Tambimuttu's 1949 Article is one of the first after independance to discuss Tamilized place names,
at a time when these issues had not become politically over heated.

Had the Tamil North a Buddhist background?

by Paulinus Tambimuttu

Dagobas at Kantherodai
The view held by some archaeologists, that for some centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era the majority of the Tamils in India and Ceylon were Buddhists, has been strengthened by the discovery of the ruins of two dagobas at Kantherodai and antique coins and beads which point to ancient Buddhistic influence in the North. Mr. D. T. Devendra, during a visit to Delft , discovered a mound which on closer examination turned out to be a Dagoba, proving that Buddhist influence extended even to the farthest islands.
The Administration Report of the Director of National Museums, for 1948 states that collecting trips made by the museum staff to the Chavakachcheri sand dunes resulted in the finding of other evidence near Chunnakam in the peninsula.
It is however, to the efforts of the late Mr. J. P. Lewis, CCS, that we owe the discovery of the first image of the Buddha in Jaffna . It was unearthed close to the Vishnu temple at Vallipuram and had lain in the lumber room of the temple for years until, in 1902, Mr. Lewis requested the manager of the temple to part with it.
It was set up in the Old Park at Jaffna , under one of the bo-trees. Another image of the Buddha was later dug up at Chunnakam by Mr. Lewis, and placed under another of these bo-trees. In 1906, the Vallipuram Buddha was presented by the then Governor, Sir Henry Blake, to the King of Siam who was particularly anxious to have it, owing to its antiquity. Discoveries The first dagoba in Jaffna was discovered by Dr. Paul E. Pieris to whom, moreover, we are indebted for many of the discoveries of Buddhist remains in the North. At Makayappiddi, in the courtyard of the Meenachchi Amman Temple , Dr. Pieris discovered a remarkably fine image of the Buddha. At Kantherodai, Dr. Pieris came across a large fragment of the torso of what must have been at one time a gigantic stone statue, being used at a well for washing clothes. At Mallakam, he discovered a Sinhalese pond cut in the rock in a fair state of preservation. At Kantherodai again, which appeared to Dr. Peiris to be a miniature Anuradhapura in the Tamil country,� a large number of coins were found. The Acting Superintendent of the Madras Museum was of opinion that these were Buddhist coins of the 2nd and 3rd Century B.C. He added that similar coins had been found on both sides of the rivers Vaigai and Tambraparni in South India .
Many valuable Sinhalese coins have been discovered in the Jaffna District. During a visit to Vallipuram Mr. J. P. Lewis learnt that the Police Vidane there was in possession of a gold coin which had been discovered in 1890. He obtained the "find" and sent it to the Archaeological Commissioner, Mr. H. C. P. Bell, for identification. It turned out to the Iraka or Daraka Sinhalese coin of very debased gold. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Lewis received from the Very Rev. Father E. Vorlander, OMI, copper coins dug up at Pandateruppu. They proved to be the coins of Queen Lilavati (12th-13th Century A.D.). Dutch coins and the coins of Parakrama Bahu, Bhuvaneka Bahu, etc., have also been found. Stone Images 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 ullaitivu 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, viz, two hansa with interlocked necks-a Buddhist emblem. Mr. Lewis found Buddhist ruins at Vavuniya as well. Some authorities believe that the discovery of Buddhist images and coins in Jaffna does not prove that Jaffna was occupied by the Sinhalese. They argue the majority of Tamils were Buddhists. The Tamil classics of the era were Buddhists. e.g. ââ?¬Å?Manimekhalaiââ?¬?, a Tamil poem written in the 2nd Century A.D. by Chittalaich-Chattanar, a poet of the third Tamil Sangam and a Buddhist, is about the life of Manimekhalai, a daughter of the famous dancer for whom Kovalan, husband of Kannaki (known as Pattini Dewiyo among the Sinhalese) abandoned his faithful wife, and of her renunciation of the world and entry into a Buddhist nunnery.

Place names.
The poet gives a learned exposition of Buddhist philosophy. The authorities are of opinion that the Buddhist remains found at Jaffna belong to the period when the Tamils were Buddhists. Any remaining doubts can be dispelled by the evidence furnished by the place names in Jaffna . The Sinhalese origin of the place-names in Jaffna was first pointed out by Messrs. B. Horsburg and J. P. Lewis, both of the CCS. They stated that place-names which ended in "pay" like Manipay, opay, Sandilipay, etc., and in "kamam" like Kodikamam, Valigamam, etc., were of Sinhalese origin. This late S. Gnana Prakasar, the philologist of international fame, agreed with them and furnished his own list of place-names. He mentioned village ending in "vil" like Kandavil, Kokkuvil, Inuvil, etc.; those ending in "vattei", like Polvattei, ittavattei, etc.; villages from the word "kumbura" like Markkamburei, etc., from "yaya" like Moolay etc., from "deniya" like Narandanei, etc., from "eliya" like Puloly.
The Northern Province will, no doubt, prove a fertile field for the archaeologist. Dr. Paul E. Pieris wrote as follows in 1919: "When again a trained man is placed in charge of the work in Ceylon . I hope he will not ignore the Tamil districts. I venture to express the conviction that the archaeology of Ceylon cannot be understood, and should not be studied, apart from the Archaeology of India and that it is a pity that the great knowledge, and experience which is available in India should not be taken advantage of in the work here.?
(This article appeared in the Ceylon Observer Friday Evening on 14 October 1949). Go back to top of List

LTTE Pistol GANGS, TERRORISTS -SL ARMY Flash point

Two More Civilians & Soldier Fall Victim To LTTE

TRINCOMALEE: LTTE PISTOL MEN on Monday (05-June-2006) shot and killed two more civilians in SERUNUWARA, KANTHALAI around 7.00 p.m. 6-June-06 The bullet-riddled bodies of the two civilians were found by the KANTHALAI Police. One of the had been identified as THANGANAGAR KUGAN (28) of RB-04, THANGANAGAR, SERUNUWARA, KANTHALAI. as of Tuesday (06) afternoon. Meanwhile, a soldier on duty at a sentry point in ACHCHANKULAM, MANNAR was injured on Monday (05) when LTTE terrorists in hiding fired at him using small arms and several rounds of 40 mm Grenade Launchers around 3.30 p.m. and he later succumbed to his injuries. Private K.P. DISSANAYAKE sustained severe injuries in the LTTE firing and was admitted to MANNAR hospital for treatment. Go back to top of List

Credits and Acknowledgments- jobs done and to be done

Some collaborators and interested parties:

• Contact any volunteer at this site by emailing : place.names@yahoo.com

• Ananda Wijesinghe , publicity effort, comments on place names, links to news groups.

• Bodhi Dhanapala , link to news groups, write ups in Wikipedia, and publicity effort.

• Jinawara , (occasional contributions) SL contacts.

• Thuradeva,   Temple contacts.

• Prof. Iyakkutti, Tamil Nadu. (Expertise in south Indian Languages and Culture).

  
  
• Profs. Gerald Pieries, J. B. Dissanayake, Michael Roberts
  and other academics have provided us with advise and suggestions.
  

• Prof. J. K. P. Ariyaratne for valuable documents, maps etc.
  

• Prof. Chandre Dharmawardana , Project Direction and responsibility,
  place names research and evaluation etc. email: chandre.dharma-wardana@nrc.ca

• Channa Lokulianage, Asiri Bandarage , and Dukhinda Jayawardena are also setting up
  the sinhala Google-earth application, links to newsgroups etc.

• Undisclosed Academics and friends,
  with expertise in various fields of study who are consulted on
  specific issues.
  

• LIKE TO VOLUNTEER ?-send an e-mail.

Go back to top of List

Extract from Paranavithana: "The Arya kingdom of North Ceylon"

The Sinhalese name "Yäpãpatuna" means the port of "Yäpã". .. . It seems to have come into vogue after the Malays or Jävakãs gained political influence in the Island. The word Jãvã or Javakä is also found in the form Yãvã or Yävakã. The Chinese equivalent of Jãvã, Chipo, indicates that the "v" was one time pronounced as "p", i.e. Jãpã. The "Kulöttunkan Kóvai" in one stanza mentions Cavakam (Jãvaka) as a country which acknowledged the supremacy of Kulóttunka III, and in another stanza makes a similar mention of Cãpam. It is possible that Cãpam and Cãvakam both refer to the same country, Java or Javaka. If so, the change of "v" to "p" in the name is attested in Tamil also. The change of "v" to "p could also have developed in the course of the name being pronounced by the Sinhalese, for this phonological process is attested in that language by such words as "lapa" for Sanskrit "lava" and "Sapana" for Sanskrit "Carvana". "Yãpãpatuna" would thus signify the "Port of the Javakas".... The modem form "Yalpanam" must also go back to this Sinhalese name.
Go back to "Jaffna"
Go back to top of List

Tamilization

See James W. Gair and S. Suseendirarajah,
International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics (Trivandrum)
10, no.2 (Jun 1981) 370-384

See phonetic changes in tamilization and regional differences in Tamil.
South Indian Tamil place names often have endings not found in
Sri Lanka's North and East, because SL place names are mostly
derived from Sinhala place names.

Tamil Nadu and Offical Tamil Place names and language Politics.

The North and East of Sri Lanka were populated by people who were largely Buddhists till about the 12th century. This lead to a gradual modification of the original names which acquired a Tamil garb, as stated by many scholars like Paul E. Peries, Horsburg, T. Devendra, S. Paranavitana, Dr. Inthirapalan, Ven. E. Medhananda and others. See for example, 1948 article by Tambimuttu, or Horsburgh 1916.
Dr. Indrapalan, Tamils of Jaffna, 1965; Evolution of an ethnic identity 2005
After that these areas were populated by south Indian forces who understandably tamilized the names of the old towns, water reservoirs, rivers, and villages. Similarly, many buddhist temples were replaced by Hindu shrines.
See destruction of old sites in modern times, as reported by angered public opinion.
The Sri Lanka Parliamentary debates on Oct. 7, 1983 are on the same issue. These places were partially returned to their original state when Sinhala kings returned to these areas. This in turn involved demolition of Hindu shrines, or their absorption into Buddhist shrines. This ebb and flow of the Sinhala and Tamil influence in the North and East had left a rich cultural legacy which is unknown to most people. In these web pages we focus on just one aspect of this cultural heritage. Dr. Michael Roberts mentions "toponymic evidence involving over a thousand place names of distinctly Sinhala origin in 'tamil garb'. The fact that the names were slightly modified, instead of being completely removed, shows that the people co-existed, even when the rulers fought. In fact, Parakramabahu's inscription at the Uruthota (Kayts) harbour has Tamil text as well. The British period saw the colonization of the East coast with Tamils from the Malabaar coast, pushing out the local settlers (see F. d'A. Vincent's Sessional paper XL11 of 1882, Administration of Ceylon). However, the post-independent Sri Lankan political forces have not been helpful in correcting the problems and building up a peaceful cultural legacy.
See Iriyagolla's analysis
East coast

Go back to the top

Quote from Prof. Michael Roberts.