Jaffna’s Upcoming Elections: Caste Ramifications
Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
Caste: Compromised Conscience
Caste is a fact of life in Sri Lanka and its elections. No one talks about it. Some religions sanction it, defining dharma as caste duty. Others are ideologically opposed to it but compromised. For, going against the system has consequences as in marriage.
The America Ceylon Mission in Jaffna undermined caste much, but in 1826, because Church
expansion required respectable converts, it targeted agriculturists, saying “Vellalas are emphatically our people.” They opened up a female boarding school so that agriculturist boys may marry Christian agriculturist girls; otherwise they would marry their Hindu cousins when they went home, leading to reversion. Accordingly the Church even supplied a dowry. As the Church compromised, she also worked for the conversion of the low-castes. Depressed areas like Ariyalai West were converted by St. John’s’ The Rev. Canon SS Somasundaram and Chundikuli’s Muriel Hutchins who cooked and ate with them, holding night classes over the Hindu Schools Board’s objections. I was recently at a community function when an elder tearfully recalled these.
As with churches so it is in politics. Egalitarian parties need to compromise against what their hearts tell them is right just to win elections. Read More
