SRI LANKA > SOCIAL CONDITIONS

Principal Cities

The largest city of Sri Lanka is Colombo, a seaport on the western coast that serves as the country’s commercial capital. About 1.5 million people live in the Colombo municipal area, which includes several contiguous towns and the urban district of Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. The country’s administrative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura (Kotte), is located on the outskirts of Colombo.

Other important urban areas include Kandy, the capital of a Sinhalese kingdom until it was annexed by the British in 1815; the seaport of Jaffna, on the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka; the seaport of Trincomalee, on the eastern coast; and the seaport of Galle, on the southwestern coast. Jaffna was the country’s second largest city until an ethnic-based civil war erupted in northern Sri Lanka in 1983. The city subsequently lost a significant portion of its population as people fled to escape the violence.

Ethnic Groups

The principal ethnic groups in Sri Lanka are the Sinhalese, who form the majority, and the Tamils, who form the largest minority. These two groups tend to be concentrated in different areas of the country, depending on where they settled historically. Their different languages and religions are additional sources of isolation and ethnic tensions, which have existed for centuries. In 1983 these ethnic tensions escalated into a civil war between the Sinhalese-dominated government and Tamil separatists, who demanded that the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka be made an independent Tamil nation.

The Sinhalese constitute more than 70 percent of the population. They form an even greater majority in southwestern Sri Lanka, where their population is concentrated. They are descended from people who began to migrate to the island from northern India about 500 bc. They speak a distinct language, Sinhala, and traditionally practice Buddhism.

Tamils made up about 18 percent of the population at the 1991 census. Their proportion of the population has since declined, mostly as a result of immigration to India. Tamils speak a language called Tamil. They traditionally practice Hinduism, although a small percentage are Christians. Tamils originally immigrated to Sri Lanka from southern India. Those known as Sri Lankan Tamils trace their origins to ancient migrations, whereas the so-called Indian Tamils came as migrant workers during the 19th century.

Muslims are considered both an ethnic and religious group in Sri Lanka. They constitute about 8 percent of the population. The great majority are descendants of Arab traders known as Moors who settled in coastal areas from the 700s to the 1400s. They speak a modified version of Tamil that includes many Arabic words. Malayan peoples, whose ancestors came from what is now Indonesia in the 1600s, constitute a small proportion of Sri Lanka’s Muslim population.

Other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka include Burghers, a term used in Sri Lanka for people of mostly European (Dutch and Portuguese) descent, and the indigenous people of the island, commonly known as Veddas. Together, these two groups account for less than 1 percent of the population.

Languages

Sinhala and Tamil are the official languages of Sri Lanka. Sinhala, also known as Sinhalese, is an Indo-Aryan language that originated from a mixture of Sanskrit dialects. Tamil is a Dravidian language that originated in southern India. A modified version of Tamil is spoken in some Muslim communities. English, the official language from 1833 to 1958, continues to be widely used and serves as the “link� language between Sinhala and Tamil. In 1958 a law was passed to make Sinhala the only official language, thereby requiring its use in all government matters. Tamils strongly objected to the law on the grounds that it excluded them from fully participating in civil service. The 1978 constitution made Tamil a national language, while Sinhala remained the higher-status official language. A constitutional amendment in 1987 elevated the status of Tamil to an official language.

Religion

Buddhism and Hinduism were introduced from India as early as the 3rd century bc. The Sinhalese established Buddhism as the official religion of their kingdoms in Sri Lanka. The Tamils were already Hindus by the time they migrated to the island in significant numbers.

The long coexistence of Buddhism and Hinduism led to some fusion of religious elements. One of the most distinctive traits of religion in Sri Lanka is that Buddhists and Hindus share a common devotion to many of the same sacred sites and entities. All of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist temples, for example, have sections for Hindu deities.

Buddhism is the predominant religion in Sri Lanka. Its adherents, who are mostly Sinhalese, make up about 70 percent of the population. Buddhists in Sri Lanka follow the Theravada tradition, in which the Buddha is revered but not worshiped as a god (in contrast to the Mahayana tradition).

The proportion of Hindus in Sri Lanka declined from about 15 percent in 1980 to about 11 percent in 2000, due to the immigration of many Tamils to India. Muslims and Christians each constitute about 8 percent of the population. During the colonial period, Europeans introduced various Christian denominations, with Roman Catholicism winning the most conversions.

Education

Schooling is compulsory for children from 5 to 13 years of age. Education is state funded and offered free of charge at all levels, including the university level. The government also provides free textbooks to schoolchildren. Literacy rates and educational attainment levels rose steadily after Sri Lanka became an independent nation in 1948. The government gave high priority to improving the national education system and access to education. The adult literacy rate now stands at 92 percent. The language of instruction is either Sinhala or Tamil. English is taught as a second language.

Sri Lanka has 13 universities, all of which are public institutions. The largest universities are the University of Colombo (founded in 1921; renamed in 1979), in Colombo; the University of Peradeniya (1942), in Peradeniya, a suburb of Kandy; and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (1958; renamed in 1978) in Sri Jayewardenepura, just outside Colombo. Other institutions of higher education include medical schools, engineering schools, schools of law, and technical and vocational training schools.

Way of Life

Sri Lankans of all ethnic groups and religions are intensely family oriented. Although the nuclear family forms most households, close family ties are maintained with extended family members. Large family reunions are held during traditional festivities such as the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year, which is celebrated in April according to the astrological calendar.

In both Sinhalese and Tamil communities, caste determines social position. Castes are hereditary social groups that define an individual’s unchangeable position in society. Members of different castes do not intermarry. The traditional practice of arranged marriages is still common in Sri Lanka, although individual choice of marriage partner has gained some acceptance.

The status of women has greatly improved in Sri Lanka since 1948, mostly as a result of improved access to education and the resulting increase in female literacy. Today, women are employed in a variety of professions and jobs. Household chores and childcare are considered primarily a woman’s responsibility.

Both traditional and Western styles of dress are common in Sri Lanka. Traditional clothing for both men and women includes long wrap-around cloths that form garments for the lower body. Women’s garments are called sari and redda, and men’s are called sarama or sarong. The redda is often worn with a traditional jacket called hatte, and the sarama is worn with a collarless tunic-style shirt.

The most common food in Sri Lanka is rice mixed with a variety of spicy meat, fish, and vegetarian curries. Rice flour is used to make many other dietary staples, including appa (a crisp crepe), string hoppers (steamed noodles), pittu (a steamed mixture of flour and grated coconut), and a variety of pastries and cakes. Curd (yogurt made from buffalo’s milk) is eaten any time of day, often sweetened with honey or palm syrup. Fruit is commonly served at the end of a meal.

The most popular sport in Sri Lanka is cricket, a legacy of British colonial rule. Cricket is played in both rural and urban areas and by all ethnic groups. The Sri Lankan cricket team is highly ranked internationally.

From: Encartar