1.
Colombo
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Colombo is the commercial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo metropolitan area has a population of 5.6 million and it is the financial centre of the island and a popular tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is within the urban area of, and a satellite city of, Colombo. It is also the capital of Western Province, Sri Lanka. Colombo is a busy and vibrant place with a mixture of life and colonial buildings. It was the capital of Sri Lanka until 1982. Due to its harbour and its strategic position along the East-West sea trade routes. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, in 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The main city is home to a majority of Sri Lankas corporate offices, restaurants, the name Colombo, first introduced by the Portuguese in 1505, is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhalese name කොලොන් තොට Kolon thota, meaning port on the river Kelani. Another belief is that the name is derived from the Sinhalese name කොල-අඹ-තොට Kola-amba-thota which means Harbour with leafy mango trees, the author of the oldest Sinhalese grammar, Sidatsangarava, written in the 13th century wrote about a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhalese. It lists naramba and kolamba as belonging to an indigenous source, kolamba may also be the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo. As Colombo possesses a harbour, it was known to Indian, Greeks, Persians, Romans, Arabs. Traveller Ibn Batuta who visited the island in the 14th century and their descendants now comprise the local Sri Lankan Moor community. Portuguese explorers led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505, as part of the treaty, the Portuguese were given full authority over the coastline in exchange for the promise of guarding the coast against invaders. They were allowed to establish a trading post in Colombo, within a short time, however, they expelled the Muslim inhabitants of Colombo and began to build a fort in 1517. Following the fall of the kingdom in 1593, the Portuguese were able to complete control over the coastal area. This part of Colombo is still known as Fort and houses the presidential palace, the area immediately outside Fort is known as Pettah and is a commercial hub. In 1638 the Dutch signed a treaty with King Rajasinha II of Kandy which assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the major trade goods
2.
Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
3.
Maldives
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The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka, the chain of twenty-six atolls stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to the Addu City in the south. Malé is the capital and most populated city, traditionally called the Kings Island for its central location. With an average elevation of 1.5 metres above sea level, it is the worlds lowest country, with even its highest natural point being the lowest in the world. Due to the subsequent risks posed by rising sea-levels, the government pledged in 2009 to make the Maldives a carbon-neutral country by 2019, the Maldives have been historically and culturally linked to the Indian subcontinent since the fourth century BCE. The Maldivian archipelago was Islamised in the 12th century and consolidated as a sultanate, developing commercial and cultural ties with Asia. From the mid 16th-century, the region came under the influence of European colonial powers. Independence from the United Kingdom was achieved in 1965 and a republic was established in 1968 with an elected Peoples Majlis. The ensuing decades have been characterised by political instability, efforts at democratic reform, the Maldives is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It is also a member of the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the World Bank classifies the Maldives as having an upper middle income economy. Fishing has historically been the dominant economic activity, and remains the largest sector by far, along with Sri Lanka, it is one of only two South Asian countries rated high on the Human Development Index, with its per capita income the highest among SAARC nations. The name Maldives may derive from the Malayalam words maala and dweepu or the Tamil maalai and theevu, the Maldivian people are called Dhivehin. The word theevu means island, and Dhives means islanders, the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle Mahawamsa refers to an island called Mahiladiva in Pali, which is probably a mistranslation of the same Sanskrit word meaning garland. Jan S Hogendorn, Grossman Professor of Economics, theorises that the name Maldives derives from the Sanskrit mālādvīpa, in Tamil, Garland of Islands can be translated as Malai Theevu. In Malayalam, Garland of Islands can be translated as Maladweepu, in Kannada, Garland of Islands can be translated as Maaledweepa. This is the name inscribed on the scroll in the Maldive state emblem. The classical Persian/Arabic name for Maldives is Dibajat, the Dutch referred to the islands as the Maldivische Eilanden, while the British anglicised the local name for the islands first to the Maldive Islands and later to Maldives. One such community are the Giraavaru people and they are mentioned in ancient legends and local folklore about the establishment of the capital and kingly rule in Malé
4.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
5.
Seychelles
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Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an archipelago and country in the Indian Ocean. The 115-island country, whose capital is Victoria, lies 1,500 kilometres east of mainland East Africa, other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Réunion and Mauritius to the south. Seychelles is a member of the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, since 1976, per capita output has increased nearly sevenfold. In recent years, the government has encouraged investment in order to upgrade these sectors. Today, Seychelles boasts the highest nominal per capita GDP in Africa and it is one of only a handful of countries in Africa with high Human Development Index. Despite the countrys economic prosperity, poverty remains widespread due to very high level of income inequality, one of the highest in the world. The Seychelles were uninhabited throughout most of recorded history, some scholars assume that Austronesian seafarers and later Maldivian and Arab traders were the first to visit the uninhabited Seychelles. This assumption is based on the discovery of tombs in 1910, the earliest recorded sighting by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself. The earliest recorded landing was in January 1609, by the crew of the Ascension under Captain Alexander Sharpeigh during the voyage of the British East India Company. The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XVs Minister of Finance, the British controlled the islands between 1794 and 1810. Jean Baptiste Quéau de Quincy, French administrator of Seychelles during the years of war with the United Kingdom, instead, he successfully negotiated the status of capitulation to Britain which gave the settlers a privileged position of neutrality. Britain eventually assumed full control upon the surrender of Mauritius in 1810, Seychelles became a crown colony separate from Mauritius in 1903. Elections were held in 1966 and 1970, independence was granted in 1976 as a republic within the Commonwealth. In the 1970s Seychelles was the place to be seen, a playground for film stars, in 1977, a coup détat by France Albert René ousted the first president of the republic, James Mancham. René discouraged over-dependence on tourism and declared that he wanted to keep the Seychelles for the Seychellois, the 1979 constitution declared a socialist one-party state, which lasted until 1991. In the 1980s there were a series of attempts against President René. In 1981, Mike Hoare led a team of 43 South African mercenaries masquerading as holidaying rugby players in the 1981 Seychelles coup détat attempt, there was a gun battle at the airport, and most of the mercenaries later escaped in a hijacked Air India plane. The leader of this hijacking was German mercenary D. Clodo, Clodo later stood trial in South Africa as well as in his home country Germany for air-piracy
6.
Automated teller machine
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According to the ATM Industry Association, there are now close to 3 million ATMs installed worldwide. Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number which must match the PIN stored in the chip on the card or in the financial institutions database. Using an ATM, customers can access their deposit or credit accounts in order to make a variety of transactions such as cash withdrawals, check balances. If the currency being withdrawn from the ATM is different from that in which the account is denominated the money will be converted at an official exchange rate. Thus, ATMs often provide the best possible exchange rates for foreign travellers, the idea of out-of-hours cash distribution developed from bankers needs in Asia, Europe and North America. Little is known of the Japanese device other than it was called Computer Loan Machine, the device was operational in 1966. In the US patent record, Luther George Simjian has been credited with developing a prior art device, specifically his 132nd patent, which was first filed on 30 June 1960. The roll-out of this machine, called Bankograph, was delayed by a couple of years, an experimental Bankograph was installed in New York City in 1961 by the City Bank of New York, but removed after six months due to the lack of customer acceptance. The Bankograph was an automated envelope deposit machine and did not have cash dispensing features and it is widely accepted that the first ATM was put into use by Barclays Bank in its Enfield Town branch in north London, United Kingdom, on 27 June 1967. This machine was inaugurated by English comedy actor Reg Varney and this instance of the invention is credited to the engineering team led by John Shepherd-Barron of printing firm De La Rue, who was awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours. Shepherd-Barron stated, It struck me there must be a way I could get my own money, I hit upon the idea of a chocolate bar dispenser, but replacing chocolate with cash. The Barclays-De La Rue machine beat the Swedish saving banks and a company called Metiors machine by a nine days. The online version of the Swedish machine is listed to have been operational on 6 May 1968, the collaboration of a small start-up called Speytec and Midland Bank developed a fourth machine which was marketed after 1969 in Europe and the US by the Burroughs Corporation. The patent for this device was filed on September 1969 by John David Edwards, Leonard Perkins, John Henry Donald, Peter Lee Chappell, Sean Benjamin Newcombe & Malcom David Roe. Both the DACS and MD2 accepted only a token or voucher which was retained by the machine while the Speytec worked with a card with a magnetic stripe at the back. They used principles including Carbon-14 and low-coercivity magnetism in order to make more difficult. The idea of a PIN stored on the card was developed by a British engineer working on the MD2 named James Goodfellow in 1965, the essence of this system was that it enabled the verification of the customer with the debited account without human intervention. This patent is also the earliest instance of a complete currency dispenser system in the patent record and this patent was filed on 5 March 1968 in the US and granted on 1 December 1970
7.
Chennai
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Chennai /ˈtʃɛnnaɪ/, formerly known as Madras /məˈdrɑːs/ or /-ˈdræs/) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the biggest cultural, economic, according to the 2011 Indian census, it is the sixth-largest city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked 43rd most visited city in the world for year 2015, the Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed Indias health capital, as a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai has the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 2009,82,790 in 2011, tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai is ranked as a city in the Global Cities Index and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the hottest city by the BBC, National Geographic ranked Chennais food as second best in the world, it was the only Indian city to feature in the list. Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet, the Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest city economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed The Detroit of India, with more than one-third of Indias automobile industry being based in the city, in January 2015, it was ranked third in terms of per capita GDP. Chennai has been selected as one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. The name Madras originated even before the British presence was established in India, the name Madras is said to have originated from a Portuguese phrase mae de Deus which means mother of god, due to Portuguese influence on the port city. According to some sources, Madras was derived from Madraspattinam, a north of Fort St George. However, it is whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans. The British military mapmakers believed Madras was originally Mundir-raj or Mundiraj, Madras might have also been derived from the word Madhuras meaning juice of honey or sugarcane in Sanskrit. The nativity of name Chennai, being of Telugu origin is clearly proved by the historians. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a deed, dated 8 August 1639
8.
Kandy
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Kandy is a major city in Sri Lanka, located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings era of Sri Lanka, the city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province, Kandy is the home of The Temple of the Tooth Relic, one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. The city and the region has been known by different names. Some scholars suggest that the name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near present Watapuluwa. However, the popular historical name is Senkadagala or Senkadagalapura, officially Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara. According to folklore, this originated from one of the several possible sources. The Kingdom of Kandy has also known by various names. The English name Kandy, which originated during the era, is derived from an anglicised version of the Sinhalese Kanda Uda Rata or Kanda Uda Pas Rata. The Portuguese shortened this to Candea, using the name for both the kingdom and its capital, in Sinhalese, Kandy is called Maha nuwara, meaning Great City or Capital, although this is most often shortened to Nuwara. Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu was followed by his son Jayaweera Astana and then by Karaliyadde Bandara who was succeeded by his daughter Dona Catherina of Kandy, Dona Catherina was succeeded by Rajasinha I. Rajasinha I however, preferred to rule the country from the Kingdom of Sitawaka on the west of the island. A period of turmoil for power ended with the ascent to the throne by Konappu Bandara who came to be known as Vimaladharmasuriya I, having embraced Buddhism, he consolidated his authority further by bringing the tooth relic of the Lord Buddha to Kandy from a place called Delgamuwa. In 1592 Kandy became the city of the last remaining independent kingdom in the island after the coastal regions had been conquered by the Portuguese. Several invasions by the Portuguese were repelled, most notably in the campaign of Danture, after the Sinhalese–Portuguese War and the establishment of Dutch Ceylon, attempts by the Dutch to conquer the kingdom were repelled. The kingdom tolerated a Dutch presence on the coast of Sri Lanka, the most ambitious offensive was undertaken in 1761, when King Kirti Sri Rajasinha attacked and overran most of the coast, leaving only the heavily fortified Negombo intact. When a Dutch retaliatory force returned to the island in 1763, Kirti Sri Rajasinha abandoned the coastline, the Dutch launched a better adapted force in January 1765, replacing their troops bayonets with machetes and using more practical uniforms and tactics suited to jungle warfare
9.
Galle
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Galle is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip,119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the district capital of Galle District. Galle was known as Gimhathiththa before the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, Galle reached the height of its development in the 18th century, during the Dutch colonial period. Galle is the best example of a city built by the Portuguese in South and Southeast Asia. The city was fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. The Galle fort is a heritage site and is the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers. On 26 December 2004, the city was devastated by the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Thousands were killed in the city alone, Galle is home to the Galle International Stadium, which is considered to be one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in the world. The ground, which was damaged by the tsunami, was rebuilt. Important natural geographical features in Galle include Rumassala in Unawatuna, a large hill that forms the eastern protective barrier to Galle Harbour. Local tradition associates this hill with some events of Ramayana, one of the great Hindu epics. The major river in the area is the Gin River, which begins from Gongala Kanda, passes villages such as Neluwa, Nagoda, Baddegama, Thelikada and Wakwella, the river is bridged at Wakwella by the Wakwella Bridge. Galle was known as Gimhathitha in ancient times, the term is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhalese term meaning port near the river Gin. Gaala in Sinhala means the place where cattle are herded together, hence the Sinhalese name for Galle, another theory is that the word Galle is derived from the Dutch word ‘Gallus’, which means rooster. The Dutch have used the rooster as a symbol of Galle, according to James Emerson Tennent, Galle was the ancient seaport of Tarshish, from which King Solomon drew ivory, peacocks and other valuables. Cinnamon was exported from Sri Lanka as early as 1400 BC, Galle had been a prominent seaport long before western rule in the country. Persians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Malays, Indians, the modern history of Galle starts in 1502, when a small fleet of Portuguese ships, under the command of Lourenço de Almeida, on their way to the Maldives, were blown off course by a storm. Realising that the king resided in Kotte close to Colombo, Lourenço proceeded there after a stop in Galle
10.
Jaffna
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Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138, Jaffna is Sri Lankas 12th largest city, jaffnas suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna kingdom. Prior to the Sri Lankan civil war, it was Sri Lankas second most populated city after the commercial capital Colombo, the 1980s insurgent uprising led to extensive damage, expulsion of part of the population, and military occupation. Since the end of war in 2009, refugees and internally displaced people have started to return to their homes and government. Historically, Jaffna has been a contested city and it was made into a colonial port town during the Portuguese occupation of the Jaffna peninsula in 1619 who lost it to the Dutch, only to lose it to the British in 1796. And during the civil war the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam occupied Jaffna in 1986. The Indian Peace Keeping Force briefly occupied the city in 1987, the LTTE again occupied the city from 1989 until 1995, when the Sri Lankan military regained control. The majority of the population are Sri Lankan Tamils with a significant number of Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Tamils. Most Sri Lankan Tamils are Hindus followed by Christians, Muslims, the city is home to number of educational institutions established during the colonial and post-colonial period. It also has number of institutions, minor industrial units, banks, hotels. It is home to historical sites such as the popular Jaffna library that was burnt down and rebuilt. Jaffna is known in Tamil as Yalpanam, the origin of the name can be traced to a legend about the towns etymology. A King was visited by the blind Panan musician, who was an expert in vocal music, the King who was delighted to the music played with the Yal by the Panan, presented him a sandy plain. Jaffna is a version of Yalpanam. The colloquial form of Yalpanam is Yappanam, the Ya and Ja including pp and ff are easily interchangeable. As soon as it went into foreign language, it lost the Tamil ending m, excavations that were conducted by Sir Paul E. In the chronicle Mahavamsa, around sixth century B, the 6th century CE Tamil epic Manimekalai speaks of the prosperous Naga Nadu and Manipallavam
11.
Kurunegala
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Kurunegala is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the city of the North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, from the end of the 13th century to the start of the 14th century and it is at the junction of several main roads linking to other important parts of the country. It is about 94 km from Colombo and 42 km from Kandy, located at an altitude of 116 meters above sea level, Kurunegala is surrounded by coconut plantations and rubber estates. There are eight very large rocks that encircle and dominate the city. Kurunegalas rocks rise from the plain below and have characteristic names, the largest among them is Ethagala or the Elephant Rock, reaches 325 meters. The shape of Ethagala resembles an elephant, Kurunegala has been named after the Elephant rock. Kurune means tusker or an elephant with protruding teeth and gala in Sinhala means rock, kurunai means tusker or an Elephant and gal in Tamil means rock or hill. Kurunegalas old name was Hasthishaila-pura, which can be translated as The City of the Elephant Rock in Sanskrit, in some ancient literature the word Athugal-pura is employed to describe the city of Kurunegala. Nearby are three archeological cities — Parakramapura with remains of a palace and monasteries from the 12th century, Dambadeniya. Kurunegala enjoys a pleasant location with huge rocky outcrops some of which have given names of the animals they resemble, elephant rock. According to folklore legend, a time back the city had a severe drought. To exacerbate matters for the humans, animals had threatened the citys storage capabilities by consuming huge amounts of water, fortunately for the locals, a witch had volunteered to alleviate the problem, transforming some of the animals magically into stone figures. Kurunegala had a citadel in the 13th century and its ascendancy as an ancient capital of Sri Lanka began with a series of events that took place during the late 12th century at Yapahuwa. The sacred tooth relic which was in the Yapahuwa Kingdom was taken by an Aryacakravarti from the Jaffna Kingdom to the Pandyan country during the rule of Buwaneka Bahu I from 1272 to 1284. The relic was brought back by King Parakrama Bahu III who ruled from Kurunegala between 1287 and 1293, over the next half a century Kurunegala was the capital and the governing centre for three other kings of Sri Lanka. After the death of King Parakrama Bahu III, kings Buvanekabahu II who was followed by Parakramabahu IV ruled from Kurunegala, the ruler in Kurunegala from 1326 to 1335 was Buwaneka Bahu III alias Wanni Buwaneka Bahu. He was the son of Pandith Parakrama Bahu II and is believed to be the last king to rule the country from Kurunegala
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