Abstract:
Archaeological studies, historical literature and archaeological heritage confirm that
Northern Sri Lanka has an ancient and continuous history of no less than 2,500 years. The
Pāli sources which recorded the history of Sri Lanka do not provide a balanced record of
the history of all the regions of Sri Lanka in an equal manner. However, Northern Sri
Lanka has been mentioned as “Nāgadīpa (m)” since the ancient time and as “Nāgadīpam”
and afterwards as “Uttara - desa” since the 7th Century A.D. Archaeological and literary
sources state that Northern Sri Lanka was uniquely denoted as “Nāgadīpa(m)” and
afterwards as “Uttara - desa” even before the common era i.e. B.C. Confirming this
further, a gold plate inscription belonging to the 3rd – 4th centuries, found at Vallipuram
in 1936, speaks of a Buddhist Vihara found at “Nakātiva” and confirms that the pāli
literature was identified as the Nāgadīpa (m) of Northern Sri Lanka. Thus, Northern Sri
Lanka referred as “Nāgadīpa (m)” in Pāli and “Nāgativa” in Prakrit was identified as
“Nākapūmi” and “Nāganātu” which is proved by the archaeological sources and
literatures of īḻam and Tamil Nāṭu. These sources show that names such as Nāgadīpa (m),
Nākapūmi, and Nāganātu were used to identify Northern Sri Lanka until 13th century.
Accordingly, this study reveals the importance of archaeological studies carried out in
Northern Sri Lanka (Nāgadīpa (m)), a region with its unique traditional history since
ancient times in the history of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the hypotheses of this study stresses
on the importance of archaeological excavations carried out so far in Northern Sri Lanka
in understanding the history of Sri Lanka and whether major archaeological studies in
Northern Sri Lanka have reread the history of Sri Lanka. The primary objective of the
research that is based on the afore mentioned hypothesis, is to study the importance of the
archeological excavations carried out here so far in revealing the ancient history of
Northern Sri Lanka or in allowing the history of Northern Sri Lanka to be redefined. It
further focuses in identifying the role of Northern Sri Lanka in the history of
archaeological research of Sri Lanka. In order to fulfill these research objectives, the study
has taken the research reports, articles and books published based on the archaeological
research conducted in the said area as the primary sources, while data collected through
observation of the archaeological sites and archaeological evidences are treated as as
secondary data, and thereby the primary and secondary data has been considered in the
analysis.
