Maldives substratum

[N. Ganesan]

Prof. C. Maloney writes that he did not know about the substratum in
the Maldives when he wrote his paper, The beginnings of Civilization
in South India, J. Asian studies, 1970, p. 603-

Regards,
N. Ganesan

------------------------------------------------------
Where Did the Maldives People Come From?
By Clarence Maloney

Full article at:
http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/iiasn/iiasn5/insouasi/maloney.html

[...]
"The Maldives people are a clear ethnic category,
having a unique language derived from Sinhala but
grafted on to an earlier Tamil base, and they have a
homogeneous cultural tradition. In early medieval
times they followed the Sri Lanka type of Buddhism,
but in 1153 were converted to Islam by order of their
ruler."

[...]
"What was not known previous to my research in the
early 1970s, is that there is a strong underlying
layer of Tamil population and culture. So far, most
Divehis have not shown themselves interested in
accepting this finding, as it does not suit their
sense of their prestigious origins. Be that as it
may, the evidence is overwhelming. There is a clear
Tamil substratum in the language, which also appears
in place names, kin terms, poetry, dance, and
religious beliefs. This is actually Tamil-Malayalam,
as up to about the 10th century when the Malayalam
language acquired a separate identity, what is now
Kerala was considered to be part of the Tamil area.
There are numerous references in the Tamil Sangam (1-3
century) and medieval literature to kings of Kerala
having ships, conducting invasions by sea, and ruling
the northern part of Sri Lanka. People of Kerala
settled the Lakshadvip Islands, and evidently viewed
the Maldives as an extension of them. There is a
Maldivian epic about Koimala, who is said to have come
from India, bringing with him his royal lineage,
landed on a northern atol, and then made Male his
capital. The name koi is from Malayalam koya, son of
the prince, which is also the name of a high caste
group in the Lakshadvip Islands. Koimala has now
become a generalized eponymous ancestor of the
pre-Muslim Divehis." [...]

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