Top Highlights

• The Sinhalese were a chosen people, and the defence of their language was a matter of faith. To S. W. R.
• The first draft of the new law, in 1956, prompted a Sinhalese hunger strike, and a toughened-up version brought the Tamils out in revolt.
• S. W. R. D., who’d converted from Anglicanism to Buddhism, would be killed by a Buddhist who, afterwards, would convert to Christianity.
• Even to the most obstinate of Chauvinists, it’s a Kristallnacht. Beginning in Borella, the thuggery spread out across the island, destroying over eighteen thousand Tamil properties, including cinemas and factories.
• Then there were others who headed north, to Jaffna, seeking safety in numbers. Some would join the separatists, looking for guns and a chance of revenge.