Trincomalee

Coordinates: 8°34′N 81°14′E / 8.567°N 81.233°E / 8.567; 81.233
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Trincomalee
திருகோணமலை
ත්‍රිකුණාමලය
UTC+6

Trincomalee (English:

Muttur
.

Trincomalee was made into a fortified port town following the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom, changing hands between the Danish in 1620, the Dutch, the French following a battle of the American Revolutionary War and the British in 1795, being absorbed into the British Ceylon state in 1815. The city's architecture shows some of the best examples of interaction between native and European styles. Attacked by the Japanese as part of the Indian Ocean raid during World War II in 1942, the city and district were affected after Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, when the political relationship between Tamil and Sinhalese people deteriorated, erupting into civil war. It is home to major naval and air force bases at the Trincomalee Garrison. The city also has the largest Dutch fort on the island.

The

Maha Shakti Peetha and Murugan Tiruppadai of Sri Lanka; its sacred status to the Hindus has led to it being declared "Dakshina-Then Kailasam" or "Mount Kailash of the South" and the "Rome of the Pagans of the Orient". The harbour is renowned for its large size and security; unlike any other in the Indian Ocean
, it is accessible in all weathers to all craft. It has been described as the "finest harbour in the world" and by the British, "the most valuable colonial possession on the globe, as giving to our Indian Empire a security which it had not enjoyed from elsewhere".

Names and etymology

Early maps of Trincomalee
Cantino
map of 1502, showing three Tamil towns on east coast, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee (Traganamalee) and Pannoam.

Trincomalee

The city has developed from a village settlement on the promontory dedicated to the

Sambandhar. Thiru is a generally used epithet denoting a "sacred" temple site while Malai means mountain or hill; Middle Tamil manuscripts and inscriptions mention the monumental compound shrine as the Thirukonamalai Konesar Kovil.[4][5][6][7] Kona (Tamil: கோண) has other meanings in Old Tamil such as peak, while another origin for the term Koneswaram could come from the Tamil term Kuna (East). Therefore, other translators suggest definitions of Trincomalee such as "sacred angular/peaked hill", "sacred eastern hill" or "three peaked hill".[8][9][10] The temple was constructed atop Swami Rock, also called Swami Malai or Kona-ma-malai, a cliff on the peninsula that drops 400 feet (120 metres) directly into the sea.[4][11][12]

Gokarna Bay, Trincomalee

The

Nandi. The Sanskrit equivalent of the port town's harbour bay is Go-Karna, meaning "Cow's Ear" or Gokarna Pattana and the deity's name Gokarneswara or Go—Natha in Sanskrit. Pathmanathan
offers the etymological link Thiru-Gokarna-Malai or Thiru-Gona-Malai based

on this connection.[13]

The ethnographer

Rajendra Chola I, stands on Konesar Road before the entrance to Swami Rock.[16]

Kailaas of the South

Heralded as "Dakshina Kailasam"/"Then Kailasam" (Kailaas of the South) because it lies on exactly the same longitude as the

Tirumandhiram, which describes him as hailing from Then Kailasam and his self description as a "Gonardiya" from Gonarda, "a country in the southern and eastern division" of the Indian continent.[22][23] Both men were ardent disciples of Nandi.[24] The Konesar Kalvettu uses the term Tiri Kayilai, meaning "three Kailasams", Tiri Kutam and Tiri Konam for Trincomalee, in a number of places, referring to the three pagodas on the promontory of Trincomalee.[25]

As per another legend, Vayu Bhaghvan and Adiseshan had a dispute to find out who is superior, to prove the superiority adiseshan encircled the Kailasam, Vayu tried to remove this encircle by creating santamarutham (Twister). Due to the santamarutham, eight (8) kodumudigal (parts) fell from kailasam into 8 different places: are Thirugonamalai (Trincomalee), Thirukalahasti, Thiruchiramalai, Thiruenkoimalai, Rajathagiri, Neerthagiri, Ratnagiri, and Suwethagiri Thirupangeeli.[26]

History

Earliest history

Robert Morden's 1688 map of the island with Trincomalee on the northeast coast.
Uppuveli Beach in Trincomalee city, a coastal resort city, with Konesar Malai in background
Procession of Koneswaram idol pooja in Trincomalee city
Antonio Bocarro's 1635 map of temples of Trincomalee promontory.
Nilaveli Beach just north of the city, near where one of the earliest stone inscriptions mentioning the holy city was discovered
1775 Mannevillette Map of Trincomalee
Koneswaram temple shrine, Trincomalee
Battle of Trincomalee
Prima Flour Factory to the right, Trincomalee city

Trincomalee which is a natural deep-water harbour has attracted seafarers, trader and pilgrims from

Chola Dynasty excavated near where the promontory's first temple stood is from a sluice and also concerns Koneswaram, as do the 10th century Nilaveli inscriptions.[28][29][30]

Ancient texts, as well as an inscription unearthed by archeologists among its

Eiswara upon his sacred promontory.[19][32][33]

In the earliest known literary reference to the Siva temple,

Kanniya Hot water springs in the Kanniya suburb of Trincomalee city.[5]

The Siva-worshipping Siddhar Patanjali's birth at the city in 180 BCE and its connections to another Siddhar Agastya from at least the 5th–4th century BCE suggests that Yoga Sun Salutation originated on the promontory of Trincomalee.[18][36][37][38] One of Trincomalee's suburbs, Kankuveli is home to ruins of the Tamil Siddhar medical university established by Agastya, the "Agathiyar Thapanam", which alongside his other shrines at Sivan Oli Padam Malai, helped spread Tamraparniyan science across the continent during the pre-classical era.[39][37] The Vayu Purana refers to the Siva temple on Trikuta hill on the eastern coast of Lanka once again in the 3rd century.[14] Another mention is found in the 5th century CE

Abhayagiri versus Maha Viharaya sectarianism in Anuradhapura.[40] This explains some of the Buddhist archeological remains in the region. By the reign of Silakala Ambosamanera of Anuradhapura, Trincomalee bay again is mentioned as the furthest spot down the river Mahavalli Ganga which must be protected from "the enemy in Rohana"; and Trincomalee is noted as a theatre of magic, where Naga snakes were manifested to foretell the consecration of Maha Naga of Anuradhapura.[41] It was not long before the Siva temple's concurrent re-establishment on the promontory by the 6th century following the rise of the Pallava dynasty. The Mattakallappu Manmiyam of Batticaloa confirms Trincomalee's sacred status for all Hindus.[42]

Middle Ages

Early Tamil dynasties continued to employ the city as the prefectural capital of the

Pallava kings, including Simhavishnu and Narasimhavarman I were important in the early history of Trincomalee because of the increased significance of the city to Hinduism and trade in the early centuries of the common era, making sure to contribute elements of their unique style of Dravidian architecture to the city.[44][45] During the reign of Mahendravarman I in 600, as one Aggabodhi II of Anuradhapura took steps to attack the Vanniar chiefs between Trincomalee and Mannar, Tevaram hymns were composed on the two holy cities, one of which, written by Sambandar, lauded the deity of the temples in each and lamented the schemes of other heretical faiths encroaching on Trincomalee.[46][47][48] Mahendravarman I gave much assistance and military aid to his friend Manavanna of Anuradhapura, and he proceeded to build a twin temple called Kokarneswarar Temple, Thirukokarnam in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu.[49]

Following the conquest of

Vannimai chieftaincies of the Jaffna kingdom.[50] Two powerful merchant guilds of the time – the Manigramam and the Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu emerged in the region during Chola trade with the far east and the conquest of Srivijaya of the Malay Archipelago.[51][52][53]

The Koneswaram temple compounds, the city and its adjacent region, from Periyakulam and Manankerni in the north,

Pandyans in the 13th century, despite invasions from and the eventual subduing of Chandrabhanu and Savakanmaindan of Tambralinga of Thailand; it then remained in the Pandyan empire of Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I and remnants of Pandyan art and architecture still stand in Trincomalee.[5]

Magha's reign ousted Parakrama Pandyan II and re-consolidated Tamil sovereign power in the island's north, north west and north east in Trincomalee by 1215; during Magha's reign, the temple and city underwent rich development in the name of a Chodaganga Deva on Puthandu, 1223.[15] After the fall of the Pandyans of Tamilakam due to invasions by Muhammad bin Tughluq of the Delhi Sultanate, Trincomalee rose in status in the Jaffna kingdom, often visited by King Singai Pararasasegaram and his successor King Cankili I in the following centuries.[54]

Trincomalee served a similar purpose to its west coast sister city,

Murukan shrine.[8][21]

By the late 16th century,

Bhuvanekabahu VII of Kotte. The death of one of its kings, Vanniana Raja of Trincomalee, left his young son, the Prince of Trincomalee under the guardianship of his uncle. Trincomalee was annexed by Cankili I to bring it back under Jaffna control, forcing the boy king into exile. He was eventually baptised as Raja Alphonsus of Trincomalee and taken under the wing of the missionary Francis Xavier.[61] The rise of Francis Xavier and the migration of Portuguese soldiers to Trincomalee, conversions to Christianity by some residents and royals in the 1500s saw the erection of churches in the city. Koneswaram is described by Jesuit priests at this time as being a "... massive structure, a singular work of art. It is of great height, constructed with wonderful skill in blackish granite, on a rock projecting into the sea, and occupies a large space on the summit".[62]

The Trincomalee and Batticaloa chiefdoms starting paying direct tributes to the Portuguese commander in Mannar from 1582 as Portuguese influence over the entire North east gained momentum. An annual sum of 1280 fanams was levied from the Koneswaram temple, and they collected a duty on areca nuts exported through the Trincomalee and Batticaloa ports.[63] Jaffna had given minimal logistical access to its Trincomalee and Batticaloa seaports to the Kandyan kingdom to secure military advantages against its enemies; this was used by their influential European overlords to consolidate power in the region. In 1603, the first Dutch fleet arrives at Trincomalee and Batticaloa ports.[64]

In 1612, D. Hieronymo de Azevedo, after great difficulties due to torrential rains, arrived at Trincomalee with a Portuguese contingent from Kandy. Here de Azevedo "was keen on building a fort" to the scope; he called in aid from King Ethirimana Cinkam of Jaffna but not seeing him, he abandoned the enterprise and he marched towards Jaffna.[65][66] The early death of Cankili I brought upon by the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom saw all the territory of the kingdom of Jaffna, comprising both Trincomalee and Batticaloa, assigned to the "spiritual cures of the Franciscans". The Jesuits followed the Portuguese soldiers to Trincomalee and Batticaloa when they occupied the two localities.[65][66][67]

Early modern

Koneswaram Ruins
Koneswaram Ruins
Underwater ruins of the Koneswaram temple include statues of the popular Hindu god
Ganesh

The buildings of Trincomalee were of masonry, thatched with leaves of bamboo and rattan, although the Pagodas and the Palace of the King were covered with copper, silver and gold. The metropolis had grown with well-built houses and streets that were cleaned regularly and were well adorned. The

Ove Giedde, that reached the island in May 1620. They wanted to try their fortune in the Asian seas; the Danish expedition occupied Koneswaram temple. It was here that the Danes began the works for the fortification of the peninsula.[68]

Following the destruction of the Koneswaram compound and the Fort of Triquinimale built from its ruins, Trincomalee had a Portuguese force during the reign of

Fort Ostenburg.[4] An English sea captain and his son, the writer named Robert Knox, came ashore by chance near Trincomalee and were captured and held in captivity by the Kandyan king in 1659. The Kandyans then pursued a scorched earth policy to try and oust the Dutch and take Trincomalee and Batticaloa on the east coast. The French set up base in Trincomalee in the Spring of 1672, and tried to make overtures to the Kandyans, but an alliance was not sealed; by July 1672, Trincomalee was retaken by the Dutch fleet.[69]

The city had rejoined the Coylot Vanni Country by the start of the 18th century, with much of the city's population having moved across the district following the temple's destruction.

Vanni administration.[70][71]

Late modern and contemporary

Trincomalee WWII War Cemetery

Jacob Burnand, a Swiss soldier in the service of the Dutch and the Governor of Batticaloa, composed a memoir on his administration there in 1794, noting Trincomalee to be an important fortified town in the Tamil nation.[72] Trincomalee's fort was occupied by the Dutch for most of the 18th century, and subsequently by the French who fought and won the Battle of Trincomalee as part of the American Revolutionary War in 1782 at the city.[73]

On 8 January 1782, the

Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, when with his fleet in the city in 1781 had sent a copy of the inscription to Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron of France for translation.[74]

The ship HMS Trincomalee was built during the early 19th century by Indian workers to aid them in the Napoleonic Wars, and named after the city. The importance of Fort Fredrick was due to Trincomalee's natural harbour. Through Trincomalee, it was believed a strong naval force could secure control of India's Coromandel Coast and the rest of the Indian Ocean. The British admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson called Trincomalee "the finest harbour in the world", while the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger called the city "the most valuable colonial possession on the globe, as giving to our Indian Empire a security which it had not enjoyed from its establishment" and the harbour "the finest and most advantageous Bay in the whole of India". In the 19th century, the Trincomali Channel of British Columbia, Canada was built and named after the city's name.[75] A Tamil press is established in Jaffna in 1820; a report on Trincomalee laments its sorry, poverty-stricken state and recommends 'colonization with intelligent settlers'. By 1827, The Return of the Population 1824 is published, giving the total population figures for Trincomalee as 19,158 – Tamils and among them 317 Sinhalese. The Vanni, counted under Mannar, has 22,536 inhabitants, among them 517 Sinhalese.[citation needed]

Before the

Indian Ocean Raid of the war. However, the installation later served as an important launching point for British naval operations in 1944 and 1945.[76]

One of the places inhabited by the British was Fort Fredrick, now controlled by the

Duke of Wellington. In the early 1950s the British Government built groups of bungalows within the fort specifically for their employees. These bungalows today provide accommodation for the Sri Lankan Army. There was a large Naval Hospital which catered for sick and injured British naval personnel from all over the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.[citation needed
]

With the turn of the modern era, English authors and poets used Trincomalee as inspiration for literature and poetry and became connected with the city. Arthur C. Clarke, who discovered the temple's underwater ruins with photographer Mike Wilson, described the city and the ruins in Reefs of Taprobane and would go on to write 2001: A Space Odyssey based on his experiences in the city. Trincomalee's Bhadrakali Amman temple provides a setting in Wilbur Smith's novel Birds of Prey. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories feature multiple settings in the city, including in A Scandal in Bohemia and A Singular Affair at Trincomalee. Jane Austen's younger brother, Charles, of the British Royal Navy is buried in Trincomalee.[citation needed]

Post independence

Sri Lankan naval ship at Trincomalee

In 1950, one of the original shrine's

civil war
that followed.

In the mid-1980s, India became concerned that the US Navy might gain access to Trincomalee. India was suspicious about goodwill visits by the US Navy to the port and Sri Lankan proposals to contract out the refurbishment of oil storage tanks and modernisation of port facilities at Trincomalee.[82] On March 3, 2023, President Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed the petroleum minister and officials to promptly implement a strategy to revitalize the Trincomalee oil tank farm and integrate it into the nation's economy.[83]

Today SLNS Tissa and SLN Dockyard are used by the

Security Forces Headquarters - East in Trincomalee. The Trincomalee War Cemetery is one of the six commonwealth war cemeteries in Sri Lanka. It is maintained by Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The base is home to a naval museum called the Hoods Tower Museum
. The name refers to a watchtower built on a hill commanding a 360-degree view of the harbor and the bay.

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Trincomalee was a focal point for relief efforts on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka.[84]

Historical sites

Lover's Leap
Ravana's Cleft at Swami Rock (Konamalai).
Lover's Leap
Ravana's Cleft seen from the sea (East).
Koneswaram Temple (left). Ravana's Cleft at Swami Rock (Konamalai) and looks straight down into the ocean below (middle). Ravana's Cleft at Swami Rock seen from sea (right).
Lover's Leap was suicide spot to failed lovers. They jumped from the edge of Swami Rock into Indian Ocean

Trincomalee is sacred to

Hindu
sites of historical importance. These sites are sacred to the Hindus and some Buddhists also worship at these Hindu sites.

Prominent sites include the Koneswaram temple compound, its Bhadrakali temple on Konesar Road, and the Salli Muthumariamman Kovil of Uppuveli beach in the Trincomalee suburb of Sambalativu.[8]

Hindu historical sites

The Koneswaram temple, with a recorded history from the 3rd century BCE and legends attesting to classical antiquity attracted pilgrims from all parts of India. The shrine itself was demolished in 1622 by the Portuguese (who called it the Temple of a Thousand Columns), and who fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction. Some of the artifacts from the demolished temple were kept in the Lisbon Museum including the stone inscription by Kulakottan (Kunakottan). The site's ruins include an emblem including two fish and is engraved with a prophecy stating that, after the 16th century, westerners with different eye colours will rule the country for 500 years and, at the end of it, rule will revert to the northerners (Vadukkus. The Hindu temple was also documented in several medieval texts such as the Konesar Kalvettu[13] and the Dakshina Kailasa Puranam.[85]

The Dutch Fort

The entrance to the roadway leading to Koneswaram is actually the entrance to what used to be Fort Fredrick. The fort was built in 1623 by the Portuguese and captured in 1639 by the Dutch. It then went through a phase of dismantling and reconstruction and was attacked and captured by the British in 1782, during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. The French then took it from the British, and handed it back to the Dutch for a large sum of money. In 1795, when the French had occupied the Dutch Republic during the War of the First Coalition, it was again taken over by the British, who named it Fort Frederick.[86]

Harbour

Trincomalee's strategic importance has shaped its recent history. The great European powers vied for mastery of the harbour. The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British, each held it in turn, and there have been many sea battles nearby.

The harbour, the fifth largest natural harbour in the world, is overlooked by terraced highlands, its entrance is guarded by two headlands, and there is a carriage road along its northern and eastern edges.

Oil depot

In 2015, India and Sri Lanka agreed to develop South Asia's largest oil depot at a port near Trincomalee. Indian Oil Corporation will work with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to develop the Upper Tank Farm at the abandoned World War II port, known as China Bay.[87]

Beaches

Trincomalee Beach

Trincomalee has some of the most picturesque and scenic beaches found in Sri Lanka, relatively unspoilt and clean. The area is famous for bathing and swimming, owing to the relative shallowness of the sea, allowing one to walk out over a hundred meters into the sea without the water reaching the chest. Whale watching is a common pastime in the seas off Trincomalee, and successful sightings are on the rise with the increase of tourism in the area.[88]

Marble Beach is located in 16 km (10 miles) from Trincomalee.[89]

Hot springs

There are the seven

hot springs
of Kanniya (Kan = stone; niya = land), on the road to Trincomalee. A high wall bounds the rectangular enclosure which includes all seven springs. Each is in turn enclosed by a dwarf wall to form a well.

Climate

Trincomalee features a

tropical wet and dry climate (As) under the Köppen climate classification. The city features a dry season from April through August and a wet season for the remainder of the year. The city sees on average roughly 1,570 millimetres (62 in) of precipitation annually. Average temperatures in Trincomalee range from around 26 °C (79 °F) in December and January to approximately 30 °C (86 °F) during the warmest months of the year from April through September. Extreme temperatures in the city range from 16.5 °C (61.7 °F) in December 2022 to 39.8 °C (103.6 °F) on 13 May 1890.[90]

Climate data for Trincomalee (1991–2020 normals)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 34.8
(94.6)
35.4
(95.7)
39.2
(102.6)
39.0
(102.2)
39.8
(103.6)
39.5
(103.1)
39.0
(102.2)
39.4
(102.9)
39.5
(103.1)
38.7
(101.7)
36.2
(97.2)
33.4
(92.1)
39.8
(103.6)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 28.9
(84.0)
30.1
(86.2)
31.7
(89.1)
33.4
(92.1)
35.2
(95.4)
35.4
(95.7)
35.3
(95.5)
35.3
(95.5)
34.8
(94.6)
32.4
(90.3)
29.8
(85.6)
28.8
(83.8)
32.6
(90.7)
Daily mean °C (°F) 26.5
(79.7)
27.2
(81.0)
28.2
(82.8)
29.5
(85.1)
30.6
(87.1)
30.9
(87.6)
30.6
(87.1)
30.3
(86.5)
30.1
(86.2)
28.5
(83.3)
26.9
(80.4)
26.3
(79.3)
28.8
(83.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 24.0
(75.2)
24.3
(75.7)
24.8
(76.6)
25.5
(77.9)
26.2
(79.2)
26.3
(79.3)
25.8
(78.4)
25.5
(77.9)
25.1
(77.2)
24.5
(76.1)
24.0
(75.2)
23.8
(74.8)
25.0
(77.0)
Record low °C (°F) 18.5
(65.3)
18.2
(64.8)
19.5
(67.1)
19.0
(66.2)
19.1
(66.4)
20.6
(69.1)
21.2
(70.2)
20.2
(68.4)
18.7
(65.7)
18.7
(65.7)
18.7
(65.7)
16.5
(61.7)
16.5
(61.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 152.4
(6.00)
96.1
(3.78)
71.8
(2.83)
54.8
(2.16)
48.1
(1.89)
25.9
(1.02)
51.0
(2.01)
66.6
(2.62)
112.6
(4.43)
215.6
(8.49)
375.6
(14.79)
339.0
(13.35)
1,609.3
(63.36)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 8.4 4.7 4.0 4.2 4.2 1.9 3.4 4.2 5.7 12.8 17.9 15.0 86.3
Average
relative humidity
(%) (at Daytime)
75 72 71 70 64 58 60 61 63 71 78 80 69
Mean monthly sunshine hours 257.3 268.4 300.7 279.0 263.5 231.0 235.6 244.9 207.0 217.0 171.0 167.4 2,842.8
Mean daily sunshine hours 8.3 9.5 9.7 9.3 8.5 7.7 7.6 7.9 6.9 7.0 5.7 5.4 7.8
Source 1: NOAA (humidity 1961–1990)[91][92]
Source 2: Deutscher Wetterdienst (precipitation days, 1968–1990 and sun, 1975–1983),[93] Department of Meteorology (records up to 2007)[90]

Transport and communications

Road and rail

Trincomalee is on the eastern end of the

A15
.

The city is also served by

The station lies close to the northern coast and beaches of the city.

Broadcasting

German broadcaster

Adventist World Radio
.

Education

The

Eastern University of Sri Lanka, which has its main campus in Batticaloa
, also has a campus in Trincomalee.

List of schools in Trincomalee city

See also

References

  1. ^ "Trincomalee – Sri Lanka". britannica.com. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  2. ^ Gunasingam, Selladurai (1979). The Tamils and Trincomalee (PDF). Jaffna: Aseeravatham Press. p. 1-30.
  3. ^ "Sri Lanka: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer.[dead link]
  4. ^
    OCLC 14069213. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  5. ^ . Koneswaram temple. Tiru-Kona-malai, sacred mountain of Kona or Koneser, Iswara or Siva. The date of building the original temple is given as 1580, BCE. according to a Tamil poem by Kavi Raja Virothayan translated into English in 1831 by Simon Cassie Chitty...
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ .
  9. .
  10. .
  11. ^ "Tirukōṇa-malai (Trincomalee), Kīri-malai, Kutirai-malai". TamilNet. 1 July 2007.
  12. ^ "Aayiththiyamalai". TamilNet. 24 October 2010.
  13. ^ a b S. Pathmanathan, The Kingdom of Jaffna, Colombo, 1978. pages 135–144
  14. ^ a b H.N. Apte, Vayupurana, Chapter 48 verses 20–30, Poona, 1929
  15. ^
    OCLC 952216. The inscription, found in the Hindu temple premises dates the landing of Chodaganga Deva at Gokaranna to Friday 14th April, 1223 CE (recorded as Saka
    Era Year 1145), and details donations this royal made to Konamamalai temple
  16. .
  17. OCLC 8305376. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  18. ^ a b S. Vithiananthan (1980). Nān̲kāvatu An̲aittulakat Tamil̲ārāycci Makānāṭṭu nikal̲ccikaḷ, Yāl̲ppāṇam, Can̲avari, 1974, Volume 2. pp. 170
  19. ^
    OCLC 2556531
    . The Malabars call it Tirukonathamalei, or "the mountain of the sacred Konatha," from the Hindoo god of that name, who had formerly a temple on the summit of one of the hills there, which was celebrated over the whole of India...
  20. . The districts at the southern extremity of Batticaloa, Pannoa and Pannaham are so called from the two Tamil words palen-nagai, the smiling babe.
  21. ^
    OCLC 6832704.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  22. ^ Romesh Chunder Dutt (2001). A History of Civilisation in Ancient India: Based on Sanscrit ..., Volume 1. pp.285
  23. ^ Ajay Mitra Shastri (1969). India as seen in the Bṛhatsaṁhitā of Varāhamihira, pp.109. "Gonarda could be a rendering of Ko-Natha, Go-Natha, or Go-Nadu. Gonarda" (IX.13; XXXII.22), a locality in the southern division (XIV. 12) as mentioned in the Brihat-Samhita of Varāhamihira. The Markandeya Purana (LVIII.20-9) also mentions Gonarda among the countries of southern India.
  24. ^ Manohar Laxman Varadpande (1987). History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, pp. 80–81
  25. ^
    Tirupatti
    , Tirumalai, Jagannath and Vaijayanthi and concludes that while these latter temples were well visited by the Hindus, the former had surpassed all the latter temples.
  26. ^ "Arulmigu Gneelivaneswarar Temple". Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  27. ^ S. Pathmanathan. (1978). The Kingdom of Jaffna. Volume 1. pp.136
  28. ^ TamilNet. "TamilNet". www.tamilnet.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  29. Nilakanta Mahadeva {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  30. Nilakanta Mahadevar
    at Matsyakesvaram on Konaparvatam of Tirukonamalai for conducting daily worship and rituals. Nittavinotapuram, Patiyana Aipolilpattinam, Makalana, Vikkiramacalamekapuram, Matottamana Iramakulavallip pattinam are some of the merchant towns where archaeological remains of monuments datable to the period of Chola administration have been found.
  31. ^ Professor K. Indrapala, Early Tamil Settlements in Ceylon. PhD Thesis, University of London, 1965.page 331
  32. ^ Constance Frederica Gordon Cumming (1893). Two happy years in Ceylon. pp. 295
  33. ^ Jonathan Forbes, George Turnour. (1840). Eleven years in Ceylon: Comprising sketches of the field sports and natural history of that colony, and an account of its history and antiquities. p. 44
  34. ^ Mahabharata. Volume 3. pp. 46–47
  35. ^ "Listen as I now recount the isle of Tamraparni, gemmed upon the ocean. The gods underwent austerities there, in a desire to attain greatness. In that region also is the lake of Gokarna. Then one should go to Gokarna, renowned in the three worlds. O Indra among kings! It is in the middle of the ocean and is worshipped by all the worlds. Brahma, the Devas, the rishis, the ascetics, the bhutas (spirits or ghosts), the yakshas, the pishachas, the kinnaras, the great nagas, the siddhas, the charanas, the gandharvas, humans, the pannagas, rivers ocean and mountains worship Uma's consort there". Mahabharata. Volume 3. pp. 46–47, 99
  36. OCLC 8305376. The Dakshina Kailasa Manmiam, a chronicle on the history of the temple, notes that the Sage Agastya proceeded from Vetharaniam
    in South India to the Parameswara Shiva temple at Tirukarasai — now in ruins — on the bank of the Mavilli Gangai before worshipping at Koneswaram; from there he went to Maha Tuvaddapuri to worship Lord Ketheeswarar and finally settled down on the Podiya Hills
  37. ^ . Of particular importance are the references in two Sanskrit dramas of the 9th century to the abode of Agastya shrines on Sivan Oli Padam Malai called Akastiya Stapanam, Trikutakiri and Ilankaitturai in the Trincomalee District where Koneswaram is located
  38. Aditya Hridayam is another ancient practice which involves a variation of Sūrya Namaskāra. It is a procedure of saluting The Sun, taught to Sri Rama by Sage Agastya, before his fight with Ravana. It is described in the "Yuddha Kaanda" Canto 107 of Valmiki's Ramayana
  39. ^ Academy, Himalayan. "Hinduism Today Magazine". www.hinduismtoday.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  40. ^ Mahavamsa. Chapter 35. Verses 40–47
  41. ^ Culavamsa: Being the More Recent Part of Mahavamsa. pp59-60
  42. ^ Sivaratnam, C (1964). An outline of the cultural history and principles of Hinduism (1 ed.). Colombo: Stangard Printers. OCLC 12240260. Koneswaram temple. Tiru-Kona-malai, sacred mountain of Kona or Koneser, Iswara or Siva. The date of building the original temple is given as 1580 B.C., according to a Tamil poem by Kavi Raja Virothayan translated into English in 1831 by Simon Cassie Chitty...
  43. ^ Ci Patmanātan, S. Pathmanathan (1978). The Kingdom of Jaffna, Volume 1. pp. 26–27
  44. .
  45. OCLC 10020492. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  46. .
  47. ^ Thirunanacamptanta Cuvamikal Arulicceyta Tevarattiruppatikankal, Saiva Siddhanta publishing works Ltd, Madras, 1927
  48. OCLC 453189836
    . The earliest mention of the shrine is in the hymns of Thirugnana sambandar who sings of "Konamamalai, and of the peerless God, who dwelled on Konamamalai, to the sound of roaring ocean, and rows of Kalal and the anklets, and half of whose body is shared by the Maid of the Mountains..."
  49. ^ KAN Sastri, A History of South India, p412
  50. ^ N. Parameswaran (2003). Medieval Tamils in Lanka = Ilankai. pp. 13
  51. ^ a b c Schalk, Peter (2002). "Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-colonial Tamilakam and Ilam: Prologue. The Pre-Pallava and the Pallava period". Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. 19–20. Uppsala University: 159, 503.
  52. ^ Chola-era inscriptions record the activities of Tamil mercantile communities in Padavikulam. The mercantile groups referred to were the Ticai Aayirattu Ain Nurruvar (Velupillai, Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, 1971) and the Ayyavole. Taniyappan, a merchant from Padavikulam, laid a foundation stone for a Siva temple there. A Tamil inscription by Raja Raja Chola refers to Ravi Kulamanikkeswaram Siva Temple in Padavikulam. (K. Indrapala, Epigraphia Tamilica, Jaffna Archeological Society, 1971 – page 34). A 13th century Sanskrit inscription excavated here mentions a Brahmin village in the area. The paddy fields of Padavikulam were watered by the Per Aru river.
  53. ^ Abraham, Meera (1988). Two medieval merchant guilds of south India. p. 132
  54. OCLC 12552979
    .
  55. ^ Gnanaprakasar,A Critical History of Jaffna, p.99-102
  56. ^ Kunarasa,The Jaffna Dynasty, p.67-68
  57. ^ J R Sinnatamby (1968). Ceylon in Ptolemy's geography
  58. ^ Gerolamo Emilio Gerini. (1974). Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (reprint). Ma Huan calls the headland hill as being Ying-ko tsui Shan or Ying-Ko Tswei Shan – a hawk-beak shaped hill on the east coast
  59. ^ Ci Patmanātan, S. Pathmanathan (1978). The Kingdom of Jaffna, Volume 1. p. 237
  60. ^ Asiff Hussein (2007). Sarandib: an ethnological study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka
  61. ^ a b M. G. Francis. History of Ceylon: An Abridged Translation of Professor Peter Courtenay's Work. pp.80
  62. ^ Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. II, p. 366.
  63. ^ Jorge Manuel Flores; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. (2007). Re-exploring the links : history and constructed histories between Portugal and Sri Lanka. p. 36
  64. ^ Robert Montgomery Martin. (1839). Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire,... . p. 370
  65. ^ a b Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. II
  66. ^ a b Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. III
  67. ^ This decision was taken by the bishop of Cochin, Dom Sebastião de S. Pedro. Later, another decree of the same bishop dated 11 November 1622, tracing the one indicated in 1602, entrusted newly to the Jesuits the spiritual cure in the districts of Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, giving to them possibility to build churches, to train the sacraments and to convert souls.
  68. ^ Barner Jensen, U. "Danish East India. Trade coins and the coins of Tranquebar, 1620–1845", pp. 11–12; Holden Furber "Imperi rivali nei mercati d’oriente, 1600–1800", note n° 66, p. 326: "Senarat of Kandy sent to Trincomalee 60 Sinhala men in order to help the Danes in the construction of their fort. During their permanence in Trincomalee, the Danesh coined also some "Larins", on which were recorded the words 'Don Erich Grubbe', of these coins, today do not remain trace, if not in the diary of Ove Giedde."
  69. ^ Professor Jeremy Black, Jeremy Black. From Louis XIV to Napoleon: The Fate of a Great Power. pp.1678
  70. ^ a b c d Alicia Schrikker. (2006). Dutch and British colonial intervention in Sri Lanka c. 1780–1815: expansion and reform. Proefschrift Universiteit Leiden. pp.86
  71. ^ J. Burnand helps with the suppression of the revolt against the Indian amildars, administrators brought from Madras to Ceylon. He drafts another 'memoir' on the North and Northeast, in which he locates the origins of the Sinhalese in Siam and mentions that from time immemorial Sinhalese and Tamils had divided the rule of the island between the two of them. The English translation of Burnand's memoir of 1798 becomes known as the 'Cleghorn minute'.
  72. ^ J. Burnand helps with the suppression of the revolt against the Indian amildars, administrators brought from Madras to Ceylon. He drafts another 'memoir' on the North and Northeast, in which he locates the origins of the Sinhalese in Siam and mentions that from time immemorial Sinhalese and Tamils had divided the rule of the island between the two of them. The English translation of Burnand's memoir of 1798 becomes known as the Cleghorn minute.
  73. ^ Malleson, George Bruce (1884). Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas. W.H. Allen. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  74. ^ Johnston, Alexander (1827). An Account of an Inscription Found Near Trincomalee in the Island of Ceylon.
  75. ^ G. Philip V. Akrigg, Helen B. Akrigg (1997). British Columbia place names.
  76. ^ Brian Lavery, Churchill's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation, 1939–1945, p. 183, 2006.
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  78. .
  79. .
  80. .
  81. .
  82. ^ David Brewster. India's Ocean: the Story of India's Bid for Regional Leadership. Retrieved 13 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  83. ^ "Sri Lanka : President instructs to revive the Trincomalee oil tank farm". www.colombopage.com. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  84. ^ http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=14006 Archived 20 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine Canadian Red Cross
  85. ^ C.S. Navaratnam, A Short History of Hinduism in Ceylon, Jaffna, 1964. Pages 43–47
  86. .
  87. ^ "Delhi toehold in key Lanka port, at last". telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  88. ^ "The photographs of Trincomalee Beach, July 2018". Independent Travellers. independent-travellers.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  89. ^ "The photographs of Marble Beach, August 2018". Independent Travellers. independent-travellers.com. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  90. ^ a b "Ever Recorded Daily Extreme Values" (PDF). Department of Meteorology. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  91. ^ "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991-2020 — Trincomalee". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  92. ^ "Climate Normals for Trincomalee". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  93. ^ "Klimatafel von Trincomalee (Tirikunamalaya) / Sri Lanka (Ceylon)" (PDF). Baseline climate means (1961–1990) from stations all over the world (in German). Deutscher Wetterdienst. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  94. ^ "Sri Lanka Railways Timetable" Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  95. ^ "Naval and Maritime Academy of SLN reaches Par Excellence". Sri Lanka Navy. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2011.

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