And so it goes on, 1,200 years later, the complex working-out of the relationships that we see embodied in Tara, between Sinhalese and Tamil, between Sri Lanka and south India, between Buddhists and Hindus.
Marine biologist and Greenpeace campaigner, Thilo Maack , has been looking at the intricate links between these waters, its wildlife and the fundamental role they play in Earth's carbon cycle.