Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

09 May  2019

The Kerala Kochikade Spice Trade Genes

One of my readers demonstrated appreciation for my work by responding to my yesterday’s article as follows:

[You said that Kerala is very similar in culture of northern Sri Lanka. In Sotheren Sri Lanka near Galle we have a similar type of culture I.e. in food appam idiappam  - in attire of women jacket and cloth- we call it cheetta on sinhala.]

I responded as follows: ‘This means that Southerners also have their roots in Malabar coast. I read about migration to Ceylon from Malabar coast to Sri Lanka, in a book – I think the title was ‘Revolt in the temple’. It confirms also the commonness in our caste systems  which came through these migrants.’

Another – a Tamil also demonstrated value and affection as follows:

[Hi Gaja.most of your article are too long and confusing the reader. Try to stick to the topic when  you write. Here I suppose that you want to tell the reader that your views on the recent events from 21st April but more on Tamils being used as  scapegoat. Yes the government is not in unison.  President has been told of the imminent threat from ISIS yet he did not want the  PM to know. He had gone to India for worship at Vishnu temple. The "emergency" is  a response  to subjugate Tamils. The JVP leader in the house had pointed his finger at the president and PM also at Rajapakses brothers. It seems that  the logical conclusion would  be that they(Sinhala politicians) are still using LTTE as a means to continue with their political agenda/ambitions to win more seats and get power. Present Government sources have no intention to solve the Tamils have series of problems to date, since the independence and or to solve the current promises. This event has given the government a good excuse to avoid taking the blame on them selves that they have been too soft on Tamils. 
Sorry for imposing my own thinking. Hope you understand the dilemma of your readers. I frequently get confused reading your articles and stop reading them. Since I was interested in the present event I kept on reading to get your views on this matter. Thanks again for tolerating my comments.]

I responded as follows to the Tamil brother [Mine tend to be philosophical and hence can be difficult for others of different mindset to appreciate. As I keep stating – we would interpret what happened as per our investments and the levels at which we invest. Since I am currently working with the folks in Jaffna – those of you who left Jaffna and have not continued  your experiences at that level would not  directly connect to what I am saying. Try becoming Sri Lankan Tamil in your mind and then you will better appreciate the common connections that I am highlighting. I have highlighted below in red – the common family example. On that basis I ask you whether LTTE is junior or senior or friend to you? ]

Both feedbacks are of value to me. Former is at common level Sri Lankan and the latter is as Common Tamil opposing Sinhala politicians.

I include family experiences so that all in my circle would be covered. I believe that when I write with faith – all those of common faith would be empowered even if they do not read my work. The family example for today’s article is about how much of our birth family happenings we are entitled to include in our married family outcomes.

My husband said once that he felt sorry for  his elder sister who was stopped from school to takeover the homemaking activities after their mother passed away when my husband was two years old. When I first learnt about this from my husband – there was no mention of him feeling sorry. In fact he said that it was his father who had taken care of most of his needs. But later – when there was some dispute over common wealth – and the sister  accused him of being ungrateful – (as majority in government accuse minority and ask them to go back to their homeland)  - he added the ‘sorry’. The sister expressly blamed the father but not my husband who attributes to his father especially for his achievements in education. I stuck to my truth as per my experience with my sister in law and said that my husband was speculating. I said what happened due to his father’s will and if he sang the ‘sorry-song’ then effectively he was finding fault with the father’s structure. Then my husband felt terrible and demonstrated remorse that he had let his father down. I then explained to him that to the extent he brought  ‘what happened in that structure into this new structure’ – without experience of judgment back then – he was being frivolous. To the extent he demonstrated respect for his sister – he completed that relationship and that value would come with him. I said if he allocated ‘rights’ to his sister then the apparent ‘wrongs’ are to his father. I said if he did want to bring that experience into our married life – then he needed to allocate equal listening resources as ‘telling’ to my woes as a child. I said then we would both be living in our respective pasts and would not enjoy the joys of present structure we have developed together – especially if he was indebted to his father through lack of respect / gratitude.  

Sri Lankans seeking to live in Democracy have no right to bring what happened in the past. They have every right to bring their belief into the present but not use that in the old form. Formless belief naturally merges with our current energies.

Out of the above readers of my articles, the former led me to the Kochikade genes – confirming to me – a believer in St Anthony of Kochikade - that the Kerala connection was true. The deeper we go – the more likely we are to find the ‘gene-connection’ to complex problems. My search led me to the following:

[Kozhikode  also known as Calicut, is a city in Kerala, India and the headquarters of the Kozhikode district. The Kozhikode metropolitan area is the second largest urban agglomeration in Kerala with a population of 2 million as of 2011. The city lies about 276 km south west of Bangalore, 235 km south of Mangaloreand 525 km south west of Chennai.

During classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikode was dubbed the City of Spices for its role as the major trading point of Indian spices. It was the capital of an independent kingdom ruled by the Samoothiris (Zamorins) in the Middle Ages and later of the erstwhile Malabar District under British rule. Arab merchants traded with the region as early as 7th century, and Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Kozhikode on 20 May 1498, thus opening a trade route between Europe and Malabar. A Portuguese factory and the fort was intact in Kozhikode for short period (1511–1525, until the Fall of Calicut). The English landed in 1615 (constructing a trading post in 1665), followed by the French (1698) and the Dutch (1752). In 1765, Mysore captured Kozhikode as part of its occupation of the Malabar Coast. Kozhikode, once a famous cotton-weaving centre, gave its name to the Calico cloth… The exact origin of the name Kozhikode is uncertain. According to many sources, the name Kozhikode is derived from Koyil-kota (fort), meaning fortified palace…]

Scientifically speaking we generally trace our genes to our biological families. DNA tests can confirm our heritage connections. The superstitious form of it – i.e.- hearsay is from one’s imagination – as presented through genie   in the bottle which when let out destroys current structures. The Tamil saying goes as Kinaru vetta pootham vanthathu / when the well was being dug the genie came out. This means when we dig into inherited problems - instead of finding the genes that would lead to acceptance of incurable diseases / weaknesses  – we invoked the superstitious genie to do our bidding.

The father of the leader of the genie squad is reported to be a  Spice Merchant and hence is likely to have felt at ‘home’ in Kerala’s  Kozhikode – the  City of Spices. The way we Tamils refer to the kingdom of Jaffna – Kerala would have been Kingdom of Kozhikode to those who are looking for sledging opportunities to get over any humiliation in the area they considered to be their current home. That was Buddhism foremost Sri Lanka. That genie was released by some Buddhists including monks  even during this post bombing period when most of us are in pain – largely due to our genes. Like Pauline Hanson did here in Australia – they also release the genie from time to time – to do their bidding.  Those to whom the place is really home – stay on. I was ready to go back to Sri Lanka after Pauline Hanson’s superstitious expressions but Australia kept me as part of itself. So I became global towards which I needed to lose consciousness of particular country – except at genes / heritage level.

Similar connections are shown to the current political leadership by UTHR (J) – University Teachers for Human Rights Jaffna – at http://www.uthr.org/Book/CHA01.htm

The following  takes us to the reverse-autocracy genes in Politicians from Low-Country Sinhalese group:

[In the Kandyan region itself the reaction to Low Country Sinhalese small traders was often sharp. The following remarks by S.D. Mahawalatenna, Chief Headman in charge of the Kadawata and Meda Korales in the Ratnapura District, appeared in the Ceylon Census of 1901 (p.115 of Appendix in Vol.1):

“The relation of the low-country Sinhalese man to the Kandyan is the same as that of the foreign born Tamil, Moor or Malay. He comes and goes…The low-country man comes and sticks on. He flourishes in any soil and in any clime; he is a sort of human parasite. Given time and opportunity he will, as it were, absorb the Kandyan, leaving him neither his lands, nor his chattels, nor even his independence. Very soon the Kandyan landlord, who at first befriended the stranger, the low-country man, and lodged him, tenanted him and patronised him, owing to certain circumstances, changes place with the latter. By degrees the plot thickens till at last the low-country man becomes the landlord and the Kandyan the tenant…”]

Nationhood by those who use arms to attack, is a fallacy in a democratic environment. Nationhood is like formless god whereas country is like the temple where we believe god power is enshrined. Sinhala Nation, Tamil Nation and Islamic Nation are all genies when used by those who use arms to attack. When Buddhist leaders stop releasing their gene from the bottle – others will withdraw their own genies. The Easter Sunday attacks targeted Christians and their extended world of tourism. Negombo is known as Little Rome. Hence one is entitled to conclude on the basis of the principle of balance of probabilities - that  the attacks were due to IS genie. There is no direct cure for this – except to keep the border controls tight. Finding fault with resident Muslims to whom Sri Lanka is ‘home’ would lead to more IS genie being released again and again.