Manipay or Maanippaai () is a town in the northern

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The original name of Manipay is Periyapulam. It was a mission location when the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) came to Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Dr.

Samuel Fisk Green Samuel Fisk Green (1822–1884) was an American medical missionary. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He served with the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) in Jaffna, Sri Lanka during the period (1847–1873) w ...

founded the Green Memorial Hospital in 1864 in this village. It was also known as ''Manipai''. There are number of schools in the village, some of which were founded by ACM. The 104-year-old Manipay Hindu College and the 53-year-old Manipay Hindu Ladies College, both High Schools, are prominent. The village also contains Hindu temples and churches. The Manipay Maruthady Pillaiyar Temple stands out. Manipay is often referred to as the

Colombo 7 Cinnamon Gardens ( ''Kurundu Vaththa'', ) is an affluent neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located 3 kilometers south-east of Colombo's centre. Cinnamon Gardens is named for the former cinnamon plantation in this area. In the year 1789, there w ...

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

as much of the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

community who had historically lived in the elite

Cinnamon Gardens Cinnamon Gardens ( ''Kurundu Vaththa'', ) is an affluent neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka located 3 kilometers south-east of Colombo's centre. Cinnamon Gardens is named for the former cinnamon plantation in this area. In the year 1789, there w ...

in Colombo originally hailed from Manipay.

Famous Manipay Residents

Manipay has historically been the home or ancestral home of many significant individuals in Sri Lankan History. The town also housed a large number of powerful mudaliyars from the British colonial period. Such notable individuals include:

Mudaliyar Thuluva Vellalar, also known as Agamudi Mudaliar or Arcot Mudaliars, is a caste found in northern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka. They were an elite and dominant land-owning community. Etymology The earliest occu ...

E. Nannithamby, father-in-law of

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Ponnambalam Ramanathan Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, (; 16 April 1851 – 26 November 1930) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician who served as Solicitor-General of Ceylon. Early life and family Ramanathan was born on 16 April 1851 at the home of his maternal gra ...

and

Namasivayam, father-in-law of

Ponnambalam Arunachalam Ponnambalam Arunachalam (; 14 September 1853 – 9 January 1924) was a Ceylonese civil servant and a member of the Executive Council of Ceylon and Legislative Council of Ceylon. Early life and family Arunachalam was born on 14 September 1853 ...

. Other prominent personages hailing from Manipay who lived in the capital, Colombo, include:

Arunachalam Mahadeva Arunachalam Mahadeva, KCMG (; 5 October 1885 – 15 April 1966) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as Minister of Home Affairs (1942-1946) and High Commissioner to India (1948-1949). Early life and family Mahad ...

, ,

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

V. Manicavasagar, James T. Rutnam,

Nagalingam Shanmugathasan Nagalingam Shanmugathasan (, 1920 – 8 February 1993) was a trade unionist and Maoist revolutionary leader in Sri Lanka. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) Early life and family Shanmugathasan hailed from a f ...

and

Siva Selliah among numerous others.

Notable people

* S. K. Lawton (1851–1919), Ceylonese photographer

Velakkai Pillaiyar Temple

Velakkai Pillaiyar Temple is a Hindu Temple located in Manipay. The temple is dedicated to Lord Skanda and his elder brother Ganesha.

References

External links

Map of Manipay
Towns in Jaffna District Valikamam South West DS Division {{NorthernLK-geo-stub