Origins of The Vijaya Clan
The arena associated with the legend of Vijaya and his followers may be in Singhapur (Simhapura or Singur), in the Lala Rattha (Lata Rashtra). The country is identified with the modern Rarh region of West Bengal, India still called Lala/Larh or Rarh/Larika of Ptolemy. Lala is referred to as Lata-desa in Sanskrit texts. Al Biruni calls it Lardesh to the extreme hilly west of Bengal where Hooghly district and modern Singur is located. There is however an epic reference to one Sinhapura kingdom with little historical proof, located on the upper Indus which shared borders with Ursa, Abhisara, Bahlika, Darada and Kamboja. Seventh century Chinese pilgrim Hiun Tsang also refers to this Simhapura (Sang-ho-pu-lo) and locates it on upper Indus, in Gandhara (north—west Punjab) which might be a namesake like there were many Koshala or Ganga kingdoms in various parts of India. Scholars have identified it above Salt Range. Yet another Sinhapura is referred to in Gujarat and has been attested to in the Charter of the Maitraka King Dhruvasena I (525 AD-545 AD). Its modern name is 'Sihore' (Sinhore)/Sihor of Kathiawad. There is also an ancient place name 'Hingur' located 40 miles east from the apex of Indus Delta but any of these have little evidences to be a relic of the ancient Sinhapura of the Sinhalese traditions (Hingur < Singur < Singhpur < Sinhapur).
It was thought by some early historians that the Republican Gramaneyas of Sabhaparva of Mahabharata may have been the ancestors of the Sinhalese. The original home of the Gramaneyas seems to have been the Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja, but the people shifted to lower Indus and then, after defeat by Pandava Nakula, to Saurashtra Peninsula, centuries prior to common era. There they seem to have founded a principality in Saurashtra Peninsula, centuries prior to common era which they named Sinhapura probably to commemorate their past connections with Sinhapura of Gandhara/Kamboja. In all probability, Vijaya and his 700 followers, the earliest known Aryan speakers of the island either belonged to the 'Sihore' (Sinhapura)/Sihor of Kathiawad (in Bhavnagar district) or else to Hingur (Sinhapura) east off the Indus delta from where they had sailed to Sri Lanka and settled there as colonists suggesting ancient links of Northwest Kambojas with Sri Lanka.
Oriya scholars claimed Simhapura was the same as the ancient capital of Kalinga in modern-day Odisha. Nissanka Malla's inscriptions mention Simhapura as the capital of Kalinga. The Yalpanavaipavamalai, a Jaffna Tamil text written in the 18th century by Mayilvakanapulavar mentions a King Ukkirasingan, whom Oriyas identify with Kalinga Magha of the Culavamsa as being a descendant of Vijaya's brother who remained in India though concrete evidences not found. And major drawbacks of all the hypotheses except east Indian town of Singur was they all lacked ancient developed ports like Tamralipta through which voyages to Sri Lanka would have been possible.
Read more about this topic: Prince Vijaya
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