The Sri Lankan Rebellion

The Mahavamsa told the story of the establishment of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Buddha's choice of the Singhalese as his "chosen people." According to the legends in the book, Buddha said that the faith would die off in India and yet be preserved by the Singhalese. Invading Tamils from India later took examine of the country and "allowed Buddhist institutions to whither." This led to a rebellion by a Sinhalese Buddhist prince named Duttugemunu who said, "not for glory, but for the devotion do I wage this battle."

In 1956, after Sri Lanka got its liberty from the British, an ambitious Tamil politician named Solomon Bandaranaike used the Mahavamsa to stir up nationalist feeling among the Sinhalese. Although he never really believed in the idea, "the tide of nationalism got away from him.

" Bandarana

McGowan says that the Mahavamsa myth is so powerful among the nationalists that, like the monks who assassinated Bandaranaike, the ultranationalist Sinhalese People's Liberation Front (JVP) "almost brought d witness the government" for signing a pact with India that allowed India to send quietnesskeeping forces into Sri Lanka to control the fighting. The JVP was so strongly nationalist that it would not even support Sinhalese politicians who wanted any kind of peace with the Tamils. When the Sri Lankan president, Premadasa, could not come the support of JVP rebels without establishing "a radical nationalist order," Premadasa turned on them and even went "so far as to employ end squads" who killed as many as 30,000 Sinhalese before Premadasa's own party was destroyed in 1990. Premadasa had tried to establish peace between the two sides but, McGowan says, it was probably the Tamils who killed him,
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