Nallur Kandaswamy Temple

Nallur Kandaswamy Temple

Nallur Kandaswamy Temple (Tamil: நல்லூர் கந்தசுவாமி கோவில்; Sinhala: නල්ලූර් කන්දසාමි කෝවිල, ස්කන්ධ කුමාර කෝවිල) is a Hindu Kovil situated in Nallur in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to Lord Murugan (or God Kataragama), the War God of the Hindu pantheon. History Ancient Nallur The chronicle Mahavamsa identifies this place as Beejagama (Dias et al., 2016). According to S. Paranavitana, a substantial amount of Buddhist activities had taken place here (Dias et al., 2016). The author of Yalpana Vaipava Malai  (a text of 18-19th century) mentions that a Chola prince named Vijaya Kulangai (or Kulang-kay-ariyan or Singka-ariyan) accepted the regency of Sri Lanka on a request made by Malavan of Vellala lineage from the Pandya state of India ( Britto, 1879;  Dias et al., 2016). It is said in the text that they set out to build the Nallur city by constructing parapets, mansions etc. ( Britto, 1879;  Dias et al., 2016). Ponds were also constructed and the water of them is said to have be…