HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thiyagarajan@mims.enet.dec.com (RT)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Re: Elam News from Denmark
Date: 28 Sep 92 13:13:46 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation



In article <1992Sep25.180656.52382@gmuvax.gmu.edu>, 2067bh@gmuvax.gmu.edu writes...
> 
>AFP report from STRUER, Denmark
> 
>Danish police charged seven Sri Lankans with blackmailing thousands of follow
>refugees in Denmark and extorting hundreds of kroners from them. The seven
>members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) threatened the
>families of most of Denmark's 5000 refugees with kidnapping if they did not
>financially support the LTTE, investigating Police chief Frede Rosenberg
>said. Mr. Rosenberg said Tamils had actually been abducted in SriLanka because
>relatives living in Denmark would not pay "a ransom of 30 000 kroners (5000
>dollars).
>The blackmail was uncovered after Srilankan Tamil refugees complained to the
>police. Eighteen people were arrested after a six month investigation. ...
> 
>.... TO BE CONTINUED.
> 
> 

> 

Where is Mr Ranjith and Mr Meenan What is your response to this news. This is
certainly not from India. Or do you think this is a brahminical consipiracy?

RT
From: sri@milton.u.washington.edu (Kandiah Sribalaskandarajah)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: Re: Sinhala script.....
Keywords: script
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:00:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep30.200049.18475
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <6039@arccs1.fed.FRB.GOV> m1pkd00@fed.frb.gov (Prasad K. Dharmasena) writes:
>I have not seen much similarity between Tamil and Sinhala scrips.  It
>would be surprising, however, if there is none.  BTW, do all Indo-Euro-
>--
>Prasad Dharmasena      Internet: <pkd@fed.FRB.GOV>     UUCP: <uunet!fed!pkd>

Well, one of my sinhala teachers, used to insist that learning sinhala 
scripts is very easy for a person who knows tamil scripts. According to
him, all you have to do is remove the corners in the tamil script,
to get the sinhala script. :-) He infact proved this by induction,
beginning with, mana -> mayanna, pana -> payanna, yana -> yayanna, dana ->
dayanna, etc.. :-) Of course, after a few examples, he said "similarly,....".


sri
Xref: sparky soc.culture.sri-lanka:1112 soc.culture.tamil:2607
From: rs6x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ranjith Ravindiran Suresh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: SAARC news
Date: 1 Oct 92 22:36:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.QemyryG00WB0MIsUVz
Organization: Senior, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Subject: India, Sri Lanka to discuss South Asian trading zone
Source: UPI news.

        NEW DELHI, Sept 30 -- Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa
began a state visit to India Thursday to discuss the establishment of a
seven-nation preferential trading zone in South Asia.

        Premadasa, chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation, said he had received a ``very good and encouraging
response'' from the group's member-nations to his proposal for a special
trading zone.

       India is a strong supporter of such a zone, which will be aimed at
promoting trade among South Asian nations by lowering tariff and non-
tariff barriers.

       Bilateral trade among the SAARC members at present is very small,
except between India and Nepal.

       The proposal for creating the South Asian Preferential Trade
Arrangement will top the agenda during a SAARC summit scheduled to be
held in December in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.

       Premadasa earlier toured Pakistan and Nepal to discuss the trading
proposal. According to press reports, Pakistan is the only SAARC nation which
has reservations on the proposed trading regime.

       Pakistani officials say their country is concerned that such a zone
would be most advantageous to its archrival India, which has a broad
industrial base.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.sri-lanka:1118 soc.culture.tamil:2618
From: 2067bh@gmuvax.gmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Re:
Date: 2 Oct 92 14:07:29 -0500
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

In article <0eivz6a00WC0E63V5a@andrew.cmu.edu>, rs6x+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ranjith Ravindiran Suresh) writes:
|> Only one lakh for the wedding? Pooh! Some families spend more than 10
|> lakhs which includes the dowry payment.  Such a waste of money.
|> 
|> Only a Tamil would do such a thing. He watchs a video

  how about cricket

|> while the
|> neighbor's house is on fire.   The collective sense of common identity
|> is lacking indeed for many.  

Goes to under-grad school while neighbors teenage son is forcibly recruited to
    carry cyanide   - worst, sends cyanide for more teenagers

    or

    Teaches his children in English while sending others money to
      kill and get killed for their language
     
    or 
 Marries  U.S. /Canadian/Australian citizen while prohibiting their 
  T. brothers in Jaffna to marry  T. spouses

    or
    .....ZZ
     
    or 
    ......
    The list goes on
     This is the human nature
             Tamils are also human  - no offense intended

     

|> It is unfortunate that innocent Tamils died alongside Rajiv. 
   It is unfortunate that innocent tamils are tied to lampposts and killed
		 innocent pregnent tamils are tied and killed using Axes

                   innocent teenagers are kidnapped and given cyanide
                   innocent women are forced to give their jewellary so that
                               other innocent people can be killed
                          Padmanabha happened to fight for a Tamil Elam
                    Amirthalingam was advocating tamil elam and sinhala skins
   
|>  That's
|> all I can say.
|> 
         there is more I can say  and you will say
          will continue later....
|> suresh

Friend of Suresh



Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.taiwan,soc.culture.tamil,soc.culture.thai,soc.culture.turkish
From: bernd@cc.uow.edu.au (Bernd Wechner)
Subject: Make a friend today, send a postcard to Oz ...
Organization: University Of Wollongong
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 04:34:00 GMT

I just started to stick some old postcards on the wall at home and found
it growing into a very interesting collage, or wallpaper of sorts even. A 
great deal of interest value and a dash of nostalgia for me personally as 
well. Now although I had a fair stack, I was a little surprised at how small 
a postcard is and how large a wall is. 

So, I'd like to invite you to send me a postcard for which I will:

a) be eternally grateful
b) send one back (if desired)
c) invite you around for a cup of tea, a chat and even to stay a few days 
   (if you like ...)

Just think, you'll make your mark on my wall, and my life, and maybe
even make a friend for life. Or then again, maybe just a postcard for
your own wall ;-).

To join the revolution, just mail a postcard to me here:

Bernd Wechner
5 Charles Avenue
Minnamurra 2532
Australia

Remembering to include your own name and address if you like and see
what interesting things you can add to that. 

All the best then, and here's hoping we have some friendly people with
some motivation in the audience tonight ;-).

Ciao,

Bernd.
From: sretnasa@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: test
Date: 30 Sep 92 16:14:40 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo

this is a test
From: vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: EELAM NEWS FROM DENMARK AND ELSEWHERE.
Date: 1 Oct 92 16:45:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu

-- 
vivek@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu),
Systems Engineering Laboratory, Department Of Computer Science, 
School Of Engineering, Computer Science And Technology,
California State University, Chico, California.
From: samaddar@siemens.com (Sumitro Samaddar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: Re: Sinhala script.....
Keywords: script
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:38:16 GMT
Reply-To: samaddar@siemens.com

m1pkd00@fed.frb.gov (Prasad K. Dharmasena) writes:

>would be surprising, however, if there is none.  BTW, do all Indo-Euro-
>Dravidian-etc languages lack the sounds F and Z?

Urdu has them. Hindi included them some decades ago. There may be
more languages with F and Z.

Sumitro
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: mvishnu@bcr3.uwaterloo.ca (Meenan Vishnu)
Subject: Re: Sinhala script.....
Keywords: script
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:48:48 GMT

In article <samaddar.717885496@dumbo> samaddar@siemens.com writes:
>m1pkd00@fed.frb.gov (Prasad K. Dharmasena) writes:
>
>>would be surprising, however, if there is none.  BTW, do all Indo-Euro-
>>Dravidian-etc languages lack the sounds F and Z?
>
>Urdu has them. Hindi included them some decades ago. There may be
>more languages with F and Z.
>
>Sumitro

Hindi uses the devanagiri scripts.  Nowadays, they use the letter
'ph' (aspirated bi-labial stop) to denote the sound 'f'.

Other than that, I am not aware of any indian languages having the 
unvoiced labio-dental fricative (ie 'f' ) sound.  But most (except perhaps
Bengali) has the voiced labio-dental fricative (ie 'w') sound.

Meenan Vishnu
From: vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: EELAM NEWS FROM DENMARK AND ELSEWHERE.
Date: 2 Oct 92 23:37:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: charnel.1aimgcINN47c
Distribution: usa
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu

-- 
vivek@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu),
Systems Engineering Laboratory, Department Of Computer Science, 
School Of Engineering, Computer Science And Technology,
California State University, Chico, California.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.sri-lanka:1119 soc.culture.tamil:2619
From: 2067bh@gmuvax.gmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka,soc.culture.tamil
Subject: History of Sri Lankan Tamil speakers.
Date: 2 Oct 92 14:04:09 -0500
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.


History of Sri Lankan Tamil speakers.

Sinhala people lived in Jaffna used to have sea bath.
Some had the bath and came back.
Some of them swimmed while having the bath and came back.
Some crossed the sea, landed in Tamil Nadu and came back
Some Landed in Tamil Nadu fascinated with the new language Tamil 
and came back.
Some Landed in Tamil Nadu fascinated with the new language Tamil 
learned the language came back.
Some people learned Tamil came back with a married partner to practice
the language and other things at home.
They were so fascinated with the new language and started to hate their
original language and started to say that they are the TAMILS IN PUREST form.

It is very easy to understand. 
We love English, 
take TOEFL (some people come with NO TOEFL), 
Come here, 
Love an English girl, 
bring the girl home 
to practice the English language, 
become American, 
we are more American than real Americans, 
you know how you act when you go back, 
speak only English,
start to hate speaking Tamil, 
look-down other Tamil speakers, 
try to create a separate country for Tamils only 
.... list goes on.

Also
please remember 
DR. SRI S. SRI TARAN 
THE CREATOR OF FAMOUS SIRIPALA TRANSFORMATION
from UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
AND ALL ANIMAL AGENTS
SAID SINHALESE 
WENT TO JAFFNA AND RAPED TAMIL MOTHERS IN FRONT OF THEIR HUSBANDS
TO PRODUCE NEW GENERATION OF SINHALA-TAMILS.
AND THEREFORE ALL TAMILS ARE SINHALA-TAMILS.

Proof
 Sinhala Tamil names of new generation
	Ex. 1 	
		Ravindiran - Tamil name
		Ranjith - Sinhala name
		Suresh - Moslem name

	Ex 2.
		Ranjan - Sinhala name
	 	Muttiah - Tamil name
	


Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: srasaret@nyx.cs.du.edu (Suresh Rasaretnam)
Subject: English as the main language
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 20:18:05 GMT


      HI all sri-lanka netters... .... I am proposing to make  English the
official language..... then all the troubles will be over, what do you
think....at the present time we are spending about 12% of  our national
budget on defence.....                
                                            bye...... apple mac is the
best..
s

Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: mvishnu@bcr3.uwaterloo.ca (Meenan Vishnu)
Subject: Re: English as the main language
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 20:22:08 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.171243.19974@cunews.carleton.ca> cs304001@scs.carleton.ca (Chulaka Ailapperuma) writes:
>In article <1992Oct5.201805.16911@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> srasaret@nyx.cs.du.edu (Suresh Rasaretnam) writes:
>>
>>      HI all sri-lanka netters... .... I am proposing to make  English the
>>official language..... then all the troubles will be over, what do you
>>think....at the present time we are spending about 12% of  our national
>>budget on defence.....                
>>                                            bye...... apple mac is the
>>best..
>>s
>
>Sorry my friend, but this is not the solution. If english was
>the official language we would have a class war in our hands
>instead of a ethnic war.
>
>A Federated govn'mnt is the solution.


Quite true.  I feel that one of the best thing SL politicians (some of 
whom were extremely far-sighted except for the ethnic issue) did to the
country.  The country enjoys more literacy and per-capita income than our
huge neighbor.  Some of the other achievements include: free education from
class 1 to univ. level, free medical care to all citizens etc, which 
many developing nations of that region can only dream of.

Meenan Vishnu 




Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: mvishnu@bcr3.uwaterloo.ca (Meenan Vishnu)
Subject: Re: Sinhala script.....
Keywords: script
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:10:56 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.200049.18475@u.washington.edu> sri@milton.u.washington.edu (Kandiah Sribalaskandarajah) writes:
>In article <6039@arccs1.fed.FRB.GOV> m1pkd00@fed.frb.gov (Prasad K. Dharmasena) writes:
>>I have not seen much similarity between Tamil and Sinhala scrips.  It
>>would be surprising, however, if there is none.  BTW, do all Indo-Euro-
>>--
>>Prasad Dharmasena      Internet: <pkd@fed.FRB.GOV>     UUCP: <uunet!fed!pkd>
>
>Well, one of my sinhala teachers, used to insist that learning sinhala 
>scripts is very easy for a person who knows tamil scripts. According to
>him, all you have to do is remove the corners in the tamil script,
>to get the sinhala script. :-) He infact proved this by induction,
>beginning with, mana -> mayanna, pana -> payanna, yana -> yayanna, dana ->
>dayanna, etc.. :-) Of course, after a few examples, he said "similarly,....".
>
>
>sri

Yes, I agree with Sri's Sinhala teacher.  Although I do not know Sinhalese,
I have observed similarities with the Tamil scripts.  (see Tamil 'ka' vs
Sinhalese 'ka', Similarly for 'ya', 'pa' etc).   I have been told that 
Sinhalese scripts are easier to write because of its curves than the
straight lines of Tamil script.

How about the similarites in grammer ? Can someone who knows both languages
comment on this ?

Meenan Vishnu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: (plot)
Subject: relaxzation
Keywords: suLai,do not be silly,get a life,stay cool,land mined,kitchen darling
          that's all
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 12:57:04 GMT

\(TAMIL)
Izham enpathu nam thaaytthiru naadu
eLil mikuntha iyaRkai kaar niRaintha nan naadu
maanikka mutthukaLum maanpuRu kaadsikaLum
manathaik kavarnthidum naadu
maanikka mutthukaLum maanpuRu kaadsikaLum
manathaik kavarnthidum naadu

nuvareliyaa pokavanthalaa kaNdi kampaLai
thEyilaiyaal ponviLaiyum poompozhil sOlai
sivanoli paathamalai thalathaa maaLikaiyum
therinthidum maamalai naaddil
sivanoli paathamalai thalathaa maaLikaiyum
therinthidum maamalai naaddil

thamizh Izham enRu sonnaal thEnsuvaiyooRum
panaikaarum pukaiyilaiyum onRaaka vaLarum
kanthanin nalloor kaNdu kadalkaar niRaiya uNdu
kalaikaar perukuthu aNGku
kanthanin nalloor kaNdu kadalkaar niRaiya uNdu
kalaikaar perukuthu aNGku

kOnESvarar kOyil koNda thirumalai UrE
raavanESar NYaapakamum varukuthu aNGkE
kiNNiyaa vennIr URRum kalamkarai oLiviLaNGkum
iyaRkai dam idam thaanE
kiNNiyaa vennIr URRum kalamkarai oLiviLaNGkum
iyaRkai dam idam thaanE

mIn paadum thEn naadu kizhakkilE uNdu
puli kaar pEsaalai mannaaril uNdu
madumalai naayakiyum maanpudan pavanivarum
thulaNGkum kaadsiyum uNdu
madumalai naayakiyum maanpudan pavanivarum
thulaNGkum kaadsiyum uNdu

sIkiriyaa polanaRuvai anuraapuramum
thampulla vilpatthum kathai pala sollum
kanthaLaay initthidumE kallOyaa mayaNGkiduthE
kaNkaLaal kaaNa azhaikkuthE
kanthaLaay initthiduthE kallOyaa mayaNGkiduthE
kaNkaLaal kaaNa azhaikkuthE

thalai nakaraam yaazhppaaNatthil naakarIkamum kaNdu
madisaarO sElaiyO kaadsikaL uNdu
kaaNaatha puthumaikaLai kaaNalaam maa nakaril
paarIr yaazhppaaNa nakaraiyE
kaanaatha puthumaikaLai kaaNalaam maa nakaril
paarIr yaazhppaaNa nakaraiyE

new rich bridegroom
thayanantha be loved

P S: little more strictly for tamizhs warning
     be serious include 3.

p s: bloody nonsense ni
     just curious to be one

     Sumeet Hingorani :=: diana standing there down 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: (Balasundaram)
Subject: correction with that poem 
Keywords: thaya
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 18:31:46 GMT

\(TAMIL)
ilaNGkai enpathu nam thaaytthiru naadu
eLil mikuntha iyaRkai vaLam niRaintha nal naadu
maanikka mutthukaLum maanpuRu kaadsikaLum
manathaik kavarnthidum naadu
maanikka mutthukaLum maanpuRu kaadsikaLum
manathaik kavarnthidum naadu

nuvareliyaa pokavanthalaa kaNdi kampaLai
thEyilaiyaal ponviLaiyum poompozhil sOlai
sivanoli paathamalai thalathaa maaLikaiyum
therinthidum maamalai naaddil
sivanoli paathamalai thalathaa maaLikaiyum
therinthidum maamalai naaddil

yaazhppaaNam enRu sonnaal thEnsuvaiyooRum
panaivaLamum pukaiyilaiyum onRaaka vaLarum
kanthanin nalloor kaNdu kadalvaLam niRaiya uNdu
kalaivaLam perukuthu aNGku
kanthanin nalloor kaNdu kadalvaLam niRaiya uNdu
kalaivaLam perukuthu aNGku

kOnESvarar kOyil koNda thirumalai UrE
raavanESan NYaapakamum varukuthu aNGkE
kanniyaa vennIr URRum kalaNGkarai oLiviLaNGkum
iyaRkai thuRaimukam thaanE
kanniyaa vennIr URRum kalaNGkarai oLiviLaNGkum
iyaRkai thuRaimukam thaanE

mIn paadum thEn naadu kizhakkilE uNdu
eNNai vaLa pEsaalai mannaaril uNdu
madumalai naayakiyum maanpudan pavanivarum
maNGkaatha kaadsiyum uNdu
madumalai naayakiyum maanpudan pavanivarum
maNGkaatha kaadsiyum uNdu

sIkiriyaa polanaRuvai anuraapuramum
thampulla vilpatthum kathai pala sollum
kanthaLaay initthidumE kallOyaa mayakkiduthE
kaNkaLaal kaaNa azhaikkuthE
kanthaLaay initthiduthE kallOyaa mayakkiduthE
kaNkaLaal kaaNa azhaikkuthE

thalai nakaraam kozhumpil naakarIkamum kaNdu
minminiyO miniminiyO kaadsikaL uNdu
kaaNaatha puthumaikaLai kaaNalaam maa nakaril
paarIr kozhumpu nakaraiyE
kaanaatha puthumaikaLai kaaNalaam maa nakaril
paarIr kozhumpu nakaraiyE
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
From: mvishnu@bcr3.uwaterloo.ca (Meenan Vishnu)
Subject: Sinhala Fonts
Originator: mvishnu@bcr3.uwaterloo.ca
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 15:56:20 GMT



Recently there was an enquiry about Sinhala Fonts in the net.

I know of one company in Toronto Canada which produces a variety of
beautiful Sinhala fonts in Postscript.  If anyone is interested 
I can find more about it.  One can use these fonts for Macs and IBM PC
with Windows.  The same company produced various other Indian languages
including Tamil. 

Meenan Vishnu
Xref: sparky soc.culture.sri-lanka:1100 soc.culture.indian:32596
From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
Subject: Re: M. Rothbard on US involvement
Organization: Enea Data AB
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 20:40:30 GMT

Stevan Vidic (stevan@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu) writes:
>Moreover, would you, Sharon, have the chutzpah to tell all those widows,
>mothers, and sisters of US soldiers killed in the Gulf that deaths of their
>husbonds, sons, and brothers were justified because the most powerful country
>in the world had a moral obligation to defend the new world order?

Given what I know about Sharon's opinion on the Gulf war, this
paragraph is hihgly inappropriate, and if Stevan Vidic is a
gentleman he would ask for apologies for it.

One fact deserves to be mentioned: the number of killed in the Gulf war
was lower than what you could have expected if this enourmous number 
of soldiers had stayed at home instead of spending six months in 
Saudi-Arabia.

Not that this is any comfort to those lost someone in the war.

And neither is there any probability that an operation in B-H
would be equally saved from human losses.

>If this is supposed to impress me with credentials, it doesn't.  Does anyone
>happen to know who this Sharon Machlis Gartenberg is and what her credential
>regarding military affairs are?

I know Sharon through many insightful and open-minded articles on
the development in ex-Yugoslavia and elsewhere, and I have full
respect for her, although in the issue on military intervention
in B-H I do not agree with her.
-- 
Erland Sommarskog - ENEA Data, Stockholm - sommar@enea.se
There are many sorts of Macedonians: Greek, Bulgarian, Roumanian, Macedonian...
From: svedja@lysator.liu.se (Dejan Ilic)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
Subject: Re: Bosnet
Date: 30 Sep 92 13:50:32 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
Organization: Lysator Academic Computer Society, Linkoping University, Sweden

hozo@math.lsa.umich.edu (Iztok Hozo) writes:


>	
>	Bosnet is a network which differs from this group mainly 
>	in concept, by trying to be more informative and less
>	discussion oriented network. If you are interested in subscribing
>	to this network (posting mostly in Bosnian and some English)
>	send a message to Iztok Hozo at hozo@math.lsa.umich.edu.
>	If you want only English version of the news please specify so.
>		


Please explain what you mean with "Bosnian" (language?)   ???
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna
From: deniz@mandolin.ctr.columbia.edu (Deniz Akkus)
Subject: Re: Raja i Papci
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 21:56:30 GMT
X-Posted-From: mandolin.ctr.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <Sep.26.02.03.37.1992.15057@andromeda.rutgers.edu> pshane@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Ana M. Shane) writes:
 >
>"Raja" - a turkish word designating non-turkish inhabitants of the
>territories under the Ottoman Empire. Usually poor, disempowered,
>peasants who didn't have any great if any rights. Consequently,
> "raja" is "us" the people. In this context, comming from the
>citizens of the besieged Sarajevo, "raja" are the helpless
>inhabitants who do not have any power to decide about their
>own life and death. "Raja" are the victims, the "good guys".
>

Just for clarification -- raja or reaya in Turkish orthography is not
a Turkish word, the origin is Arabic.  Although you are right in the
sense that the word has made its way into the Balkans via Turkish.  

The Ottoman Empire was organized not on a national basis, but on the
basis of religion.  Reaya refers to the Non-Islamic people of the book,
not non-Turkish.  So the term reaya during the Ottoman Empire would
cover the Christian and Jewish population of the Balkans, but the
Bosnian Muslims would not be considered reaya for tax purposes.  The
reaya were distinguished from the muslims by higher taxes(cizye?),
exclusion from military service, a levy of boys for the Janissary
(Yeniceri) order, and especially later, the right to be judged in a
non-islamic court of law if both parties were non-Muslim.  In terms of
government posts, the reaya, if they do not convert could only serve in
their own province I believe.  

An interesting note is that of all the Muslim population of the Ottoman 
Empire, the Bosnian Muslims were the only ones not exempt from the levy
of boys, although the founding rules of the Yeniceri Ocagi states that
the levy of boys will be derived from strictly non-Muslim population of
the empire.  I don't know how this came about.  

regards, 
Deniz Akkus deniz@ctr.columbia.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bosna-herzgvna