Tam: காத்தான்குடி kāttāṉkuṭi – Sin: කාත්තාන්කුඩි kāttānkuḍi
‘Moorish or Vedda settlement’ EP, Sri Lanka
From Tam: kudy, ‘clan or community settlement’.
Kudy normally indicates a group of settlers of the same caste, tribe or religion.
Kattankudy has traditionally been one of the largest Muslim-majority towns in Sri Lanka and the suggestion is that kattan is, in fact, qahtan, a lineage of Muslims from the Southern Arabian Peninsula, especially Yemen.
The alternative refers to a Vedda founder called Kattan.
In 1990 Kattankudy was the site of a massacre of 147 Muslim men and boys in a Mosque by 30 armed attackers. The government blamed the LTTE who denied any involvement.
Following the 2004 tsunami over 200 lost their lives and 2,500 homes were destroyed.
