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Kudiramalai

hamlet in North Western Province, Sri Lanka

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ4502922 ↗
Source-derived summary

Kudiramalai (Tamil: குதிரைமலை, romanized: Kutiraimalai, Sinhala: කුදිරමලෙයි, romanized: Kudiramaleyi ) is a cape and ancient port town on the west coast of Sri Lanka.

On the Gulf of Mannar near Silavaturai, the town shares a history with nearby Karaitivu Island, the ancient port town of Mannar and the Ketheeswaram temple. Kudiramalai is the northernmost point of Puttalam District and was a southern port of Mannar during the classical period, serving the northern kingdoms of the Jaffna Peninsula and Vanni country as one of their southernmost border towns. It is west of Vanni from Trincomalee, home of Koneswaram temple.

Rulers included Alli Raani, Korran, his father (Pittan) and contemporaries, Athiyamān Nedumān Añci and his son Kumanan. Traders brought several horses on watercraft to the island during the Sangam period. The port was known as Hippuros by Pliny (Nat. Hist. Book 6, 24). Archaeological excavations have found that Kudiramalai was inhabited from the first century BCE to the seventh century CE.

History

Classical period

Kudiramalai shares the legends of the Tamil queen Alli Raani with Mannar; during her rule, major changes to the western coastline occurred.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Kudiramalai” as hamlet in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kudiramalai, hamlet and North.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current 184-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Kudiramalai, hamlet and North providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kudiramalai”, the useful work is to connect “hamlet in North Western Province, Sri Lanka” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4502922. Authority coordinates are 8.533, 79.867. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Kudiramalai”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Kudiramalai primary sources, Kudiramalai archive and Kudiramalai research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kudiramalai”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Kudiramalai” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.