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

283 We may not be wrong

283 We may not be wrong in placing the upper limit of the date of the Tamil settlements in Jaffna in the eleventh century. As we have already seen, the occurrence of a TanLi]. inscription and of three Tamilised forms of Sinhalese toponynis in the becords of the twelfth century may point to the existence of Tamil settlements in the Jaffna peninsula in the twelfth century It is, therefore, justifiable to place the Tamil pezetration into Jaffna and the beginnings of the gradual absorption and displacement of the Sinhalese there between the eleventh and the end of the thirteenth century. For the study of the Tamil occupation of Jaffna in. the thirteenth century we have hardly any archaeological remains or epigraphic material. The absence of archaeological material may be explained in several ways. In the first place, no archaeological excavations worthy èf the name have been conducted in that region, except for some preliminary diggings in places like Kantarai and Nilvarai In the second place, the litbology of the peninsula in partly responsible for the absence of early monuments. In the North-central Province and the other southern parts of the island the natural outcrops of granite rocks afforded 1. See supra, P.273 2. See supra, pp.27o-17L

materials for the erection of lasting monuments and for inscribing records. In contrast to this, the Jaffna peninsula, the adjoining islands and the north-western coastal strip from Kalpiiya to MullaitIvu, all lying in the Tamil areas, are covered with a layer of sedimentary limestone of the Miocene and. the later ages This limestone, with its high degree of solubility, has not ptoved to be a good medium for the expression of the arts of architecture and sculpture. It is possible that many of the structures of our period were reduced to mere rubble in the course of time and used by villagers for building their semipermanent and modest houses. Thirdly, the kings of Jaffna would not have had the necessary ecomod.c basis for the undertaking of ambitious building activities. The temples of the early period, as now, would have been limestone structures of modest proportions These buildings have been kept in constant repair, as no part of the peninsula was abandoned in the centuries after our period, and only a proper archaeological survey will help us to identify them. The secular buildings at the capital 284 1. U.C.H.C., I, pt. 1, p.14. 2. Cf., F.de Queyroz, The Temporal and Siritua]. Conquest of Ceylon, I, Tr. S.G.Perera, p.50 - 'They never had any other city save Nelur (Nallr) ,......... Nor is there in that place anything else worth recording save some tnk, almost devoid of water....'