Kudiramalai (, ) is a
cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
and ancient port town on the west coast of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
On the
Gulf of Mannar
The Gulf of Mannar ( ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of . near Silavaturai, the town shares a history with nearby Karaitivu Island, the ancient port town of
Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places:
India
* Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala
Sri Lanka
* Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka
** Mannar Island, an island within the district
**Mannar Bridge, a bridge connect ...
and the
Ketheeswaram temple
Ketheeswaram temple ( ta, திருக்கேதீசுவரம் Tirukkētīsvaram) is an ancient Hindu temple in Mannar, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest temple in Sri Lanka with at least 1400 years of evidence. Overlo ...
. Kudiramalai is the northernmost point of
Puttalam District
Puttalam is a district situated near to the west coast of Sri Lanka. It has an area of . Along with the Kurunegala District, it formulates the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The district capital is Puttalam, which borders the Kala Oya and ...
and was a southern port of Mannar during the classical period, serving the northern kingdoms of the Jaffna Peninsula and
Vanni country as one of their southernmost border towns. It is west of Vanni from
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
, home of
Koneswaram temple.
Rulers included
Alli Raani, Korran, his father (Pittan) and contemporaries,
Athiyamān Nedumān Añci Athiyamān Nedumān Añji was one of the most powerful Velir kings of the Sangam period, Sangam era who ruled the region called Mazhanadu, a part of
ancient Kongu Nadu and the great dynasty called Chera Dynasty.''Śrī puṣpāñjali, page 125'' ...
and his son Kumanan. Traders brought several horses on watercraft to the island during the
Sangam period
The Sangam period or age (, ), particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka (then known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 6th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. ...
. The port was known as ''Hippuros'' by Pliny (Nat. Hist. Book 6, 24). Archaeological excavations have found that Kudiramalai was inhabited from the first century BCE to the seventh century CE.
History
Classical period
Kudiramalai shares the legends of the Tamil queen
Alli Raani with Mannar; during her rule, major changes to the western coastline occurred. According to legend, she often travelled from Kudiramalai to Mannar and traded Mannar pearls for horses from Arabia; this is how the port town acquired its name. Although the
Gulf of Mannar
The Gulf of Mannar ( ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of . inundated much of Kudiramalai in a
cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
or
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
, a portion of the walls of Queen Alli's palace are still visible. An ancient, cave-like structure is at the upper part of the palace wall's entrance. According to
Alexander Johnston, he had a history of Queen Alli (who ruled northwestern Sri Lanka 1,800 years before him).
The
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
chief Korran, a commander-in-chief of the
Chera dynasty under King Makkotai, ruled Kudiramalai during the first century BCE. An avid horseman and patron of poets, he was known as ''Kattuman Korran'' ("Horseman Korran"). Korran's father was Pittan, another Chera chief. His name is sometimes written Pittan-Korran, following the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
naming convention in the ''
Tolkāppiyam
''Tolkāppiyam'', also romanised as ''Tholkaappiyam'' ( ta, தொல்காப்பியம், ''lit.'' "ancient poem"), is the most ancient extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil literature. The surviving manus ...
''.
Korran oversaw trade with
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
,
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
,
Serica
Serica (, grc, Σηρικά) was one of the easternmost countries of Asia known to the Ancient Greek and Roman geographers. It is generally taken as referring to North China
North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geogr ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. Inscriptions in
Tamil-Brahmi
Tamil-Brahmi, also known as Tamizhi or Damili, was a variant of the Brahmi script in southern India. It was used to write inscriptions in the early form of Old Tamil.Richard Salomon (1998) ''Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscription ...
script from the first century BCE to the first century CE bearing his name (''Korra-Puman''; Korra the Chieftain) were found in an
amphora
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
fragment at the Roman port of
Berenice Troglodytica
Berenice Troglodytica, also called Berenike (Greek: ) or Baranis, is an ancient seaport of Egypt on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is situated about 825 km south of Suez, 260 km east of Aswan in Upper Egypt and 140 km south o ...
in present-day Egypt. Korran's rule is described at length in the ''
Purananuru
The ''Purananuru'' (, literally "four hundred oemsin the genre puram"), sometimes called ''Puram'' or ''Purappattu'', is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the last of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam literatu ...
'' and he is eulogised in several
Sangam poems. He ruled the region with two other chieftains: Elini Athiyamān Nedumān Añci and Kumanan. Chief Elini of Kudiramalai is described at length in the ''Purananuru'' and ''
Akanaṉūṟu
The ''Akananuru'' (, literally "four hundred oemsin the akam genre"), sometimes called ''Nedunthokai'' (''lit.'' "anthology of long poems"), is a classical Tamil poetic work and one of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam liter ...
''.
French biblical scholar
Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart (30 May 1599 – 16 May 1667) was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet. His two-volume '' Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan'' (Caen 1646) exerted a profound in ...
first suggested
Tamilakam
Tamiḻakam (Tamil: தமிழகம்; Malayalam: തമിഴകം), refers to the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people, covering the southernmost region of the Indian subcontinent. Tamilakam covered today's Tamil Nad ...
, whose people were known for their gold, pearl, ivory and peacock trade, for the ports of
Ophir
Ophir (; ) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon received a shipment from Ophir every three years (1 Kings 10:22) which consisted of gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Biblica ...
and
Tarshish
Tarshish ( Phoenician: ''TRŠŠ'', he, תַּרְשִׁישׁ ''Taršīš'', , ''Tharseis'') occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoen ...
during King
Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
's reign. According to Bochart, Tarshish was Kudiramalai.
Old Tamil
Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning from 300 BCE to 700 CE. Prior to Old Tamil, the period of Tamil linguistic development is termed as Pre Tamil. After the Old Tamil period, Tamil becomes Middle Tamil. The earliest records i ...
words for ivory, apes, cotton cloth and peacocks were imported by the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
and preserved in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
.
Settlements of culturally-similar early populations of ancient Sri Lanka and ancient
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
were excavated at
megalithic burial sites at Pomparippu on the west coast (just south of Kudiramalai) and in
Kathiraveli
Kathiraveli or கதிரவெளி (Paddy Field in Tamil) is a town in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It is located about 75 km Northwest of Batticaloa
Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; ...
, on the island's east coast. Resembling
early Pandyan Kingdom
The Early Pandyas of the Sangam period were one of the three main kingdoms of the ancient Tamil country, the other two being the Cholas, and Cheras Dynasty. As with many other kingdoms around this period (earlier than 200 BCE), most of the inf ...
burials, these sites were established from the fifth century BCE to the second century CE. Kudiramalai shared a similar Tamil name with the northern Sri Lankan port of
Kandarodai
Kandarodai ( ta, கந்தரோடை, translit=Kantarōṭai, si, කදුරුගොඩ, translit=Kadurugoḍa, also known as ta, கதிரமலை, translit=Katiramalai) is a small hamlet and archaeological site of Chunnakam town, a ...
, known as ''Kadiramalai'', on the
Jaffna Peninsula.
[Indrapala, K. ''The Evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils of Sri Lanka'', p. 91]
Medieval period
By the medieval period, the capital moved from Kudiramalai to
Nallur. Nearby
Puttalam
Puttalam ( si, පුත්තලම, translit=Puttalama; ta, புத்தளம், translit=Puttaḷam) is the largest town in Puttalam District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Puttalam is the administrative capital of the Puttalam ...
was the medieval
Jaffna kingdom
The Jaffna Kingdom ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாண அரசு, si, යාපනය රාජධානිය; 1215–1624 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came i ...
's second capital during the pearling season, and increased fishing activity was noted along the banks between Kudiramalai and
Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places:
India
* Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala
Sri Lanka
* Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka
** Mannar Island, an island within the district
**Mannar Bridge, a bridge connect ...
.
Mukkuvar
Mukkuvar is a maritime ethnic group found in the Indian states of Kerala , Tamil Nadu and the Eastern and North Western coastal regions of Sri Lanka. They are mostly found on the Malabar Coast, South Travancore Coast and Kanyakumari district, Tam ...
Tamils began migrating from
Kilakarai
Kilakarai (alternatively spelled Kilakkarai or Keelakarai) is a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2011, the town had a population of 38,355. Kilakarai is one of the Taluka in Ramanathapuram Distri ...
in mainland Tamilakkam to Kudiramalai and other Malabar cities (such as Puttalam and
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
) of the northern kingdom during the eighth century. The
Shaivites
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
fled to the west coast from mainland Tamilakkam to escape forced conversion to Islam. In return for aid from Arabs in a struggle with a rival chief, many embraced Islam. During the 16th-century increase in Portuguese influence, many of the Mukkuvars converted to Christianity.
See also
*
Chera Dynasty
*
Kandarodai
Kandarodai ( ta, கந்தரோடை, translit=Kantarōṭai, si, කදුරුගොඩ, translit=Kadurugoḍa, also known as ta, கதிரமலை, translit=Katiramalai) is a small hamlet and archaeological site of Chunnakam town, a ...
,
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
References
{{reflist, 30em
Populated places in North Western Province, Sri Lanka
Populated places in Puttalam District