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UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM BUDDHISM IN WAR An Analysis of the Sinhalese Buddhists in the Civil War in Sri Lanka ABSTRACT. From 1983 till 2009 Sri Lanka has been in a bloody civil war. The Sinhalese Buddhist state fought against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who demanded a separate Tamil state within the North and the East of Sri Lanka. In this study I will examine the causes of the participation and the use of violence of the Sinhalese Buddhists in the civil war in Sri Lanka. I will argue that the colonial time, the transition to a modern state, and globalization, had a profoundly big influence on Sri Lanka that a friction between the Buddhist state and the Tamil population in the country was unavoidable. This study also includes an analysis of Sri Lanka’s political and religious history, Buddhist nationalism, and of Buddhism and violence to be able to understand the case better. KEYWORDS. Buddhism, Sinhalese Buddhists, Buddhism and Violence, Buddhist Nationalism, Civil War, Sri Lanka, Tamil Name: Annakee Sevenster BACHELOR THESIS E-mail: [email protected] Student number: 10517987 Study: Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology Specialisation: Religion Date: May 2016 Evaluators: Peter van Rooden Irene Strengs BUDDHISM IN WAR Content Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 Clearing the situation – from ancient times until the civil war .................................................. 4 Buddhist politics and nationalism in Sri Lanka ......................................................................... 8 Violence by Buddhists in Sri Lanka ......................................................................................... 15 Post-war conflicts ..................................................................................................................... 19 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 21 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 23 1 BUDDHISM IN WAR Introduction Before 1972 it was known as Ceylon, but nowadays the island on the south of India is known as Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, which in its local language Sinhalese means ´beautiful island´, is an island of 65.000km² with over 20 million people. Sri Lanka was not safe for tourists for quite a long time. Whereas people around the world travelled easier to South East Asia because of big technological improvements, Sri Lanka was skipped by these travellers because of its ongoing civil war. The civil war, as I will explain later on in my study, was mainly between the Sinhalese Buddhist state and a group of Tamils in the north. After Sri Lankans independence from the British, the new Sinhalese Buddhist state adapted a Buddhist nationalist policy. From then on, because the Tamils thought they were not represented well enough in the government and their policy, the tension between the state and the Tamils grew. Soon, they wanted a separate state within the island, but the government, because they wanted to protect Sri Lanka as a ‘sacred homeland’, did not want to agree with this proposal. In Sri Lanka about 3 million of the 20 million are Tamil. These people are an ethnic group whose biggest part of their transnational population live in India. In Sri Lanka you can identify two different groups. The first group is called the Sri Lankan Tamils: these are the people who lived in Sri Lanka since the Jaffna Kingdom (1215-1624), these Tamils live mostly in the northern and the eastern regions of Sri Lanka. Another group entered Sri Lanka a bit later. This group is called the Country Tamils: they descended from the Tamil people who went from India to Sri Lanka seeking a working possibility in the Sri Lankan high lands. They entered the island around the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tamils, besides having their own language, also differ from the Sinhalese population in religion. Most of the Tamil population are Hindu with minority populations of Muslims and Christians1. The war lasted from 1983 till 2009. A 26 year ongoing civil war in such a small country raises a few questions. First of all, what happened before the civil war? Sri Lanka has a long history of warfare. In addition, the Portuguese, Dutch and British all ruled over the country in colonial times. The historical context of the island can clarify a lot about the Sri Lankan situation. The development of Buddhism, the role that the Tamils have had in the country, and the colonial influence in the country can lead to an explanation of the role of Buddhists in the civil war. 1 Wikipedia page, Tamil People, https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_people#In_Sri_Lanka 2 BUDDHISM IN WAR When Sri Lanka became independent, the state adapted Buddhist nationalism. This led to many frustrations on the side of the minorities. Why did the state adopt such a considerably discriminatory focus? Other ethnicities and religions had lived in the country long before colonial time. Tamils even had a part in the government since the middle of the 7th century (Silva, 1981, pp. 17-20), but during the war, and even in modern times, some extremist Buddhists argue that the Tamils do not have the right to govern (a part of) the country. Besides the political aspect, I will examine Buddhism and its relation with violence. Buddhism has always been considered a non-violent, peaceful, and tolerant religion. How come some Buddhists, including monks, used so much violence during the civil war? Torture of prisoners, disappearances, and murders were all performed by Buddhists in the civil war. An examination on the Buddhist ethics and on the aims of different Buddhists in Sri Lanka will help clarify the goals and motivations of the people who stand behind these actions. Now that the war is over, violence in Sri Lanka has not stopped. Buddhists are still attacking minorities, although now the focus has shifted somewhat towards Muslims. New extremist organizations came into existence after the war, and monks are actively attending protests and endorsing hate speeches. Why are these feelings of hatred towards minorities so persistent, and are the actions and feelings towards the Muslims comparable with the situation in the civil war? In this study, I will examine all the above questions. My main question is: what were the causes of the participation and use of violence of Sinhalese Buddhists in the Sri Lankan civil war? By answering all the above questions, I eventually will have a valid conclusion about the underlying and unconscious factors that triggered these extreme emotions and the Buddhist role in the civil war. A study on this subject helps to understand Buddhism better as well as the effects of colonialism in a country. By placing the civil war within a global context, the effects of globalization to a religious and ethnic group can also be studied. To be able to answer these questions I used second hand literature. The articles and books I used were mostly qualitative studies from about 1980 till now. My study consists of journals from different disciplines; political science, religious science, history, sociology and anthropology. To be able to analyse the civil war and the current conflict, I used newspapers to find case studies within both conflicts. 3 BUDDHISM IN WAR Clearing the situation – from ancient times until the civil war To be able to understand the role of the Buddhists in the civil war in Sri Lanka, we have to look at the whole history. Sri Lanka experienced three distinct periods which differ from each other in political and social contexts. These three periods can be defined as pre-colonialism, colonialism and post-colonialism. I will differentiate these three periods chronologically. The first Sinhalese came to Sri Lanka from the North of India around the 6th century B.C.. These Sinhalese were sent by King Asoka of India to bring Buddhism to Sri Lanka. Shortly after the Sinhalese entered the island, the king of Sri Lanka, Devanampiya Tissa, became a follower of the religion. This was the beginning of Sri Lanka as a ‘Sinhalese’ and ‘Buddhist’ country, whereas Buddhism and the royal authority supported each other. It was the king’s duty to protect the religion (Silva, 1981, p. 45). Civilizations around the capital Anuradhapura appeared, which later became the center of the kingdoms that followed. From the 6th century B.C. until colonial time, Sri Lanka had always been ruled over by monarchies (Ibid., p. 1815). The first dynasty of the Anuradhapura Kingdom ruled from 137 B.C. Halfway through the 7th century, Tamils, originally from the south of India, had their participation in the state, although their power was soon reduced (Ibid.: 17-20). The king saw it as a sacred duty to support and maintain the monasteries. Theravada Buddhism was the main Buddhism in Sri Lanka in that time but it was not the only religion present in the country. Because of this, aspects of Mahayanism, and later also Hinduism and Christianity, had its influences on Theravada tradition (Ibid., p.45). From circa 1250 till the fifteenth century the Sinhalese Kingdom experienced pressure from other ethnic groups. This resulted in a restless time and changes in power structures. During the mid-13th century the Tamils that lived in the north expanded their territory and pressed the Sinhalese into the central mountains and further to the
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