898 THE SINGHALESE CHKOXICLES. [PART III. 



and intermarriages had been all along encouraged 1 , 

 and even during the recent usurpation, many Singha- 

 lese families of rank had formed connections with the 

 Damilos. The schisms among the Buddhist themselves, 

 tending as they did to engraft Brahmanical rites 

 upon the doctrines of the purer faith, seem to have 

 promoted and matured the intimacy between the two 

 people ; some of the Singhalese kings erected temples 

 to the gods of the Hindus 2 , and the promoters of the 

 Wytulian heresy found a refuge from persecution 

 amongst their sympathisers in the Dekkan. 3 



The Malabars, trained to arms, now resorted in such 

 numbers to Ceylon, that the leaders in civil commotions 

 were accustomed to hire them in bands to act against 

 the royal forces 4 ; and whilst no precautions were 

 adopted to check the landing of marauders on the 

 coast, the invaders constructed forts throughout the 

 country to protect their conquests from recapture by 

 the Singhalese. Proud of these successful expeditions, the 

 native records of the Chola kings make mention of their 

 victories ; and in one of their grants of land, engraved 

 on copper, and still in existence, Viradeva-Chola, the 

 sovereign by whom it was made, is described as having 

 triumphed over "Madura, Izharn, Caruvar, and the 

 crowned head of Pandya ;" Izham, (or Ham) being 

 the Tamil name of Ceylon. 5 On their expulsion by 

 Dhatu Sena, he took possession of the fortresses and 

 extirpated the Damilos ; degraded the Singhalese who 

 had intermarried with them ; confiscated their estates 

 in favour of those who remained true to his cause ; 



1 Anula, the queen of Ceylon, A D. 

 47, met with no opposition in raising 

 one of her Malabar husbands to the 

 throne. TTJR:N T OUR'S Epitome, p. 19. 

 Sotthi Sena, who reigned A.D. 432, 

 had a Darailo queen. Mahawanso, 



a supporter of the religion of Buddha, 

 and a friend of the people." Raja- 

 ratnacari, p. 78. 



3 Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 234; 

 TURNOTJR'S Epitome, p. 25. 



4 Mahawanso, ch. xxxvi. p. 228. 



ch. xxxviii. p. 253. 5 DOWSON, On the Chera Kingdom 



2 SriSangaBoIII.A.D. 702, "made I of India. Asiat. Journ. vol. viii. p. 

 a figure of the God Vishnu; and was I 24. 



