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Alternative History of Jaffna

Jaffna is apart of Northern Sri Lanka. The word Jaffna a word derived from Yapanaya by Portuguese, had such name came into been. One of the biggest and highly controversial issues concerning this district is, that was it ever a separate kingdom or a Tamil kingdom. The Northern Province which has Jaffna district is but creation by the Colonial British two centuries ago, to assist their administration[1].

The main source for this bogus ‘kingdom’ is the Yalapana Vaipava Malai written in 1736 at the request of the Dutch governor. Pathmanathan says that this document is defective in chronology and genealogy. No specific contributions any king is recorded in it. Of the ten kings who are said to have ruled till 1450, only 4 are known in sources other than in Yalpana Vaipava Malai.

Evidences

With the establishment of archeology in Ceylon in late 1880's by H.C.P Bell[2]. It can be said that all parts of this isle have been scrutinized as much as Egypt or Greece. With more than 100years of archeology, yet NO proof of either a Tamil Kingdom nor the existence of Tamil populations in the North or East of Lanka. In fact the oldest Tamil inscription found in Jaffna, was in Nagadipa by the Sinhala king Parakramabahu Raja, regarding ship wrecks and taxes on Urathota(Kayts). According to Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala, the editor of this inscription and the Professor of History of the University of Jaffna, "the fact that this edict was issued not by any subordinate official, but by the king himself shows that the monarch was in supreme control of the northern most region of the island".

The most accepted by all historians work is the eye witness accounts written down by the Portuguese Friar De Queyroz, the English translation of which has been confirmed as accurate by the British Civil Servant W.Codrington.

However, the available historic evidences are not supportive of the above list of rulers. “Yapa Patuna”, or the “Port of Yapanaya” (Port of Jaffna) in the extreme north of the country had been recorded as a port used by the Sinhala kings for thousands of years to conduct business with the countries located north of Sri Lanka, along with the other two prominent ports, namely, Mathota (Mannar) in north-west and Gokanna (Trincomalee) in north-east.

De Queyroz states that their are no populations in Jaffna and so no agriculture, only a small population is found at Nallur. Until 1450, the Jaffna port area had been governed by the Vidanas and Mudalis (subordinate lower officers) of the Sinhala kings. Some of these officers who later became powerful ignored the authority of Kotte Kingdom, and attempted to establish a separate rule over Jaffna. Subsequent to this unrest in the area, prince Sapumal, an adopted son and a general of King Parakramabahu VI of Kotte, conquered the entire Northern region in 1447-1450 and was later appointed by Kotte as the governor of the Jaffna region. Later, once Prince Sapumal ascended to the throne of Kotte as King Buvanekabahu VI, he appointed Arya Chkrawathi a nobleman of Gujarat origin as the ruler of Jaffna C1468-70.

• 
  List of rulers from Portuguese records.

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                                      Special notes

• Rajavaliya states that King Sri Parakrama Bahu of Kotte (father to Prince Sapumal), had in fact ruled over seven villages called "Makudam Kotta" in Soli country (Tamil Nadu).

• The Portuguese state quite clearly that Jaffna was under the rule of King Rajasinhe I - 1593.

• Also it is of interest, that when Sankili and Portuguese signed a peace treaty, this was written in Portuguese and Sinhala.

• The Dutch National Archives also state that the boundary between their of Jaffna and the Sinhala Kings, was Alimankada(Elephant Pass)[3].

• The most famous of all these Jaffna rulers, is considered as Sankili. The Portuguese, who gives the accurate historical account of this period, state that his wife was a Buddhist. Could she have been a Sinhala?

• The emblem of the royal house of Jaffna was a lion, which is certainly not a Dravidian symbol but of a Sinhalese.

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Sankili

After the massacre of the Christians by Sankili. It would seem that the Portuguese declared war on him.

De Queyroz states, Sankili also sent a Sinhala messenger to Portuguese making them aware that all ports are well fortified and that they the Portuguese would have to be foolish to try anything. This led to the Sinhala messenger been arrested. Just to check on the accuracy of the message, two saliors Pero Travacos and Braz de Couto were sent to check out the defenses, it is said they have landed at Nallur using a Malayalam Dyonie (type of a boat). It is interesting to note that, when they landed they were arrested by a Sinhala army.

Cankili then had sent word to Portuguese, warning them that these two captives would be killed if his Sinhala messenger was harmed. After war had breakout and Cankili father's the King, stayed in the palace. His father not listening decides to leave in morning. It is said that his palace retinue consisted of Sinhala,Vellala and Moors.

When the Portuguese attacked the palace the next day, it was empty except for 12 Sinhala advisers who were found beheaded for advising to surrender to the Portuguese.

Also with the Kings escape it is said that his Sinhala commander known as Urasinhe, left him and joined the Portuguese.

In 1634, after Cankili was captured and sent to Goa, his nephew Migapule Arache, whose christian name was D. Luis, escaped with two princesses to Mannar. From here he escapes with the Princesses to Tanjore for assistance in retaking Jaffna. After gaining support, he left Mannar for Kandy, while leaving the two Princesses with Nayque of Tanjore. The King of Kandy agrees to help and the two princesses left in Tanjour arrive in Kandy in 1626. After this, Migapule returns back to Jaffna. Where he is captured and last record states he was put in shackles and given to the church.

This did not end the plot though, in 1627 the King of Kandy wanted the Portuguese ousted and with knowledge of reinforcements arriving from Tanjore, a Sinhala officer named Attapattu leading an army of 10,000 from the Kandy, was sent to deal the blow against the Portuguese but this failed and he was caught and beheaded.

The Portuguese enter Jaffna as not just an invader but as its conqueror, they are welcomed by the many hundreds of Sinhala all along Broad Street.

Architecture

The monuments that are found in Jaffna can classed into several groups:

• The Pre-Christian Sinhala Buddhist Monuments
• The Post-Christian Sinhala Buddhist Monuments
• The Post-Kalinga Magha era.

The Sinhala Buddhist monuments are made up of more than three hundred [4]Buddhist monuments. These cover the entire district of Jaffna and include highly important places as Nagadipa and Katurodagoda Vihara.

The post Kalinga era, today only consists of the Raja Mantri Maligaya, the name itself suggests its the palace of a sub-ordinate rather than a king. The Ceylon Archeology dept, confirms the age of this monument as been around the 1450 and tributes its construction to Sapumal of Kotte. The archeology dept has taken great care in preserving the monument plus the great pond which lie's within it.

Sapumal is in fact given the credit for the building town of Jaffna plus the famous Nallur temple. Although the original temple was destroyed by the Portuguese on the 2nd Feb, 1625. If one is too visit the famous Kandhaswami Kovil, you can hear daily prayers to none other the Sapumal of Kotte under the name of Buvaneka bahu VI.

Modern history

The Tamils of today’s Jaffna are almost all who arrived during the British era. The "Colebrook Commission 1833" states clearly the need to settle Tamil in uninhibited areas to create an exclusive Tamil region. As Jaffna fit that bill, they settled thousands of Tamils brought over for rail and road construction work in that region. As a result, in Jaffna where there was no settled population at all in 1833, appeared a Tamil population of nearly 262,000 by 1881.

The "Colebrook Commission of 1833" state clearly that there are NO settled communities in the Jaffna peninsular but a migrant one. They have their homes in India but come over to do fishing and then go back to India.

This colonization of Jaffna peninsula of the Tamils by the British indicates how a large Tamil community appeared in Jaffna. In the Eastern province the story was slightly different. Emerson Tennent in 1840 wrote letters to the Colonial Office London stating that from Kandy to Trincomalee all people have been gotten rid off and that the East has no Tamil communities and can be ready for settlements, as was done in Jaffna. Clearly this statement indicates the settlement of Tamil's into Jaffna at earlier time.

The reason behind the settlement of Tamil's in the East is stated as to have them as "a check community".

The Tamil people are here to watch and keep a look out on actions of the Sinhalese people!!

You would note that in the Uva and Matale uprisings it was the Tamil community that stood with the British and killed Sinhalese people.