74 CEYLON BRANCH—ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY* 



About the commencement of the fourteenth century, the throne of 

 Jaffna was filled by Ariya Chakrawarti, who, as his name imports, 

 was in all probability a descendant of Singha Ariya. The Singhalese 

 writers represent him to have been a vassal of Kulasekhara 

 Pandyan, King of Madura, but he was only his ally and it 

 was in that character that he commanded the army, which the 

 latter sent over to Ceylon, and which fought against the Singha- 

 lese monarch Bhuwaneka-JBahu 1st, took his capital Yapahoo, 

 and carried off the Dalada-relic, * His successor's name has 

 not transpired ; but we find a Prince of the same name ruled 

 over Jaffna about A„ D. 1371. He also carried on hostilities 

 against the Singhalese, and was so far successful that he sub- 

 dued the whole of the west coast, threw up fortifications at Co- 

 lombo, Negombo and Chilaw, and continued to collect tribute 

 from both the high and low countries, and likewise from the nine 

 ports, "J- It was his court ¥;hich Ibn Batuta, the Arabian Tra- 

 veller visited, and whom he found possessed of "considerable 

 forces by sea, " and also plenty of riches, amongst which is 

 particularly mentioned " a saucer made of a ruby, as large as 

 the palm of the hand, on which he kept oil of aloes. " J 



Sri Wira Prakrama-Bahu, who ascended the throne of Cotta 

 in A. D. 1410, is said to have again reduced Jaffna under the 

 Singhalese yoke, deposed Ariya Chakrawarti and made one 

 of his sons, named Sapumal Kumar a, King over it and the 

 particulars of this event will be found in the following extract 

 from the Rajavalli: "The King thought within himself that 



who headed it was a Risha, or mendicant, while Fre Paulino 

 supposes he was a Raja; my opinion, however, is that he 

 was only an Aratchy, an officer of the Police in the Tamil regime, 

 and we have an instance at a later period of a similar functionary 

 having been dispatched by the King Bhuwaneka-Bahu 7th as Am- 

 bassador to the Court of Lisbon. See Ceylon Almanac for 1833, 

 g>. 261. 



* Ceylon Almanac for 1833, p. 259. t Upham's Sacred and His- 

 torical Books of Ceylon, vol, ii, p. 264. $ Lejs's Travels of Ibw 

 Batuta, 



