Percival's 19th century Tamil proverb compilations collated and sorted in new publication

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 August 2019, 20:04 GMT]
One thousand eight hundred and seventy Tamil proverbs compiled by Rev Peter Percival and published as Thiruddaantha Changkirakam (திருட்டாந்த சங்கிரகம், Tiruṭṭānta Caṅkirakam) with their translation in English by the American Mission in Jaffna in 1843 and the second expanded edition in Tamil Nadu with 6,156 proverbs collected by the same author in 1874 have been combined into a single source by “Viruba” T Kumaresan and A Sivagnanaseelan. While the Tamil Nadu edition had been reprinted five times until 2019, the initial publication of proverbs collected in the country of Eezham Tamils had not been reproduced until now. The latest effort combines both the Jaffna and Mylapore compilations with English translations deploying traditional Tamil sorting in listing them all into a single source. The collection was published at an event held in Jaffna Hartley College on Monday.
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SL port ‘development’ to cause hazardous conditions to Hartley, Methodist colleges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2018, 15:06 GMT]
Occupying Colombo is bringing permanent disturbance to the peaceful environment needed for two of the prominent educational institutions of Eezham Tamils in Jaffna, the Hartley College and the Methodist Girl’s High School, situated in northernmost Point Pedro. The SL Port Authority (SLPA) which comes under the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka is seizing more lands to the west of the two educational institutions, which are already struggling to sustain a safe environment amidst militarised conditions.
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Veteran Eezham Tamil academic, diaspora leader Theva Rajan passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2015, 19:08 GMT]
Mr. Arumugam Thevarajan, who was contributing to the language, history, culture, rights, media and social welfare of Eezham Tamils in the island and in the diaspora for nearly six decades, passed away in New Zealand on Wednesday at the age of 81. Joining the Ceylon government clerical service in the 1950s, and posted in the police department at Puththa'lam, Theva Rajan resigned his job protesting the ‘Sinhala Only’ Act of 1956. Since then, he was determined and steadfast in devoting an entire life for the national identity development and sociocultural infrastructure development of the nation of Eezham Tamils. He was silently working behind many of the fundamentally important heritage and political pursuits of Eezham Tamils.
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Rajaratnam Snr, an icon in Tamil philanthropy, passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2014, 16:24 GMT]
Jesuthasan Rajaratnam (JMR), born in Alvai, Point Pedro, and an old boy of Hartley College, later of Jaffna Central College, passed away at the age of 86, in Tenafly, New Jersey 17th June, Tuesday. His funeral was held on the 21st Saturday with a large gathering of his relatives, friends and leaders of various Tamil diaspora organizations in which he was a prominent member. A long-term friend who had known JMR for more than 60 years, while Rajaratnam was a student in accounting in U.K. in the 50s and later while holding executive positions in several Colombo-based corporations, described JMR as the most noteworthy person in his life "who has shown singular commitment to the rights and welfare of Tamil people in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka, and who took action to alleviate the debilitating conditions of his people."
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UN representatives see fabricated ‘civil society’ in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2012, 00:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s permanent representative at the UN, Palitha Kohona, brought resident representatives of the UN in 13 countries, including Japan, Italy and South Africa to Jaffna on Satuday. The team during its visit was shown with a fabricated civil society that praised the ‘development’ of Colombo in Jaffna, news sources in Jaffna said. The team held talks with the occupying SL governor in the North, Maj. Gen G.A. Chandrasri and the supporters of the EPDP collaborating with Colombo, who were presented to the visiting team as the ‘civil society’ of Jaffna. However, the visiting UN representatives, while speaking to the Bishop of Jaffna said that had an impression of the true situation as they had already met the TNA and various others in Colombo.
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Queen Elizabeth honours three Tamils this year

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2011, 18:52 GMT]
Queen Elizabeth II honoured three Tamils this year at New Year’s awards in New Zealand and in UK. Significantly, The Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) to 77-year-old Eezham Tamil, Mr. Arumugam Thevarajan from New Zealand was in specific recognition for his services to the Tamil community in New Zealand. Another Eezham Tamil who received Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) was Mr. Chelliah Yogamoorthy, an old student of Jaffna Hindu College, who was honoured for his outstanding service to the Department of Transport. Mr. Yogamoorthy is also a trustee of a Tamil school in Birmingham. The MBE honour for Lakshmi Holmstrom, alumna of Madras and Oxford universities, was for her services to literature. She translated a number of Tamil literary masterpieces into English. In 2007, Canadian Tamils also honoured her with an award.
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Alternate group meets in Jaffna to discuss reformation of TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 2010, 02:38 GMT]
Around 300 prominent persons including two former parliamentarians met Saturday at the Common Hall in Point Pedro Sivan Koayil to discuss the need to reform TNA as it fails to act according to its original principles, sources in Jaffna said. The representative of the Public Organizations in Jaffna peninsula and former principal of Point Pedro Hartley College, Sripathy, too participated in the meeting with several other representatives, the sources added.
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Percival was not an apostate - Prof. Hoole

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 22:54 GMT]
“The late Rev. Dr. Kingsley Muthiah (former President of the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka) has told me of cowardly verbal claims that Percival turned apostate to undermine his efforts but this is the first time I have seen it being openly stated”, writes Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole responding to a statement appeared in a TamilNet feature that Percival deviated from evangelism and concentrated on education and accusing the article for adding another dimension to anti-Christian diatribes. Prof. Hoole says Jaffna Tamils have made an icon of Navalar as the translator of the Bible and as father of prose, but earliest Tamil prose may be traced to catechisms of the Roman Catholics.
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Graves of Peter Percival, R B Foote, discovered at Yercaud

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 2009, 18:33 GMT]
A team of archaeologists located the graves of two illustrious scholars, Rev. Dr. Peter Percival (1803-1882) and his son-in-law Robert Bruce Foote (1834-1912), at Yercaud, a hill station near Salem in Tamil Nadu, reported The Hindu, Wednesday. Peter Percival was a former principal of Jaffna Central College, with whom Arumuga Navalar was associated with in his early days in translating the Bible into Tamil. The discovery was made when Prehistoric archaeologists Shanti Pappu, Kumar Akhilesh and V R Pappu set out on a mission to find the grave of Robert Bruce Foote (1834-1912), who is regarded as the pioneer of studies in Geology and Prehistory in India. Dr Shanti is working on a monograph on R B Foote, who first spotted evidence for Palaeolithic culture dating back to 500,000 years, in Tamil Nadu.
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Swiss representatives visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 2009, 04:25 GMT]
Two officials representing Switzerland were on a visit to Jaffna to assess various development projects carried out by the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Jaffna peninsula and to consider further development schemes, sources in Jaffna said. The officials will be submitting a report to their government on the progress made in the development projects SDC is engaged in and on the planning and feasibility of future projects.
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Civilian shot, injured in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 14:41 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen on motorcycle shot and seriously injured a 19-year-old family man Tuesday around 9:00 a.m near the fish market located next to the main entrance of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 52-4 Division Main Camp in Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi.
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Suvarnarajah appointed Batticaloa High Court Judge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva appointed Mr. P. Suvarnarajah as Batticaloa High Court Judge with effect from Monday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Key Tamil official in Sri Lanka cricket to be sidelined

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2008, 13:31 GMT]
A top Tamil official in Sri Lanka cricket, Velummylum Mathivanan, Secretary of the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket, has been "sidelined from his functions, and it s feared that he could be ousted from the job by the interim committee head Arjuna Ranatunga," Daily Mirror, a Colombo-based daily reported Monday.
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Meritorious A/L performance brings cheer to Jaffna parents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2008, 22:47 GMT]
The performance of students from Jaffna in the General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level) Examination released Friday has brought cheer to the parents, Northern Province education department sources said. Jaffna students, while obtaining first places in the Tamil medium in Math and Biological Sciences, students have also performed competitively in all-island ranking, with a students getting 3rd and 5th places in Mathematics.
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3 High School students abducted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 May 2007, 15:28 GMT]
Three students studying advanced level in two prominent high schools in Jaffna were forcibly abducted Friday night from their homes by armed men arriving in white vans, according to complaints filed by the parents of the students with the Jaffna Human Rights Commission offices. Two are students at Jaffna Hindu College and the third student attends St.John's College.
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SLA blocks Education officials from visiting FDL schools

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 March 2007, 12:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) command in Jaffna has blocked from Jaffna district Education Department officials from visiting schools inside the High Security Zones (HSZs) to attend to routine educational matters and to inspect progress in building construction, Valigamam Education officials said. Tellipallai Union College, inside Valigamam North HSZ, and Hartley College and Methodist Girls College, inside Point Pedro HSZ, are the worst affected schools with the new SLA restrictions, Education officials said.
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Two teenage students reported missing in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 19:40 GMT]
Two 15 year old students of Udupiddy American Mission College are reported missing since Saturday 1:30 p.m at Udupiddy, Vadamaradchy, while they were riding bicycles to attend class at a local private education centre, according to complaints made by family members at Valvetithurai police and Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office.
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Education in peril

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 February 2007, 00:33 GMT]
More than 7% of school-aged children in Jaffna, amounting to 10201 students, dropped out of schools in 2006, most of the dropouts occurring following the fresh outbreak of violence from 11 August 2006, say education officials in Jaffna. The schools in the district that boasted highest literacy rates 3 decades ago, and produced nearly 40% of the medical and engineering freshmen, now are gripped with fear of student abductions, and with high school education crippled with lack of school supplies and scarcity of books.
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Jaffna students end boycott

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 February 2007, 14:54 GMT]
High School and Secondary school students in Jaffna peninsula returned to their classes on Wednesday, in response to the communiqué issued by Jaffna Students Union calling for an end to the two weeks-old boycott of classes. However, attendence was low at Hartley College, Point Pedro and Velauththam MahaVidyalayam, the schools where two abducted on 17 January were attending classes.


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Vadamaradchy schools boycott enters fifth day

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 January 2007, 01:12 GMT]
The boycott of classes by more than 12000 students in Vadamaradchy demanding immediate release of two students from Point Pedro Hartley College and Velayutham Maha Vidyalaym abducted recently entered fifth day Friday, student leaders in Point Pedro said.
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