Sithra Velayutha Swamy Kovil (Tamil: சித்ரா வேலாயுத சுவாமி கோவில், கோவில் பொரதீவு; Sinhala: සිත්ර වේලායුද ස්වාමි කෝවිල, කෝවිල් පොරතිව්) is a Hindu shrine situated in Kovil Porathivu in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka.
History
According to local tradition, the area where the present temple stands was a well-developed realm of Mandu Nagan who reigned in Nagan Cholai near Mandur (Arumugam, 1991). It is said that the Hindu temples and stately palaces in this area were destroyed and the region become to be named Kali-thesam later (Arumugam, 1991). In the 12th century, when a king named Mahinda was ruling Sri Lanka, the eastern region was looked after by a local chieftain called Mathi Suthan dwelling in Kali-thesam (Arumugam, 1991). He is said to have constructed a temple for the deity Murukan named Sithra Velayutha Swamy Kovil at Porathivu with the recruited sculptors and artists from Thondai Nadu in South India (Arumugam, 1991).
In the course of centuries, due to neglect and devastation, the temple went into ruins. However, the Velayutha Swamy deity of that temple was installed in the present Sithra Velayutha Swamy Kovil erected by Nagappa Chettiyar at Kovil Porathivu (Arumugam, 1991).
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References
Books
1) Arumugam, S., 1991. More Hindu temples of Sri Lanka. London. p.101.