Nagapooshani Amman Temple (Nainativu)

Nagapooshani Amman Temple (Nainativu)

Nagapooshani Amman Temple/ Kovil (Tamil: நயினாதீவு நாகபூசணி அம்மன் கோயில்; Sinhala: නාගපූෂණී අම්මාන් කෝවිල) is a famous Hindu shrine situated on the island of Nainativu (or Nagadeepa/ Nagadipa) in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Parvathi who is known as Nagapooshani or Buwaneshwari and her consort, Shiva who is named Rakshseshwar or Nayinar (Hewapaththuwa et al., 2018). Presently, the temple is venerated by the people of all religions, mainly by the Hindu devotees. History Nagadeepa Nagadeepa is referred to as Nainativu or Manipallavam or Maninaga Island as well (Dias et al., 2016). The place is mentioned in several early Sri Lankan chronicles such as Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa and in ancient Tamil Sangam literature of Tamil Nadu (India) such as Manimekalai and Kundalakesi (Dias et al., 2016; Hewapaththuwa et al., 2018). Literary mentions The temple is mentioned in Shakthi Peetha Stotram written by Adi Shankarcharya, an 8th-century Hindu philosoph…