Place names in North and East of Sri Lanka
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[edit] Background
Many Place Names in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka with Tamil sounding names appear to have etymologies originating in the Sinhala language. Thus historians like Paul E. Pieris, Tambimuttu and Horsburgh argue that this region of Sri Lanka was populated by people who were largely Buddhists till about the 12th century A.C.E. [1]. More details are given in other studies [2].
[edit] Invasions and Place Names
After circa 12th century these areas were populated largely by South Indian forces and immigrants who understandably Tamilized the names of the old towns, water reservoirs, rivers, and villages. Similarly, many Buddhist temples were demolished and replaced by Hindu shrines [3]. It also led to many indigenous locals and Veddas[1] assimilating as Tamils over a period of time (See Koviar and Nalavar)
Sometimes these places were re-conquered and re-named when southern kings returned to these areas. This in turn involved demolition of Hindu shrines, or their absorption into Buddhist shrines and vice versa as kingdoms and their boundaries changed continually. This ebb and flow has left a rich cultural legacy in the North and East. A detailed study was presented by Dr. Karthigesu Inthirapala in 1965 [4]. It should be noted that the so called "Sinhala" or "Tamil" people are inherently totally intermixed over the centuries. The last "Sinhala" king of Kandy had a well defined South Indian lineage. Hence all this should be regarded as a common legacy constituting a valauble patrimony of the present inhabitants of the country.
[edit] Interaction between Sinhala and Tamil forms
Dr. Michael Roberts mentions "toponomic evidence involving over a thousand place names of distinctly Sinhala garb". An initial list of such names ('vidyodaya list') was compiled by Prof. Chandre Dharmawardana at the Vidyodya University, now known as Sri Jayawardanapura University. Sinhala writers like Arisen Ahubudu of the Hela school, an anti-Sanskrit Sinhala literary movement- had also examined the place names, especially in the South of Sri Lanka. Also, T. Devendra, G. D. A. Perera [2] and other toponymists have also examined the origin of present day place names. The fact that the sinhala names in the North and East were slightly modified, instead of being completely removed, shows that the people co-existed, even when the rulers fought.
In fact, the 2nd century A.CE Vallipura (Vallipuram) gold-plate, [3] [4], has Sinhala and Tamil text as well, showing the Sinhala king's tolerant attitude. The most important interactions between Sinhala and Tamil forms occurred in the North, East and the West of the Island.
[edit] Examples by district
[edit] Jaffna District
According Karthigesu Indrapala[4] over 900 village and town names within the Jaffna peninsula is supposed to have Sinhala toponyms like 'Chunakkam', Kodikamam, Vadukkodai, etc., Some are also mentioned in the ancient chronicles, or in local inscriptions and Portuguese or Dutch writings.
- Chunnakam was an old center of Buddhist worship since pre-christian times, and its name is given as 'Hunugama', or village of chalk (deposites) in the Buddhist 'Nampotha' - a classical compilation of names of Buddhist shrines.[1]
- Jaffna the origin of the name of modern-day Jaffna is a bit more complex. Horsburgh[1] suggests that Jaffna, or 'Yalpanam' in Tamil, was derived from the Sinhala words Yapapatuna where Yapa is government official and 'Patuna', i.e., 'entrepot' or 'harbor'. The famed archeologist Paranavithana suggests that the original name was Javapatuna, where 'Java' alludes to the presence of Javanese people[2]. The Portuguese historian De Queyroz refers to it at 'Jafnapato' [2]. The town having the present-day name
- Vadukkodai is mentioned in Dutch writings and maps. The whole of the Jaffna peninsula is shown in Dutch East India Company or VOC maps as 'Waligamo province' (Waligama in Sinhala), and Vadukkodai is named as Batakotte. The latter Sinhala name perhaps means 'a fortification of bamboo'.[2] In effect, many aapparently meaningless place names acquire meaning when their ancient Sinhala name is found. A name like
- Kantarodai a pre-Christian Buddhist center near Jaffna, is found to have the ancient name Kadurugoda, and makes a meaningful Sinhala name [1][2].
[edit] Trincomalee district
The Portuguese historian De Queyroze refers to
- Kantalai as 'Gantale', a Sinhala name where 'Gan=Gam' means 'village', and 'Tale=Talawa' implies a flat region. Other historians (e.g, Tennant) have also used the name "Gantalawa".
- Mutur, also spelt as 'Muttur', is a town at the mouth of the Trincomalee harbor. The English adventurer 'Robert Knox' surrendered to the officials of the King of Kandy in Mutur, known in Sinhala as 'Mooduthara', where 'moodu' means 'of the sea', and 'thara' refers to an opening to the sea, as in the Tamil 'thurai', or Sanskrit 'thitha'.[2] The long name.
- Trincomalee has a quaint history. In the old Pali chronicles (and in inscriptions), it is known as 'Gokanna', a shortened form of the name 'Gona-kanda', where 'Gona' means a 'stag or deer', and 'Kanda'=hill in Sinhala. A temple, dating to pre-christian times, built on this hill was known as 'SriGonakanda'. Once the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa kingdoms fell into the hands of South Indian and Kalinga rulers, from about the 13-th century onwards, the name changed to 'Thiru-kona-malai', where 'Siri→Thiru', and 'Gona→Kona', and 'kanda→malai' is the Tamil form for 'hill'. This further changed to 'Trincomalee' in the hands of the European writers.[2]
[edit] Other Provinces
The main changes in the other provinces came from the european invasions. That is, although the influence of the Tamil language may be seen even in places like Beruwala (western province) where there is a city known as 'Nallur', the notable examples are the city names like Colombo, Galle and Kandy. Colombo was orignially 'Kalanthota' or 'Kolonthota' and indicated it to be the 'port' of the 'Kaleni' river. However, the Portuguese were probably struck by its similarity to the name of Colombus, and renamed the city 'Colombo'. Similarly, the name 'Galle' has been attributed to a Portuguese mariner, although it was an ancient sea port even in pre-christian times. The name 'Kandy' is an abbriviation of 'Kanda Udarata', or 'hill country' which was the seat of the later Sinhala kings. A name like "Grand Pass", a northen suburb of Colombo, is the english redering of "Grande Passo", the name of a ferry established by the Portuguese, to cross the Kelani River. In ancient times it was known as "Nagalagam thota", evoking the legendry history of the Naga kings of the 5th century BC.
[edit] Implications
The existence of place names in both languages attests to the easy co-existence, assimilation and cultural affinity of these two communities in the past.
[edit] Convenient List of place names
A city by city lisiting has resulted from the work of a number of scholars and contributors listed at the website referenced herein. [2] That is place-names site.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Tambimuttu, Ceylon Observer, 14 October 1948; B. Horsburg, The Ceylon Antiquary, vol ii, part I 1916
- ^ a b c d e f g h http://www.geocities.com/slplz_nm/index.html
- ^ http://www.nexcorpsl.com/sinhala/N_NorthAndEast.htm Buddhist shrines in Northeast
- ^ a b http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items05/071205-5.html University of London, Ph.D Thesis 1965
