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

may form part of the later details added to the original tradition.
It is also possible that it is based on some minor Tamil settlements
that were established in the island in the second centuryy
or later. The second century A.D. appears to have been a period
of expansion for the Ca country. The several accounts of Karikla
Ca's activities reveal that Tarnil settlements were established
in the newly-cleared territories north of the Ca country,
namely in Toaimaalam It is possible that the expanding
population of the Ca country went in search of new lands and
some of them settled in the western regions of Ceylon, where
even now the few Tamil-speaking Sinhalese claim descent from
those who are supposed to have been settled by Gajabhu. These
events, or more probably later Tamil settlements, may have
given rise to the legend of the twelve thousand prisoners in
later times. With the evidence that we have now, it is not possible
to verify the account in the RLTvali ya. As it stands, however,
it is difficult to accept it as reliable.
Although the literary and epigraphic sources are
not helpful in our inquiry regarding the Dravidian settlements
of the earliest period, the evidence of archaeology has been of
much value. The earliest and perhaps the most defiaite evidence
43
1. V.Kankabhai, . cit., pp. 27-29 ; Pafapplai, 11. 280-28k.