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

165
Va1Aki VjaUdcrar The epithet Va1a.fkai or Ijatkai denoted
their caste group.
These mercenaries were not a 'warlike tribe or a
clan or a military community' as Geiger thought? but 'a type of
troops bounds by specific oaths of loyalty which they were
bound to keep at the risk of their own lives' They yore drawn
from different castes and were probably organized as a military
guild. R.C.Majumdar takes them as 'a good example of Katriya
The assembly of the Vaikkra community at Polonnaruva
as well as the organized manner in which they sometimes revolted
against the Sinhalese rulers may support this contention. But
apart from these, there is no substantial evidence to prove
this conclusively.
Vai1dcra mercenaries were employed in Ceylon in
the time of Vijayabhu I (1055-1110) and possibly even earlier,
under the Cas. The Colombo Museum Pillar inscription of
Kassapa IV (898-91 k) has a reference to a Vekk who was a
body-guard Judging from his profession, this person may have
1. 8.1.1., II, Introduction, p. 9.
2. W.Geiger, Culture of Ceylon in !iedieval Times, p. 152.
3. K.A.Nilakanta Sastri, 'VijayabThu I, The Liberatthr of Ceylon' ,p.58.
k. See supra, p. 1S3.
5. R.C.Majumdar, . p. 31.
6. EL III, p. 276.