70 CEYLON BRANCH — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



one of the small islands near Jaffna, dedicated to Ndga Tam* 

 birdn, or the god of the Ndgas, in which worship is offered 

 to serpents to this day.* 



From what has been recorded in the Mahawanso, "j* it 

 would appear, that during the reign of the King Dewemi-* 

 piatisso, which extended from the year B. C. 307 to the year 

 B. C. 267, the present Colombogam, in Jaffna, flourished as 

 a port under the designation of Jambukolo, or Jambukolopattana, 

 and the sacred Bo- branch, which he sent for from the Conti- 

 nent of India, having been landed there, in the year B. C« 

 807, a Wiharo was erected by him on the spot where it was 

 deposited on its debarkation. J In a Singhalese tract, which 

 treats of the transportation of the .go-branch to Ceylon, it is 

 stated, that the King Dewenipiatisso bestowed Trincomalie and 

 Jaffna on Prince Rama, one of the Ambassadors, who escorted 

 the J5o-branch from the Continent ; J J but no allusion being made 

 to it in the Mahawanso, the correctness of the statement may 

 be questioned. 



The account of the colonization of Jaffna by the Tamils is 

 comprised in the Kyldsa Mala, a poem attributed to one of 

 their ancient bards. According to this work, the peninsula of 

 Jaffna was lying a complete wilderness, when a certain princess 

 of Chola, § who having paid homage to the god Shanda in 

 hopes of being relieved from the deformity of a horse's head 

 with which she had the misfortune to be born, was directed by 

 him in a vision to repair thither, and bathe in the well of 

 Keerimalle, near Kangaisentorre. || She did so, and finding her- 



* Ceylon Gazetteer, p. 169.* Turnour's Translation of the Maha- 

 wanso, Chapter xi. p. 69. + Ibid Chap, xviii. p. no. % Ibid Chap, 

 xix. p. 119. f% Upham's Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon, 

 Vol. hi, p. 226. § That part of the South of India, comprising 

 Tanjore, and the country along the river Cdverh. || Kangaisen, 

 or Kangaiyen is another name for Skanda and Torre implies 

 "a port." It is situated about 12 miles north of Jaffnapatnam, and 

 is occasionally resorted to by the European residents of that place 

 for the sake of the sea breeze. There are the remains of a Fort 

 built by the Portuguese. 



