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

earliest Tainil inscription so far discovered in this district
231
which now has the hi best concentration of Tamils in the island
and once formed the main territory of the Jaffna kingdom. The
record is at present in the island of Naitivu (Pli Igadipa)
and is a proclamation of certain regulations concerning trading
vessels wrecked off the port of rttu ,ai (Sinh. Vrtoa, Pli
Skaratittha, now known in English as Kayts). The fact that
the record is in Tamil may only mean that most of the traders
in this region being possibly Tamils from South India their
language was preferred to Sinhalese. But the manner in which
the proclamation is worded shows that it was addressed to the
officials at the port rather than to the traders of the wrecked
vessels. The preserved portion of the record statethat the
foreigners who came to the port of Vrttuai 'should be protected',
that if vessels bringing elephants and horses got wrecked
'a fourth (share of the cargo) should be taken by the Treasury
and the (other) three arts should be left to the owner' and
that 'if vessels (laden) with (other) erchan ise get wrecked
an exact half should be taken by the Treasury and (the other)
exact half should be left to the owner' This may mean that the
officers in this port to whom the proclamation wasaddressed
1. K.Indrapala, . cit., p.70.