Country: Sri Lanka

Group: Pallar

Date Finalized:

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

Content Warnings: Forced Labor, War

Approximate Time Period: 1980’s-Present

            The Sri Lankan Pallar, also known as the Mallar or Pallan, are an agrarian caste in Northern Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Pallar comprise 9 percent of Sri Lankan Tamils, or approximately 1 percent of Sri Lankans (Silva et al., 2020). High-caste private individuals brought Pallar workers to serve as forced laborers under Dutch colonization in the late 17th century (Arasaratnam, 1981). The Pallar caste is part of the Panchamar, sometimes translated as untouchable or depressed, group of castes including Vannar, Ampattar, Nalavar, and Parayar castes (Silva et al., 2020). Many Sri Lankan Tamils consider the Pallar to be one of the most underprivileged castes because of their status as personal servants (Mahroof, 2000). Traditionally, higher ranking castes have discriminated against Panchamar castes in Sri Lanka, resulting in several caste conflicts throughout the 20th century (Silva et al., 2009).

            The Sri Lankan Civil War between the Sinhalese Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that began in the 1980’s caused many ethnic Tamils to flee violence. During this time, the LTTE passed an explicit ban on caste-discrimination in an effort to create a unified Tamil group. The LTTE valued a unified consciousness among Tamil troops during training and mobilization (IMADR., et al 2008). However, recent ethnic violence has exacerbated disparities between low and high-caste Tamils. There is a high presence of low-caste Tamils in displacement camps, indicating vulnerability of low-caste Tamils to social disruption as a consequence of lack of alternative housing and lack of social capital (Silva et al., 2009; Silva et al., 2020). Higher caste individuals may also be less likely to sell land to low-caste internally displaced individuals, even if they did have the saved income (Sanmugeswaran, 2010). This is not an explicit forced movement because these individuals are Pallar, but the increased presence of Pallar in internally displaced groups stems from systemic discrimination.

In general, due to activism from low-caste Tamils and efforts from Tamil political parties such as the LTTE, explicit caste discrimination has decreased since the 1990s. Ethnic conflict between Tamil and Sinhalese Sri Lankans has overshadowed caste conflict. However, discrimination against underprivileged castes including Pallar individuals is common and is often kept from the public view (IMADR., et al 2008).

Data Quality: This data quality is rated a 2/3 for credible evidence of Forced Away across multiple scholarly sources with a lack of distinct Pallar displacement events.

Sources

  1. Arasaratnam, S. (1981). Social History of a Dominant Caste Society: The Vellalar of North Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the 18th Century. The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 18(3) p. 377-391.
  2. IMADR Asia Committee, Human Development Organization, International Dalit Solidarity Network. (2008). Caste-based discrimination in Sri Lanka: Patterns of inequality, discrimination and social marginalization of affected communities in contemporary Sri Lanka. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session2/LK/IDSN_LKA_UPR_S2_2008_TheInternationalDalit_SolidarityNetwork_Etal_JOINT.pdf
  3. Mahroof, M. M. M. (2000). A Conspectus of Tamil Caste Systems in Sri Lanka: Away from a Parataxis. Social Scientist, 28(11/12), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.2307/3518280
  4. 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) p. 78-96.
  5. Sanmugeswaran, P. (2010). The Ethnic Conflict, Displacement and Poverty in Sri Lanka: A Sociological Investigation 1. VISTAS Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences.
  6. Silva, K.T., Sivapragasam, P.P., Thanges, P. (2009). Casteless or Caste-blind? Dynamics of Concealed Caste Discrimination, Social Exclusion and Protest in Sri Lanka. Kumaran Book House.
  7. Silva, K.T., Haniffa, F., Bastin, R. (2020). Ethnicity and Violence in Sri Lanka: An Ethnohistorical Narrative. The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. P. 1-23.