The district of mannar is rich in legend and history. The “Mahavamsa” records that Vijaya, the legendary paterfamilias of the Sinhala race, landed north to Mannar in the ancient port of Mahatittha, now called Mantai. It was here, as recounted in the Ramayana epic , the Hanuman, the monkey god, crossed over Adam’s bridge from India to rescue Sita, the wife of Rama, who had been abducted by the king Ravana.
Mannar
Island, on the west coast south of the Jaffna peninsula, reaches out across the
Palk Strait towards India. It is connected to the mainland by a railway bridge
& causeway two miles along. About twenty kilometers away, near the western
most tip of Mannar Island is the town of Talai Mannar, which literally means the
“Head of Mannar” a ferry service operates from here to the island of Rameswaram
on the Indian coast. West Talai Mannar, a series of reefs and rocks forms a
ridge called Adam’s Bridge. This extends to Rameswaram. Mannar fort stands on
the eastern tip of the Island shore, overlooking the narrow stretch of water
which separates it from the mainland.
Remarkable
features of the town are the huge baobab trees, natives if Africans &
Madagascar doubtless brought over by Arab traders centuries ago. The emblem in
the coast of arms of the Mannar district is represented by the Indian Madder.
It is called “saya” in the Sinhalese and “Chaya” in
Tamil. The plants grow mostly as a weed to a highest of 10-25 centimeters. It
is the roots which produce the bright red dye that formed a source of revenue
widely used for dyeing cloth & also in temple painting. Heydt writes,
“There Handkerchiefs which are made here are prized and esteemed before all
others because of their lovely & very fast red color Baladaeus writes,
Mannar is in length a good fire hours walk or so, and two in breath. In front
of the fort, there runs a canal which admits the navigation of small light
crafts drawing three, four & five feet of water, these vessels sailing to jaffnapatam. The fort was
considerably improved in our time, with a deep, wide and fine trench and in
every respect rendered more defensible.
There
are on this isle seven churches, one in each of the principal villages, the
main one being the town church, next come Toppaveli, Karikal, Erukkalam
Piddi,Pieter’s Kers, in the fishers quarters, pesalai & Talai Mannar
being the furthest list of the strand.
This
isle was famous in former times for its pearl fishery. The island is productive
of an abundance of fish which the inhabitants not only use for their own
sustenance but also known how to drag it for exportation to other places. There
is here a species of fish which could be given no better name than “ Sea-Calf”
it is amphibious, and when well dressed for food, surpass the steur in Hollant,
and the person partaking of them might well believed that he is feasting on
goodveal.
