TAMILS OF JAFFNA

The following are some useful extracts from Dr. Karthigesu Indrapalas PhD
thesis on Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon, University of London 1965.
Until the ninth century, with the exception of the megalithic remains of
pomparippu and the possible exception of those of Katiraveli, there is no
definite evidence regarding and Dravidian settlement in the island. (page 51)
No definite evidence regarding any significant Tamil settlement in the
Batticaloa district of the Eastern Province, or in other parts of Southern Ceylon
has so far come to light. It is possible that there were some Tamil settlers in the
Battialoa district from the thirteenth century onwards; we get archeological,
epigraphic and literary evidence pointing to Tamil settlements in the area. (page
233)
It may be recollected that several writers on the history of Jaffna, basing their
studies on the traditional legends found in the late Tamil chronicles, have put
forward certain theories claiming the establishment of Tamil settlements in Jaffna
in the period of the Anuradhapura rulers. These theories are not accepted by

serious students of history as they are not based on trustworthy data. Many of these
have been convincingly dismissed by scholars in recent years.
It is therefore, not our intention to analyze these theories and take serious notice of
writings which at best could be described as popular. (page 266)
Jaffna peninsula does not help us to know anything about the identity of the people
who lived there in the pre-Christian centuries.
The Pali chronicle informs us that the port of Jambukola (Camputturai), on the
eastern cost of the peninsula, was the main port of embarkation to Tamralipti in
Eastern India from at least the time of King Devanampriya Tissa (250-210 B.C.).
The two embassies from the island to the court of Asoka embarked on their voyage
from Jambukola. Sangamitta arrived with the Bo-sapling at this port.
The Samudda-panna-sala, commemorating the arrival of the Bo sapling, and the
Jambukola Vihara were built there by Devanampriya Tissa. These facts only reveal
that the northern most part of the island was under the suzerainty of the
Anuradhapura king in the third century B.C. and that Buddhism had begun to
spread by that time in that part of the island as in the other parts. But it is in the
second century AD that we get some evidence regarding the people living there.
The language of the gold plate inscription from Vallipuram, the earliest epigraphic
record discovered in the Jffna peninsula, is the early form of Sinhalese, in which
inscriptions of the time in other parts of the island were written.
This may suggest that the Sinhlese were settled in the Jaffna peninsula, or in some
parts at least, in the second century A.D. There were perhaps Tamil traders in the
port of Jambukola but there is no evidence that points to Tamil settlements in the
peninsula. (page 268)
The gold plate from Vallipuram reveals that there were Buddhists in that part of
the peninsula in the second century A.D. At the site of this inscription the
foundations are in the premises of a modern Visnu temple. There is little doubt that
the Visnu temple was the original Buddhist monument converted in to a Vaisnava
establishment at a later date when Tamils settled in the area.
Such conversion of Buddhist establishments into Saiva and Vaisnava temples
seems to have been a common phenomenon in the peninsula after it was settled by
Dravidians.
In the premised of another Visnu temple at Moolai were discovered some vestiges
of ancient remains of walls and a broken sedent Buddha image. Again in a Saiva
temple at Mahiyapitti a Buddha image was found under a stone step in the temple
tank. A lime-stone Buddha image and the remains of an ancient dagaba were
unearthed at Nilavarai, in Navakiri.

Among the debris were two sculptured fragments of shaped coral stones with a
stone railing design.
According to D.T.Devendra, who conducted the excavation at this site, the dagaba
can be dated at least to the tenth century A. D. Near these ruins are the foundations
of an ancient building and in the middle of thesis a modern Siva temple. It has been
conjectured, and rightly so, that the old foundations are those of the vihara attached
to the ancient dagaba.
Buddha images have also been discovered in Uduvil, Kantarodai and Jaffna town.
Kantarodai has yeilded very important Buddhist establishment in the region in
early times.
Such artifacts as the glazed tiles and the circular discs discovered here have helped
to connect the finds with those of Auradhapura.
The Sinhala Nampota, dated in its present form to the fourteenth or fifteenth
century, preserved the names of some of the placed of Buddhist worship I the
Jaffna peninsula, Kantarodai is mentioned among these places. The others are
Nagakovila (Nakarkovil), Telipola (Tellippalai), Mallagama (Mallakam),
Minuwangomu Viharaya (Vimankaram). Tanjidivayina
(Tana-tivu or kayts), Nagadivayina (Nkativu or Nayinatovu). Puvangudivayina
(Punkutu-tivu) and Kradivayina (Karaitivu).
Of the Buddhist establishments in these places only the vihara and Dagabo at
Nakativu have survived to this day. It is justifiable to assume that the Nampotalist
dates back time when the Buddhist establishments of these places were well known
centres of worship. This was probably before the thirteenth century, for after this
date the people of the Jaffna peninsula were mainly Saivas.
The foregoing evidence points to the inevitable conclusion that in the
Anuradhapura period, and possibly till about the twelfth century, there were
Buddhists in the Jaffna peninsula.
Although it may appear reasonable to presume that these Buddhists were Sinhalese
like those in other parts of the island, some have tried to argue that they were
Tamils. While it is true that there were Tamil Buddhists in South India and Ceylon
before the twelfth century and possibly even later, there is evidence to show that
the Buddhists who occupied the Jaffna peninsula in the Anuradhapura period were
Sinhalese.
We refer to the toponymic evidence which unmistakably points to the presence if
Sinhala settlers in the peninsula before Tamils settled there.
In an area of only about nine hundred square miles covered by this peninsula, there
occur over a thousand Sinhalese place names which have survived in a Tamil garb.

(page 270-273)
The Yalppana-vaipava-malai, the Tamil chronicle of Jaffna, confirms this when it
states that there were Sinhalese people in Jaffna at the time of the first Tamil
colonisation of the area.
Secondly, the survival of Sinhalese elements on the local nomenclature indicates a
slow and peaceful penetration of Tamils in the area rather than violent occupation.
This is in contrast with the evidence of the place names of the North Central
Province, where Sinhalese names have been largely replaced by Tamil names. The
large percentage of Sinhalese element and the occurrence of Sinhala and Tamil
compounds in the place names of Jaffna point to a long survival of the Sinhala
population and an intimate intercourse between them and the Tamils.
This is also, borne out by the retention of some territorial names, like Valikamam
(Sinhala- Valigama) and Maracci (Maracci-rata), which points to the retention of
the old territorial divisions and tell strongly against wholesale extermination or
displacement of the Sinhalese population.. (page 276)
The earliest evidence regarding the presence of Tamils in the Jaffna peninsula is
possible from the Tamil inscription of Parakramabahu I (1153 - 1186) from
Nainativu. We have seen earlier that till about the ninth century our evidence
points to minor settlements of Tamils in such important ports as Mahatitha
(Mannar) and Gokanna (Trincomalee) as well as in Anuradhapura, where there
were considerable number of mercenary soldiers.
In the ninth and tenth centuries some villages in Rajarattha seem to have
accommodated Tamil settlers but these were by no means numerous. it seems
unlikely that there were many Tamil settlers in the Jaffna peninsula or in any part
of the island other that the major ports and the capital city before the tenth century.
As we stated earlier, there were perhaps some Tamil traders in the ports of
Jambukola and Uratota, in the Jaffna peninsula. But we have no evidence on this
point.. (page 282)
The Sanskrit inscription from Trincomalee, discovered among the ruins of the
Konesvram temple, refers to a personage names Cadaganga who went to Ceylon
in1223. Paranavitana had identified this person with Kulakkottan.
The inscription is fragmentary and is engraved on a part of a stone door jamb.
Among the decipherable words is the name Gokarna, the ancient name of
Trincomalee and the root from which the name of the temple is derived
(Gokarnesvara). (page 331)
In the Tamil Vanni districts only a few Dravidian style Saiva temples of the
thirteenth century have been found. Among these the temples at Tirukkovil,

Kapuralla, and Nallatanni-irakkam and the Saiva remains at Uruttirapuram and

Kuruntanur are notable.
These certainly indicate the existence or Tamil settlements in those places in the
thirteenth century.
But monumental remains of a different type attest to the destruction wrought by the
invaders and the conversion of Buddhist institutions in to places of Saiva worship,
effected by the new settlers, thus confirming the statements in the Sinhala sources.
The many scattered ruins of Buddhist monasteries and temples all over the Vanni
region preserve the memory of the Sinhalese Buddhist settlements that once
covered these parts.
Several of the pilima-ges (image houses) attached to the monasteries in places like
Kovilkadu, Malikai, Omantai, Kankarayan-kulam, Iracentirankulam,Cinnappuvaracankulam and Madukanda were converted into Saiva tempels,
often dedicated to Ganesa.
Buddha images or inscribed slabs from the Buddhist structures were used to make
the Ganesa statues (J.P. Lewis, Manual of the Vanni Districts, pp. 297, 303-306,
311).
A number of small Saiva shrines have been found in association with Buddhist
remains. The destruction of several of the Buddhist edifices and the conversion of
pilima-ges into Saiva temples may have begun at the time of Magha.
In the North Central Province too, we find evidence of such activities. On
Minneriya Road, close to Polonnaruwa, were discovered a few Saiva edifies which
were build of materials from Buddhist structures.
A door jamb from one of the Saiva shrines there was found to bear part of an
inscription of Parakramabahu 1.
A broken pillar shaft with Sinhalese writing of the tenth century was recovered
from the enclosing wall of another shrine.
In one of the Visnu temples of Polonnaruwa, fragments of Nissankamallas stone
inscriptions were found. In the same place, two fragments of a broken pillar with
Sinhalese writing about the tenth century served as steps o one of the Vaisnava
shrines.
A pillar in the mandapa of Siva Devale No. 5 at Polonnaruwa was discovered with
a Sinhala inscription of the eleventh century on it. In Siva Devale No.7 a square
stone asana with an inscription of Nissankamalla was used as a base for a linga.

Another of the Saiva shrines unearthed at Polonnaruwa yeilded a pillar with a

Sinhalese inscription of Jayabahu 1.
These examples leave us in no doubt that materials from Buddhist structures were
used in the building of Saiva and Vaisnava temples.
The date of most inscriptions found on the pillars and slabs is the twelfth century.
The date of the construction of these Saiva and Vaisanava shrines is certainly later
than that. (page 361-364)
The invasion of Kalinga Magha with the help of Kerala and Tamil mercenaries was
far more violent than the earlier invasions. Its chief importance lies in the fact that
it led to the permanent dislodgement of Sinhalese power from northern Ceylon, the
confiscation by Tamils and Keralas of lands and properties belonging to the
Sinhalese and the consequent migration of the official class and many of the
common people to the south western regions. (page 395-396).
The Author:
Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala, a Sri Lankan Tamil, had his early education in Jaffna and
later joined the academic staff of the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, in the late
fifties after obtaining a Honours Degree in History from the same University.
In 1965 he was awarded the Ph D by the University of London, for his research on
"Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon and the beginnings of the Jaffna Kingdom",
which he did at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
The choice and approval of this subject was based on the fact that no reliable
research had been done on the Dravidian/South Indian migrations to SriLanka
before the tenth century.
On his return to Sri Lanka Indrapala was appointed to the academic staff of the
History Department of the Jaffna campus. When the substance of his thesis
regarding early Dravidian settlements came to be known from his lectures, talks
and articles, he became very unpopular with the Tamil extremists and nonacademic Tamil historians. Itis probably for this reason that he left the University
and migrated to Australia, and it is also why this valuable thesis remains
unpublished.
Non-academic Tamil historians such as C Rasanayagam, C S Navaratnam and Fr
Gnanapragasar who has written on the Jaffna Kingdom, which emerged in the
twelfth century had made unhistorical assumptions of the period before that date
based on the early legendary and mythical sections of the Tamil Ylpana Vaipava
Malai.
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