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

155 It seems,

155 It seems, therefore, reasonable to assume that the mercenary forces called the Vfl.a ikkrae went to the island along with the mercantile communities who, as we have seen earlier, had a number of martial communities associated with them in South India. Some of the Vjaikkras, however, may have gone there independently and later acknowledged the leadership of the mercantile communities. The Valafijiyar, Nakarattr and some of the mercenary bodies were only a few of the associates of the Aififfauvar who were in Ceylon in the twelfth century. There are at least three Tamil inscriptions in the island which refer to several others. These records, which are unpublished, are found at Vihalkaa, Vihrh!nna and Padaviya and contain the praasti of the Aififii1ruvar at the beginning Unfortunately all are badly damaged and the actual purport of the inscriptions cannot be ascertained. These could be assigned to the twelfth century on pa].aeographica]. grounds. The script of these inscriptions is very similar to that of the Tamil inscriptions of the time of GajabThu II ( 1132-1153). Apart from these Tamil epigraphe, there is another record of the Aifffih1ruvar in the Sinhalese script of the twelfth or the thirteenth century. Unfortunately only 1. See supra, p.i3n'

153 three lines of this inscription, containin( part of the paasti, have been preserved Since the praasti is in Sanskrit, it is not known whether the rest of the inscription was in Sinhalese or not. The pragasti in the Tamil inscriptions is a shorter version of that appearing in the Kannada records and begins with the words Samaatha bhuvanraya pafica ata v!ra sisana. As in the Kolar inscription of ii8O the AiflfiUuvar describe themselves here as the 'children of the Goddess of the City of Ayyappoil' (&,yappo]4pura Paramvarikku makkaj). The praasti is followed by a list of members of the different communities who were associated with the Aiflflttuvar in the island. The number of communities is not as large as in the South Indian inscriptions. Among those mentioned in the preserved portions of the inscriptions are the Ceis, Ceiputras, Nndis, Valafijiyar, V!rakkoti, Valaf&kai, A2gIckiras, Xvaa 1dc ras, Iaflc I A1m and the Koñga-vias. The Cettis were traders as well as money lenders or bankers In our inscriptions they are sometimes referred to as the 'Ceis of the countries of the eighteen worlds' ( patifl!. Several meznbezs of this community are -pThni nu ceftik4). 1. D.Lde Z.Wickramasinghe, 'Polonnaruva: Anaulundva Slab-Inscription' E.Z., II, p. 236. 2. E.G., X, No.170 from Kolar -' Ayyv4epura Paramevariya makk4'. 3. A.Appadorai, . cit., pp. 379-380.