From Island to Island: A Ceylon-Tamil Family’s Odyssey

My story begins with my earliest known ancestor named Thaninayaga Mudaliar. In the 14th Century he left South India, at the request of the King, to develop a group of seven islands off the North coast of Ceylon. This included the island of Analaitivu which my ancestors chose to inhabit. We have traced seven generations of my ancestors who lived and worked on the island. Their triumphs, romances and difficulties have been recorded. My father was 13 years old in 1910 when he left home to seek his fortunes in British Malaya. His parents, despite being Vellalar farmers, did not think that he ought to toil on the land like they and their forefathers had done for centuries. He later found work as a surveyor in Singapore where I was born. But he was always keen to return to retire on the island with his family. However, that did not happen for various reasons that are documented in this book. There were additional challenges for an immigrant family in the new island (Singapore) that he had chosen to live in and raise a family of seven children. Whilst his forefathers in Ceylon had to live under cruel colonial masters such as the Portuguese, my father had to navigate life under the harsh Japanese rule during World War II. Future generations must understand the various challenges our ancestors faced in the difficult journeys that they undertook.