An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Fifth European Conference on Modern Asian Studies held at Leiden in mid-July 1976 and at a seminar of the Centre of South Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, in London, on 3 November 1976. I am grateful to those present at these gatherings for their comments. My thanks, too, to C. R. de Silva, Roland Edirisinghe, C. H. Fernando, Bruce Kapferer, Gerald Pieris and Dietmar Rothermund for their helpful observations.

¹ Quoted in Hinsley, F. H., Nationalism and the International System (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973), p. 44.Google Scholar Also see the description provided by a lawyer named Lacratelle in 1789, quoted in Shafer, Boyd C., Faces of Nationalism: New Realities and Old Myths (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1974), pp. 9, 381.Google Scholar

² Pflanze, Otto, ‘Nationalism in Europe, 1848–1871’, Review of Politics, Vol. 28, No. 2 (04 1966), p. 140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³ The comments in the first paragraph have profited from the works referred to in citations 1 and 2 and the writings on nationalism by Arasaratnam, S. (1974), Morris Ginsberg (1961), Paul R. Brass (1974), Lewis Namier (1962), Hugh Seton Watson (1965), Joseph R. Strayer (1963) and Louis L. Snyder.Google Scholar

⁴ Brass, Paul R., Language, Religion and Politics in North India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974), pp. 5–7, 432;Google ScholarRoberts, Michael, ‘Variations on the Theme of Resistance Movements: The Kandyan Rebellion of 1817–18 and Latter Day Nationalisms in Ceylon’, Ceylon Studies Seminar, No. 31 (10 1972), mimeo, p. 4.Google Scholar

⁵ Brass, , Language, pp. 4–7, 14–15, 432.Google ScholarCf. Emerson, Rupert, From Empire to Nation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1960), pp. 7, 103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶ Potter, David M., ‘The Historian's Use of Nationalism and Vice Versa’, American Historical Review, Vol. LXVII, No. 4 (07 1962), p. 930.Google Scholar

⁷ E.g. Ceylon Daily News, 19 December 1938 and 6 March 1939;Google ScholarYouth Congress, Jaffna, , Communalism or Nationalism…? A Reply to the Speech Delivered in the State Council on the Reforms Despatch by G. G. Ponnambalam, Esq., 1939 (Chunnakam: Thirumakal Press, 1939);Google ScholarThe Hand-Book of the Ceylon National Congress, 1919–1928, ed. by Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D. (Colombo: H. W. Cave & Co., 1928), pp. 346ff, 499–516.Google Scholar The latter will hereafter be noticed as Handbook CNC.

⁸ Kedourie, Elie (ed.), Nationalism in Asia and Africa (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1970), pp. 60–1.Google Scholar Kedourie's excessive acidity must not be allowed to cloud the validity of this point.

⁹ Potter, , ‘Historian's Use of Nationalism’, p. 931.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Pyle, Kenneth B., ‘Some Recent Approaches to Japanese Nationalism’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXXI, No. 1 (11 1971), p. 9.Google Scholar

¹¹ Ibid., quoting from Thomas C. Smith.

¹² Gupta, Jyotirindra Das, Language Conflict and National Development (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970).Google Scholar

¹³ Brass, , Language, p. 40,Google Scholar summarizing Lijphart's, Arend, The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands (University of California Press, 1968).Google Scholar

¹⁴ de Silva, K. M., ‘The Ceylon National Congress in Disarray, 1920–1; Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam leaves the Congress’, Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, new series, Vol. II, No. 2 (1972), pp. 97–117;Google Scholar L. A. Wickremeratne, ‘Kandyans and Nationalism in Sri Lanka: Some Reflections’, Ibid., Vol. V (1975), pp. 49–67.

¹⁵ Quotation from F. A. Obeyesekere's speech at the annual sessions of the C.N.C. in the editorial in the Ceylon Morning Leader, 10 December 1924. C. E. Corea: advocate, Low-Country Sinhalese and Goyigama Christian. His family had been headmen in Chilaw District for several generations and they were the leading force in the Chilaw Association which emerged as a relatively vociferous critic of British rule from the 1890s. The Chilaw District bordered Moor and Tamil areas. It is possible that this influenced the outlook of the Coreas.Google Scholar

¹⁶ See Handbook CNC, 1928, pp. 661–4 for full text. Apart from C. E. Corea, the other Sinhalese in the delegation were C. E. Victor S. Corea (his brother), George E. de Silva, R. S. S. Gunewardene, M. H. Jayetilleke, and P. de S. Kularatne. The other Congress delegates were M. A. Arulanandan, T. B. Jayah and Dr S. Muttiah.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Handbook CNC, 1928, p. 686. Also see pp. 700–8. Francis de Zoysa: advocate, Low-Country Sinhalese, and Salagama. Married to a Catholic. His son, Stanley de Zoysa, also entered the C.N.C. in 1939–40 as a staunch critic of ‘communalism’; but was a founder member of the S.L.F.P. and Finance Minister in the 1956–60 administration.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Information communicated by Dietmar Rothermund. Also see Gordon, Leonard A., Bengal: The Nationalist Movement, 1876–1940 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974), pp. 168–9, and 194–6;Google ScholarBroomfield, J. H., Elite Conflict in a Plural Society: Twentieth-Century Bombay (University of California Press, 1968), pp. 238–9, 245–6, 153–6, 330.Google Scholar The Hindu-Muslim Pact was rescinded in 1926.

¹⁹ Handbook CNC, 1928, pp. 692–701, quotations pp. 700–1.Google Scholar

²⁰ Ibid., pp. 701–2. Also see Victor Corea's comments, pp. 702–8 and 771–3.

²¹ In a series of six articles, Ceylon Morning Leader, 19 May to 30 June, 1926.Google Scholar

²² Wickremeratne, L. A., ‘Kanydans’, pp. 55, 59–67;Google ScholarKandyan National Assembly, The Rights and Claim of the Kandyan People (Kandy: Miller & Co., n.d. (1928)).Google Scholar

²³ Memorandum from the President, All-Ceylon Tamil Conference, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies,14 July 1937, in CO 54 series.Google Scholar Also see the Ceylon Daily News,12 April, 1937, for reports on a meeting of theAll-Ceylon Tamil Conference.Google Scholar

²⁴ Citations above and other documents printed in Roberts, Michael (ed.), Documents of the Ceylon National Congress, 1929–50, and Nationalist Politics in Ceylon (Colombo: Dept of National Archives, in press), pp. 2113–53, 2483–97, 2381–98.Google Scholar For some C.N.C. reactions, see Ibid., pp. 1317ff.

²⁵ Roberts, Ibid., pp. lxxxviii, clv-clvii, 561–76, 596–601, 1294–5, 1346–51.

²⁶ Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D., Towards a New Era: Selected Speeches… made in the Legislature of Ceylon 1931–1959 (Colombo: Dept of Broadcasting and Information, Government of Ceylon, 1961), pp. 50–1.Google Scholar This was on 21 March 1939. The same argument was reiterated at the annual general meeting of the Sinhala Maha Sabha on 30–31 December 1939 (see Ceylon Daily News, 1 01 1940,Google Scholaror Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. 566–70) and at subsequent S.M.S. meetings as well (see citation 28 below). It was also emphasized in the defence he presented at an Executive Committee meeting of the Ceylon National Congress on 17 January 1940 (Roberts (ed.), Documents, pp. 564–5).Google Scholar

²⁷ For some comments, see my ‘Meanderings in the Pathway of Collective Identity and Nationalism’, in Roberts, Michael (ed.), Collective Identities, Nationalisms and Protest in Sri Lanka during the Modern Era (Colombo: Marga Publishers, in press).Google Scholar This will hereafter be abbreviated to CINP.

²⁸ Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D., Speeches and Writings (Colombo: Dept of Broadcasting and Information, Government of Ceylon, 1963), p. 87; also pp. 90–1, 95–6, 102.Google Scholar From this self-perception, Bandaranaike was even able to attack G. G. Ponnambalam's organization as ‘communal’ and a body of ‘local reactionaries’ seeking the ‘entrenchment of imperialism and exploitation, and the protection of vested interests’ (Ibid., pp. 96, 98, 104–5).

²⁹ See Ceylon Daily News, 1 01 1940,Google Scholar or Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. 566–70.Google Scholar

³⁰ The Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact was rescinded unilaterally after agitation from Sinhala Buddhist pressure groups. For details and the general background, see Wriggins, W. Howard, Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation (Princeton University Press, 1960), passim, esp. pp. 265–8;Google ScholarSmith, Donald E. (ed.), South Asian Politics and Religion (Princeton University Press, 1966),Google Scholar chapters on Sri Lanka; Kearney, Robert N., Communalism and Language in the Politics of Ceylon (Durham N.C.: Duke University Press, 1967), esp. pp. 85–6, 107–9, 117–19, 144–6.Google Scholar

³¹ Brass, , Language, pp. 12, 18–19, 426–31.Google Scholar

³² Arasaratnam, S., History, Nationalism and Nation Building: The Asian Dilemma (Inaugural Lecture at the University of New England, Armidale, 1974), pp. 20–1.Google Scholar Also noted in Wriggins, W. H., ‘Problems of Communalism in South Asia’, in Sri Lanka since Independence, ed. by de Silva, K. M., Wilson, A. J., Wriggins, W. H. and Woodward, Calvin A. and appearing as Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2 in the new series of the Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies (01–12 1974), pp. 136–7 (hereafter cited as SL since Independence).Google Scholar

³³ For elaboration, see Bechert, Heinz, ‘The Beginning of Buddhist Historiography in Ceylon: The Mahavamsa and Political Thinking’, Ceylon Studies Seminar, No. 46, 1974;Google ScholarMalalgoda, Kitsiri, ‘Millennialism in Relation to Buddhism’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (10 1970), pp. 424–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁴ Indrapala, K., ‘Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon and the Beginnings of the Kingdom of Jaffna’ (University of London: Ph.D. dissertation in History, 1966).Google Scholar

³⁵ Information conveyed personally by A. Liyanagamage. I am indebted to him and Lakshman Perera for comments which helped me in formulating this paragraph.

³⁶ Pieris, Paul E., ‘Appointments within the Kandyan Provinces’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Branch, Vol. XXXVI, No. 99 (1945), pp. 114–15.Google Scholar See also Roberts, , ‘Variations’, p. 19.Google Scholar

³⁷ Obeyesekere, G., ‘The Sinhalese Buddhist Identity’, in George, de Vos and Lola, Romanucci-Ross (eds.), Ethnic Identity, Cultural Continuities and Change (Palo Alta: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1976), pp. 239–41.Google Scholar

³⁸ Dharmadasa, K. N. O., ‘The Sinhala Buddhist Identity and the Nayakkar Dynasty in the Politics of the Kandyan Kingdom, 1739–1815’, in CINP.Google Scholar

³⁹ Wickremeratne, L. A., ‘Religion, Nationalism, and Social Change in Ceylon, 1865–1885’, JRAS, GB & I, No. 2, (1969), pp. 135–9.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Return to Righteousness, ed. by Ananda, Guruge (Colombo: Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, 1965), pp. 501–44; also pp. lxvi–lxvii, lxxivff.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Roberts, , ‘Problems of Collective Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Society: Sectional Nationalism vs Ceylonese Nationalism, 1900–1940’, in CINP.Google Scholar

⁴² The S.L.F.P. also included elements from the C.N.C. ‘Rump’ of 1946–50 and several political notables who had left the United National Party previously for various reasons; while some former members of the L.S.S.P. (e.g. Somaweera Chandrasiri and W. Dahanayake) and of the Republican Party also moved in during the 1950s (see the introductory monograph in Roberts, (ed.), Documents, pp. clxii–clxvi and Figure 2; and Wriggins, Ceylon, passim).Google Scholar

⁴³ Kearney, , Communalism, Ch. 2Google Scholar and ‘Sinhalese Nationalism and Social Conflict in Ceylon’, Pacific Affairs, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2 (Summer 1964), pp. 125–36;Google ScholarFarmer, B. H., ‘The Social Basis of Nationalism in Ceylon’, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 (05 1965), pp. 431–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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⁴⁵ de Silva, K. M., ‘Nationalism and Its Impact’, in SL since Independence, pp. 67–8.Google Scholar Quite independently, James Jupp has made much the same point (‘Modernization and Pluralism: Ceylon and Malaysia’, in Leftwich, Adrian (ed.), South Africa—Economic Growth and Political Change (London: Allison and Busby, 1974), p. 200).Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Wriggins, W. Howard, ‘Impediments to Unity in New Nations: The Case of Ceylon’, American Political Science Review, Vol. 55, No. 2 (06 1961), p. 314, and his Ceylon, pp. 229–70, esp. 233–6, 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴⁷ Quoted in Kearney, Robert N., The Politics of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973), p. 164.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Quoted in Kodikara, ‘Communalism’, p. 103.

⁴⁹ Firm personal impressions, but something observed by others as well: see de Silva, C. R. and Samaraweera, Vijaya, ‘Leadership Perspectives, 1948–1975: An Interpretive Essay’, and Samaraweera, ‘The Role of the Bureaucracy’, both in SL Since Independence, pp. 29 and 39 respectively.Google Scholar For a summary of figures provided by some Tamil leaders, see Schwarz, Walter, The Tamils of Sri Lanka (London: Minority Rights Group, Report No. 25, 1976).Google Scholar

⁵⁰ SL Since Independence, pp. 25, 31–9, 47–8;Google ScholarKearney, , Politics of Ceylon, pp. 79–84.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam, Electoral Politics in an Emergent State (Cambridge University Press, 1975), provides a good analysis of the electoral framework.Google Scholar

⁵² de Silva, C. R., ‘Weightage in University Admissions: Standardisation and District Quotas in Sri Lanka’, Modern Ceylon Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (07 1974).Google Scholar

⁵³ Tribune, 7 May 1967.

⁵⁴ E.g. Cader, M. B. A., ‘Reforms, Reformers and Minorities: A Muhammadan View’, National Monthly of Ceylon, Vol. V, No. 4 (02 1918), pp. 70–2;Google Scholarde Silva, K. M., ‘The Formation and Character of the Ceylon National Congress 1917–1919’, Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, Vol. 10, Nos. 1 and 2 (1967), pp. 70–102,Google Scholar and his ‘CNC in Disarray’, Ibid., 1972.

⁵⁵ The mercantile sector in Sri Lanka and employment in U.N. agencies, African states, U.S.A., U.K. and elsewhere have provided alternatives, but it is doubtful whether they could have met the growing demand.

⁵⁶ Personal communication from Jane Russell, (who has just completed a Ph.D. dissertation at Peradeniya Campus on the history of Tamil politics before 1948 and has the benefit of recent field experience in the Jaffna Peninsula).Google Scholar

⁵⁷ The Case for a Federal Constitution for Ceylon: Resolutions passed at the First National Convention of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (Colombo, 1951).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ de Silva, K. M., ‘The Transfer of Power in Sri Lanka—A Review of British Perspectives’, in SL Since Independence, p. 13;Google ScholarArasaratnam, S., ‘Nationalism in Sri Lanka and the Tamils’, in CINP.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Wriggins, , ‘Problems of Communalism’, p. 139.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ Ibid., p 142.

⁶¹ Cook, M. A. reviewing Kedourie's book in the Journal of African History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1973), pp. 167–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶² These have been emphasized and illustrated in Kodikara, ‘Communalism’. Also see Ch. 4 in Wilson, Electoral Politics; Kearney, Politics of Ceylon.Google Scholar

⁶³ The latter figure is only an approximation and is from Kearney, Ibid., pp. 143–4.

⁶⁴ Yapp, M. E., ‘Language, Religion and Political Identity: A General Framework’, a seminar paper at the Centre of South Asian Studies, S.O.A.S., University of London, 19 May 1976.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ By Bennett, George (referred to and supported by B. H. Farmer, ‘Social Basis’, p. 433).Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Kohn, Hans, The Habsburg Empire, 1804–1918 (New Jersey: Van Nostrand & Co., 1961), p. 27.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ For brief comments on the abandonment of the district councils scheme by the U.N.P., Under internal and outside (the U.N.P.) pressure, see Wilson, , Electoral Politics, pp. 31–2, 36–9, and his essay in SL Since Independence, p. 47.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Arasaratnam, , ‘Nationalism in Sri Lanka and the Tamils’, in CINP.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ An article by the ‘Political Correspondent’ (Fernando, J. L.) in the Ceylon Daily News, 22 and 23 August 1940. G. C. S. Corea's reply was published on 24 August.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Ceylon Daily News, 23 August 1940: editorial entitled ‘Political Bargaining’.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Information conveyed by Jane Russell.

⁷² This is only too evident on reading Wilson, , Electoral Politics in an Emergent State.Google Scholar