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

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named in the8e inscriptions. In the VThalka4a inscription,
these Ceis and the V!rakkoiyar are recorded to have done
something in order that a certain town may not be destroyed.
It is not clear what the nature of their work was and which
town was protected in that manner. There are some place names
in the North-central and North-western ProviAces with cei
fleir first element. These may date from the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries and may indicate the presence of Cefti
settlers in those places
The Ceiputrae may also have been traders, bat
we have no information regarding the nature of their activities.
The ndia, as we have already noted, were a community of
traders like the Valafijiyar. In many of the Kannada inscriptions
they are referred to as the Ubhaya Indis (both ndis)
It is not known who these two classes of Nndis were. In
an inscription from Bangalore, there occurs the phrase
svad!a t'arada nindam (local and foreign Nnida It
may be that this mercantile community was divided into a
.. •
c,,i,,,, I ? 1 ?) 1 , c-
2. E.G., IX, p. 83 of the text ; E.I., XIX, p. 25.
3. E.G., IX, p. 1 of the text.