Tellippalai Durga Devi Temple

Tellippalai Durga Devi Temple (Photo credit: Sothinathan Nagamuthu, Google street view)

Sri Durga Devi Temple (Tamil: அருள்மிகு ஸ்ரீ துர்க்காதேவி தேவஸ்தானம்; Sinhala: තෙලිප්පලෙයි ශ්‍රී දුර්ගා දේවි කෝවිල) is a Hindu shrine situated in Tellippalai in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to the goddess Durga, a principal aspect of the mother goddess Devi, one of the major deities of the Hindu pantheon.

As per locals, the history of this temple goes about four hundred years back (Arumugam, 1991). According to them, a devotee named Kathirkamar who had gone on pilgrimage to India and worshipped at several Hindu shrines there, rested by the way side on his return, after arriving at Kankansanturai (Arumugam, 1991). It is said that Durga desired that to be her location and therefore, Kathirkamar installed the Sakthi Yantra which he had carefully brought from India under an Illupai tree there (Arumugam, 1991). Thereafter, the location soon became a place of reverence to the Durga Devi and temple for her was shaped there by 1829 (Arumugam, 1991).

The first Kumba Abishekam was performed at the temple in 1829 (Arumugam, 1991). The buildings were more sophisticated and developed by 1965 through a temple trustee board established in 1953 (Arumugam, 1991). The regular annual Mahotsava festivals were commenced at the temple in 1968 and the Ther chariot for that festival was completed in 1978 (Arumugam, 1991).

Durga Devi is the main deity worshipped at the temple. More shrines dedicated to Pillaiyar, Gaja Lakshmi, Murukan, and Bhairavar are located in the Praharam section (Arumugam, 1991).

References

1) Arumugam, S., 1991. More Hindu temples of Sri Lanka. London. p.55.