Batticaloa Lagoon

Batticaloa Lagoon is a very large estuarine lagoon in Batticaloa District, eastern Sri Lanka. The city of Batticaloa is located on land between the lagoon and the Indian Ocean.Batticaloa district is flourished with three lagoons, such Batticaloa lagoon, Valaichchenai Lagoon and Vakari Lagoon. Among them, Batticaloa lagoon is the largest lagoon in Batticaloa District. Batticaloa lagoon is a long and narrow lagoon situated in the east coast of Sri Lanka with the total area of approximately 11,500 ha of water.

The lagoon is 56 km long. This lagoon extends from Eravur (Batticaloa district) in the north to Kalmunai (Ampara district) in the south. This lagoon opens in to the sea at two points. One in the southern end of the lagoon at Kallar and the other is midway of the lagoon at Palameenmadu which is close to the Batticaloa town. Both are narrow and approximately 200 m wide. The width of the water flow at their openings varies with the seasons. During the dry season the width of the bar mouth of the lagoon decreases and gradually it get closed with the onset of the north east monsoon which piles up the sand bar by the end of dry season. Later with the rains and with the lagoon mouth closed.

Batticaloa

Batticaloa (Tamil: மட்டக்களப்பு, Maṭṭakkaḷappu; Sinhalese: මඩකලපුව, Madakalapuwa) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka and is a major commercial city. It is on the east coast, 69 miles (111 km) south by south east of Trincomalee, and is situated on an island. Pasikudah is popular tourist destinations, with beaches and flat year-round warm-water shallow-lagoons.

Etymology

Batticaloa is a Portuguese derivation. The original name of the region being the Tamil "Matakkalappu" (translation: Muddy Swamp). According to Mattakallappu Manmiyam (மட்டக்களப்பு மான்மியம்) the word Mattakkallpu consists Tamil words "Mattu" (மட்டு) Matta-derived from "Mattam" (மட்டம்) means 'flat' and geographical name KaLappu. Mukkuwa named this place as KaLappu-Mattam or boundary of lagoon later it became Matta-Kallappu or Flat Lagoon. Also, Batticaloa has a nickname, "Land of the singing fish" (Tamil: மீன் பாடும் தேன் நாடு) due to musical sounds that related to fish or aquatic creature in the Batticaloa Lagoon near the Kallady Bridge. BBC Radio 4 able to recorded the mysterious sound in Batticaloa Lagoon. The sound was broadcast by Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in 1960s with the help of Rev. Fr. Lang, a Catholic priest.

Batticaloa (disambiguation)

Batticaloa may refer to: