Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Changing the country's name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1972 caused considerable con-
fusion for foreigners. However, for the Sinhalese it has always been known as Lanka and
for the Tamils as Ilankai; the Ramayana, too, describes the abduction of Sita by the king
of Lanka. The Romans knew the island as Taprobane and Muslim traders talked of
Serendib, meaning 'Island of Jewels' in Arabic. The word Serendib became the root of the
word 'serendipity' - the art of making happy and unexpected discoveries. The Por-
tuguese somehow twisted Sinhala-dvipa (Island of the Sinhalese) into Ceilão. In turn, the
Dutch altered this to Ceylan and the British to Ceylon. In 1972 'Lanka' was restored, with
the addition of 'Sri', a title of respect.
Enemy Lines: Warfare, Childhood, and Play in Batticaloa,
by Margaret Trawick, is a
poignant memoir of living and working in eastern Sri Lanka and witnessing the recruitment
of teenagers to the LTTE cause.
Birth of the Tigers
In the mid-1970s several groups of young Tamils, some of them militant, began advocat-
ing for an independent Tamil state called Eelam (Precious Land). They included Vellupillai
Prabhakaran, a founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), often referred to
as the Tamil Tigers.
Tamil had been elevated to the status of 'national language' for official work, but only
in Tamil-majority areas. Clashes between Tamils and security forces developed into a pat-
tern of killings and counter-reprisals, all too often with civilians in the crossfire. Passions
on both sides rose, and a pivotal moment came in 1981, when a group of Sinhalese rioters
(some say government forces) burnt down Jaffna's library, which contained, among other
things, various histories of the Tamil people, some of which were ancient palm-leaf
manuscripts.
Small-scale reprisals followed, but the world only took notice two years later, in 1983,
when, in response to the Tigers' ambushing and killing of 13 soldiers in the Jaffna region,
full-scale anti-Tamil massacres erupted in Colombo. In a riot now known as Black July, up
to 3000 Tamils were clubbed, beaten, burned or shot to death, and Tamil property was
