Karunakara Pillayar Temple (Urumpirai)

Karunakara Pillayar Temple (Urumpirai)

Karunakara Pillayar Temple , also known as Karunakarap Pillayar Kovil (Tamil: கருணாகரப் பிள்ளையார் கோயில், உரும்பிராய்; Sinhala: කරුණාගර පුල්ලෙයාර් කෝවිල), is a Hindu temple situated in Urumpirai in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. This is considered one of the few temples in the Jaffna Peninsula where a stone inscription has so far been found relating to it (Kandiah, 2014). Another temple where there is an inscription is the  Nagapooshani Amman Temple at Nainativu, but there the inscription relates to a feature not connected with the temple. History The history of this temple runs back to the period of the Jaffna Kingdom [(1215–1619 A.D.) Kandiah, 2014; Pushparatnam, 2014]. It is said that this temple was originally started under a banyan tree as a Pillayar Lingam and a devotee named Karunakara Iyer took it upon himself to manage the temple (Kandiah, 2014). Hence the temple came to be known among the people as the Karunakara Pillayar Temple (Kandiah, 2014). However, according to the opinion o…