The newly appointed ruler, however, was
sucked into the power struggle between the Nayak of Tanjore and the Portuguese. In 1620,
the last ruler of Jaffna, Sankilian II, was captured and in the following years Jaffna
became part of Portugal's Overseas Empire.
As a result of this annexation, Portuguese
became supreme in the Palk Strait and were able to control the lucrative trade off the
pearl fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar. Jaffna Patnam (as they called it) was maintained as
a separate entity from their other maritime possessions. Though the Portuguese followed
the traditional system of administration, they heaped periodically tax burdens upon the
people to the extent that these were "reduced to the almost misery."
In sharp contrast to the number of forts in
the South, they built only one in Jaffna town and another one at Kayts. This lack of
enthusiasm to strengthen their position militarily may be due to their conviction that the
people of Jaffna were "weak", "quiet and mild" and not prone to
rebellion without outside help.
The main contribution of Portuguese rule in
Jaffna was the introduction of Roman Catholicism. Such a firm foundation of Catholicism
was laid that the Church became, and still continues to be, a powerful, influential and
healthy force in the life of the Tamils of the Peninsula.
Regrettably the Portuguese wantonly destroyed
quite a number of Hindu temples and introduced many other measures against the Hindus.
In 1658 Mannar was captured by the Dutch.
From there, they marched through the jungle lands of the Vanni and crossed over to the
Peninsula at Poonakari. The Portuguese were trapped in the Jaffna fort and surrendered on
24 June.
The new rulers took interest in developing
the resources of the land. Self-sufficiency in food was their prime aim. They got down
thousands of slaves to work in the fields. While repairing the Kaddukkarai tank, renamed
Giant's tank because of its size, in the Mantote area outside the Peninsula, they
encouraged the people of Jaffna to settle in poonakari as cultivators.
Numerous wells were repaired in the Peninsula
and the dwindling number of cattle was replaced by importing some from India.
Many industries such as weaving and
rope-making were greatly encouraged.
A colony of Andhra weavers was brought from
India and settled a Jaffna.
A land register called tombo
was started. The system of land tenure was fixed.
The customary laws of Jaffna called Tesavalami was codified and promulgated. Tamil Mudaliyars were appointed over the four divisions of the
Peninsula. The famous Dutch Fort in Jaffna, which has become newsworthy in the last few
years, was built.
They were very harsh towards Roman Catholics
and used all means at their disposal to suppress the Catholic Church.
An interesting memorial of their rule is the
Dutch names for the islands lying off the Peninsula. Karaitivu became Amnsterdam;
Anailaitivu, Rotterdam; Nainativu, Harlem; Pungudutivu, Middleburgh; Neduntivu, Delft: and
Velanai, Leyden. Another souvenir of their occupation of Jaffna may lie in the name of a
cemetery "studded with the most expensive and extravagant old monuments" called
Jaffna in Delft, Holland. The "best of Aristocrats" are buried in that cemetery.
It is important to note that, following the
practice of the Portuguese; the Dutch too administered Jaffna as a separate entity without
amalgamating it with their two Sinhalese possessions.
The Dutch Fort was the first to fall to the
British in 1796. The Dutch ceded all their possessions in Sri Lanka to the British in 1802
by the Treaty of Amiens. It is to be remembered, however, that even earlier contacts
between the Kandyan King and the English in Madras had taken place by way of Jaffna.
The British maintained the separate identity
of the Tamil area until 1833. In that year, the British unified the Tamil regions with the
Sinhalese areas for the purpose of administration, spelling an end to the "autonomous
existence" of the Tamil regions and forming a "single political authority the
government of Ceylon"
It is a valid assertion that "throughout
the British colonial period, the Sinhalese and the Tamil people remained equal in their
subordination to the British raj."
The advent of the British ushered in an era
of modernization for Sri Lanka. Free education was introduced and those who benefited most
from this were the people of Jaffna. Young men were able to enter the civil, clerical and
professional services in large numbers. In 1948, when the country was granted
independence, the Tamils, mostly from the North, occupied roughly thirty percent of all
posts available in government services. At the University of Ceylon, too, more than one
fourth ofI the places was occupied by the Tamils.
