Pandara Vanniyan

Lore & Background

Pandara Vanniyan, also known as Kulasegaram Vairamuthu Pandara Vanniyan, was a native of Vanni. He had one sister, Nallanachal Vanniyan, and two younger brothers: Kayilaya Vanniyan (Minister) and Periya Meynaar (Commander of the State). He married into the family of Kumarasinghe Maha Vanniya of present-day Nuwara Wewa, who held the office of residential Governor and Custodian of the formerly Tamil area. This marriage helped unite northern and southern Vanni chieftain families, strengthening his rule. He is said to have lived in Kumulamunai, in what is now Mullaitivu District.

Pandara Vanniyan defeated the Dutch several times, notably besting Lt. von Driberg on multiple occasions. He later fought against the British colonial powers, carrying out predatory warfare in Mannar and Trincomalee and even penetrating the Jaffna Peninsula. In alliance with the Kandy Kingdom, he started a revolt to expel the British. On 25 August 1803, he attacked the Government House in Mullaitheevu, drove out the garrison under Captain Edward Mudge, and seized the fort. He captured British cannons and overran the northern districts, reaching Elephant Pass and the Jaffna Peninsula. He then resorted to guerrilla tactics but was finally defeated by Lt. von Driberg when the British organized a three-pronged attack from Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee in 1803. The British captured a cannon given to him by Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe and presented the village of Pandara Kulam to Lt. von Driberg as a prize.

After his defeat, his houses were burned and his people dispersed into the jungle and eventually out of the Vanni to the districts of Hanwella. Alternative histories suggest that Lt. von Driberg felt humiliated by having been defeated by Pandara Vanniyan several times, including in personal combat, and stayed on even after the British ousted the Dutch. Pandara Vanniyan was defeated in battle at Oddusuddan, Katsilaimadu in October 1803. He withdrew to areas near the Kandy Kingdom and remained there until September 1810, when he was attacked in an ambush by British forces and later succumbed to his injuries.

Reader's Guide

Pandara Vanniyan is significant as the last Tamil king in Sri Lanka and a symbol of resistance against colonial rule. His legacy was formally recognized when he was declared a National Hero by Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1982. A statue of him was unveiled in Vavuniya at the main junction on the A-9 Highway, where the Jaffna and Kandy (and Colombo) road meets the road to Mannar. The Pandara Vanniyan Memorial Day is observed on 25 August each year. Present-day Tamils and Sinhalese of the North Central and North Western provinces, once part of Vanni, revere him highly; Sinhalese are known to summon the protection of Vanni Bandara Deio when passing through jungles. Tamil nationalists valorise him as an epic hero, and his character has been appropriated and compared to Vellupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the dismantled LTTE. Indian politician and writer Muthuvel Karunanidhi wrote a novel titled 'Payum Puli Pandara Vanniyan' ('The Leaping Tiger Pandara Vanniyan'), which uses Vanniyan to typify Tamil patriotism and transnationalism. The novel's plot connects to developments in Sri Lanka related to the LTTE. Pandara Vanniyan is also the subject of the eponymous play by Mullaimaṇi Ve Cuppiramaṇiyam, which won a prize from the Ceylon Art Council in 1964 and was published in 1970. On 10 August 2014, three statues of former Tamil kings including Pandara Vanniyan, Ellalan, and Pararaja Sekaran were installed by the Jaffna Clock Tower.

Did You Know?

• He defeated the Dutch several times, including besting Lt. von Driberg on multiple occasions.
• A granite monument commemorating his defeat was erected in Katsilaimadu by Lt. von Driberg.