NO. 43.—- 1892.] ETHNOLOGY OF CEYLON. 



263 



which the derivation of the name " Sinhala " is founded, 

 namely, the ancient Atuwdwa, or Commentary, has not the 

 remotest suggestion of a royal princess' intrigue with the 

 king of beasts. The Atuwdwa (which was not written for 

 the " delight," but for the instruction, of men) simply says 

 that it was because Sinhabahu captured the " Sinha," that 

 himself and his people were called Sinhala : — Sinhabahu 

 narindoso Sthamddinavd iti Sihalotena sambandhd ahu- 

 sabhapi Sihald. The " Sinha " clearly meant being the city 

 "Sinhaya" on the banks of the Gunduk in Behar, whence 

 the Vijayan colonists came. 



Then comes the question whether the intermarriages with 

 the IJandiyans of the Madura country affected the purity of 

 the Aryan race of Sinhalese. In the first place the known 

 existence of the most stringent caste rules among the Aryans 

 of Vijaya's time, which had the force of positive law, and 

 were enforced by judicial tribunals, ,and which visited the 

 marriage of an Aryan with a non-Aryan, not only with 

 illegitimacy, but with the most degrading punishments, ,raises 

 the strong presumption that Vijaya having found Aryan 

 women in the land he conquered and as beautiful as Kuweni, 

 would not have gone over the sea in search of degradation 

 and shame, and at the risk of violating the strong and 

 inherent prejudices of his people. It is against all probability, 

 therefore, that the , princess Vijayi and the noble virgins of 

 Madura were non- Aryans. The non-Aryans of South India 

 were at this period regarded as beings with whom the " sons 

 of gods " would have no communion, and intercourse with 

 whom was strictly forbidden to the " twice born," such as 

 Vijaya and his seven hundred called themselves. 



But we are not left in the doubtful regions of hypothesis, 

 assumption, and probability in regard to the dynasties of 

 South India. Positive historical evidence proves beyond all 

 doubt that, the Madura country was an early, probably the 

 earliest, Aryan settlement in South India. , The names 

 Madura and Pandava themselves point to an Aryan origin. 

 Mr. McCrindle, " the latest translator and author of the 

 Periplus Maris Erythrei"*, speaking of Madura (also called 

 Mathura), says : — 



The city to this day retains its ancient name, and thus bears, so to 

 speak, living testimony of the fact that the Aryans of Northern India 

 had in early times under Pandiyan leaders established their power in 

 the southernmost parts of the Peninsula. 



The names indeed are highly suggestive, but not in the 

 direction that Mr. Nell thinks they point. For the Panda vas, 

 called also Pandus and Pandiyans, were one of the two most 

 ancient of Aryan families in North India, the other being the 



