Shri Bhakta Hanuman Kovil (Sinhala: රම්බොඩ හනුමාන් කෝවිල) is a Hindu temple situated in Tawalantenne near Ramboda town in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to God Hanuman, one of the deities in the Hindu pantheon. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Indian epic Ramayana and also an ardent devotee of Rama.
The temple was built by the Chinmaya Mission of Sri Lanka and it was consecrated on 8 April 2001 by performing a Kumbhabhishekham. The statue of God Hanuman in the sanctum is carved out of granite and is 16 ft. in height. The statues of Vinayakar, Dhyaneshwar, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are also found in the temple.
Presently, without any archaeological or historical evidence, this temple is promoted by some locals and tourist agencies as a sacred place related to the Indian epic Ramayanaya. According to them, this place has connections to the history of Ramayanaya. It is believed that Hanuman guessed the location of Asoka Vanam when he landed at this site. It is also said that this place served as one of the army camps of Rama. However, as the authenticity of the Ramayanaya is controversial, it is today dismissed as a complete myth by Sri Lankan scholars (JRASSL, 2014).
References
1) JRASSL, 2014. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka New Series, Vol. 59, No. 2, Special Issue on the Ramayana (2014). https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40203619. pp.1-112.
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This page was last updated on 22 August 2023
