Batticaloa மட்டக்களப்பு මඩකලපුව | |
|---|---|
 Clockwise from top:Kallady Bridge, Unnichchai Tank, Fishing boats, Batticaloa Bus stand,Batticaloa Lagoon,Batticaloa Fort,Batticaloa Lighthouse | |
  Batticaloa | |
| Coordinates:7°43′0″N81°42′0″E / 7.71667°N 81.70000°E /7.71667; 81.70000 | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Eastern |
| District | Batticaloa |
| DS Division | Manmunai North Divisional Secretariat |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal Council |
| • Body | Batticaloa Municipal Council |
| • Mayor | Thiyagarajah Saravanapavan (ITAK) |
| • Deputy Mayor | K. Sathiyaseelan (TNA) |
| • Municipal Commissioner | M. Thayaparan |
| • Manmunai North Secretariat | K. Karunaharan |
| Area | |
• City | 75 km2 (29 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 68 km2 (26 sq mi) |
| Population (2012)[2] | |
• City | 86,227 |
| • Density | 1,268/km2 (3,280/sq mi) |
| • Urban density | 1,150/km2 (3,000/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Batticalonian/s (in Tamil: மட்டக்களப்பான்/ர்) |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) |
Batticaloa (Tamil:மட்டக்களப்பு,Maṭṭakkaḷappu;Sinhala:මඩකලපුව,Maḍakalapuwa) is a major city in theEastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of theBatticaloa District. The city is the seat of theEastern University of Sri Lanka and is a major commercial centre. It is on the east coast, 111 kilometres (69 mi) south ofTrincomalee, and is situated on anisland.Pasikudah is a popular tourist destination situated 35 km (22 mi) northwest with beaches and flat year-round warm-water shallow-lagoons.
Batticaloa is aPortuguese derivation. The original name of the region being theTamil "Matakkalappu" (translation:Muddy Swamp).[3][4] According toMattakallappu Manmiyam (மட்டக்களப்பு மான்மியம்) the word Mattakkallpu consists Tamil words "Mattu" (மட்டு) Matta-derived from "Mattam" (மட்டம்) means 'flat' and geographical name KaLappu. Mukkuwa named this place as KaLappu-Mattam or boundary of lagoon later it became Matta-Kallappu or Flat Lagoon.[5] Also, Batticaloa has a nickname, "Land of the singing fish"[6] (Tamil:மீன் பாடும் தேன் நாடு) due to musical sounds that related to fish or aquatic creature in theBatticaloa Lagoon near theKallady Bridge.[7][8] BBC Radio 4 was able to record the mysterious sound in Batticaloa Lagoon.[9] The sound was broadcast bySri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in 1960s with the help of Rev. Fr. Lang, a Catholic priest.[10]
Batticaloa is in the eastern coast of Sri Lanka on a flat coastal plain boarded by the Indian Ocean in the east occupies a central part of the eastern Sri Lanka. Its average elevation is around 5 m (16 ft).[11] Batticaloa district has three lagoons such asBatticaloa Lagoon, Valaichchenai Lagoon, and Vakari (Panichchankerni) Lagoon. Among these lagoons, Batticaloa Lagoon is the largest lagoon, which is 56 km (35 mi) long and has an area of 162 km2 (63 sq mi), extending from Pankudaweli in North and Kalmunai in South.
There are several islands within the Batticaloa Lagoon such as Puliayantheevu, Buffaloa Island and Bone Island.Many bridges are built across the lagoon connecting the landmasses and the islands. The Puliayantheevu is the metropolitan place of the city.The biggest bridge of all is Lady Manning bridge located at Kallady, which is the main access path to the city from the southern places of the district. This bridge is also famous for Singing fishes which were considered as musical sounds heard in the Kallady lagoon on a full moon day. A priest named Father Lang recorded this musical charm and broadcast it in the 1960s over the (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Cooperation)
Batticaloa beaches are sandy and located along 4 km (2.5 mi) shoreline in the city and further extend through the neighboring places. They include Kallady beach, Pasikudah, and Kalkudah. Pasikudah is a bay protected from the ocean, with a flat and sandy bed extending 150–200 m (490–660 ft) meters from the shore.
Batticaloa has atropical monsoon climate (Am) under theKöppen climate classification, also generically referred to as 'dry-monsoonal climate'. Batticaloa's climate is warm to hot throughout the year. From March to May, the warmest time of the year, the maximum temperature averages around 32 degrees Celsius (88degrees Fahrenheit). During the monsoon season from November to February heavy rains are recorded, with average temperature of 25 °C (77 °F). Average annual rainfall in Batticaloa is 1,650.9 mm (65.00 in).
| Climate data for Batticaloa (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 34.2 (93.6) | 33.9 (93.0) | 36.9 (98.4) | 36.5 (97.7) | 38.5 (101.3) | 39.0 (102.2) | 38.7 (101.7) | 38.6 (101.5) | 38.4 (101.1) | 38.0 (100.4) | 35.0 (95.0) | 32.3 (90.1) | 39.0 (102.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.4 (83.1) | 29.3 (84.7) | 30.8 (87.4) | 32.4 (90.3) | 33.5 (92.3) | 34.5 (94.1) | 34.4 (93.9) | 33.8 (92.8) | 33.0 (91.4) | 31.6 (88.9) | 29.7 (85.5) | 28.6 (83.5) | 31.7 (89.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.1 (79.0) | 26.6 (79.9) | 27.7 (81.9) | 29.0 (84.2) | 29.8 (85.6) | 30.2 (86.4) | 30.1 (86.2) | 29.6 (85.3) | 29.1 (84.4) | 28.2 (82.8) | 27.0 (80.6) | 26.3 (79.3) | 28.3 (82.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 23.7 (74.7) | 23.9 (75.0) | 24.5 (76.1) | 25.6 (78.1) | 26.1 (79.0) | 25.9 (78.6) | 25.7 (78.3) | 25.5 (77.9) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 24.3 (75.7) | 23.9 (75.0) | 24.9 (76.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 17.1 (62.8) | 17.4 (63.3) | 17.7 (63.9) | 20.9 (69.6) | 20.9 (69.6) | 20.2 (68.4) | 21.1 (70.0) | 20.6 (69.1) | 20.7 (69.3) | 20.2 (68.4) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.7 (63.9) | 17.1 (62.8) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 268.9 (10.59) | 148.5 (5.85) | 70.3 (2.77) | 52.6 (2.07) | 51.7 (2.04) | 31.5 (1.24) | 30.7 (1.21) | 52.1 (2.05) | 69.3 (2.73) | 186.8 (7.35) | 418.6 (16.48) | 468.8 (18.46) | 1,849.6 (72.82) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 11.1 | 6.6 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 10.5 | 17.2 | 16.8 | 88.5 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 79 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 75 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 74 | 82 | 83 | 83 | 76 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 201.5 | 228.8 | 266.6 | 270.0 | 251.1 | 264.0 | 251.1 | 263.5 | 246.0 | 232.5 | 198.0 | 170.5 | 2,843.6 |
| Mean dailysunshine hours | 6.5 | 8.1 | 8.6 | 9.0 | 8.1 | 8.8 | 8.1 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 7.8 |
| Source 1:NOAA[12] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:Deutscher Wetterdienst (humidity and sun),[13] Department of Meteorology (records up to 2007)[14] | |||||||||||||
Mattakallappu Manmiyam refers (மட்டக்களப்பு மான்மியம்) Mukkuva or Mutkuhar are known as the first people migrated to this land and constructed seven villages in various areas. They immigrated their people from India and established the kingdom of Mukkuva. The name of the villages and towns in Batticaloa still holds the historical evidence of the ancient batticaloan people. When Mutkuhar intruded through the salty water and reached the destination of their voyage at the forests situated around the lagoon. When they finished. The name given by the Mukkuva was "Kallpu-Mattam" which literally means "boundary of lagoon". Later it was called "Matta-Kallappu" which indicates the destination of Mukkuva's voyage and the water is flat.
Mukkuva is a coastal community fromAncient Tamil country.[15][16] They are of mixed origin and migrated at various periods in history. Mukkuvas waged war around Puttalam and settled in the western coast as well. Sinhala Kings ofSuryawamsa kept Mukkuvas as their mercenary force.[citation needed] They waged wars on other countries like Burma. Gajabahu, Parakramabahu, Vijayabahu were some of theseSuryawamsa kings who employed the Chera soldiers for their protection and defence of Sri Lanka.Gajabahu I was a friend of CheranChenkuttuvan and was mentioned in the great Jain epic ofSilappadikaram and in addition to that he was also mentioned in Mahawamsa.
When Anuradhapura was destroyed, the capital moved from Anuradhapura toPolonnaruwa. When Pollonaruwa was destroyed the capital moved to Kotte and then to Kandy. Anuradhapura was destroyed byRajaraja Cholan and he who established Polonnaruwa. Even though Pollonaruwa had a few Hindu temples it was a great Buddhist city full of beautiful Buddhist architecture matchingAngkor Wat.
As a catalyst for change,Kalinga Magha is arguably one of the most significant rulers in Sri Lankan history. His invasion marks the final – cataclysmic – destruction of the kingdom of Rajarata, which had for so long been the heart of native power on the island. The great cities of the ancient kings were now lost and disappeared into the jungle, and were not rediscovered until the 19th century. Native power was henceforth centred on a kaleidoscopically shifting collection of kingdoms in south and central Sri Lanka. The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into theJaffna Kingdom, which was subjected colonial rule by the Portuguese in 1619.
Kalinga Magha's geopolitical impact is reflected in the changing language of theCulavamsa as well. The traditional divisions of Sri Lanka, into Rajarata, Dhakkinadesa, and Ruhuna, first undergo a change of names (Rajarata becomes Pathithadesa, Dhakkinadesa becomes Mayarata), and then slip into obsolescence altogether. Their successor kingdoms tended to be geographically smaller and centred on a strong citadel-capital, such as Yapahuwa or Gampola; they also tended to be much short lived, like Sitawaka.
With the decline of the Rohana sub-kingdom and the defeat ofPolonnaruwa, coming with the rise ofChola power, i.e., from about the 13th century CE, these regions became wild. The many irrigation works (tanks etc., which exist even today) became home to malaria (seeHistory of Sri Lanka). In the meantime, the eastern coastal region remained less affected by Malaria and began to be occupied. Thus seafaring people who had begun to settle down alongthe coast since theAnuradhapura times, c. 6th Century CE began to flourish. The forests continued to be dominated by theVeddha population which claimed kingship ("cross-cousins") with the Sinhala kings of Kandy.[17]
Parakramabahu II's coronation took place in 1236. He turned his attention to the recovery of Polonnaruwa from the Tamils, and achieved this purpose by 1244. In this connection two kings are mentioned,Kalinga Magha andJaya Bahu, who had been in power forty years, apparently reckoned from the time of the military rule afterSahasa Malla. As the Tamil war' and the `Malala war' as specifically mentioned by contemporary chronicles the two kings may have held different parts of the country. In the king's eleventh year (1244/5) Lanka was invaded byChandrabhanu, aJavanese (Javaka) fromTambralinga, with a host armed with blow-pipes and poisoned arrows: he may have been a sea-robber, and though now repulsed descended on the Island later on.
The rest of the reign according to the contemporary records was spent in pious works; the king also held a convocation for the purpose of reforming the priesthood, whose discipline had been relaxed during the Tamil occupation. The chronicles make no mention of a greatPandyan invasion which seems to have taken place between 1254 and 1256, in which one of the kings of Lanka was slain and the other rendered tributary. From this it is clear thatParakramabahu II never had recovered the north of the Island, which certainly had been held by his great namesake.
Portugal
Lourenço de Almeida, the Portuguese Admiral for India invaded Ceylon and made it a Portuguese colony. Batticaloa was fortified in the 1620s, which was held until 1638, when the Dutch successfully invaded it.[18]
Lanka was a confederacy of various rulers for a long time and different princes ruled the different provinces and helped each other and plotted against each other. As the Portuguese colonisers were dividing and rulingKotte,Kandy Kingdom andJaffna Kingdom had to create a confederacy to fight against Portugal. As a joint strategy they approached the Netherlands to have a global free trade and to get rid of the Portuguese.
FromCape Comorin the Dutch AdmiralJoris van Spilbergen steered his course toPoint de Galle; but, without landing there or at any of the other places which were strongly fortified by the Portuguese, he sailed round the south coast of the Island and made for Batticaloa, where he anchored on 31 May 1602.
He learnt that the town of Batticaloa, where the chief of the province resided, was about three miles (5 km) inland; so he sent him a messenger proposing to enter into trade with him. In the meantime he learnt from some Tamils who came on board that there was plenty of pepper and cinnamon to be had, but that it was to be obtained from the chief of the place. These Tamils brought with them a Portuguese interpreter; for Portuguese was the only Europeanlanguage then heard or spoken in Ceylon, and the natives of the island had no idea that there were other white people who spoke a different language.
The Admiral was taken from Batticaloa to Kandy and was given a liberation hero's welcome as King Rajasinghe seized the opportunity to get rid of the Portuguese, the oppressors who were slowly encroaching the island systematically and promoting subversion against Rajasinghe.
TheBatticaloa fort was built by the Portuguese in 1628 and was the first to be captured by the Dutch (18 May 1638). It is one of the most picturesque of the small Dutch fort of Sri Lanka, it's situated in an island, still in good condition.
In 1942, duringWorld War II, the aircraft carrierHMSHermes and escorting destroyerHMASVampire were stationed atTrincomalee. Both these ships came under Japanese aerial attack off Batticaloa and were sunk. Some of the remnants of HMSHermes still remain at around 9 nautical miles (17 km) off Batticaloa.
The town was also one of the worst hit during the tsunami of December 26, 2004. The water rose up to 4.7 metres (15 ft) within 90 minutes of the beginning of the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
On 21 April 2019 theZion Church was targeted by militant Islamic suicide bombers. At least 28 people were reported dead.[19][20][21]
The city has four main divisions.
Batticaloa is on the East coast of Sri Lanka, 314 km fromColombo. The population of 95,489 consists mainly ofSri Lankan Tamils others includeMoors,Sinhalese,Burghers and the indigenousVeddas population.
The District of Batticaloa itself consists of several administrative divisions, which are:Manmunai North,Manmunai West,Manmunai South & Eruvil Pattu,Manmunai Pattu,Koralai Pattu North,Porativu Pattu,Kattankudy,Eravur Pattu,Eravur Town,Koralai Pattu andKoralai Pattu West. Some 525,142 persons (52.2% female) were recorded in the 2012 census. Religion-based statistics in the year 2012 are: Hindus 64.6%, Muslims 25.5%, Christians 8.8%, with a small numbers of Buddhists (1.1%) and others.[22] These figures became even more polarized towards Hindus during theLTTE occupation which came to an end in 2009 (seeEelam War IV).[citation needed]
According to the 2012 census, the total population was 525,142. Of which 381,285 were Sri Lankan Tamils, 133,844 Moors, 6,127 were Sinhalese, 2,794 Burgher, 1,015Indian Tamils, 58 Veddah, 16Malay, and 3 Sri Lanka Chetty.[23]
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The first educational institution[citation needed] established in Batticaloa was Methodist Central College, founded in 1814 by theWesleyanMethodist William Ault. Other noteworthy institutions are Sivananda Vidyalayam, Hindu College,St. Michael's College National School,St. Cecilia's Girls' College andVincent Girls' High School.TheEastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL), located in Vantharumoolai 16 km north of Batticaloa, was founded in 1980. Its development has been interrupted by the civil war. It is the cultural and economic focal point of the district of Batticaloa and extends its influence towardsTrincomalee as well. Batticaloa Regional centre ofOpen University of Sri Lanka is another education resource of Batticaloa.[25]
Batticaloa has historically been a centre of Portuguese Burgher culture, supported in the modern era by theCatholic Burgher Union. In the 1980s, despite Burger emigration to Australia, the Union still numbered some 2,000 speakers of Sri Lankan Portuguese, making them the largest community still speaking the dialect.[26]
Hinduism is the major religion of Batticaloa. Eastern Province is a place of Amman temples. This shows the worship of female deityKannaki ofSilappatikaram. The cult has come with the KingGajabahu I who brought the settler Tamils from theChera Kingdom of his friend CheranSenguttuvan. Silppatikaram copy was initially discovered in Trincomalee by Tamil scholars. Tamil Nadu was not having a copy of this great Tamil literature. The northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have several temples in honour of Kannaki Amman. Gajabahu I brought Amman worship to Sri Lanka in the Third Century AD after her death.
Shri Mamangeshwarar Kovil is one of the main holy places for Hindus in the country is located in a place called Amirthakally which is 6 Kilometers away from Batticaloa town. Hindus believe that by bathing in thesacred waters of the Mamangeshwarartank, the departed souls of their family will be receiving better attainments in their cycle of its transmigration. Sri Kandaswamy/KannakaiAmman Kovil are important from a devotional point of view. The Mandur (மண்டூர்) temple is in the southern end, while the Mamangeshwarar temple is in the westernmost edge at Muhaththuvaram (முகத்துவாரம்).
The Colany Mosque, and the Koddamunai Dharga and Madrasa are two noteworthy Muslim institutions. There are a large number of mosques in the region.[27]
Christianity is present and Catholic churches are found everywhere as the coastal community has some Catholics. During the colonial influences, Catholic was introduced to Batticaloan, and thefirst Catholic church in Batticaloa was established in 1624. TheCatholic Church has adiocese headquartered in the city. Methodists, Anglicans, and other Protestants and their schools are also present in Batticaloa. WithinBatticaloa Municipal Council area, Christian presence is strong (23%) compare to other area.[28]
The latter is a historic harbour and ancient Buddhist shrine, mentioned in the "Dhathu Vamsa". While the Dagaba and shrine in the Dutch Fort is the oldest (1st century CE), Mangalaramaya is a well-known modern Buddhist temple in Batticaloa.
Rice and coconuts are the two staples of the district, and steamers trading round the island call regularly at the port. The lagoon is famous for its "singing fish," supposed to be shell-fish which give forth musical notes. The district has a remnant of Veddahs or wild men of the wood. Prior to theSri Lankan civil war, there were large-scale shrimp farms as well as fish and rice processing activities. Batticaloa shows a huge potential fortourism related industries.
Batticaloa is the terminus of aBroad gauge branch railway of theSri Lanka Railways network. The Batticaloa railway station is the last station on Batticaloa Line.Batticaloa Airport is a military air force base, which has domestic air service to civilian as well by Cinnamon Air and Helitours. Bus service is available to major cities of Sri Lanka.
