South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c8.5

c8.5

¹ Talabbilla on the Ceylon side was apparently the haven forming part of, or perhaps some little way from, Manthote. Talabbilla on the Pāṇḍyan side seems meant for the haven which is nowadays called Puḷiyaḍiśālai, two to three miles straight east from what is called Gaṇḍamādana Parvata; itself two miles north by east of the town of Rāmēśvaram. I make this identification, as in the locality there is current the tradition regarding a Kandyan monarch who built the sanctum of the temple at Rāmēśvaram. This is confirmed by certain inscriptions in the sanctum itself. This monarch got all the stones for the building dressed and fitted in Kandy, and brought them over to be landed at a convenient port thence to be carried over to Rāmēśvaram for the building, the island itself offering no stone quarry for the purpose. Some of these were brought in duplicates, the unused among which are said still to lie in the harbour Puḷiyaḍiśālai. The Gaṇḍamādana Parvata itself carries two foot-prints. These are pointed out as Rama's foot-prints there. But the character of the structure and the footprints themselves seem to indicate that the structure was intended to be a Buddhist shrine which the Ceylon General himself may have built during the occupation of the island. I am not aware of any worship of Rama's feet except the worship of the sandals which he left behind with his brother Bharata according to the Rāmāyaṇa when he went into exile, as a memento of his during his absence in the forests. The distance from there to Parākrama-paṭṭaṇa, the fortified camp of Laṅkāpura would work out correctly on this basis.