A few questions by Krishna

[Jan Filipsky]

>At 10:11 AM 9/29/97 +0100, you wrote:
<snip>
>>2. The Tamil name for Batticaloa is MaTTakkaLappu. The word kaLappu is
>>given in the Tamil Lexicon as meaning shallow part of the sea. The name of
>>the region is said to come from a huge vAvi or tank, within Batticaloa,
>>connected to the sea. According to the MaTTakkaLappu MAnmiyam, a legendary
>>chronicle, the original settlers, who entered the tank, noticed, after
>>sailing a long distance, that they had reached the shores, shouted that
>>they had reached the end of kaLappu, maTTu having the meanings of limit,
>>boundary, also. kiLappu is a colloquial form.
>>
It may be added, for completness' sake, that in Sinhala Batticaloa stands
for MaDakalappuva, which can be segmented into maDa, meaning 'mud, mire' and
kalapuva, meaning 'a lake which communicates with the sea'. Therefore the
whole name stands for 'muddy lagoon'.
Regards, Filipsky
Jan Filipsky, Oriental Institute, Pod vodarenskou vezi 4, 182 08  Praha 8
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