.
The question of the ancestry of both ethnic groups is of great importance as it is often used to feed nationalism and has become an integral aspect of actual conflict. It is an issue that is still discussed intensively, each group defending his own arguments. The Sinhalese argument is founded on many different aspects. First of all, they feel that if the Tamils did arrive before the Sinhalese, why is it that now there are only two million Tamils, while the Sinhalese, subject to decimation by recurrent epidemics of malaria and at the hands of South Indian invaders, have become a population of thirteen million? Second, the Sinhalese also find it unlikely that they would have established a kingdom around 400 B.C. in Anuradhapura and later in Polonnaruwa, when being surrounded by two kingdoms, one on the north and one on the east. Third, large Buddha Dahobas and many inscriptions on stones which tell the deeds of the Sinhalese kings have been built in Kantharodai, in the heart of the Jaffna Peninsula and in the eastern provinces. If these areas had been under Tamil rule before the arrival of the Sinhalese, these structures would not exist. Many Sinhalese historians support the overall argument, such as that of historian D.C. Vljayawardena who stated: "The history of Sri Lanka is the history of the Sinhalese race The nation seemed designed primarily to carry aloft for fifty centuries the torch that was lit by the great World-Mentor (Buddha) twenty-five centuries ago ." (1953: 35).
On the other side, we have the claims of the Tamils. Since there is no existence of any historical documents that can prove their specific arrival on the island, perhaps this can be seen as a weakness of their argument. However, just like with the Sinhalese, there are historians that support the Tamil community, such as Paul. E. Pieris, who stated: " it stands to reason that a country which was only thirty miles from India and which would have been seen by Indian fishermen, would have been occupied as soon as the continent was peopled by men who understood how to sail .
