Vanni chieftaincies
Vanni chieftaincies | |||||||||
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| 13th century | |||||||||
 Flag ofPandara Vanniyan | |||||||||
 Sri Lanka in the 1520s | |||||||||
| Government | Chiefdom | ||||||||
| Historical era | Transitional period | ||||||||
| 13th century | |||||||||
• Vanniyar Rebellion | 1782 | ||||||||
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| HistoricalstatesofSri Lanka |
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TheVanni chieftainciesor Vanni tribes was a region betweenAnuradhapuraandJaffna,but also extending to along the eastern coast toPanamaand Yala, during theTransitionalandKandyan periodsofSri Lanka.[1][2]The heavily forested land was a collection of chieftaincies of principalities that were a collective buffer zone between theJaffna Kingdom,in the north of Sri Lanka, and theSinhalese kingdomsin the south.[3][4][5]Traditionally the forest regions were ruled by Vedda rulers. Later on, the emergence of these chieftaincies was a direct result of the breakdown of central authority and the collapse of theKingdom of Polonnaruwain the 13th century, as well as the establishment of theJaffna Kingdomin theJaffna Peninsula.[6][4]Control of this area was taken over by dispossessed Sinhalese nobles and chiefs of the South Indian military ofMāgha of Kalinga(1215–1236), whose1215 invasion of Polonnaruwaled to the kingdom's downfall.[7][8][6]Sinhalese chieftaincies would lay on the northern border of the Sinhalese kingdom while the Tamil chieftaincies would border the Jaffna Kingdom and the remoter areas of the eastern coast, north western coast outside of the control of either kingdom.[6]
The chieftains, who were known asVanniars,would function like feudal lords in their territories. During much of theTransitional periodwhen the island was politically unstable, depending on the situation at the time, the chieftains would owe their allegiance to one or the other kingdom. They offered military protection to those who came under their authority.[6]Vanniars referred to a broad category of people who could have been appointees of theSinhalese kings,who administered outlying districts or autonomous rulers of large, sparsely populated and undeveloped lands. The Vanniars in general paidtributeto theKingdom of Kotteand later to theKingdom of Kandy,apart from Confederation of Northern Tamil Vanniars paid tribute to theJaffna Kingdomuntil its collapses.[9][10]
Vanniar
[edit]VanniarorVanniyarwas a title used by tribute-payingfeudalchiefs in medieval Sri Lanka. It was also recorded as the name of acasteofMukkuvarsamongstSri Lankan Tamilsin theVanni Districtof northern Sri Lanka during the early 1900s.[11][12]
Origin theories
[edit]The Vannimai ruling class arose from a multi-ethnic and multi-caste background. According toprimary sourcessuch as theYalpana Vaipava Malai,they were ofMukkuvar,Karaiyar,Vellalarand other caste origins.[11][12][13][14]Some scholars conclude the Vanniyar title as a rank of a local chieftain which was introduced by theVelaikkararmercenaries of theChola dynasty.[15]
Some Sri Lankan historians derive the titleVannimaifrom theTamilwordvanam,meaning "forest", withVanniaorWanniameaning "person from the forest", and Vannimais being large tracts of forested land.[12]
Feudal chiefs
[edit]Tamil chronicles such as the 18th-centuryYalpana Vaipava Malaiand stone inscriptions like theKonesar Kalvetturecount that the Chola royal Kankan, a descendant of the legendary KingManu Needhi CholanofThiruvarur,Chola Nadu,restored theKoneswaram templeat Trincomalee and theKantalaitank after finding them in ruins. Kankan visited the Munneswaram temple on the west coast of Sri Lanka, before settling in the east of the island. According to the chronicles, he extensively renovated and expanded the shrine; he was crowned with the ephitetKulakottan,meaningBuilder of Tank and Temple.[16][17][18]In addition to this reconstruction, Kulakottan paid attention to agriculture cultivation and economic development in the area, inviting the Vanniar chief Tanniuna Popalen and other families to a newly founded town in theThampalakamamarea to maintain theKantalai tankand the temple itself.[19]As a result of his policies, theVanni regionflourished. The Vanniar claim descent from this chief.[19][20][21]Modern historians and anthropologists agree as historically factual the connection of the Vanniars with the Konesar temple, and some cite epigraphical evidence to date Kullakottan's renovations to 432-440 AD. Others cite poetic and inscriptional evidence to date his renovations to as early as 1589 BC.[19][22]
After the re-rise of theTamil kingdomsand the demise of theRajarataafter the twelfth century AD, many petty chiefs took power in the buffer lands between the northernJaffna Kingdomand the southern kingdoms ofKotteandKandy.These petty chefs paid tribute to the Jaffna Kingdom. Sometimes they were independent of any central control, or were subdued by the southern kingdoms for strategic advantages, before eventually being restored. Many kings and chiefs with titles such as Vannian or Vannia ruled in northern areas of modern Sri Lanka during the Jaffna era.[23]Some of the Vanni chieftains were immigrants from southern India, and ruled over a populace known asrate-attoinSinhalese.The Vanni chieftains ruled following local custom, supported by a coterie of local officials. Their rule had a noticeable influence on the language of the local populace.[24]
Northern chieftaincies
[edit]
Among themedievalVannichieftaincies, those of Panankamam, Melpattu, Mulliyavalai, Karunavalpattu, Karrikattumulai, Tennamaravadi andTrincomaleein the north of the island were incorporated into the Jaffna Kingdom. Hence the Tamil Vanni just south of the Jaffna peninsula and in the easternTrincomaleedistrict is ruled by Confederacy of Vanni rulers usually paid an annual tribute to the northern kingdom instead of taxes. The tribute was in cash, grains,honey,elephants,andivory.The annual tribute system was enforced due to the greater distance from Jaffna.[12][23][25][26]The arrival of thePortuguese to the islandcaused a brief loss of some of Jaffna's territory. Queirós, an historian of Portuguese origin, says of the Jaffna kingdom:
"This modest kingdom is not confined to the little district ofJaffnapatnambecause to it are also added the neighboring lands and those of theVanniwhich is said to be name of the lordship which they held before we obtained pocession of them, separated from the proceeding by a salty river and connected only in the extremity or isthmus ofPachalapaliwithin which the lands of Baligamo, Bedamarache and Pachalapali forming that peninsula and outside of it stretch the lands of Vanni. Crosswise, from the side ofMannarto that ofTriquillemele,being separated also from the country of Mantota in the jurisdiction of Captain of Mannar by the river Paragali; which ends in the river of the Cross in the midst of the lands of Vanni and of others which stretch as far as Triquillemele which according to the map appears to be a large tract of country ".[27]
which indicated the kings of Jaffna just prior to capitulation to the Portuguese had jurisdiction over an area corresponding to the modernNorthern Province of Sri Lankaand parts of thenorthern half of the eastern provinceand that the Portuguese claimed these based on their conquest.[28]Following Portuguese defeat by the Dutch, the Mannar, Jaffna islands and the Vanni lands were reincorporated into the TamilCoylot Wannees Countryby the early 18th century.
Western and Eastern chieftaincies
[edit]Vannimais in the Batticalao and Puttalam districts were under the control of chiefs ofMukkuvarorigin.Puttalamwas under Jaffna kingdom sovereignty in the 14th century, where it served as the second capital of the kingdom during the pearl fishing season. With the strengthening of Portuguese influence in the Kandyan and Kotte kingdoms, Vannimais in the easternBatticaloaandAmparadistricts came under the nominal control of theKandyan Kingdomafter the sixteenth century, although they had considerable autonomy under their chiefs. The Vanni Chieftaincy in the Puttalam districts came under the control ofKotte Kingdom.[11][12][25]
References
[edit]- ^de Silva 2005,p. 87.
- ^de Silva 2005,p. 145.
- ^de Silva 1981,p. 117.
- ^abde Silva 1981,p. 110.
- ^de Silva 1981,p. 133.
- ^abcdde Silva 1981,p. 134.
- ^Codrington 1926,p. 67.
- ^de Silva 2005,p. 85.
- ^de Silva 1981,p. 145.
- ^de Silva 1981,p. 199.
- ^abcMcGilvray,Mukkuvar Vannimai: Tamil Caste and Matriclan Ideology in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka,p.34-97
- ^abcdeKarthigesu,Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics,p.7-9
- ^McGilvray, Dennis B. (7 May 2008).Crucible of Conflict: Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka.Duke University Press. p. 156.ISBN978-0822341611.
- ^Arasaratnam, Sinnappah (1 January 1996).Ceylon and the Dutch, 1600-1800: External Influences and Internal Change in Early Modern Sri Lanka.n Variorum. p. 422.ISBN9780860785798.
- ^Guṇavardhana, Raṇavīra; Rōhaṇadīra, Măndis (2000).History and Archaeology of Sri Lanka.Central Cultural Fund, Ministry of Cultural and Religious Affairs. p. 210.ISBN9789556131086.
- ^Schalk, Peter (2002). "Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-colonial Tamilakam and Ilam: Prologue. The Pre-Pallava and the Pallava period".Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.19–20.Uppsala University:159, 503.
- ^Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar (1994). "Tamils and the meaning of history".Contemporary South Asia.3(1). Routledge: 3–23.doi:10.1080/09584939408719724.
- ^Pillay, K. (1963).South India and Ceylon.University of Madras.OCLC4285088.
The Tamil stone inscriptionKonesar Kalvettudetails King Kulakottan's involvement in the restoration of Koneswaram temple in 438 A.D.
- ^abcPridham, Charles (1849). "Trincomalee - Its Early History".An historical, political, and statistical account of Ceylon and its dependencies.London: T. and W. Boone. pp. 544–546.OCLC2556531.
- ^Sivaratnam, C (1968).Tamils in early Ceylon.Colombo.OCLC84313.
As for cultivators he got fifty one tribes of Vanniyars, a caste of agriculture experts from the Pandyan coasts... on the invitation of Kulakoddan in c 493 for the noble purpose of cultivating the land at Tambalakamam.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Arumugam, S (1980).The Lord of Thiruketheeswaram, an ancient Hindu sthalam of hoary antiquity in Sri Lanka.Colombo: S.Arumugam.OCLC10020492.
Kulakottan also paid special attention to agricultural practice and economic development, the effects of which made the Vanni region to flourish; temples were cared for and regular worship instituted at these,
- ^Pathmanathan 2006,pp. 62
- ^abPeebles,History of Sri Lanka,p.31-32
- ^"Book review ofSpoken Language of Nuwarakalaviya".D.G.B.de Silva.Archived fromthe originalon 10 February 2012.Retrieved4 February2008.
- ^abGunasingam,Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism,p.53
- ^"Vannimai".University Of Madras, Tamil Lexicon.Retrieved23 December2007.
- ^De Queyroz,The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon,Vol. I, p. 51.
- ^Tambiah,Laws and customs of Tamils of Jaffna,pp. 62–3.
Bibliography
[edit]- Codrington, H. W.(1926).A Short History Of Ceylon.London:Macmillan & Co.
- de Silva, K. M.(1981).A History of Sri Lanka.University of California Press.ISBN9780520043206.
- de Silva, K. M.(2005).A History of Sri Lanka.Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.ISBN9789558095928.
- McGilvray, Dennis (1982).Mukkuvar Vannimai: Tamil Caste and Matriclan Ideology in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, (Caste Ideology and Interaction).Cambridge University Press.
- Kartithigesu, Sivathamby (1995).Sri Lankan Tamil society and politics.New Century Book House. p. 189.ISBN81-234-0395-X.
- Pathmanathan, Sivasubramaniam(2006).Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka.Kumaran Book House.ISBN955-9429-91-4.
- Peebles, Patrick (2006).The History of Sri Lanka.United States: Greenwood Press. p. 248.ISBN0-313-33205-3.
- Gunasingam, Murugar (1999).Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism.Sydney:MV. p. 238.ISBN0-646-38106-7.
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