Message from the Chairman
Vidathaltheevu International Symposium 2025 (VIS2025) Website Launching and Introduction
My warm greetings to every one-from our proud villagers to our far-flung diaspora, our dedicated scholars, cultural custodians, and the youth who will carry this legacy forward.
Today, we mark another historic milestone: the official launch of the VIS2025 Website — a living, breathing digital archive that will document, celebrate, and sustain Vidathaltheevu's timeless stories, struggles, and strengths. From this day on, all information regarding our history, knowledge, and events will be updated continuously on this platform. No more lost memories or hidden voices - every grain of our village's collective memory has a rightful place here.
This symposium—the first of its kind ever to be conducted at the village level, not only in Vidathaltheevu but in the entire history of Sri Lanka - stands as proof that even the smallest dot on the map can generate waves across oceans of knowledge. We have brought together over 60 meticulously curated research papers, oral histories, migration narratives, environmental studies, and cultural performances - all woven into our Conference Special Issues and the two volumes of Tamil research articles, alongside their English translations. These will be freely accessible on this website for scholars, students, and curious minds from all walks of life, now and in the future.
As the Chairman of VIS2025 and Chief Editor of the Conference Research Volume and Sirappu Malar, I see this launch not just as an event, but as the beginning of a sustainable digital memory space. It will be the go-to hub for every published book, every full paper proceeding, every photograph, and every story that defines who we are as Vidathaltheevu people.
A special word of gratitude goes to Engineer Masanad Edward Sutharsan, the Chief Editor of this website, whose technical vision and commitment have turned this idea into an enduring reality. Sutharsan's initiative reminds us all that leadership is not only about titles - it is about preserving what matters, with care and foresight. Thank you, Sutharsan, for spearheading this worthwhile and sustainable venture which will empower the present generation and enlighten those yet to come.
I must also thank each member of our editorial boards, cultural committees, the youth volunteers who digitised old photographs and documents, the diaspora families who sent rare manuscripts, and the local elders who sat with us to tell the stories that textbooks never did. Your contributions - big and small—have made this symposium not just an event, but a movement.
To all our villagers, researchers, and well-wishers across the globe: this website is yours. Keep it alive by sending in your stories, photos, research findings, and family archives. Together, we will make sure no chapter of Vidathaltheevu's history goes untold.
Let us look ahead with confidence - for we are no longer a village that waits to be remembered;
we are a village that writes, preserves, and celebrates its own story, on its own terms.
Long live Vidathaltheevu's legacy — let the world read it, watch it, and learn from it.
Professor Jeyaseelan Gnanaseelan