Vaddukoddai (also spelt Vattukkottai, Vatukotai, Vattukotai) ( ta, வட்டுக்கோட்டை, si, වඩුකෝඩයි) is small but important town in the

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Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

dominated Jaffna peninsula 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 ...

. It became prominent with the founding of Asia’s first modern university level collegiate known as Batticotta Seminary by the

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from New England in 1823.

Demography

Most of the residents of the village are

Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pro ...

, with the majority being Hindus and a few Christians. 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 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 The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of mainline Protestant denominations in South India after independence. The Church of South India is the successor of a number of Pr ...

has 21 administrative division throughout the world. It has only one of them known as a diocese in Sri Lanka. The Jaffna Diocese headquarters is in Vaddukoddai. An

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

temple at Sangarathai, a Murugan 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

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powers since 1621 has erased all evidence of a fort. The village became prominent during the British colonial period in Sri Lanka as it was chosen as location for one of the nine protestant

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to be established within the small Jaffna peninsula (hardly 15 by 40 miles). The move by the seminary to study Saiva scriptures led to an important social transformation amongst the local Tamils because it began a process that led to a Saiva revivalism led by Arumuka Navalar. 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 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