Chanaka Bandarage

Sri Lankan Airlines in a 5-minute advertisement  is currently promoting ‘Ramayana Trail’ in India.

 This video has gone viral on India’s social media.

In the advertisement, a grandmother is seen narrating the Hindu epic to her grandson where she states that the Ramayana is real.

Even  the Archaeological Survey of India through an affidavit in the Indian Supreme Court stated that there is no historical and scientific evidence to establish the existence of Lord Ram or the other characters of the Ramayana. It denied that the Ram Sethu or Adams Bridge is a man-made structure.

But, Sri Lankan Airlines now seems saying all these are true.

In the video, the grandson questions the grandmother about the island where Sita was taken by Ravan after getting kidnapped; the grandmother replies that the kingdom of Ravan is today’s Sri Lanka

She states all the places in the Ramayana are real. Today we know Lanka as Sri Lanka,”

When the grandson asks Is the bridge still standing,”  she asserts “Yes, you can still see it today,”

This is the SethuSamudram (Ram Sethu) Bridge.

The grandmother utters that Ravana was a great worshiper of Lord Shiva.

Indian X users have been so delighted by the advertisement and now state they want to visit Sri Lanka to follow the Ravana Trail.

One commented Beautiful, Visited Ella and Sigiriya! Thanks Sri Lanka for keeping the spirit of Ramayana alive”.

Another user commenting about Sigiriya stated one can still feel the presence of Mighty Ravana in Lion’s Rock!”.  

Although some Hindus in India believe the story of the Ramayana, most people in this country do not believe it. Even majority of our Tamil bretheren did not believe Ravana  until recently. They believe in Gods like Shiva , Vishnu, Gana and Parvati.

But now in some Tamil temples Ravana is worshiped as a God.

Koneswaran temple site in Trincomalee is today dedicated to Lord Shiva. Many Dravidian Hindus flock to this place. A huge idol of King Ravana worshiping Lord Shiva, near the sea, is built there.

Koneswaran is also believed to be a Buddhist temple – built by King Mahasen (334 – 361 AD). Buddhists believe that the 3 pagodas seen in the temple today are the ruins of that temple.

History books show that the ancient Portuguese Commander General Asawedu demolished this temple and stole its valuables. Although the Portuguese did not damage the Bodhi there, that was destroyed during the 1958 Sinhala/Tamil riots that happened under SWRD Bandaranaike’s watch.   

In 1968, the Federal Party withdrew from the Dudley Senanayaka’s government over the ownership of the Koneswaran temple. This led to Dudley Senanayaka leading a very weak UNP government from 1968-1970.  Dudley Senanayaka was adamant that Koneswaran was also a Buddhist place of worship.

In 1958, the SWRD Bandaranaike government (provocatively) introduced the ‘Sri’ letter to vehicles. This upset Jaffna Tamils. For the first time, Tamil-Sinhala riots flared up across the country.

In these racist riots, Sinhalese in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa were subjected to torture. Many Sinhalese had to leave those areas and move to the South.  In the South, in Wellawatta and Dehiwala areas, innocent Tamils were  tortured.

It is true some Buddhists believe in Hindu Gods like Vishnu , Gana , and Shiva (due to the Up Country’s Nayakkar influence). But, they worship them believing to be local Gods, not Indian.

No Buddhists believe Ravana to be a God. This is the situation even today. Thanks to private television stations and YouTube channels, Sinhalese have started to accept Ravana as a king of ancient Sri Lanka.

This writer was told that a Sinhala program titled ‘Jeewamana Ravana’ or similar name is being aired in weekly segments even now by one Tamil dominated private TV channel. He is unsure of the veracity of this.

None of our ancient history books mention about a Ravana king. No archeological evidence has been found to support the presence of a Ravana kingdom being here about 4,500 years ago.

Of course, people lived here before Vijaya came. Balangoda Manawakaya was here 40,000 years ago.

According to Mahavansa, they were the Rakshas , Yakshas and Nagas. In general, we consider them as Hela.

Vijaya, the son of King Sinhabahu of the Laata country of Dambadiva’s Wanga Desh, mingled with the local Hela people and formed the Sinhalese nation (Sinha + Hela = Sinhalese). That was around 2,500 years ago .

Although some Sinhalese do not accept Mahavansa, India generally accepts it.

According to Mahavansa Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist state. The foundation for same was laid by the duo – King Devanam Piyathissa and Mihindu Maha Thero. During this time almost the entire country became Buddhist (except some Vaddhas).

If Ravana existed here, about 2,000 to 2,500 years before Vijaya’s arrival, he was a Hela.

There is no archaeological evidence here that such a person existed.

Ravana Ella , Ravana Cave , Sita Eliya , Sita Gangula are not names associated with Ramayana.

Ravana in Sinhala means ‘sound’ and Sita means ‘cold’.

In the Ravana Trail program (this includes areas such as Unawatuna (Rumassala) , Trincomalee , Chilaw, Sigiriya , Nagadeepa , Ella , Bandarawela/Nuvara Eliya, etc.), are we trying to heed the opinion of racists/separatists like Vigneswaran?

Dravidian separatists have been trying for some time to show that Sigiriya was the creation of a Dravidian king (Ravana) in Sri Lanka. This effort now has the blessing of Sri Lankan Airlines?

The Ravanaists have stated that  the claws of the Lion in Sigiriya are not the claws of a Lion but the claws of Ravana’s Guru. 

The world opinion about Ravana supports Tamil versions.

Websites/books like Wikipedia , BBC, Encyclopedia of Britannica, Oxford Encyclopedia – all state that Ravana was a staunch Hindu – meaning he was a Sri Lankan Tamil. International history books now say that the Chola king who invaded South India also treated him (Ravana) with respect.

World history books have established that Ravana was the best devotee/servant of Lord Shiva.

Because Ravana is accepted as a Tamil, they strongly imply that Hela people were Tamil. It is very difficult to break this international opinion now.

Between 1994 – 2015 our governments allowed our history to be distorted willy nilly,

If their opinion/argument is true, then Tamils are the original inhabitants of this country. This is why they say Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist country.

As stated earlier, we say that the Helas were not Dravidians, after mingling with Vijaya’s Sinha, they became Sinhalese.

Thus, Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country. Its foundation is not Dravidian, but Sinhala Buddhist.

Today, we are in the bottom of poverty. Does it mean we are ready to do anything for money?

It is important to bear in mind – a noble woman, no matter how poor she is, would not sacrifice her purity for money.

Sure, thousands of (mainly North and some South) Indians will flock here to traverse the newly created Ravana Path.

They are very welcome.

When they are here, they should be allowed to perform their religious rites/rituals.  

We will earn lots of foreign exchange as a result of their visits.

But, we cannot allow our accepted history to be changed/distorted.

Simply for money, we cannot betray our history/nation.

Rumors are now spreading that there are ruins of Ravana everywhere in this country. This is to show thousands of Indian tourists who will flock here.

After the war, ancient stone pillars of the Sinhalese kingdoms (such as those of Devanam Piyatissa) that are in the jungles of the Eastern Province were used to create new Hindu temples. Now they say that are ancient Hindu temples, that existed prior to the Sinhalese arrival.

Conclusion – Rama and Sita are very sacred Godly figures to many Indian Hindus. We must respect this.  They will come here in droves to explore the ‘Ravana Trail .’ Let them do whatever they wish.

The fact of the matter is that they are their religious beliefs, not ours.

Merely to facilitate them, we cannot ‘move our goal posts’ (ie, change/distort our history).

For example – we all know Sigiriya was built by King Kashyapa and not Ravana.

We cannot relate different histories to different nationalities. Eg. one history to Indians and another to the British.

Also, our children should always be taught the true history. There is the fear that they may  pick up the history that we are currently ‘inventing’. This is very dangerous.

This writer has in previous articles pointed out that our school history text books are full of lies and fabrications.

For us – Rama , Sita , Ravana are fictional characters that come in the Ramayana Chapter of the Great Chronicle – Mahabharata; authored by Valmiki. Let us preserve this status quo. the other characters of the Ramayana