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

257
quite safe for re-occupation. This factor, as much as the breakdown
of the administrative machinery, was responsible for the
depopulation of Rjaraha and the failure to shift the Sinhalese
seat of government there. Not only the Sinhalese but even the
Taniils found Rjaraha unsafe. Whereas in the case of the
Sinhalese the fertile regions of the south-west afforded new
homes, the arid peninsula of Jaffna became the seat of Tamil
power and provided homes for many of the new settlers from
South India. Why was it that the new dynasty chose the arid
tvcc&bc. in the northern region of the island which had neither
irrigation works worthy of the name nor sufficient rainfall to
enable easy cultivation ? Compared with that peninsula, the
north-central parts of the island lying north of Polonnaruva,
even after the break-down of the irrigation system, would have
been a better place. These regions were never completely abandoned
by either the Sinhalese or the Tamils. We shall see in the sequel
that small numbers of Sinhalese and Tamils continued to live
in those areas under the rule of petty chieftains called Vannis
or Vaiyr, who changed alliances between the Tamil ruler of
northern Ceylon and the inhalese ruler of the south, accordin
to the political climate of the times. We shall also see later
that the occurrence of a large number of Tamil to onyms in places
which had Sinhalese names in the period before the thirteenth
century certainly suggests that the area was occupied by Tamils