Gokarna in Trincomalee, Mantota in Mannar and Dambakolapattuna in Jaffna, among other sea-ports of Sri Lanka, had been great ports of ancient Three Sinhala since 543 B.C. Trincomalee or Gokanna or Gokarna or Siri Gonamala as the ancient sea-port town was recorded in the historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, is the harbor where Prince Panduvasudeva, King Vijya’s nephew sailed into Sri Lanka from Sinhapura, India. “Badda Kachchayana who later became the queen of King Panduwasdeva (505-474 B.C.) with her party of royal maidens too landed in Siri Gonamala harbor. She was a sister of Prince Digha, the founder of Dighavapi.In an essay entitled, Aryan settlements and early kings, published in the Concise History of Ceylon by Sri Lanka’s foremost historian a pre-eminent archeologist Dr. Senarath Paranavithana writing about the king who ruled Ceylon (Sri Lanka) after the first king Vijaya said, “Panduvasdeva with thirty two followers, it is said, arrived in Ceylon in the guise of mendicant monks. They landed at the mouth of the Mahakandara River at the port of Gokanna, the modern Trincomalee according to the commentator of the chronicle (Mahavamsa)”.
E. T. Kannangara, in “Jaffna and the Sinhala heritage” wrote, Trincomalee during the periods of the Sinhala kings was one of the chief trading centers in Sri Lanka. Sri Gokarna, Siri Gokanna, Sri Gonapura, Siri Gonamala, Gonagamaka Pattana, Gonagama-Patuna, and much earlier Gokannatitta were some of the names attached to this place in the chronicles. The present Sinhala name Thirikunamala is apparently a derivation from Siri Gonamala. The conversion of the name follows the pattern that Sinhala names Somapura, Kokavila, Mampe and Valigama Madakalapuva being converted into Sampur, Kokuvil, Manipay, Valikamam and Mattakalapu.
The conversion of Gokarna to ‘Tirukonamalai’ first appears in a Tamil inscription dated to 10th or 11th century A.D. Buddhist Vihara at Gokanna called Sri Gokarna Vihara built in the reign of King Mahasen (276-303 A.C.) was the earliest religious edifice in Trincomalee. Being on a rock it was also called Vehera Gala (Vihara on a rock). Gokanna Buddhist Vihare temple was expanded by King Agbo V (718-724 AD) and demolished by the Portuguese to build a fortress in the 16th century. Gokanna Vihare is one of the 74 Buddhist sites identified at Trincomalee district by the Department of Archeology of Sri Lanka. Swami Rock, the highest point in Fort Frederick is an ancient site where there had been Buddhist shrines.
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