A philosophical study on the reasons for resorting to illegal marriages in the Tamil community affected by the war: Based on the Vavuniya, Omanthai area

Abstract

Background: With the end of the oppressive war situation that lasted for thirty years in Sri Lanka, various problems began to emerge. One such problem can be identified as resorting to illegal marriages. A marriage system where a person has more than one spouse at a time with the consent of the parties concerned is defined as an illegal marriage. Here, it is divided into a woman marrying several men and a man marrying several women. The prevalence of Tamil communities in the Northern Province, which faced a dark era of thirty years, has been prominent in the last few decades. These marriages are primarily bound to matters such as love, feelings, sexuality, and rights. The main purpose of the research is to study the factors affecting the prevalence of illegal marriages in this particular Tamil society. Method: In this research conducted within the Vavuniya Omanthai police area, the interview method from a sample of ten people who directly faced the war was used as primary data, and methods such as Omanthai police complaints, internet information, and newspaper articles were used to collect data. Results: Primarily, illegal marriages could be identified as an internal factor in child abuse, women's rape, and various complaints in the Omanthai police complaints. Overall, among the factors represented by the research, it is shown that this community has been pushed towards illegal marriages based on the long-term impact of thirty years of war experience, mental conditions of being in camps after displacement, physical changes occurring due to hot environmental conditions, low literacy level, ignorance of general laws, consequences of entering the technological world, and impacts of physical environments, etc.. Conclusion: It was implied through the research data that constant problematic situations in the family environments of this community, and social, cultural, physical, and environmental factors linked to the camp mentality lead to such marriages.