Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism is reactive, not primordial

Evidence

Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, as we currently know it, is consequently a reactive phenomenon. Notwithstanding the ethnocentric twist foisted by the Duthagamani account in the Mahavamsa, Sri Lanka’s Buddhists had coexisted with their Hindu counterparts for centuries. Buddhists likewise were tolerant of Christian missionaries during the early colonizing era and went so far as to host proselytizers and provide venues for them to preach the gospel. Such hospitality did not elicit gratitude from the foreign Christian proselytizers; instead, they characterized the monks as careless, indifferent, illiterate, and imbeciles. When the monks retaliated, they evidenced that they could beat the missionaries at their own game. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 105

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks directly to the reader’s framework of manufactured vs. primordial identity — a nationalism presented as ancient is here shown as a constructed response to Christian missionary provocation. — connects to: Sinhalese-Tamil enmity is legitimized by myth rather than primordial fact — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 78; Sinhalese Buddhist identity was antiquarian but its modern nationalist ideology is reinterpreted and manipulated — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 85; Modern challenges to the sangha, not primordial identity, explain monks’ political engagement. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 94 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 193
• Sinhalese nationalist violence against Christians is opportunistic rather than primordial #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 245
• Nationalism’s borrowings from religion do not make religion its source #corroborates (0.85) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 946