Pathirana Group helps Tamil Students Dear Mr. Sabaratnam, Thank you for writing Tamils History. As you have mentioned in your introduction I feel you are writing this biography without any bias. I also think you are the right person to write this biography. It is very important to write everything for our future generations. You… Read more »
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Eye Health Notes from Elite Film Stars by Sachi Sri Kantha Comments from R. Kannan For Part 84, Kannan’s comments, received on Dec 9, 2025, were as follows: “Except for a few, those close to MGR hold him in very high regard as a person. Countless individuals have noted his exceptional hospitality and helpful nature…. Read more »
Five Takeaways From a Four-Day War by Sameer Lalwani, Shailender Arya and David Brostoff, War on the Rocks, Washington, DC, January 22, 2026 Tensions between India and Pakistan — two countries that President Donald Trump claimed had been fighting for 1,500 years — escalated rapidly over a few days in May 2025. On May 7–10, the… Read more »
by Sowmiya Ashok, December 23, 2025 Since its discovery in 2014, the Keeladi excavation has become one of India’s most contested digs – hailed by some as proof of an urban civilization in South India and dismissed by others as political mythmaking. Journalist Sowmiya Ashok traces the serendipitous discovery of this ancient settlement and the… Read more »
One of America’s Most Successful Experiments Is Coming to a Shuddering Halt
by Lydia Polgreen, The New York Times, December 29, 2025 It was a joyous day, the fulfillment of a quarter-century of hard work and relentless fund-raising. Srinivasachary Tamirisa, a retired doctor living in Sugar Land, Texas, beamed with pride as his dream — to erect a statue of the Hindu deity Hanuman on the grounds… Read more »
Who Gets Warned? Language, Discrimination, and Disaster Communication in Sri Lanka
by Sanjana H., LinkedIn, Colombo, Nov.29, 2025 In a recent article related to the devastating impact of Cyclone Ditwah on Sri Lanka, the Tamil Guardian noted that, Officials describe the impact of Cyclone Ditwah as one of the deadliest weather-related disasters in recent years. Yet even as Tamils in the North-East grapple with the impact of of the… Read more »
by Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Colombo, September 2025 Fact-Finding-Report-of-HRCSL-on-Chemmani-Mass-Grave-Site This report details the main findings, observations, and recommendations of the HRCSL emerging from its visit and subsequent developments surrounding the exhumations and excavations at the mass grave site in Chemmani. The findings and observations are organised under specific themes: (1) the functions and… Read more »
UN Human Rights Council Should Monitor Repression, Counterterrorism Law Abuses by Human Rights Watch, New York, August 20, 2025 (Geneva) – Sri Lankan security forces still harass families of victims of forced disappearances and misuse the country’s draconian counterterrorism law a year since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake took office with promises of reform, Human Rights Watch said today…. Read more »
When the LTTE strangled the Sri Lankan Army’s neck in 2000 by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 18, 2025 Front Note What happened 25 years ago in Elephant Pass, will NOT be recorded in the history columns of the website of the Government of Sri Lanka’s army. [https://www.army.lk/]. For the benefit of new recruits and the… Read more »
BBC: Ancient Site Stirs Heated Political Debate on India’s Past
by Cherylann Mollan, BBC, London, July 27, 2025 ASI A view of an excavated site in Keeladi where archaeologists have found evidence of industrial activity The Keeladi village in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state has unearthed archeological finds that have sparked a political and historical battle. Amid coconut groves, a series of 15ft (4.5m) deep… Read more »
The new president has the opportunity to help the nation come to terms with its brutal civil war. by Ruth Pollard, Bloomberg News, New York, July 22, 2025 Delve into the recent crop of prize-winning Sri Lankan literature and you will find a country mired in grief. From Shehan Karunatilaka’s 2022 Booker prize-winning The Seven Moons of… Read more »
by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 9, 2025 Prologue While in his thirties, Alfred Duraiappah (1926-1975) served as an Independent elected MP for Jaffna, from March 1960 to December 1964. A Christian Tamil by birth, in a majority Hindu constituency, Duraiappah was able to squeak through with victory margins of less than 900 votes, in multi-pronged… Read more »
by Ajaz Asaf, Mid-Day, Mumbai, June 9, 2025 The Srinagar native’s short story collection, The World With Its Mouth Open, stirs readers’ conscience while vividly depicting the lives of characters who appear broken in a world unhinged by a bloody past Security personnel stand guard outside Eidgah ground as people arrive to offer prayers at… Read more »
by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 1, 2025 Introduction Many may be unaware that the etymological origin of the English word ‘Anaconda’ is rooted in two Tamil words, used in Ceylon in the 17th century, for a python snake. The stimulus for my investigation was a mischievous entry in the ‘Facts on File Encyclopedia of WORD… Read more »
Peasant Politics, Frontier Colonization and the Cunning State in Sri Lanka
The lure of land by Thiruni Kelegama & Benedikt Korf, Modern Asian Studies, Vol.57, Issue 6, UK, November, 2023 Abstract This paper studies the contradictions of peasant politics in Sri Lanka’s dry zone frontier in a highly militarized colonization scheme (‘System L’ of the Mahaweli Development Programme in Weli Oya in northern Sri Lanka). Through… Read more »
A commentary by Sachi Sri Kantha The Sinhalese word ‘Deshamanya’ literally means ‘Pride of the Nation’, awarded since 1986 for ‘highly meritorious service’. According to the Wikipedia listing, between 1986 and 2025, a total of 119 individuals have been decorated with this tag. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshamanya, accessed Feb 6, 2025] Among these 119, only 18 have been… Read more »
by Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, August 14, 2023 Introduction Since the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 1948,[1] Sri Lanka and the United States (US) have had a tumultuous relationship broadly spanning the following phases: From the 1950s to 1970s, the US viewed Sri Lanka through the lens of the Cold War;… Read more »
The 2024 Winds of Change Have Not Yet Reached Southern Lanka
By Gogol G. on his/her blog ‘Voices from Exile,’ October 2, 2024We’re 3/4 of the way through the year of 2024. The year 2024 was considered the biggest year for democratic elections in the world. Not all elections are free and fair societies, so the real questions were/are how the elections of India, France, UK, European Union… Read more »
by Rohini Hensman, Dialectical Anthropology 39, pp. 273-293, April 16, 2015 Introduction Almost immediately after Independence, the government of Sri Lanka enacted legislation depriving Hill-country Tamils of their citizenship and franchise; subsequent governments enacted laws and carried out policies discriminating against and persecuting all Tamil-speaking citizens, with the avowed intention of making Sri Lanka a… Read more »
‘Malai Kallan’ (Mountain Dacoit) Movie and its Five Variants
After 70 Years by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 7, 2024 70 years ago, on July 22, 1954, the trend-setting Malai Kallan (Mountain Dacoit) Tamil movie, with M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and P. Bhanumathi in the lead roles was released in Tamil Nadu to great acclaim by the public. Its political and social relevance was realized 23… Read more »