Talk:Govigama
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[edit] Dispute
This is nothing but Karava propaganda and is written from a point of view to denigrate the Govigama caste. If this does not become a neutral article, this should be deleted.Bandara2000 13:08, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Please explain the above allegation
The entry under Govigama appears to be fully referenced to authentic Sri lankan sources. I do not see anything about the Karava in it. Why do you say it is Karava propaganda and why do you say it is unreferenced ?
The depths to which individuals descend and even sacrifice their personal integrity to promote the ‘Govi Supremacy Myth’ continues to surprise me. The malicious tagging of this page with all possible tags to discredit it is one such example. As usual no evidence to the contrary is given.
The ‘Govi Supremacy Myth’ is almost always promoted through intimidation, repetition or stealth. Never have I seen any reliable evidence from such promoters to support their Govi Supremacy Myth. The oldest evidence produced in it’s support is only from the 19th century and that too written by or influenced by Govigama arrivistes themselves.
If the present pushers of the theory have any evidence at all to prove that the Govi caste was indeed the high caste that they claim it was in the Sri Lankan feudal system, and not a low caste, they should include such evidence here for the benefit of our users. If there is no evidence to support the Govi Supremacy Theory, the promoter of the theory should withdraw it and desist from further vandalism of this page.
[edit] Tag rationale
‘’ Social divisions arose over the centuries between those engaged in agriculture and those engaged in nonagricultural occupations. The Govi (cultivators) belonged to the highest Sinhalese caste (Goyigama) and remained so in the late twentieth century. All Sri Lankan heads of state have, since independence, belonged to the Goyigama caste, as do about half of all Sinhalese. The importance of cultivation on the island is also reflected in the caste structure of the Hindu Tamils, among whom the Vellala (cultivator) is the highest caste’’[1]
‘’ Government (from Sri Lanka) Kingship was the unifying political institution in the classical ... Administrative officials were drawn from the Govi caste’’[2] The caste system in Sri Lanka developed its own characteristics. ... The Govi (cultivators) belonged to the highest Sinhalese caste (Goyigama) and remained [3] Seminal study on contemporary Sri Lankan Sinhalese society by Michel Roberts mentions Govi dominance, historic and current [4] Professor Gananath Obeyesekerehe treatment of ordinary farmer (govigama) caste in many parts of the Sinhala country [5].
Hence this currently non neutral article should be edited taking into acount WP:NPOV. It should be edited taking into account all point of view including the Karave caste members and other historic assertion of Govi as lower caste but only as a minor point of view because the consensus of all modern [citation needed] credible anthropologists and historians is that Govi have always [citation needed] dominated the Sinhalese society. That is what anyone will read in any encyclopedia that is not based a castist narrow collection of non credible biased sources. If this is not done within a reasonable amount of time then I propose that this article should be tagged for AFD and at least then it will get the attention of other editors to a perennial problem that Wikipedia faces with respect to [[caste[[ related articles in which each caste affiliates trying to impose their myth and views on the rest of the world. This particular attempt so far is under the radar screen because Sri Lanka is a small country without many editors. Removing the current tags without justification when the whole article seems to be not neutral, based on original research not backed by credible sources and under dispute will be considered Vandalism and the remover has been thus warned. Thanks Bandara2000 21:55, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] User [6], stop your vandalism
The references given by you above are all from secondary sources. Furthermore secondary sources with outdated information
Before it was debunked in the 1990s, the ‘Govi Supremacy Myth’ was, and still is, actively promoted by interested individuals. Such individuals have managed to get it incorporated into many modern publications of unsuspecting authors and onto public domains as you are now attempting to do. The frequent repetition of the ‘Govi Supremacy Myth’ or the ‘Vellala Supremacy Myth’ which appears to be of greater importance to you, does not turn the myth into fact. It may appear on endless web sites but no historical evidence has yet been produced to validate it.
Sri Lanka is a country with over 2000 years of written history. Therefore if, as you say, the above references are selective, you should be able to produce at least some evidence from Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial history to contradict the above facts.
Although the above facts are not to your liking, they are from authentic Sri lankan historical manuscripts. The authenticity of the quoted sources have never been in doubt and they have been edited and published by several eminent scholars. The historically low status of the Govi caste as evidenced in these sources has never been contradicted so far by any other historical sources.
If you have any evidence, anything at all, to contradict the above quoted historical references and re-establish your myth, please state it here. Childishly deleting the referenced information on this page merely because you have a different point of view (albeit with no historical justification so far) amounts to blatant vandalism. --Veri 13:31, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Civility
Please deal with other contributions in a polite and constructive manner. Rude behavior is discouraged by Wikipedia policies. See Wikipedia:Civility. Thank you.
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- Stop personal attack see Template:WP:Personal Attack
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- All done above. Now that everything is said and done, I will start editing this page. Thanks
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- Need credible citations
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- Show evidence of deleting any content from your creation in this page ?
[edit] Warning
Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits are considered vandalism, and if you continue in this manner you may be blocked from editing without further warning. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the work of others. Thank you.
--Veri 13:51, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
