Chronological History of Sri Lanka
From Glory to the Third world
During the last one million years Sri Lanka was connected to the sub-continent on numerous occasions. The rise and fall of sea level determined the periodicities of these connections, the last separation having occurred at ca. 7000 BP. There is secure evidence of settlements in Sri Lanka by 130,000 years ago, probably by 300,000 BP and possibly by 500,000 BP or earlier. Five centuries before Christ, Sri Lanka was a land throbbing with vitality and a well-ordered civilization. Cities, palaces, reservoirs, parks, temples, monasteries, monuments and works of art bore testament to the character, imagination, culture, philosophy and faith of the people of Sri Lanka, the Resplendent Land. Vestiges of this ancient civilization are abundantly extant today.
By Singha Puthra
Source: From Glory to the Third world
1,000,000 BC– Humans (who originated in 5,000,000 BC in Africa) migrate from Africa, to Asia and Europe.
700,000 BC -- Archaeologists believe that Humans had inhabited Lanka by this time. They were part of the above migration.
123,000 BC – Ambalanthota- Oldest human remains discovered in Lanka–Lankan is similar to the Veddas. Living amongst huge lions, Hippos and Rhinos, native Lankan is stronger and taller than many Lankans today. He has large jaws, large teeth, and large foreheads. They practise the Mahasona (Yaksa) belief.
10,000 BC – More than 20,000 years after the Lankans became agricultural, Neolithic revolution (Transformation from Wandering hunter to cave or hut settled agricultural humans) start in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Then this spread to Asia and Europe. With increasing population, these become villages & then became cities.
3500 BC– Sumerians (in Iraq)-the world’s first civilisation- (appearance of cities, philosophies, monuments, reading & writing)
2500 BC– Indus Valley (Mohendojaro) civilisation (on the border of India & Pakistan) begins–Eelamists claim that it was a Tamil kingdom. There are doubts about this. Their massive propaganda blitz has publicised their claim and have almost silenced other theories.
1500 BC- Aryans migrate to North India through central Asia. People of Indus Valley civilisation migrate to South India due to natural disasters. In 600 years, the South Indians will start to arrive in Lanka as merchants and their workers.
900 BC–Hunting & agricultural Lankans, who already have their own alphabet, have started trade with the outside world. They have formed into 4 kingdoms ( Yaksa, Raksa, Naga, Deva) & call themselves Hela people. Their largest town is 26-acres Anuradapura. Lanka’s fertile soil, availability of water, Iron technology, mineral resources & pearl fishing come to the attention of many business people from Asia & middle East. (Among them are South Indians, Persians, and Greeks). They don’t stay permanently to join the effort to develop the country or the people as a civilisation. They only come to find & take goods away & make good money by selling them overseas. Sometimes their workers, who stay behind to collect the goods until the master returns, occupy semi-permanent dwellings near the harbour towns where they collect their goods from the Lankans. It is fair to say that this is probably the first migration of South Indians to Lanka.
725 BC –World’s 1st True Empire–Assyrians–This was the beginning of the culture of looting what other hardworking civilisations have earned, by mastering and using brutal military force.
650 BC– Earliest proof of writing in Lanka & 150-acre Anuradapura is the largest town ( Lankans use horses, cattle, very high quality pottery, cultivation including rice, iron technology incl. Steel factories and copper alloy artefacts, farming )
563 BC– Prince Siddhartha, Buddha, is born in North India in one of the Aryan kingdoms. Lanka is known as “Sivu Hela”(4 Hela kingdoms) & is ruled by the native Lankans. South Indians, mainly businessmen, are a small minority who travel back & forth from South India. They treat South India as their home & are loyal to South India, not to Lanka. They were having their temporary business residences in the north for easy travelling to their homes in south India. During the next 1500 years, the native population went extremely religious and spiritual. As the natives were generally not interested in material gains, some selfish South Indians living in Lanka were able to dominate and manipulate politics, business & create corruption.
528 BC– Buddha’s 1st visit to Lanka at Mahiyanganaya; Lanka’s First Buddhists, First Bana, First Dagaba (Mahiyanganaya).
523 BC– Buddha’s 2nd visit to Lanka at Nagadeepa to stop the battle for the throne; In 3 years he will visit Naga king at Kelaniya & also Sripada, which is home to the first Buddhist of Lanka (Sumana Saman was a chief in Ratnapura)
483 BC– Recording of Sinhala civilisation starts as the North Indian migration to Sri Lanka begins with Vijaya. North Indians mix comfortably into Sinhala civilisation as equals. Their hard work will create the great amazing hydraulic civilisation. Thus, Sinhalese proudly have the world’s 2nd longest recorded & unbroken written history.
375 BC– Anuradapura become the capital city of Lanka- Pandukabaya develops a beautiful city managed by an urban council. By this time, it is already listed as the tenth largest city in Asia.
247 BC– As predicted by Buddha, Lanka gets Buddhism. The golden era of Sinhalese begins, as they become a world-class civilisation. The discipline, the philosophy and the principles of Buddhist life, develop Sinhalese both in spiritual and material terms. They become unique people of principles in the world. Working very hard, they build technological & architectural wonders without looting others (World superpowers had similar achievements. But they used the resources they robbed from conquered kingdoms to build those.)
310 BC- National Parks system of the Sinhalese- Water flow from over 12,000 lakes in Anuradapura to public places and homes and finally to rice fields through filters and tubes 1000’s of yards long. It shows the skill of the irrigation engineers. Sinhalese have shower baths where a human sit while water jets sprays (modern day spas). They have summer houses ( air-conditioned enclosed rooms to escape the heat), ponds, baths, pavilions and exquisitely decorated toilets with underground sewerage disposal and water supply systems. These luxurious living standards attracted more migrants from other countries, like the way the modern West attracts migrants from the third world today.
246 BC- The 2nd Sri Maha Bodiya-(World’s 2nd oldest authenticated tree) the first sapling that grew out of the Sri Maha Bodiya, is planted in Seruvila by King Devanampiyatissa. The racist South Indian extremists between 1972 and 1977 destroyed it systematically in a cunning plan. Today it is a Hindu kovil. It is considered the most important loss of Sinhala heritage in the north and the east, (second in it's importance only to the original one in Anuradapura) out of 276 such Historic Buddhist places that British Archaeologists had recorded in the north and the east by 1948. Even today, the authorities have ignored protecting those 276 places.
240 BC– City of Anuradapura develops as one of the best cities ever in human history in a well-organised city plan. An ornamental rampart connects four giant gates. City is so large that at its peak, from Northgate to Southgate the distance was 26 kilometers. (Those were the days before all the invasions). Starting from each gate were wide streets and pretty suburbs with parks, houses, mansions of the nobles (who dedicated themselves to protect and develop the country and who proved their worthiness in deeds), buildings, Municipal council & public works and hospitals. City citadel was in the middle. It housed the Royal palace. Inner city housed the Governing bodies while the outer city was available to business activities. The citadel was half a mile long each side & housed the Royal palace. Five Greatest Buddhist universities in the world were outside the citadel, ( Mahaviharaya on south, Jethavanaya on east, Abayagiriya on north, DakkinaViharaya on Southwest, Mirisavetiya on west.) Beyond the city were the 5 largest lakes ( incl. TissaWeva to southwest, NuwaraWeva to east). Outside the city were highways that ran through villages, towns, and jungles where the monasteries of monks who wanted totally peaceful surrounding for meditation, were living. 2000 years later, British Archaeologists wrote, “What it must have been at the zenith of beauty one can only guess, But I do not believe that any other city in the world could have been more beautiful than Anuradapura while at the height of its prosperity.”
237 BC- 1st Invasion on Lanka: By this time, prosperity in Lanka and the beautiful multi-culturism practised by the Sinhalese, has attracted South Indian settlers who enjoyed the peace and freedom that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world. South Indian Horse Traders, who resided both in South India & also in Lanka semi-permanently as businessmen, brought a mercenary army from South India. Sinhala king, who just finished building his 500th university, was killed in action. Many in the business community and the social elite were foreigners living in rich Lanka for economic reasons. They were not Buddhists and had no reason to fight or to risk their lives. Their main objective was to make wealth and enjoy the country. It took 22 years for Devanampiystissa’s youngest brother to liberate the country. He pardoned the enemy prisoners of war, and gave them permanent residency in Lanka. Many of them married Sinhala women & took Sinhala names. But they wouldn’t pass down Sinhala patriotism down the family tree, as it was NOT important to them. They were only interested in the survival of their family. Unfortunately they betrayed Lanka in the following South Indian invasions and in rebellions by the power hungry South Indians living in Lanka. They either collaborated with the enemy for personal gains or stayed neutral while the patriots resisted the enemy all alone.
205 BC– 2nd Invasion-(Elara’s)-Some Lankans, mainly minorities, to whom the wealth is of higher priority than the duty, country or honour, decided to accept the South Indian invader’s rule rather than fighting them. Helped by their inaction or collaboration, Elara easily wiped out the Sinhala army and the patriots. Then Elara tried his best to impress the Buddhists by acting impartial while his racist Generals and officials massacred Patriotic Sinhalese.
146 BC– Freeing the country after 44 years of South Indian invaders rule, DutuGemunu rebuilds the multi-cultural Lanka to everyone’s benefit as Sinhalese had always done.
(The Romans, the new superpower in Europe conquer Greek civilisation)
144 BC– Guards had to be appointed as some foreigners were caught stealing the money, food, clothing that Sinhala workers take home with honesty after work as wages, in the “Work as desires, take as desires” scheme introduced by King Dutugemunu. Even at that time, many selfish ungrateful non-Sinhalese, though enjoying benefits of the Sinhala civilisation, misused the honesty, traditions and the openness of the Sinhala philosophy without any respect or gratitude.
131 BC–In an international event, the largest monument to be built in the whole world at the time, Ruwanwelimahaseya is ceremoniously opened. The event is attended and was recorded by delegations from the world superpower-Roman empire, Middle East, Asians including the Chinese & the Greeks. It had two overhead domes, instead of one, decorated with gems.
120 BC –For every 12 kilometers, there is a Buddhist University where Lankan youth study philosophy, history, science & technology. Some of these graduates will work overseas (including China), building their cities, lakes & monuments. Some of them will be taken as captives to South India by jealous invaders who wanted to build similar grand buildings.
103 BC– First South Indian rebellion for power in Lanka; Some South Indian Generals of the Lankan Army, grabbed power for 24 hours.
103 BC–1st organised destruction of Sinhala heritage- beginning of jealous South Indian racism - as LovaMahaPaya ( 1st skyscraper in the recorded history), the pride of the Sinhala Nation, was maliciously destroyed by South Indian extremists living in Lanka, during the 4th Invasion from South India. (It will take 293 years for the Sinhalese to rebuild it again at a tremendous cost.)
88 BC– Sinhalese builds the World’s 3rd tallest building as a Buddhist university of 12 faculties spread over 500 acres. The present day Abayagiriya hardly shows the former splendour now.
87 BC– 1st corruption of Buddhist monks in Lanka- Over 500 monks accused of breach of discipline (accepting personal gifts & frequenting civilian families) broke away from Theravada Buddhism and started a new sect from Abayagiriya. Corrupt elements saw the opportunity to weaken the relationship between Lanka and Theravada Buddhism. They quickly brought South Indian monks from South Indian Dharmaruci Nikaya to help the ill-discipline monks. They firmly established themselves there & slowly changed strict Vinayas & converted the philosophy to their own. The business community, corrupt or racist ministers and officials,(who hate Theravada discipline) liked them. They claimed themselves as open-minded, open to new ideas, liberal views. Theravada monks upheld orthodox pure Buddhism while advising the rulers on state affairs, making Lanka a disciplined world-class civilisation of very high standards.
AD 000 – Birth of Jesus Christ
01- World population is 250 million people. Roman empire records that the technological and deeply religious Sinhalese in Lanka, has built 19 big cities and over 500 towns. There are over 200,000 Lankans living in beautiful Anuradapura ( city of parks, lakes, skyscrapers, uni’s). They also recorded that Dagabas had overhead domes ( which protected them from weather) with a priceless gem as big as a pineapple on top as a tradition. The domes have rings of gems around them and lightening protectors( long before the west discovered electricity). Hatares Kotuwa of all Dagaba’s has 4 priceless Gems on four sides. All these radiated magnificently under sunlight. People grow their hair long like women, and are very patient, religious, and harmless. Their life expectancy was over 100 years.
60 –China gets Buddhism. Romans persecute Christians & destroy Jerusalem to make sure that no one is greater than the Roman Empire
117-Roman power reaches their peak & the struggle against rising European Barbarian tribes( Germans, Huns, Russians, French ) begins
130 – Sinhalese have the Worlds greatest and finest reservoirs – said British Archaeologist Parker 1900 years later. The unique oblique dams and Cistern Sluice, invented by Sinhala engineers helped develop bold large irrigation wonders.
210–Sinhala king abolished bodily injury as a punishment in the Law of Lanka. But the bad rulers ( who came to power through coups by corrupt elements) would revoke this in order to destroy the resistance to their selfish rule.
267- End of the Greek civilisation ; Greece under Romans, is captured and destroyed by the European Barbarian armies.
275 – Corrupt Buddhist monks, Greedy Business community, and extremist South Indian leaders and officials living in Lanka, fool the Sinhala king, showing Theravada Buddhism, which protects Sinhalese civilisation with guidelines on proper use of country’s resources and social values, as extremist. While the king is thinking, South Indian gangs destroy 364 Theravada temples including Lovamahapaya ( rebuilt just 5 years ago) & Mahaviharaya- The greatest Theravada Buddhist University in the world, forever. Fooled Sinhala king soon realised whom the real extremists and racists were. But a huge damage had been done to Theravada Buddhism. The good Theravada system never recovered to the former grand level.
284 –In order to survive, Roman Empire divides itself into 2 kingdoms, West ( in Rome) and East ( in Constantinople in Turkey)
286 –Sinhalese builds the 3rd tallest monument of the ancient world. (Only 60 feet short of the tallest pyramids) on a foundation of concrete that ran 30 meters deep underground. This, 1700 years later, made British Archaeologists to fall in love with the history of the Sinhalese.
313 –In order to get support to fight the Barbarians who’re not Christians, Roman Empire decide to accept Christianity and make that the official religion
337 –Sinhalese who already have the world’s first Animal hospitals (separate hospitals for Elephants, Horses and cows), has surgeons, appointed qualified village& town doctors, medical literature, maternity homes, hospitals for the disabled.
350- Half the world are Buddhists; Sinhalese have established monasteries in whole of Asia including China, South India, Afghanistan, Tibet, South East Asia (including Korea).
403- Visiting Chinese monk recorded how vulnerable & exposed the Sinhala System was to the corruption & malpractices of the resident non-Sinhala community, including South Indian businessmen, & South Indian ministers & officials. They were only looking for a quick buck, or more power, while religious Sinhalese wanted the balance between wealth & spirituality, fairness & continuity of the nation. He noted that only the good king & the pious Theravada monks advice, keep conspiracies for power, and the greedy corrupt elements, under control.
476 –End of Western Roman Empire, Rome is flattened. Victorious Barbarians are converted to Christianity now by the Christian church.
518 –In the 2nd rebellion for power by the South Indians in Lanka, pressurised by the peace lobby, religious Sinhala king believed in rebel promises. In peace-talks, he gave everything for peace, including the throne. But, once in power, new South Indian rebel King used his killer squads to hunt down the Sinhala patriots, including the king. Strangely, the Peace lobby was silent.
570 AD – Birth of Prophet Mohammed & Islam religion
640 – Muslim power spread from the Middle East, all the way to Europe. French beat the Muslim armies in France.
642 – A selfish South Indian minister grabs the power, to satisfy the aspirations of the business community who help him to recruit South Indian mercenaries from South India. Evil minister himself breaks open the Relic chamber of Thuparamaya to pay his South Indian mercenaries. He also destroys the giant DakhinaStupa forever, after getting the treasures out. Crowning ornaments, Golden Umbrellas over Stupas, are smashed to get the gems fixed on them. The golden Buddhist monuments surprised the South Indians. They collected so many, that they even hand over many treasures free to the Lankan South Indians. They go on looting while the “South Indian king” & the business community doesn’t care.
730-Sinhala king doesn’t eat until all the poor people have had their meal at Social Security offices located in all towns, where Jobseekers, the disabled, the poor, & the sick receive all their needs, including food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and help to find a job. Even Single women get a living allowance & mothers receive Family payments. In a privacy law, they can remain anonymous if they so wish. Those who acquire wealth by corruption & unfair means, are NOT happy as they cannot exploit the people, resources of the land, or the system.
733 – When King dies, his son invites the Deputy king who is away in the east, to take over the throne. He becomes the new deputy. When the new king has too much in his hands or needs to take time off, this deputy volunteers to rule the country asking him to rest. This kind of honesty & principles that are seen nowhere else in the world, surprises many resident non-Sinhalese. Always wanting more freedom in exploiting the country’s resources, they approach him as usual with ideas of conspiracy. As usual, the good Sinhalese who look for balance between material wealth and spiritual well-being, disappoint them. (They probably went calling him a “Sinhala extremist”)
750 – Half the world is Muslims; Arab Muslim empire is now at its widest ( from Spain to Morocco & on the Chinese border)
777 – 7th Major Rebellion for power by South Indians in Lanka: Racist South Indian extremists try separatism for the 1st time. Realising that it is impossible to grab whole of Lanka, power-hungry racist South Indians focus on Jaffna, which is close to South Indian help. Mahinda-2, a great Sinhala king, holds a conference with all the wise people of multi-cultural Lanka, including the Theravada monks and the fair South Indian citizens living in multi-cultural Lanka, to formulate the necessary strategy. Then they win a successful war against the northern racist rebels and save the Buddhists and the Buddhist temples in Jaffna. But this was only the beginning of a treacherous separatist campaign.
796 –Some power-hungry Jaffna South Indian extremists try separatism again; Eelamists claim their first king now as a South Indian prince was invited by the rebels as the “King of South Indians”. He marry’s a princess from the Chola kingdom to win the support of South Indians. Again the multicultural Lanka had to fight to save non-South Indian people of the north & to unite the country.
800 - Basis of current Christian European civilisation is founded as the Pope names the French king as “the Emperor of Romans”
834 –First Major Colonisation of Jaffna by the racist South Indians : Some Power-hungry Racist South Indian chiefs in Jaffna claim separatism from Lanka & try to colonise Jaffna by bringing migrants from South India. Sinhala residents in Jaffna rise up for the first time in history against this racism & colonization. South Indian racists, who have easy access to intelligence on Lankan defence, invite South Indian Kings to come and weaken the Sinhalese.
835 --9th invasion; Invited by South Indian traitors, Pandyan king invades Lanka to make Sinhalese meek & weakened; Many racist Lankan South Indians support them openly. Used only to Buddhism and temples, many Sinhalese are scared of the brutality of the enemy soldiers and are too scared to fight them. South Indian regiments of the Lankan army joined the invaders as usual. Sinhala Deputy king led the rest of the Lankan army. Defeated, they committed suicide in the battlefield. King’s youngest brother ( It will be his infant son who, in 18 years, will liberate Lanka, even invading Pandyan kingdom to recover the lost treasures) led the last of the Sinhala army, in the final battle near Polonnaruwa. They all were killed in action by the invaders & South Indian traitors living in Lanka. King ran to the jungles of Ruhuna. Once the army was no more to protect the Sinhalese, South Indian racists looted & destroyed the Royal palace( repaired just 200 years ago), LovaMahaPaya( repaired 493 years ago), Final destruction of RatnaPasadaya-(the 2nd Lovamahapaya), Final destruction of grand Thuparamaya. They looted all Gems, Gold statues, decorations, & treasures. Centuries of painful hard work by Sinhala technicians, architects & engineers, were destroyed in a matter of days. The once glorious Sinhala civilisation was reduced to nothing in seventeen more of such South Indian invasions ( invited by some selfish, unpatriotic, power-hungry South Indian racists living in Lanka).
917 – Without any shame, Pandyan kingdom asked for Lankan help to fight a new power in South India, but the Cholas beat the Pandyans. Next, Cholas get ready to invade Lanka.
946 – 1st Chola invasion; Sinhala army is beaten at first. But they hit back from Ruhuna, retake the destroyed A’pura & battle all the way to Chola kingdom to demand the looted treasures. Cholas now concentrate on destroying Lanka.
1018–15th Invasion; Most Destructive in Lankan History : Envious Cholas returned with a Quarter of a million Chola soldiers and latest Roman weapons to destroy the pride of the Sinhalese; Sinhala army, with almost all of the South Indian regiments joining their South Indian Chola brothers, was outnumbered one to nine. Firepower of the new war machines of mass destruction, including poison gas, massacred the Sinhalese patriots. Proud militaristic Cholas were angry to see the standards of the Sinhalese civilisation, which made Chola capital city looked like a provincial town when compared to Anuradapura ( The same complex engulfed the Portugese 500 years later whose capital city Lisbon couldn’t match Lankan towns). 1400 years old City of Anuradapura, (with the World’s largest Image House in Jetavanaramaya university), was destroyed forever. LovaMahaPaya was destroyed for the 4th and last time. For the 1st time an invader was able to enter Ruhuna. Cholas selected the next larger city, Polonnaruwa, to rule from.
1070– Vijayabahu- As Chola secret agents assassinated Sinhala leaders in Ruhuna, warriors emerged one after another in Ruhuna to fight the Cholas in guerrilla warfare. They were trained to fight three opponents at a time. At last Vijayabahu chased Cholas out after a long hard war fought for 52 years. War-weary Cholas decided never to invade Lanka again. But power hungry Lankan South Indians continued conspiring for power with South Indian Pandyan help.
1070– Turkish Muslim power takes Jerusalam & prohibits Christian pilgrims. To liberate Jerusalam, Pope calls for the crusade (the Holy War). It was these Crusades that awakened the Europeans to explore & conquer ancient civilisations in Asia and America.
1153–Last great ruler-MahaParakramabahu has South Asia’s best army, But his South Indian soldiers refuse to fight the South Indians & are caught spying on behalf of South Indian rulers. Realising the damage the two faced traitors were doing, he ordered South Indian regiments of his army to arrest racist South Indian extremists in the north so that there wouldn’t be any problems for another 5000 years. ( They didn’t do a good job. Did they ?)
1215–22nd Invasion; 2nd Most Destructive in history-KalinghaMagha was invited to invade by the Eelamists through a South Indian named Malavan. All cities were burnt and & the infrastructure was destroyed to humble the proud Sinhalese. Lankan Army was massacred and ceased to exist. KalingaMagha then wrote out Jaffna & Vanni to racist South Indian traitors who invited him. This enabled the South Indian racists to claim that they have a “legal” right to the land. These racists colonised Jaffna freely by bringing in more South Indian migrants from south India. This made many Sinhalese to flee to southern jungles.
1245– Cholas, the warmongers who destroyed the most beautiful city of Anuradapura, now disappear from history forever.
1270– Lankan king find the economy irrecoverably poor for the 1st time. Rape of the country by the invaders and the traitors has done the damage. The traitors will never allow the Sinhalese to regroup and recover.
1272– For the 1st time Lankan king doesn’t have enough power to get northern rebels under control; King Buvanekabahu rules all of Lanka except Jaffna. Pandyan kingdom in South India protects the rebel rule in the Jaffna peninsula. Weakened and destroyed in 24 invasions, Sinhala King has no strength to face the power of the South Indians.
1275–As helpless Sinhalese struggle without the infrastructure, Muslim traders introduce the fatal dependence on commerce rather than agriculture. Even today, Lankans prioritise on business deals rather than developing the agriculture properly.
1308-26th Invasion: Last South Indian Invasion-AryaChakravarti, a war minister sent by the Pandyan king, invades and rules Lanka. Eelamists claim such rule as a South Indian rule of Lanka in justifying their right to the land in the north.
1412–Last Lankan king to unite and rule the entire country; While fighting the rebels in Jaffna, Parakramabahu-6 was surprised by the Vanni chiefs ( who were part of the multi-cultural Lanka) who treacherously attacked him from behind. Fortunately, Lankan Army led by prince Sapumal won. Defeated Jaffna rebel leader ran to South India for 20 years.
1478–Massacre of the Sinhalese in Jaffna : When Parakramabahu-6 died, racist South Indian elements in Jaffna came back into life again. They quickly massacred the patriotic Sinhalese in Jaffna and got the survivors to swear loyalty to ethnic South Indian rule. This was how there was a racist South Indian rebel rule in Jaffna when the Portugese came 27 years later.
1505–28th Invasion; Arrival of the Portugese (who introduced loose-morals & sadism as normal in everyday life),
This was also the beginning of Christians and Burgher communities in Lanka.
1658- 29th Invasion: Dutch cheats Lankans for trade profits by acting decent and humble -Lankans learn “showing friendly face until the time is right for mean & evil intentions”
1815- 30th Invasion: British purposely made the frustrated Sinhalese masses alcoholic & created a “NEW” ruling class notoriously famous for their selfishness (who gives priority to their power & survival than the country). Since 1948, they have failed to develop the country or the people due to their wrong-priorities, corruption, incompetency and arrogance. This is used as an excuse by the power-hungry ethnic extremists to repeat the history, with lies & unfair demands, to justify the separate racist South Indian state again.