| Vaddukoddai வட்டுக்கோட்டை |
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| — Town — | |
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Vaddukoddai
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Northern |
| District | Jaffna |
| DS Division | Valikamam West |
Vaddukoddai (also spelt Vattukkottai, Vatukotai, Vattukotai) (Tamil: வட்டுக்கோட்டை) is small but important town in the minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominated Jaffna peninsula of Sri Lanka. It became prominent with the founding of Asia’s first modern university level collegiate known as Batticotta Seminary by the American Missionaries from New England in 1823.[1]
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Most of the residents of the village are Sri Lankan Tamils with majority being Hindus and a minority Christians of various sects. As of 2007, due to the effects of the Sri Lankan civil war the actual number of residents is unknown.
The village is home to the prominent Jaffna College that was founded as the Batticotta Seminary. It also has the Vaddu Central College another important secondary institute of education. It also houses the tertiary educational institution known as Jaffna College Institute of Technology, a polytechnic that is used for various vocational training requirements.[1]
The Church of South India has 21 administrative division throughout the world. It has only one of them known as a Diocese in Sri Lanka. The Jaffna Diocese headquarter is in Vaddukoddai. An Amman temple at Sangarathai, a Murugan temples at Adaikalam Thottam and Panguru are three of the main Hindu temples found here.[2]
The name of the village suggests that at some point in its history it had a fortress in its midst. But rule by various colonial powers since 1621 has erased all evidence of a fort. The village became prominent during the British colonial period in Sri Lanka as it was chosen as location for one of the nine protestant missions to be established within the small Jaffna peninsula (hardly 15 by 40 miles). The move by the seminary to study Saiva scriptures led to an important social transformation amongst the local Tamils because it began a process that led to a Saiva revivalism led by Arumuka Navalar. Eventually the seminary was renamed Jaffna college and became a secular institution in 1867. The village also played an important role in the current Sri Lankan civil war as the place where the Tamil United Liberation Front party came up with the Vaddukoddai Resolution in 1976 that articulated the view that minority Sri Lankan Tamils needed separation from rest of Sri Lanka to resolve their political problems.[1][3][4]