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

Although we are inclined to believe that the Tami].
name Yppam is only a rendering of the Sinhaleae Tp-pauna,
it must be admitted that this derivation is not certain. The
earliest forms of this name in both Sinhalese and Tamil occur
around the same time, the Tanii]. form occurring nearly fifteen
years earlier than the first recorded Sinhalese form. It may
well be that the Sinhaleae name is just a Sinhalese rendering
of a Tamil name which may or may not be associated with the
term But this seems unlikely. It is more likely
that Y ppani is one of the large number of Tamilised forms
of Sinhalese toponyms in the Jaffna peninsula.
The other element that has gone into the creation
of the legend is the story of the blind poet Vra
Rkavar, wh lived in the sixteenth -or seventeenth century.
He is said to have visited the court of one of the laat kings
of Jaffna who bore the consecration name of Pararcackara,
1
and received an elephant and a plot of land as gifts. While
the earlier work Kailyamlai does not mention the name of
the lutist or that he was blind, the a-vaipava-mlai
names him as VTra Rkavar and states that be was blind
42
1. S.Gnenapragasar, a-vaipava-viniarcan, pp. 16-18 ;
S.Kiim' racuvarni, 'Vaa }1katt4a Cila Iappeyarkaji Vara1u',
pa-vaiyava-kaumuti, op. cit., p. 127.
2. !vm., p. 23.