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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Many of their names, too, are Tamil in a Sinha].ese shape.
The older generation have taken to weari*g earrings, but
this practice has been discouraged by the present
Sinhalese headmen. The Sinhalese villagers have as much
faith in the Hindu god Pillaiyar (Ganes&') as have the
Tamil villagers whose favourite god he is.........
As regards dress the Linhalese keep generally to their
own customs, but they often wear the Jaffna cloth (chayaveddi)
and fasten the handkerchief on their heads after the
Taniil manner. 1
The foregoing observations of nineteenth-century writers reveal
certain facts about the so-called Sinhalese Vanniyas. In the
first place, we find that they were a caste distinct from the
rest of the Sinhalese. Secondly, traces of Tamil descent could
be found in their traditions, customs and nlRnners. Thirdly,
they considered themselves to be superior to all other castes
in the Vanni. This feeling of superiority was evidently due to
the fact that they were at one time the ruling caste in the
Vanni. In the light of these considerations it n.s difficult to
accept the view of Geiger that the Vannis were a degenerate
group of Sinhalese. It appears that the Sinhalese Vanniyas
who lived as a separate caste in the North-central Province
were descendants of Tamil Vaniyars who migrated to the island
in the thirteenth century. It is in the same century, as we have
noticed earlier, that we first hear of Vannia in the Sinhalese
sources. It is unlikely that a Sinh ieee caste called the Vannis
1. Anonymous, 'The_Vanni', The lionthly Literary egi ter and
Notes and ueriea for eylon, II, No.5, Iay l89+, p . 98-99.