Vavunikulam is a village in the Mullaitivu District

Mullaitivu District

Mullaitivu district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Mullaitivu town...

, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, and is located about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Mankulam. It's actual name is Bavanikulam. It contains a dam that provides water to paddy fields in the region. It is also located less than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the small towns of Mallavi

Mallavi

Mallavi is a town in the Mullaitivu District, Sri Lanka. It is located about from Mankulam & from Thunukkai. It has a population of about 5,000 and a crude education and heathcare system....

 and Thunukkai

Thunukkai

Thunukkai is a town in the Mullaitivu District, Sri Lanka. It is located about 17 km from Mankulam & 4 km from Mallavi....

. In Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 Bavani refer to Goddess and the second part of the name, kulam, translates to Lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

.

The village has been the location of recent fighting in the Sri Lankan Civil War

Sri Lankan civil war

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...

, according to the Sri Lankan government.