freinds, it appears the jaffna province was ruled twice by cholas prior to the christan era. this is according to the mahavamsa chronicle itself. the famous elara and his rein, his fight with duttagamini and later his death(his tomb is beleived to be preserved till now in anuradhapura).
then came the the imperial chola incursion which lasted squarely 100 years. then came sundarapandian hagemony in 1300s. later the governers of jaffna declared themselves as independent rulers. they were paying tax to vijayanagara emperors and still later to the madurai nayaks.
last came the kandy nayaks who ruled from kandy itself from 1750-1815. they were ruling the present day central province only.
thus it is evident that there had been tamil-southindian kingdoms existing in srilanka for 2500 years intermitantly and mostly from jaffna.
why a jaffna centric nation is not hypothesised today. what is wrong to think of autonomy for northern province? something like kashmir for india.
srilankan government websites refuse to accept a jaffna kindom ever existed!
I have gone thro' the website. All the Prince, Princess are now converted to cristians and are now living in Netherlands.
How can they claim they are a part of Hindu Arya kingdom of Jaffna is of primary importance.
Also their relvence (in exile) to the present scenario in srilinka is questionable?
Will they come back to Srilanka? They should reconvert as Hindus, face the reality at Jaffna if at all they want to participate in the present crisis. Moreover, people should accept them as a part of their homeland. Possibility seems to be remote.
we hear of an arya chakravarthi as a governor under the pandyan. as soon as the pandyan lost their kingdom the chakravarthis declared their independence.
but then there is no news of this family for a hundred years. where did they crop up from now.
- > Hi > > Whose monument is at vellore. i thought it was the " last king of > jaffna" > > >re:that is the last king of kandy. he was the last king of sinhalese. he was a telugu by birth. his ancestors were married to sinhalese royal family from madurai nayaks. they were hindus but patronised buddhism.they are considered to be sinhalese kings by the present srilankan historians too.
the kandy nayaks ruled kandy and sorrounding areas from 1750-1815. it is very important to note that the sinhalese kings were also paying "kappam" to the various south indian kings all through from 10th century to 19th century.
the jaffna kingdom existed for300 years from 1300-1600. the descendents are in netherlands. it is for everyone to see their website. www.jaffnaroyalfamily.org
i have an old edition written by european trvelour PHILIPUS BALDAEOUS. he travelled in jaffna during 1550. he describes the jaffna kingdom in detail and the role of vellalas in the land rights.
The website 'Jaffna royal kingdom'and wikipedia throws some interesting naration of the 'Jaffna KIngdom' alais "Kingdom of Aryachakravarthi"(1215-1619). Though similar in nature but not identical in terms of years and names / spellings.
The origin of Kingdom dates back to one 'Magha' in 1215 claimed to be from Kalinga in modern India. After the conquest of Rajarata, he moved the capital to Jaffna Peinsula & ruled as tribute-paying subordinate to Chola Empire of Tanjore. Later around 1262 they were helped by Pandyan Empire to retain his kingdom from outside attack (Thailand). When the Pandyan empire became weak due to Muslim invasions, successive Aryachakrvarthi rulers made the jaffna Kingdom independent and claimed descent from 'Kulingai Chakrvarthi' who was identified with KALINGA MAGHA while maintaining their Pandyan family name.
The dynasty claimed titles like SETHUKAVALAN meaning custodians of Rameshwaram temple, GANGAINADAN refering their origin from Ganga dynasty. Their rule continued till 1450 when it was interupted by "Kotte Kingdom". The Jaffna rulers fled to Tamilnadu but rebuilt the empire by 1467. The period ruled by 'Kanakasurya cinkai ariyan' & his successor 'Singai Pararasasegaram' were considered to be fluorishing with political & commercial connections with Thanjavur Nayakars Kingdom.
Many coins categorised as 'sethu bull' coins are found in large quantities even now in northern Srilanka.These coins have human figure flanked by lamps and the revrese has the bull symbol with tamil script 'Sethu'.
Major Hindu templs were built. Lord Shiva lingam is the primary deity.
Aryachakrvarthi Kings claimed "Brahma-Kshatriya" status meaning Brahmins who took to martial life.
Later period were influenced by portugese expeditions. Rivalry between 'pro & anti-Portugese' marked the decline of the dynasty. Almost all the temples were either destroyed or converted to churches. The last known king 'Cankili II' (Pronounced as SANGILI KUMARAN) was defeated by Portugese empire & was taken to Goa and was executed. Every surviving royal member were taken to Goa and were 'encouraged' to become christians to avoid further claimants to Jaffna throne.
Thereafter, we hear about this royal family only from the website recently reported in our forum.
> Later period were influenced by portugese expeditions. Rivalry > between 'pro & anti-Portugese' marked the decline of the dynasty. > Almost all the temples were either destroyed or converted to > churches. The last known king 'Cankili II' (Pronounced as SANGILI > KUMARAN) was defeated by Portugese empire & was taken to Goa and was > executed. Every surviving royal member were taken to Goa and > were 'encouraged' to become christians to avoid further claimants to > Jaffna throne. > re: thanks for the splendid follow up. i also have met a family while trvelling in trai from bangalore. they said they were goans whose ancestors migrated from nagapatnam during portugese time. the portugese had sadras,porto-novo(parangipettai), nagapatnam and jaffna in the eastern coast from 1450-1650. their period in tamilagam is to be studied well.
what happened to the sudamani vihara -of rajaraja fame-in nagapatnam? was it not destroyed by christians in 1750s. is there any remains are evidences of it now in nagai. a glorius town mentioned by ptolomy in 2BC.
the locals after the advent of portugese beleived the two miracles by the local amman(sikkal)vel-nadang-kanni, to be the christian amman the mary. hence they called her velanganni amman. the shrine began as a small single room prayer hall later by 1600 made into a basilica with gothic cathedrals.
nagapatnam later fell to dutch and then to british. the local nayaks and marathis did protect the sorrounding villages from becoming christians. nagai is still a saivite town . thank god!
the local nayaks > and marathis did protect the sorrounding villages from becoming > christians. nagai is still a saivite town . thank god!
I seriously doubt it. the last king of the tanjore a maratta actually converted himself to cristianity and on the advice of his christian teacher gave up his kingdom to the british. the present royal line is a branch line.
The Sulamani Viharam in Nagai was demolished by French in 1756 or 1758. Before it was demolished an Artist made a painting of the entire campus and it is now in the Museum at Pondicherry - This was told by my brother's friend, an Artist (who displayed his works in an Art Exhibition some 5 years ago) and he is an Official in SBI (Jeyachandran, SBI, Nungmbakkam Branch) But, when I went to see that I was told by a staff it is preserved separately and I was unable to see.
> > I seriously doubt it. > the last king of the tanjore a maratta actually converted himself to > cristianity and on the advice of his christian teacher gave up his > kingdom to the british. > the present royal line is a branch line.
re: that was serfoji-2 in 1840. at that time marathas were confined to the tanjore fort alone. by 1772 the britsh bought the rights of tanjore from the nizam of hyderabad. the marathas were ceased to be addressed as your majesty by then. by 1790 their rule was only within tanjore town. and they lost the remaining power in 1840 under doctrine of lapse. marathas were zealous patrons of saivism. many of their religious donations are evident from mayuram, thiruvidaimarudhoor and thiru - avadu thurai adheenam temples. but for maratha interlude tanjore could have become an arni or ranipettai or walajah!!
I feel what gandhiram says is reasonable. Marrata were saivites. I am reproducing the article written by me earlier to give clear picture of JAFFna Kingdom.... The website 'Jaffna royal kingdom'and wikipedia throws some interesting naration of the 'Jaffna KIngdom' alais "Kingdom of Aryachakravarthi"(1215-1619). Though similar in nature but not identical in terms of years and names / spellings.
The origin of Kingdom dates back to one 'Magha' in 1215 claimed to be from Kalinga in modern India. After the conquest of Rajarata, he moved the capital to Jaffna Peinsula & ruled as tribute-paying subordinate to Chola Empire of Tanjore. Later around 1262 they were helped by Pandyan Empire to retain his kingdom from outside attack (Thailand). When the Pandyan empire became weak due to Muslim invasions, successive Aryachakrvarthi rulers made the jaffna Kingdom independent and claimed descent from 'Kulingai Chakrvarthi' who was identified with KALINGA MAGHA while maintaining their Pandyan family name.
The dynasty claimed titles like SETHUKAVALAN meaning custodians of Rameshwaram temple, GANGAINADAN refering their origin from Ganga dynasty. Their rule continued till 1450 when it was interupted by "Kotte Kingdom". The Jaffna rulers fled to Tamilnadu but rebuilt the empire by 1467. The period ruled by 'Kanakasurya cinkai ariyan' & his successor 'Singai Pararasasegaram' were considered to be fluorishing with political & commercial connections with Thanjavur Nayakars Kingdom.
Many coins categorised as 'sethu bull' coins are found in large quantities even now in northern Srilanka.These coins have human figure flanked by lamps and the revrese has the bull symbol with tamil script 'Sethu'.
Major Hindu templs were built. Lord Shiva lingam is the primary deity.
Aryachakrvarthi Kings claimed "Brahma-Kshatriya" status meaning Brahmins who took to martial life.
Later period were influenced by portugese expeditions. Rivalry between 'pro & anti-Portugese' marked the decline of the dynasty. Almost all the temples were either destroyed or converted to churches. The last known king 'Cankili II' (Pronounced as SANGILI KUMARAN) was defeated by Portugese empire & was taken to Goa and was executed. Every surviving royal member were taken to Goa and were 'encouraged' to become christians to avoid further claimants to Jaffna throne.
Thereafter, we hear about this royal family only from the website recently reported in our forum.
> I feel what gandhiram says is reasonable. Marrata were saivites.
sure they were. one of the serfojis witnessed the appearance of the moon ona amavasya day and heard the first rendering of abirami anthathi at thirukadaiyur.
what i would say was they were very liberal in subject of non mixing of religion and state. porayar and the surroundings are very important in christian history in india. porayar had the second printing press in india. the bible was translated to tamil in serfoji territory and from here spread elsewere.
>>>tanjore is a zealously guarded citadel of tamil-saivite heritage.
I think we should study the impact of tanjore area on religious conversions. porayar was an epicentre, danish and swedish missions started out in the area. i think the swedish church of south india is still headed by the "bishop of tranquebar" we cannot go by today's populations of christians.
one thing struck me, in tamilnadu we have had several kingdoms( and large zamins calling themselves as kingdoms) but nowhere else has a ruling king converted to cristianity except in tanjore.
however i think the king has had little to do with religious affliations in tamilnadu. madurai was ruled by muslims in 14th and 17th century. north tamilnadu by the nawab of arcot. hinduism still flourishes here.
The last Maratta King of Tanjore was Shivaji II (son of Saraboji II) and he ruled from1832 to 1855. Saraboji II died in 1832. Shivaji II had two wives, but had no sons. He married 17 girls in 1852, but died in 1855 without a male heir. After his death Tanjore came into the hands of British. anjore was ruled by Hyder Ali for 6 months, and in 1782 Tippu Sultan invaded and captured Mayavaram Seerkazhi area. To protect from Tippu British troops were stationed at Tanjore at the expense of then Maratta King Thulaja. Thujala II adopted Saraboji I. In 1787 Saraboji made an Agreement with British Company by which Maratta Kings had only Tanjore city. Other areas were sold by Seraboji to British Company for 1 lakh Varahan and 1/5 income from tax collections. Marattas were supporters for all religions and followed Hindu customs and festivals. They gave grants and maintained 64 Hindu temples . The reference for the last Maratta King was converted to christianity doesnt exist in Maratta History. (Pardon me for the interruption)
aintained 64 Hindu temples . > The reference for the last Maratta King was converted to christianity doesnt exist in Maratta History.
Hi kindly check this out.
The 18th-century Christ Church or Schwartz Church a legacy of Tanjore colonial past, stands to the east of the Shivanganga Tank. This church was founded by the Danish missionary, Reverend Frederik Christian Schwartz, in 1779. When he died in 1798, the enlightened Maratha ruler, Serfoji II, donated a striking marble tablet, made by John Flaxman and this has been placed at the western end of the church. It depicts the dying missionary blessing his royal patron, surrounded by ministers and pupils from the school that he established.
Dear Sir Your details furnished are correct except the matter about Schwartz. Page 341 of 'Memoirs of Schwartz; by Person says "on 10th March 1779 the General laid the foundation stone nine feet deep. Page 369-It is built upon the plan of the church at Trichi being 90ft long and 50ft broad. Sefoji II commemorated his love and esteem for the Father Schwartz by constructing a church near Sivaganga Garden, Thanjavur. The marble plaque installed in the church depicts the visit of the Raja to see the ailing father = Page 14 Saraswathi Mahal records. Serfoji II was brought up by this Schwartz in younger days as ordered by his father Raja Thulaja. " Serfoji II came to throne in 1798 - So the statement that the church was built by Serfoji II is not correct"
> > Serfoji I I's donations and grants to Muslim Dargas and > Christian community are many and are recorded. as he was very kind and > friendly to all religions. But nowhere in the book says about his > conversion to christianity.
Dear Vishwak sir, i stand corrected. .... As Serfoji grew, he came to view Schwartz as a father figure, and
at Schwartz's death in 1798, Serfoji received Schwartz's final blessing for equitable rule, protection of Tamil Christians, and peace from God. At Schwartz's memorial service, Serfoji composed and read a eulogy in English; the raja of Tanjore erected a monument, executed by Flaxman, in the mission church, in which he is represented as grasping the hand of the dying missionary and receiving his benediction.
perhaps with this info I had made that assumption.