Having a long historical track, the eastern coastal area of Sri Lanka has unique array of
cultural heritage in all its aspects, such as literature, religion, art, farming and irrigation, and
food. Eastern Province showcase is enriched with many of such unique cultural heritage apart
from the rest of the Island. However, these pockets of indigenous knowledge and cultural
heritage were subject to threats and loss, due to man-made reasons and adverse environmental
conditions. Therefore, it has been a need to discover the materials that possess cultural heritage
of Batticaloa, and to document in appropriate media to take them to the posterity. The
objectives of the survey include discovery of resources possessing heritage values, increasing
the awareness of preserving indigenous knowledge and cultural entities in the district, and
developing a digital repository to preserve cultural values of local communities. Moreover,
elements of cultural tourism, which is an indivisible component of eco-tourism, will be
enhanced and made visible through exhibiting heritage items on digital repository. This paper
elaborates on works carried out to survey the evidence for local cultural heritage, in the light of
developing an electronic repository at Eastern University, Sri Lanka, to document and preserve
district’s distinctive identity in terms of cultural heritage.