Abstract
Sinhalese Buddhists regard Sri Lanka as their land in which must be preserved theravada Buddhism in its most pristine form. Many Sinhalese Buddhists believe that the future of the Sinhalese race is tied up with the very existence and continuance of this kind of Buddhism. Hence their antipathy to powerful minority groups such as the Tamils (Ceylon and Indian) and the Roman Catholics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
For a diligent exposition by a westerner see Richard F. Gombrich, Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in the Rural Highlands of Ceylon (Oxford, 1971). The chapters Total Responsibility in Theory and Practice’ (pp. 214–43) and The Ethnic of Intention’ (pp. 244–68) are particularly useful.
Sir Frederick Rees, one of the members of the Soulbury Commission, makes an oblique reference to this (confirmed in a conversation with the writer) in The Soulbury Commission, 1944–45’, The Ceylon Historical Journal, Vol. 5, Nos 1–4, pp. 23–48, when he wrote (p. 45) ‘the rather subtle methods adopted by Sir Oliver Goonetilleke were much more obvious than he himself realised’ (note, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke and D. S. Senanayake were the two persons, according to Sir Ivor Jennings, solely responsible for obtaining independence for Ceylon, see his The Constitution of Ceylon, 3rd ed. (Bombay, 1953), p. x). Sir Charles Jeffries, in his Sir Oliver E. Goonetilleke (Pall Mall, London, 1969), p. 76, refers to the remarks of Rees and reports ‘I suspect that he [Goonetilleke] realised it well enough and could not care less’. J. L. Fernando in his column Then and Now’ in the Ceylon Observer (Sunday edition), 1 February 1959, wrote revealingly : ‘Later came even delicate hints that there would be under the set-up of independent Sri Lanka an attractive job of a governor-generalship. The suggestions were delicately expressed but freely made to more than one person-to Sir Henry Moore, even to the fire-eating Sir Geoffrey Layton and My Lord Soulbury himself. D. S. Senanayake was not much good at putting across these subtle magnetic appeals but he had a trained one-man brains trust to attend to such arrangements.’ Note, the late J. L. Fernando was one of Sri Lanka’s top journalists and a close confidant of D. S. Senanayake. The ‘one-man brains trust’ was none other than Goonetilleke. Sir Henry Moore was British governor of Ceylon immediately prior to independence and became Ceylon’s first governor-general. Admiral Layton was wartime commander-in-chief of Ceylon.
For the most thorough and analytical examination of parties in Ceylon see Calvin A. Woodward, The Growth of a Party System in Ceylon (Providence, 1969).
For the account of the causes of the U.N.P.’s defeat, etc. see I. D. S. Weera-wardena, The CeylonGeneral Election 1956 (Colombo, 1960). Also
W. Howard Wriggins, Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation (Princeton, N.J., 1960), pp. 326–69.
See Wriggins, Ceylon, and Donald E. Smith, ‘The Sinhalese Buddhist Revolution’, in Donald E. Smith (ed.), South Asian Politics and Religion (Princeton, 1966).
For a vivid and authentic account of these riots, see T. Vittachi, Emergency ’58: the story of the Ceylon race riots (London, 1958).
S. Ponniah’s, Satyagaraha and the Freedom Movement of the Tamils in Ceylon (Jaffna, Ceylon, 1963), provides the fullest account of the events of 1961.
See political pamphlet by Dr Colvin R. de Silva, Their Politics and Ours (Colombo, 1954).
See Leslie Goonewardene, ‘New Outlook of the L.S.S.P.’, in Ceylon Daily News, 21 December 1970. See also
V. Karalasingham, ‘An L.S.S.P. Viewpoint: What Should be Today’s Slogans’, in Ceylon Daily News, 2 September 1970 and the full text of the resolution of the Central Committee of the L.S.S.P. in Ceylon Daily News, 2 September 1971.
See (Mrs) V. K. Jayewardene, The Rise of the Labour Movement in Ceylon (Durham, North Carolina, 1972), and
R. N. Kearney, Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon (Berkeley, 1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1979 A. Jeyaratnam Wilson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wilson, A.J. (1979). Political Behaviour and Political Forces. In: Politics in Sri Lanka, 1947–1979. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17718-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17718-9_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-26208-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17718-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)