Pandara Vanniyan (or Vannian, Tamil: பண்டார வன்னியன்; Vanni or Wanni Bandara in Sinhala; The 'Last King of Vanni') was a Tamil Vanniar (Chieftain) who ruled in Vannimai. He died battling British colonial rule on the island nation of Sri Lanka.

Kulasegaram Vairamuthu Pandara Vanniyan was the last King of Vanni. Much remains unclear about his family, but reports state that he had one sister, Nallanachal Vanniyan, and two younger brothers called Kayilaya Vanniyan (Minister) and Periya Meynaar (Commander of the State).Pandara Vanniyan married Kumarasinghe Maha Vanniya’s family of present day Nuwara Wewa, who held the office of residential Governor and Custodian of the formerly Tamil area. Marriages between Vanniar Chieftain families in the northern and southern regions helped to unite and strengthen rule. Thus, when Pandara Vanniyan married into the Nuwara Wewa family, he gained political power in the south Vanni as well as in the north.

Vanniar chieftain, Pandara Vanniyan, appeared to have paid some tribute to the more powerful rulers in the region at that time, who had an independent spirit and a distinct culture and dialect of their own. The Kingdom of Vanni functioned as a buffer zone between the north and the south of Sri Lanka. Historically, the Vanni encompassed Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Ampara and Puttalam hinterlands. The name Vanni is said to be derived from the Sanskrit and Tamil word for forest (vannam) or fire (vahni), but there is also some historical evidence in Kalvettus(Stone Inscriptions) and classical songs that the Vanniar could have originally come from the large Vanniyar clan/ caste from North Arcot in South India.

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