Historical reasons.
I will sum up and produce the chronolgy of religious believes prevailed in Indian Subcontinent for last 25 centuries. You may relate it with the time line and Ceylon.
From 5th BCE: Sri Lankas religious believes is in line with the religious believes of Southern Peninsula till 1st or 2nd century - Vishnu, Murugan, Varunan, Indran, Sakthi(pre Vedic).
Gradually the rulers came under the influence of Vedic beliefs. Kashmir Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism come into existance like in other parts of subcontinent.
First Five Centuries: When ritual based Sakthism / Kula form of worship (a sect of Hinduism) were attacked by a revolt of the masses, the Shramanic religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Ajvika become prominant in Eastern India and slowly spread in Southern Peninsula and South East Asian Countries including Sri Lanka.
The priests performing rituals were executed and endowments to temples were stopped. Buddhist Monks and Jain Munis ensured that the animal and human sacrifices are stopped completely through monitoring from nearby hillock beds.
6th to 13th Centuries in Southern Peninsula excluding Sri Lanka : The revival of Saivism and Sri Vaisnavism in the sub continent was lead by Bhakti Movement of 12 Azhwars and 64 Nayanmars of Tamil country upto Himalayas. With their efforts, the Prakrit, Sanskrit as court languages were replaced by Tamil and Sanskrit and Saivism and Sri Vaisnavism replaced Buddhism and Jainism. In a new found avatar, Sri Vaishnavism ensured that there is no animal sacrifice and the Azhwars are from all communities.
These movements did not touch the Island at all. Buddhism continued in Island.
Indian Peninsula Rule in SE Asia to spread Hinduism/ Murugan Worship:
Raja Raja Chozhan (10–11th c);
Devaraya II (15th c)of Vijayanagara Sangama Dynasty
Kumara Krishnappa Naicker (16th c) of Madurai Naicker Kingdom
13th to 17th Century: 13th Century saw the North India bambarded by Islamic invasions. South also faced invasion but their Emperors bounced back without much damage. The turkish invasion and destruction of Temples in Madurai, Sri Rangam and Kanchi lead to the formation of a powerful Hindu empire at Hampi, (present day Karnataka).
15th century saw the emergence Murugan Worship with the effort of Prauda Devaraya of Sangama Vira Shaiva Dynasty of Vijayanagara and Arunagirinathar a Tamil mystic spreading it in South East Asian countries to replace Budhdhism. He himself traded the path to Kataragama.
You may read Kataragama, Sri Lanka history here:
Unfortunately due to subsequent weak rulers of Sangama Dynasty, Murugan worship failed to take deep roots in South East Asian countries.
After the Sangama Dynasty of Vijayanagara, the other dynasties are Sri Vaisnavites and are secular towards others religions.
During Vijayanagara Rule, Saivism and Vaisnavism dominated. It is one of the Golden periods of Temple Architect in Southern Peninsula. Damaged temples of invaders were rebuilt and new structures built and existing structures were expanded by Vijayanagara Kingdom, Madurai and Tanjavur Naickers.
18th to 19th Century: It is a chaos in Southern Peninsula- full of conflicts among Local Polygars of Kandy, Madurai, Chenji, Marathas, Nawabs, Dutch, Portuguese, British and French.
Mohan N R's answer to Were the Nayakkar kings of Kandy both Hindu and Buddhist at the same time?
In Southern Peninsula, Christianity and Islam co-existed with majority Saivism and Vaisnavism (together were over 88% in Tamil Nadu). Christians are mainly concentrated in Southern districts - Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin, Kerala and Northern Island.
Post Independence: The trauma of the partition did not impact South when India was granted Independence in 1947. There was no sectarian violence against various religions. There had always been an atmosphere of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence between all religions.
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