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Nainativu ( Nainatheevu, Nagadeepa) is a small but notable island off the coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the folklore inhabitants, the Naga people. It is home to the Hindu Nagapooshani Amman Temple, one of the prominent 64 Shakti Peethas, and the Buddhist shrine Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya.

Key facts

Settlement.name
Nainativu
Settlement.native_name
நயினாதீவுනාගදීපය
Settlement.image_skyline
Nainativu Gopuram.jpg
Settlement.image_caption
Nagapooshani Amman Kovil
Settlement.settlement_type
Island
Settlement.pushpin_map
Sri Lanka Northern Province
Settlement.subdivision_type
Country
Settlement.subdivision_name
Sri Lanka
Settlement.subdivision_type2
Province
Settlement.subdivision_name2
Northern
Settlement.subdivision_type3
District
Settlement.subdivision_name3
Jaffna
Settlement.subdivision_type4
DS Division
Settlement.subdivision_name4
Island South

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
island
Country
Sri Lanka
Located in
Jaffna District
Population
3000
Area
3.5
Body of water
Palk Strait
Image
Nainativu Gopuram.jpg
Width
1
Length
3.5
Show 1 more fact
Commons category
Nainativu
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Naga people
  • Decline of Naga identity and assimilation
  • Demography
  • See also
  • References

Nainativu ( Nainatheevu, Nagadeepa) is a small but notable island off the coast of the Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. The name of the island alludes to the folklore inhabitants, the Naga people. It is home to the Hindu Nagapooshani Amman Temple, one of the prominent 64 Shakti Peethas, and the Buddhist shrine Nagadeepa Purana Viharaya.

Historians note the island is mentioned in the ancient Tamil Sangam literature of nearby Tamil Nadu such as Manimekalai where it was mentioned as Manipallavam (, and ancient Buddhist legends of Sri Lanka such as Mahavamsa. Ptolemy, a Greek cartographer, described the islands around the Jaffna Peninsula Nagadiba () in the first century CE.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Nainativu” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

On the map

2 mapped locations

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