Tamils mark Shivaratri at base of hill seized by SL Archaeology Department in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2019, 19:42 GMT]
The uprooted families of the ancient Tamil village of Thennai-maravadi in the northern Trincomalee marked a Pongkal feast on Monday at the base of Kanthasaami-malai. The ritual was staged in objection to the Archaeology Department of the unitary state genocidal Sri Lanka, which was refusing to allow the people to access the temple of their folk-deity, Murukan, at the top of the hill where they used to observe Shivaratri in the past. The move comes amidst tension prevailing at Thirukkoa'nesvaram temple in Trincomalee where the SL Archaeology Department and Sinhala colonisers have desecrated the statue of Sivalingam, which was put up along the pathway to the temple on the occasion of Shivaratri festival. Colombo is trying to convert the hilltop of Kanthasaami-malai into a Buddhist temple, the uprooted Tamils said.



Thennai-maravadi was the first Tamil village wholly displaced in the Trincomalee district following the SL state-sponsored Black July pogroms in 1983.

More than two hundred Tamil families were living in the village before they were uprooted.

The Sinhala home-guards (paramilitary) from the nearby village of “Sinhapura” (meaning the town of the Lion) were attacking the Tamil villagers in the early 1980s.

Five Tamil villagers were shot and killed by SL army soldiers and the Sinhala paramilitary on 01 December 1984. The Tamil residents fled into the jungles to save their lives. When they returned to their homes, the occupying Sinhala soldiers rounded them up and opened fire. At least thirteen Tamil villagers were shot and killed.

Since 1984, the village has been the scene of intense colonisation activity.

Several new Sinhala settlements, Padavi Siripura, Sri Tissapura, Samanpura, Gemunupura and Sinhapura, were established in the public lands in the north of Trincomalee district located close to Thennai-maravadi village thus making the Tamil population a minority in the area.

After 2009, Sinhala extremist monks have been influencing SL Archaeology Department to seize and convert all the hilltops in Trincomalee to install Buddha statues, temples and viharas everywhere.



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