Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SŪTRA [Ch. VIII mentioned in other Jaina, Buddhista and Brāhmaṇical works, epigraphic records and foreign accounts. The land of the Damilas is referred to in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as Damirica which is the same as Limirike of Ptolemy, that is, Tāmilakam, a region lying to the south of the river Tungabhadrā extending upto Cape-Comorin.
This clearly reveals that the Damilas were the Dravidian: of the past and the Tamilas of the present day.
Simhalis (Ceylonese)
The Sinhalīs were the people of ancient Ceylon with its capital at Anuradhapura They are also mentioned in the ancient Buddhist texts and epigraphic records' as a distinct race living in an island country.
According to the tradition recorded in the Mahāvarías and Dipavansa this island country is known as Sīhaladdīpa after the name of Vijayasimha, the famous Indian adventurer from Simhapura in Lăta, and her people are called Simhalīs (Lion-tribe).
The Simhalese chronology commences also with the landing of Vijayasimha which synchronizes with the demise of Lord Buddha in 483 B. C.
It appears from the above facts that there had been waves of immigration to Sinhala from ancient India and her cultural and commercial relation with that country since a long time. In course of this relation some slave girls might have been imported from there to India to be employed in the service of the royal and rich aristocratic families of North-Eastern India,
1 Brhatkalpa-Bhasya 1. 123. · Dipavamsa ; Mahāvamsa ; Cullavamsa ; Sasana-vansa--33. 9 Mahabharata-Ch. 118. 4; Bhāgavat Purāna--IV. 28. 30. 4 Nagarjunikunda Inscription of Virapurisadatta, 14th regnal
year. & Periplus of the Erythraean Sea : Ptolemy's Ancient India. . Mahavamsa, VI-VIII; Dipavamsa, IX. ? Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta ; Vide, Select
Inscriptions of Dr. D. C. Sirkar. 8 Mahavamsa, VI-VIII, 9 Dipavamsa, IX.