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CHAPTER XI
(SECTION I) NAME KHĀRAVELA-ITS ETYMOLOGY
Regarding the derivation and explanation of the name Khāravela, K. P. Jayaswald explains it as a combination of two distinct words -khāra' meaning 'saltish' and 'vela' meaning 'waves', viz. 'one whose waves are brackish' and hence is equivalent to 'ocean'. Prof. S. K. Chatterji' prefers to explain it in the sense of kāda-vilvan, viz., the black lancer-kāda being the same word as the Sanskrit kțishna which means black. Dr. D. C. Sircar, however, does not quite agree with this derivation. Kāļavela occurs in the Mahāvamśa' as the name of a Yakkha (Yaksha) and in the Jātaka Commentarys as the name of a village in Ceylon—the spelling, in the latter case, being Kālavela. The word Kālavela is also met with in the Mahāniddesa where it is explained in the sense of 'one who speaks words befitting the occasion.'
"Khāra is the same word as Kāla or Kțishņa, and vela is an equivalent to vilva, cf. uruvela-uruvilva”, writes Barua. He further says that whatever the sense in which
1. JBORS, Vol. III, Pt. IV, p. 434. 2. Qtd. Barua, OBI, p. 267. Also, SI, Vol. I, p. 211.
3. "The name Kbāravela has been derived from Dravidian kār (black, terrible) and vela (lance), meaning 'one having a black or terrible lance." I do not regard it quite satisfactory, at least not more satisfactory than ksbāra (salt) and vela (sea-shore) 'one belonging to (or living on or ruling over) the salty sea-shore.” Dr. D. Sircar, Dy. Director of Epigraphy, Govt. of India, Ootacamund, vide D. O. No. 376. A/2289 dt. 30. 8. 1955 addressed to the author.
4. IX, 23. 5. Fausboll, VI, p 30 ; 'Kālavelavāsi." 6. OBI, p. 267.
7. Ibid.
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