Editing Trincomalee (section)

===Middle Ages===
Early Tamil dynasties continued to employ the city as the prefectural capital of the [[Trincomalee District]], allowing administrative duties to be handled by elected [[Vanniar]] chiefs. Inscriptions of [[Kassapa IV of Anuradhapura|Kassapa IV]], [[Udaya III of Anuradhapura|Udaya III]] and [[Mahinda IV of Anuradhapura]], reveal that lands and villages of Tamils in the island's northeast were prospering, particularly following [[Srimara Srivallabha]]'s intervention against [[Sena I of Anuradhapura]].<ref>Ci Patmanātan, S. Pathmanathan (1978). The Kingdom of Jaffna, Volume 1. pp. 26–27</ref> The [[Pallava]] kings, including [[Simhavishnu]] and [[Narasimhavarman I]] were important in the early history of Trincomalee because of the increased significance of the city to Hinduism and trade in the early centuries of the common era, making sure to contribute elements of their unique style of [[Dravidian architecture]] to the city.<ref>{{cite book | last = Indrapala | first = Karthigesu | title = The evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils in Sri Lanka C. 300 BCE to C. 1200 CE| publisher = Vijitha Yapa | year = 2007 | location = Colombo | isbn = 978-955-1266-72-1|page=230}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arumugam|first1=S |year=1980 |title=The Lord of Thiruketheeswaram, an ancient Hindu sthalam of hoary antiquity in Sri Lanka |publisher=Colombo |pages=106  |oclc=10020492}}</ref> During the reign of [[Mahendravarman I]] in 600, as one [[Aggabodhi II of Anuradhapura]] took steps to attack the Vanniar chiefs between Trincomalee and Mannar, ''Tevaram'' hymns were composed on the two holy cities, one of which, written by [[Sambandar]], lauded the deity of the temples in each and lamented the schemes of other heretical faiths encroaching on Trincomalee.<ref name="Ras">{{cite book |last1=Rasanayagam |first1=M.C.|year=1926 |title=Being a research into the history of Jaffna, from very early times to the Portuguese period|publisher=Asian Educational Services (republished: 1993) |location=New Delhi|pages=378  |oclc=249907591}}</ref><ref>Thirunanacamptanta Cuvamikal Arulicceyta Tevarattiruppatikankal, Saiva Siddhanta publishing works Ltd, Madras, 1927</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Raghavan | first = M.D. | title = Tamil culture in Ceylon : a general introduction.| publisher = Colombo : Kalai Nilayam | year = 1971 | location = Colombo | oclc =453189836 |page=233|quote=The earliest mention of the shrine is in the hymns of Thirugnana sambandar who sings of "Konamamalai, and of the peerless God, who dwelled on Konamamalai, to the sound of roaring ocean, and rows of Kalal and the anklets, and half of whose body is shared by the Maid of the Mountains..."}}</ref> Mahendravarman I gave much assistance and military aid to his friend Manavanna of Anuradhapura, and he proceeded to build a twin temple called [[Kokarneswarar Temple, Thirukokarnam]] in [[Pudukkottai]], Tamil Nadu.<ref>KAN Sastri, A History of South India, p412</ref>

Following the conquest of [[Parantaka I]] in 950, [[Rajaraja Chola I]] and [[Rajendra Chola I]] oversaw the city's development when under their empire. A significant expansion of the [[Pathirakali Amman Temple|Bhadrakali Amman Temple, Trincomalee]] by Rajendra Chola I increased pilgrimage to the city. Trincomalee was used by Chola king Ilankesvarar Tevar as his eastern port in the 11th century and prospered under the [[Vannimai]] chieftaincies of the [[Jaffna kingdom]].<ref>N. Parameswaran (2003). ''Medieval Tamils in Lanka = Ilankai''. pp. 13</ref> Two powerful merchant guilds of the time&nbsp;– the [[Manigramam]] and the [[Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu]] emerged in the region during Chola trade with the far east and the conquest of [[Srivijaya]] of the [[Malay Archipelago]].<ref name="tamilakkam">{{cite journal |last1=Schalk |first1=Peter |year=2002 |title=Buddhism Among Tamils in Pre-colonial Tamilakam and Ilam: Prologue. The Pre-Pallava and the Pallava period |journal=Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis |publisher=[[Uppsala University]] |volume=19–20 |pages= 159, 503 }}</ref><ref>Chola-era inscriptions record the activities of Tamil mercantile communities in Padavikulam. The mercantile groups referred to were the Ticai Aayirattu Ain Nurruvar (Velupillai, Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, 1971) and the Ayyavole. Taniyappan, a merchant from Padavikulam, laid a foundation stone for a Siva temple there. A Tamil inscription by Raja Raja Chola refers to Ravi Kulamanikkeswaram Siva Temple in Padavikulam. (K. Indrapala, Epigraphia Tamilica, Jaffna Archeological Society, 1971&nbsp;– page 34). A 13th century Sanskrit inscription excavated here mentions a Brahmin village in the area. The paddy fields of Padavikulam were watered by the Per Aru river.</ref><ref>Abraham, Meera (1988). Two medieval merchant guilds of south India. p. 132</ref> 

The Koneswaram temple compounds, the city and its adjacent region, from Periyakulam and Manankerni in the north, [[Kantalai]] and Pothankadu in the west, and Verugal in the south, formed a great Saiva Tamil principality of the island's state Mummudi Chola Mandalam.<ref name="tamilakkam"/> Residents in this collective community were allotted services, which they had to perform at the Koneswaram temple.<ref name="tamilakkam"/> A [[Jain]] sect in Nilaveli had even complained to [[Gajabahu II]] about the priests of Koneswaram. Following some benefaction of the shrine by Gajabahu II, his successor King [[Parakramabahu I]] used Trincomalee as his eastern port, to launch a successful invasion of [[Burma]] in the 12th century. [[Kalinga Magha]] used the city as a garrison point during his rule. The city was governed by [[Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I|Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I]] and Jatavarman Veera Pandyan I of the [[Pandyan Dynasty|Pandyans]] in the 13th century, despite invasions from and the eventual subduing of [[Chandrabhanu]] and [[Savakanmaindan]] of [[Tambralinga]] of [[Thailand]]; it then remained in the Pandyan empire of [[Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I]] and remnants of Pandyan art and architecture still stand in Trincomalee.<ref name="CSHindu"/>

[[Kalinga Magha|Magha]]'s reign ousted [[Parakrama Pandyan II]] and re-consolidated Tamil sovereign power in the island's north, north west and north east in Trincomalee by 1215; during Magha's reign, the temple and city underwent rich development in the name of a Chodaganga Deva on [[Puthandu]], 1223.<ref name="History of Ceylon"/> After the fall of the Pandyans of [[Tamilakam]] due to invasions by [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] of the [[Delhi Sultanate]], Trincomalee rose in status in the Jaffna kingdom, often visited by King [[Singai Pararasasegaram]] and his successor King [[Cankili I]] in the following centuries.<ref name="ceylonportu">{{cite book |last1=Pieris |first1=Paulus Edward|year=1983 |title=Ceylon, the Portuguese era: being a history of the island for the period, 1505–1658, Volume 1|publisher= Tisara Prakasakayo|location=Sri Lanka|volume=1|page= 262 |oclc=12552979}}</ref> 

Trincomalee served a similar purpose to its west coast sister city, [[Mannar, Sri Lanka|Mannar]]. King [[Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan]] had the traditional history of the Koneswaram temple compiled as a chronicle in verse, titled ''Dakshina Kailasa Puranam'', known today as the ''Sthala Puranam of Koneswaram Temple''.<ref name="shoh" /> Mariners were particularly excited when observing the massive shrine from afar in the sea. Building blocks from the city were used to expand the [[Ramanathaswamy Temple|Kovil at Rameswaram]] under the patronage of king [[Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan]].<ref>Gnanaprakasar,''A Critical History of Jaffna'', p.99-102</ref><ref>Kunarasa,''The Jaffna Dynasty'', p.67-68</ref> At this time, Trincomalee was trading pearls, precious stones, vessels, elephants, muslins, baqam and cinnamon, and was passed by Chinese voyager [[Ma Huan]] by ship, eight days from the [[Nicobar islands]], on his way to [[Tenavaram temple]].<ref>J R Sinnatamby (1968). Ceylon in Ptolemy's geography</ref><ref>[[Gerolamo Emilio Gerini]]. (1974). Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (reprint). Ma Huan calls the headland hill as being ''Ying-ko tsui Shan'' or ''Ying-Ko Tswei Shan'' – a hawk-beak shaped hill on the east coast</ref> The Tamil country had established a strong alliance with [[Yemen]] and the Delhi Sultinate under [[Martanda Cinkaiariyan]] which attracted seafaring merchants from East Africa and the Middle East to its ports.<ref>Ci Patmanātan, S. Pathmanathan (1978). The Kingdom of Jaffna, Volume 1. p. 237</ref> An inlet of Trincomalee, Nicholson Cove became the site of a small Arab settlement by the 13th and 14th century. The Nicholson Cove Tombstone inscriptions at Trincomalee refer to the deceased as the daughter of the chief Badriddin Husain Bin Ali Al-Halabi, showing that her family hailed from Halab ([[Aleppo]]) in [[Syria]].<ref>Asiff Hussein (2007). ''Sarandib: an ethnological study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka''</ref> The [[Tamil Bell]] of [[New Zealand]] assigned to the Pandyan era belonged to sea traders that likely originated from Trincomalee. The city even attracted [[Arunagirinathar]] in 1468, who traversed the [[Pada Yatra]] pilgrimage route from [[Nallur Kandaswamy temple]] to [[Katirkamam]] while stopping to pay homage to Koneswaram's [[Murukan]] shrine.<ref name="HLtoSL"/><ref name="shoh"/>

By the late 16th century, [[Portuguese Ceylon]] was beginning to influence the operations of the now princely Trincomalee district. Despite it being one of the smaller states of the island, given as an appenage to younger sons of royal houses and still being dependent on the Jaffna kingdom, the city had become one of the richest and the most visited place of Hindu worship in the world, declared the "Rome of the Pagans of the Orient" and "Rome of the Gentiles" by the Portuguese.<ref name="G. Francis pp.80">M. G. Francis. History of Ceylon: An Abridged Translation of Professor Peter Courtenay's Work. pp.80</ref><ref name="perspectives"/> It hosted the Hindu funeral of [[Bhuvanekabahu VII of Kotte]]. The death of one of its kings, Vanniana Raja of Trincomalee, left his young son, the Prince of Trincomalee under the guardianship of his uncle. Trincomalee was annexed by [[Cankili I]] to bring it back under Jaffna control, forcing the boy king into exile. He was eventually baptised as Raja Alphonsus of Trincomalee and taken under the wing of the missionary [[Francis Xavier]].<ref name="G. Francis pp.80"/> The rise of Francis Xavier and the migration of Portuguese soldiers to Trincomalee, conversions to Christianity by some residents and royals in the 1500s saw the erection of churches in the city. Koneswaram is described by Jesuit priests at this time as being a "... massive structure, a singular work of art. It is of great height, constructed with wonderful skill in blackish granite, on a rock projecting into the sea, and occupies a large space on the summit".<ref>Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. II, p. 366.</ref> 

The Trincomalee and Batticaloa chiefdoms starting paying direct tributes to the Portuguese commander in [[Mannar Island|Mannar]] from 1582 as Portuguese influence over the entire North east gained momentum. An annual sum of 1280 [[Madras fanam|fanams]] was levied from the Koneswaram temple, and they collected a duty on areca nuts exported through the Trincomalee and Batticaloa ports.<ref>Jorge Manuel Flores; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. (2007). ''Re-exploring the links : history and constructed histories between Portugal and Sri Lanka''. p. 36</ref> Jaffna had given minimal logistical access to its Trincomalee and Batticaloa seaports to the [[Kingdom of Kandy|Kandyan kingdom]] to secure military advantages against its enemies; this was used by their influential European overlords to consolidate power in the region. In 1603, the first Dutch fleet arrives at Trincomalee and Batticaloa ports.<ref>Robert Montgomery Martin. (1839). ''Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire,... ''. p. 370</ref>

In 1612, D. Hieronymo de Azevedo, after great difficulties due to torrential rains, arrived at Trincomalee with a Portuguese contingent from Kandy. Here de Azevedo "was keen on building a fort" to the scope; he called in aid from King [[Ethirimana Cinkam]] of Jaffna but not seeing him, he abandoned the enterprise and he marched towards Jaffna.<ref name="ReferenceA2">Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. II</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Perniola, V. "The Catholic church in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period", vol. III</ref> The early death of [[Cankili I]] brought upon by the [[Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom]] saw all the territory of the kingdom of Jaffna, comprising both Trincomalee and [[Batticaloa]], assigned to the "spiritual cures of the Franciscans". The Jesuits followed the Portuguese soldiers to Trincomalee and Batticaloa when they occupied the two localities.<ref name="ReferenceA2"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>This decision was taken by the bishop of Cochin, Dom Sebastião de S. Pedro. Later, another decree of the same bishop dated 11 November 1622, tracing the one indicated in 1602, entrusted newly to the Jesuits the spiritual cure in the districts of Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, giving to them possibility to build churches, to train the sacraments and to convert souls.</ref>