113992242-Dravidian-Settlements-in-Ceylon-and-the-Beginnings-of-the-Kingdom-of-Jaffna-By-Karthigesu-Indrapala-Complete-Phd-Thesis-University-of-London-1965

109
This inscription found in Diyavinna is written in Tami]. and
Grantha characters and 'states that a person called Virabhavaaa
DahaIbbha ?1al1ai arrived at this place' This is rather
interesting, for it is the only Tamil inscription of this period
which has beeh discovered so far south, outside the limits of
the area which was under the actual control of the Cas. The
personality referred to here rna..y have been one of the Ca
soldiers or army chiefs who were operating against the Rohaa
princes in the central highlands. The names VIrabhavaa and
Malla suggest that he was a warrior, but it is not possible
to draw any conclusions on the basis of this stray epigraph,
which may have been set up by an adventurous personality totally
unconnected with the C
1a wars. The occurrence of this single
inscription cannot be taken to indicate any Tamil settlement in
that area in the C1a period.
The contemporary Tamil inscriptions of South India,
while referring to the frequent battles fought in the island,
have little information about axy South Indian migration or about
the Tami].s of Ceylon. They confirm the statement of the Clavaisa
regarding the large armies sent by the Caa to suppress
2
uprisings in Ceylon. One of these inscriptions from Tirumukk1Ial,
1. Unpublished - No. 580 ; S.Paranavitana, 'Epigraphical Summary',
C.J.Sc. (G), II, p. 191.
2. UVC.H.CI,, I, PT. 2, p. k25.