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'''Tamraparni''' ([[Sanskrit]] for "with [[copper (color)|copper]] leaves"<ref>{{cite book |author=Wendy Doniger |title=The Hindus: An Alternative History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNsXZkdHvXUC&pg=PA665 |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-959334-7 |pages=665 }}</ref> or "red-leaved"<ref name="EdwardGrey_2010">{{cite book |editor=Edward Grey |title=Travels of Pietro Della Valle in India: From the Old English Translation of 1664 |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GAewGKxcLp4C&pg=PA110 |year=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01493-9 |page=110 }}</ref>) is an older name for multiple distinct places, including [[Sri Lanka]], [[Tirunelveli]] in India, and the [[Thamirabarani River]] that flows through Tirunelveli.

== As a name for Sri Lanka ==
{{See also|Names of Sri Lanka}}

The [[Edicts of Ashoka|rock edicts]] of the 3rd century BCE Indian emperor [[Ashoka]] mentions the word Tamraparni (as "Tambapanni") in connection with his foreign missions.<ref name="JS_1928"/> One edict states that his ''dhamma vijaya'' (victory through [[Ashoka's policy of Dhamma|dhamma]]) prevailed in frontier kingdoms of the Choda ([[Cholas]]), Pada ([[Pandyas]]), and as far as Tambapanni.<ref>{{cite book |author=Shailendra Kumar Verma |title=Art And Iconography Of The Buddha Images |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxjqAAAAMAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=Eastern Book Linkers |isbn=978-81-86339-16-9 |page=164}}</ref> This seems to be a reference to Sri Lanka, as the Buddhist chronicles of Sri Lanka mention that a port city called Tammapanni was established there during the reign of the legendary king [[Prince Vijaya|Vijaya]]. The city was called "Tammena" during the reign of Vijaya's successor [[Panduvasdeva of Upatissa Nuwara|Panduvasdeva]] and "Tammapanni" during the reign of Ashoka's missionary son [[Mahinda (Buddhist monk)|Mahendra]]. According to these chronicles, the place was so called because its dust stuck to Mahendra's skin, making him appear copper-coloured. The name was subsequently applied to the entire island of Sri Lanka.<ref name="JS_1928">{{Cite web |url=http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ENG/sen.htm |title=Asoka's mission to Ceylon and some connected problems |access-date=2019-07-17 |publisher=The Indian Historical Quarterly |author=Jyotirmay Sen }}</ref>

According to one theory, "[[Taprobane]]", an ancient Greek name for [[Sri Lanka]], is derived from the word "Tamraparni".<ref name="EdwardGrey_2010"/> The name may be a reference to the "copper colored" shores of Sri Lanka, and may have entered Greek via the [[Pali language|Pali]] "Tambapanni".<ref>{{cite book |author=Jamsheed K. Choksy |chapter=Iranians and Indians on the shores of Serendib (Sri Lanka) |editor1=John Hinnells |editor2=Alan Williams |title=Parsis in India and the Diaspora |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywV9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-06752-7 |page=181 }}</ref> [[Megasthenes]], a Greek ambassador to Ashoka's grandfather [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]], describes Taprobane as being separated from the mainland by a river, and as being "more productive of gold and large pearls than India." This seems to be a reference to Sri Lanka.<ref name="JS_1928"/> In the world map drawn by the ancient Greek (Claudius Ptolemaeus "Geographia", 150 CE), a huge island located south of the Indian subcontinent is referred to by the Greek as "Taprobane", which modern historians identify as the island of Sri Lanka.<ref>W. J. Van Der Meulen, ''[https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/53585/INDO_18_0_1107131341_1_40.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Suvarnadvipa and the Chryse Chersonesos]'', Indonesia, Vol. 18, 1974, page 6.</ref>

== As a name for the river ==

The name "Tamraparni" was applied to Tirunelveli and the river flowing through it relatively later, after having been used as a name for Sri Lanka.<ref name="JS_1928"/> Historian [[R. Champakalakshmi]] theorizes that the Sanskrit word "Tamraparni" and Prakrit word "Tambapanni" are renderings of the [[Tamil language]] words "Tan porunai".<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Leelananda Prematilleka |editor2=Sudharshan Seneviatne |title=Perspectives in archaeology: Leelananda Prematilleke Festschrift, 1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxluAAAAMAAJ |year=1990 |publisher=Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya |page=90 |quote=Tambapanni and Tamra- parni are in fact the Prakrit and Sanskrit rendering of Tamil "Tān Porunai" (Champakalakshmi 1967—68).}}</ref> According to this theory, the [[Thamirabarani River]] was originally known as "Tan Porunai" (literally "cool [[palm toddy|toddy]]").<ref>{{cite journal |title=Journal of Tamil Studies |journal=International Institute of Tamil Studies |date=1973 |volume=Tamil Philoligy |issue=3–4 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mRkAAAAMAAJ&q=taprobane+toddy |access-date=27 May 2019 |quote=The river in Tinnevelly called by the Sanskrit authors Tambrapurny, like the Ceylon island, is called to this day by the Tamuls Poruni or the toddy river ; which appears decisive of the point. }}</ref> This name of the river occurs in [[Eight Anthologies|Ettuthokai]], the ancient Tamil anthologies.<ref>{{cite book |author=John R. Marr |title=The Eight Anthologies: A Study in Early Tamil Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0CzAQAACAAJ |year=1985 |publisher=Institute of Asian Studies}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://metta.lk/pali-utils/Pali-Proper-Names/tambapanni.htm Tambapanni]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pre Anuradhapura period]]
[[Category:Names of Sri Lanka]]

Tamraparni - Revision history

->Colin M: Restored revision 1015269280 by Tom.Reding (talk): Unlikely that this change satisfies WP:INTEGRITY, and it links to a dab page

imported>Tom.Reding: +{{Authority control}} (1 ID from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on