In any case at that time and until recently people in Lanka were more loyal to their caste group than any other form of community. Sinhala royalty always thought it is better to marry someone from Tamil royalty than to a lower caste person from Sinhala kingdom. This thinking was not confined to the royalty but common to almost all caste groups. Even today such thinking exists in spite of Sinhala vs Tamil national clashes. I explained all these in order to show that Tamil or Sinhala nation as we know today did not exist in the past.
Nation building is a relatively new phenomenon.
It means that a community with the same language and tradition will unite to work democratically. This is the positive sides of an emerging nation, its ability to break down caste and other parochial barriers to unite a community with equality and fraternity. In the recent past we saw the emergence of several nationalities in Lanka. Sinhala nationality emerged with the temperance movement under Anagaarika Dharmapaala. Parallel to this there were movements launched by Aarumuga Naawalar and Siddhi Lebbe.