk Galagoda Athe Gnanasara (Jerryson, 2017, p.

533).

Burghers: Is a Sri Lankan Eurasian minority group consisting of the most male-

line descendants of Europeans who colonized Sri Lanka from the 16th to 20th centuries

(Elsby, 2014; Brohier, 1985, p. 1).

Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948: First mono ethnic law passed by the post-colonial

legislature of Ceylon. Enacted on November 15th, 1948, denied Indian Tamils of Sri

Lanka their citizenship, making 11% of the total population stateless (Greenwood &

Lauterpacht, 1952, p. 60).

Ceylon: The name by which Sri Lanka was identified during the British Colonial

Period (CIA, 2021, p. n.p).

Chena: An area of virgin or secondary timberland in a tropical region cleared and

cultivated for only a few years and then abandoned (Squires, 2013).

Differential modernization: Is prioritization of modernizing one ethnic group over

the other, due to ethnicity. It is known side effect of British colonization, and a deep-

seated cause for ethnic separatism (Horowitz, 1985, p. 66).

Elahara canal: This is among many of Sri Lanka’s most extensive irrigation

canals located in the Northeast of Sri Lanka (Brohier R. L., 1955).

Gal Oya: A locale in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka where the first anti-Tamil

ethnic riots occurred (Tambiah, 1996, p. 87).

Gross domestic product: The total value of goods and services of a country during

a given period (Charmes, 2005, p. 70).

Hartal: The first large-scale political action in Ceylon, organized by pro-left

political parties on August 12, 1953, to protest the United National Party (UNP; Mehta,

2010, p. 45).

Indian Tamil: Subcategory of the Sri Lankan Tamil minority consisting of Tamil

people from South India brought to Sri Lanka as plantation workers by the British

(Denham, 1912, p. 10).

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP): Known as Peoples Liberation Front, is the Sri

Lankan Marxist-Leninist Communist political party founded on May 14, 1965, by

Rohana Wijeweera. Backed mostly by Sinhalese youth, this party deployed two armed

uprisings in Sri Lanka against the ruling administrations of the time (Peebles, 2015, p.

xix; Gunaratna, 1990).

Lankapura: The name used when referring to Sri Lanka in the great Indian epic

story written by Hindu sage Valmiki, the Ramayana (Valmiki, 1894, p. 17).

Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP): The first official political party of Sri Lanka

on, founded December 18, 1935, by Dr. Philip Gunawardena is A Trotskyist political

party that maintains a policy of neutrality that advocates multi-ethnic and multi-cultural

legislatures (Guṇavardhana & Goonewardene, 2004).

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): Known as the Tamil Tigers, was an

aggressive separatist organization based in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Having

an international notoriety as a ruthless terrorist organization until 2009 the LTTE led a

26-year insurgency against Sri Lanka, seeking to create a separate state for the Tamils in

Sri Lanka called the Tamil Eelam (Murari, 2012).

National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ): Is the Sri Lankan Muslim jihadist group led by

Zahran Hashim, which was implicated in the 2019 Sri Lankan Easter bombings and is

believed to have ties to the Islamic State (Chattoraj, 2021, p. 32).

Pali: An Indic language, closely related to Sanskrit, in which the sacred texts of

Theravada Buddhism are written. Pali developed in northern India in the 5th–2nd

centuries BC (Oberlies, 1971, p. 1).

Ramanna: Another name in Pali for present-day Burma or Myanmar, once

occupied by King Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa kingdom (Malalgoda, 1976, p. 164).

Saya: Sinhalese for a Buddhist Stupa (dome shaped structure) in a temple

complex, a Saya consists of a mound-like structure typically claimed to contain sacred

remains of Buddha, a prominent monk, and worshiped by the Buddhists (Snodgrass,

1985, p. 37).

Sinhala Only Act: The 1956 Act No. 33 declared Sinhala, the majority ethnicity’s

language, to be the only official language of Sri Lanka (Ghosh, 1999, p. 35).

Sinhalese: The majority ethnic group of Sri Lanka, with a native language of

Sinhalese-they are predominantly Indo-Aryans (CIA, 2021, p. n.p).

Sri Lanka University Standardization Policy of 1973: A policy introduced in 1973

by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration to increase university enrolment among the

majority Sinhalese community, specifically, the Sinhalese Buddhists by limiting the slots

allocated for the Tamils and other minority groups (Pegg, 1998, p. 54).

Sri Lanka: Also known as, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an

independent island nation located in Southeast Asia 6°54′N 79°54′E (Gunawardena,

2005, p. 342).

Tambapanni: Is a name derived from Tamira Varni or Tamirabarani (in Tamil).

Meaning the color of copper or bronze, the name prince Vijaya gave the location where

they landed, which is suspected to be close to modern-day Puttalam (Barker A. , 2010, p.

4).

Taprobane: Was the name Onesicritus gave to Sri Lanka and used by Ptolemy in

his map, the meaning, according to Charles Pridham (1849), is “the wilderness of prayer”

(p. 1).

Temple and Devale Lands Registration Ordinance of 1856: The ordinance

demanded the Temples register the lands belonging to the Temples and assign officers to

ensure that they were registered. Before the British colonization, every monarch has

enabled land use for the maintenance and upkeep of various temples; under the ordinance

of 1856, many of the temple lands were taken by the crown (De Silva K. M., 1963, p.

312).

The Colebrook & Cameron reforms of 1833: Named after two royal British

commissioners sent to assess the administration of Sri Lanka. The reforms are legal

proposals that radically caused significant social changes in Sri Lanka, especially on land

ownership and agriculture (Nubin, 2002, p. 113).

The Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance of 1841: A British Imposed law that

banned all activities of Chena cultivation, Peeling (hand processing) cinnamon in lands

belonging to the crown (Arunachalam, 1910, p. xxviii).

The Donoughmore Constitution of 1931: The second constitution of Ceylon’s

crown colony named after the British commissioner sent to assess the nation and

establish a constitution toward enabling limited self-government. Under this constitution,

the British worked on enculturating in Sri Lanka the British way of life and governance

(Russell, 1982).

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP): This is the major political party of Sri

Lanka founded by the late prime minister S.W.R.D Bandaranaike in 1951, today is the

governing political party (Peebles, 2015, p. xxi).

The Waste Land Act of 1840: One of the first laws passed in Sri Lanka by the

British Colonists. It was a radical law which allowed the British crown to cease any land

that did not have ‘good’ (British approved) land deeds. Because of this law, many natives

lost their homesteads and the income from chena cultivation causing a ripple effect

impacting separatism (De Silva K. M., 1967, pp. 46-47)

United National Party (UNP): The main ruling party of post-colonial Sri Lanka

until 1956 today headed by Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Prime Minister from 2015-

2019 (Peebles, 2015, p. xxii).

Vamsa: The vamsa’s are a collection of texts written between 5th century BC to

14th century AD containing the lineages of past Sri Lankan kings, families, and

communities (Chattopadhyaya & Ray, 2009, p. 54).

Veddas: These are Sri Lanka’s indigenous forest-dwelling people, who claim to

be the original Neolithic community’s decedents (Seligmann & Seligmann, 1911).

Assumptions

Assumptions are unexamined beliefs, and it is important to become aware of such

by objectively determining whether they are based on fact, bias, or stereotyping (Khalsa,

2007). There are three assumptions made in this research. The first of which is an

assumption that the literature selected for the study by me is valid. The second

assumption is that the trigger points for changes I consider valuable could be seen

differently by another because I was not present at all the events captured within the

study. The third assumption is that the study’s findings will support Sri Lanka’s future

efforts to introduce ethnic harmony. These assumptions are due to me being Sri Lankan.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

Scope of the study

The purpose of presenting the scope within a study is to explain the extent to

which the research area was explored and to specify the parameters explored within the

study (Chetty, 2020). The scope of this research is to present an understanding into Sri

Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism by exploring socio-politico-economic

developments in three crucial stages of Sri Lankan history in the pre-colonial, colonial,

and post-colonial periods. These periods encompass a vast pool of data, so the present

study was rescaled to observe the phenomenon 5 years before and after each shift in

periods. I used qualitative document analysis on sources that include gazettes, memoirs,

personal journals, and scholarly journals.

I observed data through five pairs of the 10 values within the polarities of

democracy theory. I compared each period, not exploring other aspects that have the

potential to influence ethnic separatism. The study took into consideration only two

factors: ethnic harmony and democracy. This leaves other aspects such as economy,

political mindset, and technology for future research. This limit was done to assess the

levels of democracy and ethnic harmony/disharmony through lens of polarities of

democracy within the chosen periods.

Delimitations

Delimitations define the boundaries of research (Cassuto, 2018). Within the

present study, limitations were balanced by choosing authoritative materials and

providing a thorough analysis of their contents by triangulation, along with findings by

academics of the subject in the United States and Sri Lanka, thereby enhancing the

validity and credibility of the results.

Limitations

Limitations are characteristics that can affect the results (Price & Murnan, 2013).

This study, addressing 5 years pre- and post-shifts within three chosen periods of Sri

Lankan history, was limited due to the small sample size (Baxter & Jack, 2008). There

could be an infinitely possible number of sources containing details of Sri Lankan

history. Choosing only textual materials for this study is also limited to the materials

chosen (Atieno, 2009). Choosing to explore, in depth, 5 years before and after each shift,

further limits the population and the sample of documents analyzed, compared to all

documents globally accessible with modern technology (Libicki, 2016). Due to the

periods taken into consideration, the study was limited to a tiny population that could be

interviewed. Further, being a Sri Lankan native and cultivated by the Sri Lankan society,

might have presented some biases toward my choices in choosing literature for the study.

Significance of the Study

Most previous researchers have focused on delayed growth in economic

development and ongoing internal turmoil between ethnicities as the major cause that

hindered the post-war development of Sri Lanka (Adriana, 2014; Athukorala, 2016). This

study is one of the first to discuss this problem through the unifying theory, of polarities

of democracy. This study is also among the first to explore a nation and its ethnicities

through the lens of polarities of democracy which will further test and contribute to the

theory itself (Benet, 2006). The current study places an emphasis on presenting a solution

to Sri Lankan post-war development through historical context (Devananda, 2010). The

significance of this study is also valuable for presenting errors in pre-existing documents.

Summary

In Chapter 1, I introduced the research problem: how Sri Lanka’s post-colonial

ethnic separatism. This continues to intimidate its ethnic minorities of 29.9%, causing

violence and unrest throughout the nation and hindering its sustained growth and

development. I then presented the purpose of this study, which was to explore Sri

Lanka’s ethnic separatism by analyzing the data pertaining to its pre-colonial, colonial,

and post-colonial periods through the Benet’s (2006, 2012, 2014) polarities of democracy

theoretical framework.

I also expressed within this chapter that this is one of the first of its kind to

explore Sri Lanka’s condition through the polarities of democracy model making its

findings valuable in furthering polarities of democracy research. I explained the

background studies with regards to the Sri Lankan dilemma and their contribution in

supporting the present study. The present chapter established the use of qualitative

document analysis as the primary form of data gathering to populate a relevant sample,

which, after undergoing a phase of theoretical sampling, was analyzed.

The next chapter, the literature review, will explore search strategies utilized to

acquire the materials, the literature utilized in determining its theoretical framework, and

the gap in the research, while exploring the literature used to assess the study’s

methodology.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The area of inquiry for this research is Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic

separatism, which continues to intimidate its 29.9% ethnic minority, causing violence and

unrest throughout the nation, hindering its sustained growth development. In support of

this purpose, the present historical-comparative case study was aimed to enhance the

understanding of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism since 1948 by observing

three crucial periods of its history through the lens of polarities of democracy in support

of the nation’s future sustained growth. Because this study takes the form of an historical-

comparative case study, the literature review is its foundation. The literature review will

first explore the search strategies utilized to find the materials, followed by exploring the

literature utilized in determining the study’s theoretical framework along with gaps in the

research. Additionally, the current chapter will explore the literature used to assess the

study, the methodology, and the literature supporting the chosen methodology.

Literature Search Strategy

In obtaining source materials for the present literature review, many searches

were done through various electronic databases to explore accurate details for Sri Lanka

and other nations and their economic indicators using databases such as the CIA World

Factbook, World Bank, International Monetary Fund Country Database. In searching

through online scholarly journals, search engines including Google scholar, JSTOR,

Springer Link, ProQuest, Bellevue University and Walden University Library databases,

EBSCO, International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center (EBSCOhost)

were utilized. In seeking valued peer-reviewed online journals, SAGE Journals, Walden

University Political Science Complete, Data USA, and Taylor Francis online were used.

Due to this study’s nature and its limitations in utilizing texts to support the study,

Google books, Bellevue University and Interlibrary loans were also used.

To capture Sri Lanka’s ancient details, a short field study was conducted where

documents such as ancient land and title deeds (Sannas), authentic ancient literature

accounting for public life before colonization contained in Ola leaf books were explored

within the temple and museum archives in Kandy and Colombo. Researching the colonial

period, gazettes, newspapers, government records, memoirs, and other documents in the

Sri Lankan national archives in Colombo and Kandy were utilized.

In finding valued journals, texts, and ancient documents, capturing firsthand

accounts of Sri Lanka during the three periods chosen for the study, the keywords used in

the literature review include but are not limited to: Sri Lanka civil war, Sri Lankan

ethnicity, Sri Lanka Vedda, Sinhalese, Tamil, Malay, LTTE, Tamil Tigers, post-colonial

India, Post-Colonial Sri Lanka, post colonialism, Polarity management, and Sri Lanka,

Polarity Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka bombings, post-war trauma, post-colonial trauma, and

JVP. In expanding search criteria, multi phrases or Boolean search phrases, such as ethnic

conflict AND British AND colonization, Decolonization AND federalism, Devolution

AND Sri Lanka, Ethnic conflict AND Sri Lanka were utilized to expand the findings. In

capturing details on topics where there were limited peer-reviewed journals, time-based

journals such as the Royal Asiatic Society, or books written by authorities filled the gap.

Theoretical Framework

The present study observes Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism, using

Benet’s (2006, 2012, 2013) polarities of democracy as its theoretical framework. Benet’s

polarities of democracy theory used Johnson’s (1996) PM theory as a conceptual

framework and explained the systematic utilization of polarities of democracy theory in

seeking solutions. Using the conceptual framework and the model of PM, Benet (2012)

outlined 10 polarity values essential in achieving and supporting sustainable just

communities: freedom and authority, justice and due process, diversity and equality,

human rights and communal obligations, and participation and representation.

As noted, the theory of polarities of democracy is grounded in the conceptual

framework of Johnson’s polarity management (see Figure 2). Based on Johnson (1996,

2014), PM deals with lingering problems that are unavoidable and impossible to solve,

because the polarities to manage are a set of interdependent opposite forces. One cannot

observe one aspect as a solution and omit the other or vice versa. In naming some of

these popular polarities, those of optimism-reality, caution-courage, self-other, and

mission-margin, stand foremost. Because of these polarities’ dependent nature, many are

observed as problems individually, and if handled in traditional problem-solving

methods, will become a bigger problem (Johnson, 2014; Levknecht, 2013).

Figure 2

Polarity Management and the Infinity Loop

Note. Image reproduced with permission of Polarity Partnerships and the Polarities of

Democracy Institute.

Most individuals are trained to look at only one right answer and become blinded

to the two or more right answers existing within the polarities (Gelfand & Schulte, 2016;

Johnson, 1996, 2014; Levknecht, 2013). When attempting to solve perceived problems

with PM, the first step begins by asking the question: “Is this a problem we can ‘solve’ or

is it an ongoing polarity we must manage?” (Johnson, 2014, p. 90). The second step of

PM is identifying the essential polarity set and naming each of the dependent poles. This

is followed by brainstorming on the content by exploring what should go in each

quadrant as well as its higher purpose (positives) and its deep-seated fear (negatives; see

Figure 3; McKanders & Johnson, 2009). Using the presented model will present an action

plan to see early warning signs while giving time to improve and maintain balance to

secure a sound solution (Johnson, 2014).

Figure 3

A Polarity Pair Usage

Note. Adapted from, “Managing the Polarities of Democracy: A Theoretical Framework

Working on a polarity map consisting of four quadrants, with each side having an

upside and downside, the top half of the quadrants, considered the positives, while the

bottom quadrants, or the downside, consists of negatives. Placing the polarities within the

map, using the presented model will present an action plan to see early warning signs

while giving time to improve and maintain balance to secure a sound solution (Johnson,

2014).

Application of Polarity Management in Previous Research

The first noted application of the PM theory was in the health care sector in 2013,

when the Center for Polarity Management with Barry Johnson and the Polarity

Partnerships (PPLLC, 2020) supported identifying essential polarities that occur during

health care transformations in 13 organizations (Levknecht, 2013). Because all polarities

work the same way, observing both sides of the polarities supported their efforts to

achieve their desired goals and sustain needed changes over time, paving the way for a

smooth transformation (Levknecht, 2013).

Another occasion PM was used was when a lone-wolf terrorist with the intention

of starting a race war went on a shooting rampage, killing nine members of a prominent

African American Church on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, SC. Law enforcement

officials used PM to avoid such occurrences in the future by strengthening community

relations (Mullen et al., 2017). Here, PM teams, working with law enforcement, using

public safety and individual rights polarities, deployed project illumination, which

resulted in solidifying community-police relationships (Mullen et al., 2017). The most

critical implementation of PM derives from Dr. William Benet choosing to utilize the PM

concept in finding a method to measure democracy. But a prominent call for social

change, at the time of this study, had not been measured (Benet, 2006).

Theoretical Framework: The Polarities of Democracy

The present study observing Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism used

Benet’s (2006, 2012, 2013) polarities of democracy as its theoretical framework. The

foundation for polarities of democracy started when Benet (2013) observed that for a

democracy to be a useful tool to achieve positive social change, a unifying theory that

binds the differences within democracy was needed. He began the research for polarities

of democracy in two phases; the first phase was conducted from 2002 to 2006 for his

PhD dissertation. Benet conducted the second phase of the research to support the

Community/University Partnership Project (CUPP) Social Economic Working Group. In

developing polarities of democracy, the theory critical to his findings was taken from

Bohman (2012), who argued that a concept is critical, to the extent that it seeks human

liberation by diminishing authority and increasing freedom.

Embodying the conceptual framework, Benet relied on the new emergent theory

of PM by Johnson (1996), who wrote that the purpose of PM is to leverage the positive

aspects of both poles while minimizing the negative aspects. When there is a sudden push

to the upside, the downside is proportionally affected and vice versa (Benet, 2013;

Johnson, 1996). In establishing this framework, hunting for the needed sets of

interdependent opposites, Benet (2013) used the grounded theory approach. He

scrutinized literature related to democratic theories and concepts. After analyzing the

literature utilizing a complex coding process, 10 predominant values associated with

workplace and societal democracy were identified: freedom, authority, justice, due

process, diversity, equality, human rights, communal obligations, participation, and

representation (Benet, 2013; see Figure 4). Benet (2013) stated that his findings strongly

support the idea that democracy is a concept for the overall workplace or society and

stands as a solution to the problem of oppression. When applying his theory, Benet

(2006, 2012) found that it required all 10 values of polarities of democracy to be operated

successfully using five sets of interrelated polarities.

Figure 4

The Polarities of Democracy Model with the Values Arranged

Note. Adapted from “Managing the Polarities of Democracy: A Theoretical Framework

Both Benet (2006, 2013), and Johnson (1996) argued that in the absence of a

polarity structure, neither progressives nor traditionalists will have the language to

maximize the positive aspects of both poles while minimizing the negative aspects. Benet

embedded Johnson’s PM conceptual framework into his theory, which has the language

and the method to measure and observe the interdependent pairs of polarities of

democracy. According to Benet (2013), when used as the theoretical framework,

polarities of democracy will support planning, guiding, and assessing positive social

change efforts, providing a fundamental understanding of creating a just society.

However, when balancing these interdependent polarity pairs, some leeway for human

nature must be taken into consideration (Benet, 2013). A free society, compliant with

human nature, systematically pushes individuals toward better rational and moral conduct

through education rather than force (Ebeling, 2019). Nations with higher living standards

such as Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, and Denmark, have successfully sustained

such free societies with higher rational and moral conduct (De Jong, 2015). Conversely,

nations such as North Korea, Iran, China, and Venezuela, place a higher consideration on

authority. This upward push alone has made them into rogue states (Coe, 2018). Cases

where more emphasis toward freedom with less emphasis toward authority include Libya,

Somalia, and Iraq, which have become failed states because they have chosen anarchy as

freedom, as true freedom contains constraints (Anya & Kelechi, 2020).

Benet’s (2006) polarities of democracy theory was chosen as the theoretical

framework for this study because it focuses on building just communities by addressing

oppression. This causally relates to the ongoing situation in Sri Lanka. Benet’s theory

emphasizes supporting democratizing workplaces and societies to defy social and

environmental issues at the national, state, and local levels (Benet, 2013). Benet’s (2006,

2012, 2013) polarities of democracy provide a sound framework to extend the

understanding of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism in support of its future

sustained growth. When applying the theory, the values are arranged by their polarity

relationships (see Figure 5). Each of the dependent values that have negative and positive

aspects, must be managed to maximize the positive aspects while minimizing the

negatives.

Figure 5

The Participation and Representation Polarity Pair in Depth

Note. Image reproduced with permission of Polarity Partnerships and the Polarities of

Democracy Institute.

Past Research Conducted Through Polarities of Democracy Theory

The polarities of democracy theory established in 2006 captured the interest of

many scholars worldwide seeking social change in their affected regions from 2006-

2021. A total of 21 PhD dissertations were compiled using the polarities of democracy

theory as the framework for those studies. The first was the study by Tobor (2014), who

compiled an ethnographic case study observing the Urhobo Nation and the Amnesty

Program in Niger Delta. Tabor (2014) used the polarities of democracy theory to explore

the Urhobo culture to find if there were values that could support strengthening the

amnesty program and avoid an internal conflict with the Urhobo militant veterans (Tobor,

2014).

For his study, Tobor (2014) obtained observations of 20 ‘ex-militants’ and

collected the data through semi-structured interviews in assessing what reasons would

prevent them from resorting to violence. Then he used content analysis to identify the

significant themes. Tobor’s finding showed that values, such as communal obligations,

respect for elders, commitment to social justice and equality embodied within the Urhobo

culture would support Amnesty International and prevent adverse reactions from ‘ex-

militants’ (Tobor, 2014). This study’s findings were used to educate policymakers on the

value of Urhobo culture and extend knowledge on how it may further strengthen the

amnesty program.

The next study was a comparative case study exploring the effects of racism on

social capital in African American communities in America by Strouble (2015), who

utilized data collections from two majority African American communities of Florida,

and analyzed samples taken from twenty residences. Strouble, scrutinized reviews of

local news reports, voter turnout reports, community health assessments, along with

conducting focus groups and semi-structured interviews. He then used the Polarities of

Democracy theory to examine the relationship between racism and social capital

(Strouble, 2015).

When analyzed using inductive coding and pattern matching, the findings of the

study presented two reoccurring themes. One was that the perceived ethnic inequality

linked with social capital in the selected communities. The next theme observed by

Strouble was that racism created social capital insufficiencies and a dysfunctional

community culture that reduced the capacity to address common issues. Strouble’s

findings were collectively used in presenting policy recommendations to increase the

participation of African American communal members in the democratic processes

(Strouble, 2015).

The next study utilizing polarities of democracy theory addressed the Niger Delta

Amnesty Program Enactments and its consequences on Nigeria’s Upstream Petroleum

Industry. Ezeocha (2016) developed the study to fill the program’s research literature

gap. Framed under the PM conceptual framework this study utilized the polarities of

democracy theoretical framework and obtained a participant pool of 29 contributors from

the senior ranks of trade unions in the petroleum manufacturing sector, relevant

government agencies, and a district university (Ezeocha, 2016). Face-to-face interviews

and focus group discussions were then conducted with the selected sample. The data were

coded inductively as part of content analysis. When processing the data, it became

evident that the amnesty policy was poorly conceived and implemented, due to negative

consequences arising from its implementation.

Ezeocha (2016) suggested that stakeholders might reduce unintended

consequences and position the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector for sustainable growth

by utilizing study recommendations regarding the faulty policies. The next study utilizing

the polarities of democracy theoretical framework was the work of Kaka (2018) on

‘Decentralization of Local Government and Rural Development in Rivers State, Nigeria’.

Kaka’s study investigated local stakeholders’ perceptions of the factors that have

contributed to further policy failures in Nigeria. In obtaining the data, Kaka (2018)

interviewed 22 participants who answered questions regarding why the Community

Development Committees (CDC) failed to promote rural development in the Khana

Local Government Area within Rivers State, Nigeria? Analyzing the data concluded that

the CDCs protected personal and political interests of the elites, excluded the voice of the

local citizens, lacked representation from the minority, and CDC officials mismanaged

funds and resources (Kaka, 2018).

In aligning this study with the previous studies, utilizing the polarities of

democracy theoretical framework, the study compiled by Tabor (2014) and Strouble

(2015) stand most relevant. Because Strouble (2015) addresses racism, which aligns with

ethnic separatism, while Tabor (2014) brings forth the debate of centralization and

decentralization, which is something that occurred with colonial governance. The present

study differs, as it considered all the ten values of polarities of democracy theory and

compared their existence in each chosen period of Sri Lankan history: seeking answers to

the evolution of Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism.

The Rationale for Choosing the Polarities of Democracy Theory

The evolving problem with Sri Lanka that stands as an obstacle, since its

Independence in 1948, is its lack of ethnic tolerance and the ongoing separatist mentality.

Such is a clear sign of dysfunctional democracy (Balasundaram, 2016). In having faced a

decade long conflict with the Sri Lankan Tamils, who are the largest ethnic minority from

1950 – 2009, due to separatist mentality, failed to seek corrective action, showing a lack

of understanding of the five interdependent pairs of the polarities of democracy in Sri

Lanka (Benet, 2013, Ibrahim & Irfan, 2016;). Continued separatism toward Sri Lankan

Muslims, building anti-Muslim legislatures, boycotting trade owned by Muslim

proprietors, spreading anti-Muslim propaganda, and suppressing the Muslims as an ethnic

minority, show Sri Lanka’s lack of understanding of true democracy (Keethaponcalan,

2019).

In explaining such cases as in Sri Lanka, Benet (2013) argues that the concept of

democracy serves as a solution for oppression. But democratization would require ten

values successfully managed, as five sets of interrelated polarities. These ten values are

presented as five interdependent pairs: freedom and authority, justice and due process,

diversity and equality, human rights and communal obligations, and participation and

representation. embodies every aspect of democracy (Benet, 2006; 2012;2013).

Benet also argues that the fundamental purpose of democracy is to overcome

oppression within nations, like Sri Lanka, with matriarchal underpinnings. These factors

present clear answers to the value of choosing the polarities of democracy model as the

theoretical framework for the present study. Scholars of the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis,

despite assessing Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism through various angles including

political, and sociological, failed to capture it through the lens of polarities of democracy.

In these cases, Benet (2006) argues that when one attempts democratizing without

a clear understanding of the polarity nature of the values and the structure, it cannot be

professionally managed. Such is the case of Sri Lanka, evident through the present

research gap on the topic. This study sought to fill the gap by utilizing the polarities of

democracy theoretical framework to observe Sri Lanka’s ethnic dilemma and consider, as

Benet (2006) observes, all the ten values through the five interdependent polarities pairs.

Literature Reviews Related to Key Variables

The current study expands understanding into Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic

separatism since 1948, by observing three crucial periods of its history through the lens

of polarities of democracy. Benet’s theory is used to analyze the results in determining

how polarities of democracy detracted or contributed to Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial,

colonial, and post-colonial governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic harmony.

Therefore, a more in-depth understanding of democracy is needed because it is the

foundation of the theoretical framework for this study.

Democracy

A democracy, Benet (2013) argues is “the rallying cry for people seeking positive

social change” (p. 1). In defining such, Post (2016) indicated that a “democratic form of

government is one in which the laws are made by the same people to whom they apply”,

making them autonomous (p.2). Democracy is a unique form of authority by majority,

which aspires to realize the value of collective self-determination bound in an endless

knot, mutually strengthening and being incompatible (Post, 2016, p. 26). The exact nature

of democratic governance values and protects the principles of citizen participation,

equality, accountability, and transparency (Post, 2016). Scrutinizing these valued entities

encompassed within democratic governance observed, as Post quotes Rousseau (2016),

“the wills of individual citizens and the general will of the collectivity” (p. 27). In getting

individual determination to become general motivation, a democracy asks citizens to

participate in the governing process by standing for election, voting, becoming informed,

debating issues, paying taxes, and even protesting (Christiano, 2018).

Citizen participation is vital for a healthy democracy. Without majority citizen

participation, democracy would be, as Rousseau states according to Post (2016), “a poor

state of oppression”. The next valued entity of democracy: ‘equality’ is defined as the

notion that all individuals are “valued equally, have equal opportunities, and no one

should face discrimination because of their race, religion, ethnic group, gender, or sexual

orientation” (Christiano, 2018). Because of the autonomy and self-determination of the

citizens being vital to operating a democracy, everyone has been given the same rights in

making autonomous participation a valued element of self-governing, which makes it

vital to democracy (Post, 2016, p. 29).

Even with a good body of willing participants with an equal mindset, a democracy

cannot function without the essential values of accountability and taking responsibility.

‘Accountability’ is the ideology that “elected officials must make a decision and perform

their duties for the will and the wishes of the people and not themselves” (Oni et al.,

2019). When considering democratic governance, it is understood to be a condition where

the laws are established by the same individuals to whom they apply. If the elected

officials acted differently, it degrades the general will alongside the individual will that

defines democracy (Post, 2016; Shah, 2018). Governments are created to provide services

and goods, and be accountable to the people, because funding for the government to

provide these services and goods is paid for by the people (Mikesell, 2017).

‘Transparency’ is the government's willingness to be accountable to its citizens in

what is happening in the country and daily national decision-making. "In a democracy,

through the press, people can get information about what statements are being made, by

whom and why" (Bell & Machain, 2018). A democracy made through individual will

eventually become general will, so misinformed citizens could improperly direct the path

of the nation and the collective good, making transparency a vital segment of a

democracy (Bell & Machain, 2018).

Conceptions of Democracy

In having presented democracy and its purpose in the simplest form, the scholars

of democracy, including Benet (2013), argue that there are variations of democracy

existing. The most noted variations are the Electoral, Liberal, Majoritarian, Deliberative

and Egalitarian types of democracies, each containing their unique characteristics

observed by various cultures in various forms (Coppedge et al., 2011). The (Table 1)

below summarizes these democracies’ basic guiding principles and questions each

variation of what these democracies focus upon, and their significant conceptions.

Table 1

Conceptions of Democracy

Conception or type

Basic principles

Guiding question

Electoral

Competition

Elite

How are officials elected for

public office?

Liberal

Limited government

Civil liberties

Transparency

Is political power

decentralized?

Majoritarian

Majority rule

Does the majority rule?

Deliberative

Government by the people

What role do ordinary

citizens have in politics?

Egalitarian

Government by reason

Does public deliberation

impact political decisions?

When Benet (2006) developed his theory, he took into consideration all the

variations of democracy in developing the means of measuring a democracy. This study

focusses solely on polarities of democracy, exploring the ten values and their application

to the chosen periods of Sri Lankan history.

Freedom and Authority

‘Freedom’, depending on the context, has many interpretations. Freedom is

described as the free capacity for choice, or free will, and the ability to act on one’s own,

without being driven by external forces (Baumeister & Monroe, 2014, Demenchonok,

2019; Omoregie, 2015;). Free will is the foundation of democracy; when an individual

actively participates with others, it becomes the common will that paves the path for

democratic governance (Mehdiyev, 2019). Free will-oriented behaviors such as:

helpfulness, restraint of aggression, learning via counterfactual analysis, thinking for

oneself, effective job performance, and appropriate gratitude allow for a functioning

democracy (Bowring, 2015).

Benet (2006) explains the positive aspects of freedom to be: human dignity,

security, self-fulfillment, and the promotion of justice, freedom, and equality for others.

Conversely, the downsides of freedom can be seen as being lazy, resistant to performing

assigned tasks, being unmotivated, argumentative, unresponsive, uncooperative, and

unable to perform tasks well, dishonest, malingering, unreliable, irresponsible, and

noncompliant. Benet (2006) proposes that the downside of freedom from the perspective

of a state is visible to those who are searching; it is the result of "abuse of authority" by

those in positions of authority.

‘Authority’ is commonly understood as lawful power within a democracy. It

derives openly or incidentally from the people. Authority within a democracy is

expressed through the rules of law, constitution, statutes, treaties, executive orders, and

judicial opinions (Wayne et al., 1995; Woods, 2016). ‘Free will’, is considering reason,

personal values, and conscious reflections, while accepting the consequences and moral

implications if in violation of active control of authority (Baumeister & Monroe, 2014).

Freedom demands common sense, with moderation, and restraint or self-control in

ensuring that an individual’s free will does not hinder others. The upsides of authority are

the freedom and the right to control, judge, or prohibit the actions, influence, or control of

others. The downsides of authority, occurs with oppression, including the inability to

seek true freedom, helplessness, exclusive prerogatives, paternalistic behavior, trying to

appear infallible, hiding mistakes, mistrustfulness, limiting the freedom of others,

secrecy, withholding information, and the corruption that accompanies power (Benet,

2006).

Considering the relationship between the two, Dai (2009), according to Mills

(1996), argues that while freedom and authority are antagonistic. They are mutually

compatible because authority invades upon freedom and freedom is an inevitable erosion

to authority (Dai, 2009). The purpose of freedom is not to eliminate authority and vice

versa the purpose of authority is not to end freedom; in fact, they complement each other

making both authority and freedom two strong poles of democracy (Benet, 2012; Dai,

2009).

Justice and Due Process

Defining ‘Justice’, the term evolving from Judean literature, has many

descriptions evolving through the ages and the context of which it is applied. The modern

philosophical definition is "how human rights manifested itself in the everyday lives of

people at every level of society” (Hemphill, 2015, p. 2). However, when addressing it

through the scope of democracy Justice is defined as a set of doctrines whose purpose is

to distribute entitlements to valued resources such as: liberties, opportunities, income, and

wealth among a multitude of mediators contending over them (Valentini, 2010; Miller,

2017). One of the main upsides of justice is overcoming oppression, and its downside is

increased oppression.

The notion of ‘Due process’ evolves from the Magna Carta. Within clause 29 of

the Magna Carta, the king promises: "No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or

disseized of his free tenement or his liberties or free customs…. nor will we go against

such a man or send against him save by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of

the land" (Holt, 1992, p. 4). Due process states that there should be a balance of power

within the law of the land and serves as individual protection from the law of the land. It

also assures all legal matters be resolved according to the rules and principles established

(Kenton, 2020; Williams R. C., 2010). The upsides of ‘due process’ moderates’ power to

overcome oppression, while regulating the law of the land to provide individuals

protection from risk, over taxation, crime, privacy, and other governmental influence

(Benet, 2006).

When considering the relationship between due process and justice, due process

ensures the right to be treated fairly, efficiently, and effectively when administering

justice. It places limitations on the laws and the legal proceedings to guarantee

fundamental fairness and justice (Ge´linas et al., 2015). If too much emphasis is put on

the due process, it will hinder the application of justice, and if too much emphasis is put

upon justice, it will hinder due process.

Diversity and Equality

Observing ‘Diversity’, Daft (2008) argues that diversity is the differences among

people in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, race, and other dimensions. One of the

dimensions of diversity are genetic differences, people’s world view, and self-image

(Wills, 2020; Daft, 2008). The other dimension is lived life experiences acquired within

an individual’s upbringing and changes throughout their lives (Wills, 2020).

These changes have more impact on an individual’s worldview and others’ view

of them. Benet argues, “arduous work, diligence, competitiveness, commitment to

excellence, protection of an individual’s rights and personal beliefs to be forces for

creativity and the upside of diversity”. The downside of diversity is the “creation of rigid

hierarchical relations of power, leading to the institutionalization of dominance and

oppression in both the workplace and society” (Benet, 2006, p. 160).

Assessing the strengths or upsides of equality, Benet (2006), argues that it is a

remedy for the special privileges of the ruling elites with the potential for purging poverty

while elevating self-esteem among all citizens in society. Equality’s downsides lead to

the hardening or lacking essential values needed for growth: motivation, creativity,

challenging work, diligence, and commitment to excellence (Clutterbuck et al., 2016). If

they are not balanced, it will lead to severe discrimination (inconsistent with democratic

workplaces or societies) based on race, gender, and class (Benet, 2006).

Human Rights and Communal Obligations

When observed within the democratic context, a ‘right’ refers to the "freedom

from interference" by an individual or the government (Roberts C. , 2017). Human rights

refer to the rights (Freedoms) belonging to every human, such as the right to life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness (Mende, 2019). Each person belongs to a community,

defined as a group of people with shared interests and values, regardless of their

geography, an individual can belong to one or more communities (Flint, 2011). An

individual, being part of a community, is held accountable and responsible to their

community, which is understood as community responsibility. Some responsibilities

include cooperation, respect, and participation (Hytten, 2017). Each community is also a

part of other communities, such as family, neighbors, village, city, county, region, and on

a grand scale, the world (Benet, 2006; Ekanem, 2020). A community's obligation is to the

Nation. Such obligations include active participation, voting, and supporting a sound

democratic government (Benet, 2006).

The polarity pair of rights and obligations, despite being the primary polarity for

human rights and communal obligations, is also embodied within the other eight pairs, as

a sub-polarity. By presenting an example, Benet (2006) demonstrates that since both

justice and due process become human rights for the individual worker, they also become

obligations that an organization must seek to ensure for all workers.

The human rights and communal obligations polarity pair in-depth, have

prominence in human development, which is the core element of self-actualization and

self-governance supporting overcoming oppression, and promoting the common good

(Benet, 2006). The downside of this pair leads to discrimination, suppression, and

marginalization of various groups residing within a state or an organization which

degrades democracy (Hans-Otto & Broberg, 2018).

Participation and Representation

A functioning democracy needs informed, organized, active and peaceful citizens

and their participation to maintain its course in supporting the greater good or the public

good (Carson & Elstub, 2019). Participation refers to people’s acknowledgment of their

political membership and membership in other social units (Schonfeld, 1975). It is an

instrumental driver of democratic and socio-economic change and acts as a means of

empowering citizens because it requires citizens to participate in decisions that affect

public welfare (Fischer, 2016). Representation encompasses a large part of the

international debate on democracy. Representation according to Pitkin (1967) is “make

present again” (p.241). Within this context Political Representation is the activity of

making citizens’ voices, opinions, and perspectives ‘present’ in public ‘policy-making

processes’ (Dovi, 2018).

When considering the relationship between the two, as Benet (2013) argues,

representative and participation within a democracy are not opposites. Instead, they are

entities that complement one another. The opposite of representation is not participation,

it is exclusion, and the opposite of participation, is not representation, but abstention

(Plotke, 1997). By electing a representative, a citizen cannot abandon the other

responsibilities such as both participation and representation are equally crucial for an

effective democracy (Benet, 2013; Benet, 2006). For a state to address complexity and

changes in sustaining democracy and providing goods and services to its citizens and

communities, it must pave the way for citizen engagement to flourish (Benet, 2006).

Literature Review Related to Concepts

This study considers only the data containing crucial socio-politico-economic

changes that affected each period. It takes into consideration an approximate five-year

period. Because it is more feasible since the events that are crucial to the turning points in

Sri Lankan history do not fall into that range.

First 5 Years Pre-Colonial Period Under Study (1444-1449)

By 1444 Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial period had reached a pinnacle. Exploring the

ancient literature such as: The Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Chulavamsa, Salalihini

Sandeshaya and The Mandaram Puwatha, indicated that Sri Lanka sustained a sound

socio-politico-economic underpinning evident through the undertakings of the ancient

monarch’s (Henry, 2019; Kumari et al., 2013). Most notable of these are the large-scale

irrigation canals and tanks constructed throughout the nation in support of paddy

cultivation which would have cost billions even then (Mahanama et al., 1837).

Visible ancient ruins of elaborate building and religious complexes, palaces,

public gardens, and advance water management systems, also boast of a solid economic

foundation and advancements in sciences and technology of the time (Geekiyanage &

Pushpakumara, 2013 ). The foundation for this study and its theoretical framework,

polarities of democracy, looking at the precolonial Sri Lankan government, although

being a monarchy it did have a constitution which was later known as the Kandyan

Constitution (D’Oyly, 1833).

The Kandyan constitution contained systematic guidelines on the delegation of

powers, land management, ownership, and other duties of various departments and

administration of justice (D’Oyly, 1833). Exploring the power between the king, his

chiefs, and the sub-chiefs, managing different divisions of the nation shows that the

feudalistic monarchic system of governance was used (De Silva K. M., 1981).

Scholars of geopolitics argue that sound functionality of a state is dependent upon

the actions of its cities, towns, villages, and locales, which are the nucleus that influence

all other aspects of governance (Flint, 2011). Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial localities were

communal societies founded on agriculture as its economic foundation which was

specifically rice cultivation.

The literature shows that these communal societies embraced diversity, both

gender and ethnic (Fleet, 1912). This diversity was due to inherent communal aspects of

rice cultivation as written by Hilary Clinton “It takes a village” (Clinton, 2006). The focal

point of the ancient social system; the village council or the Gam-Sabaha, was where

membership consisted of residence in a village regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or

occupation (Krishnamohan, 2016).

The Sri Lankan village council differentiates from the Indian Panchayat. Where

Sri Lankan village council was more methodical and decided over irrigation as well as

village disputes while attending to other village affairs (Appleby, 1962; Brahmanandam

& Ambedkarnagar, 2018; Sirinivasa, 1962; Tinker, 1990). Executing the functions of the

village councils, supporting the nation’s infrastructure and its development, a unique

form of labor was utilized by the pre-colonial Sri Lankan known as Rajakariya or king’s

duty (Jodhka & Shah, 2010). Rajakariya, the labor, which supported Sri Lanka’s ancient

infrastructure, is identified with the polarities of democracy pair as communal obligation

and participation (Benet, 2006; 2012; 2013).

Paddy cultivation, dependent upon water moderation in ancient Sri Lanka was

done by capturing, into reservoirs, the eastern and the western monsoon rains that

replenished both in turn every year (Shaw, 2018). Having ample time between these

seasons, the ancient’s utilized it for their Rajakariya where each citizen volunteered time,

to support various undertakings needed for the village, city, and the state (Dayaratne,

2018). These undertakings included building roads, city complexes, irrigation tanks and

painting the village temple complexes as well as supporting the efforts of guarding the

villages and cities (De Silva K. M., 2015).

Binding all segments of the ancient world was Theravada Buddhism introduced to

Sri Lanka in the third century; the advocacy of this philosophy being peace, harmony,

self-control, and moderation, it became the dominant religion of the state (Voss, 2016;

Claveyrolas et al., 2018). Buddhism, a philosophy of acceptance and adaptation, unified

all the ethnicities and other religious traditions of Sri Lanka until the introduction of

Christianity in the mid 1500’s (Ashiwa, 2015).

Pre-Colonial Period Under Study (1500-1505)

Due to constant attacks from Indian invading forces from 933 to 1500 AD, the old

dynamics of Sri Lanka’s glory had slowly faded with time, and the great monarch’s seat

of power had been pushed southwards (Rasanyagam, 2003). Lacking strong leadership to

reclaim the lost territories, these Indian invaders assimilating with the Jaffna kingdom

(1215-1619) continued expanding, further causing the Sri Lankan seat of power to be

migrated southwards (Branfoot, 2015).

This marked the end of the dominant rule by Sinhalese kings, starting the era of

south Indian rule of Sri Lanka who later fought other South Indian monarchs for power.

Most devastating of these, was the invasion of Kalinga Magha in 1215 destroying the

infrastructure and the economy that supported the growth and success of the ancient

monarchy (Strathern, 2017). Magha’s occupation saw the dawn of the Jaffna Kingdom

known as Kingdom of Arya Chakravarti (1215 -1624) and gained control of the

northeast, northcentral and northwestern regions of Sri Lanka until it was occupied by the

Portuguese in 1624 (Strathern, 2017).

Last 5 Years Pre-Colonial Period Under Study (1506-1511)

In reaching 1505, when the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka, the prominent seat of

power was the kingdom of Kotte. It was founded by descendants of a Tamil merchant

family named Chandra Banu of Yapa Patuna (Jaffna Peninsula) who identified himself as

King Parakramabahu VI (Roberts M. , 1982). However, due to sibling rivalries over the

throne, the kingdom of Kotte was in chaos. At the same time, the growing power of the

Jaffna kingdom now reach its golden years, slowly seeing the downfall of the Sinhalese

kingdoms of the south (Berkwitz, 2016). These factors played crucial roles in events

leading to the Portuguese colonization. Internal turmoil, lack of unity among the existing

kingdoms of Jaffna and Kotte allowed the Portuguese to easily manipulate the Sinhalese

monarchy in securing their strong holds (Strathern, 2017).

First 5 Years of Colonial Period Under Study (1815-1820)

The Sri Lankan colonial era started with the commercialization of Sri Lankan

spices and goods as being part of the East Indian Trading Company, administered

successively by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, the dominating sea powers of the time

(Kingwell-Banham et al., 2018; Pieris & Arasaratnam, 2019). Geographically, Sri Lanka

is abundant in valued flora and fauna, which are scarce and highly valued in Europe.

Because they grow throughout the nation, colonists had a low to no overhead cost to

harvest, so Sri Lanka became a fountain of wealth for the colonists that exploited these

resources (Serrao, 2015). Sri Lanka was colonized successively by the Portuguese in

1505, the Dutch in 1658 followed by the British in 1796. Both the Portuguese and the

Dutch were unsuccessful in toppling the Sri Lankan monarchy that reigned over the

Kandyan kingdom. Their influences were contained to the coastal regions (Pieris &

Arasaratnam, 2019). The Portuguese and the Dutch influences are worth noting, as they

not only helped the arriving British to secure dominance of the whole nation by 1815, but

they also contributed immensely to creating the systematic rift between up country

Sinhalese and the low country (Coastal) Singhalese as well as the Tamil population.

The Colonial Period Under Study (1821-1826)

The first of the pre-British colonial influences was the toppling of the Jaffna

kingdom by the Portuguese in 1624. Now isolated, the natives had no alliances to support

their efforts to rid the invading colonial powers of the Dutch or the British (Pieris &

Arasaratnam, 2019). The second pre-British colonial influences were that the Portuguese

and the Dutch, due to the constant threat of being attacked, very rarely wandered inland

or occupied territories beyond the coast.

The Portuguese and the Dutch not having total dominance over the country,

maintained old governing methods and traditions as the ‘Rajakariya’ to continue

uninterrupted inland and sheltered the native population from western influences (Pieris

& Naish, 1999). By having a strong navy, the Portuguese were able to continue

exploiting inland resources along the Sri Lankan coastline and secure trading by building

a chain of fortresses (Boxer, 1974). These fortresses, later served as strong holds for the

Dutch and British colonists in maintaining pressure on the natives and disrupting any

efforts of securing support from enemies of the colonists such as the French, Americans,

or Spanish.

The third and most notable influence on Sri Lanka was the introduction of

Christianity. This was done in a brutish manner by the Portuguese, so that even at present

Sri Lankans are indifferent to Christian evangelical efforts (Pearson, 1990). The

introduction of a new ethnicity known as the Sri Lankan Burghers, which was the result

of Portuguese that has sexual intercourse with local women or due to rape (Brohier,

1986). By classification, the Burghers being Eurasian, mixed with the Dutch and the

British were esteemed at a higher level during the Dutch period and reduced during the

British colonial period (Crossette, 1988). This was the first time the natives experienced

social alienation where more privileges were granted to a sub-ethnicity over a majority,

due to their birth and skin-color (Ankony & Kelly, 1999).

The Dutch occupation in Sri Lanka, akin to the Portuguese occupation, has its

foundation in securing exotic Asian, goods such as spices, ivory, silk, gems, and pearls,

from the Dutch East India Company bringing substantial revenue to Europe (Wahab-

Salman, 2016). Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch, gaining more control of the land,

established the first bureaucracy. In doing so, they separated their territories into three

administrative districts: Colombo, Galle, and Jaffna (Pieris P. E., 1995). The Dutch

administering these districts, introduced the title of authority of Mudaliar and a new caste

the Salagama (cinnamon workers) and elevated them as lower country elites, which

competed with the upcountry elites (De Silva K. M., 2015; Roberts M. , 2008).

The Dutch also introduced Roman- Dutch Law, the foundation to Sri Lankan

common law today, and applied it within their dominion. It was the first form of western

law observed by natives (Cooray, 2009). However, despite the Dutch making

considerable contributions, their dominion was contained only within the coastal areas,

while most of the territories continued under village council administration (Jayawardana

& Wijithadhamma, 2015).

The Dutch being experts in water management, specifically canals, like the

ancient rulers of Sri Lanka, supported the lower country rice cultivation and agricultural

efforts (Jayawardana & Wijithadhamma, 2015). The British being the last colonial

masters gave prominence to the southern elites, fathered by the Dutch, and slowly began

a systematic dismantling of the old systems that were dependent on the Kandyan nobility

and the monarchy (De Silva K. M., 2015). The British eventually did away with the

existing monarchy by capturing the king and exiling him. Utilizing the Kandyan

convention of 1815, the British gained total dominion over the whole nation

(Amarasingam, 2015).

The British allowed the Kandyan nobility to keep their titles, although their status

and their powers were limited, causing a clash between the Kandyan elites and the

Southern elites now elevated in status (Aldrich, 2016). The main purpose of the British

colonization of Sri Lanka was founded on monopolizing east Indian trade through the

British East India Company; all British undertakings within Sri Lanka was in support of

that effort (Amarasinghe P. , 2018).

The first of the changes that affected the whole nation was the Kandyan

convention, signed by dignitaries and nobles of the Kandyan kingdom on March 02,

1815. The convention was written in both English and Sinhala. The English version

deceitfully favored the British, who gained direct control over every aspect of Sri Lanka,

including local authorities and religion (Godden & Casinader, 2013). The British never

had any intention of keeping their side of the convention, as all they wanted was

dominion to do as they pleased with minimal cost, and the convention provided a means

toward that end.

Last 5 Years of the Colonial Period Under Study (1943-1948)

In the last five years of Sri Lanka’s colonial period under study, Sri Lanka was

governed by the British. They exercised a highly centralized, hierarchical, and

bureaucratic style of administration from 1815 – 1948 and enforced lasting changes

within the Sri Lankan socio-politico-economic infrastructure. The Colebrook-Cameron

reforms of 1829–32 transformed Sri Lanka from having a rational political system, to a

mercantile sovereignty, and then to a governmentality which ended the ancient feudal

authority. After the Colebrook-Cameron reforms, the British, enforced the infamous Land

Encroachment Laws, also known as the Crown Land Encroachment Ordinances No.12 of

1840 and No. 9 of 1841 with no time for the natives to comply (Ordinance Nos, 12 of,

1840).

Under these new land enactments, any land that did not have a deed, would be

considered crown property according to the British Law of the Land. The British

confiscated many of the ancestral lands belonging to the Natives. The British then handed

these lands over to British planters who chased away the upcountry villagers from their

ancestral homes, which in turn deprived the native nobles of their property and source of

wealth (Paranage, 2018). Sri Lanka’s economy and infrastructure thus far being bound by

land cultivation and rice paddy cultivation, was decreased dramatically by the British

taking these lands. This also impacted the Buddhists and their institutions that depended

on these lands for sustenance and wealth (Fernando D. , 2016; Peebles, 2006).

The ‘Rajakariya’, the ancient system of community service understood as the

king’s duty, was abolished by the British who needed additional labor for their industries

in tea, rubber, and coconut (Lowe, 2007). In recruiting, local labor, to sustain the systems

of the British, they dismantled the Temple education system and introduced Christian

education. This was done by giving prominence to scholars of western education over

others, which were dominated by Southern families, and Tamils of the lower country,

now westernized through their exposure to the Dutch and Portuguese (Golding, 2018;

Wettewa, 2016;).

In the 1920’s animosity toward the colonists spread, with Buddhist monks

alongside foreign supporters, such as Colonel Henry Steel Olcott who founded the

Theosophical Society. The Sinhala Buddhists began calling for independence from

colonization (Tweed, 2015). As first steps toward self-governance, the British

implemented the Donoughmore constitution of 1931 and gave representation to members

of the new elites to represent each ethnic group and to address respective domestic

affairs. The constitution, identified by then minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike as the “Do

No More” constitution, because despite the appearance, local members had no actual

power.

First 5 Years of the Post-Colonial Period Under Study (1943-1948)

Having a voice and a platform, new elites from the Jaffna youth congress named

the ‘All-Ceylon Tamil League’ began complaining about vital matters that needed

attention (Jupp J. , 1970). Some of these items included: the abolishment of communal

governments, in favor of individual, representation, elimination of the Caste system,

adoption of national dress, a native language that was not English, and securing a native

government (Mukerji, 1953). The Donoughmore constitution systematically dismantled

every aspect of Sri Lanka’s ancient culture that bound the citizens to each other,

encouraging, as Benet (2006), argues, active participation, and the upholding of

communal obligations.

The growing demand for independence soon began to embody feelings of

nationalism, with local leaders compelling deep debates within the state council. In

bringing to light a sensitive but realistic issue, G.G. Ponnambalam debated the question

of the Indian Tamils and their citizenship (Rambukwella H. , 2018). Majority Sinhalese

MPs within the council, opposing citizenship to the Indian Tamils, caused a rift in the

governing body who then fought to create a British style hierarchical cabinet. As a result,

riots began forming everywhere demanding independence and change.

The growing anti-British feelings among the people compelled the British to re-

assess the Donoughmore constitution (Gunaratna, 2018). Seeking a resolution, the British

appointed a commission to address constitutional reforms, named after the British

governor. The commission was known as the Soulbury Commission of 1944. The

suggested reforms focused on the draft made by the board of ministers, headed by D.S.

Senanayake and its chief architect Sir Ivor Jennings, gaining support from the Kandyan

Sinhalese, as the reforms favored the 78% Sinhala majority (Abeyratne, 2015).

Notable Tamil members as G.G. Ponnambalam opposed these reforms. They

claimed discrimination of the Tamils in public Service within the policies of the newly

opened settlements, which favored the Sinhalese (The Soulbury report, 1945). The

opposition claimed that the limitation on the use of ports in the Northern peninsula, as

depicted within the reforms as discriminatory, showing biases in education, medical

services etc., favoring the Sinhalese (The Soulbury report, 1945). Nevertheless, the

Soulbury commission concluded: "the evidence submitted to us provides no substantial

indication of a general policy on the part of the Government of Ceylon of discrimination

against minority communities" (The Soulbury report, 1945, p. 131). The commission,

which was drafted July 5, 1944, with the majority Sinhalese supporting it, replaced the

Donoughmore constitution of 1931 and became the first constitution of Independent Sri

Lanka on February 4, 1948.

Post-Colonial Period Under Study (1949-1954)

Neglecting Tamil concerns from 1931 to 1948 during, the process of

implementing the Soulbury Commission, showed the foundation for Sri Lankan

independence in a negative light. The constitution of post-colonial Sri Lanka becoming

the recommendations of the Soulbury commission, contained no charters for human

rights, nor any significant protection for the minorities, which would later prove to

become a grave error on behalf of the Sinhalese policymakers (Devanesan, 2017).

Taking over independent governance, Sri Lanka had two challenges, first to seek

a resolution to Indian Tamil citizenship, next was to establish a national language other

than English. Addressing the first, the lawmakers of the time influenced with post-

colonial insecurities exacerbated by pro-Sinhala Buddhists, invoked Article 29 of the Sri

Lankan constitution, and passed the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, depriving

citizenship to Indian Tamils (Shastri, 2007; Wolozin, 2015;). In disagreement, the Tamil

population peacefully appealed this legislature, but anti-Tamil riots, spearheaded by

radical Buddhist monks, spread throughout the nation, and destroyed any attempt for a

peaceful resolution (Jones D., 2013).

The action of the majority, in neglecting the Indian Tamils their citizenship and

rights, caused a rift inside the Sri Lankan parliament, paving the way for the ultra-

nationalist Sri Lankan Tamil movement to break off and establish the Federal Party in

1951 (Balasundaram, 2016). By 1951 the parliamentary majority, under the United

National Party (UNP) was held by Sinhala elite family members who sympathized and

favored Westernization. Recovering from colonization with an intense sense of

nationalism, most of the public, led by Buddhist monks, were against the politics of

westernization and strongly advocated nationalism (Bryce, 1950).

S.W.R.D. Bandaranayke then a member of the parliament, saw this as an

opportunity to compete for power, which was then dominated by family members of the

first Prime minister of Sri Lanka: D.S. Senanayake and their loyalists (Abeyaratne, 2015).

S.W.R.D. Bandaranayke broke off from the UNP and established the Sri Lanka Freedom

Party (SLFP) with the support of the rural population which upheld anti-western, pro

communal, nationalist ideals formed by the monks (Casinader et al., 2018).

S.W.R.D. Bandaranayke was a strong orator, and the symbolic foundation for

uniting the up country, the low country, and the Kandyan Sinhalese majority. S.W.R.D.

Bandaranayke leaving the United National Party changed the tides of Sri Lanka’s post-

colonial governance migrating majority support with him. This caused an imbalance that

further worsened when Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake died due to a riding accident in

1952. Senanayake was a sound political leader that operated quietly behind the curtain,

ensuring that the minorities would, to a certain extent, agree with the majority party

(Patnaik, 2011). D.S. Senanayake gained support from both Tamil leaders including

Ponnambalam, the colonial powers and constitutionalists like Dr. Ivor Jennings.

Senanayake’s death marked an end to any form of balanced reforms within post-colonial

governance (Chandrasekaram, 2017).

Following the death of Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, the colonial Governor-

General of the time Lord Soulbury appointed Mr. Dudley Senanayake, son of late D.S.

Senanayake, as the second prime minister of Sri Lanka on March 26, 1952 (Pieris G. L.,

1996). Suffering from poor health, Dudley Senanayake’s administration (1952-1953)

became unpopular as it soon began to face the economic challenges of a now import

dependent economy (Kadirgamar, 2020). The great shortages in rice imported from India

at the time, compelled the administration to increase the price of rice; Sri Lanka’s staple

diet, with no subsidies (Kadirgamar, 2020). Increases in unemployment, foreign debt, and

loss of import capacity due to changes in trade, caused civil unrest that led to the 1953

Ceylonese Hartal (large-scale political action) and resulted in Prime Minister Mr. Dudley

Senanayake resigning on October 12, 1953 (Kadirgamar, 2020).

The UNP still holding prominence, appointed Sir John Kotelawala as the third

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The Kotelawala administration (1953 -1956) managed to

defuse civil unrest by giving partial rice subsidies to those affected and introduced

various foreign policy initiatives. These initiatives not only broadened Sri Lanka’s image

internationally, but in 1955 brought agreements from global economic powers to support

the Sri Lankan economy. The growing internal tensions and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism

was systematically on the rise. The issues from 1948 had created two forces within the

Parliament aligning themselves to safeguard their interests (Bass, 2009; Weerawardana,

1952). The pro Sinhala anti-western policy took the side of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party,

while the Tamils, demanding autonomy under a ‘federal system’ aligned with the

Federalist Party. With no sound leadership to mediate concerns, by 1953, Sri Lanka’s

post-colonial national politics, had polarized along Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil

nationalist lines (Kadirgamar, 2020). The polarized politics and the enforced mono-

ethnic, monolinguist and mono-religious legislatures such as the Sinhala Only Act of

1956, and the Standardization Act of 1970 and 1971 heavily restricted many cultural

aspects of the Tamil minority population (Anshiya, 1996; Wickramasinghe, 2012).

Leading to an array of communal violence, the then prime minister S.W.R.D

Bandaranaike attempted reconciliation with the Tamil minority through the proposed

Bandaranaike Chelvanayakam pact of 1957.

But this, failing to take form, added to the growing rate of unemployment,

increased both foreign debt, and losses to local industries which brought about a state of

civil unrest from 1957 to 1982 that eventually led to the Black July Massacre of Tamils in

1983. By 1984 the unrest had escalated to a full-fledged war between the Sri Lankan

government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) known as the Eelam

Conflict that ended with militaristic defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.

Last 5 Years of the Post-Colonial Period Under Study (2015-2020)

In reaching 2015, the inability to bring about a sense of ethnic harmony within the

state, negatively influenced each stage of the post-colonial history of Sri Lanka. This

includes two insurgencies by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the first in 1971 and

the second between 1987-1989, alongside an ethnic conflict from 1983-2009 (Gamburd,

2014). When Sri Lanka gained victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on May

18, 2009, the ongoing turmoil within the state, having impacted tourism, the economy,

development, and growth Sri Lanka was brought to its knees in every aspect (Graves,

2015). Sri Lanka was left with only a hope of an economically and ethnically stable

future. This hope faded rapidly as the pro Buddhist Rajapaksa Administration (2005-

2015) under President Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) began to use the Buddhist monk led

Sinhala Hela Urumaya (Sinhalese National Heritage) party, and their extremist wing the

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to marginalize the Sri Lankan Muslim population (Gunaratna,

2018; Dharmawardhane, 2015).

On July 28, 2012, the BBS began advocating for special handling of university

admission of students who took Buddhism as a subject, as well as using monks in

government schools to teach history and other classes (Edirisinghe, 2012). On October

14, 2012, storming an evangelical church and threatening a pastor with claims that

Christians were attempting to convert Buddhists by force and treachery, seven people

were arrested on charges of abduction (Fernando J. A., 2012). Between 2013 - 2014, the

BBS began a systematic campaign against processing and distributing halal food products

in Sri Lanka and called to action the prohibition of wearing Burqas and Abayas

(Serasinghe, 2013). The worst of these actions, discriminating against the Sri Lankan

Muslim population, happened on August 2014 where the BBS, inviting radical Ashin

Wirathu and the 969 movement of Myanmar to establish a Buddhist alliance in protecting

the Buddha Sasana (Order) (Gao, 2014; Wickramasinghe, 2014).

From 2014 -2015, taking discrimination to the next stage, the BBS, advocating for

violence, began burning Muslim religious sites, rallying in the streets, spreading anti-

Muslim propaganda, and including the Christian minority in their efforts (Gunasingham,

2019; Gunaratna, 2018; Stewart, 2014;). Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s (MR)

administration (2005 -2015) which contained most of his family members holding

prominent position within Sri Lankan governance, despite being the obligation of the

state to act, maintained a position of no response to the rampant human rights violations

by the BBS (see Figure 6).

Figure 6

The Rajapaksa Family Rule in Sri Lanka

Note. From, India Today News Article, Familial Rule, ‘Rajapaksa Family Members who

On March 9, 2013, at the opening of the BBS cultural training center known as

the ‘Meth Sevana’, both the president Rajapaksa as well as his brother, defense secretary

Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressed their support to the BBS as the guest of honor (Haviland,

2013). This televised event clearly indicated to the Muslim and the Tamil minorities

where the Sri Lankan leadership stood when it came to their rights and demands for equal

justice, which further pushed them to band together in silence (DeVotta, 2016).

The war ended in 2009 giving Sri Lanka enough years to address its post war

economy and growth by deploying sound foreign policies and establishing valued

alliances among the global powers (Hensman, 2015). The MR administration,

unfortunately, having total control of the media, presented a fake sense of victory and a

growing sense of nationalism. But defaulting on various human rights agreements with

international organizations such as, the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, this

contradiction lost Sri Lanka valued support from the West (Hensman, 2015).

The administration driven by greed to create elaborate projects, which include

building a second airport and harbor, got caught up in China’s Belt and Road Initiative

and managed to drive the nation further into debt to China (Hillman, 2018). Making

matters worse, President Rajapaksa adamantly attempted to introduce the 18th

amendment, which would grant the presidency extreme powers that include: the ability to

appeal re-election any number of times and gaining full authority over the parliament

(Edirisuriya, 2017). In changing the direction of the Sri Lankan political path, President

Rajapaksa called for a presidential elections two years earlier due to a soothsayer’s false

claim than the assigned date to run for his third term would be unlucky (Dibbert, 2015). It

backfired. As the opposition decided to introduce a candidate loved by many as a

moderate politician that equally understood rural and urban needs, as well as a candidate

with a solid post war reconciliation and development plan.

The January 8, 2015, presidential election of Sri Lanka succeeded in ending the

authoritarian Rajapaksa administration as Mr. Maithripala Sirisena won by receiving

57.28% popularity against Rajapaksa 47.58% (see Table 3). The results of the 15th

presidential election in Sri Lanka and the UNP victory were clearly decided upon ethnic

lines (Dominguez, 2015). The election results showed that Maithripala Sirisena had the

popular vote at 51.28%, Mahinda Rajapaksa only had 47.58% (Sri Lanka’s 15th

presidential election Data, 2015).

The regions that gained the winning votes for the Sirisena Administration came

from the areas with majority Tamil and Muslim populations, which included international

votes mailed in from Tamil and Muslim citizens living abroad. The Sirisena

administration 2015 – 2019, maintained an ethnically harmonious government, providing

a secure path toward sound post-war development and reconciliation. The administration

also managed to maintain a low crime and corruption rate for the first time in Sri Lankan

history, but within a few years, internal turmoil between the governing forces began to

surface again (Graves, 2015). In 2016, Rajapaksa, through political influences,

unconstitutionally entered parliament as a Member of Parliament for Kurunegala District.

Using his political influence with loyalist that include the BBS and majority pro-

Sinhala Buddhist radical sects within each community, he hurled false accusations at the

Muslim and Tamil minorities (Rambukwella H., 2018). The main debate presented by the

agitators during 2016 -2019, was that the majority Sinhalese are being marginalized by

the minority ethnicities, specifically the Sri Lankan Muslims (Pollmann, 2018).

Using pro-Sinhala media, the majority Sinhalese pro-Rajapaksa, agitators began

televising fictitious programs, masked as documentaries or research work, on how the

minority Muslims are attempting to eradicate the majority Sinhala Buddhist race. One of

the main weaknesses of the Sri Lankan Sinhala majority was their unconditional loyalty

to the Buddhist religion, and their blind obedience to the monks, whom they deem as

authorities (Geiger, 1912). The monks, using this opportunity to their benefit, started

advocating for these topics in the media as sermons. The claims of Muslims destroying

Sinhala heritage and causing impotence among the Sinhalese population soon began to

take a life of its own (Tekwani, 2020).

February 2018 opened another period of communal violence in Sri Lanka. Monks

began burning themselves and angry mobs led by monks, began charging into Muslim

villages. Pro-Sinhala Buddhist factions, backed by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), began

violently taking to the streets, targeting the Muslims (Tekwani, 2020). On March 3, 2018,

a simple dispute over an accident, exacerbated by the monks of the BBS, went bad, along

ethnic line on both sides, rapidly progressing to communal violence against the Sri

Lankan Muslims (Gunasingham, 2018; Ruwanpathirana et al., 2018). The pro-Buddhist

radicals, under the guidance of the BBS monks, using this opportunity, began burning

down shops, houses and other properties belonging to those of the Muslim ethnicity,

bringing repetition of the Black July of 1983 (Perera A., 2018).

As death rates for Muslims began to rise, President Sirisena declared martial law,

and imposed curfews throughout the whole country, ordering the military, alongside the

police, to secure peace (Gunaratna, 2018). Due to the deteriorating condition within the

country, the international community ‘red flagged’ Sri Lanka as one of the most

dangerous states to travel and unsuitable for investment. Tourism is one of Sri Lanka’s

primary industries, the international community’s ‘red flagging’ of Sri Lanka, added with

widespread power cuts, growing civil unrest, and delays in foreign investments caused

the Sri Lankan economy to plunge (Saxena et al., 2020).

The parliament, also splitting along the same ethnic lines, caused disruption to a

smooth administration, compelling continual parliamentary shutdown, further weakening

the administration, and causing differences between the president and the Prime Minister

(Gamsakhurdia, 2017). Ultimately, President Sirisena, on December 2018, fired the

prime minister, and appointed past president Mahinda Rajapaksa, now an MP, as the

interim prime minister, and then dismissed parliament. The action by the President

caused unrest among the members of the parliament and their loyalists, who expressed

disagreement through riots and protests. The justice department immediately reversed the

executive actions by January 2019. Scholars of insurgencies argue that insurgencies are

grounded on people’s grievances, weak governance, and greed. Sri Lanka’s ethnic

separatism, now marginalizing the Muslim minority population, gave reason for another

national tragedy (Jones S. G., 2019).

In March 2019, the ongoing communal violence against the Muslim minority of

Sri Lanka, and persisting weak governance from 2009, gave rise to a new insurgency

(Demuynck et al., 2020). On Easter Sunday, April 2019 the radical Muslim faction

National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) claimed alliance with the Islamic State of Iraq and the

Levant (ISIL) and conducted a systematic suicide bombing campaign killing 350 people

(Basit, 2019). These bombings, became a huge local and international crisis as the death

toll, including citizens from Germany, Holland, and the United Kingdom placed intense

pressure on the Sri Lankan government. The growing internal turmoil and international

pressure caused President Sirisena to cave and make harsh decisions such as irrationally

dismissing the Inspector General of Police, and replacing the defense secretary, all to no

avail (Basit, 2019).

President Sirisena recovering from this crisis was considered incompetent for

office and ended his career in politics. His unpopularity with the voting populous

determined the next presidential candidate. In 2019 Maithripala Sirisena, lost to Ret. Lt.

Col. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) again on majority ‘Sinhala’ ethnic preference. The newly

elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) a pro Sinhala Buddhist is alleged to have

founded and supported the BBS. He is the brother of the past president MR and the last

defense secretary 2005 -2015 (Carothers & O’Donohue, 2020).

Despite their aversion of the Rajapaksa family, the reasons that rallied a majority

of Sinhala Buddhist, in supporting GR, a member of the Rajapaksa clan, was his

advocacy to guide Sri Lanka in a new direction. GR, in his candidacy for the presidency,

promised to end political nepotism, corruption, strengthen industries, rebuild broken

international ties, reduce foreign debt, and establish a well-trained workforce.

In taking over the office, Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR), re-elected his brother

Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR), former president, as the prime minister and appointed other

family members to various high offices of Sri Lanka (see figure 7). GR began placing his

loyal generals into senior positions within the government as well as using the impact of

the Covid-19 pandemic to appoint additional members of his family to positions of

authority (Kodikara, 2021). At the time, most of the prominent positions within the

government were held by the Rajapaksa family, who alone controlled 24% of Sri Lanka’s

finances (see Figure 7). On March 9, 2021, the Rajapaksa family (Clan) majority

Administration, passing Regulations No. 01 of 2021 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)

raised concerns with ‘Human Rights Watch’ and the minority communities of Sri Lanka

(HRW, 2021).

Figure 7

Dynastic Politics - Rajapaksa Family Control of Sri Lankan Budget

Note. From Dynastic Politics, in Sri Lanka Campaign website, by R. Thevakumaran,

2021, public domain access.

Because under the PTA the state can easily target religious and racial minorities,

in violation of their basic rights. The PTA allows for “authorities to detain and

“rehabilitate” anyone who “by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs, or

by visible representations” (Ganguly & Jayawardena, 2021). They are no longer tried

under a court of law. The violators of PTA will be held in a police facility in Colombo,

known as a notorious torture site, for two years without a trial (HRW, 2021).

On March 12th, 2021, public security minister, Adm. (ret.) Sarath Weerasekara

announced, the plans of the PTA to ban Islamic face coverings, which he claimed was

justified on “national security” grounds (Ganguly & Jayawardena, 2021). Minister

Weerasekara stated the intention to “shut down over 1,000 Islamic schools in the

country” a serious violation of the right to religious freedom if such were to be passed

(EU Resolution RC-B9, 2021). Currently, the state has already used the PTA, who were

in violation, in cases including the illegal detention of ‘Hejaaz Hizballah’, a Muslim

human rights lawyer jailed on April 14, 2020, and detaining a Muslim poet ‘Ahnaf

Jazeem’ for publishing a book promoting peace and toleration (Ganguly & Jayawardena,

2021).

Because insurgencies are threats coming within a state and can go on ten times

longer than any inter-state conflicts, they are the worst form of conflicts for a state to

endure (Jones S. G., 2019). If a state actor allows for an insurgency to start, it will drain

the blood and the treasures of governments alongside their outside backers (Jones S. G.,

2019). The scholars of terrorism and insurgencies offer that the lack of opportunity within

a state, and the marginalization or suppression of ethnic minorities are leading causes of

insurgencies (Bongar et al., 2007; Nacos, 2016;). It can be argued that Sri Lanka,

contains both economic and political push factors including ethnic marginalization.

While the present global pandemic has halted a second insurgency in Sri Lanka. There is

a high probability of another ethnic insurgency.

The Conclusion to The Literature Review

Sri Lanka's current crushing national debt of 66.58 billion US dollars, with the

parliament in turmoil over ethnic lines, and the impact of the Corvid-19 pandemic, the

gap between imports and exports will continue to suffer more debt (Shepard, 2016). The

Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) based in Geneva Switzerland

calculates that approximately 42,000 displaced people following the Eelam conflict,

which are still held in detention, need resettlement. Another 135,000 displaced people

were added to this list in 2017 due to natural disasters in Sri Lanka (IDMC, 2018). The

growing instability within the state, added to friction between the Sri Lankan Muslims

and Sinhalese, places Sri Lanka in a vulnerable position for another ethnic conflict

(Keethaponcalan, 2019).

The evolving problems with Sri Lanka, being its lack of ethnic tolerance and

ongoing separatist mentality is a clear sign of a dysfunctional democracy (Balasundaram,

2016). Sri Lanka’s ongoing debates over contested Sinhala Buddhist identity failing to

restore peace within the state in 2009, have driven rifts between the third largest minority

group: the Muslims, and the fourth: the Christians (Ibrahim & Irfan, 2016). Having

assessed Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis through the presented texts and journals until reaching

the point of saturation, it was noted that scholars of the topic observed the issue from an

ethnic, political, and sociological angle. From 1956 to 2020 all studies on the topic of Sri

Lanka’s ethnic crisis, being government run, I found serious gaps in the research, failing

to specify a cause or resolution for Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis. The years 1994 – 2005 did

show studies addressing some form of ethnic assimilation and power distribution as a

possible solution, but nothing using the lenses of the polarity management model or the

polarities of democracy theory. Benet’s theory of the polarities of democracy is a

unifying theory that presents itself as a guide to social change.

It presents ten core values of democracy as measurable interdependent pairs of 5

(Benet, 2006; 2012; 2013). These five interdependent pairs being freedom and authority,

justice and due process, diversity and equality, human rights and communal obligations,

and participation and representation, embodies every aspect of what is identified as a

democracy (Benet, 2012; Johnson, 1996). Sri Lanka’s ethnic dilemma is an ongoing

condition due to its lack of having an established functioning democracy. The present

study, in supporting the efforts of filling the gaps in research, sought to observe Sri

Lanka’s ethnic crisis, through the lens of polarities of democracy in support of its

research question.

Summary

The present chapter explains the literature search strategies exploring various

databases and keywords to obtain data in support of this study. This chapter also

defended the value of the chosen theoretical framework by exploring how it has assisted a

multitude of similar studies conducted globally, using the same methodology in the past.

This study explores each selected stages of Sri Lankan history by scrutinizing a multitude

of documents, uncovered growing post-colonial ethnic separatism in Sri Lanka.

The chapter also talks about the chosen conceptual and theoretical frameworks,

emphasizing their values and the rationale for utilizing them in the present study. I

discuss how a lack of democracy, as presented within polarities of democracy, caused Sri

Lanka’s ongoing crisis. Considering all ten values and five interdependent polarity pair of

polarities of democracy, show that Sri Lanka, in trying to achieve positives, have only

forced negatives of each of the pairs within the polarities of democracy model.

In chapter three, I will describe the methodology chosen for the study, the

research design, the rationale, the role of researcher, limitations, and the validity of this

study as well as other aspects to be compiled in chapter four.

Chapter 3: Research Method

The purpose of this historical-comparative case study was to enhance the

understanding of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism since 1948 by observing

each of three crucial stages of its history, considered as individual cases through the lens

of polarities of democracy in support of the nation’s future growth and development. The

guiding research question for this study was “In what ways has polarities of democracy

detracted or contributed to Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial

governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic harmony?” This chapter will provide

in depth the research design and the rationale, methodology, my data collection and data

analysis procedures, and various aspects of this study that include presentation of the

results, protection of participant rights, and the researcher’s role. Chapter 3 also includes

the actions taken to address potential ethical considerations that could arise from the

study in support of the research question.

Research Design and Rationale

Research studies conducted to explore what is perceived, and the reality of what is

perceived, have three methods of exploration (Creswell & Poth, 2018). One of these

methods is a quantitative methodology, which involves systematic inquiries using

numbers to uncover patterns and formulate and test hypotheses to uncover patterns. The

second method, qualitative methodology, mainly uses words instead of numbers. It

focuses on a constructivist perspective, where the interpretation of reality is based on the

collected data and the researcher’s perspective (Walliman, 2006). The last is a

combination of both qualitative and quantitative and among the most extensive and costly

of all studies as it encompasses both paradigms, compelling two individual studies to be

conducted for each method and later combined (Giddings, 2006; Tashakkori & Teddlie,

2003).

This research conducted in the United States addresses phenomenon in Sri Lanka.

Most of the primary sources for the ancient period under scrutiny such as the ‘Gal Potha’

are available in print and can be explored through document analysis (Erlandson, 1993;

Lavrakas, 2008; Mills & Birks, 2014; Reviere, 2013). Any subjects that could be

interviewed are now deceased. Therefore, I decided that the qualitative methodology was

the most appropriate means of study for the research question (Bowen, 2009; O’Leary,

2014). Using qualitative methodology, grants the freedom of choosing any data and any

analysis method. Scholars have argued that the historical-comparative case study method

is most suited for such efforts (Lange, 2013; Mahoney & Thelen, 2015; Neuman, 2009).

This study, observing multiple sources viewed through multiple periods, followed the

qualitative historical-comparative case study method, with me as the primary

instrumentation in analyzing the data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011).

Because qualitative research does not confine the researcher to only one medium

of gathering data, having multiple methods to gather data, such as patterns of economic

progress, social development data related to wars, human rights, and human conditions,

will further enhance the present study’s credibility (Creswell & Poth, 2018; Denzin &

Lincoln, 2011). Most studies on ethnicities have used the qualitative case study method.

The present study addresses multiple historical periods and multiple cases, directing me

to choose the historical comparative case study (HCCS) method as most appropriate.

Role of the Researcher

A qualitative researcher’s role is crucial, as they are the instrument of data

collection and the human mediator through which the findings of a study derive

(Creswell & Poth, 2018). My role in this study was that of an observer-participant as I

was the primary instrument of data collection and analysis who collected, coded, and

analyzed the data from a multitude of documents to uncover the emerging concepts and

patterns within relevant documents, such as scholarly ancient rock and wall engraving,

palm leaf texts, journals, memoires, and governmental documents.

There is always the potential for researcher bias that could influence the outcome

of the study, making it challenging to maintain objectivity and be open-minded in

thoughts, interpretations, and actions (Creswell, 2009). This potential bias could derive

from being a born and raised in Sri Lanka for most of my young and adult life. That is

why it was essential to utilize introductory field notes, memos, and categorizing field

notes to report and analyze the data. In controlling other researcher biases, I utilized peer

evaluations through my professors and fellow students at Bellevue and Walden

University and gained support and advice from my committee during data collection and

analysis.

Methodology

The methodology for the study is qualitative. Because the present research study

addresses Sri Lanka’s pre and colonial past from 5 BC to 1948 AD having no human

participants, I obtained the information from existing sources. These sources include

ancient scrolls, rock carvings, engraved pillars, and paper documents as well as archived

government documents such as gazettes, parliamentary proceedings, journals, and case

studies. The qualitative method provides a structure the researcher can utilize in

analyzing the data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). Qualitative research allowed me to gather

data on various patterns of economic progress, social development data related to wars,

human rights, and human conditions (see Creswell & Poth, 2018; Denzin & Lincoln,

2011). Further, most studies on ethnicities have used the qualitative case study method.

Sample and Population

The population is commonly understood to be the collective of whatever

phenomena one would like to study; it can vary from a crowd of people to events or

things (Levy & Lemeshow, 2013). In assessing an entire population, a researcher is

compelled to deal with large numbers of subjects. From those subjects a representative

sample is chosen (Cargan, 2007). Researchers use sampling techniques to help them

choose the correct sample or samples needed for the study to be accurately conducted

(Blackstone, 2012). This study did not use any human participants. The study used

document analyses to obtain the needed samples 280 in total and analyze them until

saturation.

For the precolonial periods, under study, the population is all the information I

could obtain through sources that existed from 1444-1506. The population included rock

engravings, rock books, palm leaf books, temple drawings, and other textual carvings in

ivory, and bronze along with academic books on the subjects from which the sample

included textual material written about governance, economics, religion, and social

culture. For the colonial periods under study (1815-1926), the population is all the

information I could find through sources that existed then. The population included

memoires of colonial governors, memoires of government agents, memoires of foreign

visitors, memoires of native officials, government gazettes, parliamentary debates, other

textual engravings in cemeteries and monuments, along with academic books on the

subjects from which the sample included textual material written about governance,

economics, religion, and social culture. In the post-colonial periods under study (1943-

2020), the population is all the information I could find through sources that exist now.

The population included periodicals, scholarly journals, academic research documents,

memoires of foreign visitors, memoires of government officials, government gazettes,

parliamentary debates, online and offline multimedia contents, along with academic

books on the subjects from which the sample included textual material written about

governance, economics, religion, and social culture.

Data Collection Procedures

Qualitative document analysis (QDA) is a form of qualitative research in which

documents are interpreted by the researcher to give voice or meaning (Bowen, 2009).

Document analysis can be used as research on its own to provide background

information, to add context, or to triangulate other types of data (Maccarella, 2018).

Within QDA, three primary types of documents are taken into consideration: public

records, personal documents, and physical evidence (Bowen, 2009). The advantage of

document analysis is in its ability to cover a broad range of topics efficiently and cost

effectively (Bowen, 2009). There are potential challenges to appropriate document

analysis due to insufficient detail and biased selectivity. Knowing that, I took this

information into consideration when applying the method. The positives outweighed the

negatives.

QDA begins with the first document and evolves in data collection from findings

within a text source. As more texts are read, information from texts analyzed earlier may

be modified by the researcher (Bowen, 2009). Strict QDA notes that the population and

the sample are not declared until the research is analyzed. Then, using known categories,

the researcher will grow the study as the data are collected and processed until saturation

(Altheide et al., 2008). I used a modified form of QDA. Since QDA disallowed defining

an initial population, it was unfeasible to use strict QDA, which provided no direction.

For data collection, I utilized databases including JSTOR, Google Scholar, and the

resources available from the Bellevue University Library, the Walden University Library,

and the Sri Lankan national archives. Development of modern information technology

has made the world a global village (Walsh, 2018), helping to obtain textual data or

documents, interlibrary loans, various e-books (Libicki, 2016). This provided access to

explore texts needed for this study.

The Google Books search engine also made available in electronic format prints

of old manuscripts from libraries such as Cambridge, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, and the

University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka, which also supported the data collection effort. Sri

Lanka contains an elaborate written history starting from the 5th Century BC. Language

and writing, introduced as early as 10 BC, was due to Indian influences and migration

(Bohingamuwa, 2017). The standard texts of Sri Lankan history are the Deepavamsa, the

Mahavamsa, the Chulavamsa, the Rajavalia, and the Mandarampuwatha, which

incorporate the contents of rock engravings, rock books, and palm leaf books among

other sources that were created during the pre-colonial periods under study from (1444-

1506).

For the colonial period under study, (1815-1926), alongside with other

documents, I utilized memoirs and writings by various colonial officers, including

Governor North, Henry Cave, Brohier, John O Doyle, John Ferguson, John Bennett,

James Legge, De Bussche, and James Tennent. Regarding the post-colonial period (1948-

2021) sources used contain peer-reviewed journal articles within the Royal Asiatic

Society of Sri Lanka, Royal Historical Society, Modern Asian Studies, Journal of the

Economics, and Social History of the Orient. I also explored various works compiled by

authorities of the subject that include Dr. Kingsley De Silva, Dr. Navarthne Bandara, Dr.

G.C. Mendis, Dr. Stanley Jeyaraja Tambaiah, Dr. Tessa Bartholomeus, Dr. Adele Barker,

and Dr. John Holt.

Data Analysis

The present study advances the understanding of a post-colonial ethnic harmony

in Sri Lanka through the lens of polarities of democracy; it is an historical comparative

case study. The study included document analysis with an evolving sample and

population (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). Scholars of qualitative data analysis argue that

data analysis is the identification, investigation, and clarification of forms and themes in

textual data which a researcher uses progressively to assess how the emerging themes

assist the research question (Bernard & Ryan, 2010; Crinson & Leontowitsch, 2016). I,

being the primary research instrument, in identifying, analyzing, and interpreting patterns

or meaning (i.e., themes) from the data collection, used a structured form of QDA to

explore the data until saturation (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Data Saturation

Saturation is the point within a research process where no added information is

discovered (Faulkner & Trotter, 2017). QDA is a repetitive process that builds the sample

starting with the first data sources used within the analysis growing with the topics and

patterns that emerge. While this may seem like a challenge for visibly observing

saturation, there is a finer and more individual-oriented standpoint on data saturation

(Saunders et al., 2018). Theoretical saturation uses the development of categories and the

emerging theory within the analysis process as the criteria for collecting additional data

(see Table 2; Saunders et al., 2018). Inductive thematic saturation focusses on detecting

new codes or themes and considers ‘the amount of such codes or themes rather than the

fullness of the existing categories (Saunders et al., 2018). In a priori thematic saturation

the data are collected at the level of lower-order codes or themes to exemplify the theory

rather than to build or refine the theory (Saunders et al., 2018). Data saturation is built on

the notion of informational redundancy; such a model is ideal when using a repetitive

data analysis method as QDA bound on themes and categories. Using QDA for data

collection and analysis, I chose the data saturation model to assess saturation for this

study (Suter, 2011).

Table 2

Models of Saturation and their Principal Foci in the Research Process

Model

Description

Principal focus

Theoretical saturation

Related to the development of theoretical

categories; related to grounded theory

methodology

Sampling

Inductive thematic saturation

Related to the emergence of new codes or

themes

Analysis

A priori thematic saturation

Related to the degree to which identified

codes or themes are exemplified in the data

Sampling

Data saturation

Relates to the degree to which new data

repeat what was expressed in previous data

Data collection

Note. Adapted from “Saturation in Qualitative Research: Exploring its conceptualization

and Operationalization”, by B. Saunders, J. Sim, T. Kingstone. S. Baker, J. Waterfield, B.

Bartlam, H. Burroughs, & C. Jinks, 2018, Quality & Quantity, 52. Copyright, 2018 by

Springer.

Data Analysis Procedure

In beginning the data analysis process, I used the 10 values of polarities of

democracy in its 5 interdependent pairs which are: freedom - authority, justice - due

process, diversity - equality, human-rights & communal-obligations, and participation &

representation as the key themes or preliminary codes to gain the needed data (Benet,

2013). The periods chosen for the study expand through multiple centuries. In reducing

the data collection to a manageable size, I have limited exploring archival and secondary

material to five years before and after each shift (see Table 3).

Table 3

Sample Data Analysis Plan

Poles of POD

Last 5 years

pre-colonial

First 5 years

colonial

Last 5 years

colonial

First 5 years

post-colonial

Most recent 5

years post-

colonial

Freedom

Yes

Authority

Yes

Justice

Yes

Diversity

Yes

Communal

obligations

Yes

Human

resources

Yes

Participation

Yes

Representation

Yes

Equality

Yes

Due process

Yes

Note. The table presents hypothetical data regarding how I plan to analyze the data

secured through document analysis.

For the Pre-colonial period, I chose the great chronicles of Sri Lanka which are

the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Chulavamsa (Vamsa) and the Rajavaliya as the foundation

(Fleet, 1912). These four texts contain successive eyewitness accounts encompassing Sri

Lanka’s pre-colonial socio-politico-economic history from the 5th century BC to 1687

AD. Other textual materials including ola leaf books, various rock carvings (Gal Potha)

as well as research literature by Dr. S.U. Daraniyagala, Dr. K.M. De Silva, Dr. P.V.J

Jayasekara, Dr. Raja De Silva, Dr. G.C Mendis, and the Sri Lanka Department of

Archeology were explored to triangulate the findings and acquire other data. When

analyzing the data pertaining to the colonial periods, compiled literary works by various

colonial officials, including John Ferguson, Patrick Peebles, Alastair Mackenzie

Ferguson, Henry Parker, William Knighton, Horatio John Suckling, and colonial

Governors Robert Brownrigg, Fedrick North, Edward Barnes, Viscount Torrington,

James. E. Tennant were studied to procure the needed data.

Other textual information contained within colonial gazettes, parliamentary

debates, and various enacted reforms by the colonists, were investigated to triangulate the

findings. Considering the post-colonial period, enacted legislatures by the Sri Lankan

government, parliamentary debates, information incorporated within authoritative

journals such as The Journal of Asian Studies, Asian Survey, International Legal

Materials, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, The Journal of the Ceylon

Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, India Quarterly were

explored to obtain the needed data.

When exploring the most recent post-colonial period I have studied various

authoritative newspapers, blogs, and internet news sites including TamilNet and the

Colombo page, alongside research literature compiled by authorities of the topic

including late Dr. Y.R. Amarasinghe, Dr. Navaratne Bandara, Dr. Gamini Keerawella,

Dr. Gamini Samaranayake, Dr. N.M. Pereira, Dr. Colvin. R. De Silva, Dr. Stanley

Jeyaraja Tambiah, Dr. Ambalavanar Sivarajah to triangulate the discoveries and procure

data as needed. This study captures the human experiences from three periods of Sri

Lankan history through textual materials to filter the relevancy of what is a viable source,

I considered some guiding questions to reflect on the study’s purpose, research question,

and potential (Berkowitz, 1997). The guiding questions used by me during my data

analysis to filter what is relevant or not, aligns with the questions presented as

suggestions by the National Science Foundation (NSF):

• What forms/familiar leitmotifs develop around specific things in the data?

o In what way do these forms (or lack thereof) help to learn or broaden

the study inquiry

• Do these trends have any deviations?

o If yes, what causes can explain the atypical reactions?

• What type of exciting stories come out of the data?

o How can these stories help shed light on the broader issue of the

study?

• Do any of the results / emerging trends imply the need to collect additional

data?

o Do any of the inquiries need to be reviewed?

• Is there a need to update any of the study questions?

o Do the patterns that emerge help other people's findings?

The above questions guided the study. I also developed another set of questions

using the ten values of polarities of democracy to sift through the plethora of data,

reducing it to only relevant sources.

• How did the 10 values of polarities of democracy present themselves during

the Pre-colonial period within a monarchy?

o Which values were clearly visible?

▪ Example Justice, Freedom

o If there was a lack in any of the values of polarities of democracy which

ones, were they and why did they cease to exist?

o Were there any factors such as religion, governance, or laws to balance the

interdependent polarity pairs?

• How did the ten values of polarities of democracy present themselves during the

colonial period?

o Which values were clearly visible?

o If there was a lack of any of the values of polarities of democracy which ones

were they, and why did they cease to exist?

o Were there any factors such as religion, governance, or laws to balance the

interdependent polarity pairs?

• Did the ten values of polarities of democracy exist during the post-colonial period?

o Which values were clearly visible?

o If there was a lack of any of the values of polarities of democracy which ones

were missing, and why did they cease to exist?

o Were there any other factors such as religion, governance, or laws to balance

the interdependent polarity pairs?

Taking the information found by answering the questions regarding the ten values

of polarities of democracy, I placed the findings within a frequency table to observe

phenomenon debated within the research question and the purpose statements (see Table

4).

Trustworthiness

Qualitative research focuses on capturing values that cannot be measured by

numbers as it deals with the phenomenon of humanity as feelings, needs, wants, and

ideas that develop with one’s upbringing; more is dependent on the data trustworthiness

than on the data itself (Nowell et al., 2017). In assessing the study’s verisimilitude, the

four critical values taken into consideration are its credibility, transferability,

dependability, and confirmability, where credibility addresses the connection “Fit”

between the respondent’s views and the researcher’s representation of them (Nowell et

al., 2017).

Transferability

Transferability addresses the ability of the data to be transferred. Dependability

addresses the ability of the researcher to assure that the research process is logical,

traceable, and well documented (Nowell et al., 2017). Finally, confirmability is how well

the interpretations, and the findings align with the research, compelling the researcher to

demonstrate how conclusions were reached (Nowell et al., 2017). For this study, I used

data triangulation. This is commonly understood as using different participants, methods,

and data sources for the same research question (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).

I have also established access to primary sources of many of the academic and

historical authorities of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic crisis, specifically the ones who

worked on the peace process between 1994-2005 including Dr. Navaratne Bandara, Dr.

Gamini Keerawella, Dr. Gamini Samaranayake, and Dr. Y.R Amarasinghe. Using these

rare opportunities, I have done peer checks in validating the resources to further secure

credibility (Burkholder & Cox , 2016). While it is impossible to ensure complete

transferability of the data, the way the data is gathered and processed, using qualitative

data analysis supports the efforts of the study to be transferred to a similar study (Bogdan

& Biklen, 2007).

Dependability and Confirmability

In addressing the dependability of the study, scholars of qualitative methodology

argue that credibility and dependability are aligned. If the study has presented its

credibility there is no need to justify further dependability (Morse et al., 2002). In this

study, confirmability is understood to be the ability to replicate works done previously;

the scholars of the methodology argue that it is essential for another researcher to

replicate the work (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This study contains a frequency table (see

Table 4) as well as an elaborate literature review, and my data sample in chapter 4, to

support the efforts to replicate the study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). If further data is

needed, I have made available my used dataset within this study (see Appendix A).

Presentation of the Results

A qualitative methodology, which guides the study, is commonly understood as

one of the most useful methodologies for policymakers as it describes the settings in

which policies are implemented (Anderson, 2010). This study is an historical-

comparative case study (HCCS) utilizing qualitative document analysis (QDA) in

obtaining the data, which was analyzed using multiple means to present the findings. For

presenting economic data, tables and figures were used. In addressing the theoretical

framework, figures, and tables unique to polarities of democracy model were used to

depict the polarities of democracy concepts. Under this methodology, which has multiple

means of presenting data, the study utilized a frequency table to present data analysis and

figures as well as appendices as needed.

Protection of Participant’s Rights

The purpose of any research is to contribute factual new knowledge in adding,

amending, or denying various debates within the existing pool of academic knowledge

(Bryman & Bell, 2015; Leavy, 2020; Pope & Mays, 2020). Learned lessons from the past

compel that new knowledge, secured for the betterment of humanity, should be obtained

ethically and morally (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Myself, being the primary researcher of the

study, possessing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) training certification awarded

on March 30, 2017, certifies me of having knowledge regarding obtaining information

ethically and morally. To ensure I meet every possible means to ethically obtain the

materials for my study I submitted the details to the Walden University IRB. The

University IRB, in verifying and ensuring that no unethical means of data gathering was

done, assessed my work and granted me an approval number 09-30-21-0710042. The

study adheres to using only textual and documented history of Sri Lanka available in

multiple academic disciplines and does not use any live human participants (Regents,

2019). This omits the study from any concerns of psychological or physical harm to live

participants (Regents, 2019).

Transparency is a crucial factor for any study. To maintain transparency, I have

presented all the consents to access reference materials obtained through the proper

channels and presented them within Appendix F and shared it with the IRB and the

dissertation committee (IRB, 2018). The research, in collecting materials needed for the

study, adhered to using commonly accessible textual and digital sources such as Bellevue

University library catalogs, Walden University Library catalogs, EBSCO, JSTOR,

Google Scholar, SAGE Database, Google Books, and my personal Amazon Kindle to

access Amazon’s catalog of books. For archival documents, the study utilized the

resources of the Sri Lankan National Archives in Kandy and Colombo (Endicott, 2010).

As advocated by the authorities of qualitative methodology, the main concern about

ethics is within the analysis process, where the interpretation of data and the relevancy

can compromise its validity (Creswell, 2009).

In addressing this concern, the study utilized methodically repetitive processes of

Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) guided by a set of questions developed by me

using the National Science Foundation’s suggestions to ensure the correct interpretation

of the findings (Creswell, 2009). With most documents of the study being in electronic

format, data privacy was ensured, since all data were placed securely within a highly

encrypted password protected backup drive locked inside my study table. The other

materials are stored in a metal file cabinet with a lock situated within my home study.

I categorized my home library of around three thousand books by topic for easy

retrieval. When using commonly accessible textual and digital sources, the study strictly

adhered to all copyright laws on the usage of public domain and adhered to the American

Psychological Association (APA) standards in obtaining the needed information and

presenting its findings (IRB, 2018). The study also used triangulation to ensure the

validity of facts within 280 documentative materials and include them within the research

of Chapter 4 (IRB, 2018). Because of the above, the study provides full transparency and

a sensible understanding of ethics.

Summary

The current chapter discussed, in depth, the methodology used by me. This

chapter confirmed the use of the qualitative historical comparative cases study method to

address its research question and purpose. This chapter also proposes to use qualitative

data analysis without using live participants, to obtain a growing sample through

document analysis, and then, using the same method of document analysis, to analyze,

code and interpret findings.

The researcher’s role would be that of participant observer as well as being the

instrumentation in which the data would be obtained and analyzed. This chapter, giving a

broad idea of the methodology used within this study, also elaborates on the credibility

and transformability of the study. The chapter addresses the chosen sample, and the

population. It also expands, in depth, the systematic processes followed in obtaining the

ethical standing of the study in support of the IRB process. The next chapter of this study

will concentrate on the data analysis process, which includes an overview, the setting,

data collection and the findings of the materials scrutinized. The next chapter will also

elaborate on my data analysis, as well as evidence of its trustworthiness.

Chapter 4: Results

The purpose of this historical comparative case study was to enhance the

understanding of Sri Lanka’s post-colonial ethnic separatism since 1948 by observing

each of three crucial stages of its’ history through the lens of Benet’s (2006, 2012, 2013)

polarities of democracy theory to support the nation’s future growth and development.

The three crucial stages of Sri Lankan history taken into consideration, within the study,

are Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial period (1500-1505), colonial period (1821-1826), and post-

colonial period (1949-1954). The research question for the study was “In what ways has

polarities of democracy detracted or contributed to Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and

post-colonial governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic harmony?” To reduce

the data to a manageable size for QDA, the phenomena was rescaled to observe the same

phenomena 5 years before and after each shift in periods:

• first 5 years of the pre-colonial Period (1444-1449)

• pre-colonial Period (1500-1505)

• last 5 years of the pre-colonial Period (1506-1511)

• first 5 years of the colonial period (1815-1820)

• colonial period (1821-1826)

• last 5 years of the colonial period (1943-1948)

• first 5 years of the post-colonial period (1943-1948)

• post-colonial period (1949-1954)

• last 5 years of the post-colonial period (2015-2020).

The chosen 5-year periods before and after each shift was more feasible, since the events

that are not crucial to turning points in Sri Lankan history do not fall into that range. The

study, taking into consideration multiple periods within Sri Lankan history as individual

cases, took the form of an historical comparative case study rather than an ethnographical

case study. The current chapter is a representation of the results of the data collection

procedures, the processes of data analysis, evidence of trustworthiness, and results of the

study.

Pilot Study

A pilot test is a small-scale test conducted to examine the application of theories,

the arguments, and to test the results of the predicted outcomes of a study (Burns &

Grove, 2005). A pilot study can avoid costly, time-consuming problems, and strengthen

the study’s validity and reliability (Harris, 2010; Quinones et al., 1998). At the same

time, scholars argue that despite conducting a pilot study and getting positive results, it

does not prove the workability of the theories presented, nor a successful scale of

implementation (Huey-Tsyh, 2005).

The present historical comparative case study (HCC) exploring Sri Lanka’s pre-

colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods through the lens of polarities of democracy,

adheres strictly to the use of authoritative textual and archival document data. In building

the sample, and in drawing conclusions by observing parallels within the study as the

primary instrumentation, I used QDA. The entire data sample is presented in Appendix

A. The study, observing events in Sri Lankan history, do not have any potential to

change. Because the study observed all data until data saturation through QDA, the

obtained sample represents at least 90% of the population. This study is easily

transferable no matter how many times it is repeated.

Any form of quantifiable data used within the study, such as population

distributions, or economic progressions, were used only to clarify findings, or to

triangulate the findings. They do not have a direct bearing on the conclusions. The

theoretical framework for this study is Benet’s (2006, 2012, 2013) polarities of

democracy. The conceptual framework for Benet’s theory is Johnson’s (1996, 2014),

Polarity Management theory, which requires the use of numerical data or surveys.

Collectively, all the above not only support the research’s validity, but also present

reasoning to not have a pilot study.

The Study’s Setting

The purpose of any research is to add or amend to the existing pool of knowledge,

and it evolves from a researcher’s world view and its orientation as well as their chosen

area of interest (Burkholder et al., 2019). The present study, examining Sri Lanka’s post-

colonial ethnic separatism, became an area of interest from my world view, as a

participant observer of the Eelam conflict (1983-2009), a result of post-colonial ethnic

separatism and the recent marginalization of Sri Lankan Muslims (2009-Present). Sri

Lanka, once hailed as one of the most powerful states in Southeast Asia, which shared

equal economic, and developmental platforms with the West, today is a third world

country with a rapidly growing national debt. Due to ongoing corruption, ethnic

separatism, and terrorism, the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have exacerbated its

conditions (Arnolds & Jones, 2021).

Insurgencies are commonly understood as a process of alternate state building and

are defined as “a political and a military campaign by a non-state group to overthrow a

regime or secede from a country” (S. G. Jones, 2019, p.9). Known as one of most

persisting form of conflicts, if a regime enables an insurgency, it will take a long time to

suppress or get rid of the malice (Kilcullen, 2013; Martin, 2003; Nacos, 2016). Unlike an

international conflict, an insurgency could persist for more than 10 years while draining

the resources of the state and their external supporters (Kilcullen, 2013). The factors

leading to an insurgency are crucial to both the state actors and the insurgents. During its

initial phase, an insurgency is at its most vulnerable when state actors find an ideal

window of opportunity to direct their efforts to suppress an insurgency (S. G. Jones,

2019). These noted grievances, which give potential to creating insurgencies, include

inequality, authoritarian governments, ethnic and religious diversity, and ethnic

marginalization by a state (Kilcullen, 2013; Martin, 2003; Nacos, 2016).

The efforts of Sri Lankan authorities to force social distancing and delay

vaccinations, causing substantial number of losses in lives, opportunity, and wealth, place

Sri Lanka in a vulnerable position to erupt into an insurgency (O’Donnell et al., 2018). It

is vital that Sri Lanka change its course of action toward its ethnic minorities and seek an

alternate means of establishing a healthy, sustainable, and just democratic governance. In

support of such efforts to guide social change in Sri Lanka, I explored the literature for

the current study, and noted that the polarities of democracy theory is a unifying theory

supporting building just communities (Benet, 2006, 2012, 2013). Exploring more

literature on Sri Lankan history, key phrases such as the contested Sinhala Buddhist

identity, negating minority rights, and Ethnocratic legislature began to emerge

repetitively within texts pertaining to the British colonial period (1921-1948) and the

post-colonial periods (1948-1983). But when observing the precolonial period and the

Portuguese and Dutch colonial periods, such phrases were not visible. Instead, unified

efforts by the natives—Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslims—were found to challenge the

invaders, such as Kalinga Maga (5BC-1596 AD), and the Europeans (1597-1796). With

having polarities of democracy as my theoretical framework, I chose the question “In

what ways has polarities of democracy detracted or contributed to Sri Lanka’s pre-

colonial, colonial, and post-colonial governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic

harmony?” to guide the study.

Demographics

Demographics refer to the characteristics of a population (Salkind, 2010, p. 346).

The current study does not take into consideration any live human participants and

focused on observing various human conditions that existed within three crucial periods

of Sri Lankan history (1444-2020) through textual and documentative materials.

Observing Sri Lanka’s ongoing ethnic separatism through the lens of polarities of

democracy to better understanding the present and the progression of this condition, I

focused on its evolution by highlighting the main political rifts: the decline of the

Sinhalese dominion, the fall of the Sri Lankan monarchy, multiple colonial occupations,

the fight for independence, and post-independent governance. Early on as I embarked on

the data collection for this study’s literature review, I noted that exploring such would

include a broad array of topics. Because of that I first broke these rifts in Sri Lankan

history into three segments the —pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods— and

chose to observe only governance related matters viewed through the lens of polarities of

democracy. To further reduce data to a manageable size, and to avoid periods when

nothing happened, I chose to explore 5 years before and after each rift:

• first 5 years pre-colonial period under study (1444-1449)

• pre-colonial period (1500-1505)

• last 5 years pre-colonial period under study (1506-1511)

• first 5 years of colonial period under study (1815-1820)

• the colonial period (1821-1826)

• last 5 years of the colonial period under study (1943-1948)

• first 5 years of the post-colonial period under study (1943-1948)

• post-colonial period (1949-1954)

• last 5 years of the post-colonial period under study (2017-2022)

The study, attempting to capture various human conditions within the dead past, having

no live participants, included only textual, visual, and documentative materials to build

its sample.

Data Collection

In collecting the data, I explored all the textual, visual, and documentative

materials for each period and put them through the repetitive process of QDA obtaining a

sample of 280 authoritative textual documents (see Appendix D). The primary

instrumentation for categorizing and analyzing the data for this study was myself. When

observing the authenticity of gathered data, peer-reviewed journals stood foremost. When

collecting the data an emphasis was placed on maximizing the use of 84 pertinent

scholarly journals. These contained political-sociological-economic contents pertaining to

all three periods relating to the study. Some of these journals I took into consideration

include the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, Asian Survey, Indian Journal of Political

Science, and Economic and Political Weekly (see Appendix A).

In building the study sample, and to strengthen the findings with more sources, I

incorporated a large dataset collected in two stages from 1994-2010. The data set was

then re-analyzed and triangulated to update the current data set as well as to assure

reliability and relevancy when applied to the current study. The following pages will

describe, in depth, systematic data collection, the frequency in which the data were

collected, the nature of the data explored in building the sample, and the method in which

they were recorded.

The Nature of the Collected Data

The first academic journal, journal des savants was introduced in January 1665. It

was followed by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in March 1665, which

was the first fully peer-reviewed journal. Medical Essays and Observations was on the

English-speaking world. As a result, to capture valued human experiences within Sri

Lanka’s pre-colonial and early colonial periods, 47 authoritative textual works were

explored. These books include the Depavamsa, Mahavamsa, Chulavamsa, Mandaram

Pura Puwatha, and various Sandesh Kawya messages exchanged through the agency of a

messenger (Mukherjee, 1998). Other works by visitors to Sri Lanka include the traveling

Chinese monk Fa-Hien, Ptolemy (Alexander the Great’s General), and the works of Pliny

the Elder. To triangulate finding, as well as to capture new re-occurring themes, research

compiled by past archaeology commissioners including Dr. S. U. Deraniyagala, Dr. Raja

de Silva, Dr. Raj Somadeva, and works of historians such as Dr. K.M. De Silva, Dr. W.I.

Siriweera were scrutinized.

Sri Lanka was colonized by the Portuguese (1505-1655), the Dutch (1660-1796),

and the British (1802-1948). Due to prioritizing the capture and exploitation of the land

over administration and governance, the Portuguese period contained the least number of

textual and other physical contents such as ruins or buildings. The Jaffna fort, being the

last stronghold of the Portuguese, held most of the textual contents within the fort and

was later transferred to the Jaffna library, the national archives in Colombo, and the

University of Peradeniya. When political aggressors set fire to the Jaffna library on June

2, 1981, the Portuguese collection, along with another 95,000 books, rare palm-leaf

manuscripts, and a vast collection of other materials were destroyed (Venkatesh, 2016).

Today, only the contents within the University of Peradeniya library and the national

archive in Colombo remain. To capture the contents of the lost collection within the

current study, authoritative literature incorporating details from the Jaffna library, such as

the works of Donald William Ferguson, Paul Edward Pieris, Tikiri Abeysinghe, Chandra

Richard, and George Davison Winius were studied.

The Dutch colonists, on the other hand, governed Sri Lanka (1660-1796) as a

mercantile enterprise comprising of three administrative divisions: Colombo, Galle, and

Jaffna. Like their Portuguese predecessors, the Dutch controlled the Sri Lankan coastline.

The Dutch were adamant in maintaining their lucrative spice trade with Sri Lanka on

behalf of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Because of this, the Dutch for the most

part, maintained diplomacy with the Kandyan kingdom, which in turn limited conflicts

with the natives giving the Dutch more time to establish themselves (Paranavitana, 1999).

Exposing Sri Lanka to mercantilism, bureaucracy, and revenue collection, the Dutch also

introduced the printing press (Diehl, 1972). With the use of the government press, unlike

the Portuguese, the Dutch produced many records related to various aspects of their

administration. With ample textual material to observe the Dutch colonial period, the data

sample contained archival documents from the governor’s office from 1640 to 1796,

under Colombo Dissave, (The Government office) (Jurriaanse, 1943). The contents of

these documents include Land Tombos (deeds), correspondence with natives, journals

and ledgers, treaties, as well as other documents related to Kandy and the king

(Jurriaanse, 1943).

The British colonization of Sri Lanka (1797-1948) expanding 151 years is the

longest colonial occupation in Sri Lanka. The British, like the Dutch, arriving in Sri

Lanka to trade in spices and goods for the British East India company (1600-1874),

extended that effort in 1815 by incorporating Sri Lanka as a colony of the British empire

(Mendis, 2005). To maintain their dominance, the British deployed an extensive ruling

effort incorporating all socio-politico-economic aspects of Sri Lanka and maintained

detailed records of these efforts. Capturing these efforts academically, I took into

consideration various government gazettes, reports, legal documents, censuses, postdated

scholarly journal articles, and research work compiled by scholars including Dr. G. C.

Mendis, Dr. K.M. DeSilva, and Dr. N. DeVotta.

In studying discussions, debates, and edicts pertaining to colonial governance,

Memoirs of governors including James Emmerson Tennent, Governor North, Brownrigg,

Joseph West Ridgeway, William Gregory, and Robert Percival were explored. To

investigate the results of these edicts I added to the dataset reliable works of many

colonists and authoritative colonial officials including the works of J. W. Bennett, D. B.

Augustus, Horatio John Suckling, Henry Marshal, L. E. Blazer, R. L. Brohier, M.

Burrows, D. Butts, Samuel White Baker, and John Ferguson. Taking into consideration

the nature of the British occupation in Sri Lanka from an outside perspective, various

publications by visitors to Sri Lanka were also added. These publications, capturing non-

biased eyewitness accounts of the British colonial Sri Lanka, include the writings of

Carolyn Wilson, François Valentin, Robert Knox, Robert Townshend Passingham and

Jonathan Forbes.

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Sri Lanka was granted its independence by the British on February 4, 1948. To

acquire literal works for the post-colonial era (1949 – 1954) through document analysis

and view the westernization efforts of the British colonists, who enforced strong record

keeping throughout Sri Lanka’s political-sociological-economical aspects, enabled me to

acquire 56 authoritative documents. These documents, used for the post-colonial periods,

include parliamentary proceedings, Hansard reports, scholarly journals, censuses, country

reports, administrative reports, financial records, and memoires of politicians and

prominent leaders including military leaders from 1948 -2020.

The memoires of military leaders include memoires of General Cyril Ranatunga,

late General D. L. Kobbekaduwa, works of Ret. General. Gamini Angammana, Ret.

General. Kamal Gunaratna, and Ret. Col. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (President of Sri Lanka).

Studying Sri Lanka’s post-colonial governance firsthand. I also explored the memoires of

prominent political leaders of the time such as Dr. N.M. Pereira, Dr. Colvin R De Silva,

Sir Ivor Jennings, and Philp Gunawardena.

The Westminster parliamentary system, which governed post-colonial Sri Lanka

granted substantial authority to the office of the prime minister. I scrutinized the work of

prime ministers Sir John Lionel Kotelawala, S.W.R.D Bandaranaike, Madam, Sirimavo

Bandaranaike. Following the independence in 1948, until 1972 Sri Lanka remained a

commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II. In 1972 Sri Lanka declared itself as a

republic and abolished the Monarchy. Then in 1978 Sri Lanka moved from a

Westminster system to a Presidential system with an executive president as the head of

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state. To capture details of Sri Lanka’s executive office from 1978 - 2021, I included

authoritative memoires of presidents: J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa,

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The developing post-colonial ethnic crisis firstly impacted members of the Sri

Lankan Tamil minority. When collecting data for the post-colonial periods, works by the

members of these ethnic groups were included. These works were compiled by Rajan

Hoole, Daya Somasundaram, K. A. Sritharan, Rajani Thiranagama, Stanley Tambaiah,

Shankar Krishna, and works of the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Since the 1990s, there has been a significant surge in technological advancements.

This has led to numerous entities, including governmental bodies, news media platforms,

university publications, and peer-reviewed journals, to present data through websites

(Libicki, 2016). In Chapter Two, I conducted various web searches to collect data from

96 different websites related to Sri Lanka. Some notable sources included Al Jazeera,

BBC, CNN, the United Nations, the Foreign Policy Journal, Human Rights Watch, the

International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the International Center for Ethnic

Studies.

The Locations and the Recording Methods

This study has taken into consideration only textual, documentative data and does

not consider any human participants. I am the primary instrumentation within the study to

analyze the data and interpret the findings as a participant observer. The dataset for the

study was built using qualitative document analysis (QDA).

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Born and raised in Sri Lanka, its history was a vital part of my education. In

having observed, firsthand, Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism and its impact from 1983 –

1999, Sri Lanka’s ethnic separatism became a phenomenon of interest to me. The initial

data collection was done within the Global Sri Lankan Congress Youth Front (GSCYF)

from 1994 - 1999 which sought a peaceful means of ending the Eelam conflict by

including the minorities (Orjuela, 2008). The Sri Lankan (GSCYF) spearheaded various

workshops educating Sri Lankan youth on the value of ethnic unity (Malhotra &

Liyanage, 2005). This was done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education,

Colombo University, and the National Integration Program Unit (NIPU) under the Ethnic

Affairs Ministry. As a youth front leader, I collected a large pool of data from 1994 -1999

for presentations, study sessions, and lectures, to be delivered at various locations

throughout the country. In doing so, I exhausted the library catalogues at the University

of Peradeniya, Trinity College Kandy, the British Council as well as the D.S. Senanayake

public library in Kandy.

My hometown was the Historic Kingdom of Kandy, located within a short

distance from other kingdoms of Sri Lanka’s past. Growing up around such history from

1994 -1999 I also explored various sites of interest, collecting as much imagery and

textual data as possible on colonial Sri Lanka, as well as other previous kingdoms. A few

of these sites are the famous ‘Balana’ Fort, Kandyan palace complex, Garrison cemetery

and the site where the Kandyan convention of 1815 was signed. Expanding to other

provinces took me to the ancient ruins of Sri Lanka’s past kingdoms including

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Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Gampola, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala (my ancestral village),

and Kotte. During this period, I studied a substantial number of document archives within

various temples that functioned as libraries in their glory days.

The temple archives visited include the temples of Kelaniya, Kotte, Mahiyangan,

Mada Maha Nuwara, Asgiriya, and the Kandy Temple of the Tooth now housing the

largest Ola Leaf book collection open to the public. Other sources found between 1994 -

1999 include the Government Agent’s (GA)’s office in Kandy, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Galle,

Colombo, Matara and Trincomalee. The first colonists of Sri Lanka, the Portuguese,

(1517-1600) maintained their strong holds in Colombo, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Galle, Matara

and Trincomalee, all the records were kept within of the strongholds of their fortresses.

The Dutch, occupying in 1602, used the same strongholds as the Portuguese and

collected various documents and records. They then stored them with Dutch records

inside the archives of ‘Kachcheri’ or the Dutch district secretariat office. The British,

taking dominance over the Dutch in 1796, converted these offices to operate as the

Government Agent’s (GA) office, which houses these records to date. The administrative

details of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British were easily accessible through the

archives stored within governmental agencies available to the public.

Data collected between 1994 -1999 was mainly geared toward observing Sri

Lanka’s past, specifically ancient history and colonial periods leading to Sri Lanka’s

independence in 1948. Much of the data was photocopied or taken from handwritten

notes indicating the text and the page(s), then placed within binders and categorized

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according to the period and the kingdom.

I built the data set to contain information on socio-politico-economic details as

well as other aspects of Sri Lankan culture including folk tales, Buddhist dialectics and

mythology. To easily search the data, from 1995 – 1999 using the most advanced

technology of the time, I developed a digital catalogue using the dBase III plus software

program. With a few keystrokes I would be able to get the binder number, the location

within the binder all marked within tabs i.e., Binder Number 1 – Kingdom Anuradhapura

– Topic Economy.

The second phase of the data collection for this study was done between 2009 –

2011. This was to support my master’s research. I compiled a five-chapter dissertation

with a literature review observing Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis from a leadership perspective.

By 2009 Google books acquired a vast archive of digitized books, and other textual

material from libraries such as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Yale, and Cambridge and

made them accessible through ‘Google Books”. Because of this, between 2009-2011, I

was able to explore the information I needed within multiple volumes using various

search criteria from one geographical location.

When more information was needed, other databases like EBSCO, ProQuest,

Google Scholar, and SAGE were utilized. Then between 2000-2010 advancements in

technology allowed us to buy books internationally through agents such as Amazon. By

using such vendors, I started buying documentative and textual materials and adding

more texts to the initial data collection.

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In August 2010 I visited Sri Lanka with the purpose of obtaining more data to

support my master’s thesis work. There, I obtained valued data within the national

archives in Kandy, Colombo and the museum archives in Colombo, Kandy, and Galle. It

filled in missing data, which was missed in the initial data collection.

I was able to grow the initial data collection to an updated, better organized data

set by 2011 from newly found data including: digital images, digital maps, bound books,

housed within my library and scholarly journals contained within my secure drive.

Through this data, I was able to clearly view pertinent information unfolded from the 5th

century BC to 2012, including the communal riots from 1954 to 1983, the Eelam conflict

1983 -2009 and the evolving post war Sinhala Muslim tension. The third and final phase

of data collection was done from 2016 – 2021, to support the current research addressing

specifically socio-politico-economic data pertaining to Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial,

and post-colonial periods.

Reaching my Walden residency session in August 2017, I already had my

dissertation premise prepared along with a dataset containing reliable sources from the

second stage of my data collection (1994 -2010). During this residency, our faculty

advisors Dr. Milen, Dr. Sheppard, and Dr. Jones reiterated the value of having a clear

phenomenon of interest and started collecting data early on in our academic journey. The

mentors also suggested incorporating the phenomenon of interest chosen for the

dissertation within our future classes to gain more perspective of the phenomenon of

interest.

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After speaking with them, I immediately began working towards updating my

dataset compiled in 2010 for the literature review presented for my graduate studies

research. There onwards between 2017 – 2018 as I completed various sessions of my

curriculum, I incorporated my area of interest into them. Within this effort I began a

systematic process of observing, gathering, and categorizing, more current information

specific for this study. Some of these incorporated works include publications by Brigette

Nacos, Seth Jones, Collin Flint, Eli Berman, and Kees van den Bos all observing ethnic

separatism from multiple angles that include insurgencies and terrorism.

I exhausted the library databases in both Bellevue University, and Walden

University as well as other digital archives including google books, EBSCO, JSTOR,

SAGE, and ProQuest. Collectively, reaching my second residency in August 2018, I not

only had managed to refine my existing data set, but also acquired more materials along

the way. In 2018, searching for a theoretical framework, during the second residency in

August 2018, I came across Dr. Benet and the polarities of democracy theory, “a unifying

theory with the capacity to support building and sustaining just communities” (Benet,

2006).

I found this to be an ideal theoretical framework to observe Sri Lanka’s Ethnic

Crisis. Meeting with Dr. Benet during the August 2018 session and with his guidance

from 2018 – 2021 I began entering materials on polarity management and polarities of

democracy to my data collection. These materials consisted of publications by Barry

Johnson, William Benet, Muzorewa Tabor, Bruce Struble and Paul Bernstein as well as

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research works compiled by Ronald McDaniel, Michele Greene, Nicole Hayes.

By August 2019 I had completed my prospectus using the materials I obtained

and started my dissertation journey working toward compiling the literature review. To

support my literature review I started collecting and refining the existing dataset by

categorizing them based on their relevancy to the study. The same year, coordinating

with my committee Chair Dr. Milen, I traveled to Sri Lanka and explored the archives

within the scared temple of Tooth, the National archives in Kandy, the University Library

at Peradeniya where I copied a manual list of more updated sources.

Returning to the US in 2020, I managed to obtain these items through Amazon,

Abe Books, eBay, and other local and international vendors, and included them to

complete my in-house library. These materials added to the data set include publications

by Mariam Shakil, Asoka Bandarage, Patrick Grant, K.M. De Silva, Neil DeVotta,

Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, as well as works compiled by Deborah Winslow, and Michael

D. Woost.

My home library contains over one thousand volumes and holds 103 of the

authoritative texts published on topics directly used within the current study. During the

final phase of collecting the data, findings were recorded in multiple forms digitally by

installing Calibre Version 5.29 and using the same application to store and organize all

digitized eBooks, on one hard drive.

I then used Microsoft Windows 95 through 10 to store all the images and maps

within the ‘Pictures’ folder and categorized them in order, transferring meta data such as

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the date and time the image was taken. During the initial and secondary phase of data

collection I also recorded data using Microsoft Windows versions 3.0 – 10 using its

capabilities to store data in folders. Journals, textual articles, and other digital materials

were stored within folders categorized by topic.

Whenever possible I also took digital notes using MS Word 365 and built the

literature review in Chapter II where the findings were then incorporated into the current

study. I maintained a personal journal of my observations as I took notes from various

archived texts and researched diverse topics pertaining to the study to build an expanding

bibliography (Appendix A).

Building the Data Sample

In building the data sample for the current study, I began with an existing dataset I

previously collected from 1994 – 2012 to explore Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and

post-colonial, governance through the lens of polarities of democracy. Then, I

incorporated more recent data, collected between 2016 – 2021. The initial dataset

contained a multitude of documentative materials on pre-colonial, post-colonial and some

aspects of colonial Sri Lanka directly obtained from Sri Lanka itself.

The second dataset was compiled mainly from within the United States between

2016 and 2021. In gathering the data for the second dataset, I heavily depended upon

using the advancements in Google books, Amazon, JSTOR, and other digital databases

such as Google Scholar. Upon incorporating both the datasets and analyzing them as one

and reducing them to one data sample, I took into consideration only the data containing

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socio-politico-economic aspects of Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial

governance.

To maintain a manageable sample size, and to go through the surplus of data,

reducing it to only relevant sources for the study, I took into consideration a modified

form of guiding questions presented as suggestions by the National Science Foundation

(NSF). The set of questions used the ten overarching values of the polarities of

democracy model and assured the obtained 280 documentative materials remained

relevant to the study (Appendix A). I also present below the findings from the texts (my

data sample) which I examined to further assist the readers.

Data Sample

A traditional qualitative analysis on a topic would require presenting a

questionnaire to a selected pool of live participants (Sample) and obtaining the answers to

explore a phenomenon. The findings of the interviews presented would allow the reader

to obtain an understanding of various connections that lead to the results. Such

presentation of data would also support increasing the transformability, credibility, and

the dependability of the study. This Qualitative Historical Comparative Case Study did

not use live participants, instead adhered strictly to exploring documentative materials to

capture socio-politico-economic aspects of Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial, colonial, and post-

colonial governance through the lens of polarities of democracy. Despite the method I

used, the value of maintaining transparency remains the same. So, I chose to present the

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findings within the data set of Sri Lanka’s socio-politico-economic history

chronologically as uncovered during the QDA process.

The Pre-Colonial Period (1445-1505)

The current study an historical comparative case study, was developed to explore:

‘In what ways has polarities of democracy detracted or contributed to Sri Lanka’s pre-

colonial, colonial, and post-colonial governance from sustaining a steady state of ethnic

harmony’. The study explored only textual, visual and documentative materials.

Choosing qualitative document analysis (QDA) to build the research sample, guided by a

specific set of questions adhering to the ten values of polarities of democracy to sift

through the data, I reduced it to only the relevant sources.

Pre-Colonial Governance

Sri Lanka, until the fall of its long-extended monarchy, was not united under a

central government or ruler. Until the British occupation, which dominated the nation as

whole from 1815, Sri Lanka always maintained a decentralized form of governance. The

traditional way of life, inside a pre-colonial Sri Lankan village, was very much affected

by the monarchy, the hierarchy of chiefs, headsmen, caste, Rajakariya and the village

council (Kurukulasuriya & Ivor, 1971). Exploring Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial governance, a

monarch, as seen today, would be the federal authority overseeing the lower ranked

chief’s (nobility) that acted as state authorities. The chiefs ascended to the seat of power

either by war, marriage, or lineage (Mendis, 1951).

Under the monarchy, chieftains of different power bases, upon establishing

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themselves through marriage or war, would constantly expand their authority to other

parts of the country (see Figure 8). Acting as a state authority they would, through a

micro system of a centralized government, oversee the village councils that stood as the

basis of the local government from the earliest time (Kurukulasuriya & Ivor, 1971).

Figure 8

Ancient Kingdoms of Sri Lanka

Note. Author created using the data sample, Kingdoms of Sri Lanka, By S.P Amarasinghe,

Authors Private collection, July 2019, Copyright, 2019.

A ‘Kingdom’ within the ancient context, was a region where a strong monarch

maintained his or her dominance. Located within a kingdom, the capital city was not only

the main economic hub but was also the key location from where the residing monarch

executed his authority. Some of these notable kingdoms within ancient Sri Lanka include

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Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Yapahuwa, Kotte and Kandy. Sri Lanka, until the fall of the

ancient monarchy, following British occupation, and the Kandyan convention of 1815,

always had multiple kingdoms within the nation (see Figure 9).

Figure 9

Three Major Kingdoms of Precolonial Sri Lanka

Note. Author created using the data sample, Three Major Kingdoms of pre-colonial Sri

Lanka, By S.P Amarasinghe, Authors Private collection, July 2009, Copyright, 2009.

The earliest kingdoms being the Ruhunu (Southern Kingdom), Maya (Western

Kingdom) and Pihiti (Northern Kingdom) due to various invasions and threats by foreign

forces, including the great Kaling and Maga, migrated to the central hills by the end of

the 14th century. In such Kingdoms both the monarchy and citizens held a collectivist

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understanding of power. Despite commanding a higher level of authority, monarchs did

not go beyond the popular interest of the people. This is because, if they did, another

ruler would seize the throne with the support of its discontented followers (Mendis,

1951).

The Sri Lankan monarchs, trained in various philosophies during their upbringing,

understood the Buddhist philosophy of cause-and-effect, so they lived a life remarkably

like the Indian monarchs, and were held accountable to multiple obligations. These

obligations included maintaining order and peace, protecting the nation from outside

forces, and supporting the progress of agricultural needs to sustain the nation’s economy

(Kingwell-Banham et al., 2018). They were also expected be involved with supporting

the religions institutions of the people by encouraging the maintenance and progress of

temples and other religious edifices (Geiger, 1912).

In meeting the obligation placed upon him, a monarch, was bound by the laws of

governing called the ‘dasa-raja-dhamma’ or ten duties of the king. They used these

governing laws to delegate power virtuously (Pethiyagoda, 2021). The monarchs, despite

the power they commanded, were not exempt from being accountable for their actions.

They were constantly monitored, criticized, corrected, and guided by the ‘Purohita’ Vedic

priesthood and the ‘Pandit’s’, the wise or learned people in the court. These, Purohit’s

and the Pandit’s were responsible for educating and mentoring a young monarch and

continued this effort until their demise (Naik, 1961). The Purohit’s, the Pandit’s and the

guiding principles of the ten duties of the king acted as an unseen force that assured a

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monarch conformed to the ‘separation of powers’ and executed his powers favoring the

popular interest of the people (see Figure 10).

Figure 10

The Ten Duties of the King (Dasa Raja Dhamma)

Note. Author created using the data sample, Kingdoms of Sri Lanka, By Amarasinghe,

When governing their kingdoms, adhering to the ten duties, a monarch followed a

constitution. The most recent one uncovered is the constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom

(Nadaraja, 1972). Translated to English in 1833 this constitution covers an array of topics

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pertaining to all aspects of governing a state, as well as executing justice (D’Oyly, 1833).

Some of the noted topics include, the duties and authority of the chiefs, honors,

privileges, division of the kingdom, duties allocated to castes, allocation of land,

responsibilities of the courts, crimes, punishment as well as the administration of justice.

Within the context of administering justice by an ancient monarch, the Pandit’s

and the Purohit’s physically stood within the court as an unseen force in ensuring due

process. The Gam-Sabaha (Village Council) and the Rata- Sabaha also played a key role

to balance power (see Figure 11). A basic form of self-governance, the ancient village

council consisted of ‘raiyats’ or those who hold land belonging to the king for purposes

of agriculture. These raiyats, at the ground level of ancient Sri Lanka’s judicial hierarchy

regulated the affairs of the village, enforced its ancient customary laws, and delegated to

each cultivator his or her share of land for the use and preservation of irrigation works.

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Figure 11

Interior of a Village Courthouse in Session (Gam Sabaha)

Note. Adapted from Ceylon: An Account of the Island, “Interior of a village

courthouse”, By Sir James Emerson Tennent, Longman and Roberts Publications,

The people, in protecting one’s trade, and when faced with challenges, would first

present their case to the village councils, and by voting on a motion accepted the decision

of a majority. If dissatisfied, the issue was then presented to the ‘Rata-Sabha’ (District

council), an entity consisting of delegates from each village of a particular district with

authority over caste, marriage, and social status. If these two councils failed to provide a

solution it would then be taken to the king’s court. Making the village councils and the

district councils the first and second level levels of the judicial hierarchy, as well as a

force, which ensured due process. The membership of the village council consisted of

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residence in a particular village without regard to caste, creed, gender, or ethnicity.

The ancient monarchs of Sri Lanka endured several challenges. Most importantly

was their inability to effectively communicate with all parts of their dominion which

stood in the way of expressing authority, and in unifying the nation under one monarch

(Geiger, 1912). When responding to threats, having no standing armies, the monarchs

were dependent upon regional chiefs to provide people and arms. This afforded a good

deal of power to the chiefs (Siri Sumangala et al., 1998). The distance between kingdoms,

the monarch’s inability to communicate with their followers, and the dependency on the

chiefs in time of crisis, all compelled the people to organize themselves in small

communal sects to provide for their needs (K. M. De Silva, 1981).

Pre-Colonial Societal Dynamics

The nucleus of the ancient communal sects of Sri Lanka consisted of one’s family

and their trade. Each family, identified by a trade or a service they provide, formed the

Sri Lankan caste system and other dynamics of a village (Jabbar, 2005). The Sri Lankan

caste system differs from the Indian caste system. The Sri Lankan caste system is guided

by the Buddhist principals, and separate people based on the value of their industry and

their family’s ability to manufacture goods at an elevated level (M. Roberts, 1982).

Industries within the cast structure include merchants, woodcutters, flag-bearers,

jewelers, drum manufacturers, and farmers (Nubin, 2002). Trade secrets of their crafts

were handed down from father to son, and through inter marriage (K. M. De Silva, 1981).

Even the localities in pre-colonial times were named after the industry for which that site

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was popular. For example, ‘Panideniya’, a village of the people engaged in honey

production, ‘Wewaldeniya’, of those engaged in weaving, ‘Madurawela’, is a village of

those engaged in pottery (Kumbal) industry (Jabbar, 2005).

Based on the Sri Lankan caste system, lineages that supported the nation’s

economy, through rice cultivation, and or counseled the monarchs and the chiefs, were

considered higher than jewelers or one’s manufacturing ‘Chunuk’ (calcium carbonate) for

painting or eating (Knox, 1681). The lowest within the Sri Lankan caste system were

associated with those incurably sick, and those engaged in cannibalism. They lived as

gypsies, occupied in industries such as tanning, rope making, and disposing of the dead

(Gilbert, 1945).

Role of Women in the Pre-Colonial Period

Another aspect of the pre-colonial society was the prominent role women played

as mothers and wives. Historical evidence indicates that other faiths and other tribes

including the Yakshas (demon) and Nagas (Snake) have existed in Sri Lanka since the

fifth century BC. These early systems of worship embodied strains of ancient Hinduism,

where women played a key role. In many instances women were portrayed as either equal

to their male counterparts or as in the case of the goddess ‘Kali’, stronger (see Figure 12).

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Figure 12

Goddess Kali is portrayed standing on Lord Shiva & Goddess Lakshmi

Note. Adapted from, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, “Goddess Kali and

Lakshmi”, By William Joseph Wilkins, Missionary Society Publications, Copyright,

1882.

Buddhism, the majority religion of Sri Lanka, was introduced in the 3rd century

BC by the great emperor Asoka. Even though Buddhism gained prominence, it

incorporated other existing religious beliefs, which included Hinduism, Yaksha, and the

Nagas (Rahula , 1966). The crucial roles played by notable women such as Buddha’s

mother Mahā Māyā, wife Yaśodharā, stepmother Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, and the chief

laity Sujata, strengthened the Buddhist order. Because of their support to Buddha,

Buddhism portrayed women as worthy of veneration and as ones equal (Nyanaponika

Thera & Hecker, 2003). The Buddhist jataka tales, describe in detail, 550 reincarnations

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of Prince Siddhartha who attained Buddhahood, illustrates loyalty, dedication, and the

bravery of his wife in these reincarnated births. These tales were integrated into the

Buddhist catechism ‘Tripitaka’ (Triple Basket of knowledge), to use as examples for

laymen. Because the way they were used by the monks, they were perceived as reality

within the ancient Buddhist spirituality.

Women in pre-colonial Sri Lanka had attained equal footing to men and were not

treated as second-class citizens. Sri Lankan history records queen Anula, the sister-in-law

of King Devanam Priya Tissa of Anuradhapura, spearheading the establishment of the

order of Buddhist nuns in the 3rd century BC (Geiger, 1912). The initial mission, under

the leadership of the Venerable Arahat Mahindra, consisted of all male monks of the

brotherhood. Anula, observing the interest of the native women in joining the order,

expressed her concern to King Asoka (Anālayo , 2012). King Asoka, understanding the

request, sent his eldest daughter Sangamitta, a nun of the Buddhist order, to Sri Lanka,

and established the “Buddhist Female Monastic Order of Theravāda Buddhism” which

continues to date (Cheng, 2007).

This account is followed by the bravery of King Kavan Tissa’s wife Queen

Vihara Maha joining her husband in planning for the impending war against the great

King Elara of the Tamil kingdom of Jaffna (Schrijvers, 1986). Annals describe her efforts

to set up check points, as well as strengthening the nation’s capacity to endure a

prolonged war by filling store houses, organizing secondary withdrawal points, and other

diplomatic endeavors to ensure victory (Schrijvers, 1986).

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Considering more devious, and strong female monarchs of Sri Lanka, Queen

Sugala or Sugala Devi stand foremost. Sugala Devi, the mother of King Manabharana,

was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Ruhuna (Southeast Region) (C. R De Silva.,

1997). She reigned over the kingdom when King Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa

(1153–1186) gained dominance over all Sinhalese territories (Geiger, 1998). Following

the death of her son, she rallied the support of the people, and deployed devastating

campaigns against King Parakramabahu I to secure control over Ruhuna (Serrao, 2015).

Accounts depicting these campaigns show Sugala Devi’s wit, intelligence, and cunning,

making her a worthy adversary to Sri Lanka’s greatest monarch, the great Parakramabahu

I, who launched a campaign against Burma (Siriweera , 2002).

Next came the reign of the notorious Queen Anula in 44 BC, who poisoned her

partners to maintain her reign. Beyond these account during the pre-colonial period,

women played an active and equal role within in Sri Lanka because of rice cultivation.

Pre-Colonial Economy, Rajakariya, and Wealth

Proof of International trade can be found in coins from Greece, China, Rome, and

Persia, uncovered in Sri Lanka through various archeological digs. This indicates that the

circulation of currency was common in Sri Lanka when most of the world was using the

barter system. The reason behind this is Sri Lanka’s natural geography and location

within southeast Asia (see Figure 13). Sri Lanka was known to many ancient seafarers

because it is located a short distance from India, the doorway to the Overland Silk Road.

The natural geography of Sri Lanka contains both natural harbors, which provide access

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and protection for the Arabian sea trade from all sides.

Figure 13

Sri La ka i Ptolemy’s Worl Map 150 D

Note. Adapted from, History of Currency in Sri Lanka, “Extract of the world map by

Sri Lanka was able to export cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, ivory, and valuable

timber such as Teak, Mahogany, and ‘Jack tree’ considered valuable in the European

market. Because Sri Lanka contained both good soil and ample water from a multitude of

rivers widespread throughout the country along with eastern and western monsoons, these

commodities grew in abundance (Bandarage, 2020). This, and Sri Lanka’s natural

harbors, along with its strategic location to both the Arabian Sea and Overland trade,

made it an ancient trading hub (Beck, 2006).

Along with this, the ancient system of land ownership and the tenurial practices

connected all socio-politico-economic aspects of pre-colonial Sri Lanka. The main type

of land used within Pre-colonial Sri Lanka was for paddy cultivation (see Figure 14).

Other types of land use included backyard gardens and ‘Chena’ or dry cultivation, to

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consume between rice harvests (Macmillan, 1914). With almost 70% of land being

covered by forests, arable land was scarce. Arable land was considered the most primary

and valuable resource within precolonial Sri Lanka and supported the forming of the Sri

Lankan land tenure system. Widespread farming communities throughout the country

used the available arable land and water resources to their maximum capacity.

Figure 14

Pre-Colonial Social Organization Bound Around an Irrigation Tank

Note. Adapted from, Ecology of ancient Tank Cascade Systems in island Sri Lanka, Fig.

5, in Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, By Geekiyanage, Pushpakumara,

Multiple debates are presented by the academics on pre-colonial land ownership

in Sri Lanka, and the role of the monarchy. Some scholars, including Siriweera (1994),

Abeysinghe (1956), and Codrington (1938), say that within the ancient Sri Lankan tenure

system the monarch was the sole proprietor of all the land within his or her Territory. But

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most academics argue that despite being identified as the owner of land (“Bhupathi’),

monarchs stood only as the custodian and not the sole proprietor of the land

(Kumarasinghe & Samkin, 2018).

Research by academics including Doyly (1883), Hayley (1923), Codrington

(1938) and Peiris (1956) show that land ownership and tenure was seen as four categories

under the control of a monarch (see Figure 15). The nobility and aristocracy and others of

prominence controlled the land to which the monarch granted them controlling rights.

The monarch could obtain services and income from the land outside of the three

categories above, and land held by religious institutions. The Rajakariya is the basis of

the ‘king’s duty’, it is a unique form of land tenure system that supports both the

individual and the state (Lowe, 2007). For this, the monarch used the land allocated to

him in exchange for services and income.

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Figure 15

Land (Gam) Ownership and Tenure

Note. From Codrington (1929), D’Oyly (1833) and Abeysinghe (1956) within the data

sample, Land (Gam) Ownership and Tenure, By Samanga Amarasinghe, July 2017,

The services expected by the king for the land granted were in two forms. One

was services rendered for public works, such as in the construction of roads, bridges or

irrigation works. The other was for obtaining services based on an individual’s caste-

related occupation (Toynbee, 1946;Wickramasinghe, 2020). In this manner, the land

tenure system of Sri Lanka connected the pre-colonial socio-politico-economic

paradigms. This system incorporated a fair distribution of land by means of ‘Pangu’

(equal shares) based on one’s need and family trade. This land distribution omitted

religious or ethnic preferences, so ethnic harmony was sustained (Aiyangar et al., 1921).

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The pre-colonial economy continued to grow because of these systems such as the

Rajakariya and the land tenure system. Today, most of these pre-colonial cities, beyond

Kandy, are in ruins, masking the hidden glory inside the overgrowth. Various accounts by

visitors to Sri Lanka from ancient times, give a glimpse of these marvels. One such

visitor to ancient Sri Lanka was Fa Hein, a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to all

the Buddhist kingdoms between 337 BC – 422 AD. During his journey Fa Hein landed in

Sri Lanka and described its diversity: “… the people of various countries heard how

pleasant the land was and flocked to it in numbers until it became a great nation (sic.)”

(Fa-Hien, 1886, p. 101). Sri Lanka’s abundance of vegetation, and agriculture, according

to Fa Hein (1886), was that “The vegetation is always luxuriant…. Cultivation proceeds

wherever men think fit, there are no fixed seasons for it (sic.)” (p. 101). The wealth of

pre-colonial Sri Lanka was such that the “king built a large tope (platform), 400 cubits

high, grandly adorned with gold and silver, finished with a combination of all the

precious substances” (p. 102). Fa Hein also gave us a glimpse of the wealth and

prosperity of the time when describing the historical Abhayagiri vihara (Temple

complex) site frequented by pilgrims even today. According to Fa Hein (1886), “…he

(the king) further built a monastery, called the ‘Abhayagiri’. In it a hall of Buddha,

adorned with carved and inlaid works of gold and silver… which there is an image (of

Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those

substances” (pp. 102-103).

Fa Hein presents a rare glimpse of the ancient monastic way of life with some

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details about the ancient capital of Anuradhapura during the reign of king Mahanama of

Anuradhapura in 422 A.D (Codrington, 1926). Ven. Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera,

through his text the ‘Salalihini Sandesh’ (Message of the Mina bird), also portray a

splendid view of Jayawardena, the last pre-colonial capital of Sri Lanka (see Figure 16).

Figure 16

Description of the City of Jayawardena in the ‘Salalihini Sandesh’

Note. Adapted from, Salalihini Sandesh, By Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula, translation

Edmund Jayasuriya, (2002), PP 40-41, Post Graduate Institute of Archeology,

The kingdom of Kotte, during the reign of king Parakramabahu the VI (1412 –

1467), was considered one of the richest kingdoms since Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa

(Somaratna, 1969). The wealth of this kingdom was found in its strategic location and its

openness to diversity (see Figure 17). It was located close to the port of Kolon Tota

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(Colombo), situated toward the west. This was a well-known port frequented by Roman,

Arab, and Chinese traders for more than 2000 years (Pieris & Naish, 1999).

Figure 17

The Kingdom of Kotte with the Annexed parts from the North

Note. Adapted from, Remains of Dark Days, By Sagara Jayasinghe, Helder Carita and

Various historical records indicate that by the 8th century, many Arab Muslim

traders had settled in Colombo, making it their base to conduct trade for that part of the

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world (Peebles, 2015). The King of Kotte captured the Jaffna and Vanni territories by

1450 and as a result, had access to resources within the Northern region including

coconuts, pearls, and salt, all considered valuable trade goods. This enhanced the agrarian

economy of the Kingdom of Kotte (Somaratna, 1969).

The pre-colonial Sri Lankan kingdoms always managed to sustain the economy

because the monarchs of the time placed the wellbeing of their people a priority. The

monarchs adhered to an ancient form of decentralized governance that worked to

maintain both economic growth and the development of these kingdoms. The pre-

colonial monarchs, the chiefs, and the people working together within the Gam Sabah,

Rata Sabah, and the land tenure systems enabled values such as equality, justice, and due

process to flourish. The most relevant observation of the pre-colonial period is that they

valued humanity beyond things that separate people, such as religion, creed, color, and

birth. They welcomed diversity such as Buddhism when it first arrived in the 3rd century

BC, so peace reigned within these kingdoms. But, due to prolonged internal conflicts, and

various colonial interventions, these ancient governing methods changed.

The Colonial Period (1505 -1948)

Sri Lanka was colonized successively by the Portuguese 1505-1658, the Dutch

1664-1795, and the British from 1796 – 1948. These colonial powers would exploit the

once isolated precolonial Sri Lankan socio-politico-economic structure to meet their

geopolitical, geostrategic, and economic needs. Despite not making an impact at once,

these changes, over time, began to shift various paradigms of the socio-politico-economic

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structure of Sri Lanka.

Portuguese Colonial Governance

The Portuguese, Sri Lanka’s first colonial power, found Sri Lanka by accident

when Lourenco de Almeida’s ship was swept away to the coast of Sri Lanka during a

storm in 1505. Almeida observed Sri Lanka’s commercial potential and returned it in

1518. Then, with the permission of king Vijaya Bahu VII, opened a trade post in

Colombo as part of the Portuguese East India Company and converted it to a fort.

By 1543, there were four kingdoms within Sri Lanka. To the south the kingdom

of Kotte under Bhuvanaikabahu VII, Raigama under Raigam Bandara and Sitawaka

under Maya Dunne. The Jaffna kingdom dominated the Northern provinces. Because of

familial hierarchical troubles within the Sinhalese, once Raigam Bandara was

assassinated by the domineering Maya Dunne, he turned his attention to the kingdom of

Kotte (Ribeiro, 1998). The king Bhuvanaikabahu VII, fearful and isolated, unsure as to

whether his forces could defend him against his brother, requested help from the

Portuguese who supplied labor and armaments, eventually increasing the power of the

Portuguese in Sri Lanka.

The Portuguese started to exploit resources within the territories of the Kotte

kingdom, claiming them as war tribute (Ribeiro, 1998). This was made easier by the

constant infighting of Maya Dunne and Bhuvanaikabahu VII. In 1560, omitting the

territories under the Jaffna and the Kandyan kingdoms, the Portuguese had extended their

dominion across all coastal territories belonging to the Kotte kingdom (Pieris & Naish,

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1999). In 1619, after multiple attempts to capture other parts of the country, the

Portuguese annexed the Jaffna kingdom, as well as the eastern coastal ports of

Trincomalee and Batticaloa (Blaze, 1999). The central high lands, and most parts of the

eastern coastlines remained under Sinhalese monarchial rule, known as the Kandyan

Kingdom, until 1815 when it was finally incorporated into British dominion (Mendis,

2005). The Portuguese governance within Sri Lanka was done by maintaining local

governance of the Kingdom of Kotte, which consisted of four provinces and various other

subdivisions each under a Dissave (Chief; see Figure 18).

Figure 18

Portuguese Rule in Sri Lanka

Note. From the data sample, Portuguese Rule in Sri Lanka, By S.P Amarasinghe, Authors

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Portuguese Colonial Societal Dynamics

Under the Dissave, the Portuguese further delegated their power by appointing

local officials, taken from the Sinhalese nobility, who were loyal to the Portuguese and

the Burghers (McGilvray, 1982). They also maintained the pre-colonial system of land

tenure that sustained the local economy and procured essentials needed for Portuguese

trade (Mahroof, 1997). The old payment system by land allocation, was also used by

Portuguese officials to pay the native loyalists and the colonists for their services (Serrao,

2015).

During the Portuguese occupation, the native caste system was retained and a new

ethnic group, the Portuguese Burghers, were included as a preferred ethnic group. The

local economy continued to function through the paddy and dry cultivation seasons. The

international trade that supported the native economy to flourish was now completely

under Portuguese control (Pieris & Naish, 1999). Within these areas, certain indigenous

goods, such as elephants, pepper, and betel nuts becoming part of the Portuguese

monopoly, and was denied to the native king and his subjects. The Portuguese

governance within Sri Lanka, was based upon exploiting the abundant natural resources

for profiteering, lacked a proper understanding of the pre-colonial Sinhalese social and

economic structure, so they were not able to turn it to their advantage (G. C. Perera,

2007).

Another effect seen negative to the populous was the Portuguese effort to

evangelize the natives to Roman Catholicism. This left a lasting negative effect on Sri

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Lanka’s ethnic harmony. Since 1211, most of the Portugal’s population (97%), followed

Roman Catholicism, and only 3% followed other religions. Portugal predominantly

remained a Catholic state. This influenced every aspect of Portuguese culture including

governance in Sri Lanka (Solsten & Keefe, 1993, p. XVI). With no separation of state

and religion, the Portuguese efforts to maintain control of Sri Lanka, deployed a fierce

campaign to forcibly convert the natives to Roman Catholicism by destroying any other

forms of worship (Keefe et al., 1977).

Portuguese Colonial Economics

The Portuguese, during these rampages, set fire to rice fields, chena cultivations,

and homesteads. They decapitated noncombatants, destroyed Buddhist, Hindu, and other

religious buildings, and burned Ola Leaf books within temples and shrines (Biedermann,

2018). During this period, the destruction of land allocated for use in the land tenure

system fomented a sense of resentment toward both the natives, who submitted to

Christianity, and the Portuguese (Wickramasekara, 2004).

In furthering this disharmony, the Portuguese enforced land taxes that would

eventually lead to aggression against the colonists and their loyalists (G. C. Perera, 2007).

The Portuguese enforced taxes was different from the monarchial land tenure laws which

compelled ‘volunteer labor’ or ‘caste-based services’ for the collective good of state and

country (G. C. Perera, 2007).

The Portuguese, within their territory, enforced taxes on natives after reviewing

all their possessions. They compiled a register of grants (Tombo) containing each

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holding, the title of those who held it, the income it yielded, and the dues to which the

holder was liable. This was then collected with severity (Berkwitz, 2013). Portuguese

taxation was based on profiteering. It used a Hapsburg system to earn profit for the ruling

class based on one’s harvest, land size, and the profits made using the land (Berkwitz,

2013). Excessive demands placed by the Portuguese on the natives, led to various

hardships, compelling the natives to become hostile (G. C. Perera, 2007).

When faced with hostility, and disobedience by the locals, the Portuguese

responded with force. This exacerbated the conditions and led to constant turmoil

between natives and the Portuguese colonists. Some of these known conflicts include the

Vijayabā Rebellion of 1527, the battle of Nallur in 1560 and the toppling of the Jaffna

Kingdom in 1619 and annexing it to the Portuguese (De Queyroz, 1982; Winius, 2013).

In between these conflicts, the Portuguese, to extend their domain, deployed a full

military offensive against the Kandyan Kingdom: the last Sinhalese stronghold in 1592.

Noted battles of this offensive include: the celebrated Danture campaign of 1594, and the

battle of Gannoruwa on March 28, 1638 (Winius, 2013).

The native population of Sri Lanka, who endured centuries as an agrarian society

by challenging the jungles for their livelihood, were masters in guerrilla warfare (G. C.

Perera, 2007). Guerrilla warfare became a way of life for the locals, who responded to the

invading Portuguese forces, by using the natural setting of the Kandyan kingdom, of

thick jungles, deep gouges, and other obstacles, to their advantage, and caused heavy

losses to the Portuguese.

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The impact of the Kandyan response was so devastating, that the Portuguese not

only retreated, but never attempted another military offensive of the Kandyan Kingdom.

Instead, they sought diplomacy by signing the convention of Malvana in 1598 with the

Kandyan Kingdom and retreated to their territories which include the Kotte and the

Jaffna.

With pressure building from all sides, including threats on his life, the last

executive action by the king of Kotte Bhuvanaikabahu VII, in protecting his lineage, was

to have his son Prince Dharmapala (Dom João Dharmapala Pereia Bandara 1541 –1597)

baptized and placed under the guardianship of the Portuguese until he was ready to rule

(Seijas & Xavier, 2020). Prince Dharmapala embraced Roman Catholicism, legitimized

Portuguese forced religious conversion, and granted the Portuguese total power over local

governance to protect himself from his uncle Maya Dunne and the enraged Kandyan

monarchs (Seijas & Xavier, 2020).

When Dharmapala died on May 27th, 1597, the Portuguese briefly gained

authority over the kingdom of Kotte, but most of Kotte’s divisions were still under

Sinhalese nobility loyal to the local monarch (Abeysinghe, 1964). To solidify Portuguese

authority over the Kotte kingdom, and to gain loyalty of the locals to the king of Portugal,

Governor General, Jeronimo de Azevedo initiated the Malvana convention of 1598

(Ribeiro, 1998). The edicts of the convention stated, that in return for native authorities

recognizing Philip I of Portugal as their king, he, as the authority of Portugal in Sri Lanka

and India, will respect the native way of life, including laws and customs (Abeysinghe,

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1964). In response, eight Christianized Sinhalese delegates, and representatives of the

royal house of Kotte professed their loyalty to the king of Portugal (Pieris & Naish,

1999). This enraged the Kandyan monarch.

The Malvana convention of 1598 was the first of its kind introduced to Sri Lanka.

It was highly criticized for granting the Portuguese an open door to exploit the land and

plunder local treasures in their efforts to force the native population to convert to

Christianity (Pieris & Naish, 1999). What the convention granted the locals, was the

freedom to administer justice according to Sinhalese laws, even within the Portuguese

dominion (Niriella, 2013). Unlike times leading up to independence in 1948, the

Portuguese Colonial period, beyond its brutalities and resource exploitations, kept most

of the old pre-colonial ways.

When considering the Portuguese Colonial period of Sri Lanka (1505 – 1658),

history denotes it as an era of violence, unrest, and turmoil, and an era that compelled

prolonged change (K. M. De Silva., 1981). The change came in the form of ethnic

separatism that haunted the nation for decades. With the Jaffna kingdom falling under the

Portuguese in 1619, only the Kandyan Kingdom survived, as a strong hold for natives to

seek refuge (Ross & Savada, 1988).

Those who suffered and escaped the Portuguese dominion, considered the actions

of the Kotte monarchy to integrate Portuguese ideas in internal politics, as an act of high

treason (Welhengama & Pillay, 2014). The up-country people were unsympathetic

toward the residents of the low country, who were suppressed into submission by the

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ruthless Portuguese, and began to look down upon the low country people as traitors who

betrayed the once glorious nation (Aspland, 1851). As a result, beyond the trading of

goods between low country and up-country natives, social attachments, such as marriages

ceased and “things went south” in all aspects (Booth, 1978). Causing another form of

separatism, based upon religious belief. Christianity became in disfavor among both the

upcountry and low country Buddhists. Even today, Christians are not openly welcomed

within dominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka.

Dutch Colonial (VOC) Governance

The Kandyan Monarchy, despite having the manpower to deploy a full-scale

attack in dealing with the Portuguese, lacked a strong navy, which challenged the

Monarch’s ability to contain growing Portuguese power. Examples of this can be seen in

the attack on the Colombo fort in 1521, when the Portuguese, on the verge of complete

loss, retreated to the sea (Black, 2011). Within the safety of their armada, the Portuguese

used their naval battery to devastate attackers, causing many casualties. They then

requested reinforcements from other nearby forts and reclaimed lost territory. In 1602,

due to the actions of Phillip of Spain, the politics between the Dutch and the Portuguese

had turned sour (Anthonisz, 2003). Phillip deprived the Dutch of their trade rights in

1602. In return, the Dutch collaborated with multiple other trade organizations and

established the Dutch East India Company or ‘Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie’

(VOC) (Anthonisz, 2003). Since the Portuguese Navy maintained total dominance over

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the Indian ocean, the VOC lacked enough territory to expand their trade, and secure a

monopoly on Asian goods (Dijk, 2006).

On May 31st, 1602, VOC Admiral Joris Van Spielberger landed in Batticaloa and

changed the history of both the VOC and Sri Lanka for good. The king of Kandy, Vimala

Dharma Sūriya I (1590-1604), finding the Portuguese menacing, established

communication with Van Spielberger. Both agreeing that they share a common enemy,

Van Spielberger agreed to help the monarch to get rid of the Portuguese and agreed to

send another envoy with details. But when the envoy arrived in 1612 with Marcellus de

Boschhouwer, Vimala Dharma Sūriya I, had died. The Kandyan Kingdom was now

under Rajasinghe II, who finalized details and signed the famous Kandyan Treaty of

1638. The treaty grants the Dutch the freedom to trade anywhere within the country and

Rajasinghe II agreed to annually deliver the country’s best cinnamon, at a fixed price to

the Dutch, to be paid with money or goods. In return, the Dutch agreed to support the

king in his campaign against the Portuguese, by providing military needs, such as men,

weapons, and ammunition (Da Silva & Beumer, 1988).

From 1638 -1658 the Kandyan monarchy, along with the Dutch, systematically

removed Portuguese strongholds throughout the coastline of Sri Lanka. By 1655, all the

Portuguese fortresses, including Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Negombo, Matara, Galle and

Colombo were liberated from the Portuguese. But, by 1658, the Dutch placed a larger

burden of the war costs on the Kandyan Monarch, and requested that payment be either in

cash, or resources. The monarch’s refusal to pay caused a rift between the two factions.

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In response, from 1664 to 1795, the Dutch commandeered and held the regions once

occupied by the Portuguese, including most Sri Lankan harbors, and used them for VOC

industries within in Sri Lanka (Nierstrasz, 2012).

Sri Lanka, abundant in cinnamon, was the most important commodity for the

VOC so they chose Sri Lanka as their site of operations for the cinnamon industry (Da

Silva & Beumer, 1988). By 1658, the Dutch controlled over 470,000 people residing

within the two coastal provinces of Sri Lanka. The Dutch controlled territories to the

south including Galle and Colombo, then to the north, the territories included Jaffna, and

Mannar (see Figure 18).

The VOC, having their main base of operations in India, governed Sri Lanka as

part of a Mercantile system, which is a system of overseeing the economy of a country by

controlling its foreign trade. The colonies were mandated to only trade with their parent

nations, making them dependent on the parent nation (Kenton, ‘Mercantilism’, 2020).

As a result of ongoing internal turmoil between the colonists and the natives from

1500, by 1658 the ancient infrastructure now within Dutch dominion was neglected and

destroyed (Goonaratna, 1971). The ancient rice fields that sustained the local economy of

the once Kingdom of Ruhuna were now abandoned, their dams and waterways destroyed.

Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch took a keen interest in developing the state in which

they governed. They were the first to introduce westernization into Sri Lanka,

incorporating the Sri Lankan ancient economic system (Arasaratnam, 1985).

Dutch governance was more socially relaxed and financially methodical than the

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Portuguese. According to Ferguson (1883), the Dutch... “pursued a far more enlightened

administrative policy… but with regards to commerce, it was selfish and oppressive” (p.

5). The main goal of the Dutch occupation of Sri Lanka was to obtain a monopoly of the

cinnamon trade on behalf of the VOC. They valued ideas that encouraged economic

growth such as peace within their colonies (D. Ferguson , 1927). Because it would be too

expensive to bring in reinforcements and maintain stability within the region, native

conflicts were deemed unprofitable.

The Dutch, like the Portuguese, were dependent upon native labor. Benefiting

from this dependence, the Dutch, unlike the Portuguese, were more open to the native

system of governance (Gam Sabha and Rata Sabaha), which supported paddy-based

industries, and native social hierarchy based upon trade. The Dutch introduced Roman-

Dutch Law, allowing the administration of local justice on the regional level (Ross &

Savada, 1988).

Dutch Colonial Societal Dynamics

By 1660, the loyalty of the natives was split between the Kandyan monarch and

the Dutch. In retaining their loyalty, the Dutch used tact. They manipulated the well

rooted social dynamics of Pre-colonial Sri Lanka to their advantage and focused on

agriculture (Codrington, 1926). Agriculture not only supported the local economy to

grow, it also gave the colonists their cash crops. Prioritizing the cinnamon industry to

meet their needs, the Dutch extended their trade to other industries profitable within the

European markets. They industrialized pearls, pepper, and spice cultivation, as well as

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profiting from other cash-crops such as coffee, coconuts, sugarcane, cotton, and tobacco

(R. B. Herath, 2002). The Dutch colonial mercantilism, within Sri Lanka, was based upon

the cinnamon industry. The Dutch introduced low level localized bureaucracy to Sri

Lanka which rallied supporters to their efforts (Reddy, 2003). The Dutch, observing the

ancient societal systems of Sri Lanka, added a new industry ‘cinnamon production’ to the

caste system (Reddy, 2003).

When the Portuguese colonial period ended, once ethnically united Sri Lanka was

divided along regional lines (see Figure 19). The upcountry natives looked down upon

the low country natives seeing them as traitors. This severed any opportunity for the low

country people to obtain any form of socio-politico-economic privileges, or even obtain

favor from their upcountry relatives (Maetsuycker, 1908). The new caste they introduced

to the Sri Lanka caste system was associated with the cinnamon industry and was known

as ‘Salagama’ or Salagama Brahmana (Dewasiri et al., 2020). The low country caste

system, created by the Dutch, used cinnamon peelers as the base, and ratcheted up to

owners of the estates.

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Figure 19

Map of the Dutch Controlled Regions Between 1658-1796

Note: From Some Historical Aspects of Leprosy in Ceylon During the Dutch Period 1658

– 1796, by C. De. F.W. Gooneratne, Medical History, 1971; 15(1), P. 69, Copyrights

1971

Above all other castes in the low country, the owners of these estates, along with

industrialists, were favored by the Dutch (Senaratne & Pathirana, 2020). The Dutch,

when delegating the duties within their administration, kept all high offices for

themselves, and the Dutch burghers. Lower offices were delegated to the local elite by

assigning them specific duties, such as providing manpower to guard the gate “Gate

Mudaliar” (M. Roberts,1982).

The invention of the printing press in 1450 marked a turning point in the world. It

brought books to the world giving prominence to education and higher education (Barker,

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1978). Dutch clergymen, in their efforts to conduct research and publish various religious

documents, found it hard to do it using ‘Ola Leaves’. They requested a portable press to

be delivered to the Colombo fort in 1736 (Kularatne, 1995).

The press completely changed the dynamics of the Dutch colonial efforts in Sri

Lanka. The Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) printed multitudes of religious,

educational, and non-educational books in Sinhala, Tamil, and Dutch. The press, active

from 1737 to 1796, not only supported the development of proper records kept on the

growth of various industries and state policies, but it also enabled the Dutch to introduce

westernized education in Sri Lanka (W. Brown,1823).

The Dutch education system introduced to the natives, was a more liberal and

broad form of education than the Portuguese, with all its restrictions and limitations (W.

Brown,1823). Dutch education divided the occupied areas in to two hundred and forty

parishes, with one Protestant School for each parish. The Dutch further established their

education and religion, by constructing a seminary. Dutch education was accessible to

any prominent student, who could obtain an extensive education, enabling them to secure

careers as schoolmasters, catechists, or preachers (W. Brown,1823).

Some of the students chosen from these Dutch seminaries were even sent to

Europe to get a complete European education (Maetsuycker, 1908). Upon their return

they assisted in academia or joined various sectors within the Dutch administration

(Schrikker, 2007). The Dutch, along with their education system, in contrast to the

Portuguese, allowed, local temple-based education to continue.

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Equally, native religious tolerance of the Dutch was much more lenient; while

they prohibited Buddhist and Hindu religious observance in urban areas, they did not

interfere with such in the rural areas. This retained the local population within the Dutch

dominion (R. B. Herath, 2002). However, the Dutch were not that sympathetic towards

Roman Catholic practices, they harassed Catholics whenever possible, and constructed

protestant religious edifices on land obtained from the catholic ministries (R. B. Herath,

2002).

Dutch Colonial Economics

The maintained peace between the Dutch and the Kandyan kingdom, allowed

various industries, including cinnamon, coconut, cotton, and coffee to flourish and

enabled the Dutch to develop the low country regions within their dominion. This

brought in large revenues to the VOC (Arasaratnam, 1985). The progress of the low

country was increased with the Dutch having control over all the ports and international

trade. The Kandyan kingdom having dominion over the inland remained an agrarian

society. By continuing to hold onto the pre-colonial methods and traditions, the Kandyan

kingdom lost its once flourishing economy (Dewaraja, 2008).

For the Sri Lankan low country, it was a time of revival. Unlike within the

Kandyan kingdom, dominated by the upcountry elites, Dutch dominion granted the

freedom of social upward mobility to anyone who contributed to the VOC (Kotelawele,

1995). Many ambitious young natives including Mr. Don Carolis, Christoffel de Seram,

Don Bartholomew, and James Edward Correa began emerging within the elite ranks of

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the south (Wright, 1999). Others residing within various regions who sought fame and

adventure, began embracing the Dutch authority, and their ways, migrated to areas within

Dutch dominion. This caused the Kandyan’s and the upcountry citizens to look down

upon the Low country people even more (R. Pieris, 1956).

War and economy do not go hand in hand. If there is turmoil within a state it

discourages economic growth and development, the Dutch understood this more than the

Portuguese. In a situation where a foreign power is attempting to procure goods for a

mercantile venture that will benefit them more than the native state, internal conflicts are

inevitable. The Dutch attempted to maintain peace with the monarchy, they used the

nation’s Indigenous traditions, cultural traits such as the caste system, prominence placed

for education, mythology, and religion to lure support. But the Dutch, having dominion

only within the coastal regions, like their predecessors the Portuguese, despite their best

efforts could not create imposing change within Sri Lanka.

British Colonial (EIC) Governance

By the latter part of the 18th century, the world having changed through various

advancements in science and technology was now in a period of economic growth and

internationalism. In Sri Lanka, successive conflicts with the Portuguese, and the Dutch

for almost 200 years, added to various other internal turmoil over kingship. The Kandyan

Kingdom was now on the verge of economic collapse. Bordered by Dutch territories,

with no access to the world, the center of native governance of the Kandyan Kingdom,

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remained isolated inland. The Kandyan Kingdom was omitted from all global affairs and

trends while the low country was becoming modernized.

In further damaging the economy of the Kandyan Kingdom, developments within

the low country created many opportunities for workers engaged in industries such as

plumbago (graphite), coconut, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, and pearls. People from the up

country, seeking these opportunities, migrated to the low country (Pirani, 2016). This loss

of valued human capital further tilted the socio-politico-economic balance within the

Kandyan kingdom which was dependent upon the pre-colonial land tenure system and

rice economy (K. M. De Silva, 2007). These challenges obligated the Kandyan Monarch

King Kirti Sri Raja Sinha (1747-1782) to seek new allies willing to operate against the

Dutch and began communicating with the British from 1762 (Pybus, 1862). The British

were the emerging power within in Southeast Asia, who could match the naval power of

the Dutch Armada and its military might (Pirani, 2016).

In 1795, following the fourth Anglo-Dutch war (1780-1784), British emissaries

arrived bearing news that the British will support the Kandyan kings’ effort to remove the

Dutch dominance within the coastal regions (Pybus, 1862). In return for their support the

British requested that the Kandyan monarch hand over the Sri Lankan cinnamon trade

and Dutch controlled areas to the British (Pybus, 1862). Unaware of the disaster to

unfold, Sri Rajadhi Raja Sinha (1782-1798) agreed and together defeated the Dutch by

1796. In 1797, Dutch dominance was reduced, and the British took over the role of the

colonial administration within the low country coastal regions of Sri Lanka (Mendis,

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2005). By the end of 1798, the British replaced the Dutch East India Company (VOC),

with the British East India Company (EIC) which became the dominant power over

Southeast Asian Trade.

Sri Lanka, with its natural harbors now well established by the colonial

predecessors, its proximity to India, and richness in resources was soon noted by the

British. Between mid-1700s and early the 1800s, the EIC was responsible for half of the

world’s trade in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices,

saltpeter, tea, and opium (Keay, 1993). They methodically began to exploit various

existing conditions within Sri Lanka to their advantage. They extended their dominance

to support their economic endeavors in Asia and Europe (Thakur, 2013).

In 1874, following the negative impacts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, under

the Government of India Act 1858, the EIC was dissolved. All its possessions would be

taken over by the British Crown to be administered by the State (Thakur, 2013). The

exploitation of the existing conditions by the British within Sri Lanka, and their other

colonies, is a repeated topic noted throughout the British colonial administration by the

EIC and the Crown (Webster, 2007). This shift of power over the Southeast Asian

territories by the EIC to the Crown is a valuable observation when considering various

legal changes done within Sri Lanka and other states during the British Colonial past.

The EIC administered all territories as a vehicle for profiteering. The EIC did not

consider the colonies as individual states. When the crown took over, the administration

was guided in establishing colonies mimicking the British model. Rule by division and

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exploitation of existing conditions within the nation guided the foundation of the British

colonial administration model (Davy, 1821).

From 1798, the British EIC further expanding their dominion to obtain more

inland resources, exploited the rift between the Nayak dynasty rule and the Kandyan

nobility (Davy, 1821). The Nayak dynasty (South Indian) established themselves into the

Kandyan Monarchy when King Vira Narendra Sinha (1707 – 1739) died nominating his

brother-in-law, a Madurai Nayak, for the throne (Gopalakrishnan, 1988). Until 1739 the

strength of the Kandyan Kingdom was in the blood. The monarch and all the nobility

were related to each other through marriage, so family loyalties held the kingdom

(Gopalakrishnan, 1988).

But the events of 1739, putting a foreign power over the Kandyan kingdom,

rapidly deteriorated the relationship between the Nayak and the Kandyan Nobility who

commanded the support of the people (Sivasundaram, 2010). By establishing

communication with both these parties, the British not only further exacerbated the

distrust between the Nayaks and the Kandyan Nobility, but also set the Kandyan elite

against each other (Dewaraja, 2008). By 1805, distrust between the monarchy and the

nobles, along with discord within the nobility, had withered within the Kandyan

kingdom. A family dispute between three prominent families of the Kandyan nobility

over territorial control erupted into riots in 1811 and completely severed what was left of

the dwindling relationship within the Kandyan court (Dewaraja, 2008). Threatened by the

1811 riots, and the conspiracy to remove him from the throne, the last king of Sri Lanka

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and Kandy ‘Sri Wickrama Raja Singha’ a Nayak, became increasingly suspicious of his

chiefs and courtiers (Dewaraja, 2008). He would deploy brutal punishment on those

assumed or found guilty and was becoming unpopular even among the most loyal

supporters of the throne (Beck, 2006).

One such punishment that changed the course of history in Sri Lanka was the

execution of the well-connected and highly respected Ehelepola Family. Under suspicion

of treason, the king Sri Wickrama Raja Sinha had the wife of the Great officer Ehelepola,

Lady Ehelepola watches her two sons beheaded, and forced her to crush her infant baby

in a large mortar & pestle before drowning her in the Kandy Lake with a rock tied around

her neck (Vimaladharma, 2000).

This public execution became the last straw that decided the fate of the Nayak

dynasty (P. E. Pieris, 2001). Following the event, riots broke out throughout the Kandyan

kingdom, compelling the king to flee to Hanguranketha, which was the secondary

withdrawal point for the then Kandyan monarchy. With the seat of power vacant, and

unity among Kandyan chiefs in disarray, British loyalists within the Kandyan court

allowed the British to capture Kandy, its capital, in January 1815 (K. M. De Silva, 1981).

The great officer Ehelepola, who escaped death by the monarch, joined the ranks

of the British with the intention of returning with a large force to overthrow the British,

but it was in vain. On March 2nd, 1815, the Kandyan nobility signed the Kandyan

Convention of 1815 (Godden & Casinader, 2013). Drafted in both Sinhala and English it

agreed that the Sri Lankans recognize the British monarchy. In return the British will

150

recognize the Kandyan nobility and govern Sri Lanka through them (Godden &

Casinader, 2013). But as soon as the convention of 1815 was signed, and the Kingdom

was ceded to Britain, it opened a new era in Sri Lankan history that was unfavorable to

all, including the naïve Kandyan Nobility.

As the first order of business, assisted by the Kandyan nobility, the British

ventured to Hanguranketha then captured the King, Sri Wickrama Raja Sinha with all his

relatives the Nayaks, and exiled them to India (Phath, 1896). He remained in the Vellore

fort, South India as a political prisoner until his death on January 30, 1832, due to dropsy

at the age of 52 years. The British then directed their attention to their new dominion,

imposed various rules to contain the Kandyan chiefs and the nobility, banning them from

various duties including riding on horseback. In retaliation, the Kandyan nobility, led by

noted chieftains including Keppetipola, Pilimathalawa and Ehelepola, embarked on the

Great Rebellion of 1817–18 with the intention of taking back the Kingdom (Powell,

1984). But the British, with the support of loyal Kandyan chiefs, such as Molligoda Maha

Adikaram and Ratwatte Adikaram held strong and turned the tide by November 1818.

For the first time in Sri Lankan history the whole nation was united under one governing

authority (Powell, 1984). Steadfast in their efforts to use Sri Lanka for economic growth,

the British colonist under the EIC administration methodically began to change the

existing socio-politico-economic structure to support the British Empire.

In 1818 the British abolished the pre-colonial village council system of the Gam

Sabaha, Lok Sabaha, and Kings Council (Raja Sabaha) administrations. Thereafter, in

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1833 the British introduced the Colebrook Cameron Reforms (CCR) 1829-1832. Through

the suggestions of the CCR reforms, begin a systematic process of westernizing Sri

Lanka. Suggested by the reforms, for the ease of management, and in reducing the power

of the Kandyan nobility, the British divided the Kandyan kingdom into five provinces

(see Figure 20). On March 19, 1833, the British established an executive and legislative

council. This was considered the first step for instituting a representative government

within Sri Lanka and executing power and justice. This also ended all native and

historical colonial authority (L. A. Mills, 1964).

Figure 20

British Introduced Provincial Systems

Note: From, Map 16, Campaign for Peace & Unity in Sri Lanka, the abuse of an islands history to

propagate a myth, Page 22, copyrights Campaign for Peace & Unity in Sri Lanka, 2009

152

The initial executive council of Sri Lanka consisted of the British Governor,

considered the head of state, and five other senior British officials, including the General

Commanding Officer, the Colonial Secretary, the Kings’ Advocate, the Treasurer, and

the Government Agent for the Central Province (Mellor, 1868). In 1840 the Government

Agent for the Central Province position was replaced by the Auditor-General and in 1883

the Queen’s Advocate post was renamed Attorney General. While the initial council

contained only one representative from the natives, the 1924 reforms of the executive

council added four unofficial native members (Mellor, 1868).

The legislative council replaced the village council system. The Kandyan

constitution, kangaroo courts of the Dutch as well as the king’s council became the

official legislative body of Sri Lanka (Hereford, 1900). The executive council and the

legislative council combined, formed the first representative government in Sri Lanka up

until 1931 when the legislative council was replaced with the state council of Ceylon

(Gunawardena, 2005). Going forward, the British governing body of Sri Lanka would

bring about rapid changes, in favoring the economic growth of the EIC, and the crown.

These changes were based on both collecting land revenues and profiteering through the

cultivation of cash crops.

The British, to maintain total control over the land, enforced the Crown Lands

(Encroachments) Ordinance No. 12 of 1840. This was a form of an enclosure movement,

where one claims landownership by annexing common land and enclosing it, and by

doing so deprives people of their ancient rights of access and privilege (Kain et al., 2004).

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This enforcement of Ordinance No. 12 deprived the native majority and the Kandyan

peasantry of their ancestral lands and the land used for Chena cultivation. This marked

the downfall of the ancient land tenure system which eventually would deprive the

natives of their means of sustenance, wealth, and trade (Mendis, 2005).

In 1856, the British enacted the Registration of Temple Lands Ordinance No. 10

of 1856. This ordinance “required all land claimed by Temples to be surveyed for the

preparation of a Register of Temple Lands, partly at the expense of the Temple and partly

of the Government”. When executing Ordinance No. 10 many of the temples that owned

large land plots were forced to relinquish them to avoid paying heavy survey costs. These

unclaimed lands, belonging to the temples, consisted of underdeveloped forest and

overgrown unused land/areas (Waste Land) which would eventually be incorporated into

the crown.

Under complete British dominance of the nation in 1815, and from 1840 to 1856,

substantial amounts of land were procured. They converted these lands to cash crop

plantations favoring the European market (C. W. Kannangara, 1948). They then handed

this land over to the European planters for an incredibly low cost. The British, like their

predecessors, depended on local labor for their endeavors. To procure the maximum labor

they abolished the ‘Rajakariya’. The Rajakariya (communal obligations) was the

backbone of both the pre-colonial land tenure system and the socio-politico-economic

infrastructure of the nation at the time.

The ‘Grain Tax Ordinance of 1878’ imposed a tax on owners of paddy land

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requiring them to pay a tax to the Government which was assessed based upon the

income from their fields (M. Roberts, 2011). Most, unable to pay this tax, abandoned rice

cultivation for good and joined the ranks working under the British Administration and

their plantations. This was the turning point to today’s economic struggles of having to

import rice from India and accruing international debt to support the nation’s staple diet.

The British introduced another land ordinance known as the Waste Lands

Ordinance, No. 1 of 1897. This land Ordnance gave the British crown, through its agents,

such as the governor, the capacity to declare vast areas of land in the country as Crown

land (Waste Land Ordinance, 1897). Collectively these Ordinances toppled every aspect

of Sri Lanka’s socio-politico-economic infrastructure that was bound on the land tenure

system created by the Rajakariya. The British, then began working on infrastructure.

They used local informants and British surveyors to map the island and build a network

of roads to open the central region and interconnect all the ports including Trincomalee,

and Galle.

The British also incorporated into this interconnected network of roads, their

coastal military strongholds, such as the Colombo, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Jaffna

fort (see Figure 21). These efforts by the British not only furthered the lucrative trade

monopoly of the EIC, but also strengthened their dominion within Sri Lanka, by

bolstering their military presence within the country. The Ceylon Railway Company

(CRC) established in 1847 also began connecting main cities and expanding throughout

the country (Cave, 1854).

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Figure 21

The City of Kadugannawa in Early 1900s

Note. From Historic Images of Sri Lanka “Kadugannawa Station Early 1900s”,

Lankapura Website, Public Domain, 2011.

By mid-1870 the CRC had interconnected all the urban trade hubs and all the

ports around the country with the main port of Colombo (Cave, 1854). This made the

export of valuable products such as tea, coconuts, and rubber quickly available to the

European market. Because of the professionally managed supply chain, by 1880 the

British immediately gained the monopoly on the then global Tea, Coconut and Rubber

market, bringing in a vast revenue to the EIC and the British Crown. This made Sri Lanka

a valued colony of the empire which the British developed further under their Model.

156

British Colonial Economics

The British economic efforts within Sri Lanka were grounded on upholding the

British mercantilism system and sustaining the crown. Despite scholars, such as

Arasaratnam (2021), considering the British colonial period in Sri Lanka, and their

economic endeavors as an historical turning point toward modernization, other sources

explain it as the start of its downfall. Until the 18th century, the European market

demanded Asian spices and cinnamon. So, an emphasis was placed by the authorities of

the East Indian Company to procure and only export these goods to Europe. Growing

with abundance, the British did not place a large emphasis on these industries which were

maintained by the Dutch throughout their dominion.

In the 19th century, the European market expanded; other commodities such as

coffee, tea, and rubber became in demand. As a result, all the colonial land within British

Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were converted to establishing elaborate plantations to support these

crops, commonly known as cash crops. The manufactured goods from coffee, tea, and

rubber generated a remarkably high income within the European market between 1800 to

1950s (Lipton, 1912).

To maximize income, efficient cultivation, production, and procurement

processes were needed (Lipton, 1912). Soon the Sri Lankan countryside was converted to

large tea, coconut and rubber estates and production facilities for these crops while

valuable resources within these lands such as timber were exported to Britain and the

crown colony of India (Cordiner, 1807).

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From 1873, tea became the most prominent cash crop in Sri Lanka. When 23

pounds of tea was valued at $28.00 by 1911 over 186,000,000 pounds of Lipton’s tea

alone was shipped from Sri Lanka to various parts of the world” including the US

(Lipton, 1912, p. 5). From 1898, with more experiments done on the product, the rubber

market started to bring in profits. By 1901 the acreage allocated for Rubber cultivation

also began to increase, from 2500 acres in 1901 to 150,000 in 1907 then to 200,000 in

1910 (Willis, 1907). To meet this growing demand, Britain was compelled to increase

their production capacity of tea plantations, coconut, and rubber estates.

In losing their land, along with their food source and wealth, many residents of

the upcountry migrated to the low country in search of work. This caused a great labor

shortage, which was essential to supporting the growing Tea industry, the primary cash

crop of the crown at the time. The British, from 1820 - 1930 brought in ‘Indentured’

immigrant workers from South and Southeast India (Tamilnadu) to work in these

upcountry tea plantations as laborers (Sahadevan, 1993). These laborers were settled

within these plantations established on the land previously occupied by the majority

native Sinhalese who were chased off their ancestral land in 1840. The Industrial

revolution gained momentum from 1760 – 1913. The advancements in technology and

various processes of manufacturing needed a new caliber of educated workers.

British Colonial Societal Dynamics

In 1870, to meet this need, the British introduced, the British education model in

Sri Lanka. The pre-colonial education for the public was geared for purpose of building a

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socially conscious population in meeting the needs of the pre-colonial socio-politico-

economic infrastructure.

The pre-colonial education system consisted of subjects that include Asiatic

languages such as Pali, Sanskrit, Indigenous medicine, history, religion, and wisdom

through ancient texts such as Chanakya Nitti, Kawi Silumina and Dhammapada. The

initial phase of transforming the temple education to a modern westernized one began

early within the British colonial period (1796-1948). Anglican priests who arrived with

the colonist from 1796 first initiated their missionary work within the occupied coastal

areas (Ruberu, 1962). When the British dominion expanded throughout the nation from

1796 -1815 these missionaries expanded their operations throughout the state and by the

1830’s was well established within the central hill country (Ruberu, 1962).

In 1833, the Colebrook-Cameroon commission mandated English to be the

medium of instruction in all the schools, and English educated youths to be given

government jobs (Corea, 1969). Many of these schools established under the British

authority were multiethnic, single sex schools, pitched specifically to educate the native

children of the Sri Lankan elite (Daniel, 1992). Some of these early missionary schools

include Trinity College Kandy, Royal College Colombo, St. Thomas’ College Mount

Lavinia, Girls High School Kandy, St. Anthony’s College Kandy, and Hillwood College

Kandy. With the growing demand for skilled workers from the 1870’s, the curriculum of

these schools was changed to a standardized western education enabling students to

continue or complete their higher studies in Great Britain through the University College

159

of Sri Lanka (Ruberu, 2007).

Even though graduates of these schools were given preference in any occupation,

the primary requirement to join such institution was embracing Christianity or having a

Christian upbringing (Tennent, 1850). This was no different for obtaining a good

occupation within the British Administration. Because Buddhism contained every aspect

of the Kandyan culture, most residing within this region, including a large pool of the

Kandyan nobility, were not willing to denounce their traditions, heritage, and culture (S.

G.Perera, 1941).

But this was not the case for the Tamil population living in these regions,

especially the Indian Tamils. Already second-class citizens, the Indian Tamils of the

upcountry, seeking better opportunities within the British Administration, began to

embrace Christianity (Kanapathipillai, 2009). Compared to the upcountry Tamil

population, only a handful of upcountry Sinhalese were given the privilege of entering to

these schools and thriving within the British Administration (Jayawardena, 2012). As a

result of the Portuguese and Dutch influence 1505 – 1796, most low country Sinhalese

and Tamils had already embraced Christianity and were well versed in European ways

(Golding, 2018; Wettewa, 2016). The British, needing fluent westernized native workers

in various fields, that include bookkeeping, management, and hospitality immediately

favored these Christians of which a large population was of Tamil origin

(Kanapathipillai, 2009).

The British took the Christians under their administration, then mentoring, and

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modernizing them, created a new social class of educated elites (Jayawardena, 2012).

Reaching the 20th century most of the middle administrative positions in judicial,

agriculture, education and various other industries were held by English-speaking

Christians who graduated from these schools (Jayawardena, 2012). On the flipside,

because the temple education was systematically abolished from 1840, in reaching the

1880s, most of the rural Sri Lankans that remained loyal to Buddhism, were deprived of

both a good education and various privileges within the colonial administration.

The British enforced land ordinance laws, depriving the native Sinhala Buddhist

population of their land, forced them to abandon paddy cultivation, which was their main

source of sustenance. By 1890, Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhists were left with only two

choices for survival. Either work a mediocre occupation under the British administration

or commit to hard labor within the colonial plantations established in their ancestral land

now owned and managed by the British and Sri Lankan Christians. Even the monastic

order, which guided the pre-colonial way of life was crippled. The knowledge of the

ancient Asiatic languages such as Pali and Sanskrit was fading. Only a handful of old

monks could read, write, and translate these ancient texts, and many passed away,

carrying with them their knowledge.

Wealth of ancient knowledge containing Sri Lankan history, and other disciplines

including ancient medicine, astronomy, astrology, engineering, and agriculture compiled

in annals by the ancients, became mere objects of veneration inside temple libraries.

By the early 1900’s illiteracy was large among the Sinhalese majority. People’s

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knowledge of the nation’s past became limited to village folk tales, and little-known

Buddhist stories narrated by monks who learned them through word of mouth. Even

those who were literate, by obtaining a westernized education, were limited in their

knowledge of native history because they followed a modified version of Sri Lankan

history through the British curriculum.

The early part of the 20th century was a crucial turning point for both British

colonial rule and the Sri Lankans. By the year 1900, colonization, and the incorporated

changes to the socio-politico-economic infrastructure by western powers since 1597 had

negatively impacted Sri Lankan nationalities. The British from 1815-1900, dominating

the whole country, and imposing rapid changes, toppled every aspect that bound the pre-

colonial agrarian society of Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese were deprived of their land, the

Muslims, of their trade, and the Indian & Jaffna Tamils of their freedom, causing great

animosity towards the British (Paranage, 2018). In further exacerbating this condition

from 1890 – 1912, progress by the department of Archeology under commissioner H.C.P

Bell, uncovering various buried remains of the ancient cities that include Anuradhapura,

Polonnaruwa, and Sigiriya, uprooted national pride among the locals.

By 1930, this growing sense of nationalism among all ethnicities, the animosity

toward the British, and lack of understanding of the pre-colonial past being uncovered,

give life to a new ideology. The contested Sinhala Buddhist Ideology started to surface,

and it would soon become the incubus of Sri Lankan history, causing great disadvantages

to its future sustained growth. Its evolution goes back to the British who eliminated

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temple education from 1840, and much of precolonial history of Sri Lanka getting lost

among the annals within temple archives.

With only a handful of novice monks attempting to interpret and incorporate the

lost history of what was uncovered, they found it easy to connect every aspect of Sri

Lanka’s past to Buddhism and the ancient Sinhala Monarchy. This was a grave fallacy

because these monks, did not take into consideration other aspects of Sri Lanka’s pre-

colonial, socio-politico-economic infrastructure. The land tenure system, (Rajakariya),

decentralized governance, and distribution of power were not considered supporting

factors for the sustained growth of pre-colonial Sri Lanka. In having no other means of

acquiring knowledge to challenge them, the large rural population of Sinhala Buddhists

naively believed these emerging pundits and united under the Sinhala Buddhists identity.

They called into action the revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India because

they believed the liberating lifestyle of the ancients can only be achieved through

Buddhism and its institutions. In response, the Theosophical Society (TS) of the United

States lead by Colonel Hendry Steele Olcott, established a branch in Sri Lanka in 1880.

The Theosophical Society is an international organization of wealthy patrons’ residing in

the US and Europe. Their sole mission was to advance the ideas of Theosophy around the

world, and within that effort, chose to support reviving Buddhism in both Sri Lanka and

India from May 19, 1880.

The TS, in collaboration with the Sri Lankan Buddhist community deployed a

public awareness campaign to revive Buddhism in 1889. They would hold public debates,

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and workshops in educating the masses, and emphasize the virtues and values of

Buddhism. For the Theosophical Society, extending their operations would also provide

funding for the development and the maintenance of various Buddhist pilgrim sites in

both Sri Lanka and India. Their most influential project was establishing prominent

Buddhist schools throughout the country. By 1907, approximately 205 schools had been

completed.

Colonel Olcott was a prominent individual who held multiple roles. He was a

Senior American civil war officer, a journalist, a lawyer, a Freemason, and held the office

of special commissioner to the US war department. Olcott also gained fame in 1865 for

being one of the investigators of President Lincoln’s Assassination. To further strengthen

the efforts of reviving Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Olcott used his influence to present the

Buddhist cause to the British government. In gaining support, he was able to obtain

sanctions to some of the restrictions on Buddhism, including the prohibition of

processions, establishing Buddhist schools and restrictions on temple properties.

By 1915, the activities of the TS within both urban and rural communities

throughout Sri Lanka united many scattered Buddhist communities and advanced the

progression of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. Because of Tamil and Muslim nationalism

gaining momentum, conflicts between three groups started to emerge. Communal riots

between the Sinhalese and Muslims breaking out on the west coast in 1915. In response

the British tightened their grip on Sri Lankan politics. They put down the unrest with so

much excessive zeal and brutality, that it shocked both the British, and the Sri Lankans.

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Blaming the majority ethnic group for conspiring against the government, the British

indiscriminately arrested many prominent Sinhalese including Mr. D.S. Senanayake.

The British response to the riots of 1915 became a turning point for Sri Lankans

to adamantly demand self-governance and act to that effect. Soon, anti-British activists

began mobilizing for coordinated action against the British by aligning themselves with

the nationalist movement in India. In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political

organizations united in forming the Ceylon National Congress. Their first actions were to

demand a new constitution that would increase local control over the Executive Council

and its budget.

The crown, despite turning it down, did declare a new constitution in 1920 and

then in 1924 made amendments to it allowing for an increase in Sri Lankan

representation. The British increased membership to represent only 4% of the native

population. The Ceylon National Congress also brought about a new constitution, which

was geared toward self-governance and support of a large representation of the Sri

Lankan population. In response, on November 13, 1927, the British Parliament appointed

a commission. The purpose of this commission was to interview the people of Sri Lanka

and through its findings, develop a constitution directing Sri Lanka toward self-

governance.

This marked the first stage in ending British colonial authority in Sri Lanka. The

Donoughmore Commission, meeting thirty-four times with the locals, and interviewing

140 people, presented the Donoughmore Constitution (DC) to Sri Lanka in 1931. This

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