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

330 When

330 When the coast of Na].abar was overrun by the Muhainmadana from Arabia, the natives were persecuted, with the view of causing them to embrace the doctrines of the Koran; in order to avoid which the Nukwas transported themselves to Ceylon, and established their residence in the Malabar Provinces amil provinceJ. It appears that the place where the Mukwas first landed was Kudramalai, whence they emigrated to other parts of the Island, and in course of time formed several settlements. Some time after the arrival of the Mukwas in the District [PuttaiamJ, their chieftain named Vedi Arasan, had to contend wilh a rival called Manikk Taleivan Mikka Talaiva4, who them yresided over the people, denominated Karaiyr CKurukul , and possessed a settlement on the south side of the District. Nanikka Taleivan despatched some of his officers to Vedi Arasan for the purpose of soliciting his daughter in marriage, but, meeting with a refusal, he collected a considerable body of armed men and declared war against the Mukwas, threatening their total destruction. As the Mukwas were at that time a weak and defenceless people, they concerted with a crew of an Arab vessel which was then at anchor at Kudramalai, and with their assistance slew the rival chieftain and put all his troops to flight. In turn for the service rendered them by the Arabs, the whole of the Mukwas embraced the I4uhammadan religion which many of their descendants renounced in favour of Christianity, through the influence of the Portuguese. After the defeat of the Karaiyars, the Nukwas determined to send an embassy to the court of the emperor in order to ingratiate themselves into his favour. They accordingly made choice of certain individuals for the pnrpose and despatched them to Sitawaka with many costly presents. 'When these delegates reached the capital and presented themselves to the emperor, he received them with uncommon kindness, and granted them several copper sannasas or receipts, whereby the land in the whole District of Puttalamaand Kalpentyn were allotted to them for their maintenance as paraveni Besides the assignment of land, the emperor constituted a royal tribunal at Puttalam called Mutrakudam, and appointed ei hteen of the Mukwas to be members of the same, under the authority of a Dissawa or Pro-Consul, who was to be annually sent from the court ; and also conferred on the said members the title of Wanniya, ......l L. S.Casie Chetty, Ceylon Gazetteer, p. 278.

This tradition seems to refer to a ukkuva settlement of the ItT period (].k15-1505). It ap ears that the Mukkuvar had to contend with the Kurukulas who were settled along the Puttalam-Chilaw coast in that period. The Vanni chieftaincies of the Mukkuvar in the western coast probably originated in the period. The Sinhalese rulers of seem to have been acknowledged by them as their overlords, although sometimes the Jaffna rulers, too, seem to have claimed suzerainty over them. The Kf rulers appear to have assigned lands as parave1 to the Mukkuvar in the Puttalam district, We know of at least one instance when a ruler, Bhuvaneabhu VII, granted the region of Pomparippu to the Mukkuva chieftain Navaratna Vanniya as his paravei in 15 7. The reference to the Muslim invasion of Ker4a and the subsequent migration of the Mukkuvas from there may preserve the memory of an earlier wave of Mukkuva mi ration in the fourteenth century when the Muslims invaded South India. It is not known whether the Nukkuva migration to the westórn coast of Ceylon had begun earlier than the fourteenth century. In the thirteenth century the invasion of }gha seems to have led to the occupation of this part of Ceylon, too, by South Indian mercenaries. It is stated in the C1avaisa th t Dami. warriors dwelt as they 381 1. See supra, p. 377.