CHAP. XII.] FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. 



413 



at Mahagam 1 , and thence to Jaffnapatam, every pro- A.D. 

 vince in the island was brought under subjection to their 1211 - 

 rule. 



The peninsula of Jaffna and the extremity of the island 

 north of Adam's Bridge, owing to its proximity to the 

 Indian coast, was at all times the district most infested 

 by the Malabars. Jambukola, the modern Colombogam, 

 is the port which is rendered memorable in the Maha- 

 icanso by the departure of embassies and the arrival of 

 relics from the Buddhist countries, and Mantotte, to the 

 north of Manaar, was the landing place of the innumer- 

 able expeditions which sailed from Chola and Pandya for 

 the subjugation of Ceylon. 



The Tamils have a tradition that, prior to the Christian 

 era, Jaffna was colonised by Malabars, and that a Cholian 

 prince assumed the government, A.D. 101, a date which 

 corresponds closely with the second Malabar invasion 

 recorded in the Mahawanso. Thence they extended their 

 authority over the adjacent country of the Wanny, as far 

 south as Mantotte and Manaar, " fortified their frontiers 

 and stationed wardens and watchers to protect them- 

 selves from invasion." 2 The successive bands of ma- 

 rauders arriving from the coast had thus on every occasion 

 a base for operations, and a strong force of sympa- 

 thisers to cover their landing ; and from the inability 

 of the Singhalese to offer an effectual resistance, those 

 portions of the island were from a very early period 

 practically abandoned to the Malabars, whose de- 

 scendants at the present day form the great bulk of its 

 population. 



After an interval of twenty years, Wijayo Bahu III., A.D. A.D. 

 1235, collected as many Singhalese followers as enabled 1235> 

 him to recover a portion of the kingdom, and establish 

 himself in Maya, within which he built a capital at Jam- 

 budronha or Dambedenia, about fifty miles north-east of 



1 Rajavali, 257. 



* See a paper on the early History 

 of Jaffna by S. CASIE CHITTY, 



Journal of the Royal Asiat. Society of 

 Ceylon, 1847, p. 68. 



