Life Problems of Tamils of Highlands in the Fictions of Maatthalai Somu

Abstract

Immigrant Tamil literature has an important place in Highland literature. Highland Tamil literature can be considered a part of immigrant literature. It is a rich literary field with many literary genres like folk literature, poetry, short stories, novels, dramas, and essays. Highland writers have contributed to and enriched the field of literature. Their field of literature is expanding beyond the Sri Lankan highlands to include Tamil Nadu, European countries, and other countries in the world. In this way, Maatthalai Somu is an international Tamil writer who records Sri Lanka (Highland), India (Tamil Nadu), Australia and the lives of Tamils living in them. Highland literature is two hundred years old. European countries that conquered large parts of the world to accumulate capital, exploited the resources of their colonies and the labour of indigenous peoples. In this way, the British, who took control of Sri Lanka in 1815, ended the Kandy monarchy. In 1820, coffee plantations were started. After that, they also cultivated cash crops like sugarcane, tea, and rubber. The South Indian Tamils migrated and settled in the highlands for the manpower to work on these large plantations. These Tamils are called Highland Tamils. Famine and oppression in India in the nineteenth century also caused Tamils to immigrate to Sri Lanka. The hard labour of Tamils was used in creating and cultivating these plantations. The history and life problems of such highland Tamils have been recorded by the highland Tamil writer Maatthalai Somu in his fiction.