Why did Sri Lanka not join India?

为什么斯里兰卡不并入印度？

以下是Quora网友的评价：

Dr. Balaji Viswanathan

Ethnically, Sri Lanka was never a part of India. Same is the case with Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bhutan and other nearby countries. India for all its diversity on the surface, is a single ethnicity with a strong level of commonality. Peel under the surface of India’s diversity and you would see one common stem that connects across space and time. Kings as far south as Cholas or as far east as Kamarupa kept with the common culture and had deep relationships with the kingdoms of the Gangetic core.

Thus, while Myanmar, Sri Lanka and a few other places such as Aden in Yemen were all colonized by the British, ethnically it never made sense to combine those with India.

从种族上讲，斯里兰卡从来都不算印度的一部分。缅甸、阿富汗、不丹和其他周边国家也都如此。印度虽然表面上具有丰富的多样性，但它其实是一个具有强烈共性的民族。剥开印度多样性的表面，你会看到一个跨越空间和时间的共同脉络。南至乔拉斯，东至迦摩茹巴的国王都维系着共同的文化，并与恒河核心的王国有着深厚的关系。

因此，虽然缅甸、斯里兰卡和其他一些地方，如也门的亚丁，都曾被英国殖民过，但从种族上讲，将这些地方与印度合并是没有意义的。

Devala Rees

Well… are you sure it didn’t?

Yes, at first glance, according to the census, Sri Lanka’s population is only 12.6% Hindu. Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist country, at 70.2% Buddhist. But what happens when you take a closer look at many of those Sri Lankan Buddhists?

你确定他们没有吗？

是的，乍一看，根据人口普查数据，斯里兰卡人口中只有12.6%是印度教徒。斯里兰卡是一个以佛教为主的国家，70.2%的人口是佛教徒。但是，如果你仔细观察这些斯里兰卡佛教徒时，会发现什么？

I spent a month traveling around Sri Lanka, mostly in the southern regions, the least Hindu part of the country, since I was repeatedly warned the north was unsafe at the time. Hindu Devatas were on display everywhere. Most restaurants, shops, homes, and offices had prominently displayed altars to Ganesha, Shiva, Lakshmi, Vishnu, and/or Kataragama Deviyo (Murugan), along with Buddha. They clearly received regular ritual worship. The worship of these Hindu Devatas was highly prominent; I saw it every single day, being performed by Sinhala Buddhists. Shrines to Hindu Devatas also abounded on roadsides and even in the jungles.

我在斯里兰卡旅行了一个月，主要在南部地区活动，这里是斯里兰卡印度教徒最少的地区，因为当时别人一直警告我说北部不安全。印度教的神灵随处可见。大多数餐馆、商店、家庭和办公室都有明显的祭坛，供奉着象头神、湿婆、吉祥天女、毗湿奴和/或穆卢干，以及佛陀。对这些印度教天神的崇拜非常普遍；我每天都能看到僧伽罗佛教徒的表演。路边，甚至在丛林里，也有很多印度教天神的神龛。

I spoke with many Sinhala Buddhists, pretty much everywhere I stayed for the night and at many temples, beachside huts, etc., and expressed interest in their worship of the Devatas. Often, when they saw me pranam in respect to the altars and shrines, they asked me if I was Buddhist. When I said I was Hindu, the reaction was very consistent: they handwaved it and said something like “Oh, very similar,” clearly as if to say that in their mind there was little important difference. Many Sinhala Buddhists told me that they regularly worship the Hindu Gods (they themselves characterized them as “Hindu Gods”) for blessings, despite their being Buddhist. Multiple Buddhists told me that their main annual pilgrimage is to the great temple of Kataragama, a Hindu temple, to worship Murugan, whom they characterized as the main guardian deity of Sri Lanka. Again, they explicitly characterized this pilgrimage as a Hindu pilgrimage.

我在过夜的几乎每个地方，比如寺庙，海边小屋等，都和僧伽罗佛教徒聊天。我对他们对的提妲神的崇拜很感兴趣。他们看到我对着祭坛和神龛双手合十时，都会问我是不是佛教徒。当我说我是印度教徒时，他们的反应都是：“哦，非常相似”，显然是在说，在他们看来，两者没有什么重要的区别。许多僧伽罗佛教徒告诉我，虽然他们是佛教徒，但他们也崇拜印度诸神(他们自己也称这些神为“印度诸神”)，祈求保佑。不少佛教徒跟我说，他们每年主要的朝圣之旅就是去印度教寺庙卡塔拉迦玛的大寺庙朝拜穆卢干，他们认为穆卢干是斯里兰卡的主要守护神。他们明确地把这种朝圣描述为印度教朝圣。

One Sri Lankan woman - I don’t necessarily want to present her as representative, but just as an interesting case - said to me something like this: “We are Buddhists, we are supposed to be Buddhist in our main spiritual practice for Enlightenment, but mostly we worship the Hindu Gods for blessings in our lives.”

一位斯里兰卡妇女—她不一定是典型代表，但可以作为一个有趣的案例—对我说了这样的话：“我们是佛教徒，在我们主要的精神实践中，我们应该是佛教徒，但大多数情况下，我们也崇拜印度教的神，祈求神明保佑我们。”

Even many of the Buddhist temple compounds in Sri Lanka contain a mixture of Hindu temples along with Buddhist ones. For example, the ancient, sprawling stone Buddhist compound abutting the famous Temple of the Tooth (holding Gautama Buddha’s left canine tooth) contains two Hindu temples, one to Kalki and one to Pattini Devi. In another Buddhist temple compound that I visited in Negombo, there is a Vishnu shrine building. When I sat in front of it, a Buddhist monk came, opened the Vishnu shrine, invited me in, performed a 100% Hindu-style Puja to Vishnu, and tied a rakhi around my wrist, all without either of us saying a word to each other.

甚至斯里兰卡的许多佛教寺庙建筑群中也能看到印度教寺庙和佛教寺庙的混合。例如，古老的、庞大的石头佛教建筑群毗邻着著名的牙庙(保存着乔达摩佛的左犬牙)，其中有两座印度教寺庙，一座是卡尔基神庙，一座是帕蒂尼神庙。在我参观的尼甘布的另一个佛教寺庙建筑群中，也有一座毗湿奴神社建筑。当我坐在它前面时，一位佛教僧侣走过来，打开毗瑟奴神殿，邀请我进去，对着毗瑟奴做了一个100%印度教风格的礼拜，并在我的手腕上系了一条圣线，我们都没有跟对方开口说一句话。

In many areas I traveled through, I heard local legends from the Ramayana, about specific events that happened in that valley, at that cave, at that waterfall, all over the place. Sometimes whole villages are named in honor of Sita or other such Hindu figures.

Nowhere in Sri Lanka did I find Hindu temples scarce; everywhere I went, I came across Hindu temples I hadn’t known about. Most of them are not mentioned in guidebooks, since they are not seen as tourist attractions, but they are very much present and active.

在我走过的许多地方，我听到了《罗摩衍那》里的当地传说，讲述了发生在那个山谷、那个洞穴、那个瀑布等地的特别事件。有些村庄都是以西达或其他印度教人物来命名的。

在斯里兰卡，我发现印度教寺庙有很多；无论我走到哪里，都能看到我不知道的印度教寺庙。它们中的大多数在旅游指南中都没有提及，因为它们不会被当做旅游景点，但会非常热闹。

Part of what affects how people self-report their religious identity in the Sri Lankan census is that in Sri Lanka, the term “Hindu” is commonly seen as tied to Tamil ethnicity. If you ask a Sri Lankan “Are you a Hindu or a Buddhist,” you have already framed it as a binary choice. Most of them will say “Buddhist” simply because they are Sinhala, not Tamil, and in Sri Lanka everyone knows “Hindu” means Tamil and “Buddhist” means Sinhala. But their actual spiritual practices may be almost as much, or in some cases even more Hindu than Buddhist.

在斯里兰卡人口普查中，影响人们申报宗教信仰的部分原因在于，斯里兰卡境内通常把“印度教”一词和与泰米尔民族联系在一起。如果你问一个斯里兰卡人“你是印度教徒还是佛教徒”，你其实已经把这个问题框定成了一个二选一的问题。他们中的大多数人会说自己是“佛教徒”，因为他们是僧伽罗人，不是泰米尔人，在斯里兰卡，每个人都知道“印度教徒”代表的泰米尔人的意思，“佛教徒”代表的是僧伽罗人的意思。但斯里兰卡人的真实信仰可能几乎是印度教和佛教一样多，在某些情况下甚至比佛教更多。

Mahi

I’m Sri Lankan. I would be really happy If Sri Lanka to join India. But i’m sure many Sri Lankans would not think this as good idea for obvious reasons. If India joined Sri Lanka they can’t no longer show the uniqueness as they currently do.

Most likely Buddhist monks who behind the scene rule the country will loose power.

我是斯里兰卡人。如果斯里兰卡加入印度，我会非常高兴。但我敢肯定，出于显而易见的原因，许多斯里兰卡人不会认为这是个好主意，这样他们就无法再像现在这样保持独特性了。

最有可能的是，在幕后统治国家的佛教僧侣将失去权力。

An example of Sri Lankan monk reaction to joining India

Majority of the Sri Lankans are sinhala Buddhist and they fear Indian culture and Hinduism as their culture and religion is based on it.

Sri Lanka is obviously a well developed country than India in terms of human development index as a whole. so many economist and politicians will think this is extremely stupid idea.

我可以举一个斯里兰卡僧侣对斯里兰卡加入印度的反应的例子

大多数斯里兰卡人是僧伽罗佛教徒，他们害怕印度文化和印度教，因为他们的文化和宗教是基于印度文化和印度教。

就整体人类发展指数而言，斯里兰卡显然比印度更发达。因此，许多经济学家和政治家会认为这是一个极其愚蠢的想法。

Even India is not going to gain any thing by joining with Sri Lanka.

The best thing India has to do is working cohesively.

I still need to get the damn visa to visit India while I have the same culture. Why not give visa free to us?

印度自身也不可能通过和斯里兰卡合并获得任何好处。

印度要做的最好的事情就是团结一致。

虽然我们有着同样的文化，但我现在还是需要申请该死的签证才能访问印度。为什么不给我们豁免签证呢？

Vijay Simha

I am not in favor of Sri Lanka joining the Indian Union if the population does not favor this.

There are many examples in the world where islands situated just off the mainland are part of the same country.

如果斯里兰卡人民不喜欢，我不会赞成斯里兰卡加入印度联邦。

世界上也有很多这样的例子：临近大陆的某个岛屿成了同一个国家的一部分。

Some examples are:

Australia - Tasmania,

Canada - Prince Edward’s Island.

China - Macau

Greece - Crete,

Italy - Sicily

举一些例子吧：

澳大利亚—塔斯马尼亚

加拿大—爱德华王子岛

中国—澳门

希腊—克里特岛

意大利—西西里岛

However in the case of Sri Lanka we Indians need to steadfastly acknowledge their sovereignty and independence.

Despite the fact that Sri Lankans are ethnically speaking of Indian stock and follow an Indic religion and customs and, speak an Indic language, Sri Lanka, has historically been independent and has had a separate history from India, been colonized by different European powers at different times and administered separately by the British who began their rule in 1815.

Sri Lanka, or Ceylon, a Crown Colony, was not a part of British India.

但在斯里兰卡问题上，我们印度人需要坚定地承认他们的主权和独立。

尽管斯里兰卡人在种族上带有印度血统，遵循印度宗教和习俗，说印度语，但斯里兰卡历史上一直是独立的，与印度有着彼此独立的历史，在不同的时间被不同的欧洲列强殖民，并在1815年气被英国单独管理。

斯里兰卡（也名锡兰）是英国的直辖殖民地，不是英属印度的一部分。

India inherited only what was a part of British India after its independence. Sri Lankans, over the period of 100 years, identified themselves as different from Indians and hence their independence movement was separate from India's.

The relationship between India and Sri Lanka should be like the one between Australia and New Zealand.

印度在独立后只继承了英属印度的一部分。在100年的时间里，斯里兰卡人认为自己和印度人不同，因此他们的独立运动与印度的独立运动也是彼此独立的。

印度和斯里兰卡的关系应该像澳大利亚和新西兰一样。

The one thing we Indians can be thankful for is that Sri Lanka is not an Islamic fundamentalistic republic like Pakistan and it does not export terrorism to India or covet Indian territory.

In 1974 India recognized Sri Lankan ownership of the island on a conditional agreement which allowed fishermen from Tamil Nadu also to use it.

Sri Lanka abhors Islamic terrorism as much as India does and has suffered because of it.

我们印度人应该心怀感激的一件事是，斯里兰卡不是巴基斯坦那样的ysl原教旨主义共和国，它没有向印度出口恐怖主义，也没有觊觎印度领土。

1974年，印度根据一项有条件的协议承认斯里兰卡对该岛的所有权，允许泰米尔纳德邦的渔民也可拥有使用权。

斯里兰卡和印度一样憎恶ysl恐怖主义，深受其苦。

What India can hope for in the future is for land travel to become routine and easy between India and Sri Lanka in the same way it is between Denmark and Sweden via two bridges.

There should also be close economic, educational, and cultural co-operation and inflow of tourists both ways between the two countries.

Sri Lankan industrialists should be legally allowed to buy some land and set up industries in India and vice versa.

India should guarantee Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in return for Sri Lanka promising not to become a base for countries that are inimical to India like China or Pakistan.

This is the best relationship that is feasible at this point.

印度可以期盼的是，未来印度和斯里兰卡之间的陆路交通实现常规化、简便化，就像丹麦和瑞典两国通过两座桥自由往来一样。

两国之间还应该有密切的经济、教育和文化合作以及双边游客流入。

斯里兰卡实业家应该获得允许，可以在印度购买一些土地并建立工业，反之亦然。

印度应该保证斯里兰卡的主权，换取斯里兰卡不会成为中国或巴基斯坦等印度敌对国家的基地的承诺。

这是目前可行的最好的关系。

Violet Roy

It’s not really hate but more like annoyance. Indians are usually overly arrogant and patriotic. It’s cool that you like your country but don’t wave your flag in my face, you know what I mean? We hate that a lot of people consider India to be the ONLY country in South Asia. There are a ton of countries in South Asia and yet people always assume India’s the only country in the continent smh.

也说不上真的讨厌，就是觉得烦人。印度人通常非常傲慢，非常爱国。你喜欢自己的国家，这当然很好，但请不要在我面前挥舞你们的国旗，你明白我的意思吗？很多人认为印度是南亚唯一的国家，这真的很讨厌。南亚还有很多国家，但人们总是认为印度是这块大陆上唯一的国家。