Nainativu நயினாதீவு නාගදීපය | |
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 Nagapooshani Amman Kovil | |
  Nainativu | |
| Coordinates:9°36′0″N79°46′0″E / 9.60000°N 79.76667°E /9.60000; 79.76667 | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Northern |
| District | Jaffna |
| DS Division | Island South |
Nainativu (Tamil:நயினாதீவுNainatheevu,Sinhala:නාගදීපයNagadeepa),[1][2] is a small but notable island off the coast ofJaffna Peninsula in theNorthern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the folklore inhabitants, theNaga people.It is home to theHindu shrine ofNagapooshani Amman Temple; one of the prominent 64Shakti Peethas, and theBuddhist shrineNagadeepa Purana Viharaya.
Historians note the island is mentioned in the ancientTamilSangam literature of nearbyTamil Nadu such asManimekalai where it was mentioned asManipallavam (Tamil:மணிபல்லவம்), and ancient Buddhist legends of Sri Lanka such asMahavamsa.Ptolemy, a Greek cartographer, describes the islands around the Jaffna peninsula asNagadiba (Greek:Ναγάδιβα)[3] in the first century CE.[4][5][6]
Nāka Tivu / Nāka Nadu was the name of the wholeJaffna peninsula in some historical documents. There are number of Buddhist myths associated with the interactions of people of this historical place withBuddha.[7] The two Tamil epics of the second century -Kundalakesi andManimekalai - describe the islet ofManipallavam of Nāka Nadu, this islet of the Jaffna peninsula, from where merchants came to obtaingems andconch shells.[8] The protagonists of the former story by Nathakuthanaar, visited the island. In the latter poem bySīthalai Sāttanār, the sea goddess Manimekhala brings the heroine to the island, where she worships Buddha. She is also told of the petrosomatoglyph atop the mountain of the main island and a magic bowl Amudha Surabhi (cornucopia bowl) that appears once every year in a lake of the islet.
TheManimekhalai and theMahavamsa both describe Buddha settling a dispute between two Naga princes over a gem set throne seat on an island known asManipallavam orNagadeepa, identified as Nainativu by several scholars.[9] TheTamil language inscription of the Nainativu Hindu temple byParâkramabâhu I of the 12th century CE states that foreigners landing at new ports must meet atKayts and they must be protected, and if ships to the islet carrying elephants and horses get shipwrecked, a fourth of the cargo must go to the treasury.[10]
The epicManimekalai tells the story of the Chola king Killi who on a visit to the island fell in love with the naga princess Pilivalai, the daughter of king Valaivanan of Manipallavam. The prince born out of this union wasTondaiman Ilamtiraiyan. When the boy grew up the princess wanted to send her son to the Chola kingdom. So she entrusted the prince to a merchant who dealt in woolen blankets called Kambala Chetty when the latter's ship stopped in the island. During the voyage to the Chola kingdom, the ship was wrecked due to rough weather and the boy was lost. He was later found washed ashore with a Tondai twig (creeper) around his leg. So he came to be called Tondaiman Ilam Tiraiyan meaningthe young one of the seas or waves. When he grew up the northern part of the Chola kingdom was entrusted to him and the area he governed came to be called Tondaimandalam after him. He is considered by some scholars to be the progenitor of the Pallava dynasty and the dynasty he founded took its name after the native place of his mother, that is Manipallavam.[11][12][13]
Naga people were snake-worshippers, aDravidian custom, and spokeTamil based onPtolemy's description of the Naga people.[14][15] They also likely spokePrakrit, a language of the school ofAmaravathi village, Guntur district with which the early Tamils of Jaffna had strong cultural relations during the classical period. The Nākas were a branch of the Dravidian community, and were at that time part of theChera kingdom, and of ancientTamilakam.Archaeological excavations and studies provide evidence ofPalaeolithic inhabitation in the Tamil dominated Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka and in Tamil Naadu and Chera Naadu (Kerala region). The findings include Nāka idols and suggest thatserpent worship was widely practised in the Dravidian regions of India and Sri Lanka during themegalithic period.[16][17][18][19][20]
The Nākas lived among theYakkha,Raksha andDeva in Ceylon according to theManimekalai andMahavamsa. Cobra worship, Tamil speech andKeralan cuisine extant in Jaffna Tamil culture from the classical period attests to the Nāka's heritage.
Sangam literature details how the ancient Tamil people were divided into five clans (Kudi) based on their profession during the Sangam period, where theNāka clan, who were in charge of border security guarding the city wall and distant fortresses, inhabited theCoromandel Coast - South Tamil Nadu, East Tamil Nadu and North Sri Lanka. The name Nāka was either a corrupted version of the word Nayinaar or may have been applied to this community due to their head covering being the shape of a hydra-headed cobra in reverence to their serpentine deities. Ancient Tamil epic Manimekalai and the Sri Lankan history bookMahavamsa both mention a dispute between two Naga kings in northern Sri Lanka.[21] Some scholars derives the origin of thePallava dynasty ofTamilakam from an marriage alliance of theCholas and theNaga fromJaffna Peninsula.[22] This incident is mentioned in theTamil epic,Manimekalai.[23]
According to scholars did theNaga people, also known asNayanair, assimilate toTamil language and culture, forming one of descendants of theSri Lankan Tamils.[24][25] They continue to worship their patron Nayinaar deity (a five headed cobra) and Nagapooshani Amman even today within thesanctum sanctorum of theNainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple.[26]
The population of the island is approximately 2,500Sri Lankan Tamils and about 150Muslims. Many Tamils of Nainativu origin, live in various cities and towns of India, Europe, Australia, and North America as part of theSri Lankan Tamil diaspora.[27]
Other obvious identifications are Nagadiba with Nagadipa or Nakadiva (the Jaffna peninsula) and Rhogandanoi with the inhabitants of Rohana (Ruhuna).
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