Vanni chieftaincies

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Vanni chieftaincies
13th century
Flag of Vanni
Sri Lanka in the 1520s
Sri Lanka in the 1520s
GovernmentChiefdom
Historical eraTransitional period
13th century
• Vanniyar Rebellion
1782
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Kingdom of Polonnaruwa
British Ceylon
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Sinhala Kingdom
543–437 BCE
437 BCE–1017 CE
1017–1055
1055–1232
1232–1341
1341–1371
1371–1597
Jaffna Kingdom
1232–1620
1521–1594
Kandyan period
1469–1815
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1658–1796
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1815–1948
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The Vanni chieftaincies or Vanni tribes was a region between

Jaffna Kingdom in the Jaffna Peninsula.[6][4] Control of this area was taken over by dispossessed Sinhalese nobles and chiefs of the South Indian military of Māgha of Kalinga (1215–1236), whose 1215 invasion of Polonnaruwa led 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 as

Jaffna Kingdom until its collapses.[9][10]

Vanniar

Main article: Vanniar (Chieftain)

Vanniar or Vanniyar was a title used by tribute-paying

feudal chiefs in medieval Sri Lanka. It was also recorded as the name of a caste of Mukkuvars amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the Vanni District of northern Sri Lanka during the early 1900s.[11][12]

Origin theories

The Vannimai ruling class arose from a multi-ethnic and multi-caste background. According to

Mukkuvar, Karaiyar, Vellalar and other caste origins.[11][12][13][14] Some scholars conclude the Vanniyar title as a rank of a local chieftain which was introduced by the Velaikkarar mercenaries of the Chola dynasty.[15]

Some Sri Lankan historians derive the title Vannimai from the Tamil word vanam, meaning "forest", with Vannia or Wannia meaning "person from the forest", and Vannimais being large tracts of forested land.[12]

Feudal chiefs

Tamil chronicles such as the 18th-century

Vanni region flourished. 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 the

Kandy. 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 as rate-atto in Sinhalese. 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

1692 engraving by Wilhem Broedelet of Robert Knox's 1681 map of northern Sri Lanka.

Among the

Jaffnapatnam because to it are also added the neighboring lands and those of the Vanni which 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 of Pachalapali within which the lands of Baligamo, Bedamarache and Pachalapali forming that peninsula and outside of it stretch the lands of Vanni. Crosswise, from the side of Mannar to that of Triquillemele, 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 modern Northern Province of Sri Lanka and parts of the northern half of the eastern province and 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 Tamil Coylot Wannees Country

by the early 18th century.

Western and Eastern chieftaincies

Main article:
Demala Pattu

Vannimais in the Batticalao and Puttalam districts were under the control of chiefs of

Kotte Kingdom.[11][12][25]

References

  1. ^ de Silva 2005, p. 87.
  2. ^ de Silva 2005, p. 145.
  3. ^ de Silva 1981, p. 117.
  4. ^ a b de Silva 1981, p. 110.
  5. ^ de Silva 1981, p. 133.
  6. ^ a b c d de Silva 1981, p. 134.
  7. ^ Codrington 1926, p. 67.
  8. ^ de Silva 2005, p. 85.
  9. ^ de Silva 1981, p. 145.
  10. ^ de Silva 1981, p. 199.
  11. ^ a b c McGilvray, Mukkuvar Vannimai: Tamil Caste and Matriclan Ideology in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, p.34-97
  12. ^ a b c d e Karthigesu, Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics, p.7-9
  13. ISBN 978-0822341611
    .
  14. ISBN 9780860785798
    .
  15. ISBN 9789556131086
    .
  16. ^ 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.
  17. doi:10.1080/09584939408719724
    .
  18. OCLC 4285088
    . The Tamil stone inscription Konesar Kalvettu details King Kulakottan's involvement in the restoration of Koneswaram temple in 438 A.D.
  19. ^
    OCLC 2556531
    .
  20. OCLC 84313. 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
    )
  21. OCLC 10020492
    . 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,
  22. ^ Pathmanathan 2006, pp. 62
  23. ^ a b Peebles, History of Sri Lanka, p.31-32
  24. ^ "Book review of Spoken Language of Nuwarakalaviya". D.G.B.de Silva. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
  25. ^ a b Gunasingam, Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, p.53
  26. ^ "Vannimai". University Of Madras, Tamil Lexicon. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
  27. ^ De Queyroz, The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon, Vol. I, p. 51.
  28. ^ Tambiah, Laws and customs of Tamils of Jaffna, pp. 62–3.

Bibliography

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