Tambapaṇṇi untranslated

Tambapaṇṇi. The name given to that district in Ceylon where Vijaya landed after leaving Suppāraka (Mhv.vi.47; Dpv.ix.30). It is said to have been so-called because when Vijaya’s followers, having disembarked from the ship, sat down there, wearied, resting their hands on the ground, they found them coloured by the red dust that lay there. Later on Vijaya founded his capital in Tambapaṇṇi, and following that the whole island came to bear the same name (Dpv.vii.38-42). Tambapaṇṇi was originally inhabited by Yakkhas, having their capital at Sirīsavatthu (q.v.). The Valāhassajātaka (Ja 196, Ja.ii.129) speaks of a Tambapaṇṇisara. According to the Saṁyutta Commentary, the Tambapaṇṇidīpa was one hundred leagues in extent (ii.83; but in VbhA.p.444 it is spoken of as tiyojana satika).

Anurādhapura formed the Majjhimadesa in Tambapaṇṇidīpa, the rest being the Paccantimadesa (AN­a.i.265).

In Asoka’s Rock Edicts II. and XIII. Tambapaṇṇi is mentioned as one of the Pratyanta deśas, together with Coḍa, Pāṇḍya, Satiyaputta, Keralaputta, and the realm of Antiyaka Yonarāja, as an unconquered territory with whose people Asoka was on friendly terms. Vincent Smith identifies this, not with Ceylon, but with the river Tāmraparṇi in Tinnevelly (Asoka (3rd edn.), p.163; but see Ind.Ant., 1919, p.195f).

Tambapaṇṇī. An irrigation channel built by Parakkamabāhu I. It flowed northwards from the Ambāla tank. Cv.lxxix.50.