ABOUT JAFFNA

Jaffna is located in the nothern part of the Sri lanka.This is the Home city of Sri Lankan Tamil.Most of the Jaffna Tamils are well educated .They have their traditional culture,Decency.This is an ancient port city.I am also from Jaffna.My village call "Ilavalai"which is located 5 km north of Jaffna Town.This city is fillup with traditional Hindu kovils, catholicChurches.The local citizens are Hindu ,Catholics & Muslims and Christians. The Jaffna Peninsula and the rest of Sri Lanka's vast Northern Province comprise the country's driest region.Jaffna, the center of Sri Lanka's Tamil culture, was the capital of an independent medieval kingdom and later a key colonial outpost for the Portuguese and Dutch.About a million people today make their homes on the Jaffna Peninsula. Some 999 square miles (2,587 square kilometers) in size, the peninsula is saved from being an island only by a halfmile-wide strip of sand at its far southeastern end.Its flat, dry land is interspersed with shallow lagoons,and a number of interesting offshore islands extend the geographical pattern. The yal is today the symbol of Jaffna,which sometimes is also called "Yalpanam," "city of the lyre."Just as with the eastern coast, so has much of northern Sri Lankafallen to disruption and destruction due to fighting betweenthe Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil Militants(Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam) led By Mr.V. Prabaharan.Jaffna, the strong hold of the militant groups has taken a heavy toll. Access to the north is heavily restricted .But,when better times comes, Jaffna and the north will offer the discerning traveler a glimpse into a land of stark beauty, that is rich in culture and history.
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What is Pongal?

>> Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pongal is the only festival of Hindu that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year. Pongal has astronomical significance: it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun's movement northward for a six month period. In Hinduism, Uttarayana is considered auspicious, as opposed to Dakshinaayana, or the southern movement of the sun. All important events are scheduled during this period. Makara Sankranthi refers to the event of the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn.

In Hindu temples bells, drums, clarinets and conch shells herald the joyous occasion of Pongal. To symbolize a bountiful harvest, rice is cooked in new pots until they boil over. Some of the rituals performed in the temple include the preparation of rice, the chanting of prayers and the offering of vegetables, sugar cane and spices to the gods. Devotees then consume the offerings to exonerate themselves of past sins.

Pongal signals the end of the traditional farming season, giving farmers a break from their monotonous routine. Farmers also perform puja to some crops, signaling the end of the traditional farming season. It also sets the pace for a series of festivals to follow in a calendar year. In fact, four festivals are celebrated in Tamil Nadu for four consecutive days in that week. 'Bogi' is celebrated on January 13, 'Pongal' on Jan 14, 'Maattuppongal' on Jan 15, and 'Thiruvalluvar Day' on Jan 16.

The festival is celebrated for four days. On, the first day, Bhogi, the old clothes and materials are thrown away and fired, marking the beginning of a new life. The second day, the Pongal day, is celebrated by boiling fresh milk early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel - a tradition that is the literal translation for Pongal. People also prepare savories and sweets, visit each other's homes, and exchange greetings. The third day, Mattu Pongal, is meant to offer thanks to the cows and buffaloes, as they are used to plough the lands. On the last day, Kanum Pongal, people go out to picnic.

A festival called Jalli kathu is held in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tanjavur,all in Tamil Nadu, on this day. Bundles of money are tied to the horns of Pongal ferocious bulls which the villagers try to retrieve. Everyone joins in the community meal, at which the food is made of the freshly harvested grain. This day is named and celebrated as Tamilian Tirunal in a fitting manner through out Tamil Nadu.

Thus, the harvest festival of Pongal symbolizes the veneration of the first fruit. The crop is harvested only after a certain time of the year, and cutting the crop before that time is strictly prohibited. Even though Pongal was originally a festival for the farming community, today it is celebrated by all. In south India, all three days of Pongal are considered important. However, those south Indians who have settled in the north usually celebrate only the second day. Coinciding with Makara Sankranti and Lohri of the north, it is also called Pongal Sankranti.



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>> Friday, January 9, 2009

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WAITING FOR THE LEGENTA

>> Friday, September 26, 2008


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The liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam



The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are a guerilla/terrorist group representing the minority Tamil community, fighting for an Eelam, or homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Led by V. Pirabhakaran, the group started as a small forty to fifty man outfit in the early 1980s, but has since grown to an organization of several thousand. A unique, if macabre feature of its tactics has been the use of suicide commandos, both men and women, some in their early teens, for individual assassination as well as mass attacks. A former Indian prime minister, a Sri Lankan president, and several top aides have been targeted and killed in this way. The LTTE has not hesitated to kill prominent Sinhala civilians. Between 1987 and 1990 LTTE fought the Indian Army, which was sent to disarm it as part of an Indian-Sri Lankan agreement. After the Indian pullout in 1990, the organization used a suicide bomber to carry out the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Thereafter Indian authorities unravelled a well-organized network of safe houses, supporters, and logistics depots in Tamil Nadu. India maintains a strict naval cordon sanitate around the area of conflict, which shows no signs of abating.

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The liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are a guerilla/terrorist group representing the minority Tamil community, fighting for an Eelam, or homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. Led by V. Pirabhakaran, the group started as a small forty to fifty man outfit in the early 1980s, but has since grown to an organization of several thousand. A unique, if macabre feature of its tactics has been the use of suicide commandos, both men and women, some in their early teens, for individual assassination as well as mass attacks. A former Indian prime minister, a Sri Lankan president, and several top aides have been targeted and killed in this way. The LTTE has not hesitated to kill prominent Sinhala civilians. Between 1987 and 1990 LTTE fought the Indian Army, which was sent to disarm it as part of an Indian-Sri Lankan agreement. After the Indian pullout in 1990, the organization used a suicide bomber to carry out the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Thereafter Indian authorities unravelled a well-organized network of safe houses, supporters, and logistics depots in Tamil Nadu. India maintains a strict naval cordon sanitate around the area of conflict, which shows no signs of abating.

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The Struggle for Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka

Regionalism has commonly been expected to dissolve as a consequence of the administrative regional penetration of the centralized modern state and the homogenizing forces associated with modernization. This mode of reasoning has reappeared recently among authors who see globalization as a universal force that will eradicate regional economic inequalities, local identities and regional political mobilization. Contrary to these expectations, regional autonomy movements continue to play a central political role within many states. Consequently, it remains an important analytical challenge to understand the construction and politicization of regional interests.Against this background, the article presents a critical interpretation and contextual analysis of Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka. It is argued that studies of nationalist movements should seek inspiration in the contemporary dialog between three main perspectives on social movements (theories of new social movements, resource mobilization theories, and theories of collective identity) and a corresponding three-dimensional understanding of place (location, locale, and sense of place). The paper shows how nationalist mobilization cannot be reduced to essentialist notions of primordial nations, territorial nation-states, or internal colonialism, but instead should be understood as the outcome of cultural and political practices by a multitude of actors, operating in time- and place-specific contexts

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ABOUT NALLUR TEMPLE

Historians have found evidence that the original temple was built in 1248 in Kurukkal Valavu in Nallur at the same location of the present temple. Nallur was then the capital of the Jaffna Kingdom. But in 1450, Parakramabahu the 6th of the Kotte Kingdom, in response to the Arya Chakkaravarthi of Jaffna's to extend his rule to the South, sent his son Sapumal Kumara to bring the Jaffna Kingdom down to his rule. Sapumal Kumara defeated King Arya Chakkaravarthi, destroyed his palace and the original Nallur temple. But upon becoming Buvaneka Bahu the 6th , he sought to make amends by building a new temple in 1467 at a nearby location, says Shanmugapriya in Nallur Kanthaswamy: A Spiritual Experience.And centuries later the Portuguese, after fighting witht the kings of the Jaffna Kingdom for more than hundred years, with the death of King Sangilian, captured it in 1620. The Portuguese General Phillip Oliviera used the Nallur temple as a fort.During Dutch rule, the new temple was built in the same place in Kurukkal Valavu,as the original place.The main shrine has deity Vel, but later a statue of Lord Murugan was installed.Further the Nallur festival of old days took place in the nights,with the procession carrying the deity preceded by women clad in shimmering outfits dancing to the beat of gigantic drums. The streets of Nallur were illuminated with flame of torches and lamps.
Hindu priests in White attire for the evening event on Theerththam.


Camphor seller


Young camphor seller

Young camphor seller in Nallur

Peanut Stall

Peanut - Kachchan stall
Sudal
Thannner penthal - "Lemmonade stand", quenching thirst.

Getting ready for the sales...
How much are you willing pay....?
Thumpu mutaaz..Cotton candy
Bargaining timw...palmyrah houseware
Palmyrah and other household products
Palmyrah products stored for sale
Household products made with palmyrah leaves
Toy and fancy goods stall
Panam porul - Palmyrah products
Fancy goods stall
Bangles stall
Utensils stall
Shopping Spree
Bhajans
Thaallam
Playing udukku in a bhajan . Udukku is belived to be a spiritual instrument in Hindu tradition.
Bhajans
Devotess on Kizhakku Veethi
Devotees
devotees
Kidz.....reminding our childhood dayzz...
Coconut offering
Coconut breaking
Coconut breaking
Devotees at dusk

Ice cream bar

Shopping time

Baloons anyone...

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10 MOST WONDERFUL TEMPLES OF THE WORLD

Tiger's Nest Monaster,perched precariously on the edge of a 3,000 feet-high cliff in paro valley is one of the holiest places in Bhutan






Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Mai,Thailand is unlike any Buddhist temples in the world




Prambanan is a hindu temple in Central Java,Indonesia.The Temple Was built in 850 CE,and is composed of 8 main shrines and 250 surroundingsmaller ones


Shwedagon paya (Wiki)(or Pagoda) in Myanmar was built-legend has it that itis 2,500 years old though archaeologists estimate that it was built between the 6th and 10 th century

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