Karaitivu (Tamil: காரைதீவு, romanized: Kāraitīvu; Sinhala: කාර දිවයිනKãra Divaina) is an island off the coast of Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka, located approximately 15 kilometres (9 mi) north-west of the city of Jaffna.
Etymology
Present Karaitivu has been identified with ancient Kãra Divaina (the Island of Kãra). This island is referred to in the 12th-century Rameswaram Sinhala inscription of King Nissankamalla (1187-1196 A.D.) as "Kãra Divaina".[3] The Nampota, an ancient Sinhala text written after the 14th century also mentions this island as Kãra Divaina.[4]
Karaitivu means "the island of karai shrubs" in Tamil and is derived from the Tamil words karai (Webera tetrandra, a thorny shrub from the family Rubiaceae) and tivu (island).[5][6] The island was known as Amsterdam during Dutch colonial rule.[1][7]
The island
Extended in an area of 22.95 square kilometres (8.86 sq mi), the island is divided into nine village officer divisions whose combined population was 9,576 at the 2012 census.[2]
^Paranavithana, Senarath (1970). Rameswaram inscription of Nissankamalla#Epigraphia Indica Vol. XXXIV. Archaeological Survey of India. p. 27. The statement that Nissankamalla, during there expeditions, visited the islands of Puvagu (modern Pungudutivu), Mininak (Maninaga), Kappa, and Kãra (Karai-tivu) occurs only in this epigraph.
^Weerakone, T.B. (1991). The study of place names in Sri Lanka. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, New Series, Vol. 36. pp. 28–95.
