ABSTRACT
The ethnic civil war that has ravaged post-independence Sri Lanka for decades is generally identified, beyond the religious dimension, as one rooted in ethno-linguistic symbols and discrimination.1 The enmity between the Sinhala majority and the minorities, particularly the ethnic Tamils, did not originate because most Tamils embrace Hinduism. Indeed the degree of mutual tolerance and respect demonstrated by Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka is evident through long traditions of religious syncretism and cohabitation. On the other hand, it is also indisputably true that specific religious beliefs, texts, legends, and symbols – whether Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim – have been used by politicians and elites to initiate intolerance and promote violence against the other for electoral gain. This chapter focuses on how the politicization of Buddhism by Sinhala politicians to gain and consolidate power has undone traditions of cohabitation and inspired extremism in Sri Lanka.
