From Island to Island: A Ceylon-Tamil Family's Odyssey
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Analaitivu is the island from where my ancestors came from. My parents and at least six generations of their ancestors were born on this island. My mother returned to the island to deliver three of my elder siblings, namely, Bavany (1927-2019), Punithavathy (1931-2010) and Sivasamboo (1933-2021). Analaitivu is a small, tropical island that lies off the coast of the Jaffna peninsula, in northern Sri Lanka. Located at latitude 9 40N and longtitude 79 46E. The island has an area of only about 4.82 square kilometres or 1.86 square miles. Pliny (AD 23-59), the ancient Roman author, who was also an army and navy commander, referred to Analaitivu as “the island in the sun”. This is also the Tamil meaning for the island which lies between India and Ceylon. Analaitivu was known as Komaythagam according to ancient Indian scripture (Kantha Puranam) and Rotterdam during the Dutch colonial rule. Analaitivu was once also called Donna Clara Island during the Portuguese time when a lady of that name was regarded as the island’s owner. According to Baldaeus, a Dutch Minister who worked in Jaffna during the Dutch period, “It was formerly called Donna Clara Island after a certain lady that lived there and was mistress of it during the time of the Portuguese rule. She was uncommonly corpulent and heavy, and there is still [around 1672] to be seen a chair, which she used to sit upon and which will comfortably hold two smaller sized persons.” The name ‘Dona Clara’ was familiar to my parents and my sister Thilagam referred to it in her address to the Malaysia & Singapore Analaitivu Association gathering in August 1978. … The passion that the islanders feel for the island is heart-warming. My parents often spoke about their childhood life on the island and kept in touch with the relatives there by letter. It was my father’s wish to retire to the island and live in peace with the islanders who were a very close-knit community. To this end, he sent home a part of his earnings and bought land. Till today, this land is under rice-cultivation, although under different owners. In the earlier years, my parents returned to the island at every opportunity whenever my father could take leave from work. My mother returned home to be with her mother when she delivered her three elder children. What finally changed my father’s plans to retire on the island is described elsewhere in this book. … My first trip to my ancestral village in Analaitivu was in December 1946 when I was about nine months old. In December 1946, the whole family went to Analaitivu as Father had taken 6 months leave from work. All the older children were admitted to local schools with my eldest brother Sivasamboo being enrolled at the Jaffna College (Methodist) School for one year. Both my grandmothers were concerned about my father having to support five daughters and pay for their dowries. It was therefore proposed that Bavany be married to our cousin Mylvaganam (1922 -1987), the son of my mother’s older brother Ambalavaanar (1896-1950) and Sinnachi (b1850). Bavany was agreeable to marrying Mylvaganam whom she knew rather than marrying a stranger and moving away from the family. The fact that Mylvaganam was not working at that time did not matter as, according to our grandmother Nagamuthu (aka Nagamuthar) (1874-1948), Mylvaganam’s father Amblavanaar had so much wealth that he could pay off dowries for 16 women! As dowry for Bavany’s marriage, Father gave three pieces of land to Ambalavaanar. These included some parcels of land that he had received when he got married to my mother Sivakamy in 1924. The gifts were accompanied by a letter from Father that he was returning the lands and had gained nothing. Sangadathu Vallavu house and property given to Father as dowry continued to be occupied by his mother-in-law Nagamuthar and her family. They also obtained the income from the lands which Father did not claim. My father was all along working on his plan to retire in Analaitivu, the land of his ancestors. Towards this end he had sent money to his brother-in-law Shanmugam to purchase land. My sisters were aware that when he started work, with earnings of only $25, Father would send $10 home for land purchase and his parental support. My sister Bavany’s marriage to her cousin in Analaitivu in 1947 fitted into his plans.
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About the Book
My story begins with my earliest known ancestor named Thaninayaga Mudaliar. In the 14th Century he left South India, at the request of the King, to develop a group of seven islands off the North coast of Ceylon. This included the island of Analaitivu which my ancestors chose to inhabit. We have traced seven generations of my ancestors who lived and worked on the island. Their triumphs, romances and difficulties have been recorded. My father was 13 years old in 1910 when he left home to seek his fortunes in British Malaya. His parents, despite being Vellalar farmers, did not think that he ought to toil on the land like they and their forefathers had done for centuries. He later found work as a surveyor in Singapore where I was born. But he was always keen to return to retire on the island with his family. However, that did not happen for various reasons that are documented in this book. There were additional challenges for an immigrant family in the new island (Singapore) that he had chosen to live in and raise a family of seven children. Whilst his forefathers in Ceylon had to live under cruel colonial masters such as the Portuguese, my father had to navigate life under the harsh Japanese rule during World War II. Future generations must understand the various challenges our ancestors faced in the difficult journeys that they undertook.
About the Author
This book is the result of the author’s deep interest in documenting the challenges her ancestors faced in their difficult journeys from South India, in the 14th century, to the island of Analaitivu in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and finally to Singapore. The author has spent more than two decades collecting materials from many parts of the world to tell her story. Mangalam Ramalingam is a former school-teacher and lawyer in Singapore. She graduated with a BSc degree and Diploma in Education from the National University of Singapore and with an LL B Hons degree from the University of London. She was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1991. There have been few memoirs written by Sri Lankan Tamils and this book should help fill the gaps in our understanding of their early history.