Tamraparni (Sanskrit for "withcopper leaves"[1] or "red-leaved"[2]) is an older name for multiple distinct places, includingSri Lanka,Tirunelveli in India, and theThamirabarani River that flows through Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.
Therock edicts of the 3rd century BCE Indian emperorAshoka mention the word Tamraparni (as "Tambapanni") in connection with his foreign missions.[3] One edict states that hisdhamma vijaya (victory throughdhamma) prevailed in frontier kingdoms of the Choda (Cholas), Pada (Pandyas), and as far as Tambapanni.[4] This seems to be a reference to Sri Lanka, as the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka mention that a port city called Tammapanni was established there during the reign of the legendary kingVijaya. The city was called "Tammena" during the reign of Vijaya's successorPanduvasdeva and "Tammapanni" during the reign of Ashoka's missionary sonMahendra. According to these chronicles, the place was so called because its dust stuck to Mahendra's skin, making him appear copper-coloured. The name was subsequently applied to the entire island of Sri Lanka.[3]
According to one theory, "Taprobane", an ancient Greek name forSri Lanka, is derived from the word "Tamraparni".[2] The name may be a reference to the "copper colored" shores of Sri Lanka, and may have entered Greek via thePali "Tambapanni".[5]Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador to Ashoka's grandfatherChandragupta, describes Taprobane as being separated from the mainland by a river, and as being "more productive of gold and large pearls than India." This seems to be a reference to Sri Lanka.[3] In the world map drawn by the ancient Greek (Claudius Ptolemaeus "Geographia", 150 CE), a huge island located south of the Indian subcontinent is referred to by the Greek as "Taprobane", which modern historians identify as the island of Sri Lanka.[6]
The name "Tamraparni" was applied to Tirunelveli and the river flowing through it relatively later, after having been used as a name for Sri Lanka.[3] HistorianR. Champakalakshmi theorizes that the Sanskrit word "Tamraparni" and Prakrit word "Tambapanni" are renderings of theTamil language words "Tan porunai".[7] According to this theory, theThamirabarani River was originally known as "Tan Porunai" (literally "cooltoddy").[8] This name of the river occurs inEttuthokai, the ancient Tamil anthologies.[9]
Tambapanni and Tamra- parni are in fact the Prakrit and Sanskrit rendering of Tamil "Tān Porunai" (Champakalakshmi 1967—68).
The river in Tinnevelly called by the Sanskrit authors Tambrapurny, like the Ceylon island, is called to this day by the Tamuls Poruni or the toddy river ; which appears decisive of the point.
