Some ten miles North West of Trincomalee off the Trincomalee - Horowupothana road, is an ancient Buddhist shrine with origins dating back to the years before the second century. I first visited this shrine in 1975 in the company of a villager from the area that seemed to know its history. He informed me that Velgam Vehera also known as Natanar Kovil was a unique shrine because it had been protected by both Sinhalese and the Tamils. This aroused my interest and made me study the history of this shrine in some detail. It is a historical fact that among the many ancient Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka Velgam Vehera also called Natanar Kovil by the Tamils stands out as the only known example of a "Tamil Vihara or Buddhist Palli" or as the late Dr. Senerath Paranavithana described it in his delightfully informative book "Glimpses of Ceylon’s Past" as a "Buddhist shrine of the Tamil people". An inscription on a rock halfway up the hill on the summit on which are the remains of a stupa belongs to the reign of Batiya Maharaja or King Bhatika Tissa II (circa 149 A.D.). It records the gift of revenue from certain fields to the Abagara Vihara (Abhagiri or Amaragiri Vihara) at Velgama by a General named Abaya. Dr. Paranavithana was of the view that this record proved that the name by which the shrine was known in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and as Velgam Vehera, had come down from the second century at the latest. It was his view that the date of the original foundation of the Vihara was no doubt considerably earlier than the reign of King Bhatika Tissa II. When the Cholas came to Sri Lanka on their campaign of conquest in the reign of King Rajaraja I (circa 992 A.D.) they unleashed a ruthless strategy of destruction. The Cholas were the inveterate enemies of the Buddhists. They laid waste the ancient Buddhist shrines with great relish in order to demoralise and subjugate the Buddhist communities that had grown around these beloved places of worship. But when they came to Velgam Vehera even the fanatical and cruel Cholas could scarce forbear to treat this ancient shrine with the utmost respect. They extended their patronage and protection to this Vihara, renovated the buildings and renamed the shrine after the greatest of the Chola Monarchs (Rajaraja I) as Rajarajaperum Palli. To quote Dr. Paranavithana " The inscriptions mostly in Tamil which were noticed at the site when it was buried in jungle gave its old name as Rajarajaperum Palli. It was thus clear that the Buddhist Vihara at this place was fortunate enough in securing the protection and patronage of the Cholas. Many historic Buddhist monasteries at Anuradhapura and other places in the island were pillaged and destroyed or neglected or abandoned but this Vihara on the eastern seaboard had not only been suffered to exist but had also been renamed after the great Chola Emperor who added Ceylon to his domain. The earlier Sinhalese name had not been forgotten. Where reference