Tissanayagam family

[1] There is also a tradition in the area of Mathakal that it was the landing spot of Vijaya of Kalinga (ancient Orissa) when he and his followers first arrived in Sri Lanka around 543 BC.

This article deals with the documentary evidence that is available with family as well as traditions that were passed down verbally as was the custom of the people of Northern Sri Lanka and India.

Perera entitled "New Insights for Locating the ancient city of Thambapani" presented at the 11th conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia.)

According to the Mahavamsa Sangamiththa their disembarked with her precious cargo, a branch of the Great Bodhi tree, under which Buddha had attained Nibbana at the ancient port of Jambukola which is today identified as the tiny haven of Sambilthurai on the periphery of the village of Mathakal.

In an article titled "Nagadipa & Buddhist remains in Jaffna" by Dr Paul E. Pieris published in the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch)[10] the distinguished scholar and historian says "Its stands to reason that a country which is only 30 miles from India and which would have been seen by fisher men every morning as they sailed out to catch their fish would have been occupied as soon as the continent was peopled by men who understood how to sail.

I suggest that the North of Ceylon was a flourishing settlement centuries before Vijaya was born" As one approaches the Jaffna peninsula from the Indian coast, it is said that three prominent headlands become visible to a sailor.

Father Gnanapragasar in his study of the Place Names of Jaffna has come to the conclusion that the term Mathakal is derived from the Sinhala word "Meda-gala" the middle or central head-land.

There is also the tradition that here was received a stone image of Parvati, reminiscent of which is its alternate name, Matha-kal, literally stone-mother, simplified into Mathakal.

"[12] Dr. P. Ragupathy is his book The Early Settlements of Jaffna also identifies Sambilthurai with "the famous port of Jambukola, mentioned in the Pali chronicles where Sangamittha landed with the saplings of the sacred Bo tree".

In the recent past the Government of Sri Lanka has built a Dagaba and a Vihara and erected a statue of Sangamiththa in the proximity of Mathakal.

According to a tradition in the Tissanayagam family, their progenitor Tissanayake Mudali was descended from the Vellalar Chieftain who married princes Vethavalli.

He claimed he was a direct descendant of Vaiya Puri Ayer the court port of the Arya Chakravarthi's, which would make the latter too an inhabitant of Mathakal.

According to a tradition in the village of Mathakal, Tissanayake Mudaliyar who lived during Dutch times was descended from a Vellala Chieftain who had married a princess of Jaffna.

Arrayed around "Manan Pulam" were lands with thombu names such as Kuthirai Kulipati (stables), Thannakkadi (elephant stables), Vannan kinathadi (settlement of washermen) Pallan Kulakkaral (settlement of Palla slaves) and Parrachi Tharai (land of the Paraya slaves),which showed that the service castes were settled around to attend to the needs of the Mudaliyar's family.

One such land was called "Ammai Pangu"( the portion of the dower of the matriarch), and the other was named "Alahiya Nachchiyar Vayal" ( the field of the beautiful princess).

They are: In the late 1880 Murugesar Vaithianathan the great-grandson of Tissanayaka Mudaliyar and the direct male ancestor of Mohan Tissanayagam, sold up most of his ancestral lands in Mathagal.

Later he purchased a large extent of land along what is known today as the Kandy Road, Chudikuli, adjoining St John's College on one side and "Old Park" (the residence of the Government Agent) on the other.

Some of the actions of the Portuguese not only disrupted time honoured traditions, but also the rigid social structure that had existed in Jaffna under its native rulers.

The missionary zeal of the Portuguese resulted in many conversions to Christianity, from Prince Paranirupasinghe the puppet king and his court, right down to humble peasants and fisher folk.

In an attempt to re-establish the old order, they conferred the title of Irumarupuntuuya on Don Juan Kumarakulasinghe Mudaliyar in 1756 "in recognition of his position as the only representative, both through the paternal and maternal lines, of the last legitimate king of Jaffna, whose family was allied by marriage to the contemporary Singhalese dynasties".

The title Irumarapuntuuya in Tamil could be translated as: "Pure on both blood lines" which means that the recipient's paternal and maternal lineage are impeccable.

One of his ancestors received the title "Irumarupuntuyya Kumarakulasinghe Mudaliyar" from the Dutch Government in 1756, in recognition of his position as a direct descendant of the ancient kings of Jaffna.

His father was a well known scholar and writer of Tamil verse and is mentioned in Arnold’s "Galaxy of Tamil Poets" The family is old and distinguished, tracing descent from an ancient Jaffna King, in acknowledgement of which social position, the Dutch Government in 1756 conferred on an ancestor of the Maniagar, the title of Irumarupuntuyya"[26]In the preface of the book the author categorically states the following: "But I must also state that I have not permitted any persons to influence the facts-and opinions if any, in this publication.

I have also had to contend against obstruction from a small coterie of Chief Headsman whose claims to aristocratic descent and distinguished antecedents I have not been prepared to concede.

According to the Vaibava Malai,[27] Ugrasingha of Kalinga a descendant of King Vijaya's brother, boldly carried away princess Maruthap-pira-vika-villi as he was struck by her beauty.

The grant of Nallamapaanan the Vaniar of Pannankaman, made in Dutch times appoints Kantha Udayar of Vilankulam as mudaliyar of Kilakumulai.

On his appointment Kantha Udayan, an ancestor of the family, who was awarded many privileges, takes the name off "Ticai Vilangu Nayake Mudali".