Reconstruction of War-Affected Hindu Temples and Caste Reproduction: Sri Lankan Tamil Diasporic Interventions in Pungudutivu Area

Abstract

The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora is spread across the world, maintaining transnational connections with developments in their homeland. The research objective is to examine Sri Lankan Tamil diasporic interventions in the reconstruction of Hindu temples and the reproduction of caste. During the civil war, many Hindu temples faced dire circumstances, with several being damaged by bombings. In the post-war era, the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora's focus on religious sites in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has emerged as a significant new dimension of this engagement. The ethnographic method was selected to gather popular and deeply held knowledge regarding religious and castebased phenomena. Three months of fieldwork were conducted in the Pungudutivu area; 15 participants were recruited through snowball sampling. Primary data consisted of ten in-depth interviews and five case studies, complemented by secondary sources such as books, research articles, and scholarly journals. Research findings indicate extensive restoration of Hindu temple infrastructure, particularly concerning the temple tower, halls, and chariot halls. Financial remittances from the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora proved vital to these efforts. However, these works often mirror traditional social hierarchies; reconstruction remains largely caste-centred, with a distinct tendency for diaspora members to fund temples in their ancestral localities to reproduce specific caste identities.