Jaffna
(யாழ்ப்பாணம் in Tamil meaning யாழ்=harp, பாணம்=town of harper, යාපනය in Sinhala) the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Most of the residents of Jaffna are Sri Lankan Tamils with a presence of Sri Lankan Moors. It had been the second largest city in the country for several decades, until the recent civil conflict.
The development of the Dravidic people in the past twenty centuries gave rise to states like the Pallava, Pandyan, Chola, Chera and Vijayanagar kingdoms in Southern India. From time to time one or the other of these Dravidian states reached pre-eminence, but undoubtedly the greatest of these was the Chola Empire, which encompassed not only south India but parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldives to the south to outposts in the Andaman islands, Malaya and Sumatra in the east.
The political, socio-economic and cultural impact and influence of the Chola empire under the kings Parantaka, Aditya, Raja Raja and Rajendra was extensive. It had a lasting politico-socio-economic and cultural impact and influence on Sri Lanka. The Cholas had annexed the northern half of the island of Ceylon in 993 CE but were evicted by a resurgent Sinhalese power in Polonnaruwa allied to both the Pandyas and Kalinga (Orissa) in 1070 CE. However, the Chola inter-regnum consolidated the Tamil presence in the northern districts of Ceylon as researched by Professor K. Indrapala in his PhD thesis - Early Tamil Settlements in Ceylon - submitted to the University of London.
There were numerous Malay kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd century CE—as many as 30 according to Chinese sources. Kedah—known as Kedaram or Kataha, in ancient Pallava or Sanskrit—was in the direct route of invasions of Indian traders and kings. Rajendra Chola, who is now thought to have laid Kota Gelanggi to waste, put Kedah to heel in 1025 but his successor, Vir Rajendra Chola, had to put down a Kedah rebellion to overthrow the invaders. The coming of the Chola reduced the majesty of Srivijaya which had exerted influence over Kedah and Pattani and even as far as Ligor.
The Buddhist kingdom of Ligor took control of Kedah shortly after, and its King Chandrabhanu used it as a base to attack Sri Lanka in the 11th century, an event noted in a stone inscription in Nagapattinum in Tamil Nadu and in the Sri Lankan chronicles, Mahavamsa. During the first millennium, the people of the Malay peninsula adopted Hinduism and Buddhism and the use of the Sanskrit language until they eventually converted to Islam, but not before Hinduism, Buddhism and Sanskrit became embedded into the Malay worldview. Traces of the influences in political ideas, social structure, rituals, language, arts and cultural practices still can be seen to this day.
There are reports of other areas older than Kedah—the ancient kingdom of Gangganegara, around Bruas in Perak, for instance, pushes Malaysian history even further into antiquity. If that is not enough, a Tamil poem, Pattinapaalai, of the second century CE, describes goods from Kadaram heaped in the broad streets of the Chola capital; a seventh century Sanskrit drama, Kaumudhimahotsva, refers to Kedah as Kataha-nagari. The Agnipurana also mentions a territory known Anda-Kataha with one of its boundaries delineated by a peak, which scholars believe is Gunong Jerai. Stories from the Katasaritasagaram describe the elegance of life in Kataha.
S. Pathmanathan in his "Kingdom of Jaffna" published in Colombo in 1978 attributes the origins of the Tamil Hindu Kingdom in north Sri Lanka to Magha of Kalinga (Orissa) who had invaded the Polonnaruwa kingdom in 1215 CE and destroyed the economic underpinnings of the old Sinhalese hydraulic civilization that had been weakened by earlier Chola onslaughts. Magha depended on South Indian troops. The destruction of the Polonnaruwa kingdom facilitated the rise of the Kingdom of Jaffna.
According to Yalpana Vaipava Maalai (which was written by Mayilvagana Pulavar, during Dutch period), the first king in turn assumed the throne of Jaffna Kingdom in 1215 CE as "Segarajasekeran Singhai Ariyar Chakravarti" (Kulasekara Segarajasekeran Seliyasekaran Vijeyar Singhai Ariyar Chakravarti: 1215-1240).
By the end of his rule, he had subjugated most of Sri Lanka. The Batticaloa chronicle states that Segarajasekeran captured Polonnaruwa. The Chulavamsa and the Rajavaliya, another Sinhalese chronicle, mention that Segarajasekeran stationed troops at Trincomalee, Koddiyaram, Kantalai, Padavikulam, Kaddukkulam, Kayts, Pulachery and dominated Rajarata, the heartland of what had been the Sinhalese hydraulic civilization until then.
After Segarajasekeran's death in 1240, his son Kulasegaran succeeded to the throne under the name Pararajasekeran and ruled from Nallur in the Jaffna Peninsula.
Kulathungan succeeded his father and reigned until 1279 under the name Segarajasekeran II. Vikraman, son of Kulothungan, reigned from 1279 to 1302. He was known under the throne name of Pararajasekeran II. Varothayan succeeded his father and reigned from 1302 to 1325 under the name of Segarajasekeran III. Varothayan's son Marthanda Perumal became the ruler as Pararajasekeran III. He reigned from 1325 to 1348.
When the Pandyan empire in Tamil Nadu - successors to the Chola - in turn collapsed as a result of inroads from the Delhi Sultanate in the early 1300s CE, waves of Tamil immigrants moved to the peninsula. The Yalpana Vaipava Malai documents this in considerable detail.
Gunapushanam succeeded his father and reigned as Segarajasekeran IV from 1348 to 1371. In 1371, Virothayan followed his father and reigned until 1380 as Pararajasekeran IV. From 1380 to 1410, Jeyaveeran, son of Virothayan, reigned as Segarajasekeran V. Virothayan's son Kunaveeran held the throne as Pararajasekeran V from 1410 to 1446.
The Jaffna Kingdom had control over the Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Vanni Districts, Mannar, Pearl rich western Puttalam coast.[citation needed].
Late medieval Sinhalese texts such as the Rajavaliya and the Nikaya Sangrahaya refer to the tax collectors of the Arya Chakravarti in Biyagama in what is today close to the Colombo airport and to naval attacks on Panadura south of Colombo. The Sinhalese turned to Alagakonara, a military genius of Kerala origin, to contain the inroads of the Arya Chakravarti. The tide changed with the Sinhalese temporarily occupying Jaffna under Parakrama Bahu VI in the 1400s CE.
The Tamil Hindu Kingdom of Jaffna had its distinct traditions of jurisprudence referred to as the Tesavalamai which has been documented by Dr. H.W. Tambiah's "The Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna" reprinted in Colombo in 2000.
History
The ports of Jaffna were in the ancient silk route which can be traced from China via Vietnam,Cambodia,Thailand, Java and Malaya. Marco Polo has described vividly about the various aspects of life in Jaffna. He was travelling by the silk route by sea guarding a Chinese princess - a daughter of Kublai Khan - and a future wife of Persian king. Jaffna was the safest route for an emperor's daughter and a future queen of Persia.
The Northern Sri Lankan city of Jaffna has a written history of 2000 years. Along with the Mahavamsa and Chulavamsa, The Yalpana Vaipava Malai, Kailaya Malai, and Irasamurai are some of the books containing historical facts of Jaffna. The Abitta Jataka in the Pali canon refers to the Brahmin sage Akitta (Agastya?) who had visited the island of Kara adjacent to Nagadipa. This is identified by some as the present Karaitivu or Karainagar.
The Mahavamsa mentions that Lord Buddha used his iddhi or yogic powers to visit Jaffna by air to resolve a crisis over a jewel between the Naga chieftains and introduced Buddhism to them. It refers to the port of Jambukola Pattuna, now known as Sambalturai, where ships embarked to India. The Mahavamsa Tika - a commentary to the chronicle, speaks of a Thera Dhammadinna in the island of Piyangudipa which is probably the present island of Punguduteevu. The Sangam era Tamil literature in the early centuries of the common era included poets from Mantai in what is today the Mannar District in Sri Lanka. The Tamil epic the Manimekalai refers to a place called Manipallavam which might well be Jaffna[citation needed]. The archeological ruins in Kantarodai might well confirm this literary reference.
The Jaffna Kingdom
The development of the Dravidic people in the past twenty centuries gave rise to states like the Pallava, Pandyan, Chola, Chera and Vijayanagar kingdoms in Southern India. From time to time one or the other of these Dravidian states reached pre-eminence, but undoubtedly the greatest of these was the Chola Empire, which encompassed not only south India but parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldives to the south to outposts in the Andaman islands, Malaya and Sumatra in the east.
The political, socio-economic and cultural impact and influence of the Chola empire under the kings Parantaka, Aditya, Raja Raja and Rajendra was extensive. It had a lasting politico-socio-economic and cultural impact and influence on Sri Lanka. The Cholas had annexed the northern half of the island of Ceylon in 993 CE but were evicted by a resurgent Sinhalese power in Polonnaruwa allied to both the Pandyas and Kalinga (Orissa) in 1070 CE. However, the Chola inter-regnum consolidated the Tamil presence in the northern districts of Ceylon as researched by Professor K. Indrapala in his PhD thesis - Early Tamil Settlements in Ceylon - submitted to the University of London.
There were numerous Malay kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd century CE—as many as 30 according to Chinese sources. Kedah—known as Kedaram or Kataha, in ancient Pallava or Sanskrit—was in the direct route of invasions of Indian traders and kings. Rajendra Chola, who is now thought to have laid Kota Gelanggi to waste, put Kedah to heel in 1025 but his successor, Vir Rajendra Chola, had to put down a Kedah rebellion to overthrow the invaders. The coming of the Chola reduced the majesty of Srivijaya which had exerted influence over Kedah and Pattani and even as far as Ligor.
The Buddhist kingdom of Ligor took control of Kedah shortly after, and its King Chandrabhanu used it as a base to attack Sri Lanka in the 11th century, an event noted in a stone inscription in Nagapattinum in Tamil Nadu and in the Sri Lankan chronicles, Mahavamsa. During the first millennium, the people of the Malay peninsula adopted Hinduism and Buddhism and the use of the Sanskrit language until they eventually converted to Islam, but not before Hinduism, Buddhism and Sanskrit became embedded into the Malay worldview. Traces of the influences in political ideas, social structure, rituals, language, arts and cultural practices still can be seen to this day.
There are reports of other areas older than Kedah—the ancient kingdom of Gangganegara, around Bruas in Perak, for instance, pushes Malaysian history even further into antiquity. If that is not enough, a Tamil poem, Pattinapaalai, of the second century CE, describes goods from Kadaram heaped in the broad streets of the Chola capital; a seventh century Sanskrit drama, Kaumudhimahotsva, refers to Kedah as Kataha-nagari. The Agnipurana also mentions a territory known Anda-Kataha with one of its boundaries delineated by a peak, which scholars believe is Gunong Jerai. Stories from the Katasaritasagaram describe the elegance of life in Kataha.
S. Pathmanathan in his "Kingdom of Jaffna" published in Colombo in 1978 attributes the origins of the Tamil Hindu Kingdom in north Sri Lanka to Magha of Kalinga (Orissa) who had invaded the Polonnaruwa kingdom in 1215 CE and destroyed the economic underpinnings of the old Sinhalese hydraulic civilization that had been weakened by earlier Chola onslaughts. Magha depended on South Indian troops. The destruction of the Polonnaruwa kingdom facilitated the rise of the Kingdom of Jaffna.
According to Yalpana Vaipava Maalai (which was written by Mayilvagana Pulavar, during Dutch period), the first king in turn assumed the throne of Jaffna Kingdom in 1215 CE as "Segarajasekeran Singhai Ariyar Chakravarti" (Kulasekara Segarajasekeran Seliyasekaran Vijeyar Singhai Ariyar Chakravarti: 1215-1240).
By the end of his rule, he had subjugated most of Sri Lanka. The Batticaloa chronicle states that Segarajasekeran captured Polonnaruwa. The Chulavamsa and the Rajavaliya, another Sinhalese chronicle, mention that Segarajasekeran stationed troops at Trincomalee, Koddiyaram, Kantalai, Padavikulam, Kaddukkulam, Kayts, Pulachery and dominated Rajarata, the heartland of what had been the Sinhalese hydraulic civilization until then.
After Segarajasekeran's death in 1240, his son Kulasegaran succeeded to the throne under the name Pararajasekeran and ruled from Nallur in the Jaffna Peninsula.
Kulathungan succeeded his father and reigned until 1279 under the name Segarajasekeran II. Vikraman, son of Kulothungan, reigned from 1279 to 1302. He was known under the throne name of Pararajasekeran II. Varothayan succeeded his father and reigned from 1302 to 1325 under the name of Segarajasekeran III. Varothayan's son Marthanda Perumal became the ruler as Pararajasekeran III. He reigned from 1325 to 1348.
When the Pandyan empire in Tamil Nadu - successors to the Chola - in turn collapsed as a result of inroads from the Delhi Sultanate in the early 1300s CE, waves of Tamil immigrants moved to the peninsula. The Yalpana Vaipava Malai documents this in considerable detail.
Gunapushanam succeeded his father and reigned as Segarajasekeran IV from 1348 to 1371. In 1371, Virothayan followed his father and reigned until 1380 as Pararajasekeran IV. From 1380 to 1410, Jeyaveeran, son of Virothayan, reigned as Segarajasekeran V. Virothayan's son Kunaveeran held the throne as Pararajasekeran V from 1410 to 1446.
The Jaffna Kingdom had control over the Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Vanni Districts, Mannar, Pearl rich western Puttalam coast.[citation needed].
Late medieval Sinhalese texts such as the Rajavaliya and the Nikaya Sangrahaya refer to the tax collectors of the Arya Chakravarti in Biyagama in what is today close to the Colombo airport and to naval attacks on Panadura south of Colombo. The Sinhalese turned to Alagakonara, a military genius of Kerala origin, to contain the inroads of the Arya Chakravarti. The tide changed with the Sinhalese temporarily occupying Jaffna under Parakrama Bahu VI in the 1400s CE.
The Tamil Hindu Kingdom of Jaffna had its distinct traditions of jurisprudence referred to as the Tesavalamai which has been documented by Dr. H.W. Tambiah's "The Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna" reprinted in Colombo in 2000.
Colony of Portugal
After lasting for over 400 years the Dravidian influenced Jaffna Kingdom finally lost its independence to the Portuguese in 1621. The Portuguese captured the King of Jaffna Sangili Kumaran and had took him to Goa in India along with his sons. After trial, the Portuguese found him guilty of treason and hanged him along with his sons. With the Jaffna Kingdom’s demise, the only indigenous independent political entity that was not Sinhalese and Buddhist in character came to an end in the Island. The Portuguese built the Jaffna Fort and the moat around it.Colony of the Netherlands
The Tamils and the Kandyan Kingdom collaborated and conspired with the Dutch rulers of Batavia( today's Jakarta in Indonesia). The Dutch invasion from Batavia brought religious freedom for Tamils and Muslims.The Dutch and the later colonial English ruler reigned approximately 3 centuries in length with each ruling for approximately 150 years. The Jaffna Tamil has several Portuguese and Dutch words still in usage.
The islands of Palk Straits are renamed during Dutch rule in Dutch as Leiden, Kayts and other cities of the Netherlands. Dutch priest Rev Philippus Baldeus has written a great historical record similar to Mahawamsa on the Jaffna people and their culture and it was immediately published in Dutch and German with several beautiful pictures. Still at the Point Pedro Market Square a granite stone inscription marks the place where Rev Baldeus has preached to the Tamils under a big tamarind tree. This tamarind tree was uprooted during the cyclone of 1963.
Colony of Great Britain
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