Alapitiya, Allaippiddi
ven. E Medhananda cites this place as an ancient buddhist site.




Aenikotte
Anaicoddai, Anaicottai (Yapanaya [Jaffna])
Ancient buddhist site.
Meaning: Tamil ??? , 'Anai' and Sinhala 'A`niya' may mean 'dam'.
'coddi' has no contextual meaning,
but may be a tamilzation of Kotta=Kotuwa (fort) in sinhala, or 'kottai' in Tamil




Ariyale
Ariyalai ((Yapanaya [Jaffna])
ARIYALA, Ariyagala, adhiyala
Meaning: T. "yalai" has no immediate meaning,
The S. "yala" is typical place name, 'Adhi'=old
'Sihalavaththupakaranya' and 'Rasavahinya' mention an "ariyagala"
which is probabaly in Nagadeepa. However, Ariyala or Adhiyala
may have been "ariyagala", a place name which is appended as a first name.
"Nagadeepa" may have been the whole of Jaffna and just the Island Nainativu.
n.b., Ellawala Medhananda favours 'Ariyagala.




Athuruvaella, Achchuveli
Meaning: This name is found in southern maritime areas in SL.
Ancient Buddhist ruins
See also, on the map: Achchelu, ATHURUELIYA
This should have been marked in blue letters in the map
hist: Ancient Dagoba, referred to by de Queyroz



Batakotte, Vaddukkoddei
Disc. 'Batakotte' in S. means a fortified garrison of soldiers.
However, buddhist sites from in pre-CE times have been mentione
See also Ven. E. Medhananda's book
Hist. Battecotte, Batecotte
Dutch Historical Record
This was the constituency of the TULF leader Amirthalingam, murdered by the LTTE.
TULF resolution in 1976




Buthpura, Putur
BUTHPURA, ALUTHNUWARA
Meaning: There is evidence that this was 'Buthpura', a
village donated to a buddhist temple; similar to
many villages of the area, like Telipola, Mallagama, Hunugama etc.
Alternatively, 'ur', or '(p)ur' in T. is a town or village
Tamil 'Puthu'= new, 'Putu-ur' -> 'Puttur' means 'newtown'




Chandana, Chankanai
'Chandana' means Sandalwood in literary S., from Pali.
Ancient Buddhist site.
See Gomarankadawala regarding "Sandun Kumara" cult
See Old Dutch map, Changana
Base Hospital



Chulapura, Chulipuram
Ancient buddhist site.
Meaning Sinhala, 'chula' means small; Tamil 'chuli' may
mean 'to mark with a circle'
Mili. SL Naval base



Dambakola-thota and -patuna
The names Jambukolathota and Jambukolapatuna
or equivalently Dambakola-thota and -patuna are
(Camputturai) are mentioned in many ancient texts. Sangamitta Theri,
daughter of Emperor Asoka, brought the 'Bodhi sapling'
some 2000 years ago, via this port(thota)
Samudda-panna-sala and a Vihara were built by Devanapaetissa.
See below under Sambiliturai and Kankesanthurai in the
Kannkesanthurai
DAMBAKOLATHOTA, JAMBUKOLANTHARA,
Jambukolapattana, Dambakolapatuna, Sambilithurai
meaning:   'Jambukola' in Mahawamsa , hence
'Jambukolanthota' would be the port or 'theetha' at Jambukola
'thota ='thara'; Jambu -> Kampu ->Kan; Kolanthara -> kesanthuraei
Ancient road connecting K. to Anuradhapura existed.
Sangamitta brought the 'Bodhi sapling' via this port
Sambilithurai
DAMBAKOLAPATUNA, SAMVISITHARA
Meaning. "Samwourthi" could mean "arrival".
Theri Sangamitta's arrival in Sri Lanka occured here.



Gothamaluvatta
This is one of the many buddhist sites found
along the route taken by Sangamitta Theri.



Hunugama, Chunnakam
Hist: Buddhist ruins, mentioned in the Nampotha.
This too is on the Samgamitta theri route.
Portuguese and Dutch references.



Kadurugoda, Kantarodai
This is a famous pre-christian (~200 BC) buddhist site.
There is a collection of round dagaba structures.
The area around Kadurugoda is full of buddhist sites
Several old name forms:
Kantarodai, Kantharodai, Kandarodai
KADURUGODA,KADIVUNGODA, KANDAGODA
Kadivungoda is the earliest form,
while the later 'Nampotha' uses 'Kadurugoda'.
The name is probabaly from the Pali "Kandara" (ara) which
is today tamilized to "valuka aru" flowing near by.
hist. Ancient Buddhist center, 200BC
historical




Karadiva, Karaitive
Ancient buddhist ruins. Mentioned in the Nampotha.
Needs more excavations



Kodiyavatta
This is also a buddhist site on the 'Sangamitta route'.




Mallagama, Mallakamam
Dis. Ancient village mentioned in the 'Nampotha, Buddhist ruins
Two fragments of a Yantaragala (chamber-stone) and a rock pond (gal-pokuna)
may be seen today




Mahiyapitiya, Mahiappitti
Ancient Buddhist ruins. A Buddha statue and parts of a Dagaba and
ruins of other buildings have been unearthed.



Minipaya, Minipai
Meaning. In tamil "payi" may
mean "net", or "sail", and has no contextual
sense; the Sinhala name means "gem-castle"
This may perhaps be related to the "miniplanka" of the
Legend of The Buddha's visit.



Nagadeepa, Nagavihara, Nainativu
The names Nakadive and the Naga-Vihara
mentioned in many ancient texts.
Legend holds that The Buddha visited Nagadeepa.
The ancient reference seems to be for the whole of
the Jaffna Peninsula, while a Vihara and a city
center existed. Modern Nagadeep is in the island
of Nainativu whose direction is indicated.
Nainativu
Nainathivu, Nayinativu NAGADEEPA
Ferry link to main Island
The name "Nagadeepa" may have applied to the whole Jaffna peninsula in antiqity.
Kathigesu Inthirapalan says "the fact that this edict was issued not by any
subordinate official, but by the king himself shows that the monarch was
in supreme control of the northern most region of the island?" (UCR.Vo.XXI, p.66).
Legend attributes a visit here by the Buddha.
Military base.





Nalluruva, Nallur
NALLURUWA, NALAPURA
Ancient Buddhist site
Eastern Edge of Jaffna, on the road to Irupalai.
Old "Kandaswami Kovil", re-built by Parakrmabahu's generals in
the 15th century as a goodwill gesture, destroyed by the Portuguese
and rebuilt in th 18th century
LTTE 'fast-unto death' human-sacrifice of Tileepan was staged here.
n.b. Nallur is "good-village", or "nalla-oor" in tamil.
This is a commonly found Tamil-village name.
There is also a "Nalluruwa" in Panadura, originally, "Nalapura".




Navagiri, Navakiri
A lime-stone Buddha image and the remains of
an ancient dagaba were unearthed at Nilavarai, in Navagiri(Navakiri).




Nilavara, Nilavarai
A lime-stone Buddha image and the remains of
an ancient dagaba were unearthed at Nilavarai, in Navagiri(Navakiri).



Pinvatta
This is adjacent to the Kadurugoda pre-CE buddhist site
We request you to send more details of buddhist
artifacts etc., found at this site



Puhuleliya, Puloli
Ancient buddhist ruins. Puloli W is ~3km from Point Pedro. A 'siripatul'
stone was discovered from the site. Remains of other buildings
are visible at the site.



Punnala, Punnalai
Ancient Buddhsit site, and causeway to Karadoova(karaitivu)
Alfred Duraiappah, mayor of Jaffna was assisinated
by the LTTE at the Krishnana Temple here on 25 July 1975.




Punranna, Pooneryn
Meaning:   It the name had been 'Ponnery'
it could have meant 'golden (big) tank' in Tamil, however, there
is no tank here
Ancient buddhist ruins.
In 1993 notable LTTE military battles.



Saaravanaya, Saravanai
We appreciate more info. about the artifacts
found at this ancient buddhist site.





Sangaaraada, Sangarathai
Ancient buddhist site located on the "sangamitta route".
The name itself witnesses its budddhist origins, but
we have very little information on this site
If you have info. about acheological artifacts, or
literary citations etc., please write to place.names@yahoo.com




Sangataravaya, Chankattaravayal
Disc. -'cankattaar' in Tamil refers to 'Buddhist and Jian fraternity
of monks, c.f., Madras tamil Lexicon, p1222
'Sangataravaya' would be the side, or promanade allocated to the monks.



Telipola, Tellippallai
Ancient buddhist ruins. Mentioned in the Nampotha.
"Buddhavalavva" is in Telipola, and the "Andakaara Chetiya"
and the "Aaloka Chetiya" of ancient Pali texts dealing
with the Buddha's legendry visit are "claimed" to be here
Base hospital



Urapitiya, Udupiddai
Ancient buddhist site
Disc. The Dutch VOC maps give this as 'Urepittie"
Dutch Map, Urepittie




Udavila, Uduvil
Ancient site, mentioned in the Nampotha . A buddha statue,
four stone finials of dagabas, etc., have
been discovered from the site.



Urathota, Kayts
Ancient buddhist site mentioned in the Nampotha.
Also 'Uraturai' and 'Urkavalthurai' were the tamilyzed forms.
It is mentioned in the 'Thovila' ritual 'Kohombakankariya'
Hist.Baldaeus,1658, 'Ourature'.



Vallipuram, Vaelipura
This Buddhist site is celebrated for the
Buddha statue and the gold-plate inscription of King Vasabha.
The name "bada-kara-taenna", or "taenna" by the sea
is used in the gold plate for this village.
Vallipuram
Disc. In cases where the original toponym was definitely Va`li (sand)
we have the tamilization 'Valli'. However,the possibility that
'Valli' may refer to 'Valliamman' and related pattini cults etc.
is very unlikely given the buddhist history of this site, and earlier
recorded name as 'Va`ligama'
The pre-CE "Piyagukatisa Vihara is now a Vishnu Devala.
The name "Bandakaraaethana" has been proposed
based on an interpretaions of the gold inscription.



Vaedamankaduva, Veddemankaddu
This site, Viraella and Gothamaluvaththa were probabaly
on a road to Dambakolapatuna - the Sangamitta route.




Vannivaeva, Vaunikulam
Pre-CE buddhist ruins



Viraella,
Ancient buddhist site. We are collecting
info. regarding this location.