Sri Lanka’s founding myth actually makes Tamils cofounders of the nation

Evidence

Vijaya is said to marry a demoness called Kuveni, with whom he has a son and a daughter. Vijaya thereafter drives away Kuveni and the children into the forest, however, and their progeny are said to be today’s Veddas (Sri Lankan aborigines). Vijaya then marries a princess from Madurai in South India, but what the Vijaya myth today does not emphasize is that this marriage makes the Tamils “not only kinfolk but also cofounders of the nation” (Obeyesekere 2006: 139). — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 73

Categorization

• SEED: Excellent essay angle: the parts of an origin myth that modern nationalists conveniently de-emphasize — how every exclusionary nationalism contains its own suppressed counter-narrative of kinship.
• XREF: Speaks directly to the reader’s manufactured-enmity question: the enmity is not primordial since the founding text itself records intermarriage with Hindu Tamils. — connects to: Sinhalese-Tamil enmity is legitimized by myth rather than primordial fact — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 78; Nation-state formation generates founding myths that legitimate ruling-class orders; Nation-states fabricate founding myths to legitimate class rule — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 872 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Sinhalese-Tamil enmity is legitimized by myth rather than primordial fact #expands (0.95) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 78
• Sri Lankan ethnic claims rest on manufactured mytho-history, not primordial identity. #corroborates (0.85) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 718
• Nation-state formation generates founding myths that legitimate ruling-class orders #exemplifies (0.80)
• Nation-states fabricate founding myths to legitimate class rule #exemplifies (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 872
• Founding myths substitute fabricated narrative for genuine history to serve ruling classes #exemplifies (0.80)