If the Buddha, Arahat Mahinda, Arahat Sanghamitta, Vijaya and his 700 followers could have come to Sri Lanka from distant North India, why dispute the fact that the inhabitants of South India and Sri Lanka moved freely across the 20 miles shallow Palk Straits and established religious, cultural, social and commercial ties on both sides.
The climate and vegetation on both sides of the sea were similar and favourable to making either side their permanent homeland. Here are few excerpts to substantiate the claim.
Epic Ramayana 420 B. C. Valmiki, in describing Rama and his people as Aryans, projects king Ravana and the inhabitants of Lanka as dravidians.
Sir William Jones: For thousands of years before the alleged landing of Vijaya, Tamils from South India have been voluntarily migrating to Lanka and settling in various parts, especially in the neighbourhood of the trading ports of Mantota (Mannar) and Trincomalee. They were Hindus by faith.
Dr. Paul E. Pieris: North Ceylon was a flourishing settlement long before Vijaya was born.
Dr. Susantha Goonetileke: In the pre-historic period, Lanka and South India had been inhabited by a common group of people with similar culture, economic structure and technological base.
The Mahawamsa: There were Hindu temples in Lanka from pre-Buddha Times " Nagulesweram in the North, Thiruketheesweram and Munnesweram in the West, Murugan and Vishnu temples in the South and Konesweram in the East.
H. W. Codrington was of opinion that the temple of Konesweram was more than 3000 years old. Chadrasekesweram, a temple dedicated to Lord Siva in Hambantota is no more, due to lack of patronage and subsequent neglect.
"Discovering Ceylon" by R. L. Brohier: A tank in Hambantota, now called Magama wewa, was in ancient days called, "Pandi Kulam", "Ooru Situ Wewa" in Sinhalese. This plus the fact that there were many Tamils fighting on the side of King Dutthagamani, are evidence that Ruhunu was in the hoary past the homeland of Tamils. The Hindu element in King Dutthagamani, prompted him to pray to the Dravidian god at Kathir Kamam to endow him with strength to defeat King Elara in battle.
There are no nayakes in North India. Senanayake Bandaranayake, Dahanayake, Alahakone, Kulathunge, Gooneratne, Goonesinghe are obviously Tamil names.
Mudliar W. F. Gunawardene: The Sinhala Language is primarily a Dravidian language. The structural foundation is Dravidian, the super structure is Aryan.
Dr. C. E. Godakumbure. The Sinhala Grammar "Siddhasangrawa" is based on the Tamil Grammar, "Virasoli".
Rev Fr. S. Gnanapragasar (Philologist): There are more than 4000 Tamil words in the Sinhala vocabulary " eg. Amma, Maama, Aapa, Idiaapa, Pittu, Kudai, Kadai, Panthu, Padi, Murunga, Bandakka, kuppameni, Adathoda, Hatta, Seruppu, Malai, Padakkama, Jeela, Para etc.
Greeks who came for trade during the early Christian era, traded not with Sinhala people but with Tamils " this fact is evident from Tamil words in the Greek vocabulary, eg. Arisi-Rice-Oryze, Sakkara-Sugar-Sachcharine; Tokai-Peacock-Togai etc.
Tamil/Hindu element is patent in the life-style, religious practices, culture, customs etc of the Sinhalese. They pray with great piety to Hindu gods, perform rituals, break coconuts, tie the pirith noola, surei, lay foundations for buildings at auspicious times, light the khoodu for Bhairava, hang ash pumkins in a newly built house to avoid evil befalling any member of the house-hold, carry kavadi, walk on red hot cinders. Even on poya days, Buddhists offer poojas at Kathir Kamam, offer poojas to goddess Saraswaty. They observe Tamil New Year Day, April 14, as their New Year Day.
The dichotomy of the Sri Lankans as Aryans and Dravidians is unwarranted, mischievous and it breeds hatred. The Sinhalese and Tamils are children of one mother. Disputing that fact is wickedness. The entire Sri Lanka is the traditional homeland of both the Sinhalese and the Tamils.
According to Dr. W. I. Suraweera, the Sinhala consciousness expressed today in the concept that Sri Lanka is the land of the Sinhala people of Aryan descent, does not derive from the island"s history. It is a myth, that has developed to legitimise the claim of the Sinhalese to sole ownership on this country.
The Mahawamsa raises the curtain with the reign of King Devanampiyatissa, despite the fact that there was a long line of Tamil Hindu kings ruling Lanka before him.
In the manner Christian missionaries converted Buddhists and Hindus to Christianty, Arahat Mahinda converted Tamil Hindus to Buddhism. The vehicles of the Buddha Dhamma were Pali and Sanskrit languages. With the admixture of Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit languages, evolved the Sinhala language and the Sinhala race. The term "Sinhala" (Lion in Pali) is mentioned for the first time in the Divipavamsa in 5. A. D. and that too only once.
The Mahawamsa was written in the 5th-6th A. D. in Pali because at that period, the new language "Sinhala" was still in the offing and as such was not suitable for the compilation of a treatise of great importance.
Monk Mahanama who appeared eight hundred years (5AD-6AD) after Arahat Mahinda converted Tamil Hindus to Buddhism, observing two religious groups " Hindus, speaking Tamil and Buddhists speaking the language that had evolved from an admixture of Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit " and hatched the story of Vijaya and his 700 followers, with the sole objective of projecting the Buddhists, as the descendants of Vijaya and his followers and at the same time dubbing them as Aryans. Monk Mahanama was probably not aware that the inhabitants of Bengal were not Aryans but Mongoloid Dravidians.
Tamils of Ruhunu, Rajarata and Mayarata became Sinhalese after 246 BC, i.e. during the reign of Sinhalese and Tamil kings. Tamils of the South Western coastal belt became Sinhalase when the country was under European rule. Tamils on Negombo, Kochchikade, Chilaw and Kalpitiya became Sinhalese after Ceylon attained Independence i.e. under Sinhalese rule. Are these neo-Sinhalese Dravidians or Aryans? Or is it that inSri Lanka, any person who opts Sinhalese as mother tongue ipso facto is an arya Sinhalese? No Sinhala king, during the 2000 years of history, claimed that he was of Aryan dynasty. How then could the populace claim to be Aryans? Sinhala expatriates in the west, Middle East and in South East Asia are looked upon by the nationals of those countries, not as North Indians but as South Indians. There are some Sinhalese and Tamils with fair complexion: That may be due to miscegenation with successive waves of European conquerors from the 16th century onwards.