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

133
CHAPTER Ill
STLE1'TS IN THE LATE ELEVENTH AND THE TWELFTH CE!TURY
The slow migration and settlement of the Dravidians
ttss4' Mt
in the island seem to have continued,Awith greater vigour,in the
period after the Ca rule. A number of Tami-1 inscriptions
belonging to the late eleventh and the twelfth century have
been found in the northern and eastern areas of the island.
The evidence of the literary sources, too, suggests a growth
in the strength and influence of the South Indian element in
the country in the period between the end of Ca rule and the
invasion of Zgha (lO7O-l25). In this period, the reign of
Parkramabhu I (1153-1186) may be said to mark the heyday of
Sinhalese power and glory. This monarch, while he succeeded in
controlling the growing influence of the South Indians in the
island and in preventing any inroad from the mainland, 'left
the country in a state of exhaustion at the end of his rule'
The political confusion that ensued the reign of Parkramabhu I
greatly helped the increase of Kalifiga and Dravidian influence
on an unprecedented scale and, in some ways, prepared the
ground for the rise of an independent Tamil kingdom in northern
1. U.C.H.C., I, pt.2, pp. 5k7, 716.