Indians in Sri Lanka

According to the primary source Mahavamsa, number service groups from Pandyan kingdom in present-day Tamil Nadu accompanied the settlement of Anuradhapura by Prakrit speakers.

They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in coffee, tea and rubber plantations.

These Tamil-speakers mostly live in the central highlands, also known as the Malayakam or Hill Country yet others are also found major urban areas and in the Northern province.

In 1964 a large percentage were expatriated back to India but left a considerable number as stateless people.

Their decline was partly due to returning to India and some declaring themselves and being enumerated as Sri Lankan Moors.

Colombo Chetty are mostly Roman Catholics or Anglicans and are found in almost all niches of Sri Lankan society.

There have been many prominent Sri Lankans of Chetty Ancestry, the first Executive President J. R. Jayewardene among them, whose ancestors had become Sinhalised.

Bharathas also Bharatakula are a Sri Lankan caste of Paravar immigrants from Tamil Nadu in India.

Amongst Sri Lankan Tamils Paravar are still a fishing and trading caste although commonly confused with the Karaiyar.

The Bharatas or Bharatakula identity is maintained by a relatively prosperous merchant group from India that settled amongst the Sinhalese in the Negombo area.

Muthiah Muralidaran , popular Sri Lankan cricketer of Indian Tamil descent
J. R. Jayewardene , the first executive President of Sri Lanka.