HISTORY

The temple was originally founded in 948 AD. However, it reached fame when it was rebuilt in the 13th century by Puvaneka Vaahu, a minister of the Jaffna King Kalinga Maha. The Nallur Kandaswamy Temple was built for a third time by Senpaha Perumal (a.k.a Sapumal Kumaraya) who was the adopted son of the Kotte king. Nallur served as the capital of the kings of Jaffna, and was a highly defensive fort and city. There were courtly buildings, the palaces, businesses and much more.

The third built temple was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1624 AD; and many churches built over the ruins. The location of the original temple is now covered by the St James Church, Nallur. Part of the original Sivalingam from the temple remained in the vicarage, but was destroyed during the recent civil war. Now only the platform where it was mounted remains.

The current temple was built in 1734 AD by Don Juan. However, the ‘Golden Era’ of the Nallur Temple began in the latter 1890s with the takeover of the temple administration by Arumuga Maapaana Mudaliyar; who started renovating it to bring it back to its earlier magnificence.

DESIGN

Created in the ways of the ancient temple cities of Madura and Padaliputra in India; the town of Nallur too revolves around this temple.

• The cities had four entrances with temples at each gate.
• There were outer circles where the commoners resided and businesses flourished, inner circles where highly placed nobles resided.
• The walls of the temple then rose, resembling the towers (in this case kopurams) and palisades of a fort.
• Within these walls were the outer courtyard, the holy bathing well (theertha keni), the residences of the priests, the inner temple, and smaller shrines for lesser deities.
• The inner temple itself was large; and contained the inner courtyard, the central shrine or mulasthanam, shrines for other major gods and goddesses, the dance hall, the conference hall, and many other such elements.

While the original Nallur Kandaswamy Temple was on this same grand scale; the current temple is on a much smaller scale when considering area, whilst still being one of the largest and historically accurate temples still existing in Sri Lanka. The temple has four kopurams, a rarity nowadays; including a massive golden-ochre Rajakopuram standing approximately seven stories (22-25m) tall. Some of the kopurams were built within the last decade. The inner and outer circles usually function as normal roads; except during the temple’s elaborate festival. With beautiful sculptures and architecture created by architects brought in from India; the temple is a visual delight that is best seen directly.