Folklore inspires LTTE to make 'anti-tsunami bund'

LTTE leader Prabhakaran, who plans to build an anti-tsunami bund, may have drawn inspiration from a bund raised by the people of Araly South, writes PK Balachanddran.

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who plans to build an anti-tsunami bund along the Sri Lankan coast under his control, may have drawn inspiration from a bund raised by the people of Araly South in Jaffna district, more than a hundred years ago.

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Historical records say that Sri Lanka was attacked by tsunami-like killer waves in 1883.

According to A Ratnakaran, a Jaffna-Tamil now resident in Canada, the destructive waves had come one kilometre into Araly South. A desperate people prayed to the God Vairva, for whom there was a temple in the village. Legend has it that the deity stopped the conquering wave with his trisul. Since then, the sea has been very quiet. So much so, that the people of Arali South call it the "deaf sea".

But they did not want to take any chances with the sea again. They built an anai (bund) along the coast, three metres high and two metres in width, which ran five to ten kilometres along the coast, Ratnakaran said.