No. 43. — 1892.] ETHNOLOGY OF CEYLON. 



247 



This invader routed the king and his army, but was 

 evidently overcome by numbers, the king Vikrama Bahu 

 having " sent his great hosts after him." 



I must now close this part of the inquiry, showing 

 that a Tamil element, quite independently of that which 

 may have existed at the time of Rama and Ravana, had, since 

 the alliance of Vijaya with a princess of Madura, pervaded 

 the Island in a very large proportion. Vijaya himself and 

 his seven hundred followers most probably spoke the Telugu 

 language, which was at one time preponderate in Southern 

 India, and has only in the course of time given way to the 

 encroachments of the Tamil dialect, owing to the superior 

 enterprise of the Tamil-speaking branch of the Dravidians. 

 It is in India, particularly in Southern India, that we must 

 seek for points of comparisou, in the written characters,, 

 in the comparison of terms free from a Sanskrit derivation, 

 in the costumes of men and women, in the jewellery and 

 distinctive caste ornaments, in the preparations of food, in the 

 use of musical instruments including those of exclusively 

 domestic use, in the village games, in the observance of holi- 

 days and festivals, in the folk-lore, in the physical resem- 

 blances of the different castes, and in the moral character of 

 the people. 



The Post-Vijayan Myth. What was the 

 Non-Dra vidian Element ? 



On the death of Vijaya without issue, ambassadors from 

 Ceylon went to his brother Samitta, who called upon his 

 sons to elect amongst themselves which of them should 

 succeed Vijaya. The youngest, named Panduvisadewa, is 

 said to have volunteered to succeed Vijaya. The name of 

 this prince is strongly suggestive of a Pandiyan origin. 

 Incidents of this kind are historical in character, but begin 

 to be doubtful when interwoven with a mythical story. The 

 Buddhist annalist interpolates a story that the paternal 

 uncle of Buddha had a son, the Sakya Pandu, who wa& 



