Under the Giant's Tank

UNDER THE GIANT’S TANK VILLAGE, CASTE, AND CATHOLICISM IN POSTWAR SRI LANKA Dominic Esler A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology, University College London, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. December 2019. 2 I, Dominic Esler, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 3 4 ABSTRACT This thesis is an investigation of the relationship between the village, caste, and Catholicism in northern Sri Lanka. Drawing on almost two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Mannar District, as well as subsequent archival research, it provides a detailed analysis not only of the postwar context but also of prewar history, with a particular focus on the nineteenth century. In this thesis, I analyse three overlapping topics. First, I problematise ‘village’ through an examination of ‘cultural’ and ‘state’ village concepts, before arguing that within the complex social diversity of the village of Marudankandal there is a numerically dominant Tamil caste group, the Kadaiyars, whose prominence is reflected both rhetorically and through the control of institutions such as the Catholic village church. From this, I turn to two central dimensions of local caste praxis. First, I offer a historical explanation for the regional prevalence of village churches controlled by single castes, which remains a key characteristic of local Catholicism today. Second, I argue that despite the lessening of certain kinds of hierarchical caste relationships in recent decades, caste identities continue to be mobilised and expressed through regional communities, some of which maintain caste associations. In the absence of the LTTE, expressions of caste have become more visible, the most notable example of which is the Mannar Martyrs Social Welfare Organization. Created after the war by the Catholic Kadaiyars, the Mannar Martyrs Social Welfare Organization articulates the caste’s identification with the earliest Catholic converts in the district. It is unusual in the public nature of its activities and in the way that it has catalysed a stronger Kadaiyar identity throughout Mannar and beyond. 5 6 IMPACT STATEMENT This thesis provides a wide range of insights into Mannar District, a region that was in the epicentre of Sri Lanka’s long civil war. Its mixture of ethnographic fieldwork and historical research offers new directions for those trying to understand the postwar context of Sri Lanka, especially for those who may be working in the region in whatever capacity. It also contributes to academic discussions on village societies, caste, religion, everyday ethno-religious interaction, and agriculture and irrigation. 7 8 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11 1. INTRODUCTION 15 ANTHROPOLOGY AFTER THE WAR 16 VILLAGE 26 CASTE 34 CATHOLICISM 37 OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTERS 40 2. MANNAR AND MATOTTAM: THE RESEARCH SETTING 41 MANNAR, INDIA, AND THE INDIAN OCEAN 41 THE DRY ZONE AND TANK IRRIGATION 42 MANNAR, MATOTTAM, AND THE PORTUGUESE AND DUTCH PERIODS 46 FROM THE BRITISH PERIOD TO THE CIVIL WAR 51 THE CIVIL WAR 54 AFTER THE WAR 56 CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION 57 LAND TENURE AND LIVELIHOOD 60 THE GIANT’S TANK SYSTEM 63 LABOUR 67 WATER 71 CONCLUSION 74 3. VILLAGE, ETHNOGRAPHY, AND THE POSTWAR PERIOD 75 ORIENTATION 75 METHODS 78 VILLAGE PLACES 82 MAIN ROAD 82 ST ANTHONY’S 83 IN THE FIELDS 84 HOMES AND HOSPITALITY 85 SOCIAL DISTINCTION AND THE ETHNOGRAPHER 89 ETHNOGRAPHY AFTER THE WAR 96 MARUDANKANDAL AFTER THE WAR 100 RAISING MONEY 102 BIG COUNTRIES AND SMALL COUNTRIES 105 9 4. PEOPLE AND PLACE: WHO AND WHAT IS THE VILLAGE? 111 DISENTANGLING ŪR, KIRĀMAM, AND VILLAGE 111 VILLAGE AND STATE 115 VILLAGE AND CASTE 118 CASTE AND KIN 122 THE ‘SINGLE CASTE’ VILLAGE 126 KIN AND OTHERS 129 THE EVERYDAY WORK OF RELIGION AND ETHNICITY 133 CATHOLICS, HINDUS, AND TAMIL CULTURE 134 MUSLIMS AND TAMILS 138 FOOD, COMMENSALITY, AND IDENTITY 143 FUNERALS 146 CONCLUSION 150 5. CATHOLICISM, CASTE, AND THE VILLAGE 151 CATHOLICISM IN MANNAR 151 CATHOLIC CULTURE IN MANNAR DIOCESE 155 MUSIC, PASSION PLAYS, AND KŪTTU 159 PRIEST AND PARISH 165 ST ANTHONY’S, MARUDANKANDAL 168 CATHOLICISM AND CASTE 172 CHURCHES, FEASTS, AND CONFLICTS 177 THE FEAST OF ST ANTHONY 182 CONCLUSION 186 6. CASTE IN MANNAR: COMMUNITIES, ASSOCIATIONS, AND THE KADAIYARS 189 PUBLICS, POLITICS, AND CASTE RESEARCH 190 CASTE IN SRI LANKA 195 CASTE IN MANNAR 200 THE KADAIYARS 210 CASTE AFTER THE WAR 215 COMMUNITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 219 ASSOCIATIONS IN MATOTTAM 223 THE MANNAR MARTYRS SOCIAL WELFARE ORGANIZATION 227 CONCLUSION 232 7. CONCLUSION 235 REFERENCES 239 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have proceeded without the generous financial support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). My great thanks go to the people of Marudankandal and the surrounding villages, as well as their relatives elsewhere in the north and east and Colombo. I cannot overemphasise the level of welcome, hospitality and support that people gave me throughout my fieldwork, despite the many difficulties in their lives. The individuals who have contributed to this work are too many to name, and I have also taken the difficult decision to use pseudonyms for most of those mentioned in the thesis. My special thanks go to Nesaraja and Selva and their families; Jeyabalan and Magdalena and their family; Devaraj, Kiruba, and the rest of our team; and Fr Lawrence and the Brothers. I also owe a huge debt to John at the guesthouse, for all his advice and assistance over the years, and to S. for her hospitality and our many conversations. In Mannar, I would like to thank the committee of the Mannar Martyrs Social Welfare Organization, for permitting me to attend a number of their meetings and answering my many questions, and in particular Anthonypitchai āyvāḷar for our numerous conversations. I am also grateful to the other associations for granting me permission to attend their meetings. A number of local government staff supported me during my stay, among whom I would like to mention AGA Anton (Sri) and the former and current Grama Niladharis of Marudankandal. Although agriculture ended up playing a secondary role in my work, I spent a large amount of time discussing it with people working at various government institutions, in particular Mayurin, Irrigation Engineer at the Giant’s Tank, who took me on a tour of some of the key sites in the system, and his successor Jatheesh. I would also like to thank the staff of the local hospital and Mannar’s branch of Population Services Lanka – now sadly closed – for patching me up on several occasions. In Jaffna, I want to thank my friends in Gurunagar for welcoming me during my initial six month stay, despite my basic Tamil at that time, as well as Rajany Chandrasekera and her family, and Joseph and Jacinta at Teresa Inn. A number of people in Jaffna, Kilinochchi Mannar and Colombo also hosted my family warmly when they visited in 2013. My research would not have succeeded without the invaluable support and advice of a very large number of people in the Catholic clergy and religious orders, many of whom also hosted me in different parts of the north and east. It is impossible to name everyone. I would like to thank Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam, Bishop Rayappu Joseph, and Bishop Emmanuel Fernando for sharing their time and advice with me at different stages of my fieldwork. I am indebted to my friend Fr Vasanthan, who was my first contact in the north and with whom I have shared many adventures. Vasanthan also introduced me to Fr Nesaraja, then parish priest of Gurunagar, who has been unfailingly generous and has invited me to too many meals to count. While I was in Jaffna I spent a number of months living with Fr Jayasegeram, who has always been a warm and engaging host, and through whom I became friends with Pomi and her family. I have spent many happy hours talking to Fr Gerard, Fr Louis Ponniah, and other priests at St Xavier’s Major Seminary. In Mannar I have benefited from conversations with, among others, Fr Deva, all three Fr Jeyabalans, Fr Laconz, Fr Peter Manoharan, Fr Tamilnesan, and Fr Suresh. Fr M. Jeyabalan generously hosted me for several days at Valvuthayam on one of my first visits to Mannar. A great amount of my PhD was spent learning Tamil. Beyond the everyday conversations with patient people in Marudankandal and elsewhere, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my two teachers in the north, Augustine Master in Jaffna and Mrs Gnanaprakash in Mannar, both of whom have sadly passed away in the last few years. I also want to thank Rani Nagulendram, 11 head of the Tamil Community Centre in Hounslow, for letting me sit in on their weekend children’s classes in 2011-2012, as well as Professor Harold Schiffman and Professor S. Suseendirarajah for their advice and recommendations. At UCL I must thank my supervisors Susanne Kuechler and Allen Abramson for their support and patience, as well Chris Pinney, Rebecca Empson, and Alex Pillen for their advice at earlier stages of the research. In Sri Lanka, my supervisor Malathi de Alwis contributed many sharp insights and much practical advice. I was also a visiting student in the sociology department of the University of Colombo, for which I owe a great thanks to Premakumara De Silva, Gameela Samarasinghe, Subhangi Herath, and Chandani Liyanage, each of whom was head of department at different points during my PhD, as well as Jiffrey and the other staff who helped to process my application. I also owe my gratitude to Bahirathy Jeeweshwara Räsänen in the sociology department of the University of Jaffna, for her aid and friendship during my time in the north, and for providing some of the earliest feedback on my project.

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