Casteism and Anti-Caste Struggles in Sri Lanka
About this audiobook
This seminal research compendium and historical analysis provides a rigorous materialist examination of the caste system, institutional untouchability, and feudal oppression within Sri Lankan Tamil society. Tracing the historical evolution of caste from ancient tribal formations and imperial Chola rule to British colonialism and the post-independence era, the authors expose how landed Vellalar elites weaponized caste and religion to maintain class exploitation and unfree agrarian labor.
Crucially, the volume documents the militant history of subaltern resistance—from early twentieth-century educational and labor campaigns to the historic October 21, 1966 Chunnakam March and subsequent mass upsurges led by Marxist-Leninists and revolutionary direct producers. Essential reading for historians, researchers, and social activists, Casteism and Anti-Caste Struggles in Sri Lanka serves as an indispensable guide for understanding the material roots of social oppression and charting the path toward genuine human emancipation.
Methodology & Archival Trajectory of the Groundbreaking Text:In recording this history in the seminal work Ilangaiyil Saathiyamum Atharkethiraana Poraattangalum (Casteism and Anti-Caste Struggles in Sri Lanka, co-authored under the pen names Vegujanan – Comrade S.K. Senthivel and Ravana – Nadesan Raveendran), an active editorial and research collective was formed to systematically gather primary data. Moving beyond official archives, the team conducted extensive oral history interviews with hundreds of grassroots elders, village activists, and direct producers across northern Sri Lanka. First published in March 1989 (dedicated to Comrade S.T.N. Nagaratnam) and later reissued in an expanded second edition in 2007 by South Vision Books (India) with a foreword by Prof. S. Sivasegaram, this pioneering work ensured that the vital contributions of independent fighters and non-party activists who struggled outside formal party structures were faithfully documented and permanently enshrined in history alongside the vanguard.
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About the author
Comrade S. K. Senthivel (Pseudonym: Vegujanan): General Secretary of the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party (NDMLP) and one of the pivotal frontline youth leaders who physically led the historic October 21, 1966 Chunnakam March. A working-class agricultural organizer, journalist, and author of numerous historical and analytical texts on agrarian struggles and the national question in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Nadesan Raveendran (Pseudonym: Ravana): Prominent Marxist-Leninist cultural theorist, literary critic, and political essayist. He holds a doctorate from the University of Madras specializing in Thirukkural, Marxist literary criticism, cultural sociology, and modern Tamil fiction, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly student magazine Sirupori.
Professor S. Sivasegaram: Distinguished Engineering academic, physicist, and Marxist-Leninist intellectual who authored the comprehensive foreword contextualizing the
Professor S. Thillainathan: Renowned Tamil scholar and literary critic whose published review and critical evaluation of the volume are included as an appendix.
M. Balaji: Chief Editor of South Vision Books, Chennai, India, publisher and advocate for documenting historical people's struggles across South Asia.
