be of the Chola line, seized and held power at Anuradhapura for 44 years. He was defeated by the Sinhalese ruler Duttugemunu, who re-established the Sinhalese lineage. The Buddhist chroniclers emphasize that all these Tamil rulers governed the country righteously. That they continued state patronage of Buddhism is shown by epigraphic evidence. Elara in particular gained a legendary reputation in Sinhalese tradition for his sense of justice. It appears that the portrayal of the conflict between Elara and Duttugemunu as a racial war between Tamils and Sinhalese is a later interpretation. Reading the account carefully, one sees it more as a dynastic battle, purely political in,its nature. Many Sinhalese generals fought on the side of Elara. If he had been purely a foreign usurper who forced his way onto the throne, he could not have held power so long nor put up such a hard fight when attacked by his Sinhalese adversary. There is other evidence for the existence of large Tamil colonies in the harbors and in the capital city in the early period. A Tamil householder's terrace has been discovered in Anuradhapura, with inscriptions labelling the seats of the members. The seat of honor is that of a ship captain, which shows that the colony must have been predominantly a commercial one.

In the first century B.C., power passed again into the hands of Tamil rulers for about 14 years (102-89). They are described as a group of seven Tamil chiefs, probably of Pandyan extraction, who landed at the port of Mantota with a large army. They advanced to the capital and defeated the reigning king, Vattagamani, who fled to the hill country. Five of the chiefs stayed behind to rule the kingdom and were later dislodged by Vattagamani, who returned from exile to the throne. It was again from the Pandyan dynasty that the next Tamil rulers of Ceylon were drawn four centuries later. As a result of a successful invasion in the fifth century A,D., six Tamil rulers ruled at Anuradhapura for about 26 years. Their rule is seen to have extended to the southernmost parts of the island. These rulers also patronized Buddhism, and there are records of donations they made to monasteries. They were overthrown by Dhatu-sena, another hero in Sinhalese tradition. It was at this time that the Mahavamsa was written. It was at this time also that an anti-Tamil feeling entered Sinhalese nationalism, probably the result of this quarter of a century of Pandyan power, and probably restricted to the clergy.

In the first millennium of Sinhalese colonization of Ceylon, Tamil influence was thus felt in successive waves. There were two types of immigrations: the peaceful settlers and the invaders. The invaders do not seem to have come as permanent colonists and not in large number. The settlers came to perform diverse functions.