Sinhalese Buddhist state-church symbiosis historically trumped ethnic identity of rulers

Evidence

Buddhism, as traditionally practiced, was dependent on largesse from the state or lay persons to survive. … In Sri Lanka too an interdependent relationship took hold between the Buddhist clergy and those governing the state: the sangha supported and thereby provided legitimacy to rulers, and the rulers promoted Buddhist doctrine by providing steady subvention to the sangha. … Indeed, a number of kings in the Kandyan Kingdom, one of the most important Buddhist sites both past and present, were Tamils from India who adopted Buddhism in order to rule effectively. It is clear that they succeeded, because the sangha cared more about these kings providing subventions and protecting Buddhist assets than their ethnicity. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 100

Categorization

• XREF: Undercuts any primordialist reading of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism by showing Tamil rulers of the Kandyan Kingdom were embraced by the sangha over ethnicity. — connects to: Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 193
• QUESTION: When exactly did ethnicity come to outweigh the sangha’s practical tolerance of Tamil rulers, and was it colonial-era invention?

Broader Connections

• Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism #expands (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 193