V. The Tamils and the Early History of Ceylon

It is not possible to state when the first Tamil kingdom was established in Ceylon. Kuveni, and the Yakkhas who are supposed to have inhabited Ceylon in the pre-Vijayan period, if the account of the Mahavamsa is credible, may have been Dravidians who were belittled by the monastic chroniclers in the same way as the Dravidians are ridiculed in early vedic literature. S. ARASARATNAM in his book Ceylon (Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964) pieces together the historical evidence available for the presence of Tamils in Ceylon during the first centuries of the Sinhalese occupation of central and south Ceylon.

GEOLOGICALLY, CEYLON IS a part of peninsular India. They both stand on the same continental shelf. The sea that separates the two land masses came into existence, geologically speaking, in recent times and is only about 15 fathoms in depth at the narrowest parts, where the distance is 30 to 50 miles. The island of Ceylon and its products were very well known, according to the earliest Tamil literature. Mantota, a port situated on the Ceylon side of the straits, was referred to and must have been a frequent port of call of Tamil traders. As the. history of both regions in the pre-Sinhalese period is still the subject of speculation, nothing specific can be said regarding contact between them. Archaeological work in some megalithic remains in the Deccan and far south is throwing new light on the spread of what may be the early Dravidian peoples into southern India in the first millennium B.C. Urn burials found in a site north of Puttalam seem to be similar to those found at Adichchanallur in Tamil Nad. Could this megalithic parent of the later Dravidian civilization have spread to Ceylon, and could this have been the culture that existed in Ceylon when the Aryans landed there?

Whether this be so or not, there is no doubt that at the time of Aryan colonization of Ceylon the inhabitants of the Tamil country played an important role in the establishment of this civilization. This historical fact is recorded in Sinhalese tradition in many ways. The legendary hero Vijaya found brides for himself and his followers in the Pandyan kingdom. Artisan families came from there to serve as craftsmen. A few centuries later there is more definite evidence of the presence and, indeed, the increasing influence of the Tamil. In the third century B.C two Tamils described as horse traders were able to seize the throne from the Sinhalese royal line and hold power for a period of 22 years. Yet another Tamil, Elara, said to