Navalar then walked off with 50 boys to found a school for upper castes. Navalar is described as the leader of the high caste schoolboys, or “lads,” “The boys”, including Navalar,wanted Jeroni dismissed and when refused wanted him to be seated at the back. Percival had admitted Gabriel Jeroni of the toddy-tapping caste. The episode which I discovered in the Church Archives is found in the Morning Star of. Peter Percival’s JCC which was opened in Oct. Navalar’s most egregious act was at the Rev. He objects to missionaries sitting down to eat with the oppressed caste and ruining the two rules (aasaaram) he always saw as one – rules on religious and caste practices. In “Jaffna’s State of Religious Affairs,” Navalar excoriates those who drink the kitchen Paraya’s coffee (kusinip Parayandai copiyai kudichukkondu) while visiting missionaries. Imagine the psychological and social impact on oppressed caste children to see a man who openly despised them being glorified in their schools! The exaltation of Navalar is considered an intimidation of the oppressed castes.
The vast majority of Jaffna who are oppressed caste Hindus want nothing to do with him, calling him chaathi-veriyan or caste-crazed. The division is this: the high caste and those aspiring to high caste want Navalar elevated. In 2011 when high caste Hindus took a statue into Karaiyar Valvettithurai, villagers came out and blocked entry. Shanmugathasan (CP-Peking) orchestrated protests with the objection that Navalar was a caste revivalist. In 1969, when the Federal Party was elevating Navalar, Mr.
JCC’s position evinces Jaffna’s ambivalence towards Navalar. Jaffna Bible, 1850: Translated from the Original tongues Peter’s Methodist Church Pastor, The Rev. However, strong letters citing the law from Methodist Conference President Asiri Perera and the St. Vembadi’s Principal Venuka Shanmugaratnam pushed ahead, planting a Navalar statue ready for the ceremony, and demanding the Church cede more lands. In doing so, they break this protective law.Īt the two formerly Methodist Jaffna schools, Jaffna Central College (JCC) and Vembadi Girls’ College, JCC vigourously said “No thanks” to Navalar statues. 8 of 1961” explicitly provides that religious celebrations should not take place in nationalised schools unless those celebrations were, at the time of takeover, associated with the institution that owned the school Yet, in this past month, Jaffna has seen Navalar Day celebrations which have also been attended by the Chief Minister and the Siva Senai.There were attempts to plant the statue of Navalar at nationalised Christian schools during these ceremonies. “The Assisted Schools and Training Colleges (Supplementary Provisions) Act No. Lakshman Kiriella, who stands for Good Governance, support these new UGC requirements to teach engineering? Refraining from critiques of popular figures is now a majoritarian requirement for university recruitment! It is sad that the UGC has become a tool in the hands of Jaffna’s Caste Establishment in putting down religious minorities and keeping us out of the university.ĭo Madam Kumaratunga who stands for National Unity and Reconciliation, and Minister of Higher Education, Hon. Professor Carlo Fonseka swears to this in an amicus curiae brief. When I was rejected for the post of Senior Lecturer at the University of Jaffna, one of the reasons de Silva gave Madam Kumaratunga who kindly queried why, was my writings on Arumuga Navalar, “an iconic figure” to Hindus.
Government policy on reconciliation is being obstructed by the UGC Chairman Mohan de Silva’s new communalist requirements to teach engineering. Detailed Lecture on Islam and problems we face and message to mankind.Madam Kumaratunga, Hon. Samsudeen kasimi’s jummuah Lecture in tamil.