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

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C!1avasa. Though at first sight these statements may appear
inauthentic, they are actually not so. This could be explained
easily if we analyse the exact use of the term vanni in our
medieval Sinhalese and Pli sources. In these sources, vanni
is applied to chieftaincies and chiefs in Ijaraha and in
other forest tracts. Jhile in the Sinhalese sources vanni occurs
alone to mean either a chieftaincy or a chief in the C'alavaisa
- 2 _3
it occurs always in compounds, namely vanni-rajattam, vanni-raja,
vanni-r jno vanni-mahIpla maha-vafifia-r ja!fia 6 (variant: niahavanya-rjafi?1a)and
vanni-rjhi all of which stand for 'Vanni
e.xce
kings'. Perhaps the on]$ e-u%.,w.ic-e is the occurrence in the
personal name Vanni BhuvanekabThu, but here,too, it is part of
that name Geiger's contention that the whole compound vanni-rjno
refers to a noble clan (adeliger Clan) of the Sinhalese in the
same way as 'Licchavi-rajjuruv'stood for the Licchavi clan is
not convincing. We are inclined to take these compounds to mean
'kings of the Vanni'. Geiger's argument that the word vanni
never occurs alone but always in a conipund is based purely on
the Clavaisa. Paranavitana' a statement that vannin were a
1. f., Pv., p.109; Rv., pp. kk, 65, 66; Nk.s*n., p.20; Girtsand.a,
v.128.
2. Cv., 81:11. 3. Ibid., 83:10. k. Ibid., 87:26, 52.
5. Ibid., 88:87. 6. Ibid., 88:88. 7. Ibid., 89:51.
8. Ibid., c101Oc