The Tamil Homeland Issue: The Red Herring Of Ancient Possession
Rajan Hoole
Sri Lanka: A Haunted Nation - The Social Underpinnings Of Communal Violence- Part 8
The spirit of the times has been such that these homeland papers have been enthusiastically received by the local press and quoted ever since in a bid to block any political accommodation on the Tamil Homeland issue. It is partly to do with a flawed academic tradition, which has either supported or not been critical enough of official history. Historical pro- cesses are so varied that it is often notoriously erroneous to try projecting back into the past as G.H. Peiris had explicitly tried. Language and religious practices can change within a genera- tion. When it comes to ancient societies, records left behind by the ruling class (e.g. the Mahavamsa of Ceylon and parts of the Bible) tend to give a picture of homogeneity that is radically misleading of societies lacking the centralising machinery of modern times.
When ancient Israel in the time of King Solomon (circa 960 BC) was at the height of its power, there was indeed a Jewish state. A care- ful reading of the Bible would show, however, that Israel was not then a Jewish country, as modern Zionists would insist. Read More
