Chunnakam
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Chunnakam (Tamil: சுன்னாகம்) is a one of the big towns located six miles North of city of Jaffna. It is one of the important commercial centers in Jaffna.
In Northern Sri Lanka, Chunnakam is only second to Jaffna in terms of population density and commercial activities in and around its neighborhoods.
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[edit] Etymology
According to Tamil scholars, name Chunnakam derived from two Tamil words, SUL + NAKAM where SUL means silver and NAKAM means mountain on the contrary some Sinhala scholars argue the word 'Cnunnakam' is from the Sinhala origin as 'GAMA' in Sinhala means village and they also argue in Chunnakam, Buddhism was once a dominant religion as some excavation works done in nearby hamlet of Chunnakam known as Kanderodai, in the 60's and 70's uncovered some ruins of statute of Lord Buddha.
However, both claims did not yield any scientific proofs to substantiate their respective claims to be true.
[edit] History
Regardless, historically in the recent centuries Chunnakam has been an area dominated mostly by Sri Lankan Tamils and up until the 80's there was a sizable Sinhala population from the south along with Indian Tamils, Moslem, and other South Indian Non Tamils lived in Chunnakam area.
This ethnic diversity among its residents gave Chunnakam a characteristic of a major city.
Chunnakam is about 5 miles2 in area as it has Punnalai Kadduvan on its East, Inuvil on its South, Sandilipay on its West and Mallakam on its North as bordering villages. Chunnakam has population of about 60,000.
Main attraction of Chunnakam is its super massive produce market, the largest in Sri Lanka with over crowded human traffic over-flowing in its streets thus causing frequent traffic jams along the KKS road, especially on traditional fairdays such as Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On a typical fairday it takes a vehicle to arrive to Chunnakam central bus station from the public library located a quarter mile apart along KKS road, about painstaking 30 minutes.
[edit] Politics
Regardless of the importance of this great town it was never given the status Urban, even though places like Valvettithurai, which is nowhere close to the might of Chunnakam by any means, enjoy the Urban Status. Currently Chunnakam is governed by Uduvil regional development council.
Unlike other places in Northern Sri Lanka, people of Chunnakam also adapted to diversive political beliefs. During the days of Town Council era, residents always preferred candidates from LSSP to Federal party or Tamil congress and in the 1982 presidential election, the then JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera collected majority votes within Manipay constituency from the two poll booths in Chunnakam only.
There was even a popular rumor about Mr. Wijeweera being kept in a secret place in Chunnakam when he was wanted by Sri Lankan government following the infamous uprising by his men in late 80's. However, that turned out to be untrue as he was captured in a place in the central province.
[edit] Residents of Note
[edit] Places of Worship
There are quite a few worship places within the town limits of Chunnakam.
[edit] Notable Hindu temples in Chunnakam
- Sri Kathiramalai Sivan Devasthanam (Estabished by Tamil King UkiraRajasinkan)
- Maylani Sivan temple
- Maylani Murugan temple
[edit] Notable Christian Churches in Chunnakam
- St.Antony's Parish Catholic Church
- St.Mary's Catholic church In Erlalai
- St.Mary's Catholic church in Uduvil
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