The Eastern Province has a land area of 9,361 square
kilometers (3,613 square miles). The Tamils have had a presence in the region
that goes back two millenia.
Successive post-independence governments in Sri
Lanka, backed by hardline Sinhalese nationalists, have attempted to deny the
Tamil Hindu character of the region.
They have attempted to do so through
dubious efforts to distort history.
This entails a highly selective read of the
Pali and Sinhalese historical chronicles while suppressing the Sanskrit and
Tamil literary evidence, the evidence of archeology and the records of outside
travelers to the contrary.
This attempt to Sinhalize the East and to give it an
exclusively Buddhist historical color is seen in the efforts of the current
Percy Mahinda Rajapakse administration.
It is a naked attempt to grab Tamil
land and to de-Tamilize it using history as one tool of many to legitimize the
Sinhalization of the East.
There is a veritable industry to roll back the Tamil
character of the region.
This article presents some of the rich evidence that
demonstrates the centuries old Tamil Hindu presence in the region.
The East has
been Tamil despite the efforts of independent Sri Lanka to settle Sinhalese peasants
through land colonization schemes of dubious economic value.
Early Iron Age
Megalithic urn burials have been excavated in Kathiraveli in
the Batticaloa district and north of Nilaveli in the Trincomalee district.
This
included black and red ware pottery tentatively dated to the 3rd century BCE
and iron tools (Sudarshan Senivaratne, The Archeology of the Megalithic Black
and Red Ware Complex in Sri Lanka, Ancient Ceylon, 1984).
The ethnicity of
these people can not be verified but remarkable parallels exist between these
urn burials and those excavated in the Kaveri, Ponnaiyar, Tamraparani and
Vaigai rivers in Tamil Nadu.
Similar sites have been excavated in the Jaffna,
Kilinochchi and Mannar districts. The Jaffna islands and the Aruvi Aru, Elapat
Aru, Modarakam Aru and Kal Aru basins stand out.
North Sri Lanka shared the
same early iron age culture as did Tamil Nadu.
Preliminary evidence suggests
that the ‘megalithic culture’ witnessed the introduction of iron, the potters
wheel, the plough, rice cultivation and minor tank irrigation.
TRICONMALEE:
The Siva temple at Trincomalee known as Koneswaram is of
considerable antiquity despite the strenuous efforts of Sinhalese nationalist
historians to deny the Tamil Hindu character of the ancient port city.
The
earliest reference to a Hindu temple is in fact the Pali chronicle, the
Mahavamsa, where chapter 35, verses 40 to 41, indicate that King Mahasena
destroyed three ‘Deva temples’ in Gokarna (Trincomalee), Erakavilla (Eravur?)
and in the village of the Brahmin Kalanda to atone for his defiance of orthodox
Theravada Buddhism.
He reportedly built Buddhist viharas in their place. This
was in the 4th century CE.
Gokarna in Sanskrit translates as the “cow’s ear” and
signifies a place of Saivite Hindu worship. The place name Gokarna recurs in
western Karnataka and in Nepal, where both sites boast of ancient Siva temples!
The Buddhist vihara evidentally did not last long if one were to accept the
tradition of the Vayu Purana dated to the 4th century CE. Chapter 48, verses 20
to 30, refers to the ‘Siva temple on Trikuta hill on the Eastern coast of
Lanka’.
While Sinhalese nationalist historians have tried to put a spin on the
alleged Buddhist antecedents of Trincomalee, the evidence is clear that the
ancient port city of Trincomalee or Gokarna was a Hindu place of worship since
antiquity.
Further, the Tamil Saivite saint Tiru Gnanasambandar sang of the
glories of the Siva temple in Trincomalee in the 7th century. The Nilaveli
inscription in the 10th century refers to a land grant made to this temple.
An 8th century Sanskrit inscription was excavated in
Tiriyai. The inscription engraved in the South Indian Grantha script, refers to
merchant mariners from Tamil Nadu who endowed this Mahayana Buddhist shrine
dedicated to the Bodhisatva Avalokitesvara and his consort Tara.
It was
interesting that the inscription was recorded in Sanskrit and not in Pali.
Neither was it inscribed in early Sinhalese characters. It relied on the South
Indian Grantha script instead. Neither was Thiriyai a Theravada Buddhist
sanctuary dominant in Sinhalese history.
The Grantha alphabet was used to write
Sanskrit in Tamil Nadu and is similar to the contemporary Malayalam script!
The inscriptions dated to the kings Udaya III and Mahinda IV
in the 10th century refer to Tamil lands (Demel gam bim) in the eastern coast
of Sri Lanka.
THE CHOLAS:
The Chola interlude in Sri Lanka’s history dated from 993 CE
to 1070 CE. This period marked a deepening of the Tamil historical presence in
the East. Inscriptions dated to this period refer to a Tamil village in
Kantalai called Chatur Vedimangalam.
This village, consecrated to the
performance of Hindu religious rituals, had a local assembly that administered
the community. (S. Gunasingham, Trincomalee Inscription Series, Peradeniya,
1974).
Archeological ruins dated to the Chola period have been excavated in
Trincomalee, Kantalai and Padavikulam. (S. Pathmanathan, The Kingdom of Jaffna,
Colombo, 1978, page 44)
Chola-era inscriptions record the activities of Tamil
mercantile communities in Padavikulam (renamed Padavi Siripura in Sinhalese).
The mercantile groups referred to were the Ticai Aayirattu Ain Nurruvar
(Velupillai, Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, Peradeniya, 1971) and the Ayyavole.
Taniyappan, a mercant from Padavikulam, laid a foundation stone for a Siva
temple there.
A Tamil inscription by Raja Raja Chola refers to Ravi
Kulamanikkeswaram Siva Temple in Padavikulam. (K. Indrapala, Epigraphia
Tamilica, Jaffna Archeological Society, 1971 - page 34).
A 13th century
Sanskrit inscription excavated here mentions a Brahmin village in the area. The
paddy fields of Padavikulam were watered by the Per Aru river (renamed Ma Oya
in Sinhalese).
The Cholas also expanded a Buddhist shrine, Vilgam Vihara,
which they called Raja Raja Perumpalli near Mudalikulam (renamed Moraweva in
Sinhalese). Other inscriptions mention a Chola prince - by the name of
Lankeshwara Devar who administered Trincomalee.
A 12th century Tamil inscription from Kantalai refers to the
Siva temple of Ten Kailasam. (Epigraphia Zeylanica). Another inscription from
Palamottai from the Trincomalee district records a monetary endowment to a
Hindu temple by a Tamil widow for the merit of her husband. This was
administered by a member of the Tamil military caste - the Velaikkarar
(Epigraphia Zeylanica, Volume 4, Number 20).
Chola era inscriptions refer to a settlement of the
Velaikkarar in Kottiyaaram, known today as Sampur and Mutur. Kottiyaaram was
divided into two Chola administrative units i.e. Raja Raja Valanadu and Vikrama
Chola Valanadu. (T.N. Subramaniam, South Indian Temple Inscriptions, Madras
1953).
These examples prove without doubt that the Trincomalee district had a
distinct Tamil Hindu presence in the 11th and 12th centuries, a point denied by
the Sinhalese nationalist historians of today who legitimize attempts to
suppress evidence of the Tamil historical presence.
The Pali chronicle, the Culavamsa, mentions that King
Aggabodhi II built an irrigation tank in Gangatata in the 7th century. Latter
day Sinhalese nationalists identify Gangatata with Kantalai but the link is
unclear.
Tamil literary sources of a later date acribe Kantalai reservoir to
Kulakoddan, a Chola prince. The evidence is once again uncertain.
MAGHA OF KALINGA
The invasion of Magha of Kalinga (Orissa) in 1215 CE
deepened the Tamil historical presence in the East. Chapter 83 of the Culavamsa
refers to Magha’s garrisons in Kottiyaaram, Trincomalee, Kantalai, Kattukulam
and Padavikulam.
The temple of Tirukovil in the Amparai district was built by
Magha (Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, page 6). Archeological evidence indicates
that the Siva temple in Kokkadicholai in the Batticaloa district dated to his
time i.e. the 13th century.
The Tamil lands of what is today Amparai and Batticaloa were
traditionally divided into several principalities or ‘pattus’.
These included
Manmunai-pattu, Palukamam-pattu, Natukaatu, Eravur-pattu, Porativu-pattu and
Koralaipattu.
Pattu in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam denotes a territorial
division consisting of several villages ( T.V. Mahalingham, Administrative and
Social Life under the Vijayanagara, P 81).
Medieval Tamil texts dated to the
15th and 16th centuries, such as the Mattakalapu Manmiyam, the Konesar Kalvettu
and the Dakshina Kailasa Puranam, not to mention the later Mattakalapu Purva
Caritram, provide useful insights on the political conditions in what is today
the Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts in the 13, 14 and 15th centuries.
Sinhalese nationalist historians question the historical rigor of such textual
evidence but the same critique could then be applied to the traditional
Buddhist chronicles in Sri Lanka such as the Mahavamsa, the Culavamsa and the
Pujavaliya!
The Vaiya Paadal, a late Tamil historical text dated to the
17th century, refers to the Brahmin Cupatittu who ruled Tiriyai, a Aanasingam
who administered Kattukulampattu, a Maamukan who ruled Verukal and
Thampalakamam, and a Mayilan who ruled over Kottiyaaram in the 1400s CE. The
arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century and of the Dutch in the 17th
century led to turbulence in the eastern districts of Ceylon.
Many of the old
Tamil principalities sought protection from the Kandyan kings. But this does
not deny the early Tamil presence in what is today the Eastern Province.
Muslims from Sri Lanka’s west coast fled to Kandy to seek protection from the
Portuguese and were resettled on lands in what is today Amparai. The Kandyan
kingdom was itself a multi ethnic one.
The last four kings there were in fact
from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu! One Kandyan king built the Siva temple in
Thampalakamam in the early 1700s.
While Buddhist remains in the East such as Deeghavapi and
Seruvila do exist, these do not detract from the early Tamil association with
the region just as the Tamil Hindu historical presence in the deep south of the
island does not remove from the Sinhala character of the latter.
I have
highlighted a few of the many pieces of evidence that proves that the Tamil
presence in the East is of considerable antiquity.
The Tamils were a clear cut
majority in that region until post-independent governments resettled Sinhalese
in the region. Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism endeavors to suppress the
historical evidence, but facts are stubborn.
The Tamil Hindu historical claims
to the East will not be forfeited regardless of the attempts by Percy Mahinda
Rajapakse to transform the ethnic character of that land.
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