Kanthiah Kurukkal, father of late LTTE commander Brigadier Vithusha and fallen cadre Vithushan, passed away in Jaffna this week.
Hailing from a respected Tamil Brahmin family in Kappoothu, Karaveddy, Kanthiah Kurukkal lost both his daughter and son to the armed struggle. His passing has rekindled reflections on how the war reached even the most traditional families — those once devoted entirely to temple service and religious life.
Born in the Vadamarachchi region, Kanthiah Kurukkal was known for his disciplined and spiritual upbringing of his children. Yet, amid the violence and discrimination faced by Tamils during the early 1980s, both his children were drawn to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
His daughter, Brigadier Vithusha, joined the movement after witnessing atrocities such as the 1985 Kumudini boat massacre. She rose through the ranks to command the LTTE’s Malathi Regiment, one of its two major women’s wings — the other led by Brigadier Thurka, commander of the Sothiya Regiment.
Kanthiah Kurukkal’s son, Vithushan, was killed in combat in 1999. A decade later, Vithusha was killed during the war’s final phase in April 2009, in what became famously known as the Battle of Aanandapuram — the LTTE’s last major attempt to fight back against the advancing Sri Lankan Army.
The Battle of Aanandapuram ended in a crushing defeat for the LTTE. The organization lost several of its top commanders, including Brigadier Manivannan, Brigadier Thurka, Brigadier Theepan, Brigadier Aathavan, Brigadier Kadafi, and many others — along with nearly 800 fighters.
It was widely seen as the LTTE’s final stand. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was reportedly present in the area during the early stages of the battle but, after much persuasion from his senior commanders, left for the Mullivaikkal region on March 28, 2009.
A former LTTE commander told Jaffna Monitor that while Prabhakaran remained in the war zone, “the fighters’ morale was unshaken.” However, he added, “within six days of his departure, the battle was over.”
LTTE sources also state that Theepan, Vithusha, Thurka, and several other senior commanders were instructed to withdraw to Mullivaikkal, but they refused to retreat. Choosing instead to fight to the end, they remained in the Aanandapuram region, where they were ultimately killed in action.
Locals in Karaveddy remember Kanthiah Kurukkal as “the father of two maveerar (martyrs)” — a man who bore his immense grief with quiet dignity. His funeral rites were conducted in accordance with Brahmin and Tamil traditions at his son’s residence in Ponnaalai.
Many see Kanthiah Kurukkal’s life as a reflection of how the struggle for Tamil dignity and equality transcended caste and class — turning even families rooted in temple service into symbols of courage, loss, and endurance in Sri Lanka’s long and painful history of war.
