Country: Sri Lanka

Group: Vannar (Tamils)

Date Finalized: 04/03/2023

Team: Stefania Becerra Lavado (lead), Anthony Un, Ash Pessaran, Noelle Collings, Hannah Lux, Juwairiah Afridi.

Content Warning: Forced Labor

Approximate Time Period: 1600-1900

The Vannar are a caste of Sri Lankan Tamils. The Vannars are part of the “Panchamar”, a collective term for the castes within the bottom layer of the caste system. Historically, Vannars have been a caste of washers and manual laborers in the country’s Northern side. By contrasts, the Vellalars and Moors are Tamil castes at the top of the hierarchy.

Several colonial powers settled in Sri Lanka between the 16th and early 20th centuries (Minority Rights, 2018). The Dutch and Portuguese colonizers supported the caste slave system. The upper-caste Vallelars (a sub-ground of Tamils) and Moors forced the Vannars to do their laundry and cleaning services (Helen, 2019). The upper castes labeled the Vannars as the ‘washer people.’ The British colonizers banned the slave system in 1884. However, the deep-rooted inequalities between the Sri Lanka Tamil castes remained.

The Vellalars mandated the underprivileged castes, including the Vannars, to live in palmyrah groves and wastelands (Kuganathan, 2014; Pfaffenberger, 1990). Many lower castes migrated to other cities to stop the cycle of oppression. If they returned, they would likely face forced labor and discriminatory practices again (Helen, 2019).

More recently, there have been ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The Sinhalese government displaced Tamils during the civil war from 1983 to 2009. Lower castes were disproportionately affected because of their socioeconomic status. After the war, the Vellalars’ explicit discrimination towards the Vannars decreased (Kuganathan, 2014).

Some sources provide evidence that Vannars experienced forced labor. However, it is difficult to assess them because of a lack of reliable evidence. Additionally, implicit discrimination is hard to measure. There is less focus on Tamil inter-caste discrimination and forced labor (Mcgilvray, 1974). This data quality is rated as 1/3 for the information about Panchamar as a group of underprivileged castes. However, there need to be more scholarly sources that specifically address the Vannars.   

Sources

  1. Helen, R. A. (2019, September 20). The ‘unseen people’ of tamil nadu. Union of Catholic Asian News. Retrieved from https://www.ucanews.com/news/the-unseen-people-of-tamil-nadu/86130
  2. Kuganathan, P. (2014). Social Stratification in Jaffna: A survey of recent research on Caste. Sociology Compass, 8(1), 78–88. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12101
  3. Mcgilvray, D. B. (1974). Tamils And Moors: Caste And Matriclan Structure In Eastern Sri Lanka (Order No. T-25220). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (302707568). http://login.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/tamils-moors-caste-matriclan-structure-eastern/docview/302707568/se-2
  4. Minority Rights Group. (2018, March). Sri Lanka. Fundraising Regulator. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/country/sri-lanka/
  5. Pfaffenberger, B. (1990). The Political Construction of Defensive Nationalism: The 1968 Temple-Entry Crisis in Northern Sri Lanka. The Journal of Asian Studies, 49(1), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/2058434