Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

65th Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots in Ceylon

by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 7, 2023  [N.B. Anti-Tamil ‘riots’ in Sri Lanka are more properly called ‘pogroms,’ since they have been ‘an organized massacre of or attempt to exterminate a particular ethnic, racial or religious group.’ — Editor] In 2018, I covered the May 1958 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka (then, known as Ceylon)… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 71

Essaying the Folk Heroes in Films and Becoming One by Sachi Sri Kantha Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 70, received on Mar 27th , was as follows: “The article was fascinating. I did not know anything about Kalai Arasi and was quite taken with the fact that it was a sci-fi movie in Tamil… Read more »

Notes on Reaching 70 Not Out

Part 1 by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 8, 2023 [Felicitations to our long-time contributor!!! – Editor] by Sachi Sri Kantha I reached 70 today (May 8th). I’m quite happy about this landmark, because when I was born in Sri Lanka in 1953, the then life expectancy for male babies was only 58. And my mother… Read more »

The Ethnology of the ‘Moors’ of Ceylon

by the Hon. P. Ramanathan [read April 26, 1888] Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1888; 10(36): 234-262. Ramanathan Ethnology of ‘Moors’ of Ceylon 1888 Introductory Note by Sachi Sri Kantha 135 years ago, Ponnambalam Ramanathan (1851-1930) read a paper entitled ‘The Ethnology of the Moors of… Read more »

Premadasa’s Saber-Rattling with Rajiv

And RAW’s rascality in 1989 by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 2, 2023 Former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s (1924-1993) 30th death anniversary falls on May 1st. 15 years ago, I wrote about the puzzles of his assassination, alleged to be by the LTTE (but NOT proved legally!), in this website [https://www.sangam.org/2008/05/Premadasa_Assassination.php?uid=2906]. As such, for his… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 70

On Kalai Arasi (1963; Queen of Arts): an experimental and space fiction movie by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 18, 2023 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 69, received on Jan 13th , was as follows: “Read part 69. My humble thanks for mentioning my reaching and befriending you among the notable events. These sentiments, as… Read more »

Pervez Musharraf, an Adversary of the Eelam State

Knocked out by the Grim Reaper by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 10, 2023 After evading more than four assassination attempts during his term of office as the President- strong man of Pakistan (2000-2008), Gen. Pervez Musharraf (1943-2023) was eventually knocked out by the Grim Reaper on February 4th. The cause of his death is attributed… Read more »

Mahatma Gandhi’s 75th Death Anniversary

by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 27, 2023 Gandhi in death-bedJanuary 30th 2023 marks the 75th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. To commemorate the anniversary, first I provide below period items from two esteemed American print sources, announcing Gandhi’s death. Robert Trumbull’s report from New Delhi, with the caption ‘Gandhi is killed by a Hindu; India… Read more »

From Sachi’s File – Chapter 21

On the Sri Lankan Army recruits between Oct 1949 and Dec 1976 by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 14, 2023 After the July 1977 General Elections in Sri Lanka, followed by the August 1977 Sinhala-Tamil riots, I became interested in writing on local politics and establishing myself as a Tamil writer in English. Towards this purpose,… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 69

Power and Personality: Peer Perceptions by Sachi Sri Kantha, December 25, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 68, received on Oct 12th , was as follows: “Read your superb chapter that diligently lists the movies where Sivaji Ganesan shunned Kannadasan. The statistics are brilliant and show the hard work that epitomizes your… Read more »

The ‘Pirabhakaran Phenomenon’ Book

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 25, 2022 Pirabhakaran Phenomenon, by Sachi Sri Kantha, 2005 Seventeen years had passed since my analytical biography ‘Pirabhakaran Phenomenon’ on Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954-2009) was published in a print version. This biography was first serialized in the Sangam site for two years from May 2, 2001 to Feb 19, 2003. Though… Read more »

Revisiting the Academic Fraud of Epigraphist Senarat Paranavitana

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 5, 2022 Guruge’s conclusion was, “…at some point in the pursuit of this goal of filling gaps in history,…Paranavitana stepped beyond the thin line which separates reality from the imaginary.” Introduction Oct 4th marked the 50th death anniversary of Senarat Paranavitana (1896-1972), renowned Sinhalese epigraphist and the former archeological commissioner… Read more »

‘Parasakthi’ Movie and Tamil Politics

70th Anniversary Remembrance by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 16, 2022   Introduction The iconic Tamil movie ‘Parasakthi’, based on a stage play by Pavalar M.S. Balasundaram, and scripted by Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018), then a 28 year old DMK party activist, opened in Tamil Nadu cinema theaters as a Deepavali release on October 17, 1952. In… Read more »

MGR Remembered – Part 68

‘Navarathinam’ Movie and March 1977 General Election by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 3, 2022 Fellow MGR biographer R. Kannan’s observations, on Part 67, received on July 16th , was as follows: “Thank you for part 67 – focusing on MGR’s belief. MGR was a believer but did not exhibit it until his second term when… Read more »

1981 Visit of Queen Elizabeth to Sri Lanka

From the Pages of Tribune (Colombo), etc. by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 26, 2022 Front Note Queen Elizabeth (1926-2022) died on September 8, at the age of 96. She had visited Ceylon (later to be renamed Sri Lanka) from April 10-21, 1954 and in 1981. I may note here that the only memory of the… Read more »

A Rebuttal from ‘Tangential Tamil Sniper’

aka Sachi Sri Kantha September 20, 2022 Front Note Prof. Michael Roberts (b. 1938), a Sri Lankan historian cum anthropologist with some name recognition, currently residing in Australia, and is a contributor to the scholarship on V. Prabhakaran, LTTE and Tamil militant movement in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he has chosen to specialize in negative portrayal… Read more »

Child Soldiers from Ceylon, before Prabhakaran’s Time

by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 6, 2022 One of the chief arrows aimed at Prabhakaran and LTTE by his adversaries (especially by Tamil collaborators of the Sinhalese ruling hierarchy like Lakshman Kadirgamar and the self-serving pretentious clique who tagged themselves as the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) – Jaffna, led by Rajan Hoole) in… Read more »

From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 20

Colombo Diary of Teenage Years (1965-1970) by Sachi Sri Kantha  Front Note When my teenage period began (from 1966 May 8 onwards), I was living at No. 10, Government Flats, L-block, Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4, with my family. Then, I was at Grade 10, at Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana. I had been chosen for the honorary… Read more »

Why the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Failed

Rebutting the Biased View of Journalist Jeyaraj by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 7, 2022  Recently, a review by D.B.S. Jeyaraj on the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (appropriately tagged as the Rajiv – Jayewardane Accord) was published in the Daily Mirror (Colombo) on July 30, 2022, under the caption ‘Indo-Lanka Accord 35th Anniversary: How the Tamils Messed… Read more »

Run for Life by a Phony Sinhalese Hero

Gotabhabya Rajapaksa by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 16, 2022 On April 19, 1951, Gen Douglas MacArthur announced to Americans ‘Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.’ But for a phony Sinhalese soldier, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, this was NOT true at all. Gota ran for his life, fearing death, not once – but twice, from the… Read more »