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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of the thirteenth century favoured the rise of an independent
kingdom in northern Ceylon. There is little doubt that the
Dravidian elements were the force behind )4gha and his associates
when they founded the new kingdom. With the establishment of
the Jaffna kingdom and the Vanni chieftaincies of the ortbern
and Eastern Provinces, the first steps towards the division of
the island into two linguistic regions were taken. The process
of settlement and assimilation did. not end with the fotuidation
of the northerh kingdom. Tamil settlers continued to n.grate
to Ceylon and presumably most of them went to the Tamil kingdom.
But there were also several Tamils, traders and others, who
settled in the Sinhalese areas as is indicated by the Tamil
inscriptions and Sinhalese literature and traditions. These
settlers were evidently assimilated to the Sinhalese population
in due course. In the Jaffna kingdom a similar assimilation seems
to have gone on in the centuries after the foundation cZ the
kingdom. Here many o the earlier Sinhaleae settlers seem to
have been assimilated to the Tamil population.
The emergence of an independent kingdom and some
minor chieftaincies in the northern and eastern regions of the
island and the lack of intimate intercourse between the Tamil
and Sinhalese kingdoms as a result of the abandonment ef the
North-central Province were factors that led to the division
of Ceylon into two linguistic regions. The Sinhalese kings, as
a rule, did not show any interest in subduing the northern