KAMALIKA PIERIS
The Sinhala Buddhist lobby must now reverse this process of Tamilisation and re-establish the North and East as Sinhala and Buddhist. There are two stages in this venture. (i) Firstly recognition of the north and east as part of the ancient Sinhala Buddhist civilization. (ii) Re-establishing a Sinhala Buddhist civilization in the north and east.
In ancient times, the Northern Province and the Eastern province were Sinhala and Buddhist. They were part of the ancient Sinhala Buddhist civilization. There is plenty of evidence to support this. That evidence is well known and accepted. It is repeated here.
The Northern Province was an integral part of the Rajarata of the Anuradhapura kingdom. The Rajarata was divided into uttara passa (north) dakkhina, (south) pacina, (east) and pajjima (west). Uttara passa consisted of today’s Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, and Jaffna. Each division was ruled by officer appointed by king.
The North was a part of the Buddhist civilization of the Anuradhapura kingdom. Inscriptions show that Abhayagiri had monasteries outside Anuradhapura. Abhayagiri had monasteries at Kantarodai in Jaffna, and at Nedunkerni and Ottimalai in Vanni, said historian TG Kulatunge. Maha vihara also had monasteries in the north. The Kurundi attakatha was written at Kurundi vihara located in Mullaitivu.
The Northern Province was under the Sinhala king in the ancient and medieval periods. Periyakulam inscription says that during the time of Devanam Piyatissa, Vavuniya was ruled by ‘Naga’ and ‘Uti’ and Mannar was ruled by ‘Kana’. During the time of the Sinhala attakatha, the ruler of Nagadipa was under the Sinhala king, as diparaja.
In Vasabha’s time ((67-111 AD) Jaffna was ruled by Vasabha’s Minister Isigiri. Nelugala inscription indicated that a minister, also named, Asgiri administered the north under Bhatiya Tissa II (143-167) and Kanitta Tissa (167-186). The inscriptions in Ichchalampaththai (date not provided) show that these were Sinhala villages.
Sigiri Gee (5th-8th century) contains verses written by ‘Uturupasa vasi Samanal bati’ and ‘Uturupasa vasi Agalabati’. They wrote in Sinhala. Inscription of Kassapa IV ((898-914) at Kadurugoda said Kassapa was the ruler of the south as well as the north. Mannar pillar inscription of Kassapa IV has the term Mahaputu Laddan, which denotes officers attached to sea port. Amenities given to some villages are also mentioned .
The North continued to be under the Sinhala king after the Anuradhapura period ended. The capital moved to other places, such as Polonnaruwa, Gampola and Kotte but the Sinhala king kept the north under him, at least ceremonially, but also in practice.
The north and east was under the Sinhala king during the Portuguese and Dutch occupation. The Portuguese and Dutch possessions could not match the size of the Sitawaka kingdom. Mannar was a part of the Sitawaka kingdom. Kokila sandesaya (15th century) gives a route from Kotte to Jaffna via Mannar. During the time of Rajasinha I, (1581-93) Manamperi Mohottala administered Mannar.
The north and east continued to stay under the Sinhala king during the rule of the Udarata kings. The Udarata kingdom was much larger than Sitawaka kingdom. It was about three times the size of the Portuguese and Dutch possessions. Baldeus (1632-72) writing during the Dutch occupation, gave a list of places under the Sinhala king. It included Trincomalee, Mannar, Batticaloa and Jaffna.
Jaffna later went to the Dutch, but Trincomalee and Batticaloa harbors stayed with the Sinhala king. They were in use during the Udarata period. The emissaries from Britain, France and Denmark, coming to meet the Udarata king, arrived at the ports of Trincomalee and Batticaloa. In one instance, the Udarata king had sent pilots to guide the ships into Batticaloa harbor.
The Northern Province remained with Udarata until the kingdom came to an end in 1815. The north then went under British rule. The British administration announced that there had been a Buddhist civilization in the north. E.B.Denham said that around 1902, Buddhist images were unearthed at Kottiyawatta near Chunnakam. Buddha statues had been found in Mannar district.
Three researchers J. P. Lewis,(1895) Paul E. Pieris (1913) and B. Horsburgh (1916) who did archaeological investigations in the north, during the British administration, stated that the north had been Buddhist and Sinhala. Buddha statues had emerged all over the Jaffna peninsula. One was found in the village of Vallipuram in 1903, another in Chunnakam. In 1916, Horsburgh wrote ‘that the Sinhalese occupied the north portion of the mainland, which is now Tamil country, there is ample evidence carried in stone all over Mannar and Mullaitivu district to confirm this.
P.E.Pieris in 1913 investigated a mound at Chunnakam and found it to be a dagoba. It was the first dagoba to be found in Jaffna. Pieris then excavated at Kantarodai (Kadurugoda,) six miles southwest of Kankesanturai, adjoining Uduvil. He found a vast area containing mounds of dagobas.
“Kantarodai appeared to be a miniature Anuradhapura buried in Tamil country.”The site had been in use from about the 2nd century BC to about the 13th century AD. Pieris said that that Kantarodai, Uduvil and Chunnakam are in the centre of an extensive Buddhist ‘chunk’ located in the Valikamam division.
There was evidence of a huge building complex at Kantarodai. It had extended on to the adjoining lands as well. One building had a floor area of 56 feet by 36. A religious establishment of great importance had been established here, said Pieris. The complex was within a shout’s distance of Uduppili tank.
Pieris found several badly destroyed Buddha images at Kantarodai. A Buddha image of ‘heroic size’ was found abandoned, in sections, in a field. Another large Buddha statue measured nearly five and a half feet across the shoulders and weighed nearly three quarters of a ton. The size indicated ‘the high degree of sanctity once attached to this place’. Pieris renovated some of the dagobas at Kantarodai. . Total cost was Rs 100. Three acres of this complex were later declared an archaeological reserve and excavated further.
D.G.B de Silva (2002) stated that the complex would have extended well beyond the three acres of the reserve. The available stupas, which have not been precisely recorded, are clearly only a part of the total number of stupas in the original complex. The stupas are different to the usual stupas and merit closer examination, he said.
John M Senaveratne (1917) said that Vallipuram should also be investigated. There seems to be another centre of Buddhism there. Vallipuram had sand heaps with masses of broken blocks extending three miles in length. A beautiful Buddha image found at Vallipuram had been donated to the King of Siam by the British Governor in 1906.
Ceylon Observer of 14 October 1949 said that several images of the Buddha have also been found in the Mannar District. There is ample evidence carved in stone all over the Mannar and Mullaitivu districts that the Sinhalese had occupied these districts. Inside the Fort gateway at Mannar, for instance, was disinterred a stone which had for modern Mannar, where there are no Buddhists, a strange device, two hansa with interlocked necks-a Buddhist emblem. Mr. Lewis found Buddhist ruins at Vavuniya as well said this writer.
Evidence of Sinhala occupation extends beyond Buddhism to Sinhala settlements. The place names in the north also showed evidence of Sinhala occupation. B. Horsburgh published an essay on Sinhalese place names in the Jaffna Peninsula”, in the Ceylon Antiquary and Literary Register, 1916.
In Jaffna the evidence is in the place names,’ he said. At least thirty of the place names in Jaffna were Sinhala in origin. He pointed out that Tamil place names which ended in ‘kalappu’, ‘vattei’, ‘palai’, ‘kam’, ‘pai’ and ‘vil’ were meaningless in Tamil. ‘Vil’ is bow in Tamil, ‘pai’ is net or sail.
However the names made sense when they were seen as translation of Sinhala names. Valikamam and Vimankam have no meaning in Tamil but made sense as the Tamilised versions of Weligama and Vimangama. Chunnakam was Hunugama, Kokkuvil was Kokavila, Uduvil was Uduvila, Tanankalapu was Tanankalapuwa, Saravattai was Sarawatte and Manipai was Mampe.
P.E.Pieris agreed. He said in 1917 that a chain of Sinhala place names, like Tellipalam, Vimankam, Chunnakam .Valikamam and Kokuvil can be seen in the Jaffna division, going up to Kankesanturai.
The north also showed evidence of Sinhala occupation in the way cattle were branded. The system of branding cattle so that the position and the family of the owner could be traced is peculiarly Sinhala, said C Rasanayagam in Ancient Ceylon (1926.)
Another way of showing that the North and East was ruled by the Sinhala king was by comparing the language and script in northern inscription and those elsewhere in the island, said Ven. Ellawela Medhananda. The language and script were the same in the Mailagastota, Kallampattuva and Tunukai inscriptions . Mailagastota was in the south, Kallampattuva in the east and Tunukai in the north of Sri Lanka.
Medhananda found 2 inscriptions dated to 2nd century AD at Kandakudichchi Aru ruins. The script and language resembled inscriptions at Ritigala, Vessagiriya, and Mihintale. Inscriptions of Kassapa IV (898-914) were found in south, east and northwest of the island. The script and language was the same, said Medhananda.
Tamil colonization of the north and east started with Dutch rule in the 17th century .The first Tamil immigrants came in Dutch times to work in the tobacco farms in Jaffna. Tobacco farming has been introduced to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese.The number of Tamils increased as the tobacco forms prospered under the Dutch. These Tamils were firmly settled in Jaffna when the British arrived.
These Tamil settlers did not look after the Buddhist monuments still standing in the north. In 1917 when Sir Paul E. Pieris examined some of the ruins of the former Buddhist places of worship, he said they were still being progressively obliterated but they were identifiable from what remained as well as from some of the place names. As he observed, several cart-loads of bricks were removed from Putur Kovil Adi [Buddha temple] in the village of Puloli near Point Pedro for a building in the adjoining land! Many images had been destroyed beyond recognition.
At Kantarodai Pieris found that no attention had been paid to this complex and instead it was getting systematically erased. The villagers were regularly removing stones from the site to use for other purposes. The materials and images were used as doorsteps, stepping stones, aids for washing at wells and for Hindu worship.
D.G.B. de Silva (2002) said that even after Kantarodai was declared an archeological reserve, some stupas disappeared and others are in ruins. He said the extensive ruins at Chunnakam, with stupa, monastery and several large Buddha images were not there now. Ven. S Dhammika (2007) said that nearly all the Buddhist remains in the Jaffna peninsula have now disappeared, due to neglect, pilfering or deliberate destruction.
The British rulers settled Jaffna people” in Mullativu and Trincomalee districtsas well as in the Batticaloa district. These settlements were along the coastline.Tamils in Mullaitivu started to erase the Buddhist civilization of Mullativu as soon as they settled in.
JP Lewis Government agent for North, said in his Manual of Vanni ( 1895) There are several damaged ruins on the Kurundi hill and the tank bund. The damage seems to have been caused through willful defacement by the Tamil occupants than by the action of time.
Lewis continued, The Tamil residents built a temple in Kurundi, and they demolished the vihara built by king Sanghabodhi and other buildings and removed nearly all the bricks and the stoneworks .Stones were removed from Kuruntunmalai in 1858 I believe, to build the Mullivaikkal temple. The doorway of that temple is constructed of carved stones from Kuruntunmalai. ( continued)
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