The Pirabakaran Phenomenon

Velupillai Pirabakaran

by Sachi Sri Kantha, reposted from May 2001 – February 2003

Original index at The Pirabakaran Phenomenon

We have been re-posting histories of the period leading up to the war, including Prabakaran’s early life to make sure that they are more readily available.  The biography by T. Sabaratnam is at ‘Pirapaharan,’ Volume 1 & 2  and KT Rajasingham’s history is at Sri Lanka:The Untold Story, Chapter 1.

People familiar with Sri Lanka have found Mr. Velupillai Pirabakaran, the leader of the LTTE, to be most intriguing.

Friend and foe alike are fascinated (awestruck, really) by his performance as the leader of a nation of people threatened with genocide, under conditions most challenging.

Unable to decipher and make sense of this exceptional feat, literally thousands of articles have been written about him, all attempting to understand, but none with any real insight. Most have tried to peg him to the semblance of a known somebody. Foes, of course, have tried to compare him to famous villains, and to the followers, naturally, he is godlike.

None, however, have truly analyzed this extraordinary phenomenon in any great depth as these continuing series of articles.

Part One – Premature Obituary in the Madras Hindu

Part Two – What is Leadership?

Part Three – Learning from Mistakes

Part Four – Humor in anti-Pirabhakaran polemics

Part Five – Pirabhakaran – the Morale Booster

Part Six – A Brando in the Battle Front

Part Seven – Violating the Seventh Commandment

Part Eight – Pirabhakaran as a cash-cow

Part Nine – Four Musketeers of UNP

Part Ten – Civil War Leader for Tamils

Part Eleven – 1987 – Paradigm Shift in Eelam

Part Twelve – In the eyes of Foreign Journalists

Part Thirteen – Pirabhakaran and Duraiappah

Part Fourteen – Casualty Breakdown in Eelam Civil War

Part Fifteen – Demand of Discipline

Part Sixteen – Colombo Beggars in the bin Laden Bandwagon

Part Seventeen – Emerging Truth in the ‘Terrorist’ Label

Part Eighteen – A Ramanujan in Military Science

Part Nineteen – Repercussions of Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord

Part Twenty – Implications of Indo-LTTE War

Part Twenty One – ‘Pol Potist’ Label: Facts and Fantasy

Part Twenty Two – 1989 – The Year of Indian Intrigue

Part Twenty Three – Standing-up Against India’s Imperial Itch

Speech at the Suthumalai Amman temple on 4 August 1987 re Indo-Lanka Accord & ceasefire

Part Twenty Four – Surviving the Plots of RAW and Premadasa

Part Twenty Five – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: Wading through the Paper Maze

Part Twenty Six – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: The Forensic Science Angle

Part Twenty Seven – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: The Political Angle

Part Twenty Eight – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: the judicial angle of Justice S.S.M.Quadri

Part Twenty Nine – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: the judicial angle of Justice K.T.Thomas

Part Thirty – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: the judicial angle of Justice D.P.Wadhwa

Part Thirty One – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: Jigsaw puzzles in the judicial angle

With Thileepan

Part Thirty Two – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: The Conspiracy Angle

Part Thirty Three – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: The Sinhalese Angle

Part Thirty Four – The Tamil Sentiments and V.P. Singh’s Views

Part Thirty Five – Rajiv Gandhi Assassination – International Links

Part Thirty Six -Rajiv Gandhi Assassination  – One Spoke in the South Asian Wheel of Intrigue

Part Thirty Seven – Why is He Loved by the Tamils

Part Thirty Eight – The Quality of Sinhalese Military Competition

Part Thirty Nine – The Paradigm Shifter

Grieving with Kittu’s mother

Part Forty – Valveddithurai’s Gift

Part Forty One– Biographer’s Interlude

Part Forty Two – Even Grass is a Weapon for the Courageous

Part Forty Three – Prime Antagonist to Brown-Skinned Buddhist Aryanism

Part Forty Four – Countering the Fangs of Brown-Skinned Buddhist Aryanism

Part Forty Five – The scenario at the eastern front: D.S. Senanayake’s notorious Lebensraum (Living Space) strategy: a synopsis

Part Forty-Six – Torment in the Eastern Front:  Predicaments of Scenario Sketchers

Part Forty Seven – Nuda Veritas on The Muslim Factor

Part Forty Eight – Projecting Tamil Power

Part Forty Nine – Analyzing the Tamil Victims of LTTE’s Power

Part Fifty – Thwarting the Careers of Closet Tamil Operatives

Part Fifty-One – Is Pirabakaran a Deviant and Merchant of Death?

Part Fifty-Two – Eelam’s Karma – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Part-Fifty-Three – Being a Tamil Hero