Formerly Known as Ceylon, island republic in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of India, is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Sri-lanka is separated from India by the Polk-Strait and Gulf of Mannar. Lying between the two nations is a chain of tiny islands known as Adam’s Bridge. Sri lanka is somewhat mango-shaped, with its apex in the north. The greatest length from north to south is about 440 km (about 273 mi); the greatest width is about 220 km (about 137 mi). The total area of Sri Lanka is 65,610 sq km (25,332 sq miles). The administrative capital of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardhanapura (Kaotte); and Colombo is the largest city.

According to Hindu legend Ramachandra conquered the greater part of Sri Lanka in prehistoric time, the seventh incarnation of the supreme deity Vishnu. The written history of the country begins with the chronicle known as the Mahavamsa. This work was started in the 6^th century AD and provides a virtually unbroken narrative up to 1815. The Mahavamsa was compiled by a succession of Buddhist monks. Because it often aims to glorify or to degrade certain periods or reigns, it is not a wholly reliable source despite its wealth of historical material.

The Mahavamsa relates that Vijaya, a Hindu prince from northeast India, conquered the island in 504 BC. After subjugating the aboriginal inhabitants, a people now known as Vedas, Vijaya married a native princess, encouraged emigration from the mainland, and made himself ruler of the entire island. However, the realm (called Sinhala after Vijaya’s patrimonial name) that was inherited by his successors consisted of the arid region lying to the north of the south-central mountain system.

Members of the dynasty founded by Vijaya reigned over Sinhala for several centuries. During this period, and particularly after the adoption in the 3^rd century BC of Buddhism as the national religion, the Singhalese created a highly developed civilization. Extant evidence of their engineering skill and architectural achievements includes remnants of vast irrigation projects, many ruined cities, notably the ancient capital Anuradhapura, and numerous ruined shrines called dagobas.

The Cholas were a Tamil-speaking people of south India, founders of a dynasty that dominated the area from the 10^th to the 13^th century. The Chola Kingdom, in what is now Tamil Nadu State, probably existed as early as the 1^st century AD, but its prominence dates from the mid-9^th century, when it began conquering neighbouring territories. Rajendra I (reigned 1016-44), the greatest of the Chola kings, ruled Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Sri Lanka. He campaigned as far north as the Ganges River and sent naval expeditions to Burma and Malay Peninsula. Kulottunga I (reigned 1070-1122) united the Chola domains with those of the Eastern Chalukyas in Andhra Pradesh, forming the Chalukya-Chola dynasty. It declined after 1200, finally dying out in 1279.

From the late 3^rd century AD to the middle of the 12^th century, Sinhala (Ceylon) was dominated by Tamil kings and by a succession of invaders from southern India. Native princes regained power briefly in the late 12^th century and again in the 13^th century. From 1408 to 1438 Chinese forces occupied the island of Sinhala, which had been partitioned into a number of petty kingdoms.

Tamil speakers make up the majority of the population of Tamil Nadu state and inhabit parts of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh states, all situated in the southernmost third of India. Emigrant Tamil may be found in some parts of the Malagasy Republic, the Malay Peninsula, Myanmar (Burma), Indochina, Thailand, Eastern Africa, South Africa, the Fiji and Mauritius islands, and the West Indies.

The Tamil area in India is a centre of traditional Hinduism. Tamil schools of personal religious devotion (bhakthi) have long been important in Hinduism, being enshrined in a literature dating back to the 6^th century AD. Buddhism and Jainism were widespread among the Tamil in the early Christian era, and these religions` literatures predate the early bhakthi literature in the Tamil area. Although the present-day Tamil are mostly Hindus, there are Christians, Muslims, and Jains among them. In the recent past, the Tamil area was also the home of the Dravidian movement that calls for the de-sanskritization and de-brahmanization of Tamil culture, language, and literature.

The Tamil have a long history of achievement; sea travel, city life, and commerce seem to have developed early among them. Tamil trade with the ancient Greeks and Romans is verified by literary, linguistic, and archaeological evidence. The Tamil have the oldest cultivated Dravidian language, and their rich literary tradition extends back to the early Christian era.

The Chera, Chola, Pandya, and Pallava dynasties ruled over the Tamil area before the Vijayanagar Empire extended its hegemony in the 14^th century, and these earlier dynasties produced many great kingdoms. Under them the Tamil people built great temples, irrigation tanks, dams, and roads, and they played an important role in the transmission of Indian culture to Southeast Asia.

The Chola, for example, were known for their naval power and brought the Malay kingdom of Sri Vijaya under their suzerainty in AD 1025. Though the Tamil area was integrated culturally with the rest of India for a long time, politically it was for most of the time a separate entity until the advent of British rule in India.

The Tamil in Sri Lanka today are of various groups and castes, and belong mostly to the Hindu religion. The Ceylon Tamil, constituting approximately half of them, are concentrated in the northern part of the island. They are relatively well educated, and many of them hold clerical and professional positions. The British brought the so-called Indian Tamil of Sri lanka there in the 19^th and 20^th centuries as workers on the tea estates, and the other ethnic groups have regarded them as foreigners. The Ceylon and Indian Tamil are organized under different caste systems and have little social intercourse with each other.

Ethnic, religious, and linguistic distinctions in Sri Lanka are essentially the same. Three ethnic groups-Singhalese, Tamil, and Muslim-make up more 99 percent of the country’s population, with Singhalese alone accounting for nearly three-fourths of the people. Tamil segment comprises two groups, Sri Lankan Tamils (long-settled descendants from south-eastern India) and Indian Tamils (recent immigrants from south-eastern India, most of whom were migrant workers brought to Sri lanka under British rule). Slightly more than one-eighth of the total population belongs to the former group. (Immigrants from western India), and Vedas (regarded as the aboriginal inhabitants of the country) total less than 1 percent of the population.

The Singhalese constitute the majority in the southern, western, central, and north-central parts of the country. In the rural areas of the Wet Zone lowlands, they account for more than 95 percent of the population. The foremost concentration of the Sri Lanka Tamils lies in Jaffna Peninsula and in the adjacent districts of the northern lowlands. Smaller agglomerations of this group are also found along the eastern littoral where their settlements are juxtaposed with those of the Muslims.

The Indian Tamils, the vast majority of whom are plantation workers, live in large numbers in the higher areas of the Central Highlands. While the mother tongue of the Singhalese is Sinhala-an Indo-Aryan language-the Tamils speak the Dravidian language Tamil.

Jaffna, in the North of the Island has always been the region of Tamil majority and used to be the capital of the ancient Tamil kingdoms. The social organization, which evolved in this peninsular, is very much akin to the Tamil districts of South India. The landowning cultivators, or Vellala, were the pivot of the social structure and also the holders of political and economic power. A number of lesser castes stood in varying degrees of service relationship to the Vellala. Hindu institutions were supported by the king and the people and were strengthened by the influx of Brahmans. Brahmanic temples sprang up in many parts of Jaffna and rituals and public worship were regularly held. The Tamil language struck firm roots in the island and became one of its indigenous languages. Tamil literary culture was fostered by the support of the Jaffna kings and was enriched by the constant contact with South India, yet it developed an individuality in idiom and speech and acquired some linguistic characteristics that distinguished it from its South Indian parent.

The influence of Hinduism has given rise to many famous temples such as, Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar, Koneswaram in Trincomalee, and Munneswaram in Chilaw. Hindu’s celebrate Thai Pongal, Maha Sivarathri, Deepawali, and Hindu New Year, as special festive occasions. Fridays are venerated as special holy days and they attend special services at the Temples. Customs of marriage and other social events differ amongst the Tamils based on whether they are Hindus or converted Christians.

The Tamil have contributed to the welfare of the country from time immemorial and many famous Tamil scholars, professionals, and businessmen, have been involved in the struggle for freedom from the Colonial powers. Many Tamils have also held esteemed office in the legislative assembly and other high political altars; both under foreign colonial rule and even after the granting of independence.