Book traces Tamil history of Trinco village

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 00:01 GMT]
A compilation of thirty research articles on the history of centuries old Tamil village Thambalagamam in Trincomalee district written by Mr.K.Velautham, a nonagenarian journalist was released Sunday morning at Kulakottan Tamil Vidiyalayam in Thambalakamam, in Trincomalee district. Sri Lankan government has recently changed the name to the Sinhala version "Thambalagamuwa" and is using the new name in its all-official transactions, residents said.

Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian released the book by handing over the first copy to Mr.N.Koneswaran, Secretary of the Trincomalee District Chamber of Commerce.

Mr.Velautham, author of the book, Mr.N.Singarayer, Thambalakamam Divisional Secretary,, Mr.K.Thilakaretnam, Zonal Director of Education and Mr.K.Thurairajah, industrialist and several leading citizens of the village participated in the event.

Mr.Thurairatnasingham honored the author of the book by garlanding and covered him with golden shawl for this services to the Tamil people by documenting historical facts on Tamil villages.

Recently the Department of Elections in its official gazette notification calling for nomination for local authorities and other official documents used the name " Thambalagamuwa." The name Thambalakamam was in force officially since the independence of Sri Lanka. With the state aided colonization scheme under the Kantalai tank the demography of the area has been changed and Tamil people becoming a minority and names of Tamil villages in the district are being changed, Tamil scholars said.

Mr. Kanagasabai Velautham, born in 1917 in Thambalakamam, worked for a leading Tamil daily Veerakesari published from Colombo as the Thambalakamam correspondent for more than fifty years. During his career, Veerakesari, newspapers in Sri Lanka, and Tamil weekly magazines in South India published his several articles on subjects including the history of Thambalakamam establishing the Tamil history of the village.

Meanwhile, Mr.K.Thiruchelvam, President of the Potkerni RDS opened bank account for students of Kulakottan Tamil Vidiyalayam who excelled in the Year 5 Scholarship examination and presented them with bicycles. The teacher in charge of Year 5 class and the Principal of the school were also felicitated at the event.