Sri Lankan Tamils (Tamil: இலங்கை தமிழர், ilankai tamiḻar,Tamil: ஈழத் தமிழர், īḻat tamiḻar), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan Tamils.
| இலங்கை தமிழர் (ஈழத் தமிழர்) | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| Sri Lanka | 2,270,924 (2012) |
| Canada | ~300,000 |
| United Kingdom | ~120,000 (2006) |
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Who came to Sri Lanka first Tamils or Sinhalese?
The Sinhalese are allegedly the descendants of the Aryan Prince Vijaya, from India, and his 700 followers; they came to Sri Lanka about 485 B.C.E., chased from their homes for their marauding activities. Tamils fall into two groups: Sri Lankan and Indian.
Who are the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka?
According to the Mahāvamsa, a Pāḷi chronicle written in the 5th century CE, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600 BCE and other signs of advanced civilisation have also been discovered in Sri Lanka.
Are Indian Tamils from Sri Lanka?
Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Malayaga Tamilar, Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils.By the 1990s most of these had been given Sri Lankan citizenship. Most are Hindus with a minority of Christians and Muslims amongst them.
Who are the ancestors of Tamils?
The Indian Tamils (or Hill Country Tamils) are descendants of bonded laborers who migrated from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 19th century to work on tea plantations. There also exists a significant Muslim population in Sri Lanka who are speakers of the Tamil language.
Do Tamils and Sinhalese look different?
The Sinhalese and Tamils both look alike. Think about it. We are both represented by the same hues of brown pigmentation to varying degrees and of other similar phenotypic traits.The concern expressed is that unlike Tamil language which has over a 100 million adherents, Sinhalese is a small ethno-linguistic group.
Why did Tamils go to Sri Lanka?
Indian Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka as indentured labourers during the 19th and 20th centuries to work on coffee, tea and rubber plantations owned by the British.These Indian Tamils were separate from an already existing trading community of Indian Tamils who were not part of the plantation economy.
Is Tamil an ethnicity?
The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. The oldest Tamil communities are those of southern India and northeastern Sri Lanka.There are an estimated 74 million Tamils around the world.
Is Sri Lanka a Hindu?
Hinduism is one of Sri Lanka’s oldest religions, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. As of 2011, Hindus made up 12.6% of the Sri Lankan population.According to the 2011 census, there are 2,554,606 Hindus in Sri Lanka (12.6% of the country’s population).
Are Veddas Dravidians?
“Vedda” is either a Dravidian word that stems from the Tamil word Vēdu meaning “hunting”, or from Sanskrit vyādha (“hunter”) or veddhṛ (“the one who pierces”).
What is the status of Tamils in Sri Lanka?
Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
What caste are Tamils?
There is no specific and separate caste for Tamil people or people of Tamil Nadu (People whose mother tongue is Tamil). Caste as a social institution divides the Hindus vertically as inferior and superior castes and [forces] them to strictly adhere to certain [arbitrary] rules which are in violation of human rights.
Why some Tamils are called Indian Tamils?
Tamils in Srilanka are called Indian Tamils because they are the descendents of the workers sent from South India to Srilanka to work in the plantations of tea coffee and rubber during the 19th and 20th century. Some of them also migrated as merchants and to provide other services to Srilanka.
Are Dravidians Caucasian?
Wright also mentions that Richard Lydekker and Flowers classified Dravidians as Caucasian.
According to a genetic admixture study by Dr. Gautam K. Kshatriya in 1995, the Sri Lankan Tamil are closely related to the Sinhalese who are closely related to Indian Tamils.This is also supported by a genetic distance study, which showed low differences in genetic distance between Tamils and the Sinhalese.
Who is native to Sri Lanka?
They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality.
Sinhalese people.
| සිංහල ජනතාව | |
|---|---|
| India | ~4,200 |
| Languages | |
| Hela language (historical) Sinhala | |
| Religion |
Are Dravidians indigenous to India?
There are around 245 million native speakers of Dravidian languages.The origins of the Dravidians are a “very complex subject of research and debate”. They may have been indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, but origins in, or influence from, Western Asia have also been proposed.
Is Sinhala derived from Tamil?
Sinhala is classified as an Indo-Aryan language and Tamil is classified as a Dravidian language.Close interaction with the Tamil language and the assimilation of Tamils into Sinhalese society contributed to the adoption of several Tamil origin words into the Sinhalese language.
When did Tamils first come to Sri Lanka?
The Ceylon Tamils are south Indians who were amongst the first settlers in Sri Lanka who arrived as early as the 5th century BC. The ‘Up Country’ Tamil community is of comparatively recent origin. They are the descendants of labourers brought to the island by the British to work on tea plantations.
Do Tamils have equal rights in Sri Lanka?
The Federal Party (Sri Lanka) (FP) became the most dominant Tamil political party in 1956 and lobbied for a federal state which gave the Tamils and Sinhalese equal rights, including recognition of two official languages (Tamil and Sinhala) and considerable autonomy for the Tamil areas.
How are Tamils discriminated in Sri Lanka?
More than a decade after the Mullivaikkal massacre, Tamils remain heavily discriminated against by a state that has yet to reckon with its violent past. Children pass a burned vehicle in Mullivaikkal, a village which saw the massacre of over 40,000 Tamils by the Sri Lankan military in the final stages of the war.
