A few questions by Krishna, dated 9/27/97 and reply by Ramani

[Ramani]

At 10:11 AM 9/29/97 +0100, you wrote:
>1.Regarding Ramani's explanation of place names in the Tamil region of
>Ilankai, I am in general agreement with him but I could add a little more.
>According to the legend, the uninhabited sandy tract of.YAZHppANam was
>given as a present to a blind poet YAZHppATi/ Antakakkavi VIrarAkavan by a
>king called Ukkirasingan of Katiramalai. The poet brought his own folk from
>Tamilnadu and settled them there. The king who made the present had not
>been identified.
>Jaffna is indeed a Portuguese version of this name.
>
>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.
>
>3. Regarding the name of the third rock, I think that it should have been
>TirukkALatti. TiruvAnaikkA is on plain land- there is no rock.  But
>TuruccirAppaLLi Rock is situated within a few kilometres from the
>TiruvAnaikkA temple. There is a TAyumAnavar temple for Siva in the rock,
>but it is the Ganesa temple at the peak that attracts pilgrims.
>
>Regards,
>A.Veluppillai
>
Dear Velluppillai,
Totally agreed.
Ramani