HISTORY 3.1 Pre-History and the Aryan and Dravidian Colonisations
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CHAPTER THREE HISTORY 3.1 Pre-History and the Aryan and Dravidian Colonisations In the Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle, the time before the arrival of the fi rst Aryan settlers is not described in detail. The chronicle refers to the island being inhabited by spirits and nagas—snakes or snake demons. It is assumed that this is the Aryans’ mythical conception of an indigenous population of hunters and gatherers. This indigenous population was fi rst challenged by the arrival of the fi rst Aryan settlers from North India. In the fi fth century BC these Aryan settlers started to occupy parts of the island. They either pushed back the aboriginal inhabitants into the interior of the island or, at times, mixed with them. The Aryans were organised in clans. The Sinhalas, the most powerful clan, settled in the northern Dry Zone and introduced the cultivation of rice and the use of iron to the island. From intermar- riages of the Aryans with the aboriginal people of Ceylon and with immigrants of South Indian Dravidian stock sprang the Sinhalese as an ethnic group. A regular supply of water was crucial for survival in the Dry Zone. Rainfall was not reliable and provided the settlers with only a single crop per year. Thus, the settlers started to develop considerable skills in the construction of irrigation works. At fi rst, these works aimed at the conservation and storage of surplus water for the dry season, later the settlers also constructed works for the equal distribution of water in the region. The fi rst large scale tank for the storage of water was constructed near the village of Anuradhagama which was later chosen as the capital of the region—under the name of Anuradhapura. It is likely that the Aryans originally brought with them some form of Brahmanism. But in the third century BC King Devanampiya Tissa converted to Buddhism inspired by the legendary Mahinda—allegedly a son (or brother) of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. According to the Mahavamsa—written by Buddhist monks or bikkhus—Sri Lanka has been a stronghold of Buddhism ever since. Only a few centuries after wenzlhuemer_f4_18-31 NEW.indd 19 11/22/2007 10:26:18 AM 20 chapter three the immigration of the Aryan clans from North India, the fi rst Tamil settlers (Dravidians from South India) arrived in Ceylon. Although it is assumed that the Aryans have maintained trade relations with the Dravidian settlements in South India since the third century BC, it has so far not been possible to fi x the exact time of the Tamils’ arrival in Ceylon. However, by the second century BC, the Dravidians were infl uential enough to usurp power at Anuradhapura twice—fi rst from 177 to 155 BC and later again under Elara from 145 to 101 BC. In his work “A History of Sri Lanka”, K. M. De Silva states that these attempts of the Tamils to control the throne in Anuradhapura were probably economically motivated and aimed at the domination of the trade relations between Ceylon and South India.1 De Silva also points out that in this early phase of Sri Lankan history ethnicity has not been a point of division in society. [. .] Sri Lanka in the fi rst few centuries after the Aryan settlement was a multi-ethnic society (a conception which emphasises harmony and a spirit of live and let live) rather than a plural society (in which tension between ethnic or other distinctive groups is a main feature).2 Elara’s reign at Anuradhapura ended with the conquest of Dut- thagamani, king of Magama, who was not only able to regain the throne at Anuradhapura, but who eventually extended the Anurad- hapura kingdom over the whole island. The unifi cation of the island under Dutthagamani marks an important point in Ceylon’s history: the establishment of a centrally reigned and powerful state as an organisational unit. Or in De Silva’s words: “It was, in fact, the fi rst signifi cant success of centripetalism over centrifugalism in the island’s history.”3 3.2 The Anuradhapura Period From Dutthagamani’s conquest to the invasion of the Cholas in the tenth century, the kings of Anuradhapura ruled Ceylon for a thousand 1 Kingsley M. De Silva, A History of Sri Lanka (London; Berkeley: C. Hurst; Uni- versity of California Press, 1981), 12. 2 Ibid., 13. 3 Ibid., 16. wenzlhuemer_f4_18-31 NEW.indd 20 11/22/2007 10:26:18 AM.