ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence of transnational Buddhist networks, new circles of meditation and the increased popularity of mindfulness practices among women and men in urban communities following the ending of armed conflict between the state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009. It suggests that the emergence of new circles of meditation and spiritualism provided alternative spaces for agency and even activism for women in and beyond the script of public religious nationalism and state rituals; even as they may have appeared to tacitly acquiesce to the contours of state-sponsored post-war religious nationalism and militarism. The chapter discusses the “Grease Yaka” discourse as a local critique of post-war militarization that draws on the Sinhala folk religious tradition. In mid-2011, two years after the ending of the war, Grease Yakas stalked the streets of towns and villages in various parts of the country, spreading fear and terror in villages and the national public sphere.
