The belief amongst the Hindus in regard to the origin and sanctity of the hollow on the summit of Adam's Peak varies. It is by no means universal; and among those who hold it the Vishnaivites maintain it is the foot-print of Vishnu, while the Siváites insist upon it that the impression was made by Sivá, the chief of the supreme triad of Hindu divinities, after whom it bears the name of Siván-oli-pádam. They base their belief on the legend, that Sivá in one of his manifestations retired to this mountain for the performance of certain devotional austerities, and that on their conclusion, in commemoration of his abode there, he left the impress of his foot upon the mountain-top. This legend does not appear in any of the eighteen Puranas; but is gathered from hints contained in several; and it was probably concocted at some bye-gone period more from political than any other motives. That there were occasions when such motives would be likely to sway the minds of both kings and priests, will be evident to all who have studied the history of the Tamils in Ceylon. The religion of the aborigines of the island was Nága or Serpent worship, subsequently superseded by or incorporated with the worship of Lakshmana and Ráma after their deification as incarnations of Vishnu. The head quarters of this combination of religions were, Ratnapura, in Sabaragamuwa, and Dewi Newara or Dondra, the extreme southern point of Lanka, and boundary of Ráma's conquests in that direction. This was before the Buddhist historic period. After the Wijayan invasion, successive monarchs built and endowed Hindu temples, introducing therein the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Sivá, with that of other inferior deities. This worship the people clave to, while still professing to be Buddhists; and as it was tolerated by the Buddhist priests, it gradually led to the anomalous sight now almost every where to be seen, of Hindu déwáles in close proximity to Buddhist viháras, and a people addicted alike to the adoration of Buddha and the worship of Serpents and Demons. Traditions of a remote age assert that a colony of Malabars founded the city of Trincomalee 1589 years B. C., and the earliest authentic notices of the place record the existence there of a very ancient and sacred Sivaite temple. Other traditions traceable to a period long anterior to historic times, make mention of a Tamil kingdom in the North-west of the island, ruled over by an Amazon princess named Alliarasamy, whose capital was Kudremale, where granite ruins and rock inscriptions bear evidence to the truth of the tradition; while a Tamil drama, founded on the story of the queen, declares the people to have been Sivaites in their religious faith. But "Hardly the place of such antiquity Or note of these great monarchies we find ; And empty name in writ is left behind." PHINEAS FLetcher. *The places considered specially holy by the educated Tamils and Hindus of Ceylon, in consequence of the presence of Sivá, are Trincomalee on the east, and Mardodde on the north-west coast. Respecting the original peopling of the northern peninsula, the following account is given by Tamil writers. A century and a half before the Christian era there lived in the Chola or Solí country, a certain minstrel named Yálpána Náyanár, otherwise Virarágaven. Being blind he depended for his subsistence entirely on the earnings of his wife. One day, however, she having delayed serving him with his meals at the accustomed hour, he quarrelled with her, and quitted the house, saying, that he was going to Ceylon; upon which she sneeringly observed,-" Ah! you are going to Ceylon to get a tusked elephant and a fertile field." On reaching Ceylon he made his way to Anuradhapura, where he obtained an audience of the king, and sang the monarch's praises to the accompaniment of his lute, in so agreeable a manner, that the well-pleased potentate did in fact present him with a tusked elephant, and moreover bestowed upon him in perpetuity the land on the northern extremity of the island; thus realizing the words with which his wife had ironically taunted him. The land was then covered with jungle and wholly uninhabited, but Yálpána induced a colony of Tamils from Southern India to settle upon and cultivate it; and in the course of years it became a populous, fertile and wealthy * Extracted from the Tamil Plutarch, by the late Simon Casie Chitty, the talented District Judge of Puttalam, and author of the Ceylon Gazetteer. Several valuable papers were also contributed by him to the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and other local Magazines and Journals, principally upon Tamil literature, and the history and customs of the Tamils, Moors and Mook was of Ceylon. district, which he named after himself Yálpána nadu, or the minstrel's country-a name the origin of which is still preserved in the modern Jaffna and Jaffnapatam. He did not however assume a personal sovereignty, but invited over a prince of the Solian race, and crowned him king under the title of Singariya Chakravarti, in the Kali year 3000, or B. C. 101.* The preceding tale is by no means an improbable one, for the early kings of Ceylon were of Indian origin, and always more or less connected with that continent by matrimonial alliances; and an Indian minstrel in the olden days would count it no uncommon reward to receive gifts such as those awarded to Yálpána by the king. The colonists he imported were worshippers of Sivá, and that worship was known elsewhere in Ceylon as early as B. C. 426. It is recorded in the Mahawansó that in the reign of Pandukabhaya [B. c. 437-367] that monarch, who seems to have been most tolerant in all matters of religion, built places of worship in his capital, Anuradhapura, for all denominations. The historian writes, chap. x. "He the king who knew how to accord his protection with discrimination,” established the yakkos in the royal palace itself and annually provided demon-offerings. "He provided a nigródha tree * The descendants of this king continued to reign in Jaffna, under the title of Ariya Chakravarti,' until near the close of the sixteenth century. They were frequently at war with the Sinhalese; and although at times conquered and deposed, recovered and maintained their power until finally subjugated by the Portuguese. for the (dévatá) Wessa wano, and a temple for the Wiyádhodévo." "He also constructed a dwelling for the various classes of devotees." "The king built a temple for the Nighantho Kumbhundo, which was called by his name. To the westward of that temple...... he provided a residence for 500 persons of various foreign religious faiths. Above the dwelling of Jótiyo [a Brahman-his chief engineer] and below the Gamini tank, he built a residence for the Paribájika devotees. In the same quarter, but on separate sites, he constructed a residence for the Ajiwako, a hall for the worshippers of Brahma, (another for those) of Sivá, as well as a hospital." These Brahmans seem to have continued to reside peaceably in Ceylon, until B. C. 246, when two Malabar adventurers, military chiefs in the pay of the monarch Suratissa, murdered the king and usurped the throne. Elála, of Solí (Tanjore) on the Coromandel coast soon after their dethronement by Aséla, invaded the island, and defeating that king possessed himself of the entire country, with the exception of Ruhuna. He retained his power till B. c. 164, when in his turn he was overthrown and slain in battle by Duṭṭhágamíne, and his followers driven out of the island. An army of Malabars again invaded Ceylon in the reign of Walagambáhu, and held possession until B. C. 88. They seem to have remained quiet after their expulsion by Walagambáhu until A. D. 106, when the prince of the Solíans once more. ravaged the country with an army, and after plundering and devastating it returned to his own land with immense booty |