Person

Pandara Vanniyan

Pandara Vanniyan was a Tamil chieftain of the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka who resisted Dutch and then British rule. In 1803 he attacked British posts and took the fort of Mullaitivu, but he was defeated later that year, and the Vanni was absorbed into British Ceylon. He is remembered in Sri Lankan Tamil tradition as a hero of resistance.

Pandara Vanniyan
Image: Mahimsan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Vanni chieftaincies

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pandara Vanniyan. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pandara-vanniyan
MLA
“Pandara Vanniyan.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pandara-vanniyan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Pandara Vanniyan.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pandara-vanniyan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pandara Vanniyan’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/pandara-vanniyan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻