Kudiramalai :Mystery of a buried city
By Dr. Wimal Guneratne
R.L. Brohier’s book, Discovering Ceylon, first published in 1973, states that there had been an ancient settlement close to Kudiramalai, now buried under the sand. Brohier writes that the first to discover this habitation was surveyor H.G.A. de Silva in 1923 while doing a topographical survey for the Survey Department off the north western shores of the island. The map makes reference to an “ancient harbour, well and ruins”.
Subsequently Brohier had visited the site and found three ancient wells, large amounts of broken bricks, plates, pottery, water collecting vessels and other household items between the surface sand layer and the underlying lime stone layer. The eroding sea has made it easy to observe these artifacts.
Three of my friends and I were interested in seeing this unexcavated archeological site and on March 25, we set out early from the Mahawewa bungalow, Wilpattu. The site is about 40 km from Mahawewa and it took us about three hours to reach Kudiramalai, a popular place for visitors to Wilpattu.
On the way we visited the ruins of Kuveni’s palace. According to legend, princess Kuveni lived in this palace and ruled Kali Villu, which is the present Wilpattu area. No archeological excavations have been done to confirm whether these ruins are of a palace. It took us about one hour to travel from Kuveni’s palace to Kudiramalai.
Kudiramalai, the famous ancient port city, lies in the north western coast between Mannar and Puttalam. It is in the northern most part of the Puttalam district and is within the Wilpattu national park. The natural harbour which opens into the Gulf of Mannar, world famous for its pearl banks, was named “Hipporus” harbour by the ancient Greeks.
According to the Mahawamsa, when Prince Vijaya and his companions were close to the Sri Lankan shore, they saw a mountain and sailed towards it, landing close to it. According to Brohier, the only mountain visible to the sea on the north western sea coast is the Kudiramalai Mountain. He had gone out to sea and made this observation. After landing Prince Vijaya and his companions rested on the shore and observed that their hands were reddish due to the red coloured sand. Thus he named the country “Tambapanni” which means copper coloured. This name is still used by the locals to refer to the area.
According to history and legend, the northwest of Sri Lanka was governed by Malabar kings of India in ancient times. During that period, Alli Arasani, a famous Malabar Queen, also called Alisabrani, or Aliran had governed this area and it is said that her palace and settlement was close to Kudiramalai. During this time she traded pearls found in plenty in the famous “pearl banks” for horses, brought by Arab traders. It is believed that the name Kudiramalai meaning horse mountain was derived from this horse trading. According to legend, Queen AlliArasani’s palace and settlement was buried following a cyclone or a tsunami.
During the reign of Emperor Claudius, a Roman tax collector by the name of Annius Placamus was caught up in a storm while in the Red Sea and blown off the coast of Arabia, landed at the Kudiramalai harbour. This is believed to be during the reign of King Chandamukasiva. It is possible that Prince Vijaya landed here as well. The Roman historian Pliny mentions about the “Hipporus” harbour and also about a settlement in close vicinity to a hill, which is most likely the Kudiramalai Mountain. According to the Bible (Old Testament 1 Kings 10:22) during the reign of King Solomon, (around 1000.B.C.) ships came to Tarshish and took sandalwood, gems, ivory, gold, silver and peacocks. French Biblical scholar Samuel Bochart is of the view that Tarshish was Kudiramalai.
After visiting Kudiramalai we travelled southwards along the Mannar Puttalam road for about 3 km. to reach Pallugathurai. After 3km further south we arrived at Kollankanatta. Both these are migrant fisher villages. According to Brohier there were three ancient wells and eroding ruins between Pallugaturai and Kollankanatta. We walked a few hundred yards along the sea shore towards Pallugaturai and were amazed to find broken bricks, pottery, building materials, between the top sandy layer and the coral layer as mentioned by Brohier in his book “Discovering Ceylon”. At one spot we observed the walls of a large building being eroded by the sea. The walls were very thick and the building must have been large, it may have even been a palace. Several other walls of buildings were washed away by the erosion. We were informed that the three wells mentioned in Mr. Brohier’s book were washed away to the sea some time back. The sea shore is being rapidly eroded and most of the buildings covered by sand will be washed away in a short period of time. There is no doubt that an ancient settlement with large buildings lie buried between Kollankanatta and Pallugaturai close to the sea shore. If archeological excavations are not done soon, we will not be able to find out what this buried city is.
Several large ancient cities mentioned in Mahawamsa have not yet been discovered. Tambapanni, Uruvela, Upatissagama, Ujjeni and Vijitha are the more important ones.
The city of Uruvela founded by King Vijaya’s chieftain may be this buried city. It can be supported by several facts:
The Mahawamsa says that, Uruvela was five yojanas (40 miles) west of Anuradhapura. The site mentioned is also about 40 miles from Anuradhapura.
Fishermen of Uruvela, which had been a port city and situated close to the pearl banks had donated pearls and corals when Ruwanweliseya was constructed in 100 B.C. In Ptolemy’s 3rd century map of Taprobana, a port city by the name of Margana is prominently marked in the north western coast. B.J.Perera in his study of “The Ports of Ancient Ceylon” states that Margana and Uruvela are the same. (Ceylon Historical Journal vol. 1.)
Mahawansa mentions that Valli Vehera built by King Suba in 60-67 A. D. is close to Uruwela. Valli Vehera has been discovered by the Archaeological Department and is close to the site.
Pomparippu, the ancient urn burial ground, which was discovered by R.L. Brohier in 1923 is also close to the site and is estimated to have 10,000 to 12,000 burials and may have been the burial ground of Uruvela.
Alternatively, this could be the settlement and palace of Queen AlliArasani, which was situated close to Kudiramalai, and this buried city may well have been built by her. Or it could be Tambapanni, the first city and capital of Sri Lanka founded by King Vijaya close to Kudiramalai.
It is very important to identify this place for Sri Lankan history. One has to see for oneself the buried eroding city. I hope the Archaeological Department will enlighten us.