Vaddukoddai (also spelt Vattukkottai, Vatukotai, Vattukotai) ( ta, வட்டுக்கோட்டை, si, වඩුකෝඩයි) is small but important town in the minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominated Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka. It became prominent with the founding of Asia’s first modern university level collegiate known as

Batticotta Seminary The Batticotta Seminary was an educational institute founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)'s American Ceylon Mission at Vaddukodai, in the Jaffna Peninsula north Sri Lanka in 1823. It was founded as part of ...

by the American Missionaries from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

in 1823.

Demography

Most of the residents of the village are Sri Lankan Tamils, with the majority being

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and a few

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. As of 2007, due to the effects of the Sri Lankan civil war the actual number of residents is unknown.

Educational institutions

The village is home to the prominent

Jaffna College __NOTOC__ Jaffna College is a Education in Sri Lanka#Private schools, private school in Vaddukoddai, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1871 as a successor to the Batticotta Seminary which had been established by American missionaries. History In 18 ...

that was founded as the Batticotta Seminary. Jaffna College is one of the most famous colleges in Jaffna, and is the only private mixed school. Students come from areas such as Batticaloa and Kandy, as well as Jaffna. Vaddukoddai is also home to the Vaddu Central College, another important secondary institute of education. There is one tertiary/higher educational institution, known as Jaffna College Institute of Technology, a polytechnic that is used for various vocational training requirements.

Religious establishments

The Church of South India has 21 administrative division throughout the world. It has only one of them known as a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

in Sri Lanka. The Jaffna Diocese headquarters is in Vaddukoddai. An Amman temple at Sangarathai, a

Murugan Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...

temples at Adaikalam Thottam and Panguru are three of the main Hindu temples found here.

History

The name of the village suggests that at some point in its history it had a fortress in its midst, possibly from the Aryacakravarti dynasty. But rule by various

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

powers since 1621 has erased all evidence of a fort. The village became prominent during the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonial period in Sri Lanka as it was chosen as location for one of the nine

protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

missions to be established within the small Jaffna peninsula (hardly 15 by 40 miles). The move by the seminary to study

Saiva ''Saiva'' is a genus of Asian planthoppers, family Fulgoridae. They are colourful insects, marked boldly in red, blue, white and black, with a prominent slender stalk like structure arising on the head that points upwards or forward. The known ...

scriptures led to an important social transformation amongst the local Tamils because it began a process that led to a

revivalism led by

Arumuka Navalar Arumuka Navalar (; 18 December 1822 – 5 December 1879) was a Sri Lankan Shaivite Tamil language scholar, polemicist, and a religious reformer who was central in reviving native Hindu Tamil traditions in Sri Lanka and India. Navalar's bi ...

. Eventually the seminary was renamed Jaffna college and became a secular institution in 1867. The village also played an important role in the recent Sri Lankan civil war as the place where the

Tamil United Liberation Front The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප� ...

party came up with the Vaddukoddai Resolution in 1976 that articulated the view that minority Sri Lankan Tamils needed separation from rest of Sri Lanka to resolve their political problems.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Jaffna District Valikamam West DS Division