KONESWARAM, THIRUKETHEESWARAM & MUNNESWARAM HINDU TEMPLES IN SRI LANKA

KONESWARAM, on the summit of the Rock, known as the Swami Rock or the Three Swami Rock, was the “temple of unusual size and splendor, renowned through the whole of India,” the temple which was razed to the ground and despoiled by the Portuguese in 1624. Tirujnana Sambandar the Saivite saint of the 7th century AD features the temple in his devotional hymns. This is the earliest reference to the temple, which in point of time goes back to a far distant epoch.
The Pallavas of South India had considerable influence over the region, in the time specifically of the King of Ceylon, Manavanna (668—703 AD), as we learn from the Sanskrit inscriptions at Tiriyayi, 29 miles north of Trincomalee. From this and other related accounts, it is reasonable to conclude that the Pallava kings bestowed much attention to the temple dedicated to Koneswara and enlarged it considerably. From references to the “Thousand Pillared Mandapam,” it was obviously a shrine of magnificent proportions.
The Chola and Pandyan kings maintained the traditions of royal patronage. The inscriptions at the archway of Fort Frederick with the insignia of the double fish symbolism of the Pandyan kings, are eloquent of the Pandyan connections ascribed to the 13th century.

THIRUKETHEESWARAM, is an ancient temple in Manthottamam, in Mannar District, about seven miles north of the Mannar Town. According to legend, it was at this ancient temple that Kethu Bhagavan worshipped Lord Easwaram (Shiva). Hence the shrine acquired the name of Thiruketheeswaram.

This temple dedicated to the worship of the Supreme God Siva has been the most venerated for centuries and the holy waters of the Palavi Tank by its side are venerated in the sacred hymns of two great Saivite saints, Thirugnana Sambandhar and Sundarar, who lived in the 7th and 8th Centuries respectively.
This great temple was completely destroyed by the Portuguese in the 16th Century and the stones from here were used to build the Fort at Mannar, the churches and also the Hammershield Fort at Kayts.
The history of the temple goes back to the era of Chola. It is believed to be built in 600 B.C. Another story related to the Kovil says that the father-in-law of Ravana, the king of Lanka, built Thiruketheeswaram. Ravana himself had been a devotee of Koneswaram Temple, Trincomalee. Rama, who built the Sivan Temple at Rameshwaram, on his way back to Ayodhya from Lanka, is reputed to have worshipped Lord Siva at the Thiruketheeswaram as well.


MUNNESWARAM, a slumbery, sleepy and normally inactive hamlet, lying in the outskirts of Chilaw, comes alive this season, with complex ritualistic festivities, ceremonies and processions, culminating with the water cutting ceremony, to be performed at the Deduru Oya, two miles off Chilaw, on September 16.
The Munneswaram temple, dedicated to Lord Ishwara, is reminiscent of other celebrated and renowned temples like Koneswaram and Thiruketheeswaram, in which, three Sivalingams are enshrined.
Looking back to the festival legend of this glorious Hindu shrine, Munneswaram is regarded as one of the oldest Hindu temples in the island. And it has a strange origin; and according to legend, Rama, after slaying Ravana, was returning to India with Sita in his "Air chariot,'' when, impulsively, a desperate feeling of guilt gripped him.
And, passing Munneswaram, he espied a spire of a temple, and decided to alight and worship there. While praying, Lord Siva and his consort Parvathy appeared before him; and a feeling compassion for the penitent Rama, ordered him to enshrine three Sivalingams, one in each of the most sacred places: Munneswaram, Koneswaram and Thiruketheeswaram.
Lord Siva, according to legend, had pointed to a place north of the Mayavan Aru (Mee Oya), and told him to enshrine the relic. And Rama built the temple at the exact spot, which is now known as Munneswaram. The festival, too, is obscured in antiquity, and according to legend, one full-moon night, in the month of Nikini, a sage who was meditating under a banyan tree looked up and saw the goddess Amman, the mother of Skanda, who granted him his wishes.