Ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka: An analytical study based on Post-colonial Sri Lankan English literature

Sri Lanka is a multi-communal country that consists of four major ethnicities, namely: Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.The country has experienced several ethnical conflicts and riots since 1948. As a result, certain literary works in post-colonial Sri Lankan literature deals with war and ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka. On this basis, this study was conducted to analyze the post-colonial Sri Lankan English literature in relation to ethnical conflicts in Sri Lanka. This study was an analytical research. In this study, the poem “Gajaga wannama” and the drama “Rasanayagam’s Last Riot” were analyzed to identify how the post-colonial Sri Lankan English literature describes nugatory ethnical violence against minorities in Sri Lanka. According to the review and analysis of the literary works such as the poem “Gajaga wannama” and the drama “Rasanayagam’s Last Riot”, several anti-minorities conflicts and riots have been recorded in the Sri Lankan history since 1948. Especially, the 1983 July riot was the massive anti-Tamil violence which was led by the fundamental thugs and mobs with the support of the United National Party government. Based on the analysis of the selected poem and drama, it is obvious that Tamil People lived Colombo, the Capital City of Sri Lanka were brutally killed and their assets and belongings were destroyed over a night following a bomb blast carried out by the Liberation of Tiger Tamil Ealam (LTTE) in the Northern part of Sri Lanka. This riot is primarily concerned with the nugatory anti-minority’s violence in Sri Lanka.