| Burning of Jaffna Public Library | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Part of 1981 anti-Tamil pogrom | |||
 The Jaffna Public Library after burning | |||
| Date | 1 June 1981 | ||
| Location | 9°39′44″N 80°00′42″E / 9.6621°N 80.0118°E | ||
| Caused by | Ethnic tensions between Tamils and Sinhalese, ongoing civil war | ||
| Goals | Destruction of Tamil cultural symbols | ||
| Methods | Arson, Looting | ||
| Status | Concluded (Library was destroyed) | ||
| Parties | |||
| |||
| Lead figures | |||
Senior members of Sri Lankan government and military Tamil political and cultural leaders | |||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| |||
| Casualties (unclear if specific to the event) | |||
| Buildings destroyed | 1 (Jaffna Public Library) | ||
| The destruction of the library remains a symbol of ethnic tensions and the Sri Lankan Civil War's impact on Tamil cultural heritage. | |||
| Part of a series on |
| Sri Lankan Tamils |
|---|
The burning of the Jaffna Public Library (Tamil: யாழ் பொது நூலகம் எரிப்பு, Yāḻ potu nūlakam erippu; Sinhala: යාපනය මහජන පුස්තකාලය ගිනිබත් කිරීම, Yāpanaya mahajana pustakālaya ginibat kirīma) took place on the night of June 1, 1981, when an organized mob of Sinhalese individuals went on a rampage, burning the library.[1] It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century.[Term][2] At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts.[3][4]
The priest and scholar Rev. Fr. (Dr.) H. S. David died of shock the next day after seeing flames engulfing Jaffna Library from his room at St. Patrick's College, Jaffna the night before.[5][6]
- ^ "Burning Of The Jaffna Public Library: Whodunit?". Colombo Telegraph. June 1, 2014.
- ^ "Destroying a symbol" (PDF). IFLA. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
- ^ "Fire at Kandy public library". BBC News. Retrieved March 14, 2006.
- ^ Wilson, A.J. Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, p.125
- ^ "Appreciations:He died seeing the Jaffna library burn". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). June 1, 1997. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
- ^ "37 years on - remembering the burning of the Jaffna Public Library". Tamil Guardian. May 31, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2024.