Vanni Nadu

Last updated
Chiefdom of Vanni

Vanni Nadu
12th–1803 [1]
Sri Lanka geopolitics - after "Spoiling of Vijayabahu".png
Sri Lanka in the 1520s
Common languages Tamil
Religion
Hinduism
GovernmentChiefdom
History 
• Rise of the Vanniyars
12th century
• Vanniyar Rebellion
1782
• Death of last Vanni ruler Pandara Vanniyan
31 October 1803 [2]
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Nandi flag.png Kingdom of Jaffna
British Ceylon Flag of Ceylon (1875-1948).svg

The Vanni Nadu (Tamil : வன்னி நாடு, lit.  'Vaṉṉi nāṭu') [3] were feudal land divisions ruled by chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdom's golden age and the collapse of the Rajarata kingdom. The chieftaincies developed in sparsely settled areas, and were ruled by Vanniars. An extension of the Jaffna kingdom's territory, the chiefs of the Vanni Nadu were, for most of their existence, tribute-paying subordinates to Jaffna. At 1621, the Jaffna Kingdom was conquered by the Portuguese and the Vanni chiefs became tributaries of the Portuguese Ceylon. The Portuguese colony in Sri Lanka was later taken over by the Dutch. During the Dutch rule it came to Vannian resistances against the colonial rule, one of these was the rebellion of Pandara Vanniyan. Allied with the Kingdom of Kandy, Pandara Vanniyan fought with guerrilla tactics against the Dutch and British. At 1803, he was defeated by Lt. von Driberg and Vanni fell into hands of the British. [4] Vanni had been reincorporated with Jaffna Peninsula to form the Malabar Coylot Vanni country which later became the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.

Tamil language language

Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is an official language in three countries: India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. In India, it is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Furthermore, Tamil is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India.

Literal translation, direct translation, or word-for-word translation is the rendering of text from one language to another one word at a time with or without conveying the sense of the original whole.

Sri Lanka Island country in South Asia

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.

Contents

Vanniar

Vanniar or Vanniyar was a title used by tribute-paying feudal chiefs in medieval Sri Lanka. It was also recorded as the name of a caste amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the Vanni District of northern Sri Lanka during the early 1900s. [5] [6]

Caste form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a lifestyle often including occupation, status in a hierarchy, customary social interaction, and exclusion, existing in various regions including South Asia

Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanization and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in female populations of ants and bees.

Sri Lankan Tamils Ethnic group

Sri Lankan Tamils, also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils in Tamil, are members of the Tamil ethnic group native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. According to the anthropological and archaeological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils have a very long history in Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since at least around the 2nd century BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan Tamils claim descent from residents of Jaffna Kingdom, a former kingdom in the north of the island and Vannimai chieftaincies from the east. They constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

The Vanni, also spelled Wanni, is the name given to the mainland area of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It covers the entirety of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts, and most of Kilinochchi District, and has an area of approximately 7,650 square kilometres (2,950 sq mi). The population and infrastructure of the Vanni were devastated by the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Origin theories

The Vannimai ruling class arose from a multi-ethnic and multi-caste background. According to primary sources such as the Yalpana Vaipava Malai , some were descended from Vanniyar caste immigrants from modern Tamil Nadu, whereas others were of Mukkuvar, Karaiyar, Vellalar and other caste origins. [5] [6] [7] [8] Some scholars conclude the Vanniyar title as a rank of a local chieftain which was introduced by the Velaikkarar mercenaries of the Chola dynasty. [9]

Yalpana Vaipava Malai is a book written by a Tamil poet named Mayil Vaakaanar in Tamil மயில் வாகனார் 1736. This book contains historical facts of the early Tamil city of Jaffna. The book which may have been written around 1736 during the Governorship of Jan Maccara, the then Dutch Governor of Jaffna. It was translated from Tamil by C. Brito, and was first published in 1879. The work is looked upon as one of great authority among the Tamils of Jaffna.

Tamil Nadu State in Southern India

Tamil Nadu, is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian subcontinent and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiri Mountains, the Meghamalai Hills, and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait on the southeast, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. The state shares a maritime border with the nation of Sri Lanka.

Karaiyar is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste found mainly on the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora.

Some Sri Lankan historians derive the title Vannimai from the Tamil word vanam, meaning "forest", with Vannia or Wannia meaning "person from the forest", and Vannimais being large tracts of forested land. [6]

Feudal chiefs

Tamil chronicles such as the 18th-century Yalpana Vaipava Malai and stone inscriptions like the Konesar Kalvettu recount that the Chola royal Kankan, a descendant of the legendary King Manu Needhi Cholan of Thiruvarur, Chola Nadu, restored the Koneswaram temple at Trincomalee and the Kantalai tank after finding them in ruins. Kankan visited the Munneswaram temple on the west coast of Sri Lanka, before settling in the east of the island. According to the chronicles, he extensively renovated and expanded the shrine; he was crowned with the ephitet Kulakottan, meaning Builder of Tank and Temple. [10] [11] [12] In addition to this reconstruction, Kulakottan paid attention to agriculture cultivation and economic development in the area, inviting the Vanniar chief Tanniuna Popalen and other families to a newly founded town in the Thampalakamam area to maintain the Kantalai tank and the temple itself. [13] As a result of his policies, the Vanni region flourished. The Vanniar claim descent from this chief. [13] [14] [15] Modern historians and anthropologists agree as historically factual the connection of the Vanniars with the Konesar temple, and some cite epigraphical evidence to date Kullakottan's renovations to 432-440 AD. Others cite poetic and inscriptional evidence to date his renovations to as early as 1589 BC. [13] [16]

Thiruvarur Town in Tamil Nadu, India

Thiruvarur also spelt as Tiruvarur is a town and municipality in Tiruvarur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Tiruvarur district and Tiruvarur taluk. The town was one of the five traditional capitals of the Chola empire, with one of the emperors of the dynasty, Kulothunga Chola I, having it as his capital. The town is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, Later Pandyas, Vijayanagar Empire, Marathas and the British. The town is known for the Thyagaraja temple, and the annual chariot festival held in the month of April. The temple chariot of the Thyagaraja temple, weighing 300 tonnes (660,000 lb) and measuring 90 feet (27 m) tall is the largest temple chariot in Tamil Nadu. Thiruvarur is the birthplace of Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri, popularly known as the Trinity of Carnatic music of the 18th century CE.

Chola Nadu region in India

Cauvery Delta or Central Tamilnadu or Delta Nadu or modern day Chola Nadu is a region of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. It encompasses the lower reaches of the Kaveri River and its delta, and formed the cultural homeland and political base of the Chola Dynasty which ruled most of South India and parts of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia between the 9th and 13th centuries AD. Uraiyur served as the early Chola capital, then medieval Cholas shifted to Thanjavur and later cholas king Rajendra Chola I moved the capital to Gangaikonda Cholapuram in the 11th century.

Thampalakamam Town in Sri Lanka

Thampalakamam is a town in the Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka and it is located about 20 km South-West of Trincomalee. It is also known as Tampainakar in Tamil chronicles written during the 17th century. Portuguese colonial officers who came to the general area after 1622 with the destruction of the Koneswaram temple, described the village as prosperous and large. It was the seat of government of medieval feudal lords of the area who had control over a region called Tampalakamam Pattu. It became the refuge of Hindus and their idols that were saved from the destruction of the temple of Koneswaram. Ati Konanayakar a successor temple was constructed in Thampalakamam. During the Sri Lankan civil war in the 1980s and 1990s the village and the surrounding area were severely affected, leading to massacres and depopulation. The village was resettled after 2002.

After the re-rise of the Tamil kingdoms and the demise of the Rajarata after the twelfth century AD, many petty chiefs took power in the buffer lands between the northern Jaffna Kingdom and the southern kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy. These petty chefs paid tribute to the Jaffna Kingdom. Sometimes they were independent of any central control, or were subdued by the southern kingdoms for strategic advantages, before eventually being restored. Many kings and chiefs with titles such as Vannian or Vannia ruled in northern areas of modern Sri Lanka during the Jaffna era. [17] Some of the Vanni chieftains were immigrants from southern India, and ruled over a populace known as rate-atto in Sinhalese. The Vanni chieftains ruled following local custom, supported by a coterie of local officials. Their rule had a noticeable influence on the language of the local populace. [18]

Medieval Cholas

Medieval Cholas rose to prominence during the middle of the 9th century CE and established one of the greatest empires of India. They successfully united South India under their rule and through their naval strength extended their influence in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. They had trade contacts with the Arabs in the west and with the Chinese in the east.

Rajarata

Rajarata [rā dja ra tə] was one of three historical regions of the island of Sri Lanka for about 1,700 years from the 6th century BCE to the early 13th century CE. Several ancient cities, including Tambapanni, Upatissa Nuwara, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, were established as capitals within the area by successive rulers. Rajarata was under the direct administration of the King. Two other areas, Malayarata and Ruhunurata, were ruled by the king's brothers "Mapa" and "Epa". The Magha invasion in the 13th century brought about the end of the Rajarata kingdom.

Jaffna Kingdom former country

The Jaffna Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula traditionally thought to be established after the invasion of Magha, who is credited with the founding of the Jaffna kingdom and is said to have been from Kalinga, in India. Established as a powerful force in the north, north east and west of the island, it eventually became a tribute paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1258, gaining independence in 1323, when the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by Malik Kafur, the army general of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate. For a brief period, in the early to mid-14th century, it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka when all regional kingdoms accepted subordination. However, the kingdom was eventually overpowered by the rival Kotte Kingdom, around 1450 when it was invaded by Prince Sapumal under the Kotte Kingdom's directive.

Northern chieftaincies

1692 engraving by Wilhem Broedelet of Robert Knox's 1681 map of northern Sri Lanka. MapofEelamTamilcountryengraving1692.jpg
1692 engraving by Wilhem Broedelet of Robert Knox's 1681 map of northern Sri Lanka.

Among the medieval Vanni cheftaincies, those of Panankamam, Melpattu, Mulliyavalai, Karunavalpattu, Karrikattumulai, Tennamaravadi and Trincomalee in the north of the island were incorporated into the Jaffna Kingdom. Hence Vanni Nadu just south of the Jaffna peninsula and in the eastern Trincomalee district usually paid an annual tribute to the northern kingdom instead of taxes. The tribute was in cash, grains, honey, elephants, and ivory. The annual tribute system was enforced due to the greater distance from Jaffna. [6] [17] [19] [20] The arrival of the Portuguese to the island caused a brief loss of some of Jaffna's territory. Queirós, an historian of Portuguese origin, says of the Jaffna kingdom:

"This modest kingdom is not confined to the little district of Jaffnapatnam because to it are also added the neighboring lands and those of the Vanni which is said to be name of the lordship which they held before we obtained pocession of them, separated from the proceeding by a salty river and connected only in the extremity or isthamus of Pachalapali within which the lands of Baligamo, Bedamarache and Pachalapali forming that peninsula and outside of it stretch the lands of Vanni. Crosswise, from the side of Mannar to that of Triquillemele, being separated also from the country of Mantota in the jurisdiction of Captain of Mannar by the river Paragali; which ends in the river of the Cross in the midst of the lands of Vanni and of others which stretch as far as Triquillemele which according to the map appears to be a large tract of country". [21]

which indicated the kings of Jaffna just prior to capitulation to the Portuguese had jurisdiction over an area corresponding to the modern Northern Province of Sri Lanka and parts of the northern half of the eastern province and that the Portuguese claimed these based on their conquest. [22] Following Portuguese defeat by the Dutch, the Mannar, Jaffna islands and the Vanni lands were reincoporated into the Tamil Coylot Wannees Country by the early 18th century.

Western and Eastern chieftaincies

Vannimais in the Batticalao and Puttalam districts were under the control of chiefs of Mukkuvar origin. Puttalam was under Jaffna kingdom sovereignty in the 14th century, where it served as the second capital of the kingdom during the pearl fishing season. With the strengthening of Portuguese influence in the Kandyan and Kotte kingdoms, Vannimais in the eastern Batticaloa and Ampara districts came under the nominal control of the Kandyan Kingdom after the sixteenth century, although they had considerable autonomy under their chiefs. The Vanni Chieftaincy in the Puttalam districts came under the control of Kotte Kingdom. [5] [6] [19] By the 18th century, the Batticaloa and Ampara (Panova) chieftaincies had been reincorporated into the Malabar Coylot Wanees Country.


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Kulakkottan

Kulakkottan was an early Chola king and descendant of Manu Needhi Cholan who was mentioned in chronicles such as the Yalpana Vaipava Malai and stone inscriptions like Konesar Kalvettu. His name Kulakkottan means Builder of tank and temple. He was son of Vararamatevan who said to have been ruler of Chola Nadu and Madurai. The historian Rasanayagam states that Vararamatevan and Kulakkottan arrived in Trincomalee during the reign of king Pandu of Anuradhapura. Vararamatevan found the Koneswaram temple destroyed by the buddhist king Mahasena and decided to restore it, which was later continued by his son. Kulakkottan was credited for restoring of the ruined Koneswaram temple and tank at Trincomalee in 438, the Munneswaram temple of the west coast, and as the royal who settled ancient Vanniyars in the east of the island Eelam.

References

  1. ↑ "Grave stone of Pandara Vanniyan". www.canadamirror.com.
  2. ↑ "Grave stone of Pandara Vanniyan". www.canadamirror.com.
  3. ↑ Holt, John (2011-04-13). The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. p. 85. ISBN   0822349825.
  4. ↑ Daya Somasundaram, Scarred Communities: Psychosocial Impact of Man-made and Natural Disasters on Sri Lankan Society, p.52
  5. 1 2 3 McGilvray, Mukkuvar Vannimai: Tamil Caste and Matriclan Ideology in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, p.34-97
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Karthigesu, Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics, p.7-9
  7. ↑ McGilvray, Dennis B. (2008-05-07). Crucible of Conflict: Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka. Duke University Press. p. 156. ISBN   0822341611.
  8. ↑ Arasaratnam, Sinnappah (1996-01-01). Ceylon and the Dutch, 1600-1800: External Influences and Internal Change in Early Modern Sri Lanka. n Variorum. p. 422. ISBN   9780860785798.
  9. ↑ Guṇavardhana, Raṇavīra; Rōhaṇadīra, Măndis (2000). History and Archaeology of Sri Lanka. Central Cultural Fund, Ministry of Cultural and Religious Affairs. p. 210. ISBN   9789556131086.
  10. ↑ Schalk, Peter (2002). "Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-colonial Tamilakam and Ilam: Prologue. The Pre-Pallava and the Pallava period". Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala University. 19-20: 159, 503.
  11. ↑ Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar (1994). "Tamils and the meaning of history". Contemporary South Asia. Routledge. 3 (1): 3–23. doi:10.1080/09584939408719724.
  12. ↑ Pillay, K. (1963). "South India and Ceylon". University of Madras. OCLC   250247191. The Tamil stone inscription Konesar Kalvettu details King Kulakottan's involvement in the restoration of Koneswaram temple in 438 A.D.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. 1 2 3 Pridham, Charles (1849). "Trincomalee - Its Early History". An historical, political, and statistical account of Ceylon and its dependencies. London: T. and W. Boone. pp. 544–546. OCLC   2556531.
  14. ↑ Sivaratnam, C (1968). "Tamils in early Ceylon". OCLC   248358279. As for cultivators he got fifty one tribes of Vanniyars, a caste of agriculture experts from the Pandyan coasts... on the invitation of Kulakoddan in c 493 for the noble purpose of cultivating the land at Tambalakamam.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ↑ Arumugam, S (1980). "The Lord of Thiruketheeswaram, an ancient Hindu sthalam of hoary antiquity in Sri Lanka". Colombo. OCLC   10020492. Kulakottan also paid special attention to agricultural practice and economic development, the effects of which made the Vanni region to flourish ; temples were cared for and regular worship instituted at these,Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ↑ Pathmanathan 2006 , pp. 62
  17. 1 2 Peebles, History of Sri Lanka, p.31-32
  18. ↑ "Book review of Spoken Language of Nuwarakalaviya". D.G.B.de Silva. Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  19. 1 2 Gunasingam, Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, p.53
  20. ↑ "Vannimai". University Of Madras, Tamil Lexicon. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  21. ↑ De Queyroz, The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon, Vol. I, p. 51.
  22. ↑ Tambiah, Laws and customs of Tamils of Jaffna, pp. 62–3.

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