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Aboriginal People Pali chronicles the Dipavamsa and...

Aboriginal People

Pali chronicles the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa speak about four tribes that lived in Sri Lanka when Vijaya arrived 2553 years ago (543 BC). The tribes were: Yakkha, Naga, Deva and Raksasa. Of these the Ramayana mentions the Raksasa and Deva tribes. They lived in the central part of Sri Lanka. According to the Ramayana they governed Sri Lanka 4380 years ago.

A statue of Ravana in Madurai’s Meenakshi temple.

Statue of Ravana in Madurai Meenadchi Amman Temple

Ramayana speaks about the Raksasa kingdom of Sri Lanka and its capital Lankapura, which it describes as a well-planned and prosperous city. Ramayana says that the people who lived in it were highly civilized.

Ramayana adds that the Raksasa kingdom situated in the central highlands of Sri Lanka was established by Kubera. His step- brother Ravana later took it over.Ramayana narrates the story of the abduction of Rama’s wife Sita by Ravana and her rescue by Rama in detail because it forms the core of the tale. It speaks about the construction of a land bridge, Ram Palam (Adam’s Bridge), by Hanuman between Rameswaram and Mannar which enabled Rama and his army to cross over to Sri Lanka.

Ramayana depicts Ravana as a devote Hindu who worshiped Siva, a great scholar, a capable ruler, a maestro of the Veena, author of books on medicine and astrology and an expert in many arts and a skilled military strategist. The Indian epic extols the beauty of Lankapura and its administrative structure.

Ravana is depicted as a person with ten heads. Various explanations have been offered by scholars. The common explanation says that he possessed the strength of ten persons. Another was that he possessed thorough knowledge of the four Vedas and six Upanishads.

The Sinhala historical tradition, Ravana Vamsa Valiya, traces the history of Sri Lanka from Ravana. Some books and several articles were written by Sinhala scholars and historians in recent times in support of that claim.

Several scholars have located the names of the places mentioned in Ramayana. Sirancee Gunawardene has identified the various places where Ravana held Sita during the period of captivity. He first held her inside Ravana Kite on the Southeastern coast. Then he took her to Sita Elisa. When Rama’s army advanced he took her to Ravana Ella cave which is about ten kilometers from Bandarawela. Several other places mentioned in the Ramayana have also been identified. Some scholars use the identification of the places to argue that theRamayana story is based on an actual event.

Ramayana also contains reference to Nagas. Rama while sending Hanuman to Sri Lanka to search for Sita told him look for her in the capital of the Naga kingdom. The northern Naga kingdom was then under Ravana’s rule.

After Ravana’s defeat no information is available about the Raksasa tribe. They would have been subjugated by the Deva tribe which also lived during the same period and in the same region. Mahavamsa refers to the Devas in connection with their meeting with Buddha and conversion to Buddhism. It says that Sumana Saman, a leader of the Deva tribe came out of the central hills and met Buddha at Mahiyangana. Buddha gave him a few hairs from his head which were placed in a golden urn and enshrined in a sapphire stupa. Devas are believed to be the guardians of the mountain named Adams Peak.

Yakkhas and Nagas were the two tribes that lived in Sri Lanka when Vijaya and his followers landed in Sri Lanka. Yakkha people lived in the southern and central parts of Sri Lanka while Nagas occupied the western and northern portions of the country. Yakkhas lived from about 8000 years to 5000 years before the present.

The Yakkha had great skill in the construction of irrigation tanks. They were also great iron craftsmen and their smiths sold steel to the Arabian countries for sword making. They worshipped the sun and celebrated the annual New Year festival.

Mahabharata, the second oldest Indian epic, has a reference to the Naga tribe that ruled the northern part of Sri Lanka. In its account of Arjuna’s pilgrimage to the southern shrines and holy waters he crossed over to Sri Lanka to take a bath at Keerimalai and worshiped at one of the ancient Saiva temple Naguleswaram. He married a Naga princes. Mahabharata mentions Nagas as a highly civilized people living in India and Sri Lanka.

Mahavamsa refers to the Naga chieftaincies of Kalyani and Nagadeepa. Kalyani was situated in western Sri Lanka on the banks of Kelani river and Nagadeepa in the north, an island off the Jaffna peninsula. Possibly, other Naga chieftaincies existed along the northwestern coast between Puttalam and Nagadeepa. Archaeological finds of Poonari suggests it. Archaeologists have determined the area north of Aruvi Aru (Malwattu Oya) as Naga territory.

The Nagas were a prominent race in India and their names are still extant in various parts. Some countries in South East Asia, especially Cambodia, claim Naga origin. Whatever their origin, Rasanayagam says, a Naga kingdom did flourish in the north of the island from 8000 years to 1700 years before the present (300AD).

Ptolemy, the famous Greek geographer and astronomer who lived between 85 AD and 165 AD and travelled around the world refers to Naga kingdoms on the Coromandel coast and points out the place-names, Nagoor and Nagapatinam, in support. The fact that EIA settlements of Tamil Nadu and the northern Sri Lanka which bear similarities show that the early settlers of the north were Naga people.

The Nagas were good sea traders and Ptolemy observed that one of the oldest seaports of the Island was in the Northern part of the Jaffna Peninsula. They worshiped serpents, which is in the icon of Lord Siva. Hindu sculptures depict Siva wearing a serpent around his neck.

The occurrence of a large amount of personal names with the element Naga in the earliest cave inscriptions indicates their presence in different parts of the country. Names of six of the ten kings who ruled Anuradhapura between 135 AD and 248 AD, a period of 113 years have Naga in their names.