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The LTTE developed an ideology of martyrdom to suit its own military purposes. This potent ideology is one major factor that accounts for the LTTE’s success because it motivates the entire organization. For those in the LTTE, one can achieve martyrdom in two ways. First, there is offensive martyrdom, which entails becoming a martyr by fighting the SLA on the battlefield or by participating in a suicide attack. Second, there is defensive martyrdom, which happens when a captured or wounded LTTE member bites the cyanide capsule and commits suicide.

Regardless of the manner by which the LTTE operative becomes a martyr, the member is hailed as abandoning his or her life for the greater cause of Tamil Eelam.

In Tamil, there are several words for ‘martyr’ and ‘martyrdom’ but the most common words are tiyaki (one who abandons) and tiyakam (abandonment). As Peter Schalk notes, “these concepts have been developed mainly in the 1980s and were officially promoted by the LTTE from 1989 onwards to rationalize armed and unarmed struggle, and personal and collective suffering in a specific historical situation of war in the process of state formation.”³⁴² While the LTTE appeals to the Western notion of the martyr, there is a dramatic difference between the LTTE’s understanding of martyrdom and the Western, Judeo-Christian notion of the martyr.

The word martyr is derived from Greek and means ‘to bear witness to.’ The Judeo-Christian martyr is one who endures unjust suffering and death yet remains faithful to his or her religion.

In this sense, the Judeo-Christian martyr is a passive actor. He or she is the recipient of death as a result of the religious beliefs he or she holds. Contrast this with the LTTE martyr who is an

342 Peter Schalk, “Resistance and Martyrdom in the Process of State Formation of Tamililam,” in Joyce Pettigrew ed., Martyrdom and Political Resistance. (Amsterdam: VU Press, 1997), 67.

active actor. The LTTE martyr has “not chosen like the Christian martyr to suffer in the mind the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. [Rather,] [h]e has taken up arms against a sea of troubles trying to end them by opposing them.”³⁴³ The tiyaki then “combines what is unthinkable for a martyr in the original Judeo-Christian tradition, [which is] to get killed in the very act of killing.”³⁴⁴ The concept of the tiyakam is rooted in the last section of the Bhagavada Gita and came into modern day usage during the Indian struggle against the British.³⁴⁵ It is useful to quote the final section of the Bhagavada Gita at length in order to identify the elements Pirabakaran borrows to create his ideology.

At the end of the Bhadavada Gita, Arjuna asks to be told “of the essence of renunciation, and the essence of surrender.”³⁴⁶ Krishna replies as follows:

“The renunciation of selfish works is called renunciation; but the surrender of the reward of all work is called surrender. Works of sacrifice, gift, and self-harmony should not be abandoned, but should indeed be performed for these are works of purification. But even these works, Arjuna, should be done in the freedom of a pure offering, and without expectation of a [personal] reward…[i]t is not right to leave undone the holy work which ought to be done. Such surrender of action would be a delusion of darkness. And he who abandons his duty because he has fear of pain, his surrender…is impure, and in truth he has no reward. But he who does the holy work, Arjuna, because it ought to be done, and surrenders selfishness and thought of reward, his work is pure and is peace. This man sees and has no doubts: he surrenders, he is pure and has peace.”³⁴⁷

343Ibid., 67.

344Ibid., 68. Emphasis added.

345 Peter Schalk, "On the Sacrificial Ideology of the Liberation Tigers," Article available online at www.tamilnation.org. Accessed on 6/26/2009. Article published November 24, 1993.

346The Bhagavada Gita, translated by Juan Mascaro, (London: Penguin Books, 1962), 79.

347Ibid. Emphasis added.

Pirabakaran draws two important themes from the text. First, tiyakam signifies abandonment, not inaction. In fact, Krishna tells Arjuna that works of sacrifice should be performed because they result in one’s spiritual purification. Similarly, the Tiger fighter must abandon the pleasures associated with civilian life and his individuality by embracing the Spartan and austere lifestyle of the LTTE and its quest for an independent Tamil Eelam. The Tiger existence, much like the bhakti tradition, is one of unyielding dedication and asceticism.³⁴⁸

Second, abandonment enables the Tiger to complete ‘the holy work which ought to be done.’ This sentence should be investigated with care. For Pirabakaran, the ‘work’ corresponds to the Tamil word cutantiram, which translates as ‘holy aim.’ This holy aim is at the very center of the LTTE’s movement and has strong religious undertones. The Tamil politician and leader Celvanayakam, drawing broadly from the Judeo-Christian tradition, introduced the term and linked it with the Tamil struggle.³⁴⁹ Celvanayakam saw how the term was associated with the Indian struggle for independence as it established a homology “between English colonization and the Indian freedom struggle.”³⁵⁰ In the same manner, cutantiram creates a homology between the oppressive Sinhala government and the Tamil struggle for an independent homeland. Not only is this ‘work,’ but also it is qualified as ‘holy.’ Therefore, the quest for a separate Tamil Eelam acquires religious importance and urgency.

348 Peter Schalk, “Resistance and Martyrdom in the Process of State Formation of Tamililam,” in Joyce Pettigrew ed.,66.

349 Peter Schalk, "Sacrillisation of Politics the by LTTE," (Tenemos, Vol. 33, 1997). Available online at www.tamilcanadian.com. Accessed on 6/26/2009.

350 Peter Schalk, “Resistance and Martyrdom in the Process of State Formation of Tamililam,” in Joyce Pettigrew ed., 63.

Giving the goal of Tamil Eelam a religious significance makes it a transcendental ideal and it is the ultimate incentive that compels Tiger men and women to sacrifice their lives.

Indeed, the holy aim is what every individual Tamil Tiger must strive for. According to the Bhagavada Gita, forsaking the holy aim is described as a ‘delusion of darkness,’ and an

‘impurity.’ The person who is not willing to make the required sacrifices is rebuked and called impure. As such, Pirabakaran views the tiyaki as “an outstanding living man [or woman] who has extraordinary mental and moral qualities that all amount to self-restraint.”³⁵¹ The ideology of martyrdom is focused on achieving the holy aim through the tiyaki’s immeasurable abandonment of life, or martyrdom, which is the force that will liberate Tamil Eelam.

The above discussion raises serious flaws with the argument, primarily espoused by political scientist Robert Pape, that the LTTE is a secular and areligious organization. Pape is quick to identify nationalism as the sole motive for an individual’s participation in a suicide attack. The problem with this is that he ignores the religious elements and symbols that are infused within the LTTE”s brand of nationalism. The concepts of tiyakam and cutantiram are integral features comprising Pirabakaran’s ideology of martyrdom. Simply put, Pape’s analysis suffers from an inability to enumerate and give adequate weight to the cultural, historical and religious factors found in Pirabakaran’s ideology of martyrdom. This leads anthropologist Michael Roberts to note “the facile manner in which Robert Pape and so many other scholars present the LTTE as ‘secular’ seems quite erroneous.”³⁵² Instead, the scholar and analyst should be aware that religion plays a significant influence in the creation of the LTTE’s ideology of

351Pirabakaran quoted in Ibid., 64.

352 Michael Roberts, "Blunders in Tigerland: Pape’s Muddles on 'Suicide Bombers' in Sri Lanka," (South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Working Paper No. 32, November 2007), 38.

martyrdom. The significance of Pape’s error is that he ignores a wellspring of symbols, culture and history that have motivated the Black Tigers. This type of analytical myopia can lead to a misdiagnosis of proper counterterrorism measures that must be taken to reduce and ultimately eliminate the motivating ideology of the insurgency. With this in mind, the next section addresses the manner in which the ideology is inculcated into its members.