Ceylon-The Island

CEYLON - THE ISLAND
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Sri Lanka - Ceylon is a beautiful island. It lies on the southern side of the Sub-Continent of India. The island is in the shape of a mango. This island is separated from India by Palk Strait in the North and Mannar Kudah in the South.
The island of Rameshwaram, Eramer Dam and Mannar Island separate Palk Strait and the Mannar Kudah.
To the south of the island is the Indian Ocean. The southern point is surrounded by sea and nothing else. The Bay of Bengal is on the eastern side and stretches as far as Sumatra.
Forty kilometers from the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is Thamilaham (Tamil Nadu).
The Central region enjoys high rainfall and has mountains. The land here is fertile. The island's Eastern, Northern and North-Western regions are open flat land with rocks scattered all over.
Long before man wrote history, this island (Ilankai, as it was known then) was inhabited by hunters and cowherds. These were stone-age and iron-age people according to research. There is proof of this on the island.
The ancient instruments of this period and those used by people in Thamil Nadu are similar according to research on Ancient History.
Later, the discovery of ancient scripts and stone carvings have indicated that the inhabitants of Ilankai and Thamilaham were originally Tamil people.
Sivan and Elder Sivan were the kings who ruled the island, which is recorded in the island's history. That the Princes of Bengal and Kalingam and their people came to this island and married Pandian girls is recorded in the island's history.
In Tamil Nadu and in the island of Ceylon there were originally Tamil people. When Prince Vijayan came to the island, a dialect emerged. Many people speaking a new language were flooding into the island. This is the period when history was reversed, (1000 BC).
During the reign of King Asoka, 400 BC, Thamilaham and Ceylon had become lands where the Buddhist religion was being spread. King Asoka's son Mahinthan came to Ilankai and converted the King of the island to Buddhism . This is shown in the island's history. Later, King Asoka's daughter Sangamitta brought a white Bo branch from Goa and planted it in Anuradhapuram, when she came to Ilankai. These were historical events. This Bo tree is in Anuradhapura up to this day.
During the time of King Asoka, a new language was being developed in Ceylon by combining, Sanskrit, Pali, Kalingam and Tamil, and thus a new language was born. This language was then introduced to Prince Vijayan and later became the Sinhalese language.
During the time of Karikala Cholan (300 BC), he declared war on Ceylon. Karikalan wanted to build a dam by blocking the Kaveri River. To achieve this project Karikalan brought experts and labourers from Ceylon to Thamilaham. History states that Karikalan built a dam across the Kaveri River. After the invasion by Karikalan, Chola kings ruled Ceylon. One of the kings that ruled Ceylon was Ellalan. He ruled the entire island from 161 BC - 117 BC.
"To the South is the sea, to the North are Tamils. How can I stretch and sleep?" asked the Sinhalese Prince Dutugemunu. From the description of this notorious prince, it is evident that his name Dutu refering to a thug in Sinhalese and Tamil.
This notorious Sinhalese prince called Ellalan to battle. The elder Ellalan was unable to defeat the young and strong Dutugemunu. The Sinhalese thug murdered Ellalan - the Tamil king and captured the Tamil Kingdom. This was the beginning of the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict. The Sinhalese captured the Tamil capital Anuradhapuram and made it their capital. This was the first occurrence where the Sinhalese took possession of Tamil lands by battle, making it their own. This is worth noting.
The Tamils kept the rest of their land and the Sinhalese kept their land. The areas closer to Tamil Nadu, sea shores and open land, belonged to Tamils. The mountainous, central parts, far away from Tamil Nadu and the southern parts belonged to the Sinhalese people.
The Aalvaar and Nayanmaars (Saiva saints) started spreading the Saivite and Vaisnavite (in English - "Hindu") religions in Thamilaham, amongst the Tamil people. This happened during AD 550-800. In the island of Ilankai the Saivite religion was being promoted.
During the time of Raja Raja Cholan and Rajendra Cholan 993-1070 AD, the entire island was brought under Tamil rule.
With the re-introduction of Saivaism the Tamils who lived in the island of Ilankai again became Saivaites. Those who became Buddhists disregarded Tamil and created the Sinhalese language in order to promote Buddhism.
In Polanuruvai the Chola capital was established and Sinhala people moved southwards. The island's mountainous region and the south became the homeland of the Sinhalese. The Eastern, Northern and North-Western regions were inhabited by Tamils. The Buddhist Sinhalese people occupied the mountainous and southern areas, while the Saivaite Tamils occupied the East, North and North West regions.
Although the Sinhalese administration was somewhat strong they were unable to control the areas occupied by the Tamil people. In 1215 AD the Pandians declared war on the island. The Sinhalese rulers retreated to the south. Kandy and Kotte became Sinhala capitals. Polonnaruwa was the Chola capital. After the Pandian invasion Yaalpanam (Jaffna) became the Chola capital.
Three Kingdoms
Now there were three kingdoms in the island of Ilankai. The South Western seashore and Southern seashore were administered by the Kotte Sinhalese Kingdom. The central mountain area was taken care of by the Kandy Udarata Sinhalese Kingdom. The East, North and North-West were administered by the Tamil Kingdom.
This situation remained during the arrival of the Europeans in 1505 and even after that. Kotte was the capital of the Sinhala Kingdom, which later fell to the Portuguese in 1505. Nallur was the capital of the Tamil Kingdom. This also fell to the Portuguese in 1619. The Kandy Udaratta Kingdom made Kandy its capital. In AD 1815 this was taken by the English.
When the Portuguese and the Dutch took over the island's seashores, they ruled the Tamils and Sinhalese separately.
The Greek explorer Ptolemy and the British who came later demarcated separately the Tamil and the Sinhala regions. They recorded this.
The Sinhalese termed their administration "Rata". The Tamils named their administration "Vannimai".
Rajarata, Mayarata, Udarata and Ruhunurata were the areas controlled by the Sinhalese, in their respective administrations.
The Tamils controlled and administered the following areas, Yaalpanam, Vanni, Kottiyaaru, Palukamam, Paanamai and Muthusilapam. These are large administrative areas. Within these large areas there are smaller areas called "Koralai" by the Sinhalese, and "Pattu" by the Tamils.
The maps and drawings from the time of Ptomey the Greek explorer and later from the period when the English came to the island, show how they recorded the areas of the Tamils and the Sinhalese separately.
In 1796 the English took power, after the fall of the Kandian Kingdom. In 1815 the entire island came under English rule. On October 1st 1833 the Colebrook-Cameron reformation was introduced in the island's Administration. After the reforms in the administration, there came into being five Provinces under one administration, in the island.
Five Provinces
1. The Northern Province - Nuvarekalvi. Anuradhpuram, Yaazhpanum, Vavuniya and Mannar remained in the Northern Province. The capital was Yaazhpanum (Jaffna).
2. Eastern Province - Thampankadawai, Vindhanai, Kottiyaru, Palukamam Paanamai. All these included as Tamil zones. Trincomalee, Muttur, Mattakaluppu, Bintenne, Wekande, Kumana and Yala were remaind in this province. The capital was Mattakalupu (Batticaloa).
3. The Upper Province. Katpiddi, Puttlam, Chilaw, Neerkozhimpu (Negombo), Kotte, Panandurai, Kalutara, spreading as far as Kurunegala. The capital was Colombo.
4. The Southern Province. Galle, Thangalai, Matarai and Ambanthotai, stretching as far as Ratnapura. The capital was Galle.
5. The Central Province. Kandy, Udunuwara and Uva, which were mountain regions, came under Central Province. Kandy was the capital.
Each of these five provinces had government officials who were answerable to English governors in Colombo.
During Dutch rule, one Tamil Kingdom and two Sinhalese Kingdoms were functioning as Tamil administration, seashore Sinhalese administration and Kandian Sinhalese administration. Later under British rule, these three administrative areas were converted into five provinces.
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