Vallipuram
|
Vallipuram வல்லிபுரம் වල්ලිපුරම |
|
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Vallipuram
|
|
| Coordinates: 9°47′0″N 80°14′0″E / 9.78333°N 80.23333°E | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Northern |
| District | Jaffna |
| DS Division | Vadamarachchi North |
Vallipuram (Tamil: வல்லிபுரம்) was an ancient capital of the Northern Kingdoms of Sri Lanka. Vallipuram is a part of Thunnalai which is a region in Vadamarachi. There are two places in India with similar names. One is near Namakkal and the other one is near Kanchi. As such the people in Jaffna and in India have a long term connection.
Valli or Velli means to water or river. Veri, Vadi or Wezi is a derivative of the root word meaning river or water. Mahaweli means great river. Kaveri means black river. Thus Vallipuram means 'City of Water' or 'City of River'.
As Zen Buddhism started spreading all over the world, Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallava Dynasty and the great centre for Buddhist learning. A small city in between Kanchi and Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) on the banks of the river is still called Vallipuram. People started migrating to Jaffna during the time of Bodhidharma (400 AD) and created a city with the same name on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Although it was first a Buddhist civilization and later transformed into a Vaishnavaite civilization.
Kanchipuram was a centre of Buddhist learning for a long period in history. The links between Kanchi and Vallipuram existed from time immemorial. Travelling of Buddhist priests and manufacturing of clothes and growth and production of cotton was part and parcel of the history of this region. Slowly Buddhist temples were taken over by the Hindu Brahmins and Buddhist statues were Brahmanized into Hinduism. Usually Buddhist temples were transformed into temples of Vishnu or Ganesh as evident in Kanchipuram and Vallipuram.
Vallipuram is a tsunami prone area and the Indonesian volcanoes like Krakatoa and the Sumatran tectonic plate movements have a direct effect on the coast of Vallipuram. It affected the Buddhist temples and the monks who lived here bringing devastation and destruction at times.
The Vishnu temple here was constructed around the 13th century. Tamil Buddhist and Hindus co-existed easily, even when the rulers did not, and hence a Vaishnava tradition may have existed in early times as well. The deity of the temple is called Vallipura Azhvar. Azhvar names are common in Vaishnavite tradition.
...
Wikipedia