The evolution of Megalithic settlements in
Jaffna saw the birth of a principality in the first century BC. Kantarodai emerged
"as an urbanized central place" which perhaps controlled the other settlements
of :Peninsula not only politically, but economically and culturally as well. It had the
"widest and the richest early settlement" and was "situated in the most
potential agricultural strip of the Peninsula". Ten sites, located mostly along the
sea routes, have been identified as belonging to this phase of development and "many
of these fresh settlements arose without agricultural hinterland" indicating that
these settlements "had become specialized and interdependent in their
activities".
It is during this period just before the
advent of the Christian era that Jaffna became a link in the South Asian and transoceanic
maritime trade Two factors contributed to this development:
I. It was a
common practice to use coastal passages in sea trade routes and the Roman and Indian ships
went through the Gulf of Mannar id the Palk Strait crossing Mantai and Pampan to go from
the western t of India to its eastern coast.
II. The Gulf
of Mannar-Palk Strait route was also famous for its and conch shell diving.
Emissaries of Sri Lanka went to Rome in the
reign of Emperor Claudis (40-54 A.D.). According to Pliny, a freedman of Annius Placamus,
while sailing round Arabia, was caught by a storm and landed in Ceylon at the port of
Hippuros. He was taken to the king with whom stayed for six months. The king thereafter
sent an embassy to Rome. The name of the ambassador-in- chief appears to be Rachias
(perhaps Rasiah) and, in the view of J.E.Tennent, he was a representative of the Raja of
Jaffna.
It was during this phase that Buddhism became
"an integral part the heritage of Jaffna". There are many places in the Jaffna
Peninsula whose names are connected with Buddhist viharas.
The Buddhist remains at Kantarodai, perhaps burial monuments of monks, are found in a
group at a specific area with this distinctive feature: the architectural use of coral and
limestone. It is interesting to note that the "limestone and coral architectural
tradition of Jaffna in fact started with the Buddhist monuments and flourished for nearly
two millennia till the advent of concrete".
According to some, the ambassadors of
Buddhism sent by Emperor Asoka landed in the Peninsula.
Buddhism, together with Prakrti, the language
of Buddhism that helped to form a homogeneous population in the rest of Sri Lanka, failed
to establish a permanent foothold in Jaffna. To be sure, it was able to cohabit or
syncretise with the folk - religion (Hinduism) of Jaffna. However, perhaps at the end of
the first millennium AD, many settlements with their Buddhist structures were abandoned.
Buddhism was unable
to survive in Jaffna perhaps for two reasons:
1. The
"sympathies of the people of the North with the old religion [Hinduism] outlived the
reformation [Buddhism] brought to the land", and
2. The
people of Jaffna were " in constant communion with their brethren in South
India",
Interestingly Pali chronicles which narrate
events prior to sixth century A. D. are "virtually silent about the Peninsula except
for certain rare remarks and treat it almost an alien land".
The dark ages of the Jaffna Peninsula may be
said to begin soon after the early centuries of the Christian era. At a time when other
regional powers were consolidating their position, developing their identity and aspiring
to imperialistic dominance, Jaffna underwent "economic and cultural
subordination". It is perhaps significant that no mention is made of Jaffna in the
massive bhakti literature of the Tamils of South India.
It is speculated that
the following factors contributed to the fate that befell Jaffna:
i. Jaffna
could not cope with new developments such as planned deforestation and construction of
dams and reservoirs to serve a hydraulic-based economy as was happening in the dry zone of
Sri Lanka.
ii. There
was a decline in the Roman trade and the ensuing Arab-Chinese trade made use of the port
of Mantai which was situated more than sixty miles from Jaffna,
iii. The
Anuradhapura hegemony had become a reality.
According to Sinhalese sources, six Tamil
rulers seized power in the fifth century extended the authority to the southern most part
of the Island and remained in control for twenty six years.
In this period a movement from the coastal
area of the Peninsula to the eastern part of the Island may also be observed.
The Sinhalese chronicle Mahavamsa
records that at the death of king Aggrabodhi in 781 AD, certain chiefs of the northern
territory with its people seized the land by force and refused tribute to the king. Though
this revolt was crushed by the successor of Aggrabodhi, this event says much about the
politically fluid situation prevailing in the country. Tradition preserved by the
Portuguese chronicler De Queyroz regarding a form of government by Vidanes,
Aratchis and Mudaliyars in Jaffna may
also be a pointer to this state of affairs in this period.
According to Yazhppana Vaipavamalai,
it was in the eighth century that Ugrasinghan, a prince of the dynasty of the legendary
Vijaya, coming with an army from India, descended upon Sri Lanka and captured one half of
the Island. He established his capital first at Katiramalai, known now as Kantarodai, and
then shifted it to Singhai Nagar, a town on the eastern coast of the Jaffna Peninsula.
Though the story of Ugrasinghan has generally been rejected by scholars," some are of
the view that this story is "based on a historical fact", namely that
Ugrasinghan has been confused with Manavamma who was helped by the Pallava King
Narasinghavarman.
