fg CEYLON BRANCH—ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



did in the year Kaliyugam 3101, or B. C. 10 h* This Prince 

 was crippled in one of his arms; hence he was surnamed Koo- 

 langai ChakravartL Having fixed his residence at Nalloor, J ( 

 he built there a palace with a temple to the god Kyldsa Na~ 

 ther, £ whom he worshipped, and being a Prince of great energy 

 and talent soon found means to extend his dominion over the 

 adjacent parts of the country, called Wanny, as well as over 

 the island of Manaar, J J and the mainland of Mantotta, which till 

 then had been under the Singhalese. He also introduced fresh 

 settlers from the Continent, fortified all his frontiers, and sta-? 

 tioned wardens and watchers in, different parts of the kingdom 

 to protect it from invasion. Some think that it was during his, 

 Government that the Giant's Tank, which once irrigated immense 

 paddy lands in the Mantotta district, was formed, but this re-* 

 quires confirmation. He is stated to have had a long reign, the 

 exact period of its close is, however, not known \ nor do we 

 possess any information even as to the names of the princess 



p. 12, favours this opinion. Speaking of the ancient town of Man- 

 totta, he says " it was the capital of a kingdom founded by the Br&h- 

 mans, who had possession of almost all the northern parts of Cey- 

 lon, including Jaffnapatam. ,, The Kyldsa Maid, however, asserts 

 that he was of the race of Pandya, and the fact of his having 

 set out from Madura, the seat of the Pandyan Kings, very much 

 strengthens the assertion. 



* This nearly accords with the date assigned by Mr. Turnout in 

 his Epitome of the History of Ceylon to the invasion of the island 

 by seven Tamils, who landed at MahatiUha (Mantotta) with a great 

 army, waged war against the Singhalese King Walagambahu 1st, 

 and compelled him to take refuse in the mountains. See Ceylon 

 Almanac for 1833, p. 228. Mahawanso. Chap, xxxiii, p. 203. 

 ■t Nalloor, or as it is more usually but erroneously called Nellore, 

 is situated within a few miles of the fort of Jaffnapatam, and forms 

 at present the head-quarters of the Church of England Missionaries 

 in the district. Adjoining the Mission premises are pointed out the 

 site of the palace of the Tamil Kings, of which there are however 

 scarcely any traces now remaining. % Kylasa Nather, a title of Siva, 

 implying "the lord of the Elysium." Baldeus and other Euro- 

 pean writers derive the name Manaar from the Tamil words man, 

 sand and aar, a river. They have, however, been misled by the 

 mere euphony of these words, and have neglected the true ortho* 



