Mylanthanai

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Mylanthanai (Tamil: மயிலந்தனை) was a village within the Batticaloa District of the Eastern province of Sri Lanka. As part of the Sri Lankan civil war, people from the village were displaced in 1990 and again after a Mylanthanai massacre in August 1992. They had taken refuge in Valaichenai refugee camp. Although, an international agency had helped the displaced people to clear Mylanthanai and other villages and had also supplied tents and other materials for resettlement, they have been unable to settle back in their village.^[1]^[2].

The old Sinhalese name of this village, MAHILATHAENNA (මහිලතැන්න)^{[citation needed]} has a clear meaning. It is "the place (=Thaenna) with Mahila trees". The sinhala "Mahila" is probabaly Mimusops elengi, or it could be the Sinhala 'Maila', which may refers to Bauhinia racemosa.

This area was noted by the Dutch Governor Rycloff Van Goensn as being "populated by the King's subjects". Other similar records are given elsewhere ^[3]. As noted by 19th century British administrators the demographics in this area were slowly changing, with the original subjects displaced. Thus this village became a minority Sri Lankan Tamil speaking village in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka in the Batticaloa district.^{[citation needed]}