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

79
century. As we shall see later, the evidence of the literary
and epigraphic sèurces indicates that the present-day Tamil
areas were then settled by Sinhalese people. The evidence of
place-names, too, supportithis conclusion. A number of Simhalese
inscriptions of this period have been discovered in the Maar,
Vavuniy, Trimoomalee and Batticaloa districts, where Dravidian
settlements were found in the thirteenth century. Some of these
inscriptions provide us with the earlier Sinhalese names of villages
and tanks which now bear Taniil names. For instance, the Mar
Kaccri Pillar inscription of about the ninth century mentions
the villages of 'Pepodatua, Kumbalhala,and Tumpokon, situated
in the Kuakadavuk division of the Northern Coast', presumably
close to Kahtittha, where the record was found The Sinhalese
name of Alaricca for the raperiyak4am tank occurs in an
inscription of GajabThu I (1l11._136), from the same place The
Sinhalese name for Kurunta-k$am, in the Northern Province, a
appears as Kuruñgama in an inscription of l4ahinda III (801-80k)
from that vi1lage In this last name, the derivation of the Tm11
form from the Sinhalese is clearly evident. Besides,these
considerations, it is also worth noting that the Tamils of South
1. ., III, p. 105. $e1?'
2. A.S.C.A.R. for 1905, p. k3.
3. Ibid.