Tamraparni
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Tamraparni is an ancient region of southern India, corresponding to the area of a Tamraparni river, in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Alternatively, it is also supposed to correspond to the area of Sri Lanka, Tamraparni then being the equivalent of the Greek name for the island: "Taprobane" [1].
Tamraparni is mentioned in particular in the Edicts of Asoka, as one of the areas of Buddhist proselytism in the 3rd century BCE:
- "The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka)." (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).
In the third book of Yoga Vasishtha [ca. 10th century CE] a huge catalogue of military forces includes mention of "tamraparNakas" [note the different vowel]; but these are in the company of troops from Kashi and Gonardas [from Kashmir], which would place them in a more northerly quarter. In HK transliteration:
[edit] Notes
- ^ "The Tamraparna division of the Navakhanda and the Taprobane of the Greeks are one and the same indicating Ceylon. The name meaning in the sanskrit (copper leaved) is again all probability a corruption by Sanskrit Travellers of Poruni which also means toddy. The river in Tinnevelly called by the Sanskrit authors ambrapurny, like the Ceylon island, is called to this day by the Tamuls Poruni or the toddy river ; which appears decisive of the point. Tambrapurny is not known to the real Tamuls of Tinnevelly. The Greeks called this river solen or chank river but not Taprobane. Later Sanskrit authors have erroneously derived the division of the Navakhanda from this small river instead of this island. The latter was its true derivation" Manual of Madras Presidency, Vol. I ; p. 1. Source
Yoga Vasishtha, NAG Publ., 1998; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dict., "gonarda"
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