Elara (monarch) - Influence

Influence

The Mahavamsa contains numerous references to the loyal troops of the Chola empire and portrays them as a powerful force. They held various positions including taking custody of temples during the period of Parakrama Bahu I and Vijayabahu I. There were instances when the Sinhalese kings tried to employ them as mercenaries by renaming a section of the most hardcore fighters as Mahatantra. According to historian Burton Stein, when these troops were directed against the Chola empire, they rebelled and were suppressed and decommissioned. But they continued to exist in a passive state by taking up various jobs for livelihood. The Valanjayara, a sub-section of the Velaikkara troops, were one such community, who in the course of time became traders. They were so powerful that the shrine of the tooth-relic was entrusted to their care. When the Velaikkara troops took custody of the tooth-relic shrine, they renamed it as Mūnrukai-tiruvēlaikkāran daladāy perumpalli. There are also multiple epigraphic records of the Velaikkara troops. In fact it is their inscriptions, like for example the one in Polunnaruva that are actually used to fix the length of the reign of Sinhalese kings; in this case Vijayabahu I(55 years). Therefore, since present day Tamils in Sri Lanka, have links to this king and to the Chola empire, Tamil nationalists started using Elara as a historical basis/link to legitimize and authenticate their claims to a historical presence in the island. In this connection Tamil separatist groups have used Elara as an iconic figure (or 'Ellara' or 'Ellalan' as pronounced by Tamil people) to identify themselves with. For example, LTTE has used the term 'Ellalan Force' to identify their armed wing in certain situations, when they did not want to use the identity 'LTTE'.