Tamraparni

Tamraparni (Tamil/Sanskrit) is an ancient name of a river proximal to Tirunelveli of South India and Puttalam of Western Sri Lanka. A toponym, "Tamraparniyan" is eponymous with the socio-economic and cultural history of this area and its people. Movement of people across the Gulf of Mannar during the early Pandyan and Anuradhapura periods, between the Tirunelveli river of Pothigai, Adam's Peak and the estuary of the Gona Nadi/Kala Oya river of Northwest Sri Lanka, Java and Sumatra led to the shared application of the name for the closely connected region's culture. The entire island of Sri Lanka itself was known in the ancient world as "Tamraparni", with use dating to before the 6th century BC. It is a rendering of the original Tamil name Tān Poruṇai of the Sangam period, "the cool river Porunai".

From the Tamilakam era, the area of the Tamraparni river, in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, has had name modifications, from the original Tān Poruṇai river in the Eṭṭuttokai anthlogy, meaning "the cool river Porunai", to Tān Poruṇdam then Tamira Porunai, to Tamraparni then Tambraparni and now called Thamirabarani River. A meaning for the term following its derivation became "copper-colored leaf", from the words Thamiram (copper/red) in Tamil/Sanskrit and parani meaning leaf/tree, translating to "river of red leaves". According to the Tambraparni Mahatmyam, an ancient account of the river from its rise to its mouth, a string of red lotus flowers from sage Agastya at Agastya Malai, Pothigai hills, transformed itself into a damsel at the sight of Lord Siva, forming the river at the source and giving it its divine name. At Pothigai, Agastya taught Tamil grammar and learned the Tamil language from deities. The shrine to Agastya at the Pothigai hill source of the river is mentioned in both Ilango Adigal's Silappatikaram and Chithalai Chathanar's Manimekhalai epics. Similarly, the Sanskrit plays Anargharāghava and Rajasekhara's Bālarāmāyaṇa of the ninth century refer to a shrine of Agastya on or near Adam's Peak, the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka, from whence the river Gona Nadi/Kala Oya flows into the Gulf of Mannar's Puttalam Lagoon. Other name derivations eventually applied to the entire island of Sri Lanka include the Pali term "Tambapanni", "Tamradvipa" of Sanskrit speakers and "Taprobana" and "Taprobane" of ancient Greek and Roman cartographers. Etymologically related are the terms "Tamraparna" and "Tambarattha".Robert Knox reported from his 20 years of captivity on the island in the hills that "Tombrane" is a name of the Sri Lankan Tamil people for God in Tamil, which they often repeated as they lifted up their hands and faces towards Heaven".

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