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

25
CHAPTER I
TEE BEG INNIS OF DRAVIDIAN SETTLEIEIITS
Front the earliest times to the end of the tenth century A.D.
No appreciable light is thrown by either tradition
or archaeology on the darkness in which the history of the earliest
Dravidian settlements in Ceylon is shrouded. The archaeological
finds so far have not been very encouraging and few definite
conclusions can be drawn from the little that has been discovered.
The Pli and Sinhalese chronicles furnish some evidence regarding
the political relations between the Dravidian kingdoms and Ceylon,
but contain little information on Dravidian settlements in the
island. The late Tamil chronicles of Ceylon, on the other hand,
hardly preserve any memory of the very early times. Under these
circumstances, one has to piece together the hopelessly meagre
evidence in the above sources to determine the chronology and
nature of the early Dravidian settlements in Ceylon.
It has been claimed by certain writers on the history
of Jaffna that the people of northern Ceylon at the time of the
earliest Indo-Aryan settlements, called gas in the chronicles,
were T,n11s Some others have claimed that these gas were Tantil
1. S. Gnanapragasar, 'Ceylon originally a land of Dravidiana',
LQ. I, No.1, pp.27 If.