Few questions (vEL pAri) by N.Ganesan dated 1/10/97

[Alvappillai Veluppillai]

About the derivation of MaTTakkaLappu( Batticaloa in English in Ilankai) -
whether it could be a town in plain fields -the problem needs a long
exposition.
What I mentioned earlier is the explanation, recorded in the MaTTakkaLappu
MAnmiyam (M.M). Some people now guess that it could be connected to maTTi
oyster, found in abundance in the Lagoon. There are people, explaining like
Ganesan, the origin of this word. But it is not the city that has given the
name to the district.
MaTTakkaLappu is now the name of a city as well as a district in Sri Lanka
from 1960's. Upto that time, AmpARai district to the south and the
south-west of Batticaloa, also formed part of MaTTakkaLappu district.
The history of Batticaloa begins in the Tamil villages of the present day
AmpArai district. Not merely M.M, but even inscriptions, both in stone and
copper, deal with matters in villages in the present AmpARai district.
KaNNaki ( Patni) worship is very popular among the Tamil Hindus throughout
the two districts and recorded traditions about the worship speak of the
worship, spreading from the Tamil villages in the present AmpARai district
to the Tamil villages in the present truncated Batticaloa district.
The first Professor of Tamil in any university in the world - Swami
VipulAnaNdA - in ANNAMalai University from 1930 -hailed from KAraitIvu, a
Tamil village in the present AmpARai district.
At the time of Independence in 1948, the Tamils and the Tamil speaking
Muslims constituted 90% of the population of the Batticaloa district. There
has been massive Sinhala colonization in AmpARai district and the latest
population ratio seem to be 41% Sinhala : 40 % Tamil speaking Muslim : 19 %
Tamil in what was originally MaTTakkaLappu.
The city, located at the point where the sea enters the lagoon, owes its
creation to the Portuguese in early 17th century, who established a
fortified trading post there. Its earlier name was PuLiyankuLam.
Paddy fields abound in both districts -the economic base of the region.
Regards,
A.Veluppillai