Ceylon and Malayasia in Mediaeval Times

By S. PAR,AN.dVITANA
Ceylon

is situated at the south-u,estern corner of the Bay of

tsengal which, on its eastern side, washes the shores of the }Ialay peninsula and the northern half of the Island of Sumatra-rancrs ri-hich are
the home of people of l{alay race. Should one sail directly eastrvards

from the eastern coasts of ceylon, the first land that one iaiouid meet
after passing the Andamans is the )Ialay Peninsula ; similarly, a
rnariner sailing westward from a port in the Malay Peninsula oi th"
western coast of northern Sumatra rvould touch land on the ea-stern or
southern coast of Ceylon. It may, therefore, be inferred that the
people of Ceylon and those of the llalay lands would have come in
contact rvith each other in ancient days if they took to seafaring. It
only in, certain periods of their history that the Sinhalese people
_was
had engaged themselves in seafaringl ; on the other hand, the Malays

have alrvays been intrepid. sailors. Geographical consid"erations .lvourd

thus lead one to the conclusion that the history of the Sinhalese aud that
of the Ma]1Vs would have been influenced by each other, but the only

instance hitherto recognised of historical contact between the two

peoples, before the settlement of the existing Malay comniunity in
Ceylon at a time when the people of Mala]'asia as well of Ceylon u,ere
r_edq99d

to playing a passive or subordinate role under concluerors from

the West, rvas the episode of Candrabhinu's raid on Ceylon.

The two unsuccessful atterripts of Canclrabhanu the Ji.r-aka, the

first in.the eleventh 5rear of Pard.kramabdhu II (t247 t.c.\ and the
second in or about that monarch's t.wenty-sixth year-(rz6z t.c.), are

well-known to students of ceylon history, and neecl not'be dwelt upon

Numerous lvere the spec'lations offered by schoiar.s
interested in the history,of ceylo', as rvellas of Malayasia, with regard
t9 the identity of Candrabhd.nu, the region he haijed from and]the
significance of his raids on ceylon for ihe history of south-eastern
Asia.: These speculations were set at rest by the gieat F.rench savant
Georges coedds r,vho, in r9r8, published the text of a Sanskrit inscription frorn Vat Hva Vian in Jaiy6,, in his rn,ell-knor,vn work Le Ra3tawne
d.e Qri,vijayas, and later, in tlie paper A propos cle la chwte
d.w Royaiune d.e

at length here.

,r)

r.

Nicholasin TJn.iuersi,ty o.f Ccylon Retiew, Vol. XVI, pp. ZE_92.

{or example,__N. J. Krom's papcr D" Ond.ergang uan Ciaija1,q. i}
n,-,".
,,!"",
rvltQ. tran. Ah&d. aan lVettensclzappen, .{d,. Letteyh,unde, Deet 62, SLrie B.
C. W.

No. 5, pp. 8-e (156-7).

pf.

J.

6.

Bulletin de I'Ecol,e F.rangaise d,'Extylttte-Orient (BEFEO), XVIII, 19rg,

,]OLTRNAL, n.A.S. (C!]YLON)

/ol. VII,

(-\,ezo Serrie.sl, l1)59

{yit,iiu.vtta, published hr tgzJ, idcntificd the kine 'Sri Dharmarir,ja

bcarinF,* the epithet of Canclrabhh'nu' of that inscription s-ith Candra*
bhr'rnLr o{ the historic;Ll i,vritings of Ceylon.

"llir: jaiya inscril>tion; is clated in lialiyuge -t.132, i.e. r2Jo -r.cAccrri'r1ing tatlwCulavarzso as u'cll :ls the f>uirfual'i,, Carrdrabhanu first
rririrti Ceylon in tire clcventh -vear of P'arakramabiLhu II{i rvirose
?rcccssiorr, accorcling to the contemooriLry Hatlh,atattct,galla-uiltdrtt;ait.sai, took place after rEz.1 I'car-s had passecl from tl-Le Enlightenrncnt of
tiie LiLrcltiha, i.e. rz36 r.r'. 'lhus, flariclrabh;Lrru first came on thc:
L-lcr,jon scene in rzqT A.c. Ther ciate of his second expedition against
Ce1,-lon. in which he lost his lif'e, has not bcen erprcssly statecl, hut it
can bc infr-'rre

cl

to have taken place after Par-akrarnabahu

II

had entrus-

ted thc government to his son, Vijayabbhu, in his tu-enty-seconcl 5'e41,

ancl belirre the occupation of Polonnerr-u by that prince in the tr,ventvsixth r.'ca.r,s i.e'.betrveen 1258 anci l2fl2 '\.c..but closcr to the latter rlaie
tirarr to tlie former. It is not inprobable that a ruliu: l.ho figures in an
inscription of rz3o $'as thr) leailer oI an e-rpeclition in or about 1260 I
clirr-rnological considerations, thcrtfor:c, are iiot a barrier to the identificatir.rn of the llalay ntler Candrabtrraur of the JaiVn inscription u'ith
Canclrablril"nu, th.c Jirvaka king referrer.l to in the C,filarathsct ancl the
Puiilal t . Ilut, as the Jaivtl inscr-iption givcs ' Candrabhanu ' monr as
an epitiret than as a personal narne.. it is not impossibie that the XIalay
rulcr u,hci invaded Ceylon \\,as a son and successor of the Dharmaraja
of that insr:ription. If the king u'ho set up thc Jaiy.i, inscription is heldto be the same as the -Iaval<a liin-g u'ho enilea-r'oulcci to concluer Ce-vlon
irr or: abtnrt tz6o,he must have beeu u'ell over sixty years of age at that
clate ; to lead an experlition across the seas rnight per-haps be an r-utrler..
ta1<ing too strenuous for a uian so advilncecl in years,

'lhe Canclrabhanu cr{ the

Jaiyn inscription is clescribecl as tirei ' I-ord.
of i':rnrl;r'aliiiqa '. 'l'his agrees u,ith tire IIu.tlhatanagalla-tihc\yaroills,t
rvhich stiltes ihat Candrablranu came front the 'l-an-rbalinga countrt'.
Chanclr:rllhanu is clescribecl in this n.ork as ' I iion in prou-ess unto the
nrttinc elephants rvho are thc liings of many other countries, rvhose
ii'n1.,etuositv corrlcl not be r:esisteil b.y an1' orrc. rvho harl cleluded the
r-r'hole lorld by a shos'o{ servict: to the u'orld anrl the religion, r,v[o
prr.isse-sscrl an abundant militarv train, u,ho u'as dcterilinecl on taking

4. lliidrugctr. t' t lt Taol-latttl-ert. l''olkettllu,nde ztutt, Nedeylandsclt I ndie,

s-:, l)p. +59-+7r. Ihe prcscnt rvriter rv:rs thc first to dr:lrv the attention of
!_teel
Le-\'1,,rr .(lrolars to this rdcntification inbis lleligiotts lntercottvse betuteem Ceylcr:,
rr,a .:,r., in lltc t3llt-t;lt1 7 ,;111y,,:, rerel l,cl,,rt.-1 rrrccfing oI llris SocieLr cl
l\or,.rul,er r+, r93 j. VRASCB, \,oi. XXXII : No" t5, pp. igoft)"
- ;, 'flre te:tt and tr;rirs!:rtiorr of tlris irrscr-i1,tiorr :rr- .:ircrr it Tltt ll ,!, t;.
t:.'- 51i [-i.iryu by I(. A. Nrlak:urta Sastri, pp. r33-r3.+.
- 0. {.)trlaitath,str,, chapter 83, r'. 36 a.nd Pfijtiuali., 34{h chapter, B. fiurr:r.-

sehara's tr;rnslation, p. 43,

7. t,.11.S" edition, p. 3r.

f'. Pil,iiii:u/i, XXXIV, cdited by llab6pit,iye llrcllr:iririlrra-tLrera, p.

48"

CHYI,ON AND NTALAYA.SIA

IN MEDI..\I]VAL

TIN{ES

ri{)ssession of the sovereignty of Lanka, who came from the Tambaliirga

countr-v and \!as accorlpanicd by feudatory kings '.0 'lhis descriptio"n,
particularly the refererrce to feudatory rulelrs, rvJuicl call to one,s'nrind
a pc.rtcntate like tirc Mahar-aja oi zahag, rvhose rrright ancl rvealth
l,iLr'* [s.11crtoil,,l by tlrc {r'alr gcugral,hcr-i, rathcr tha"n a local rrr]cr of
,lq.ur_
:llr:scnr.e
ly]]" had but recently shal<en off his alleeiance to his
inzfrar*
of srr^vijava,
as candrabhanu i-q generally helcl io have been
bv lt i:torians. ro

T'he Sinlralese translation of trrt rlatthai,anaeo!lo-t:i/.td,rauai,tsa,,

li,n,,r\n,r-ttrcj/zAl!ottaealtt-t'anrs,r.rvrittr,ninSaltar.lol(rl,\tr.c.)siveo
lh,, nrint: ' '[,rmbalir'rg.i' irr the silhalesc garb ,,i .,i.,,,ii.,linqr;,,,',
the tra'slation macle-in the reig' ,f tardliarnab,rhu iiii" t]r"-t.rt
balf of the ti{teenth centurv give-"s the name as ' ramiti"gn'rrr;.ii rn*
Ilijeratnfihara ol abo*t trrrJsistecnilr century, *'hile, ornit?in[ih* ,ru-*
qrf tlrc'leader"of the invading-fcirces, mentlots
that he irir--r.l"g ,t
'1'airralirigorlul'i, ancl the
Daitbadeni-asna, of u'irich tn" ioi"'l.r-"nt
kn'\lt, .sl:u:l luug accou't of ttre va'q'iihing cif the kiiig oi iamali,r_
gamu h1- Parakrarnabahu II. Accorriing to thii source, the.r e t,ere
tlrree
foreig' invac.lers of ceylo.n in the rejg'-nf par-akr.rm"rrali,' tr,^amu"g
\rhonr the kingrrf Tanralingarnu was the rncst fcirr.oi,fable treis ,olt t,
;
lr,r'rlrnrlrdat'l'anrnr.rnrrJ,onrhenorth-\\.risl.rr.rrscabuarrloIthe Isl:Lntl.rl
1'he I)ar-nbadeni-h.atihd,aata mentio'rs the yar.akas, togsflls- with tne
rlra'iclas and Iieralas amcng the fot's ri.hom parak.u*iba,tru II hacl tcr
tle:Ll u'ith, b't cloes
meirtio' c:Lndrabhirn. by'a-*e, nor- cloes it
state frorr rvhere the'ot
Yavakas came"ti

The name 'Tamalingamu' also occrirs in the p,ii.itttuli, not iu

conncction rvith the invasion of canclrabhinu, but in a statement
rr-lrich rccorcls that a very saintry thera named, Dhamrnar<itti,
liitcl in the__countr-y of- that riamt+, was invitecl t,, cey'tonwho
Lry
J'a'rlkrrrrnabah. II.1'; In the cilla,ari'tsa, the nane of the"cnuntry

f'on

q'
5.ttx.t1tit

''hich

Dha'rmakitti-thera carne

to ceylo* at the irr,ritJiu*

Nthaic,sn-tnarttfara-rn.atta-u,uiloitgcr,-kesnri-tsi.rtknnrh

sn,tlttlttt-l?,tratta-ua,(n*

durutihltttntai.t rorta-

uafrr it r_:,tknin-l,,hrnit stttrputttttt_tnl,t t,dhattait

Lot,lr'i-_'a.ij.,'-Lult,rtlallltihair.'!-,tntl,a/i;,q,1-,,i.<u.vi.ca!ait u!i.ti!1:s,a11, (,(ty,!olbhaltl.
rucnnlurlltil>ait, sa,srlntrlntait anluha-bliaucr,rtari itparrt.y,a.
I

1n

tt| t au a,rt ctg alll -u il td, t, ctu aits

a,

). 1..

S. liri., 1t. j z.

Sir Rolancl Bradclc-li in t.lte .fountat

oj t}rc
,r::;|,i',1'rd
l:i.,
;,"", {ol exilrnpl3,
e,'o",)',r,.';;;,,;);;;ii:':4'J;,,ii's')i2'{r;ll1::ilfr'1i;,
t1tlt. Rt'ydl
-l,siolic ,\ociclu (tll 1\'t//lt \i.,1 yyrrr ,.+ ;i; -.- l'!1,.^'"'"rn',
^^r:
Elu,4ttarzagaht-aarhsa,

lJ!tt -'lttunot'rlttttanits*
l he':r, ( .l,rnrl,o, rq5j, p. 66.
t

cditctl by

1,.

.\ri1.arrrtna, Colonrbo. rc)32,p.

45

(1,/tdd,qa,nt,u\,

cditccl

by Galagarr.

Sar-ar.rarika.ir

rJ. iirl,jct,ruttrthon,a. eclitecl by p. N. -Iiscr:r, Colornbo, 7929, .17"

r:+. L)u,rit.baietii-ctstza, cditecl b_r, D. D. ]lanasjnha, t9rZ, pp.1).
3-rr.
r.5. Sir Il. lJ. Jay:ltilaha, }{afiltduut-snitgarrT, p. g.

l'iiituo.l;.'rrth
cl13pf6y, eclitccl bJ, Ilabirpilive
j:l 1r,-:r1t,
1t).":_X.irt1, 1,.3.1.

lledh:trihaia

JOUR'NAI,, R'.A.S. (CEYLON)

-['ol. VII, (Nerz Serfa.s), 1959

of the Sinhalese king is given as 'TamLrara!'lha'.17 The Sinhalese

name 'Tamalifrgarnu' being thus tlte equivalent of the Pali 'Tambalinga' as rr'ell as ''l ambarattha', it {ollows that the Tambalinga
countrv vvas also knolvn as Tambarattha. In fact, "fambarat!'ha'
appea.s to be an abbreviation of ''fambalingarattha'. According
to the Ptr,jaaali as t'ell ;rs the Cfr,lauarh,sa, ParS.kramabahu II
is said to have sent costly presents to the king of Tambarattha to
'persuade him to send Dhamurakitti-thera to this Island. The name
of the king of T ambarattha is not given in this connection, and it

is not certain r'vhether this religious mission took place before or after
the first armed conflict rvith Candrabhanu, but the arrival of Dhammakitti in Cevlon is mentioned after the nar-ration of the events connected
u,ith the first invasion bv Candrabhanu. fhe king to rvhonr presents
rvere sent for thc sake of l)hammakitti-tbera can bc no other than
llandrabhS.nu. The conclusion, thereforc', is that, not lring after the
lirst armed conflict betu'een Ceylon and T'arrrbalinga, norrnal peaceful
relations betueen the tu'o countrics \rere resumcl. It was perhaps on
the same occasion that, as stated in the Jinakd,l'atniilittE, a sacred
Buddha imagc rvas taken frorn Ceylon to l)harmaraja-nagara.18 "Ihis
might even have been includcd alnong the'religrous gifts'sent by

II to Tarnbarattha.lr)
there
rvere, orving to some reason or other, hostilities
Though
betrveen Ceylon and Tambalinga (Tambarattha) in the reign of ParAliramabahu lI, thcre rvas a long tradition of peaceful co-operation i1t
religious, and perhaps also in cconomic, matters bet*'een the trvo
countries. \l'e are in{orrnecl by a fragmentary slab-inscription of
Sundararnahadevr, coirsort of \rikramabahu II (rrrr-rr3?), that a
great dignitary of the Ceylon Sangha, by narnc Ananda, rvas instrumental in purifying the Orcler in'Iambarattha.zo 'l'his Ananda-thera,
eulogised in the epigraph as ' a banner raiscd aloft in (the firrnament of )
I-anka', appears to be identical rvith Ananda rvho r'vas the teacher of
the trvo rvell-knorvn P6,1i authors \redeha and lluddhappi].. In the
trvel{th century, Sinhalese authors rvho rvrote in Pili ai)pear to have
been concerned u'ith the rvinning of the approbation of scholars irl
'l'arnbarattlia as rvell as of those in Cevlon and South India.
ParSl<ramabahu

17. Cfi.lauru)tsu, ch:rptcr 84, r'r'" r l-t6.

r8. "lR,4SClj. XXXII iNo. E;). pp. rg:fi.
rg. Ct1lauarhsa., ch:rp. 84, \rv. I3-r:1. Thc ttvo classes i-.f ptcscrtfs are
re{e::rcd tc: as dlLanurttrfii,bbltaln atd raio-piibltala. wliicir Gi:iger 1ranslates as
'religious gi{t' and ' princr:l-v gift.'. 'lbt.. tt7.ia-prlbltaln, rtust havo r:nc:urt the
prcsCrrts for the liing, for rvithout the conscnt of the ruler cif titc country
ionccrncd, it r.as not possilrle in those clar-s to obtairt a rlligiou; tcacher
frolr an\. countrl'.

\:o1. I\:, 1:p. (t7-7'2. 1'he porl;otr oi' the tr:xt

lefcrr:ilg to Tambarattha, r-hicl'. h:ts Lccn lcft rriilt a iacrna in the leading

20.

Ebi.era'Plt.i,u Zeylutt.i,ca..

pnblislred tlrerc. is now proDoscd to

th,eyiL-bln1ta. Iror tltis Arr:rnrl:r-tlteta,

\:o1. XI, pp. 17-25.

l-re
sac.

reaci a.s 1t,t Tntnborrr,{[lia )ruli-strdd/'i.flr.Iotlnttl r,j llrc {)rcutt:' Iudtc .\ccicl,,

The

CF;YLON AND MALAYASIA

IN IIEDIAEVAL TIMES

Bucldh:irakkhita, the author of the ornate Pali poem, Jintilaikdra, at

tire cncl of tire comryrentary ri'hich hc hrrrsclf rvrote to thet poeur, relers
to himselt as ' r,.'ho has received the consecration at the hands of err'inent scholars in Lanka. as $eli as in the Coliya (countryi ancl the f ambarattha'.21 Anurndclha-thera, the author of three r'viciely stuclied Pali
Bndclhist texts, states at the end of his Pararnatthavtmcchaya that he
\vas born at liavira-nagara in the Kaflclpura country, and rvrote that
',r'ork rvtrile residing at a city named Taflja in Tambarati,ira.2l Some
PAli scholars, ic,lentifying Taflja r,vith Tanjore, r.,rould take Tambarattha,
as a region in South India, but there are many place narnes in the
llalaSu Peninsula of which the rvord Tanjong (meaning 'Cape') forms
the first elernent. There rvas, in fact, a Tanjong-pura somervhere in
the l'Ialay Peninsuia. v.]rich rvoulcl v.r! s,6l| have been the Taffja-

nagara referred

to in the Pa.ratnatthaaini.cclmya. There is also a

Tanj ong'Iembeling.

1:l

In vierv of the religious and other contacts u,hich this region had
rvith Ceylon, and for the bearing which it has on the ensuing discussion,
it is very important to determine the exact location of Tambarattha, but
there is no unanimity among scholars rvith regard to the matter.
As an inscl-iption referring to a 'Lord o{ Tambralinga' has been f ound in
that area, Professor G. Coedds has taken'I'arrrbralinga to have been the
region of u,hich the centre \\ias Ligor, the .ancient Dharniaraja-nagara,
Nakhon Si Thammarat in vuigar parlance.3l Sir Rolarid Braddetl,
holever, after an exhaustive examination tif references to Tan-mei-lou
ir.ncl Tan-m:r-iing, as the name appears in CtLinese rvritings, has given
r,'erv plausible reasons for locating Tambralinga furtlrer south, in the
Iiuantan area, u'here an important tril.rutilrv of tire Pahang river still
bears the narue of Tembeling, antl tirc hcaclland at its mouth is named
Tanjor.rg 'l-ernbeling.25 Sir Roland's iclentification has been acccpted
by Profcssor Nilakanta Sa-stri,26 but O. \\'. \\rolters, n'ho has recenth'
Ltrrldhdlt his eko t aru-.puttili le h i,
() o!.i a-7- ar tfi ay a
I thc
J,
.f i. i t til ari h rJr a, -a a nn a'tru, e dit ecl

I.aihd tale

by VtiJ ip atar r.i la

Diparikar:r Thera alcl l3a,tapolG Sri l)hanlapiila 'lhcra, Alutganra,
1{)r 5, p. 2go.
SeltJt, l{aiei-buye raltltc l(i;,t.t.rtuS,tr,,,rtr
r

I i ttl e s niLj dt a-b h ilt e tt, a b a/'t u s s t t i c n e fi d1t i nd

,4 ttuy tt ddh ena tlt e r ena antty ot d tl lia-y asa,s s i n,ci
7' utrtltav a tthe u asantena n,agale'l aiij a-n'7 n tah e

'\ir,r'alia lhera, Colombo,

1926, p. 337.
J R-4SM B, XVII, part iii, p. 4i and Vol. XXIII, pt. iii, p. zz
G. Coedds, Les Etats Hind,ouises cl'Indo-Chine et d'Ind,onesie, p. 72.
Povctm,atthutitticcha'yttt, edited b5' Derrinanda,

23.
)+.
.[,tttrttul of the Rotal Asiatic Soci.ety, Malayut Branch(JRAS)V,ts). \:ol.
____3j.
\\IIl, pt II. pp. rff.
-:6. K. -\. Niiirkanta Sastri. A lli"story ,i South Ind.ia, rr'ap facing p. r9.1

JOUII,NAT,, R,.A.S.

(CiIYLON)

Vol. V!1,

(iYaia Serie.r),

11).i1)

written a paper on Tembraliiga, favours Professor Coedds' vierv"2? "fhe

references to Tambarattha in Ceylon writings indicate that it

was a flourishing centre of Theravh.da Buddhism in the eleventh to
thirteenth centuries; there a.re important monuments of that faith still
preserved in the Ligor reeion, whereas the archaeological remains
brouglrt to ligJrt,in the I{uantan area are neither very outstancling nor
of a Theravada l-iuddhist character.
According to Ceylon history as at present accepted, the inr-;lsions

of the Island by Candrabhanu of Tambralinga were not relatecl

to any event u,hich took place before or aftcr tirem, ancl it n.as
only in this period that the Malay people influenccd the course of
the political history of Ceylon. llut, jf a certain detait r.vith regard to
Candrabhanu's attack on Ceylon, given in the Ituja,uali. is properlv
understorid, in its bearing on statements relating to other events inthat

work itself as well as in other historical writings, Candrabhanu's attempt

secure the sovereignty of Ccylon for himscif lvould be seen as
the result of a long historical process, and that the peopie fronr
llalayasia had pla_veclavery important part in the history of this Islancl.

to

llhe rest of this paper rvill marshall that evidcnce and attenrpt to
interpret it.

While the Culavath,sa and the Pfijataln state that thc buik of

tiresoldiers under Canclrabhanu rvere Jdval<as, the Rajavalz has it thzit

he landed in Ceylon u'ith an army of Malalas. In the account of the
fighting, too, Malala as \\'ell as Tamil soldiers are said to have been
slain.z8 The same people, the Malalas (zo,ooo of them) r,vere, according
to the Rd,'iovali, led by Magha who, in rzr3, sacked Pokrnnaru and
brought about the end of the Sinhalese kingdom irr the Rajarattha. It
is, of course, possible to argue that tlre Rajd,aalt is alate u'ork, and that
its evidence idcntifying Nlalalas rvith Jivakas, as it is not sr-rpported b-g
earlier sources, has to be rejected. But, it is not impossible that the
RAiAaell, had recorcled, in this instance, a genuine tradition, not
noticed in the earlier nritings. Such a vier'v of the matter ltecomes
all the more plallsiblc r,r'hen l'e consider that ttrte statement of tlre
Ild jdaalE with regard to the, nationality of Magha's soicliers is in accord

rvitlr the

Pfi,jaual.t.,

tvritten

less

than sixty years a{ter Nlagiia's sack of

Pciionnaru, at a time wilen its author coulcl possibly have himseif seen
l'Ialala soldicrs against r,i'hom the Sinhalese of his da1' \\raged a liIe ancl
rleatlr stnrgglc. Accorcling to the Ptrjaaall,, Ilagha landicl in Ceylorl

, 27. JJulldi;t of the Salrcol oj Ori,ental anrl Aftico"t,t Stttdies, I-ondon, Vot.
XXI, pt. .j, pp. 537fl.
':E. . llr1j0itah, eclitecl bv I:). Gunaselia,r':r, \r:1s:rla-lnudali, pp. .14 and 45.
*Tlre printed lte-rts ,rf the 1lr7.ic7,i:alt, givc the name J[ttlalu, as .Il-a-lltt. anc] Gun:rsekara tlans:rt.s lLLe u'ord a.s 'iLtrle-bodied ruen'. 'lhc Sinhalcse Ietter la,
being u:sually rvritten in rnanuscripts tvith :r pronounced llourish totr,:rrrls thr

riglrt,- trvo,la's coming one aftcr the other c:tn be ea.silv.nistaken as joinetl
together. 7n tlvl I'ujaaa,li (34th chaptcr) too, the word iVala.la has becn read
by Gulrasek ara as l.Ia,lla. r'hile the critical cdition of the text bv \/et'ble
Mebopitiye lledhailiara-thera (p. z5) gives the correct rcading lItl,ia.

OEYLON AND MALAYASIA

IN MIIDIAE\TAL

T.IMES

and alnong the enenies against whom

had to fight, there lvere Malalas, as rn'ell as Tamils
and.f avakas. Magha is said to have had under him an army of 4o,ooo,
g6n-sisting of nlalalas and Tarnils.3o As the number of Malalas had
beerr earlier given as 24,ooo, they formed the majority of his troops.
In order tcr decide I'vhether the Rajavaln is trustworthy lvhen it refers
to the soldiers of CandrabhS"nu, as tveli as of Nlagha, as Malaias, it is
necessary for us to examine the references to these people in the
historical ancl other r.vritings of Cevlon, and form a conclusion as to
l'ho were meant by that name.

u'ith z4,ooo

}falalas,2e

Farirkranrabahu

II

'fhe l{ihaya-satigraha informs us that Virabdhu Epa, inthe latter

part of the fourtcenth century, had to defend the Sinhalese people and
tr3uddhism against the attacl<s of Tamils, Malalas and Yonakas.sl This
reference does not help us in deciding lvho the Malaias r,r'cre, and where
they carne from. The reference in a poetical lvork is more illuminating.
Sri Rahula, the celebrated Sinha.lese poet of the fi{teenth century, in his
vt'L&grlurn opus,the Kdayaiekhara, describes a scene in which he imagines
tlre kings of different lands as coming to Benares, bringing as presents to
t}rc Iiodhisatta, born once as a wise Brahmin, the characteristic products
their countries. Among these r,vas the Malata l<ing, bringing with him
ca.rdamoms. betel-leaves of Malaya, pepper, nutmeg, cubeb and precious
of

stones.B2 "lhe specification of the betel brought by the Malala king as

tlrat of tlre Malaya country (mala-bulat) helps us to equate Malala with
llalayur. In fact, the phonetical change rvhich the word 'Malaya' has

rindergone in assuming the form 'Malala' is exemplified by a number of

parallel instances, e.g. S. aalalu, ftom Skt. ztalqta, S. salelu, from Skt.
salatta and S. alala from Sl<t. alaya"* But the name ' I\{alaya' is
applicable to Malabar on thc south-r,r'est coast of India as n'ell asio the

l{alay Peninsula, ancl most of the commodities given as at the disposal

of the Malala kings are r,ve11-l<norvn as the products of both these
regions. But the cubeb3a (5. takul, Skl.. takhola) is inclucl-e<l in ancient
'l'arnil literature among the commodities brought in ships to South
India from regions in the Malav Peninsula.ss It is, therefore, justifiable
to take the n{alalas as people of the Malay Feninsula, even though
29"

Fu..idnali, t4th chapter, eclited by the Ven'ble l{nbopitiye Medhari,

Sthavira, rg3z (Pu. XXXIV), p. 25.
:J0. Pu. XXXIV, pp. 3z and 33.
j{. NihIva-sariqralia, editeci by }tI. Kumaranatunga, B.E. 247E, p. 28;
_
Iuzd. trarslated l,y C. nI. l-crnando, Colombo, 19o6, p. 28.
Liarir.

32.

[:l-b,t1u mala-bilIat cniris d(i,.pala lahxalut

gtna ntini-f at'Ldtntt aat ditT no lasa uti epa Malala-ktit

l{aayo,4ehhnra., Canto

X, r'. r i3.

33" Stg'iri Gru.ljti, Vol. I, p. xciii ; Rule cxvii.

discussion of tlie rvord talihola. at.d its significance
. Sylvain
34: Viclc the m:lstcriy
l-evr in jris uell-linoln paper Ptolintle , le Nititttsrt el la I>ytt-othalltii itt
!I
Etwdes ,4 sittlques.
-, _35:_ t,"iiakanta. Sastri in the Jcturttal of tlte Gttale,t. ,lt.t.tt, !t Lrtiy, IJGIS)

Voi" Xtr, pD. 26-28.

.JOURNAI.. R'.A.S. (('EYr.O-\)

l-,.,1. V I

I, (.\'cit'

Sr';

jc..

thcre is evidcnce in the historical rvritings of Ceylon, rvhich, on its face

\r"11ue, scems

to support their identification rvith the irrhabitants

of

l\[alabar.

l,Iore decisivc evidence regarcling the identity of the lfalalas is

furnished by a reference to them rn the Kohiltt-sandesa, as interpreted
by its old paraphrase (Sailne.). This poem, in describing the crty
t-rf Yapapatuna (JalIna) during

its military

occupation

by

ttrr"e

lorces of Parakramabahu VI in the middle of the fifteenth ccnturv,

states that soldiers of Tamii, Maiala, Doluvara (fulu) and Sinhalese
nationality were to bc sccn on its streets.36 The old Sanne of the poern
glosses Mulalo tt'ith Malayura. This Sanu,e1z is saicl to have been
rvrittcn in Saka 1695 ft773
if
'r.c.) ; at that date the author of thc
Sanne furnished this information about the Malaias from his orvrr
awareness of rvho they rvere, and lvhence they came, it rvould indicate
that the Malala people \\'crc migrating to Ceylon ven so late as that.
But it is more likel.y that, as js the usllal practice of annotators, the
;ruthor of. the Sanne had copied this gloss from au earlier u'riter clatin;J
bacl< to a periocl during ivhich. there rva.s intercourse bet\\,ecn (i:-ylon
and the land of the Malalas.

' I'Ialavflra. ' as the narne of a people or of a

lanctr

also occurs clsc-

in Sinhalese literature. 'lhc tr]utsara?zrr, a Sinh.rlese prose n'or'1i

attributablc to tire tlvt':fth ccntury, in enumerating examlles o{ r.arious
ri'h"ele

l alayura, together u'ith l)cmala

{Tamils). Yon (Yavanas), l3adrburas (Barbra), Aramana ('lalaings ol
I-ow-er Rurrna), I(amboj:r (Iiluncrs), .|ina (Chinese), l{akas, Nakkarara (tlre peoplc of thc NicobtLr Islancl:;) ancl Sahavasi.3s 'iJre Sulcl/.r,tr.ypcoples arrd their languages, nalnes the

tn,at,tttrtuuall,

o{ about the thirtcenth

centurSz,3e r.viric}r

is rlainh'

rendering into SinhiLlcse of the Pali Dh,amntal>adatthahailfi,4r| has

'Jfalil."'urr: ' eurd '1\,Ial:rl.urupir:u' {or 'Sr-rvar-rla-bimini ' in tlie Paii
text. 'J']re Siniral,.:se ' ld:Llayura ' and ' l'[a1a.ytru ', are obvioustry t]r.e
sanle as ' Malailrrlr ', the naine of one of thc place:- capturccl by tJrc
Cola nar.al expcclition against the l<ingdom ol Sri Yijava in the
reign o{ Rajenclra (lola.al 'lhe clement p{7nr. ;lclried to tire na.me
as for-ind in the Sa.ddlt,armaratnuual,E is probal.liy the sariie as tlre
\[a,lay buru,lt, ' sea ' or baruJt,,' plain flat country ' founcl iir place narncs
like 'I{alah-bar-' ancl 'Ramiis' r.hich, in the opinion of J. Przvluski, is

36. f{oJt.ilu-sattdesar \-crsc 25r. Dentcr,lo l,[alaln Doiuuat,c Sirithtrlo btr,laya..

37. llditcd rvith thc tcrt of the poen bl'P. S. Perera, ::nd priblishcd by

the \ridyasagara Printing Worhs, Colombo, 19o6, p. 91.

38. \-en'ble Soratil Navalia l'hcra's crlition o{ r95j, p. 5.
3c). Tbe Sttdd,haystnraltlr7ualt,, eclited bv Tlev. ]lcntota Sacklhalis,slr l'1x:r:1,
Colombo, 1952, p. g3g. Sir D" B. Jayatil:r1ia's edition (p. SSo) has the rcadirg
)iala,yurw pii,uuru, wit}:' a varri:rrrt -fd,yuru.

+o. P.T.S. Edition, Part I\r, p. 5o.

4r. Nilakalta Sastri, Tle Cola.s, Second lldition, p. zr5.

CEYLON AND }IAL'\YASIA

. l l'."J

IN }IEDIAEVAL

TIMES

in the Indian name ' Bharu-kaccha'"a2 Tht:

by the l{okila-sand'esa, its o1d paraphrese, the
"tid"n..
Sadd,hannaralnaval'i, anrl the Dhatntttopa.datthahathlt, t'hcn properlv
co-ordinated, leails one to the conclusion that the }lalalas \\.ere the
people of }Ialayura, rvhich in the tu'elfth or thirteenth centulY $as
cognatc with Bkaru
furnishecl

beiiived b5z the Buddhists of Ceylon to be the same as Suvan4abhumi

mentioned in the I'd'li writitigs. Suvauabhumi is usuall-v taken
to be Lorver l3urma,43 but tircre are sctrrolars \,vho would take ir

as iclcntical rvith Suvarladvipa lvhich inclucled the Malal'

Peninsula and the trslanil of Sumatra.aa The identifica.tion o{
Suva4nablrrlmi with Malayriru in tIrc Saddharmaraltttiaalz- provcs that'

in the trvelfth ancl thirteenth centuries, thc former tvas not taken b1the Sinh.alese scholars to be the same as Lorver J3urma, rvhich.uvas rvelihnor,vn to tirem as Aramana at that time. With regar-d to the locatiotr

of Nlalaiyir, u'hicl.r n'as also knotn as llaiiyu in ancient days, thertr

has been much discussion, notably by G. Ferrand in his Malaha Ie
Malayu, et Malaydr.as Colonel G. E. Gerini sugge-sts its-locatio-n at
the s-outhem end oI the Malay Peninsula, 'precisely on the northern
shore of the Old Singapore Strait rvherc, besicles the Malayu river,
time-rvorn traditions of- a Malaya country and people con{ront fhe
enquirsp'.+u But most schoiars agrcc in taking MalaiyIr as Jambi in
Southern Sumatra.a? The people of either of these tr'r'o places are, and
$,ere, .\[ala]zs.

The Malalas or the 1\'[a1ayfrras, consequently, lvere Malays. The

is quite correct in describing Candrabhanu's soldiers,
elservhere called.Javakas, as Malalas, for even today the Malay people
are called Ja-minissu by the Sinhalese. Another reason that may be
Rajd,uati thus

ailduced in support of the equation Malala- Ilalayisthat,in thevicinity

of Hambantoia in the Southern Provincc, are a number of places having
names wilin Malala as one of the elerrrcnts, e.g. I\{alalalevS.ya, Malalaoya, Uda Malala and Palle Malala" Hambantota, rvhich is -the principal
llialav iettlement in Ceyion today, has received its name from the fact

it was a port (toia) to rvhich Malay sailing vessels (hamba,n:

l\{alay sampani used to come in ancient days, and the,places at which
these Malay immigrants settled obviously received the narnes given
above. The present Malay peopie at Hambantola cennot, trace
their history further back than the early days of British rule in Ceylon,
but the narire ' Harnbantota ' and the other names of places beginning
or ending with ' Matala ' do not appear to be of recent origin"

that

42. JGIS, Vol. I, P.S5.

43. Sir Chas F.liot, Hittduism and, Butldlriszz, III. p" 5o.
41. It. C. Majumdar, Suaan;taduipa, I, pp. 47fr; JI|ASMB,lqy, pt. iii,

pp. 9r-93'

45. Journal As.iatique, ryr8.

46" Gerini, Researches on Ptolemy's Gecgra!l,y of Easlern Asia, Sp. 523-1
47. G. Coed0s, Les Etats, etc. p. r38.

l0

IIEYLON T\,ND }IALAYASIA IN NIEDIAEVAL TIMES

JottriN-{],, It.A.s" (cllYr,oN)

C:rntlrabhauu \\.1to invaclecl Ceylon rvith a forcc of .favaka ot. I{alala

soldicrs Jreir-rg conclusively proverl to bc a Princc frorn the llalarl
Peninsula, the inference that lI:rgha, rvho sirnilarly brought l'ith irinr an
arml'of Malala lvarrior-s., was also a }talay from the sanie ,,. an acljr.iin_
ing region, scerns justifiablc" Liut the culauatitsa states that he ca're
{rom lia_liriga.antl he called I(alinga IIagha or 'thc Kalrriga kirrg
^is
narnecl Magha'rs. A further
inlerence from this rvould. be that thi
Nfalay rcgions have been cal1ed ' Kaliriga' in the Sinharese historica]
rvritings. In this connection, \ve may quote 11. C. Majumclar n'ho. in
discussing the benehts res'lting frorn the risc of the Sailenclra po\\'er,
SZSzs ; ' The introd*ction of a ne\\, kincl of alphabet *irich hai been
called the pre-Naga. script, and-thc acloption bf a new ltrme Iialinga
for Malayasia, at lcast b"\r the foreigiteri, nay also be traccd to tire
same source '.4e On this, rrore anon.

While the Cfr,latarilsa has it that lXagha came {r-o'r Kalir)ga, the
Hattltauarr'agall,a-vihura-tazisa states that the enemies u.ho deJrovecl

the Polonnaru. kingdorn

frorn Jambudipa.5o If " Jarlbriclipa '
-carne
it no'nally
cloes, the Indian sub-continent, the siitement is vlgu-e. If, as rve havc inferrred abor.'e, the solcliers of Magha
r'vere
.peo?le from th.e .]ambi area in Sumatra, they niight ha,,-e be eri
clescribed as having corne from Janrbidipa.si If this texioriginally hacl
the reading Jambidipa, copyists o{ a later generation, to *.lir' o"plu."
nqme I Jambi 'las not l<noun, Irirt rverc familiar rvith..fanrbrr,lipi.
,
might very rvell have considerecl it to be a mista,ke, and-arterecl it t,r
u'hat is norv found in the manuscripts and printed erlitions eri the
denotes here, as

H a ll hau a. t t a gal

la

-a

i hrT r tt

-t

a rit s a.

The earlier o{ the trvo Sinhalese versions of this rvork, datecl r3Nz
t.c.,ll: the reading .f amltudvt,t'a-prad.elayen in place oI Jaufiud.Ifa ol
the Pali original as no\v accepted.sz This expresston .lambu.di,i,fxpradeia is norvhere found in ceylon literature rvhere the Indian sirl*
continent is clearlv meant bv it. on the other hand, an a,uthoritatir.*
Sanskrit tvork dealing, amonq other things, r.vith the geography of the

world as knorvn to the ancient Indians, uses the e-xpression

'Jambudvipa-pradeSa ' as the designation of a particula,r re.gi,on, ancl

that precisely the one from r'r'hich we have concludecl lIagha to har,r:
inflicted lriurself .n ce-vlon. 'I'he vat,uhuran,a, rn its seciion dealing
r'vith the geography of the u'or\d (bhwuana-tintd.sa), descr:ibing the
regions to thc south of the llharata-varFa, states tirat ttr.cre ;rrr: sir
Cilauarhso, chapter 8o, vv. 58,

--..13
Nihoya-sahgraha,
op. cit, p. zz"

59 and

73

l pa. XXXIV, p.

2.5;

49. R. C. nfajumdar, Sutarnaduipa, pt. I, p. tt3.

50. Pacchattlt isend, J antbudipd, idhd,gammu, I,.-I.S. Edi tion, p. 3o.
'l'he_extension of the name of a region to the whole isiancl
5.r.
is parallcllecl
.
by the use ol Samurlra
rvhich
Irom

Sz.

Sumatri is deriveci.

EIU Altanagalw-uarhsa, op. cit., p. 42.

II

f rtttlrias (plovinccs 61' llepe ttdcncie') ol Jaml-iutlr'ipa in that quarter,

reme,l Afigadvipa, Yrrna,lvipa, llalr5'.t,h'ipa, Sarikhrdr-i1u, Ku3atLvip:i ancl Varahac,lvipa.s:r ln contrastto thc fottr mth'adutfas, including
the Jambucivipa, these six are also re.{erred ta as a.ntt'dttIl>as ' tlcpendant
islands '. We arc not here concernccl. r'ittt the various irroposecl
iclentilications of Angarlvipa, Sarikh ativipa, Ku3advipa and Villaharlvipa; suffice it to say that all the suggestions are to locate thern in
:iegioris of liurthcr: India or: Inc1onesia.51 fhere js lo doubt rvith regard
to the identitl o{ trvo of thern, Y:rmaclvipa and \felaSzadr''ipa. 'Ihe
forrner nam: i; rncre lamiiiar as Yavadvipa,5s ancl rvas appliecl a.t lirst
to thc lfalay Peninstrla, ancl latcr to Suinatra and the moderu .Java.
Malayadvipa is takeir to ltc Sr-rmatra, brtt it is possibie,that-this rram':,
too, ivas first applicd to the llalay Peninsu1a.56 TIte l'uvupululut
clescr-ibes tlrese reginns as if they were clepcndencies of Inclia (BlLaralarlai.pa-tteia) and the erpression ' Iarnbudvipa-prede(a' _is -aLnost
eqriivalent to the Englistr usage of ' Further India '. The lcar:necl.
sch.olars alnong ttie Sinhalese cif the tliirteenth ancl fourtcenth ccuturies
r'vere well verserl in Sanskrit, including tlne Pttrun&s, ancl, if the-v rneant
to conve-1' the idea tha.t lfagha's forces came from a rcgion in \'Ialayasia,
there is nothing increcliblc in th.eir halting used a naml applied to those
'lhe Efu,t Atlan'ugal'u'
negions in a ir,e11-knon'n Sanskrit scripture.
oairta can thus be delinitely taken as having recordeC that the ensntlcs
lvho caused calarlities to ceylon sorietime after the death of PnrAliraniabahu I came from llalayasia.
A possible argument against the thesis that Migha's soldiers u'ere
Malal"sis the referenceto them as I(eralasin ttre Culaattir'sa,57 a name-b3r
whicii the people of }Ialabar are designated in Sanskrit and other
53.

J awtbudu'i. p a- pradeias ttr. s ucl any e x ia'i,d/r'd,h'aydl1'

A tr rt dui, p d'/ t s a n mh hy d,t d miind -r at n d,h ar d'l.z h s'it au
Ah g adu-t p ah Y a rn a dtt i p a it' XI al ay od,u i p om' eu a c a
h a d'ut p ait' I{ u i a rt'al p a rh' V ar d, h adui, p atn
Et'aiz Far! ete hathitti anudurpd,lt, s&manttd&ll'

S ahh

B hdt at

54. For a

du| p

tl e,4 o u ai, d a h S iry e

sumrn'-rry

of

iii, pp. 67fi and Majumdar,

alnt

u is

eu

a ca

ar ah.

Chapter 48, vr'. r3-r4 and 4rproposed identificatio-ns, see JE,4S1|'18, X\i, pt.

Suuar1tadulpa,

I, pp. 5zff

55. 'Yarna<1vipa,' is generally talien to be a.n error or variant forrn of

" Yavadvipa', whiCti is regarded a.s the correct namc. In my view, ' Yatn:rdvipa'was the eariier {orm o{ the name, frorn w}rich the l:rter' Yava.dviPahas originated by th: chirngc of m' to a. Yama,.the GcC of thc Scuth, w;ts hekf
in high-e;te:m by the Indians at the time of their first arriv;rl in these l:rncls of
Further India, and the southernrncst region t,; which thcy h:rd p:nctrated a.t
a' particllar tim:: rvas cellcd the Island of Yainl, a Gof whc has not receiged his
due eitlrer fro'n the Buddhists or frorn the Hindus of litter tim:s. \'aua-rluif:t,
thus, u'ould mean the ' southern Island ', and not ' the Islard of l]arlev '.
?'his cereal does not grow in the l\['a1ay Peninsula, Sumatra or Java.
56. J RASX,I B, XV, pt. iii, pP. 7off.
57" Cillaaathsa, chap. lxxx, vv" 6r and 76. Thc phrase Detniln-fieral.tt
in Cil.lauathsa, lxxxiv, v. zo corresponds ta .Dem.nla-Malala in Ptrjduali, (.tlit.
XXXIV, p. 3z).

12

JOUIiNAL, R,.A.S. (cliYLO\:l

India'languages, a'd-stiil applied to them by themseives as \vell as

others. If, on the f;rce value of the tcrm , Iierala'applicd. to thern
in thc culaaahso, tte takc r.hat rhc arnrl'of l\{dgha,t"r'.o*nor.o or
-\I;rlavJlis. it rna5' l.re rluestioneci *h1' they, artcr hiving.ol,tuiJ,t poru.,
in this Island, u'ere content to bc .subservient to one"wh'o *u, iot or
them, for: rvhether u'e take Kaiinga to have been in India or in ltut.o=.in.
!!ag\" *as not of l{alabar origin. Moreover, ar thc .""t;.i;;;;*irhi;ji
I(eralas fincl mention in the curattq,rirsa as a people re{er to ti*.,
"il"ir'* ",ir."
the Kaliiga influence *-as clomi'ant in cc5'lbn
u*
,.ig"
foriti."
of l{ahi'd., \', the Keralas in the king's ser:vice mutinied ;; th.; p.y
u'as in arrear-s. This *as-not long aii", * Ceylc,n f.i"g, Mrni;du
fV"
had espo*sed a princess froin Iialiriga, ancl i(tnltittda"v-irii"i.rir";
probably a_ son of that princess. T1. Kerah.s are next *L"iio""o
among the foreigners recrujted bv parakramabahu I for his u.*o iut
of..\tiyarata . XS.'flq sorclicrs .r.o *iu.J ir'in.
"r,
,,r
1",'ll:,1,1:l
L,a.;abahrr lt rifio \\"asot tl'c
"'l*y
Kalinga dyna"tv. Eariy in par-al<ranra!ahy.Ls reig*, these Keraras joinerl" the l'.taitkapr li u ..n.11i;;,
dorrbt.bccau-se thel'*ere opposed to rhar rring as rie had oritJ
"o
u iut".
ol_r(ahnga-iineage. Next r-e hear of I(eialas rvith the advent of
This association of Keralas with rulers of Kaliriga
l:i_q|".:l
l("lirlg1
ongrn
thro\\'s
dotrbt, on the facilc assumption that they rvcre Nlalavills.
To the ancient Sinhalese, the Keralas, as *,eil as the p"eopie of tne"cola
and the Pa4qir-a kingdoms, rvere Damilas. onry the royai families rvere
differentiated by the appropriate cl]rnastic names. The Keralas who
se^'ed_ under prince. ffo1rt Kaliriga, or of Kalinga origin, must,
therefore' have been the inhabitants of that regiJn. ,{"a ur ru" hu,ro
given adeq.ate reasons
taking the Kahnga frorn r,vhich r{agha
-for
came to be a region in Mala]'asia,
Keralas
by

his

area.

must be peopie of

tiat

possible explanatio' is that these Keralas were Malayiilis rvho

had migrated to the Malay Peninsula or Sumatra. certain tribes in the
regions of Sumatra inhabited bv Karo-Bataks are named. Cola, pdncl.va,
Pallava and 1\'Ialayala;5e but ii may be cloubted r,vhether ih"r* irit.,
arrd such others were numerous enough in those clays to provicle a force
of" z4,cao to M5gha. on the other hand, it can be .horunih"t '
Kerala '
is the forrn ii'hich thc ancient Jndian name Ior thcpeopleof Malarisia
and Furthel India had assumed in ceylon, and that lts identity of forrn
ivith the clesignation for the people,f I'Ialabar is acciclental." w" n.*
infornred by the vd'yupwrana that the people rvhri livecl in countries tr_r
the east of the rlheratavar.sa (India) naalrre general designation of
' Kirdta ', just as all raccs r-ho lived in countrics to the rn est ri,ere know'
5 rnd rz; chup.6q, r-. rg; chap. zo, \.. 21o and
. .5J. CAldtaitsa,.cltapterir',v\-.
4-i, l he re{crence jn cha|tcr liii, v. 9 is to the king a'nd not"to ilrr.

cnap. 74, v.

people.

H. Kern, ' Dravidisclrc volksnarnerr op

^ 59.
Geschrift,en,
LII,
pp. 67-72.

CIIVLON AND }IAI,,I\.Y.{BIA T}T .\XEDIAEVAL TI}IES

Vol. Vl t. (Jr'eu Seric.st, Lti'.,

Sumzr,tra

, in

Verspreidt

I3

as \'avanas.60 'l]ne Ilrlnr'ayana, in its enurneratioir o{ the peop}es and

regions of the eastern quarter, lr'here the rnonlceys of Sugriva s'ere to

seirch for Sita, t'clers to liiratas anrl liarnac[.]as-u'ho live ort islarrds irr
those regions, and u,ho are described as 'having golden coloured
trimbs, pleasing in appearancc, eating uncooked fish, moving about in
the water and fierie. like tigers '.6i 'lhese Kira"tas \\'cre the people

by Ptolemy. In Inrliarr literature the namc also

form 'Cilata' anci is often corrplcd with 'Cina'iChiria)"e:
Cildta, according to an inscription at Nagarjunakonda, t'as one of the
countries conveited by the 'fheriyas of '-lambapanni (Ceylon).63 l-he
rnme l(iriita is often usecl in tbe clerivative form of KaircTta lvhich,
rvhen subject to phonological processes rvell attested in the Sinhalcstr
langrrage, rvoulcl result in the forin Kerala through the intennediate
stages ol *Kerala)*I{evata anrl2*KeraQa. 'lhe mariners from Ilharukaccha to por-ts in Further India callecl at havens in Ceylon;64 from
them the Sinhalese people t'ould have {r:equently hearcl the name s'hich
rvould thus have been in common enough use fol it to have undergone
normal phonctical devalopment, even if the Sinhalese themselves did
not visii these lanils, and came in contact u'ith the people calletl the
,:alled I{irrhadoi

assumes the

Kirirtas.

In this connection, it may not be out of placc to mention tirat the

'Iamil namc K'i('aratn for a reglon jn Further India is derived from
K,irddant. through the familiar phonological processes of the cerebraiisation of the c.lental I and metathesis. vo$,e1-assimilation would have
given rise to the variant form Kaiiaynra. homophonous tvith a Norcl
ivhich, Iike ttrr.e Sinhalese ktttd,ra, nieans 'liettle' or 'c:rulciron'. A
learnecl translation from Katlarant inla Sanskrit r,vas the name 'I{atalza' ,
about the identihcation of rihich therc has been so rnuch cliscussion.
This must have originated irr South India or Ceylon, and acloptecl later

try merchants and others from North lndia. One of tht: earlicst
nricut.,,t ces of the name l{at,clha is found in thc -f unahlharana oi the
Siniralese poct Kuinaradasa.6; 1'his merely ir-rdicatc-* thai Kataha n'as
1,,1i,,e Ii;t,1tJ ltyo"yat,tt
1

r. li ivdtdli,

liarrmclt iLdi: ca

Anm*tt[nd..4attas tatv a
A ttt m -I?rlnzir.yulta,
i al a c ar r:i glL o r d
See tr'Ia.jumdar-,

I t,r.,,,e \.,,,..t;ti1.,,.,:rlri,,,!,r,,r,,o,ej,rptrcr.
lt

ent

li. \. r].

d'ti'gil.t'p r iy adar! audh

Kivdta

dui'p ar.:d,sitzalr
ar au 7 d, g ltt t7 i t i s nt. y td. !.t'

Vani Viias Press, KiskindhS"irir,rda, chap.,1o,.r-r'..-:7-:S'

Suaarttadalpa. T, pp. 54f . for variant readings in clifferent

rccnlsions oI tt)o cpic.

()2. Sylvain Leti, Ptolenoie, ct<:., rtp. cit, pp. z3ll.

63. .Epigraph,io Irtdica, Yc:1. XX, p. z3
64. For r:c{erences to rcgular sca YoYages betu;eelt Cevlon and Suvan+abhirmi,
sce.';dnMntdpi"'1dilt't, P.'J'.i. Idiri,'n, \,,i. ]\', p. So3, and )lanorall:aptiva"7.
l:r.T.S. Editjon, II, p. 36.
t5, Canto I, v. 17,

IJ

JOUTINAL. P".A.S. (CEYLON)

CEYLON AND }IALTTYASIA IN I,IEDIA]I\"{.L ,I'IMI.']S

thc.furth.est point in the e;rste'r c1'arter to *hich

trre influence of an
l:rdian king could reach, and in n, ,,a5:1,.11,. ru",i"'r,,i,iJii,,,"u.*o,l
,lrreslion t.rf its exact location.,;u
irhe vie'*'thaf IISgha came frorn the tr{aray penins'la
or Sumat.a
*'orLrd arsrr hc in ac''o'd rvith clrao.tu ri,ra"r.,.i,
jiirr;',"iirt..l
( ellon (Si-lan) arnorrg
the trillrtari*, ,,ii"n_ro_tsi,
"riting
i.*l tir.B.;'y,;,;u...
r"mpirc, uhiclL at that time harl ii, t","",t,1,,"rt",-s
at
.|ambi.u7
\Vc iravt
secn above that thr- r\rararas rtn, ior*,.li'in.
u'ere people of Malaiyilr, rvhich i"a, anothe. rruit oJ'1rat.iJi,'rnu,
name of Jambi. -fhe
invasion of I'Iagh:., coiseqtenillr,
iru*
1.,een urrclertaken with the
approval of Srr- \iiiava, it;t #;;;;;;[y
""rit
pia'ned by her. o,,.,.
\lngha ohtaine, I nri'i"..r.o.,cr th. greatrir:
part
rn*intainetr rerations uith his h"d;,;;i int1. o{ Cer.lon, irc must lrar.e
t.,. scrrti:rrentar r.eason:
brrt aiso lor obtaini.g ttt" n...ii"iy';;ril";;
backing t, maintairr hini_
scil rn possession of his rreivlv ,,onion,1,i".r'..
I" rlii_;;;;;.t]"", r, i.
ne(:cssarJ' arso i. notc trrat 'IIagh-L'
;Magh;rhj"
is a 'shoitcne.
inr thc l,u juualr relers 1o hirn as ;i,,.. fi.f ii,"guki;; {orm or
;;".1
r;;ili;ii,.r.
After bcing ele'atocl t,, ty-rl^*f,.,,n,,, i,"'.,.-!'f."own
as Kalinga Viiaya_
1r;11111'6e ' tlgha'aia '.soefflS
t" 6,; r ijari',i"n,t., rng of a diare&ical
'
[ornr.
.f llahiraja-',

thi: tite by tr-nici M;r;;; pote'tates u,erc

referr.ecl
lrr"-\rab rvr.itcrs. Thc places
,,fri.f,*'\[agha maintainerl g;rrisorr:
uere mostrv seaports.;0.'Apart"rfr.", l'"rJi"g
.the t.apilar. poi.,nna.r,
*'hich he neslectecr. he do-es
i".,io ;;ir;;- interested
himserf in tha"
interior, *'hich he telt in the "ot
rr.ra.
sorcriers u.ho had remained
i* ceylon frorn the in"asions
"ir:.#i Inclia u,hich preceded
iior"'s""iir
his
carrf1116' o{ Polorruaru. rr is nut
inrpot*;t i; ;h"t, rr.* ri,.'.ii",ili,'r,n.
r':n rh. nurth.rn coasts of the_Isrand,
iti*t"""ns"sn,l himscrf in piratit.:rf
activitics. Al arrr- ralo
.nlagha ;";,lj"l,ouo r.,,1",1 on.r#.,-,','
belralf .f a
porver interestecl iir mariiim;;;;i;ifi
_;; .;;*h $_i Vij.u".
If llaeha came fiom-Nl1l_ayasia, he coulcl very r,r,ell be
-f
calleri a
avaka, as.- much n*
itlo larrat a,s son rvho rv;rs
,Ca,rdiabili;;,-ffi
restored to his father-,s
kingclom t.,-v t*tar,,o.r.,ran Vrra p5ndva
corrld

06. For Kalii.ha, see Nilaj<ant:r S:Lstri il

\rol. \i pp. rzgf;.
6,. I-{i|tlr errd Rrrrlttrill,. t-/t,to t: /rt,u.,/fi-lS.,,:.
J
Thc statemcnt o[ ( lr.t.,
1t.
*rrir3.rrpi1lx'

{i*xl Tll illi;:l

" "ir"ur:"'u 'lis"; n'-;';,,,1,,".rl'J',r,1'.,1,,. ,',
tlig r,-..,.o il:r.il'lii,li;.. ,,).,,]-J'J,,';,,i,,i;;1),,1,!l;:,,i,?.,:'::l',"i;li;,l,lli;
,{i
hv \ ijavahihrr lll
'',,.,,,,
rlroual)- h;"la;"",;,,"u",1

k;r)s.

I,rr,clrinrc(l
ftr,
l)oi'ltotl, ni-/t,tl)haual,t si 1o-r 1[x1 f-1,,r,,,,,,,i*.",,v1
rlisci'linrrv rrrl,.: [,,r 11,.
'ruitlrncu oJ thc Srrrig/,r rlrirtr.-.ir
r.,,r.,,fi"r'jl,e
rl..rll, ol" 1-:rrtjil..rl',,:rl,rlrrr
'!\'e

Grtrt, i.e' in r::G.

rlre

lcarn'diorrt'ii;-;;.:;.;;;;zi. _sla'_in-qcriirtion of parakr:rI':rbdhu rr that thc f:r'i11',

.arncrl iiftcr :! Nl,rnl);rrii
.-'rr1.,1-rt:.r.,r"iii'*,,,
somar; ja, .rnd th"' i.mi^- scat,"r.ut,".L
Li-, .* *o-', lorr, r,r.as Na'ir:r_'ara. rr.ht:
Nan-pi nf Chl,' lri-l:rr;r n,rrsr. thcr,,lor..
b,.
t,,i..n ,,* ,, ,, f,,r, ,,,., r,, \ ii ,r.;,1,:,irrr [.] [
<,r'is hon,c rcrvlr, wlr,,rc 1,;,..o,, *,i."f,,r;, ;;,'1,,:r',i
rr, .\lrt:rLr,r..

68. McTgltarljt na,nt I{a/ii1.g1a-yaj1a. .pa. X)i-XI\:,"p. .:.5.

hr. lt i!t1y4-5rtiBtr:/,n, {r-rnsl:rlierr, :..:.
1,.
7rl. Ceylon Aniiquary. cr,iltl Li,terary Reg.istey, \"o1. X, pp. 931I.

t'i,

have been a son of l{agh1,

.ancl not of Cauclrabhdnn, as Nilak:rnta
Sa.-stri?l had taken him, ir':iving at the t,niy possirrre
crircrusion in tne
of rhe cvenrs,,f
1rcr.i,rrI hithcLt., preuuiiing
;:,"1: "{.-,].1i.!l:'1ll:!p" inscr.iption. \'ir rhii
a pIn,.lya jrrstihes hi's action.,i
l|,f''
al.ng \'',:tll-iyanralai
the J avaka Pri nce i nt,r his ravor rr', arr, l rei.toii ng hinr
to powi t,v
siatin.q that' it is jLrst rhat Tlam
rrl.tlrc r.tn". i,,,,,i'r'rr.'"ni"i".i
1

^rrc,r is not to
l)y tnc son'. Helc tlLe rclcrerrt.e
a ., ,"i,n princi1,2_
Iity, brt trr the rvhole of the Island. Accorcling t<, -li"
the -nLi"
baiiaati-ind.' the
c ulat' aits a, canclrabhanu was driven ract< riten
r.i.i..r' trr.'.
lsland; on his second inva_sion, he is saicl to have b;".dj ii"*"*.r,ra
not go aw_ay o,n this occasion as
,.
dicr on ilre
,rccarion
Ma*r.",
r'the other hand, h:r-ving been'vethe.rrcr of_first
Itrronna.r, wor-i"s:.ilJ,
the kirrg of the rvhole fsland, as ar-linoulo,lg;,1 .;;. 'fri' ori.iol
lristorians
were partisans of Irarrr,kramubrrh.r' ti. rtt olr,"tr.,,
'l'hoKudumiyamalai epigr-a_ph
in
thc
can only be ;"rtin.a it
)l'or,L'
Javaka referrecl to tirerci' .oai lragna, ancr
!!e
lf a king rvho is usrrally referred tE as a Kalinga
'ot ca'drabhanu"
.o"ia ut
tirnes,be callerl a .f a.varic, it shourd r,e possihre orr thi, othe.'l',"na
Irrr 4 gtn* kn{)\vn as a .llval<a to be also,les.r.ibcd;rs
a l(alingrr. In
{a'ct, the tr'vo'anres appear to have bee' intcrchargealrte.
i?i.i"rr"u
ior this view is fur-niGlied by the f)u.ti'ba,treri-a.rro| it i. ro1"."orr.
desfribes three
.separate inviders against l'hom }raraki"-"rran., rr
had to fight. All
of them are said io have lanrlerl .ttn itt.t tii.""
zrt_var-i'us ports i'- ccylon ; hence none of them coulcl be
icientical i.i,ithr
or Ja_yabahu rvho had cstablishcd tlrrmsclrcs in CeVlon belorc
*"qTu
rarakrcrnabahu "r r came io the throne. of the.e thrce invatlers,
one is
gamu,raj a u"a tn" it ird .ta"rn
:i!:15:tii8u-,r aj a..the second tamaliri
JrLvaka-raja. lVc lrave seeri above rtrat ihe t<ing
L+T:31?,,.
i^.:1h"
of
t amairnqarru
was the same as ttrre Javaka. 'I'hus it is clear that itris
rvork has made trvo separate indiviclirals out of til,o titles ,ritl"
.nrr.*
perso-nage.- The sarne process appears to have given rise
l"
iii"
i[*a
invacler" It seenrs that Canclritha'r., r"a.s Lriorri .r-:a".f*."f",
'l-amalingarnu-r'aja and Kalirrgrr ja.
ra
arrd laler geirr.ralions iool< the
tttt": as.reler''g to three diflerent individuals. In this text, the
9::_q
.ep'cscntcd as r-tainring_thc kingdorn of his granrltarhcr.
l:i,Jlq1]:llcrs
rr
rne Karrnga KlnH \\as { rLnrlrahhinu, ]lc $as. on this evid6ncc, rel,.,.te,l
to ]<ings rvho ruled at Polonnaru bef.re the Darirbad.r,i p.rroa.'-.-'. Pnough evidence.has bee,n brought forw,ard, I thinl<, to establish
that.Magha rvas a ilIalay,,and ttrat tYre Kaiiriga'f-;r,.i;i.;. rr-'],"ir.a
*'as in Mala\rasia, not in hiclia. Canclrabhanu"an,l Ma"fr.--lr,,1]'
irra.r*
a- inirnieai t,r llrc peoplc of Cerlon ; IIJgh:L anrl lris fi"f"L. ,r1 ,r.1",..
;,,
lrarticrilar, have becn co'icicmnecl in mtit sinhalcie r,i.t,n."i'rriilii,g"
for hav'i*g destrol-etl .the cit;z of polonnai-u antl its }i..rlv shrl,.,"s,
persecuterl the riidcihist.rcrigion,. rlisorganisccl thc sociai-s1,rt."r'ora
corrarnittcd vario's a.borninable crimes. rt shorilcl, rr."-.".,,, rl,,",rt"a
?-n: '(r i Viiaya. -canclrabhir'u-and \rira pa+clya ' in Tijttschri.it .uoov rrttriscrrc:
-,,
'1' ao.l- Lan d,- ctt I" ol lii n k Lmde, LX XVII,,
_

o 32, p

p. . S'rff .

16

JOUR\'TAI,, R.A.S. ICEYLON)

CTEYLON

that this is a picturc painte<1 by t.riters patronised by his opponcnts.

t|.rc Ni,haytt^saigraha and in the Sad,tlhaynteyatnrTka,ra, on the othcrh a*cl, Il a gha or Kalinga Vij ayabahu is re{errcd to rvithout anv animositlz,

In

it is

that the calarnities froni rvhich the

r:cligion ancl the peoplc sufterecl bef';ll thern prior to ilIagha's ac1vent.72
llagha and his solcliers are rcferred to in the w'ritings of the narlbadenj
pcrioc-l as ' having no knorvledge o{ the religion of the Bucldho '"r; As
t.he l{alays durin5; this per-iccl tere Rudrlhists, this might be interprcted as not applic,able to him. Iiit the }ludclhism rihlch 1u-evaiietl
;rt this time in Southern Nlalaya and Sumatra rvas of a verli debasecl
1.1'pe, and its adherents were given over- to Tantric or:giei like the
Ijtrrairava cuit.?a rhe J'heravacla bhih,khus of crcyion might
u'ell
'ervEr.en
.have re{err-ecl to thcse li-rddhists as ' ignorant of Ruddhi-srn '.
;rltcr making allog-ances clue on thescr consiclerations, one cunnot snv
that thjs Islancl, its peoplc, and its religion cierived any benefit frcm
anrl

categoricaliy statecl

;Virglia's rule. One niglrt, therefore, corne to thc conclusion that

contact r,vith the llalar; people hacl been detrimental to the Sinhalese.

Prut Candral.'hanu and lttrgha r-ere not the onlV nlalay 1.rilcrs 5,ho
had connectio's rvith Ceylon. After the death of Paraliramabahu
the Great, thcr:c u'ere a number of mlers at ])olonnaru u'ho arc' statecl to
hin'c come from I{aliriga, or belongeci to the l{aliriga clvtrastv. am(rrg
'rr
hoirr Ni(Sarirkamalla is thc bcst l<iroivn. ]datrirnoniai alliances
betu,een ttrre l<irgs of Ccrrlon arrd tire royaitv of I(aiiiga ar:e recorr-Led in
thc chr:onicle for the periocl o{ ovor: tlvo cerrturic,s before the accessiou
oi Parir"ki:anta.irahri l. As it ir:rs bcen clemonstratcC that Xlirgira tlre
lialingan ."r'as a llalay, ttrre qucstion riaturallv arises nhether tire eurlierIiaiiriga Jiings u'ei:e also of llaiuv origin. 1'o ali sr';clents of Ceylon
.history, tirc prescnt rr-riter not excluderl,t:, tire iclentity of the liome of
Nii(arirl<arriaila a.rrcl others u ith thc I{aliirga o{ India ha"s been
as c.,ricletrt a.s tirat the sun nlovcs rounci the ear-th. I{as not Iianing;t
of India bccn rnentioned in the lcgericl o{ Vijava, alicl ila," not the 'lloot}r
Iteijc been brougirt fi'orn that region ? IIas there not becn a SirirhapuL-:L in tlis lialinga :rnc1 have not the l{aiinga rulers of (ieylon ltor-nc a
nanle or trvo that lere in vogre amorlg the liastem Gangas oi ihat
,rurrtrv ? lirrt, in -pitc ol tlrc f.rct tliat tlr,.trristoly
tlr,. Jrrtliarr
lialiriga is now l<nou,n is consiclerabh detaii, no royal 'rf
house eristell
tirerc at this periocl arisri-ering 'rr.r tire detaiis rvhich Nis.(arirl<arnal1a
givcs about his fan^ilv in ]ris ou'n ci'rigraptrrs. 'l'he clildculties tlra-t onc
encounters rvhen one tal<es the Kaliiga iiings oI Ocylon to havc come
translation, p. 22. 'l'he nolcis ' in the lirst palt of
appe:rring in this transl:rtion shoulrl, on the :luthority of the SalilJrey'nia,ratnrlh,ara, be corrccted to ' precccling his reign '. Sce also Surl.dltaynaat'etttr1h,cr,ra, p. 39c, rvherc the reatling is Kiiliriga Itija.yabilnt maharajcirn gi
t tdhiynta 1,fi, rtbhdqQlrl,i.

72.

his reign

Ni,hdya-sa,fi,grtr./za,

'

j3. Scc Hattlrauanagalla-uihdra,-uarirsa, Ir.T.S. lidition, n. 1o.

74. G. Coedis, Les Etats, etc., p. 4o.1.
i5" Ilidt 'Tlne l(a1ir'rga D1'nasty o{ Ceylon' in /GIS, V6l. IIl, lp.

57ff.

A\D II-\LAYASI:\ IN IIEDIAIIVAL TIIIES

tT

{rom the ancient Indian land of that name rray best be stated in the

u'ords of an Indiaii historian

'
. . cliaptcr. j9 of the cltfilarntitsa refers tr-r vijayabalr''s marr.iagc
rvith the l(alinga pr-incc-is Tilolasunclari ancl the'settlement of tic
three Iialiriga. princes of. Sirhhapura, capital o{ I{ariiga, in his kiirgclorn. In tiris connection [ieiger (chtr,iaaaitsa. tiig. translation,

Pa,rt I,.p. z13,

, obser'es " sihapura (Sirhhap'ra) is ihe tou,ri lr'hicir
-note )
accordirrgto the
legend (cf . x[lnts.6. 35) r,r'as {oirndeil in L'la (Raclha)
by \iijaya's.falher sitrabaliu. I-ila borclers in tle north of tire Kalii'rga
kingcLuri (sic ?) tlic ho:le of I'ilojrasuncrar-r, as must be in{errecl-{r,r.
Mlns, 6t. \. 'l'ire soutii-eastcr' clistrict o{ Chutia Nagpur to the west
.f Re'gal is still called Singbhum ". It has, ]iou-er.tl, to be noticed.
that in the age of \,'ijayabahu I (realty from about the end of the sixth
at lea-qt to the e'd ol the t*'elfth cc'{ury ,r.rr"), ttrie
Kalinga n,as
erclusirr-15- applied to tlre liingtlonr o{-the t,arigas'ame
of l(alinga"nagara
{modern ll'khalingam near srikakulanr), *hoitl.ied themlelve! as
r(alirig-adhipati. _ Sirirhap'ra ('rocler-n Singup'ram in the same neighbourhood)- rva:, however, the capital of the Iialiirg-acihipatis in the
fourth and fifth cent*ries. It lras
.
_no longer the cipital-of Kaliiga,
b*t-'a1r ha'e been the residencc
cf some icions of the Garrga ramiil'.
Rar.lhi. a'd Kalinga <1o
hacr t'ontiguous horrndarit.
'ot apl,ea' t, havc
rn a'1- lin-orvn period of In_dian-history.
Sirirhapura in Radha (prcbably
moder' Singrir in the Hooghlv District) cannot be regarded as thL
samc as the l{aiiriga capital o{ the same name, icientificcl l,ith modern

Singupuram near Srikak-ul;rm. The representation of Sirhhapura

of Kaliirga in ttrc MaltrTvairsa tradition seems to be clue
to the fact that the chro'icle was composed about the fifth centurv,
rvhile the cfi'laaathsa appears merely to have continuecl the same
traclition."altho'gh the'liter capital"of ihe co.rrrt-v *,as at Kaliig*as the ca.pital

nagara'.76

Accorcli'g to this vie*', if u,e want to reconcile the staternents in

the chronicles about the cou'try
lvhich the kings of this period.
'vith the crata found in cont'empoharl matrimonial alliances ancl, nroreover.
rary inscriptions, n'ith the historical and geographical actuality rvitir
Jegald to l{alinga in India, it beco'res necessa.y to assume thai rvhat
has been recorded in these sources is a mere copying of that rvhich is
found in a chronicle u'ritten in the fifth centui-y. This procedure, to
say the least, throws reasonable doubt on the assumptions rvith il'hich
lr-e approacir the question. on the other hand, in the Sinhalese literti
ture ciating from the tenth to the thirteenth century, i.e. precisely the
period for u'hich the chroniclcs and contemporary inscripiions reier to
intimate relatio's with a I(alinga country, there is evidence pointing
to the fact that when the Sinhalese literati of those times reifer to a

^,

?6_. D. C. Sirkar in The History-and Culture of the Indi,an peopte, yolune \-,
for Etnpire, pp. :67-:68.

T he Srru ggle

JOUR'NAT,, Ii.A.S.

18

(CEYLON)

ItoI. VII, (iYerl

rScr'ies), 1{)i9

it is not tire region of that nanle in liastern

India that was meant, but a re5lion in Malayasia. \Ve norv l)rrlceed.
to state that evidence.

country nalned Kalinga,

ot

llinayi.rtha-samwccaya of l'leclirarikala.rrrahasami, we find the follorving comment on thc Andha (indhra,

i.e. Telugu) languag_e : ' 'tndha is the language of the people u'ho
inhabit the Andha (Andlira) country. 'fhe Andha country is the sarne
as the Tamalinga, that is to say, tire Jilvaka country '.ii Medlrankararnairasimi, as he has himsclf ,ctatecl in this rvork, r'vas the pupil of the
,grammarian Moggailana lr'ho flour:ishetl in the decades preceding ant.l in
the first hali of the reign of Parakramabahu I, ancl of Sariputta, the

In the

Vinaya-sanl'ta

greatest literary himinary during that reign. The I'inavu,rth,ain the latter half of the til-eifth ceutury"
The purpose of the comment n-as to give information about tire TelrLgu
Ianguage which, as is u'ell-knorvn, is and r'vas spoken not only btr the
people of the regions usuoill'callecl Anc'thra, but also by the inhal.ritarrts
of Southern I(alinga in rvhich nere lricated l)antapr.rra and Sirirhapura.
I3y the term 'Andharata', the author of the l/inaya-sattnn prubably
meant a linguistic, and not a political territory, coinprisilig all
areas in which Telugu \vas tire language of the people. T'li.is is
supported by the fact that the Siamese chronicles, r,t'ltich rnust have
derived tbeir information frorn Sinhalese traditions, locate I)antapura.,
the capital of l(alinga, in .4ndhradt'Fa.;8 Evidencc furnislrrd hv rlrc
paiaeography of the earliest inscr-iptions found in Further trndia ancl
other data point to the fact that the Telugu-speaking regions plal'erl a
most important role in the diffusion of Intlian culture to the \[alat'
Peninsula and beyond.Te It has also been surmised that, as a rcsuit of
political upheavals, some o{ the clispossessecl Bucldhist plinces from
these regions nigrated to Malayasia, and tra"nsferred the naures of their'
original homelands to the nelv kingtloms rvhich they founded there.i{}
That Telugu r'vas spoken in'fambalinga up to the trvelfth centrrry, at
ieast by the ruling classes, is a fact of considerable signilicance li'hich is
salnticcay& was thus rvritten

And,ha nam Andha-rala tcisi minisun gA basa yi. .4ndho-ra.la ttant

Jd,ua,hn na,n+ ra{a yi. The Vinaya-samt'ta, w}:'icl:. is zur extensir-e
Sinhalese gloss on a Vinaya treatise. is still in manuscript. _The passaae trau-lated above and given in this note has been quoted in lnis Agama hd :;untr1.iatrr.,
p. r95, by the Ven'ble Kotahdne I']afffiE,hitti -fhera to whom I am .inclebtecl {or
drarving my attention to it. The passage has also been noted and cornmcnted
upon by the Rev. Degarnmiila Sumanajoti Thera in his Da,ritbadeqti-rng&yd, p. qo"
78. J R.4 SM B , Vol. XVIT, pt. ii, p. 6e.
79. Niiakanta Sastri, Ilistory of Sri Vijaya, p. 17 "

77.

'Iamalinga-reta

8o. J. L.

Moens

in his Paper Sri Vijaya,

Ydua en Kald,ha in 'f iitlsdrrift

LXX\III, pp. 434i} ; see also

voor Indische Taal-Lanr1,-en Volhenhu.tzdc (Ti,jdschrilt,\,

theabridgedEnglishtlanslationof thispaperin JRASX'IB, XVII,pt.ii,irp.6811;

G. Coedis Les Etats, ctc., pp. r36ff.

OEYI,ON AND MALAYASIA

IN },I]IDI-{EVAL TIMES

19

{rrrnished by the vinalta-sanna. This is in accorcl rvith the fact tliat in

thc r,igor r:cgion there are people stillrvith an Indian cast ol featrrrr:s.sl

_. -'i-he inscriptions
sinhalese
sculptures

i\agarjunakoncla, the style

.of
in
Lieylon and referc'ces iir

of tilrt rarly

Bucictrhaslrr;sais
centuries, rl,ure u.as

commentaries prove that, in the third and fourth

negular intercour-se betr'veen the llucldhists of leylon antl T'tl*guspeaking rcgions of India.82 l3ut a high ciignitar5i of tjrc lluqitll\ist
churcir in ceylon of the twelfth century, u'iren he lvishecl to state *.her.
tie. Telugu (Andha) la'guage t'as.spoken, cites the 'la'rbaririga cou ntry.
'lhis proves that, in the interval, intercourse bctrveen
ceytorililcidhists
and the Telugrl r:ountry had been reduced to negligible pioportions, rlue
no doubt to the re:rson tha.t Briddhism \\,.as no longer liourisiring in'tjrat
itrea. If the ll.ddhists in the Telugu land,*, ai has been siir'risecl,
migratercl.to Nfalaya, founded kingdoms thcre and prosperecL, tirev nr.,rst
have maintained their earlier contacts rvith Ceyion, nc,t only irs tiris
rsland rvas looked up to as a stronghold <lf rluilclhism, but irl:rr forcommercial and cconomic reasons. Telugu-speal<ing l3udcihists from
L\{alayasia probably_ visited ceylon frequentiyj and t}].e opinio. gainecl
ground ire.re tirat'felugu u'as the speech of the country from ivtricir ther"

canie. 'fhus. to the lcarnecl

theras

of twelfth zrnd tlirteenth r:enlrrri-

Ueylon, of r'r,hom the author of the C'u,lot'atizsa was one, Anclhara.ttha

.,including the southern palt oI I(alinga) tras {hr. samc as til,. l:alri,;rliriga or Javaka.
The existence of an Anclharattlia in the Malav peninsuru.

i* ancient

times is also supportect by the ."f*r"r-r." rn the Malay Annals ti> .trr
Amdan-1agq:a, a king of which figures in the pecligree of the l,falacca
Sultans.83 This Amdan-nagara has been talien by scholars to be
Hamdan in Persia, for the confused accounts in theie Annars cunn{}ct
the rulers of Amdan-nagara with characters well-knoryn in r:;larnic
history. But these Annal,s,
long after the conversion of the
'vritten
Malay people to Islam, might
very well have i<lentified piaces ancl
persons in ancient Malaya u,ith those figuring in the histoiical w.or]<s
.:rf their rrew fail h.

It is r.vell knorvn to students of Indian history that the footh

Flelic, norv preserved in Kandy, r,r'as bro'girt to Ceylbn, in the reign of

Sirinreghavanna (circa 3or-328), from l)antapu.a itr I(aliriga whire it
hacl been for ccnturies. It is stated that a Sinhalese poemlgivi*g the
ilegendary histcir5r of the llelic, was composecl i'the reig;r of s-iritne:gir.a-

8r. The fact that'r'elugu r'vas spoken r'-Tambariirga in the trvel{th century
rnay be of.importance in the identification of that countr|, by :rscertaininp; whether
traces of l'elugu are noticeable in any o{ the language.s a'd dialects njrv spoken
in ttrose regions"
V^ol.
. 82. -Epigraphia.lndica,
Archaeology,
Vol. XI, pp. r5-r8.

XX, p. zj; Annual Btt,li"etapt;;. ,,.[ tt,,ti,r,t

83. JRASMB, \roi. XIV, pt. iii, p.43.

l0

.IOURNAL, lt.-{..q.

(CIIYT,ON)

Vol"

VII,

(Nea'Barrz.s), ]9ir!}

va+lra. A rvork purporting tr-r be this poem \\ias existing at the bcginning of the thirtecnth centriry, but as its language r,as unintelligibie to the a\,-erage man) a Pali poern, the tell-knou,n Dc\lltriuayitsu,
composecl in rzro by Dhamrnakitti, a h"igh clignitarl,
basecl on it,
Sarigira. 'fhc original Sinhalese poem is no longer extant..
ol tlie Ceyloir"vas
:rnd u'e cannot thercfore be certain to rvtrrat extent Dhammakitti
follorvecl his source. \Ye mat', holever, presume that for the main
traclitionai historv ire follori-eci his source faithfuliy, but he perrnitted
to jntrocluce certain literary embellishments"
In acldition to the Pali poi-.rn, Dhammakitti also rvrote a s-ord-to-."r'orc'l
pir.r'aptrrase in Sinhalese, uhicir is still extant.

hirrrself, as befits a poet,

In the fourth chaotcr of his poem, Dhammakitti clescribes, in

vely charming iangriage, the ciefeat of King Guhasiva o{ Dantapura b1,
an cnemy who wishe<l to have thc Tooth Itelic for himself. Before
the enemy entered Dantapura, (iuhasiva's son-in-lav', by name Danta,
acting according to instnrctions he had previousl5z received from the
king, took the Relic awar- from the Ternplc, fied in haste to a spot tri
the south of the city, crosserf a river, deposited the Relic for safetv in il
I)antapura. There he made his rvife,
the guise of a Brahrnin woman, and

heap of sand and returned back to

Ilrincess

Hernamd.16", assume

accompanied by her, came to the spot where the relic was deposited,
recoveled it and continued their journey southwards on foot. After
being miraculously delivered from dangers which threatened them and
the Relic, they travelled a considerable distance and arrived at the
seaport of Tamalitti, from ivirich they tool< ship to Ceylon.sa It is
of particular interest to us that the seaport called Tamalitti in the Pali
text is called Tamalingama in the Sinhalese Sanne.85 And, for geographical and historical purposes, the form of the name given in the Sanne,
in which the freeclom of the author is not circurnscribed by considera-

tions of metre, rhythm, etc., is more rvorthy of being taken as

in the P5,1i verse.

reflecting the actual usagle o{ the time, than that

This Tamalitti cannol be the saure as Tamralipti irr Bengal, fc,r it is

inconceivable horv a person traveliing southrvards from Dantapura, the
modern Palura six rniles to the north-east of Ganjam,86 could arrivr al

the mouth of the Ganges. The fourteenth century

Daladd,sirita,.

rvhich enboclies an independent treatment of the iegends relating to the

Tooth Relic, states that the sand-heap in which the Relic v-as temporarily deposited was situatecl near the estuary of the Gaflgam river.87
' Gaigarn' most probabll' stands for ' Ganjam', tlre distance betweer-l

84.
8i.

Dd,lltduath'sa, chapter

I\r, vr'. zr-4r-

Dd{ltdaarh,sa and the olcl Sin}ralese Sanne edited by HalavEgotla:

-Silirlalrhlilra-sAmi, Aiutgarna, rq r 4, p. 8 r.
86. I accept the identification by Sylvarin l-cvi in Jowrnal Asiatiqua., tg'.3,

pP. 46ff.

87.

E. S. R:ij:rsekhara's edition, p. 36.

ait gam-ga,figa heba lahgti

"

CTEYLON

-{ND IIALAYASIA TN lI}lDIAtrlY.ll, TIMF]S

21

'lr-hich and Palura rcasonably lits in rvith tlrt: narrative of the Datlriaailtsa. Once arrived hcre, thc fugitirres rvoulcl not have gone back to
the cit_v, investecl by the enenry, anil changed the clirection of their

flight from the south to the north.

The name of the port {rom rv}iic}r l)antakunlara and HemaurZil:r
crnbarkecl for Ceylon rn'ith the looth llelic, as given by Dharnrnakitti
himsclf in the Sanne, is Tamalinganta whicln is also found in the same
cr.innection in the Dalad.a-pujauaLr,88 in the slightly difierent form of
Tantalingamw. This, as we have seen above, is the Sinhalese form of
T-arnbalinga, the name of the land in the l"Iaiay Peninsula from rvhich
.Candrabhinu carne to Ceylon. 'fhus rve have the position that trvo
fugitives u.ho had ieft Dantapura in Kalinga, and travelied overland to
the souttrr {or a considerable distance, are said to have arrived at a port
in the I alay Peninsuia, probably on the east coast of its southerir half,
.at tvhich they found a ship ready to sail for Ceylon. 'Ihe purpose of ttrre
{ugitives was to arrive in Ceylon ; for this there rvas no need for thcm to
go to the \falay Peninsula. The story, too, cloes not give any hint of
their having undertaken a sea voyage before they embir.rlied for Ce1'lon.
No seaport, rvitha name llke TamaLihgam, is l<nolvn to have existed
on the eastern coast of Inclia south of Ganjam. t he only possible concirision, therefore, is that the I{alinga r,vhich Dhammakitti haci in minci
r,vas not the ancient countrv of that name in India, but a lancl having the
same nanle to the north ofTarnbaiinga in the Malay Pcninsula. tT tnc.
tr(alinga in India was welL-known to irimancl his readers, hc r,vould n<.rt have
bi:ought 'lama.ling;arnu into the narrative, {or in that case he rvould
have bec'r conclemnccl by critics for allorving the blemish ol tlcla-r-iyodka
in iris poem. We c1o not knorv wiicther th.e ciriginal Sinhaiese poem
rvhicb ri'as his source conta-ined the na.me of the seaport froni u'hich
I)artakuinara ernbarl<ed for Ceyloir. Probablv it clid not, and the
rncni-ior-r of the namc of the seaport \1as an ernbellishment to the
oriqinal story a.ddecl by Dhir.mmakitti, so as to rnake liis narr-ative
convincing. For this, he trrad to make use rif the gcographical l<no.,r'lerlge posses-*ecl iry his cornpatriois ; ha"cl he made a critical stuclv of
.lristorical geography, founcl out a.nc1 mentioricrl the name of t]re lil<elr.
se:rport from u'hich the fugitives embarked {or- Ccvlon, his stor_v r.,-oulil
not Jrave been quitc convincinq to his contemporaries. For the
.Sinhalesc of the tllclfth century wcl-o vcrv fainiiiar rvitli men ri'ho came
fiom a country calied l{aiiiga: thcy rnust havc tolcl the pcciple of
Ccvlon that they embalkccl from a port cailetl Tamatririgaru(rr).

'lhe

Dutl,t1,voi'n.sa

(lV, 44) states that tlre north u,incl lr,as blorving

't,herr the ship brinsing the Tooth Relic to Ceylon star'ed on its
\.c)jiage. Chao Jn-kua, describing tire sea-route frorn Lambri in
\orthcrn Srrmatra to Ceyion, says : 'r,vith thc north lr'inrl vorr cotre
rvithin a little more than twenty clavs to tlLe ,-ountrv .i I{*i-la.t-t
'lhis clctail also indicates that it
{Ccr'lon) ' (JR-4S, rE96, p. 48o).

88. Edited by Kanadulle

Ratamalarhsi-thcra, p. 5r.

22

-JOURNAL, R,.A.S.

(CI''LON)

VoI. TIII, (Nara Series), 11)59

from Surnatra or the Southern part of the Mala1.

that Dhammakitti has clescribccl iil ttre oaira,,riiii"
his Kalinga was in Malayasia.

:l'ri-i. :1 ]/oya-ge

Pt-'ninsnla
Hence,

The form Tornalitti ior Tamali,hgatnu (lf antbatiizea) in the l,alr

Datha,aarhsa is also found in th.e corresponcling'r6.1i""
ni ti..
Dalatlas'irita'e, ancl need;.;oye e-r,planation. In ttrrs .or,"".iio", it i,
nccesqry tl) nole that ivhile lateI clrincse relerences to this pro.o,'"*
,,,

of the

Cirao Ju-kua, are. under tle name Tan-ma-ling, rvhich oU"loiriv .oi.*.pnnds to Tambalinga, the ea-rrier references, srich as in srrng iiih, .all
it
'l'a.n-mei-leou, as transcribed_by French
Sinorogists, ttrc trais.rilpiion ot

English Sinologists being^-ran-rni-liu or'rair-mei-liu.r0

clearly.a render'ing into chinese of rarnali, which occuro

flr.i'i*rt i*
iou iiit or

places.(mos_tiy_seaports) give'in the pali wor rr rv-idde.sa, to *'hich peopie

of ancient India r,r'ent in sea'ch of *earth. sylvain I_evi has ililenti-

iled ramali *'ith rambalinga, taking,a variani reacling of ttrat name

nccurring in only.one_manuscript as"the correct fonn.if, L, *o

hoi,r'ever, the reading Tatnali of the majority of the rnanuscripis sh'ulcl
"i.u.
be preferred,,and taken as an abbreviatiori of a prakritic io'r- oi ilr.,
m;tme 7'am,ralipt1, given to this place by carly mariners from northr.astcrn India. Irr thc,Nir/,1esa list, f ,uiali is iollori.etl b,,, Vanpi-.
f ne
a'cient name of Bengal transferrecl to an island (r3anka) ,i.o, s.r',nutru.
"fo the earlier form of the name, Tamali,
has been adaid gai ii'g,ror*
{sk!. grd'ma)_r9:ulting in rarrariirgam oFgalnu, and tiiis has'-been

rendered into Pfr,li as 7-ambalitiga. ancr i'to incorreci San surit asiaioral.inga. The Pali and -Sinhalese writers of ceylo' thus hacl
i".1in.ut.,

ftrr_referring
to this Malayan seaport as

T untalitti. where the rro.t

in Rel$al is.clealv.meant, however:, Sinhalese rvriters ha.'" ,r.r.d'th*
farrm Tamalit.e2 rt is o-nly after tbe Datha,uathsa, clue perhapi to tt o,
confrrsion created by Tatnalitti being glossed by Tatnaliigam, that
thi: latter narne has becn
for the seaport it the mooin of the
'secl
{ianges.e3

In this connection, it is also apposite to mention tirat traditions

c'rrent-among the Buddhists of Ligor (norv part of rhaiJancl) in the
Ifalay Feninsula connect that place with Dintaku'idra of Kaliir'a,
H,: is sai,l to liave bcen sirip-u-rcclicd on tlrc Dianrorrrl Sands tVaiTa
viLinka) rvhen he came from Dantapur-a ir-ith tlre 'ror;tii Relic, ancl the
ll3q" lldited by Bhada.nta Sorata Ntlyaka-I'hera, p.
3::.

.f ltAStll IJ, XXXIII, pt" iii, pp. r-ro. ilire grouncls on whic:il
^ wo. !'/oi1.ers
o.
rvorrrcr r:rirninatcion-*";-'tio (Euildi, ,,y tt,i- siiJa ,i'or;'"r"i
ur.rd, A_frittn Studits, XXI, pp.
SSI-SS+) are not':rc1equ.rre.
gr, SyJvain I.cvi, Ptoltnl:e, ctc.,pp. z(t-27.
'lr ,Jl al,11b'tllttt'rrtit.s'r-gr.ant.h_i.f uht-uiltatatut editcrl by Blad:r1tar lJharrrrlr_
lr.. I'.i.:,:1., Llrrr.r \r-r,rl;.i llt.r-r, i,.
-rr.
'i'hitparaiiisa (Siltralcse)
eclitecl by lhc Rcr.. Panclit Galag;L1ra S^riurarir. 93'

liara. Colcmbo, t955j p, rro.

CEYI,ON AND MALAYASIA IN ]\{EDTAEVAL.TII{ES

city of I-igor was buiit by him at that place" The Buddhists

J3

rhcre

that the Tooth Relic is enshrined in a stupa at Ligor.ea The

'Diamond Sands' in this traclition rvould corresp-ond to the 'tieap of
sands' irt ttre Dd,thaaarh,sa, u'here the Tooth Re'ticis saicl to have treen
trelieve

temporariiy deposited by I)antakumara after he fled from Dantaprira.

This, accor-ding to the DothAamhs&, rvas not far to the south of Dintapura, but the Malay Budclhists of old have localised it at Ligor" per:ira.ps
it is a k'orvledge of this lfalay tradition l'hich led Dh"*-ii.itti to urake
I)ir.ntakurnira embark for C'e.vlon frorn a port at a consiclerable clistance
to tlre south of Ligor. 'Ihe evidencc culled {ron thc Dr1,[hat'ari,lsa lvrrrrld
thus be against the identilication of Tambalinga ivittrr I-igor, and rvoiild
farrour its location proposed by Sir Rolancl llraddetl"

.I-he Si-vabaslaharaof KingSalamevan (most probably Sena I\-,

r1.1{r-

g7z) a.ln fumishes evidence proving that, to thesinhaleseof ttrie ienth

ccntur}r, I(aliriga meant a country other than the region of that r;rrne
irr Eastern India. 'lhe Sit'abaslahara is a Sinhalese rendering of the
Sanskrit l{day,atlaria, the iamous rvorl< on rhetoric by DancTin. In
rnanv,places, however', the author of thc Siyabaslahat;a has cler.iaterl
fronr his original where this was necessary io make the theories ,.in
poetics apply
!9 the individual characteristiis of the Sinhalesc i;rngirage,
or to locai beliefs ancl conclitions. one such instance is tire cxaln'rpltr
given b1z Dandin for the blemish in poetry called the deiaairodh,u. ).'_,. ..t

poetic.ri description u'hictrr contraciicts weil-l<nown geographical fhcts.

This erample as given by Danclin is : ' The elel'rhants born in thc torests
of. Kaliriga are like deer in size, i.e. they aie lrs1y 5mzll '.t5 ,{ tlescription like this wouid be a blernish sinCe Kaliriga was famous for- jts
elephants of a large size. 'Ihe Siyabaslakara, h.orvever, by a ntot unju"stilral,.le meaning givrn to the r,r'ord f ra,.yahtlre origina.l Slnslirit, has
gdoplr:d a rendering l'hicli is totailj' tiiffcrent frorn thc cxarnirle of
D"":lcillt As given in the Sinhalese riorl<, the exarnple is : 'The fort:srs
of Kaliiga are teeming u'ith elephanlt '.nti As this is an eraniplc, il rr- the

of well-kno\ll geographic.il facts, the l(aliirga *'liiclr

IV kneu.'was a country in tlie forests of rvhich clephant-<-r,rt.r.t not
founcl at all or very scar"e, cluite. uniilic the Kaliriga of trnt_lia. 'l-he
Saw,c of the Siyabaslolt,aya, r,r.hictrr probablv dates-{rorn the tr.,rlfth
centur-y, comments on this as follorvs : 'TIre statement tlrut the
contracliction
Sena

Iialiriga forest is full of elcpilants

phy

is an example of contraclicting gt,r,rgra-

it is trot lr,ell-knolvn that elepiiant) rtre

in Kalinga, it is in Ararriana that this is so '. 'lhc olcL

(d,ela^uirodha), bccause

nlrmerolrs

!).!. Colr;nel G. D. Gerini. Rcseayaltes o;t. ,Ptoltnt\"s Gt:ography, pp. r;r-roS.

',5. Ii tl i i g a -t' a t a tlt h fttu ut r g a p,-tiy d, n n o,hg aj c\,h..
t t

tt

t.

li,Tuyado,rla, Chapter TtrI, r-. 1r.

gaja-riis pit,i.
\i,ltuhosluhaut, Ch:rptcr iI I. r'. 1u.
,, i)7, Art,nnrl,oyehi ntut I{aliit.gtt rrt[a htr,slinge boh,o prasitltllLi;vak t tit., ttt.,,,in
.,,t'iigtr-tcttthi ;ittttL piyiilii Ii 1'u,ttt dtt Je.in tirodl:q yi.
Siyu,boslq,kato, i,vith olcl ,S,lrrr, etlitcr'l bv II.
g7.
-iayatilake, rgor, p.

96.

Kc,iifi..qu-uetrc

2+

.IOUfiNAL. R.A.S.

Sinhirlese Sanne

of tlrc

(CTIYI'

ON)

Vol.

VII, (Ncir: Scrzies),

lic1ut,id.ar,lu, wl^rlIe correcth, paral)hrasillc the.

)'et malies the observati'n : 'Simiiar.ly, ihe

of
'rig"in
elephants in the Kaiiirga forest is not well-known '.
tcxt-of

It

Da1c.1in,

is

q'ite obvio's

ttrrai-

King salarnevan hacl

text ire v-as translating in order to malie it

a.grrre

t.

tleviate from the

l'ith t|e geographical

knou lc<lge posscs.cd br-his countlyme u. He.l tlrcy becn

i.,,i,uirrred rvith Kalinga in India, famous forits hrrge elephants, it lvoulcl ,rdt hur,*
been.necessary for him to talic liberties ruiih the text he ,"ur t."rrr-tuii'rg.
1-he r(alinga ri'ith rvhich King Salamevan and the learnecl slniratesl 6f
his time l'ere familiar did nol boast of elephants as one of its products,

llll

though these beasts niay irot have been aliogether absent in iis forests.
The mention of Aramar.ra (Lor,ver tsurma) in co'traclistinction to,
I(aliirga, u,ith regard to its elephants, suggests that these trvo countries
rvere in the same-part,of the u.orld. These consiclerations ri'oulcl justify
the conclusion that the Iiatinga knorvn to the Sinhalese of the'tenth,
to trvelfth centurie.s las a regio' in the northern part of the l{alav
Peninsula.

'lhe beiief that Kalinga *as in Further Incria

continuerl to be helcL
dor'vn to the sixteenth century. Diogo i1o
information received by him- from a Sinhalese i.ir-r."
rvell versed in the traditional lore of his country, has stated thit tle
father of Vijava, tbe lirst king of Ceylon, l,as , a"ruler of Ajota r,vhich is
the sarne as Tanacarim (Tennesarim) '.0, A" the Vijayan legencl had
bee' associated rvitir l(aliig:r for a long time befoie"this, rihat *.as
T.llt by Aiota jn this coritest rnust iiave been I{alinga. And this
lraliriga u'as then taken to be the sa''re as Tennesarirn rnhich i. in tl-r.
narl'ow necli of thr: \{a"lav Peninsula. \\rith regarcl to Kalinga beirrg
hcre callecl. Ajota, rve u'ili har.e occasion to comr]rent further .in in th*
couise of this laper. cor.rto has been chided bv his translator for
bhrnrlering as he had reportecl facts whicli c1o not agree ri.ith the l<norvledgc p.ssessecl by_rnoc1e.r orientalists cn historicalgeograprrlr ; o' the
other hand, r,vhat has been statccl alread5r about this oritt". incl n.hat
lvill follorv rvotilcl sho*- that he cleservei a u,ord. of praisc for- havilg
reportecl faithfull-v rvhat he learnt from his i'foimants. The iri
formatio' recei'ed arcl recorcled by Ferna6 de o'eyroz, too, u'as that
i
-\/ijaya c}'g from th.e Iiingdom-of I'elingo o.-Calingo, in ihe ircigh_
bourhoocl of that of Tenacerim '.100 This"is in accord u,ith r.vhat iias
been deduced above. that Iialiriga, to the mediaeval Sinhalcse, rvas a
la'd inhabited by Telugri--*peakine people, and that it r'.a-s in the north

ttr. Si'halese literati

!v
couto, repor-ting

of the Malay Peninsula.

_98.

Esd um Kaliitgtt-aenehi, cittt.ttgi. sambhaaaya aprasid.d.ha ya.

CEYLON AND MALAYASIA IN fIEDIAEVAL TIMES

l{tJ{r

I{duyddarda, with old Sinhalesc Senne, eclited-by Bhaclanta Dharmrrrirma

Nrlyaka Thera, edition of r9:5, p. r75.
99. JRASCB, XX (No. 6o), pp. 62fi and ror.
Conquest o-f Ce1tlo,, by Failrer Fern'd,
- .loo. The Tetnporal and Sp.irihtal
perera, p. 5.
de Quevroz, translated bv Fathr:r
-c. G.

25

Having thus established that Kalinga rvas a part of the -Nl-ala5z

Feninsula t6 the literati of the period in u'hich lived the writers of those

of the Cdl,aaarizsa relating to the times beginning from

Uahinda IV and ending rvith Magha, n'e next proceed to sum up the
evidence for the use of the n"rne of Kalinga to a country in Mala,vasia,
in the sources for the history of those r-egions.

chapters

The chinese writer l-Tsing mentions a land called Ho-ling at $-hich

pilgrims fronr China to India sometimes haltcd. According to the
to the Chinese court
Xi, l'org Annals, embassies rvere scnt by Ho-ling
'lhis
t:ountry seens
sarne
SrE.
on various occasions between 64O and
to have becn refcrrecl to by the name of chri p'o, though there are also
refercnces to cho-p'o as the capitai of Ho-iing. Scholars agree in the
vien, that HoJing is a tr.anscription of Kalihga, but there has.been
much cliverg.tt.. if opinion rvitli rcgard to its location. Ch6-b'o ts the
doubt about
transcriptioir of Jaaa-; earljer Sinologists therefore had

'o
the location of i{oJing in Ccntral Ja.va. Rut this vierv has been
subjected to strong, ind in my opinion, cogent c-riticism b5'- Col'
Gerini, Ir. J. L. Moens and Sir Roland llraclrlell. Gerini and Moens
rvould' locat-e Ho-ling in the Malalz Peninsula, tlie former- in the region
of Keclah, the latteiin the Lalacia area. )[oen's view has been subjected to a<lverse criticisnr by Professor: Nilakanta Sastri rn'ho appeals
to favour the earlier view of locating HoJi'g in Jeva. Coedds adheres
to the earlier vier.v.101 Rut the identification of this Ho-ling (Kalinga )
with chci-p,o (Javaka) r,ould secm to suppor:t the location in the Mala-v
Peninsula if we attach importance to the identification by the l-inayasat,ma oI Tambalinga with Jdval<a.102
In the Keclah Annals, embodying the traditions of the Malays,
rvritten long after their conversionio islam, a country callecl Kalangi
is mentioned in the story of the legenclary 1<i.ng Marong Xlahavatlgsa
who was the traditional iounder of the kingdoni of Larkasuka' Ihis
king is siLid to har-e sent envoys to 1(alangi rc'luFsting the hand.o{.the
datrthter of its rrrler for one of his sons. Considcring the dcscrtptlon'
of tfirs country given in llte l{edah Anttals, it has been identified rvith
;'Kalangi ' is taken to be a form of ' Kalinga
This
Lou'er Burma.
"103
agrees rvith the vier,v oithe Sinhalese prince r'ho in{ormed Couto that
I{"atnga *,as somer,vhere in Tenneserim. ,\n .ld Sundanese chlonicle
knowi as Carita Paralwangan, in giving a list of tle countries ancl their
a:ulers concluered by the .]ayanese king Saijalia of the eiglrth centur5',
ror. For TToJing sceGerini, Ilesearr:Jtes sfr'., pp 1-:f[., Sir-Ito]rnd Tiraclrlellin
i, pp. :1T., l{ocns in ;J t[,1.:-ttn. \\-i], p!, ii, lrir.31g,
IRlSllB, XXI\,-, it.
-IGIS,-\-ol.
\rII, pp. r5ff. :rnrl (]' Cocdt.^, Les Etats, etc', p])'
fiiialranta .'lastri in
. arncl r E3i.
The Ktluyaiehitava,, Catto X, r'. r':3. clescr..ibt's tire liing of Jzrva' (Dliva)
as lrringing ri'hite s:rnd:rl rvood antl canphor, tlrc i-'i:letructs of ]ris countrr-'
13611., r.56f

\o7.

r:o3"

./fl--1S;11R, \-o1.

X\r, pt.

3, p. 97.

2ti

JOIIII,NAL, R,.A.S. {CEYLON)

Vo[. VII,

(Naza

Sorles), Jg59,

la'd of ricringaud it_s rurer sarg sri vij aya. ror This
r.vnurd
estalrlish that to the auth,r of triis chro'iJre 'Kiiis
; rvas
1xarffi)
tlre nanre of sri \rijaya- -i'lre orci 1uvun"r" poent Nagaraltritapam*
in''hrd'r:. ir.tcrritorv nainerl I(elang'arnong the
dcpcndJn.i"--,"i,, ,r.u
-\lalay l)-ninsrrla, of tlrc.^ingrlomof J\lajapahit.,r, ;ini.i*,.,,g,;r,rr"
name iras been Ro'ranised
'lran.g. Eclrisi savs that thefrorn the I{avr script, is iclentifiecl rvith
israncr of Kra berofgeai, i.i"g iu"r*a
.frrlrr'-zrl 'iiirrrli, or rnrria.n pi-incc, t"r',i.rr
1,i ."=e_,^according^ to Jlocrrs, is
equivalent to .the Kaling prince of ftfuj-p,c,'.rou
in(:rntions the

In the state of Selangor, there i.s a place of

the name, rvr_itten
in thc Arahic scr-ipf, is "RoinaniseA ul l;-torg rvhich
or Iielune. lmportanr
brrirze a-nd iron age ontiqriitics ha'c been criscrvc,.a
,"l.niir.T'tt,i,
place. It is believecl that this name is a.ri""Jl.o", ti,.,
iiliirj*".0"
kn.!iatt, [,rr tin_ : a suggcstion has also u".n

,h", l;;;';iri'.,n1"

-aJ*
,_
a Khmer rvord meaning' -store-house,, . rnarlcet,,
;; ;;;;il;i;"",. r*
of tire name rnav be, its airproximation in souncl

I']:i::::

ltl: :,1*t"

to
clear; lrarnes lil<e this, to., coulcl huro-b"r,,u
.
forms like lialinga,, jrrsf o* tt,*

:1._ _1"-:.'Kalrriga'.is
gr\'(."1r
ir 5ansl<rit garb, resrriting in
native nanre of the peopre of aregion
the clas.cir:al Indian foim of Caitpa.

i'

Irrcro-Lhin" rr;,

fr;; lur,r.iin,"

lhlls there is evidence {or the na're ,I{ali.ga'rraving been

in use ire
fc'Lrner times for more than.one area in rlarayaiia.
VariJ's ,iut.*i,rra

have considered

it

to their pr.riigu to be knc,wn-fi,'iii,

have tal.tr p.icre r" i.".i"l ,n-i.
'rust
rrr the mythicar tialiirga-cakravarri
i",,,".t'in
*:frTr
rt't. lor {)ur.pur.pose,.i.c..to.identify lhc par.l ir:rrl11.R,,,riiriri'il*."a
..*.rn
;,
as"

ackling

honourertr name, and trreir rulers

called-Kaiiriga in the historicar rvritings a.cr epigr-aphi.ut?"-.,i.

"irilt
o"itrru
Island rvith reference to the pcriocl iiorn the ten'r t.
the thirtee'th
cent'ries, there is o-c important fact to co'srcrer tr-r" .up;iui-"i}ri.
;
'xulngo
co'ntrv 'was knorvn as Siriihap'ra. The relative,
of ti,,
irrincess who became the qy9.91 o_t Vijayabat.r I are .nia tu nurru*.o*.
(S;hapurjl. ros In the potonnaru stab-insc.iptionri
ot
{;l
:'^l-l'llll.nura
vrJa'anilhrr
il, rvho uas-o[
Iiaring.i rlynasty, it is siatcci that
-the
Parikrarnahahrr r, tor'ards the close oii i, reign, scnt
enrissaries trr

S_irhtrrapura ancl hacl

his,ephew, Vijayabah* II, biouglit

Nissaiirkamalla anci Sahzriamaila, it't" rett ir,r"'r;"

"";;l;i;;;,,""
ki""g;;f
ir." r<""rir,r.

1o+. Strrtterheim, lu.uamese feriod i.n, Suntatyan Hi-stoyy,

p. rE. Sec a.lso
Ilr jrrrrrd:rr. Suu,tr tt,r,lu;1,,,, l,i,.t i, U .'3-," '" " " "
ro5" Il. Kem, I/ers.ftreit!e ()escltriftert, \rII, pp. ::.7g-27g.
rob. J RAStIIJ, \.o1. X\-II, pt" ii, p. 84.
!o?. JItASilIB, XXI\-, pt. iii. pp. Sr_8;.

0EYLON AND MALAYA.SIA IN }I]'DIAEVAL 'I'IMIIS

tlynasty of Polonnaru, have recorded in thcir inscriptions that they u.ere

born at Sirhhapura, tr.hich is specifically statcd in some documents to,
have been in Kalirlgu-rata.i10

More than one Sirirhapura in the l{alay Peninsr.rla are knot'n.

Ii. N. -fayasr.r'al

has stated

that'the

Vu1tr,t157ty1irr,r, gives a full descrip,

in Furttier India, evidently in Malaya'.r11
He, horvever, docs not givc the referencer, aurl I have not been able to
fincl any rnention oI Sirirhapura in that text. 'lhe best l<no'nr,n Siritha-

tion ol Sirirhapura,

a capital

pura near the Malay lreninsula, Singapore, was rrot {ounded r.rntil r.34o,
ancl cannot be the same as the citv rvith u,hicii rnecliaeval Sinhalese
rovaltru iratl rclations.ll? Nor l'ns Singaitur':r, u'hich is said to har,'e
existed on the rvest cclast of the Malay Peninsula,r1'r of an earlv enough
clate {crr it to be talien as the Sirirhapura of the CFlavathsa and Ni6Sarhl<amalla's epigraphs. 'Ihere lvas, honever, another: Sirirhapura in the

IIala-v Iteninsula, knon'n

from a much earlier date, the site of

rvhich stili bears that name, u'ith obvioris phonetic-:rl changes due to,
passage of tirne.
Thc Srd emperor Yang'li in 6o7 sent a mission uncler the leaclersliip of Ch'ang Chirn to the kingclor:n jn tl'rc lfalav Peninsu]a called
(lh'ih-t'u bv the Chinese. An account of tlLis nrission is containcd in
theSu,i,Sht,t,andhasbeentranslatcrlb1r llr. Hsii Yun-ts'iao. 1'hecapital
oi the kingclom, u.hich tvas reachecl aftcr. passirrg another kingcloin
named Lang-ya-hsii (I-ankasuka) ri.hich lav tci the north., is given in the
Chinese account as Shih-tz-e-cheng, u'hich liter-ally tnean. 'the l"ion
Citv'. i.c. Sirirhapr-rra. I'Ir. Hsii Yun-ts'iao iclcntifies it rvith Singora
rllricir, in his rvords, ' tnthe fuIayitinr,e Cha.ri of (-hong F[o coulcl be iderntified rr"itlr Srrrr-ku-na, in Chang T-'ttng T'iett and Ch't'ng 7-'u.ils I{'ao as
Srrng-clrir-lao,in Hai Ktto Wen Ch,ien, Lt.t as Sung-ctrrii ancl in Hai Lu as.
Sung-k'a, ri'hich is now a pcipular narne anlong the ()r,ersea-Chinese.
The tenn Singora camc fi-om Sanslirit, rneaning the ' Lion Seat cr the
LionCitv '.r1d Singora, thus,is apia<tc r,r-itira histor-r'ertending from at
least as carlv as the beginning of the sevcnth ct-'ntur\i up to thc fifteenth,
ancl is stiii of considerable importanr:e. 'llrat thc present name i-*.
cleriverl lrom Si,rh,hat'xnra can 6* gi1-sil-f cor.nitrehenderl. 'lhe fonn Szzraliu-nagiventn ChengHo's charts (betterknori-nas\\ir-Pci-Llhihcharts)115,
indicates that Singora rvas l<nou'n as Sirirha-nagara as rvell as Sirhhapura.

'[he name Ch'ih-t',it, also speit Tc/t'e-t'ou, of t]re sta.te nhich hacl
its capital, is gencrallv interprelecl as meaning ' Ited
Harth ', di'e to the colour of the soil in that part of the l{alay Pe ninsula,;
Sirirhapura as

R. C.

ti:t.
r09.

Cttlauairca, ch:rp. -5g, v.46.

E'pigraphiu Zevlanica, yr>I.II, pp. rEj-r ri1.

2E

t1o. E.l:igru.phicr, Zeyluttit:ct:, Vol. II, pp. r 09, r r-5 ancl :27.
r. I{. N.'fayasu.al, IIistt)},y of Indi,a, t5c> A.D.lo 35c) A..f).,p.250.
rr2. C;erini, Researcfigs, etc., p.42.3, il. r.
r r:]. .l R,4SlIB, \-ol. XYIII, parti, p.
7-;.
it4. .jRASlIB, XXIII, pt. i, pp. rj-i5.
r r.i. .i R 4 SI'I R, X\-, pt. iii, pp. r1T.
rr

28

JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYI,ON)

Vol. VII, lNeur

it is also not impossible that the name represents Sanskrit .Selrz,

" bridge' or 'causervay'._ This region, norv included in Thailand"

comprises the narrorn'necl< of the Peninsula, and v'as of grcat irnportance in antiquity for international commerce betrveen triina ancl'the
west. flhe merchants lvho *.ished to avoid the pirate-i'fested _ctr-aits
of Singapore and shorten the tirne taken b1' the journey, callecl at ports
on the urestern or the eastern coast of the pc'insula, asihe .rrr*, *a1o b",
arnd had their goocis tr-ansportecl overlanrl. Tire region thus could
very rvell have been callt-.c1 ' :r bridge ' or ' a carrreway ,. Its rlilers
mnst have anrassecl considcrable n ealth in consequence oi this comrn.,rce
lvhich^passed througir tireir lancl, ancl accluir-etla power ancl influence

out oj,1;roportion to the extent of their territories. lhis lancl, it

u'oulcl be seen, is the samc as tlLe r-egion r,rhich, accord.ing to couio's
,Sinhalese informants, n'as the original jrome of frijai..a, the lir:st
Iegendary king of ( cvlon.

.- ..certai'expressio's fou'cl in the inscr.iptions of some r.lers of thc

in Polo'naru, and certain statements macle in thr:
clironicle_ rvith r-egard to one or trvo of thern, lvliich have hitherto
Kalinga d]rnasty

relnarnecl obscure, can be satisfactorily explained, an<l their significancc:

properly appreciatecl, o' the basis -of fhe hypothesis thai Kalinga
meant, to the Sinhalese_of-this period, a region in }lalayasia. The inscription of Sundara-mahaclevi in the ltaravidiye cave dt nml,,tagata

contairrs tlre_phrase dn'olttttu-miil.d,ti ttfatt among the eulogistic"relerences to that qucerr ' rvho surpassed'Siri in heiuty ,. \\{ckrema_
singhe,rvhofirstedited this inscripiion,ll. has left it paittv
""r*a, ona
did,not attempt t-o translateit
lu1ty. lrelrreacl it c6rrecily, tootr'il a,

qualifying_Z.ih,wn'tbd,-u.ixiit,dr, and, interpreted it as signifyiig tt ai foth

parents of \rikramabahu wcre crowned mcnarcrrs. rtz'147i.pfmasinghe,
irr the revised edi {"ion of [hc recor<1, acceptccl Be]r'sr.eading ri",l l;.rprctation of tlre phrase. I1" Srrch an-cxpiossion in an eulof}- of a king
d.rl5 1.1 add anything to his pr:estige, for i<i'gs u'ho rvere .o,r! of cro*necl
parents
the ruie rather thair the exc6ption. The phrase it.seli
rloes not 'r'ere
convey tlrat
\roreovcr, il can betaketi, ar I do, as
'rea'ing. ancl. not to
rPJcrrlng to Sundar:r-rrrahi-devi,
Vikramabd.hu.rle Thus,
rvhat the phrase convevs is that the royal personage eulogisecl rvas
Dorn at;11e1t1i1 pJace; as parallels, ii may be pointecL out that

hssapa
lic

III, in his t,1i.n;i,1i*a1a

inscription, takls pride in the fact that

in Darirl,a,l iva, a]rd Ni#arhkrmalla irr rnany of his epigrafhs,

boatsof hisbirtir inSiririr.p*ra.j20 J3ei'g not'ative rvith rl..g?rci to
rvas borrr

CEYLON AND \{ALAYASIA TN }IEI)IAI]VAL

rsrnies). t0E9

r6. Dpigraphi.a ZeylcLitica, Vol. II, pp. rg4_rg9.

,1. Ceylon Antiqttayy and Liteyayy llegistt,,t, \:o1. III, ir. 7, J.it. r:.
r r 8. Ii.plgrafhia Zeylanictr, \rol. II, pp. r94ff.
, rr9' J)..ctotutu-nuiitdiittptttt.ttnclVihtr,ntbd-nirti.tltt-l:.iutgLL;]Ltltcsr.Lpi.JC,tiulil,tr''.JIatL Ji!./i;rrc l:,1,,.r1 rs t\\,, rrJir, tir.rl ulrrr.".
1,,,,i;{yrnq .S,r.trl t:n-,ttnl,',i,1;.:,t
ahtn s0.
ro. Iipigrophia Zeyianica, \ro1. TII, p. rgg, II, p. rr r.

TIIIES

29

l.,ilth a.nil accomplishinents tras cviclt:ntly i,L ntalk of distinction in those

,-i;i\;s, as it rrorv is, arnortg thc Sinhalese. \\ie knorl'from lhe Cul,auarhsa
iirrrt SrrnclaramahAclevr u-as not a nativc princess. She carme fron-l

Siririrapurain l(aliiga,r2l ancl musthave been born somcrvhcre in that

r'lijion" I)evo!,wtu-tttiifirla must accorclinely bc the name of tirat
r'r51ion, and if u'e can satisfir.ctorilv locate it in the l[alay Peninsula, it
irorild a.clcrr further sui-rport to the contention that Kalinga, the home of
Snnclara-mahSdevi, u-as not in India.

Derotltrtu recalls to one's rnind 7b-7)'o-teng, given in Chinese

lr.ritings as the name of a state rr hich borrlerecl Ho-ling (Kaliirga) to thc
lu est. l{oens is of the vierv that rvest shoulcl reallv be north-rvest and, in
;rccorda,ncc with his identi{rcation o{ Ho-iing, locates To-p'o-teng in t}re
r:ast of the narrou' necl< of tire Peninsula. Hc equates'l-o-p'o-tcng witti

conjectllral old 1\{ala1'u-ord 'Duarvrvatan 'meaning 'trvo bridge land '

alid explains that this region acquired such a name due to the land
routes from coast to coast u'hich travelsed it.122 Moen's theorv u.ith
i"cgard to the iderrtification of To-p'o-teng has been criticised as basecl
t oo rnuch on conjecture,l2:r but in our vierv, the elernent of conjecture in
ihis explanation is no greater than is found in many identifications of
t.lirinesc names for places in the lllalay Peninsula rvhich have received
:r

1{r:nelal acceptance. Ihe name 'Devotu.nu-nrd"irda', treated as Sinhalese,

thc same idea as the conjectural Dttauuatatt ol

ancl ' nt,ri.ird,a ' lneans 'between'. Votwrut,
-horrgh usrrally forrnrl rvitlt themeanirrgof 'clr,ivn', tan bc taken a:a
ri'ord crf iluite a different etyrnology, clelivecl from Skt. tartma, Pili and
llr-akrit aa{urn,a ' \4.ay ', ' route '. l'he full expression r,voulcl thus mean
' tire land betu,een the tl.o routes ', i.e. tire trvo trade routes, one from.
lndia anc'l further ri,cst ancl the other from China. Such a name, for

r'onveys verv much

rlfoens. De

is 'trvo'

lcasons that irave alreailv been statecl, u-oul d aclniii ably suit that part of
ihe l'[al'a,r' Pcninsula in u'hich Singora is situetccl. One of the overland
i'nutcs acros-c the Peninsula u'as {ronr Iietlah to Singora. 'Ihe name
ilanslitered as -lo-p'o-tcng in Chinese u'oulcl have becn a cogna.tc fonn
;n tlte local',.ernacular-.

ln this connection, the name given in the Nulanda copper-plate

inscriptionof l)evaplrladeva.rz4 as thato{ the 1<ing u.ho r,vas the father of
l,,linccss Tari, the mother of Balaputracleva, the Sailencira, ruler of
Yavabhlrmi rvho built and errrlorved a rihrtra at Nilanda, has some
ircaring. Hirananda Sastri, n'ho editeil this inscription for the first
tiine, read the name as Dltoyma-set.tt, and gave l/nrma-selrz also as a
possible reaclinq. ln thc opinion of N. G. Majumda.r, Vaynta-setu, is

it

r'21. Ctrluuarhsa, chap. .5rr, r"r'. 46-49. 'l'he name of the princess
in tlre chronicle as Sundli; {or the correction, see Epigraphio

;1iven

\'ol. TI, p.

\22.

rE6.

\2q"

XVII, pt. ii.pp. zz-23.

Professor Nilakanta Sastri in /GIS, \,'o1.

.JR-1SLIB,

723. By

Epigraphi,a Indicn, \rcil.

XVII, plr.

3ro-327"

\;Ii, pp. r5ff.

is wrongl1.
ZeSianica"

3r|

JOLrRNAL, Ii.A.S. (ctrYLON)

Vol. VII,

(-Aleza csertre-*). I

the'nly reading that is justihable on the evidencc of the plate.lJr If

one
aclopts l{ajurndar's reading, one is confro'ted rvith the
diffrcultv
**i,-i.in' .f
suggesting a sr.ritabre
_interpretation of the
ancient India' names srrc*rcl
have had. varnta"u-L,
;.;;,

';

nil

n.*orrr'
,. One cannot
-urr.i"rrt
and seht is
u"
king of Indian culture . being called lryimagine
u: ,rn*l.' -ieaairrg
J*r"i"g
' Ar'ro'r causeu'ay '. r, therefJrg,
to
amena ttre
,l.topor"
,carlsc\vay

warrna to

,arttna- It

is onl5- a vc'J,- slight sir-orre r,vhich

clitrere"i;ri], il,*

'syilable rtma lrom rma, tris coulct have l,een inadvert""ttl' ,r"-,;1i"it ou
the engraver, or lvor' orit. It is :r.iso possible tfr"t u-.fifiJu;;;;;;r;
that of the nexus yhna .ras actuall-v pronouncecl
",

ur

r*n, iii-tL""lonr"

in the doc'm.lt_gt it rr islr-onouncecl, ,1irr#";;;;li.'Ltrnrology..

,Assumirrg rh'.r I'ttrl,ta-.s,/ii is thc t.orrcct form,I t]u: r,airr*,
it should be tal<en as the clesig';rtion of the ianc1, rvirich wasiiu.Jnt it,
ruler as u'e11. In ancie't trfaLya, as in other parts of the lvorlcl,
rirrers
were ofterr re{er'ed to by t}ic ranres oI trreir lerritories. I,,arttna-setu
ryca.n^s'1hc causcrtay urr ilrc (llntie) rorrtr:', arrtl is alnost lhc r;;lr, irr
srgnlncalrce as r).i)otrt7t.t-mri,itd,a of the l)iirbulagala inscriptio'.
TiLis
vtrrmo-stltt, fatlrer of prrcr.r l a'i, ,ir"*r , ii'r"i"r,,ic, lr,. takt,n
as-tire liirrg
i.iiigrlitiyr""
9f thq sarne,region as-trrat fr:orn''{rich thc I(aringa
,ft,.Trarrjuq,r,;r*i
rvas used

haileri.

In the N:rla'cia,.inscrip,tio', he is caliecL

be taken as one of the rurers of zaltag referrerl to uy

rvritings.

thai irtte in

io,ry

e*u.

varma--(or,var-tma-)setu hasbeen describedin trre Nl,randa Lopr.r--

plate as of tire Soma-l<ula lineage, a'd in |he ()ir,,r,trtitr", i,l,r"b"f,i rr,

one of thr: I{aliriga liings of tieylon, is zrlso re{erred to,'in rin irrciir"ct
as. being_horn in the Soma_va.rirsa, synonymous i.l.ith the
{laltner,
-l(rrlrnua-\'ari1sa. \\'hen Sirivallabha, the
ttc,hana, n.ishecl to
''ler of ..1ro,ri".i
irave thc princess I'Iitta, the c1a*ghter'oi Ralna'ali,
tu-i,i. o,r,r.
so'-r'Iarrabharalla, that queen, rih.rse intentio^ u,as tir have
her. rnatecr
r.r'ith Gajabhhu II, is slid tg.have protestecl vehement5l
*i:i"g'iir"r,
from the time of the rlrst. king of 'ccylo', marriage ottiur-r."-. tit.rl"o,-,
Vijaya's Line ancl the l(aliriga"fanrirv'u'ere the rule, ancl it rras on ,r,rhearcl-.f irrocecl're to have the pri'iess l-.etrothccl to one *,ho is not
of
the Iialinga race, n'heri a sriitabie pri.ce bor'
the
So'r:rvari1s.
\\.as
a'ailabie. r'r; 'I'he soma'arirsa, ir-r this context, has
'f beentaken to i-efer to
thc lr:uir.l-va Lunar racc, i,ut ttrrere is nr r tlssrlion h"." ,rt u
1riiir." .,ii-1,"t
stock l,eirg consitlc'crl as a srritaLilc consu'.t ior. princr,ss'][itti.
lr is
clt:arly st:rtecl that Sirir.'airabha *'isrred to pre'ent the princess
beiirg

r25.

:1,J1

Jlr:urotr -\o. 66, p.

qrg,

R:iitiult

i.n.

3.

irrrrl irte'vencs rretwecntirr.. li",r.'..trri.-rrgr;'i..rr1." .igr"

tilrs
'.t fr",,ii "ol.,-.a by t6ose"who hrirc iicalt

I'xplession tnahatalt triti,tlt ltls

'vith this iuscrir;tion

r27,

ittr5 i6g

Ciilqua1i15e.
corr r o5- it s

r2_irl. Geigcr,s tr.itnslation of tirii

., r irir. ,1, iii. ,.tl.,1,,,,i ]ii'

c1;rn..63, \,\:..

irr pli,

t)a.ssage

I\r IIEDI-{]IVAL TI}IIi]S

3l

sent to Gajabihu II by her mother, and in the rvords put into thc mouth
,rf Quecn Ratnavali,'aking born of the Sornavarilsa' catr refer- to nr-r
,ither than ttrtr.t ruler. It is generally accepted that 'Somavarhsa '
rlrcans tlre 'Luuar clynasty', but the phrase Sorna-ra,ia-l>aranparrTltetr,

17 in the I)evunclara slab-inscliption of Parakrarnabahll IIl2s

to suggest that a family iraving its origin in a person called Sornai;ril is tneant. If tire interyrretations of the relcvant por-tion:s of the
l;irirbulzrga.la inscription and the Nalancla copltet:-piate suggested :rbove
foilorv that thc Iialiig: kings of Polonnaru. u-erer
i;r: acccpted, it
"vouicl
as the Maharajas of Zahag, n'ho contracted ailiaitr:es
iri ifle sanre race

i,iitatii

.;rq,lns

ri

iih the Sailcnclras of -f ava anci Sumatra.

l'Jre ltolonnalu siab-inscription of Vija-vabahu II,l:0 l'h.o rvas of thc

,'.:rliriga dynasty, states tirat \rijaya-5rir,n-tiin-na,theclignitar'1-l'iro put
rll',"',,n

the opposition to that prince's accessiontothethrone. had

a.n

r;Lirlitit-rnal reason for the royal favour jn ttrat he 'ti'as engaged in

,,,rlirding the person of tbe ro-yalty lrom RuvanclarYrbu'. As \.ijayairrhn came to Ceylon from Kaliriga, Ruvandan=rbu must re{er to that
, riuntrv itself or sorne placc therein" No attempt has been rnade by
','",it--hremasinghe, t'ho eclited this inscription, to iclenti{y Rur.andarirbu.
,'rr such nalne, or one from rvhich it can be clerivecl, tr.as afllierl tcr
i:;"llinga in lndia, or to any place knot,n to htrvc existed there. 'lhe
riri,ine has the half-nassal u-hich is peculiar to the Sinhalese lar.rgLrage;
,,i rir.ust, therefore, have been in use for -some tirne among tire Sinhalcsc
iohave unclergone the necessary changes ri'hich gave rise to this peculiar

feature. Rutnnd.arhbw is a conpouncl of trvo u-ords : the

irrst u'orc1 ntvan, ts the Sinhalese eqnivalent o{ either Skt. suirar4.c.
5iold' or ratn,a 'precious stone'. Datitbu, n'oulcl ]te ttre re,cuit oJ the
',:tme Jabako undergoing phonetical changes rvell attested in Sitthalese.
.i:'oi' the loss of the fina.l syllable ka ancl the change of the iirc'ccding
..'ou'el rz to zr, conrpate nrolu, for P. tniilaka, salu for Skt" iuilaAo
:.l11d nal'u, for Skt. nataha. lror the hali-na,.sal D being attached to l,
(:ornpare nnir,ba. fcir Skt. uob/tas, ncTrhb& Iar P. n,at:a/ta and aitbarctila for
l::i<t. iilthurona. Forthechangeof initial7tod,comparc daiitba,c/it'i'and
rio for S1rt. .'iantht,, jittita anc1. jltoli.s, respectively. Rtt'r:ttn-daitttlr n'ould
'lhus be eclnivalent jn Sansl<rit to .Suvnrna-Jauaka ar llattta-Jawka.
'.[lie compouncl Suaarna-Jii,vaha may be an abbreviation o{ Swrarltatit;t,pu-.f auaha, and rcrnincls one o{ Ptolenry's' Golden Chersonese'" If
jhe othcr altclnative is preferred, jt l'oulcl ntean'.]avaka of Plecious
lrironetical

litones ', and is reminiscent of ttrre esprcssion Rattt,tnanlafit'Yaradr'7parh,

t;t

.\_,trtLt-Jitrldnrr..l,trs.yn mnlmtalL 3y'i,-l,,aynto,-set.h, st.ttr.I.. ljerc,

{or
-_.];9^^,
IJrctl'rcAl rcrs, )nsr the trr-o rvrlcrs constit,ting
tlie comlrou'<1 rttrahd.ruia. i'rre Lerrr

sep:rr:rtecl, :rnd ilnotrrr:r

CIEYLON AND M-{["AY;{SI.{

ltJg

Lhc Ramdry&no-.13o

\\rhatevcrinterpretatiollwe may give to tltc first

'lr'irrd, there is no clor-ibt that the scconcl js tire Sinhalese fornr oi Juhaha,
''i'lrich is the origin o{ the Ara-bic Zaltcg or Zabaj , and Ial:a,iitt or
u oI Ptolemy. 'fhus 'nle find. tJrat a pcrson to rvhom fin'rtrtt-s ri'crr-"
"::lr.ltail.i

r:E.
r?9.
r3o.
2(13

(i_Il

,tf ( rylatt,, \:o1. VI, pp. iitii.

'llctnoivs of the ,4rclzcteological Su'i:ey

Epigt,a,phia Ze\tlonict., \rol. IT, pp. r 7g-rS.1.

Ildmft_yonn, Book T\r, t:hap. .1o, v. r9.

3)

J"OURliAl.,. R.-q.S.

granted b1i

tlrat

:L

(CEr-LON)

'{,-oL

VII, (Ner-' Series),

lialii\ga king is said to har-e beeir protecting the person of

Jibula. Iialiriga must, thcrefore, hc

l<ing from tire tirrie iie u'tLs in

Javaktr or JaLraka.
It n'oulel be noticerl that" Dei;otulu-miiti{la allr.lll u"L)an-datVfiu, which.
\ie h:rvc cor:rclucled to bc names of regions in 1\{ala1.a-sia, irave unclergouc
consi.lera.ble phonetic chantcs. J'lte name: rnust havr lt,:en iti- use
among tirc.Sinhalese people for a trong tinie, indicating that ther, hactr
continuerl intercourse r.ith these regions. Apart {rom rcferenies tn
regular sea-vovages bett-een Ce\-lon and Sur.ar],.rabhuini in the Pali
comnentaries, this is aiso proved bv an inscription of the Javanese king
Airlanga (torg - ro.19), rvhich mentions the arr-ival in the ports of hii
kingdtxl of Singhala (Sinhaiese) mr:rchants, in adclition to tliose of
other nationalities of India and Further Inclia.111

Frorn an inscription of NiS3a.rirkamalla {rom Polonnaru r,r'e learn

tliat, in his time, one of the gates of this citv ri'as naned Kamboji-vdsala
(Carnbodian Gate).trt: The same king's slab-inscription at Ruva,nvdlisai-va at Anuraclhapnra has recorded that 'bestorving on Kambodin
goid and cloth and u{ratever othcr kincl o{ ti-ealth they u'ished, he
commanclecl them not to catch birds, ancl so gave secruity to birds '.13:t
Therr: is no doubt that I(ambdji and Kambocli re{er to Khmer peopie
of l(arnbuja-deSa, i.e. CarlbodirL. Thcv inust have been considered an
inrportant conlmunity at Polonnaru foi'ei gate of that city to be named
after: thcm. But thev \\:ere engagecl in the pastirle of bird-catching"
clearlv for pr:ofit. firer, coulcl iluit hal'" heic-i a very liigh position in
society ol in the arlministr:rtion. li-rt NiSSarhkana.lla, ciesirine to
gain a reputation as a good Iltrdciitist, hacl to hurnour thcin r,vith cclstlv
gifts to coinpensate them for ttrre loss susterinecl b1' cl.esisiing from birdcatchirrg. Iividentlv, Ni(Sarirkarnalla did not u.ant io carn thcir
rLispleasule by stlaightau.av foi-bidcling tllem to catch bircls. Ifc mrrst
have been clependrng on thenr in an in-iport:lnt rl:r-ttcr. The iikelihoocl
js that tliel' 11'... mem.Jters of his bcid,i-gualc1, ;rnr1 l.ere in the habit ol
-cllppicnlerrting thcir: income frorn rnilitarv sen.ice bv catching ar.rcl

-cellillg birclc.rra

If

NiS3arhkamalla caute

from Singora in

the
trrim soirie ti:oops from

I'Ialay Peninsulir., lie must havc brought uith

that region l'h o couicl be ielietl upon to guarcl his person, rvhich lit n ould
certainlv ha"ve not entlusteci to Sinhalese troops. And not ver_y farfrorn Singora, in the l'Iala1' Peninsula, there u-as a region of u'hicL the
people u-ere Iihmer-speai<ing, as is provecl by tire inscription on th.r
pc'destal of a Fiiddha image founcl at Grahi (-f aiva).135 A prince from
I(aliriga in lnclia u-oulc1 irardlr- har.e hacl l(hrner people in his service.

I3r. Coedis. L.es Etals, etc., p. zq7.

a32. ,4rthaeologica[. Suruey of Ceylotz, .Report for rgrr-r2,
r33. Efig.raphia Zeylanica, \:ol. II, pp. Eu-83"

p.. roo.

33

A rock-inscription of Ni3sarhkamalla at Polonnaru, in a list of

in Cevlon as rvell as abroad, rvherehe established alms-hottses,

,,lrrces,

ciiy called KalingaVijayapura,136 i.e. Vijayapura in Kdlinga.

his cannot be Polonnaru, for the alms-houses established there are
;rlcntioned separately in the same record ; no citv of this name is knorvn
, r Indian Kaliriga. A Nepalese manuscript of the tenth or eleventh
rtury, ri-hich con-tains miniature paintings of famous Bucldhist icons,
,r-trates one at Sli Vijayapura in Suvtlnapura (rnistxlierrll rvrittcn
,,,r Su.varnach'ipa).87 ,4riV ij,,ya1rttra, t-hiclil'as of course the name of
.;ri.: capital of the Sri Vijaya empirc, could have llcen in usc u'ithout
,'i,,,1 ; tlie Chinese rvritings have Fo-che as t'ell as Che-li Fo-che. Vij tiirtlrlra, rvhich, accot'ding tcl tlreNepAlesemanuscript,s'a,s iu Surtarnal'.,pa, beingcalledlitilingaVijayapura in NiS3arirkamallar's inscription,
r..'.;lrports the contention that tr(alinga meant here lvas in lilalayasia.
ri' l.{iS3arhkamalla heLiled from Singora, it is quite rcasonal)le to think
rl:rt he founded a charitable institution in the city tirat had been the

lrro,ntions a

'iirlnf

thc Sri Vijar"atrnpire.

"fhe Polonnaru inscription of Sahasamalla. u'hich recorcls horv

,i rliief named I'Iallikarjuna escnrtedthe prince to Ceylon fronr a port in
,.,.,r Cola country lr.herehe had sojourned {or some time, sa1's that he
;rircle 'the sea-route free from clanger'.r3s 'fhe people of I{alinga,
,lerefor.e, \lrere a po\\er on the hig'b seas, which the Nlalav people o{ the
, ,npire of Sri \rijaya are aclinowledged to have been at this time.

Sorle of the names of high clignitaries found in inscriptions of

rulers of Kalinga lineage appear to be non-Sinh:lese. 'lhe general of
:.iSSarirkamalla had the full style of Lak-vijaya-siigu-senevi Tevurulse
,rf n,lrich Taawru is the personal name, the rest being titles. This
L' Qt; u.r u, remincls orre of T M) audv at, iin., part of the na.me of an of&cer o{ the

hr:

,'iiaiienclra king rvho, in the reign of Rajendra-cola, built a IJuclclhist

.,lri:ine at Nagapa!'tana in South Inclia.la0 Tdattvtt arTd TuteufiralrA.tt
.4r.ilear to be the Sinhalese and Sanskrit forms, respectivel)'', o{ a Telugu

nalre. We have seen above that thc people of certain regions

lhc Nlalay Peninsula ,spoke Telugu ; some of them, at least, must
lur.e borne Tclugu names. A high rninister of the reign of Queen
l'ial"r,afavati, rvhose personal name appears to have been Crlclama4i,
,rld the title ' Lah-vijaya-sarir-sirigu-senet'i '.1a1 In this, sar?, appears
.:'r
bc the same as Maiay sarg, preh\ed as an honorific to pelsonal narrles.
'llrc por,erfui
minister \\,ho lost his iife ch'.ring an invasion from South
.jiirsonal

3(r. Ep. Zey Vol.

TI, p. r78.

tt utldhi qu c c I' I tle, p. t93.

7.
pi[a
Ittllrttildtt
nirttpatlraita ho[tt- llp' Zey.II, p.
m.tga-petu,
:ls.
r'iir:i
r.

r,3.1. Bircls of gorgeous plumage figure among the articlcs ot' .trib'ute ' scnt by
nlaiayan potentates 6 the Chines; Court.
r35. BI{1, tsz7, Deel 83, pp" 46E-9.
__

CEYLON AND IIALAY.{SIA IN }IEDIAEVAI, TIMES

I{rJfr

iiouclrer, i

cono gr aplt i,e I)

tl,

t t

r'

gcr Jra.s csca.pcd

tr:rnslation b1' Wlclilernasinghc,

iti. Ep. Zey.II, pp. r56 ancl r76.

ir. .E p. Ittrl., XXII, p. z;,8.
: ii^ Ep" Zey.IV, p. 8r.
.i .r

z:z

-5.

'Ihis

Vo!.

It

lI,

(Ne ra ,Sei

ier)" l9i$

Irrclia in the eighllr. vcar of I*rlyAr-ravati \\ras nalned Ati 'r'ri this narne;
recalls t! | orlc's nind Atli in Adi NI ulu.ya , the narne of a miiitary lcacler
u:ho reirtlitrl against Vijar-aixLhu I carly in that monarcll's reign.lr:l
Ati ar.d ,4di can lrc {orms, assumerl in onlinary Sinha.iese speech, of t}r.e
o1d ll"..Ja3r hdji, t]ae ro1'a1 titi'. ,1li )Iuluya rvoulcl tbus be r.<luivalent
t.o Xla!,aya.-rdio, or -rd,\!a.ra" l\'[a"nakira, the narne of ;r generai of this
perioci rlrentioned in the l)uith:oli, and Erapatta, thc name given to
Vil;rarnabahu II in the llinipe slab-inscription,r{r also appear: to be
norl-Sinllefese.
NiSsarirkamalla, in scver"al of his inscliptions, boasts of the vast

$.eaith

tltat he spent in building and repairing

religious shrines, irr

elaborate religious festivals ancl in largesses to thc people.1a5 Among the

gifts he nrade rvere golcl ingots (ran-tifr,gili). At the same tjme, he
boasts of having remitted taxes for live years. 'lhele nray bc considerable exaggcration in these claims, btt the number and sizo of the mollurnents u'hich he built, and are still extant, clear-lv inclicate that he had
resource.s to spend lavisirll'. The lr,ealth disbursed lvas obviously not
all clerivecl frorn taxation in Ce1 lon. The country fronr u.hicJr he came,
ther-efcire, rnust havc llad great rcsorlrccs at its coinmancl, and its mling
t)o\\:ers 1\:ere ready to spend vast sums in the forrn of econonric aid
(to use a nrodern term) to Ccvlon, so as to l,r'in the gooci-rvill of the
people of this Island, and to gain a footing here in fnrthelance of its
commerci:rl ancl maritime poiicies. The Nlalay t-'mpire o{ the tirne
possessed grea.t rcsources, ;Lnd the control of this lslancl through a ruier
prepared to act in its iirterests rvoulr,l har.'e been of advantagc to it iri its
rualitime anrl comrnerciai actir.itirs"
Ni(3:rrirliarnalla also clairus to have struck teuor irrto thc hearts of
r.if Kainata, Nelhir-u, Gaucler, Kaiinga, Iilirig;a ancl Gurjara u,ho
1yg16 11rlf de,sirous of friendli' relations u,ith hirr.r4r' Allox'ances must be

plinccs

inade l-rer-r:. too, fol e-r-agger-ations, br-rt thcsc clailns cannot be pnle
ipvgnfilrn,r of his panvgcrists. II h,e s':rs a princc from thc l{ala.v
Feninsu,la, ]re nrust have commanc-lecl a considerable fleet of sea-gcing
rressels, *-ith r.ihich he coulrl Jrave rir.ided the coasts of those lirncls.
Sonre of his nar.'ai cornilanclers might c.ven have been engagecl in
piratica.l activities rhich frntishecl him u,ith a part of tlrc l-ealth so
extrar-ag;rntlJ. spent b1' hin-r.

ln

lr.is exhortations ti.r tire people, Ni33arnkanrall:r says that

non-llurtdhi-st princes like those of Cola or l{eral:r should not be
invcstecl \\'ith sovereigntv ov{-rr Ce1'lon. As he also emphasises tJre;

r42 L.it. Zt1'., V, p. r6o.

r,'3. Cilla,ztatit,sa, chap. 59, r.. ,1.
r 44. Pu. XXXIV, p. 25; Ep" Zey.,Y, O. t1t.
r 4.j. E.l:. Zey., II, pp. ri8fi.. pp. r75f.
r46. Ibid..p. rzo.

{]I]]Y-LOI!_

AND MAI,AYASI.\

II{

]\TEDIA.IIYAL

TIME$

3i;

iri:l,im of hi:j o$'n trialiriga dynasty to the ovellorclship o{ the Island,l4r

thc inferencc oright to be that he catme of a lJuddhist

familv.

Alrnost

tlu: roval fanilies knor.vn to havo exercised power in the Malay

l,r:ninsula. ancl Suinatra up to the fourteentli ccntury professerl

rLll

j'ludrlhism.

r\i3(arirka,ma1la ancl other liings of tlie I(aliriga dynasty oX

i-r:yion cl:iin to be clcscended from Vijaya rvho subclued the Yaksas ancl
rrlr.ile Larilid. an abode of mcn, ancl categorictrily state that Sirirhapura
rr.onr rvhich Vijay;rcame was in Kalinga.las As thc legend of Vijaya
r L;rrratecl in the Ceylon chronicles locates Sirirhapura in Lata, ancl not in

this claim of NiSSarilkamalla and his kinsmen is r.rot in

rvith Sinhalese tradition even if they came from Kaiinga in
{.rdia.. On the other hand, if they came fi:om the region of Singora, as
rr,* have suggested,thelr could r,vith apparent truthclaim to be dcscended
irolr \:ijaya r','ho macle Larika a ha-bitation of men. For there rvas a
r'lri1ion in the Malay Peninsula known in ancient tjmes as Lanka
ii:una-Larik5. or LankS.suka, rvhich adjoined tothe north the country
,-;i lhich Sirirhapura was the capital. 'lhis Lanka or Lankasuka tvas
t.ire fairylancl of Malay romance, and rvas belicved to have been thc:
:rb'trle of lieings corresponding to the Yaksas of Ceylon legends. 'lhe
i''tt}tr1|11rur.to locates Larikapura in l{alayadvipa, and Chinese
;rccounts indicate that the abocle of lldvana rvas helcl to bc in these:
lagions. 'lhe association of the same name and the same legends with
a i'cgion in the Mala-v Peninsula ancl the Island of the Sinhalese made a
{-hinese t'riter declare that ' the countr:y tif ttrre inountain of Silan
(i.t. Cc-vlon) is the ancient L;r"ngva*sieoLr (LankeLsuka) '. The envoys
lront ]-arikasuka u'ho r.vcre a.t the Chinese court in 5r5 reportecl that
i lrtrirl<ingrlorn rvas founded four hundrecl ycars before that d;te.14e Thc
;:,rrJU l-rirl:a'is not forrn'l in tl)c,.ar'lieit lrccrrurrts oI t]rc t.olorrisation
',f iire lslandby the Ar.va.ns; it is given as a namc of the Island iir the
i;i'Pa.i'itthsa, rvritten sr-imc tirutr after llal-riLseua., bnt it tlocs not appe:riio har.e bci,n knorvn to tire classicai goegraphers. 'fhe narne 'Lankar'
'!.its pr.obably given to Ceylsp as rvell as to a regiol] in tJre Malav
Itlujnsula by people r,vho carne frorn l(aliirga in-hrclia; but i'r'hicir
lcgiorr had this nanre earlier is difficult tr.r decide.
lJ,lr.linga,

,.,,xtorcl

_ l'he narrre ' Vijaya ', thougtrr it is thiLt of the eponyrnous hero of the
in tlie chronicles, I'is not a comnon o;e in ancient Ceylon"
It cloes not occur in the earliest inscriptions ; anong thc l<ing,r of Ceylon
tLp to ttrre eleventh century, it u'as borne only by one shado$'y figur:e it
thc thircl century. On the other ha.nr-[, a" king nime lrisapatma
lVijaya'i';,ti'rnili in 43,3 ancl another namecl Shi-li-pi-jia-1'a (Sri \'ijaya; in
45a,
Sirrtralese

r4'i. El; 7,ey., Vol. II, pp. 16.1 and rzz"

48. tbicl., p. rl8.
]-+9 For LarikS,suka and Lanha in l'[alaya, sec JRAS\I.,IB, pt, i, pp" r-r8
anrl -[R.1.S--]I-it, X\r, pt, iii, pp.
7itr. and'ibid.. X\itI, pai.t;i, pp. 5zifi
i

36

JOURNAL, R'.A.S. (OEYLON)

l'ol. VIl,

(Ncru Serirs),

l9i9

both rulers of Ho-lo-tan, identified rvith Kelantan,150 sent envoys to the

Ltrin"." .o,trt. Accor<1ing to Moens, the name ' Sri Vijaya ' rvas adoptecl by Kelantan shortly-after 666. Jl utty case,.tlrt-' kingdom itself
cam" io be known after a king named vijaj'a lvho' it is quite possible'
rvas credited with magicai feats over snperhuman beings, o{ the type
ascritred to Vijaya, the first king of Cevlon. If NiS6adrkanalla's
family n''as the sa-me as that of Sri \iijaya, or claimed descent from the
originalking ofthat land, he could vcrl'x'ellbe described as a descenrlani of Vijaya r,vho ma"de l-arikd an abode of men. 'fhe con{usiorr
of one rvith the other of the tr'vo \''ijayas and the tu,'o Lankas had becn
cleverly rnade use of for purposes of propagarlda. The statement in the
C,fi,laairitstt (Chap. 54, r.. rr) that llahincla IV, iraving espoused a
princess of the i(alinga famil5', ' founclecl the roya.l house of-the.Sihalas '

ian be justified only if there u'as a traclition of this familv

being

clescended from Vijaya.

The founder of Sri Dharmaraja-nagara, it has been seen, lvas heltl

th. tradition of the people there, to h:rve been Dantakumara rt'ho,
aicording to Ceylon traciition, cante to Ceylon anctr settled do',vn here.
Some deicendants of Asoka are also said to have been shil>-rvrecked
lr)t

in this vicinity, and local royal families claimed dcscerrt from them.r5l
It would thus be seen that traditions similar to ttrrose related o{ Ceylon
kings n'ere also attached to the royal famiiies of this part of the l{alay

Peninsula. The statement of NiSSarhkarnalla that he lvas a dcscendant

of Vijaya ll'ho made Lanka an abode of men could have therefore been
clue io- a tradition that the originator of his family in the X{alay
Peninsula was a scion of the \rijayan d-vnasty of Ceylon. In this

it is rvorthy

of mention that, according to the Rd,jaaolt',

to Ceylon bringing the Tooth Reiic. This rl'as
probably due to a tradition that his family originated from Dantakumara. For obvious reasons, NiS6arirhamalla hiniself has not made
connection,

NiSsarhkanralla came

use of this detail in his propaganda.

The Ctllauarhsa, in its account of the rvars dui-ing the Cola occupation o{ the Island in the elevent}r century, has recorded that a prince
named Jagatipala of the line of Rama came to Ceylon from Ayojiha
anit,after alhort pcriocl of po\ver, rl'as slain iu battle by the Clolas.152 Thc
inscriptions of the Cola king ltajadhiraja refer to a Vira Saiani:gan,
descriled as a ruler of Kannakucci, -,'i-ho simiiarly came to grief at tire
hancis of the Colas. From chlonological consiclerations and thtl
similarity of the fortunes of .|agatrpaizr ancl Vira -Salamegan, the tu'rr
have been ic1entifiecl. 'lhe recor-c1-* of Rajendra II refcr to this Vile
Salainrlgan, as' king of l{alingas of the stlcrng armv ''r5:r Thus u'e fint1
rhat a liiug riho is saicl to have corne fronr A:'ojjha (Avodhya) in oire

r5o. .[RtlSM]], XXTX, pp. r55ff.

15r. Gerini, .tr?esrorch.es, ctc., pp. ro7-roE
a52. Cillaoaritsa, chap. 56, v\r. r3-r5.
.r53. l{ilakanta Sastri,T/rr

Col4s, $e,:ond Eclition,

r9i5, pp. 25a-)52.

{,.J'YI,ON AN.D }TA]-,{YASIA

IN MEJfIAEVITI,

T]NIES

3i

ir.i.t-orirt is callecl the liins of thc l{alingas in t}re ot}rer. llhere r,vas no
.,!,..otl.h\'lr in li:LlirilJa irr {ncli:r; on t1rc ciihcr }i:inc1, n'e have seen above
,,111t. accor',:1ing to Slntralese tradiiion recorclecl bv Portugucse
I,i.tlrians, \'-ijiL1'a rvas at otrcc o{ Ajota (i.e. A1'ot1h1-i) a-s uell as of
ri;iiinga. 'l'he trvo pltrce-na.mts, therefclre, r,.ferrerl tu onc and the
.rr.nre rt-.qion r,vhir:h, to the Sinhalese of the sixtcenth centnry, rvas in the
,r'i| of tlie lilalay Peninsuia. I{aliriga t'as i;crhaps the name ot
r,rr: country, r,hile Ayojiha (A1,-odhyA) was a. city therein. Vira
:-,;.lanrfigan ali,as Jagetlpala nrust, therefore, be ta"ken as a prince

the l{alay Peninsula. ancl not frorn I(anvakubja in North trndia.

have been natnral for any ruler of a city named Ayodhyi. to
, i,Lim descent from Rama, but as there is reason to believo that thr:
.r,-,rn

i lvould

i'uclhyi of Jagatipala u-as in Tennesarim, close to Lower Burma, rvhich

'.r;rs l<norvn as Ranrafliiadesa, he mav have had his origin in that
,r'

,::rrrrntry. It is quite possible that a phrase indicating such an origin

lr;Ls been misunderstood, and giverr rise to Rrimanuaya-satnu,bbhd.to
, , trich describes Jagatipa.la tn the Cillaztait sct. Kannakucci of the Cola
;nscriptions relaiing to \iira Salamegan, on these grouncls, must have
j'rcn the name of a place in the tr{alarr Peninsula; but u.e cannot

^'iurtify it.
A c'lcscenclant of Jagatipala r,vhose daughter became first queen of
i, ijayabahul, is referred toin the Culaaathsd
as of Ariya stock.1l,4 This
r','rLcl 'Ari5r2', u'ithcut doubt, means Itajputs in tire Cu,at:athsa
'rrri:orotof thereign of \rijaj-aLal,u l\-,rt;birtiineednotne."rsa.ilyhave
lliis same caunotation rvherevcl it has been nsecl. A rvarrior prince ol
.'..riyade-qa, Viradeva by name, ioriL of Palandipa, macle a boid bid to
r':ipture the thronc of Cleylon, ancl almost succecclccl, r.r'hen Vikranra-

II u,as engagecl in u-ar n-ith i\,Ianabharana and his brcithers.156 The

ilotorh.sa clocs nr-rt say u.ho he r-''as, ancl rvltcther he trrad an5z rrreten:,rrrrs .lo the Sinhalese tlrrone. trrr ttrre struggle for ponel after the cleath
, i \,'iia-vabatrru I, one prince u'ho coulcl have made as good a clain as any
',r'the other contestants clo not lincl anv nention in the chronicle.
l't-,is u,a,s Vrravamma, irusbanrl of Yasoc'lhara, claughter of Vijal-abahu I
;:','T i1;1y31i u'ho herself rvas a claugirter of .f a,gatipaia or VIra Saii.megan.
'-; is irot impossibie that \'-iradeva is thc sane as Viravamma. At'any

,rrLm

';rl-e, ire might have championed the cause of that prince rvho,
'lrough husband of a daughter of thc first rnah,esl of 1''ijal.abahu,
lrerl been coinpletelv ignorcrl both by historians as u'el1 as bv the
ilignittuies l.lio settled the succession after the death of Vijay.rl:riliu I. It is perhaps not b1: acciclent tirat, in ali the three names,
'i ira Salalmagan, \iiradeva and \''irarramma, there is
Vtyaas an eiement.
'r|hether this conjecture l'ith regard to the identity of \riradeva is
l,iausible or not, he appears to have come from the Malav Peninsula, for

t5.1.
.t55.

Ceyktn Journal of Science, Sertion G, \'ol. II, pp.23+t.

Ceylon Ant,iqual,v olzd Literary Register, !'ol. I, p. 8E.

rjb.

c'itlauahsa, chirp. bt,

\'\. J(,-l;,

38

JOURNAL, R'A.S. (CEYT,ON)

Vol. VII' (Net-i'Sei'ie.s),

citl'

CEYLON AND MALAYASI,.\ IN NIEDIAEVAL TIMES.

Palancla
given by Ptolemv among tire inland torvns in the Golden Iihersonese.
'Ihis has been identified tvith Perak b5r Gerini. With regarcl to thc-sc
princes being lreLd to be of Ali5-a lirreage, it ntav not be rritirout signiircance that the Alyacakravartis of .jaffna, according to a traclitiou recorcled by Qaeyroz,were so nanrert becagse they originated from Brahmins,
natives of Gujar:rt, called t\rus, i.e. Aryas.l:'7 Gujalat and the adjoinallswering to Palandipa, of which he rvas lord, rve have a

clf

lng regions are called Ariake by classical geographers. 'lhere u'as

reguiar intercourse betu,ecn these parts o{ Westerrr India and the
l,lalay Peninsula, and it is rluite conceivable tirat a ruling famil-rr
founded by a prince from Guj:irat in that region was knor.n as Aril'21,
"lire eviclcnce discussecl so far connects the I{alinga kings of
Polonnaru ll'ith the northc"rn part of the Mala1z Peninsula. f)ntl of
ihem, however, seems to have haiiecl from the southern part. Loi<eSvara, rvho is kno-"vn, fronr an inscription at Kottang6,158 to lia.,'c
been of tlre Kalinga c15rn'.1s15r, is ilescribed tn lhe C'ulauantsa as a sula-

h,stathsika. The phrase has been translated by Geiger as 'lr'ho lurd been
ri'ounded in the shoulder by a slxtar'.lt{r Sttla cloes not mean ' spear '
but a ' stake ' on ri'hich culprits u'ere impaled , ancl aitsa lneatls ' side ',
and not 'shouldcr'. The phrase as it appears in the text of the
Cu,lauaitsa is clearly corrupt, and Geiger has done the best to extract
some sense out of it. \Vith our knorvleclge that the Kaiir)ga princes
came from the l{alay Peninsula, \ve can connect this pirrase rvith
Salakat, the name of a piace on tire south-lvestern coast of the \{alav
Peninsula,l60 aftel rvhich the Strait of Singapore was cailed the Sea of
Salairat by the Arabs, to rvhich had been addecl the X'Iala.v rtord lasilr,
meaning ' sea'. Perhaps the error is duc to the author of tlis part of
the Culauatiasa himself, u'ho clid not com,prehend the rneaning of a
phrase hke Sqlahat-tasih, ancl rendered it as u'e find it in the toxt nou'.
We will next clispose of certain atgJuments rvhich might bc aclcluced
in support of the prevailing vien,that Kaliirga in the histoly o{ \''ijayabahu I and his successors at Polonnartt \\'as in Eastern India. One of
the kinsmen of Vijavabalntt's ntahesti, r'r,ho came from Sirirhapura,

hore the name 'Xtladhukalr:rava ', rvhich is almost the same as 'tr{adhukd.ildrn4ava', a name bome by princes oJ the liastern Gairga rlynasly of
Kalinga.t;t One of the trvo principal qucens of Ni3Sarirkamalla,
trialyanavati, rvho later asccnded the throne as sovereign, i,q said in the
(ialpota inscription to havc been of the Gairga-t'arhsa,laz l'hii:h rvas the

r57. Fernacl de Queyroz, o1l1.cit.,1>y>. q8-49.

r58. IlP. Zey., \ioi. IV, p. 8E.
r59. Chap. "qo, r,. 47. Ciilauatiisa transiation, pt. i, p. 13r.
r6o. See rlap No. z of Moen's pa.pcr, Sri I,-iliaya Ydl& etz Ka[atia rn
l,\XV l[, tacing 1'.1ge.13u.
r6r. Cil.ldL'ah:ts6, chapter 59, \'. 46.
162. Epigropltia Zeylarzica,II, p. rrE.

3fJ

195!)

1',]1.G.,

at this tirne in Inclian I(aliriga. 'I-he son of a sister of

,\i6iarirkanralla, l,ho succeedecl hinl, \\'as callecl Coda-gang;r.
\nother short-livecl king of Polonnaru r',,as Anika.irga, i.c. Ali-Gariga.
,{locla-[iariga' and 'Ani-t]anga' rvere names .omtn"ot-r enough emlong
, lir: Grr.rigas of liaiinga. h.r rcply to thcse possible arguments, it may 1-.i
,.,,rinterl or:t that kings of nlalayasia often bore names thir.t u,ere in
.;rshion fol the time being among th.e tlynasties in India. N:rmes
r.uiing farnily

,;rcling

in

ar'Fa"ta u,ere

not unknolr.n in l\fa]avasia, rvitness for examph.

i.irl nr-rne- ' (lund.rnava'" It i-* quite possiblc that Ni(Sadrl<amalla

,i'rd membrlrs of his family contracted marriage alliances r,vith thc roy:ii
:lirriilies of India, including the Eastern Gangas. In fact, he claims jrr
ir:-q inscr:itritions to liave hacl princcsses front various couirtries in Inclia
;rrought to,his hir.rem, and for his son. Apart from this possibilitl',
ihcre u.as also a Gariga-nagara in the llalay Peninsrr.la. trt is stateci in
the XIrtlalt Anttols that Raja. Suran, x.ho is gener.a]ly taken by scholar.-,
i* be the Cola king rvho raided the nlaiay Peninsula in the eieventh

lq:ntur\', clefeatcd and kilied the ruler of Gariga-nagara, and married his
'ricter.1(;:i '-[]ie Ganga-variisa to rvhich I{alyanavati belonged could verv
':l r,tll havc been the ruiing farnily of this Gaiga-nagara.
Nirisra.rirl<arna11a, in his Galpota
r,vas in noble Dadrbacliva

liirhbapura

inscrlption, says that his horre

(Jambudvipa) in rvhich are born

llucldhas, IJoclhisattvas and Universal Nlonarchs.lsa It may be arguecl

ihat ? place in l'urther India camrot be described as in Jambudvipa.
i-tut ttrrere is good authority for including the lands of Further India in
.|ambudvipa.- IJ:i"S,.tlie Chinesc rvriter, refers to Fu-nan (earl1
name_tor CamPo{q) as situatecl at the southernmost end of Jambudvipi
rLncl Yavako-ti (Dharmarajanagara) as at 'the meridianal angle bf
.tra.rnbucLvipa'.165 If the claim that Buddhas are born in that part ol
i ire world is hcld to be prepostcrous, such an objection lvould also applv.

io

Kaliriga

in India as rvell.

For-, accorcling

to

Budclhist netiei,

:liiddhas are born only in the MadhyadeSa", and Kalinga is outside that
,!:lcred land. No Sinhalese Buddhist rvould admit the possibility of a
liuddha being born in a Telugu-speaking country, and such lvas the
, egion of Kaliirga in India I'here Sirirhapura was situated. This q'ould,
liolever, be possible, and Ni3sarirkamalla vindicated, if the view held
ir.1' sonr.e that the rvhole of Jambudvipa is l\,Iadhyadela (Mlanoratha^
:i'ilranl,, P.T.S. Edition, Vol" II, p. 37) be accepted.
Sahasarnalla,, after he left his home Sirhhapura in Kalinga to,
iorne to Ceylon,_is said to have remainecl for tw-o years at Kiiigai'oftda-patana (Gangai-kotda-pattanam) in the Cola country, un'til
t-r,,nc1itions in ceylon were made favourable by his supporters foi him to
.rscend the throne of Polonnam. It might be argued that this points tr>

'63" JItASMB, XVII, pt. 1,p.77.

rar,+" Ep. Zey",II, p. rr5.

]65. BEFEO,III, p. 284 and JRASMB,

XVII,

p. 56"

40

JOURII;\L, 11.A.S.

(CFIYLON)

Vol

. VII, (New ,Seri,es), 1)i9

India. Br-rt thele are instanccs recorde(:l

of travellcrs from the l,lalay Peninsula to Ceylon sailing to Negapa.tam,
and frorn there taking ship"to Ceylon. \Ve do not l<nou, u,here exactlv
Gang-ai-ko4qla-paffanarl ivas, ltut if the ship in rvhich Sahasamaila
sailed to ceyion firsttouchecl at a port iir tle cola countr\r for sonre
roason or other:, and there receivec neri.s that it wlas not ;r.clvisable forlim to conre to ccvlon, he u,ould most proba.bJy have stayecl there until
conclitions improvecl, rather than ret'urnecl irome. The cola rulers
u'oulcl have extended hospitality to him, for in the reign of i.ilavati,
the predecessor of Sahasamalla, thev are recorclecl fo ha'e tirr.ie.
inv_aded
T-ilavati belongecl io the Panclya factiol in Ceylon,
^Ce-yJor1.166
and the{olas,
for obvious reasons, r,i'ould ]rave been against an alriance
of Partdyas r,vith the Sinhalese and, therefore, assiiicd the Kalirig:'
his having corne from Eastern

Partlz 6PP6ued to them.

. - Historians are generaliy agr:eed that the marriagt: of nlairincla I\:
GS6-gf z) to_ a Kalinga princess ri'as dictated by political consicleratlons, rn order to secure allies against the threat of the rising Cola
power. And the manSala theory of I{autalya }ras becn invoked, in
;upport of the prevailing r.ieu. that this Iialinga r.vas the n,ell-knoivn
Iand of that narne in India. Rut Kalinga at ihat time tlid not have
a_frontier contiguous u-ith one of the Cola kingclom. There u,as thtt
\/engi kingdom separating the trvo. l'for:eovei, v-e have seen abor-e
that to Sena IV, the immediate predeccssor o{ I,Iahir-rda IV, l(aliiga r,vars
a country different from the I(aliriga of Inclia. It is also.easonable to
assume tliat this matrimonial alliance mnst have been prececlertr by some
hind of political relationship betu,ecn Cieytron ancl thc honic. of the
princess r,vho became the queen of Mahinda I\i" There is rio eviclence

CEYLON AND MAI,A.YASI.{ IN }I]'DIAIIVAL TII{ES

41

r'r'as, of course, a
lr,tt thc cir.pital ancl' turneil tou,ards llaiayn l.tt'* There
Cevlon, and
if ,f .i:..,,'r"i,:1 , n.,nely the cr.rttr:rInro,tnIai'tous region,.in
iti,,"',rrir q"oi"Irt,i""tilesigrlati.rrr occrll': in the chronicle' it is rrsualll'
it."t ..,"r t oj ttie trtu"a itself rl.liich is meant. llut the subsequerrt couf,se
,,i*tl-r"**";;;"lir,-e in tl'e chronicle n'ould inclicate that it \\'as not the
,i"l,'-rl" ,l"qiorr ,.,f lhe Islanrl. Lrrrt thc 14alay Peninsul:1, xhat. rva<
l,'.'',,;1"
For, afrt'r'he ]La'1 lcIL
L as:l rt'[rige irr
"fi,r'S"tto
'd't'i'sii1"aplacccalted"',t,alrgaheardoi.at
ii'rr.xt
lre
,, ,:.ni,"1,^\'rrru.-dhapnia,

,ri'almrrL;.ha'rrlriclt tieigei'trattsl:trt's r.s'tllu cnnllttottcc ol tnc i\\"

identilies rvith-'the poi't of j*nciio' of the l'{ahavdli--gairgl
,'i'i,i,'

-a

ancl
,,,,.i- Ar#rrrr-gailga'.1ije There-Sena Ii set up miiitlrl' guards,
'
n
orrlrl
'
Gaiiga-t1r-aya-mukha
expressiori
The
,, r,oit.a cler.ei-opfrents.
l,. fr.tt"rrlerlcld.ed as'the tno niouths of the Gangi' or'the mt-'uths of
the
,1,- i.* t,.rrgaui, rr..l may b. taken as denoti'g ihe.a.ea bet*een
be easih'
c-ould
ri
hich
dclta,
the
i.e.
Mahaviili-gar1ga,
tLe
irro"lfr"r"of
i,,.
,li:{cnc1ec1

ancl, in the event of

i niat defeat, had ports rvithin

or near it

li.r,.ri.it l.nSenaI ancLhisfollou-ers coulcl takeship and goabroad' Even

,il,ru iot." tith Geiger that the expression means the confluence of the
out of tle way for\irtrraviili-gar-rgn.ttd the Arirban-gaiga, it rvas. quite
-country'
.,"o itottlitg irom Anuraclhapuia to the hill
-If Sena I's
LtLlention rvis to find refuge in the mountains of Ceyion, there rvas no
if his
Ir,..ccl for him to have gone"in this clirection. on the other- hand,
rvas his
this
Peilinsula,
l,Ia.lay
go
tire
to
ieyton
and
to
leave
r,i
as
,,l.,,-p"r"
,,i',ioos route to Trincomalee oraome other port in the area'

once Sena I had succeeclecl in entr-enching himself in tiris area,

tiie Pdlc,lya king rvas not eager.to. continue hostilities. He took

for .any political relationship betu'een C-.evlon ancl Kaiiriea or \,-engi

cluring this period. On the other hand, therc is eviclence for suiir
relationship betrveen this Island and the greatest among the lfalarr
kinqdom.s of that time. I'Ias'ucli, the Arair geographer rrlho u'rote in
!i43 e.c., incluiles Siranclib (Cedon) amongst the posses-.ions of tht:
Maharaja of Zabag.tt:I \lrhat exact],r' is meani ity l as:udi is not certain,
for ttrrere is no evidence from other sources to indicate that the king ot
this Island at that tirne in any \vav acknorvleclged the Nlalav ernpe'roi as
suzerain. If there was some sort of political alliance betrvcen the trvo
states, it might have appearecl to a foreign observer irnpressecl rvith
the superior might of Zabag that the smaiier kingdonr rvaJa possession

oliening peace ne!otiations, tor''trrich Sena I respondsd.r;o

tniJionce.n of t1_e Pandya to end hostilities was to
probeibitlty,
In iLll
Malal'
lo,.r,".Jt the Siniialese king being driven to the arms of the
ir,:,tentate, ',vhom he couldicarcei,t'q*yg desired as a.neighbour and a
rlLainpion'of tlie Sinhalese cause. if this interpretation is correct' the
:":inhiese king rnust have been hopeful of a. favourable reception from
the l1alay ruier, and this pres*ppbses previous political rel:Ltions. It
ior the Pand-va to.attack Ceylon rvas
,,r"v.t.rl
"preventbe that the reison
1r:-r
an alliance betu'een the latter and,.Malaya, for the
ii,.rstilities enclecl rvith a treaty betr,een the South Indian potentate and

. If the exact signi{icance

in connection

riirposite coast of the Bay of l]erigal continucd, {espltg theshock of the

ini.-ormed by the chronicle of Nan-chao"lii
li;Lirclya i.vasion. For, .i'e

of the bigger of the allied po\\:ers.

certain detail given tnthe CtLlai:ayina

rvith the Pandva invasion in the reign of Sena I (833-853)
be properiy undcrstoocl, there appears to have been politicat'reiitions
bctu'een (-leylon and tlie l{alay Peninsula. at that time. \\rhen his
armies r.r'ere routed by the invarling Prindya hosts, Sena I is said to have

r66.

ol

,a

Jn.4SCB, XXXI, (No. 8u ), pp. 384ff.

G. Iierrand llelation,s de Voya.ges et Textes Gecgraplriques -4yabes, Peysans
ct Tuvhs re[.atifs a!'Extyente Oyient du, VIIIe au. XVIII. Si,ecles, rgr3,I, p.g:.

a67.

iii-i"iil"ii.*in

the Sinhalese monarch.

"Ihe intcrest of the Sintrralese of this periocl

in the lands on the

"t"

r68. cftlauaritsa, chap- 5o, v. rg. The expr-ession here used is Malal'dbltiwtthhn
jrlio ' went headed tor'r'ards l\{alaya
169. Cflauahsa. chao. 5o, v. 37." Geiger's translation, pt' i, p' r4r'
1Zo. trbid., vv.

17r.

3811.

Quoted by Colonel G. E. Gerini, inbis Researches on Ptolemy's Geography

o,[ Eastertz Asia, p,75o.

42

JGITRNAL, n.A.s. (CEYLON)

I'ol. VIL

(-v"eru Serzies),

l9J!)

(Thai state in modern.yur-narl in china) that a iiing

of this raricr

sent
a general to rendcr mil.itary assista'cu ro ih" py' r.1,,!,i,,ri
oi F]r*. i,,
Lower Ilu'na, rvhich hacl been invadecr r""..i ti-d
rry th; ii;h;i"r"
before.858, and had appeaiecl to hirn fo, n"1p.
To uniertake .ur,".or

expeditions agaiust Lo,r"^"r Burma, the SinhaLse of this

tirne rnust have
had considerable naval forces at tneir a;sposar. There
i,

us to ascertaiu the att ir rrdc

"" *iri"i,
"r.""r'r",.
er'rrpir"
sii i i;^v.i
*..
llc ltatay
'rt the heiglrt of its power at9f this
"r
time]to'ii" sin}rorcse
inte^-ention
irr
.r land close to its borciers.
trt rvill thus be seen that poritical relations
with ihe Marav perinsuta rvere not a new. aevetopmeni *;t*'F"i;;;...,
oii"tl "i1",
tle t'11i"rt
p.iiti"l"aba'u
thc
clcmiie
I
and
t]re acc.ssion
i.l tne sccon'l
cI
"r thc must irnpur.tant,ingtn-"i..to,'etween
kinc of that narnc,
ri'hicli decicied the io*rse of events in ceylon was its
ki'gdorn in the l\falay Fcninsuta (as-*e "iruy ,roruconnection u,ith a.
conficle'tly take
i.,eeniand, it perioJis.ti""'l. rpcess.rry fur.rhe
urrcler_
{:l';fl:,",J,a'e
sr:ulorng ul nlstorv" we rnay call this the
Malay period of Ccy-lon
Histor.y.