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

49k) battle

49k) battle of the time of Kulaflhara for, as we know from the Cflava4sa , it was in the latter's reign that an Iryacakravartin led some of the PIya campaigna The allusion in the Cekaricac!kara-nl!lai seems to be a genuine tradition preserved in the courts of the iryaca1cravartins of Jaffna. In the light of afl. these considerations, the conclusion that the Iryacakravartins of Jaffua were descended from those of Panmad becomes irresistible. In his paper on the kingdom of northesin Ceylon, Paranavitana has made some interesting comments on the origin of the Iryacakravartins of Pinmad. Arguing on the basis that the word 'Ariya (Irya) has a distinct connotation in T2nil literature', namely that 'it denotes the language, literature and people of North India, as distinct from those of the Dravidian lands', he baa euggest.d a North Indian origin for the Iryacakravartina Be argues his case as follows: - Even if, as stated in the Cekarca-cTkara-nilai and reported by de Queyroz, the rulers of Jafina were called 1riyaa due to descent from a Bralimin of .ni!varam, it is not the fact of this ancestor being a Brahain, but of his belonging to a particular class of Brnhmlnn, namely Iriya Brahins, that would have conferred on them the titi. of 4riya. For there are still at 1. Cv., 9O:k3-k7 2. S.Paranavitana, 'The 4rya Ifngdom in North Ceylon', p. 2O+.

491 Izvaram a sect of Brhm{ns called 4riyappirlm4ar, who hay, special rights in the temple and who claim to be immigrants from North India. The North Indian origin of the Brahmins to whom the 1riyaa of Jaffna traced their origin is admitted also by the CeIcrca-ckaranfElai, for it says that they came with Rma. A stray verse, ascribed to Puka2nti, included in the anthology called Tami-n1valar-caritai, seems to support the Northern origin of the rya kings. This stanza, which expresses the poet's grief at the death of an lrya king, refers to him by a phrase which, in the printed text, is given as vaal ri r-kThifAp,. The compound vaalIriyar can only be analysed as vaal+L'iyar. But the first of these two words, according to the Tamil Lexicon means banya, and gives no sense in this context. As v can be confused with ]. in Tamil manuscripts, the correct reading appears to be avriyar-knf, the king of the Northern Kryas. De Queyroz definitely mentions that these Brahmons of RInvaram came from Gufar1t which, together with the adjoining regions, is called &riaka (Iryaka) by classical geograpber8. De ueyroz further states that these Irya Br.h mirn claimed royal descent. This is rather puzzling, for the rigidity of the Hindu caste system of those days would not have permitted a qatriya being accepted as a Brhmin. It is possible that originallythere were at RLfl!varam and its neighbourhood Br2h mine as well as KSatrlyaa who called themselves lryae, and that, at a later date, when the Brahmina alone_succeeded in preserving their separate identity, all 4riyas of Rn1varam known to tradition were held to be Br.hm(ni. The fact that the rya rulers of Jaffna wore the sacred thread need not necessarily prove that they were of Brahmin origin; the qatriyas, too, were entitled to wear it. 1 Having thus argued in favour of a North Indian, and possible EatrLya, origin for the Iryaca.kravartins, Paranavitana proeeda to 'ascertain who the Arias were' For this purpose he takes 1. S.Paranavitana, 'The Zrya Kingdom in North Ceylon', p. 20i4 205. 2. Ibid., p. 205.