Towards our places – Manipay

Towards our places
Towards our places – Manipay

Manipay

Manipay is a town in the Valikama division of Jaffna district, in the northern region of Eelam. Described as a large field in ancient times, Manipay is under the administration of the Sandilippai Divisional Secretariat Division.

Manipay is located 12 kilometers from Jaffna city. The main road leading north-west from Jaffna city, Manipay Road, leads to this town. The towns of Sandilippai, Navali, Sudumalai, Uduvil, and Anaikottai are located within the boundaries of Manipay.

This place name is: Mani + Pay = Manipay. Mani = a word meaning honorable and grant. Grant is a land belonging to a good man. Maniakkaraan = a person who inherits land in a village. This name of the city can have been formed based on this.

And when looking at the evidence of South Indian inscriptions, it is clear that ‘Mani’ refers to the “brahmas” who were associated with temples. And these “brahmas” carried out temple services. Professor Nagasamy, citing the Thanjavur Peruvaiyar temple inscription as evidence, says that Mani means Brahmin.

Manipay Hindu College and Manipay Women’s College also play an important role in the educational development of Manipay.

In spiritual work, Manipay Marudhadi Vinayagar Temple and Sudumalai Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple and St. Peter and Paul Church are places of historical importance.

During the Eelam Liberation War, Manipay faced a massive displacement in 1995 and raise up again. Manipay made great sacrifices in the freedom struggle and produced countless freedom fighters, maveerar, scholars, artists, and creative people. And the city is still a prosperous agricultural land.

The Portuguese set foot on Sri Lankan in 1505. In 1620, they captured the Kingdom of Jaffna. They had a habit of spreading Catholicism in the countries they captured and built a church in Manipay. This church, built by the Franciscan Order in Manipay, was named “Our Lady Do Porto”. This name is believed to have a meaning like the name of the city of Do Porto in Portugal.

In 1656, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese and captured Sri Lanka with them. Protestant priests also came. One of them, Baldeus, in his book “Cholamandalam and Sri Lanka”, wrote that the present church in Manipay was built in 1769 by a Dutchman named Vaddukottai (Laurens Pul, who built the church). Reports say in 1760, there were 182,226 Christians in Jaffna under the Dutch. The British declared religious freedom after they captured Sri Lanka in 1796.