COLOMBO: Velupillai Prabhakaran, the slain leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was inspired by Bhagavad Gita, says one of his close associates in the formative stages of the
Updated on:
16 May 2012, 5:03 am
COLOMBO: Velupillai Prabhakaran, the slain leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was inspired by Bhagavad Gita, says one of his close associates in the formative stages of the Tamil militant movement in northeastern Sri Lanka.
‘’Prabhakaran’s ideology was derived from Bhagavad Gita; the Indian national struggle; the history of the ancient Tamil kingdoms; the situation surroundi n g Jew i s h statehood; and Adolf Hitler’s authoritarianism,’’ says colleague Ragavan in an article in The Sunday Leader.
‘’His motto was ‘do your duty but do not expect any benefit from it.’ He also believed that the soul is immortal , whereas, the physical body is temporal.
Death on the battlefield would thus involve only detaching the body, while the soul remains eternal. He believed that in order to fight evil and establish dharma, it is essential to eliminate one’s enemies,’’ Ragavan said.
Ragavan broke away from Prabhakaran in 1984, unable to stand his authoritarianism and belief in the ideology of violence.
After assassinating Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in 1976, Prabhakaran was cycling away from the scene of the crime when he heard a song from the Tamil film karnan over the radio, which immediately made him remark that he had found his ideology.
‘’The song was about the discourse between Arjuna and Lord Krishna (in Bhagvad Gita) which explained the notion of dharma and the right to kill the enemy.
He (Prabhakaran) was very excited and felt that his actions were justified,’’ Ragavan writes.
Elimination of rivals Prabha – karan’s belief in the elimination of rivals, including those who were also fighting for an independent ‘Tamil Eelam’ was rooted in the history of Tamils.
‘’He felt very strongly that the Tamil cause needed to be united behind one organisation.
His justification was that the Tamils’ ancient kingdoms were lost because the then kings of the Chera, Chola and Pandiyan kingdoms were not united,’’ Ragavan recalls.
Courtesy The New Indian Express