This five-volume set covers the ethnic divisions, cultural history, political relations, and economic challenges of Sri Lanka since it became an independent state. The principal communities, the Sinhalese and the Tamils; principal religions, Hinduism and Buddhism; and the cultural group of the Plantation Tamils figure prominently in the turmoil and ethnic tension that has plagued the island. As the Plantation Tamils are perceived as a surrogate of Indian influence and "usurpers of the soil," this history reveals that many of the problems in the relations between India and Sri Lanka during the five decades since independence are also manifest in the tensions within the Sri Lankan ethnic groups.