JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XII. 



territory of the Cholians, without concluding that there were 

 Tamil settlements, however small, in the Ruhuna territory, 

 irrespective of Cholian invasions, for strong men from the 

 Chola and Pandu countries are also said to have been enlisted 

 in the last battle in which the chieftain Chandabhanu, who 

 had enlisted Malays to fight on his side, was defeated by 

 Vijaya Bahu. 



There can, therefore, be no doubt that other races had some 

 sort of settlement in Ceylon distinctively from what may have 

 come to be considered as Sinhalese. In addition to the fact 

 that Makkhakudrusa, when he had overcome the Cholians, had 

 fixed his abode at Kataragama, we can connect the anciently 

 remote fact that the Shanars claim for one of their race 

 Mahodana, the prime minister of Ravana. Dr. Caldwell 

 writes that in a village in his neighbourhood, in Tinnevelly, 

 the Shanars have converted Rama, the hero-god of the Hindus, 

 into a demon ! And note the annual Kataragama pilgrimages 

 now put under police control in consequence of the epidemics 

 that used to break out. Whatever the prevention, the Nattu- 

 cotta Chetties and others of the tribe of Shanars strive to do 

 honour to the pilgrims on their way to the distant hills of 

 Ravana. Along all the coast territory, particularly that which 

 falls within the limits of the ancient kingdom of Ruhuna, 

 there are customs common to the Shanars and those who are 

 now distinctive Sinhalese. 



Dr. Caldwell and all other writers who have practically 

 studied the subject have pointed out that the term " Hin- 

 duism," like the geographical term India, is a European 

 generalisation. Perhaps the most striking illustration of 

 this is to classify the religious belief and practices of the 

 Shanars as a part of the Hindu religion, to which they are 

 entirely foreign. Demon-worship and devil-dancing are not 

 known to Hindu races or their religion. In his Paper (pub- 

 lished as part of a periodical by the Society for Promoting 

 Christian Knowledge, 1850) Dr. Caldwell emphasises the 

 fact that in describing the positive portion of the religion of 

 the Shanars as devil-worship, the word "devil" is not only 



