Kandarodai ( ta, கந்தரோடை, translit=Kantarōṭai, si, කදුරුගොඩ, translit=Kadurugoḍa, also known as ta, கதிரமலை, translit=Katiramalai) is a small hamlet and archaeological site of
Chunnakam
Chunnakam ( ta, சுன்னாகம், translit=Cuṉṉākam; si, චුන්නාකම්, translit=Chunnakam) is a town, located north of Jaffna. It is one of the important commercial centres in Jaffna. The original name of the tow ...
town, a suburb in
Jaffna District,
Sri Lanka.
Known as ''Kadiramalai'' in the ancient period, the area served as a famous
emporium city and capital of Tamil kingdoms in the
Jaffna peninsula of
North Eastern Ceylon from
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
. The notable ancient Buddhist monastery referred as
Kadurugoda Vihara is situated in Kandarodai.
Located near a world-famous port at that time, Kandarodai was the first site the
Archaeology Department in Sri Lanka excavated in the Jaffna peninsula.
Etymology
According to Jaffna tradition was this place initially known as ''Kadiramalai''.
According to C. Rasanayagam is the
Sinhalese name'' Kadurugoḍa'' derived from ''Kadiragoda'', which is according to him derived from Kadiramalai, substituting the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
suffix ''malai'' (meaning "mountain") with the Sinhalese suffix ''goḍa.'' The prefix ''Kadira'' is the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
name for the
Acacia chundra tree.
The modern Tamil name ''Kantarōṭai ''is believed to be re-derived from the Kadiragoda term. The Tamil name was Kadiramalai.
Few scholars holds that Kadurugoda is derived from the Sinhalese name ''Kandavurugoda'' (a site of a military encampment). The Portuguese archives refer to this place as ''Kandarcudde''.
The name Kadurogoda viharaya is mentioned in the 15th century Sinhalese text ''Nampota''.
History
In 1970, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
museum team excavated a
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
sequence remarkably similar to that of
Arikamedu in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
, with a Pre-rouletted ware period, subdivided into an earlier "Megalithic", a later "Pre-rouletted ware phase," followed by a "Rouletted ware period". Tentatively assigned to the fourth century BCE,
radio carbon dating later confirmed an outer date of the ceramics and
Megalithic cultural commencement in Kandarodai to 1300 BCE. During this excavation, the university team discovered a potsherd carrying a
Sinhalese Prakrit inscription written in Brahmi scripts.
Further excavations were conducted at the site by the
University of Jaffna
The University of Jaffna ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகம், translit=Yāḻppāṇap Palkalaikkaḻakam; si, යාපනය විශ්වවිද්යාලය, ''Yāpanaya Viśvavidyālaya''; ...
.
Black and red ware
Black and red ware (BRW) is a South Asian earthenware, associated with the neolithic phase, Harappa, Bronze Age India, Iron Age India, the megalithic and the early historical period. Although it is sometimes called an archaeological culture, the ...
Kanterodai potsherd with
Tamil Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptio ...
scripts from 300 BCE excavated with
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
coins,
early Pandyan coins, early
Chera Dynasty coins from the emporium
Karur
Karur () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Karur is the administrative headquarters of Karur district. It is located on the banks of Amaravathi River, River Amaravathi, Kaveri and Noyyal.
Karur is well known for the export of Home Te ...
punch-marked with images of the Hindu Goddess
Lakshmi
Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
from 500 BCE,
punch-marked coins
Punch-marked coins, also known as ''Aahat coins'', are a type of early coinage of India, dating to between about the 6th and 2nd centuries BC. It was of irregular shape.
History
The study of the relative chronology of these coins has successfu ...
called ''Puranas'' from 6th-5th century BCE India, and
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
kohl sticks similar to those used by the
Egyptians found in Uchhapannai, Kandarodai indicate active transoceanic maritime trade between ancient Jaffna Tamils and other continental kingdoms in the prehistoric period.
The parallel third century BCE discoveries of
Manthai
Manthai ( ta, மாந்தை, translit=Māntai) is a coastal town and an ancient harbor situated in the Mannar district, of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Manthai functioned as the main port of the Anuradhapura Kingdom throughout its hi ...
, Anaikoddai and
Vallipuram detail the arrival of a megalithic culture in Jaffna long before the Buddhist-Christian era and the emergence of rudimentary settlements that continued into early historic times marked by urbanization. Some scholars have identified ''Kourola'' mentioned by 2nd century AD
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
geographer
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
and ''Kamara'' mentioned by the 1st century AD
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
as being ''Kadiramalai''.
The earliest people of
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...
were belonging to a megalithic culture akin to the
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
n megalithic culture. The period of Buddhism in the
Jaffna Peninsula differ from the rest of the island, which is seen as an overlapping of the megalithic beliefs with Buddhism. According to scholars was Kantarodai, known in
Tamil literature
Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...
as ''Kadiramalai'', the capital of the ancient Tamil Kingdom ruled by Tamil speaking
Naga kings from 7th century AD to 10th century AD.
The ''
Yalpana Vaipava Malai
Yalpana Vaipava Malai ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாண வைபவமாலை) is a book written by a Tamil poet named Mayil Vaakaanar ( ta, மயில் வாகனார்) in 1736. This book contains historical facts of the early Tam ...
'' also describes Kadiramalai as the seat of ''
Ukkirasinghan Ukkirasinghan (, also spelled ''Ugra Singan'') was an early king of the Jaffna Peninsula of the 8th century CE, who established his capital at Kandarodai, formerly known as ''Kadiramalai''. According to Yalpana Vaipava Malai, Ukkirasinghan was from ...
'' who fell in love with a
Chola princess in the ancient period. The ancient
Kadurugoda Vihara Buddhist monastery is situated at this site where a 10th century pillar inscription of Sinhalese language recording a regal proclamation of the bequest of gifts and benefits to a Buddhist place of worship was found.
Kandarodai was a Buddhist
mercantile centre among
Tamils
The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...
.
The domes were reconstructed atop the flat bases of the ruins by the Archaeology Department. The similarities between the finds of ancient Jaffna and Tamil Nadu are indicators of a continuous cultural exchange between the two regions from classical antiquity.
[Man and environment (2002). ''Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies''. Volume 27, Issue 2. pp. 27] These structures built over burials demonstrate the integration of Buddhism with Megalithism, a hallmark of
Tamil Buddhism. Outside
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
in India, Kanterodai is perhaps the only site where such burials are seen.
Education
Kandarodai has a number of education institutions notably
Kantharodai Tamil Kandaiya Vidyasalai and
Skandavarodaya College.
Gallery
See also
*
Nallur (Jaffna)
Nallur ( ta, நல்லூர்; si, නල්ලූර් ) is an affluent suburb in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is located 3 km south from Jaffna city centre. Nallur is most famous for Nallur Kandaswamy temple, one of Sri Lanka's most sac ...
*
Vallipuram
*
Naguleswaram temple
Keerimalai Naguleswaram temple ( ta, கீரிமலை நகுலேஸ்வரம் கோயில்), historically known also as the Thirutambaleswaram Kovil of Keerimalai, is a famous Hindu temple in Keerimalai, located north of Ja ...
*
Nainativu
Nainativu ( ta, நயினாதீவு ''Nainatheevu'', si, නාගදීපය ''Nagadeepa''), is a small but notable island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the f ...
*
Kudiramalai
Notes
References
{{Commons category, Kandarodai
Buddhism amongst Tamils
Villages in Jaffna District
Valikamam South DS Division