Dharmapala constructed Sinhalese identity through racialized Aryan claims against colonial others.

Evidence

Dharmapala claimed that the Sinhalese, who were “the sweet, tender, gentle Aryan children of an ancient, historic race … [were now being] sacrificed at the altar of the whiskey-drinking, beef-eating, belly-god of heathenism” … He blamed the British for giving “the Aryan Sinhalese poisons of opium and alcohol which are destructive for the continuance of the Sinhalese race” … He argued that Buddhism was the only reason “the Sinhalese have not met with the fate of the Tasmanian, the African savage, or the North American Indian” (Ibid. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 112

Categorization

• QUESTION: Dharmapala imports European racial-Aryan theory into Sinhalese identity — evidence that the very category of ‘Aryan Sinhalese’ is colonial-manufactured, not primordial.
• XREF: Parallels European racial science being adopted by colonized nationalists (compare Brahminical/Aryan race theories in India) — an echo of the reader’s finding that external threats are rhetorically manufactured. — connects to: Sinhalese Buddhist hostility to minorities was a reactive response to colonial marginalization. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 111; Dharmapala’s racist rhetoric seeded later manufactured ethnocentric nationalism leading to civil war — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 116; Dharmapala’s anti-colonial rhetoric was later manipulated to justify civil war. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 116 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Dharmapala’s racist rhetoric seeded later manufactured ethnocentric nationalism leading to civil war #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 116
• Dharmapala’s anti-colonial rhetoric was later manipulated to justify civil war. #expands (0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 116
• Sinhalese Buddhist hostility to minorities was a reactive response to colonial marginalization. #qualifies (0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 111
• Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism #expands (0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 193
• Sinhalese Buddhist identity is constructed through mythic history rather than primordial descent. #expands (0.75)
• Periyar and Phule inverted Aryan racial theory to oppose Brahmins as foreigners. #complicates (0.75) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1069
• The racist creates the inferiority of the colonized. #expands (0.72)
• Sinhalese Buddhist identity was imagined long before modern nationalists weaponized it #complicates (0.70) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 85