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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Robert N. Kearney
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Abstract

Few events have made a more profound impact on political developments in modern Ceylon than an outbreak of riots between Buddhists and Muslims in 1915 and the reaction of British colonial officials to the disorders. The Ceylonese view was that the authorities responded with unjustifiably harsh repression and executed or imprisoned persons who had no responsibility for the outbreak. To many ceylonese, the government's actions illustrated a basic failing of colonial rule and starkly demonstrated the need for self-government. The handling of the riots galvanized nationalist sentiment and led to the appearance of an organized national independence movement. Although few constitutional changes had occurred in the preceding eighty years, progress came rapidly after 1915, culminating in independence thirty-three years later. The three articles in this symposium constitute a major examination and reassessment of the 1915 riots and their causes and consequences.

Type
The 1915 Riots in Ceylon: A Symposium
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , February 1970 , pp. 219 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1970

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References

1 Joint Committee of the Ceylon National Association and the Ceylon Reform League, “Case for Constitutional Reform in Ceylon,” in Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D. (ed.), The Hand-Book of the Ceylon National Congress, 1919–1928 (Colombo: H. W. Cave & Co., 1928), p. 167.Google Scholar

2 Vijayavardhana, D. C., The Revolt in the Temple (Colombo: Sinha Publications, 1953), p. 127.Google Scholar

3 Goonesinha, A. E., “My Life and Labour,” chap. 4, Ceylon Observer, 07 25, 1965, p. 5.Google Scholar

4 The “Europeans” were essentially the resident British population. The Burghers consisted of persons of Portuguese, Dutch, or more frequently, Portuguese or Dutch and Ceylonese extraction. The representative of the “educated Ceylonese” was elected on a very narrow franchise consisting of the other inhabitants of the island—Sinhalese, Tamils, and Moors—who had passed the Cambridge Junior Certificate examination or owned property worth Rs. 30,000.

5 Ramanathan, P., Riots and Martial Law in Ceylon, 1915 (London: St. Martin's Press, 1916), p. 58.Google Scholar

6 Great Britain, Colonial Office, Ceylon: Report of the Special Commission on the Constitution, Cmd. 3131 (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1928), p. 149.Google Scholar