Gurunagar (Tamil: குருநகர், romanized: Kurunakar) is a coastal village in Jaffna city in northern Sri Lanka. Gurunagar is also known as Karaiyur (Tamil: கரையூர், romanized: Karaiyūr).[2][3]
The suburb is divided into two village officer divisions (Gurunagar East and Gurunagar West) whose combined population was 3,520 at the 2012 census.[1]
Gurunagar, also spelled as Kurunagar derives its words from Kuru and Nagar (Urban centre in Tamil).[6] The word Kuru is a clans name used by the Karaiyars also known as Kurukulam, who make up majority of Gurunagar.[7][8]
Karaiyur, as it was earlier known as stems from the Tamil words Karai (coast) and Ur (village).[9][10] Karaiyur was marked in the Dutch maps as Cereoer.[11]
Old map of Jaffna, depicting the settlement of Gurunagar near the Jaffna fort.
The earliest settlers of Jaffna, were according to local legend, a musician and his kinsfolk. The surmised place they first settled is in the area surrounding Gurunagar and Colombuthurai.[12] The Columbuthurai Commercial Harbor situated at Colombuthurai and the harbor known as ‘Aluppanthy’ situated previously at the Gurunagar area seem as its evidences.[13]
The navy of the Aryacakravarti dynasty was crewed and officered by the people of Gurunagar.[11] The Pattinathurai of Gurunagar was a port for foreign vessels.[12] It is surmised that it was here the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta, saw fleet of ships that belonged to the Aryacakravarti kings.[11] The Maniagar and Adappans of Gurunagar served as one of the headmen of the Jaffna ports.[14]
The western section of the Jaffna Kingdom was allotted by the Karaiyars of Gurunagar.[5] There existed a smaller fort in Colombuthurai and one at Pannaithurai near Gurunagar.[15] In 1560, the Portuguese forces with 77 ships arrived in Gurunagar and defeated the Tamil army governing there before proceeding further to Nallur.[16]
The Cathedral of Jaffna in Gurunagar was constructed over an already existing smaller chapel.[17] The chapel was constructed as the place where the Jaffna king Cankili I killed his own son for converting to Catholicism.[18]
Starting from the early 1920s, was the Gurunagar land reclamation scheme started, starting from modern Beach Road to Reclamation Road.[19]
