Sri Ponnambalawaneswaram Kovil (Kotahena) Sri Ponnambalawaneswaram Kovil , also known as Ramanathan Kovil (Tamil: ஸ்ரீ பொன்னம்பலவனேஸ்வரம் கோவி; Sinhala: කොටහේන ශ්රී පොන්නම්බලවානේශ්වරම් කෝවිල), is a Hindu temple situated in Kotahena in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. History A temple for the religious needs of Hindus who were living in Kotahena and the surrounding area was built at the present site in 1856 under the guidance of Sir Arunachalam Ponnambalam Mudaliyar who lived in Chetty Street (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009). However, his son Ramanathan demolished this temple and built a new one at the same site between 1907 and 1912 (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Manathunga, 2016). The temple Although the present temple is entirely built up of granite, the original shrine constructed by Sir Arunachalam Ponnambalam Mudaliyar was a building made of limestone and mortar (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Manathunga, 2016). After it was demolished, the present temple was built by Ramanathan following the traditional Hi…
