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Hinduism (Sanskrit: , , also known as , ) is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. ... Image File history File links Aum. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Within Smarta Hinduism, a variety of forms of God are seen as aspects of the one impersonal divine ground, (Brahma) or Aum. ... Hinduism encompasses many movements and schools fairly organized within Hindu denominations. ... Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... Hindu philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... According to Hinduism, every living being is an eternally existing spirit (the soul or the self). ... Moksha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Karma is a concept in Hinduism, based on the Vedas and Upanishads, which explains causality through a system where beneficial events are derived from past beneficial actions and harmful events from past harmful actions, creating a system of actions and reactions throughout a persons reincarnated lives. ... A puja as performed in Ujjain during the Monsoon on the banks of the overflooding river Shipra. ... Maya (illusion) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Illustration depicting the transmigration of the soul. ... Dharma (Sanskrit धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli) means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... Vedanta (Devanagari: , ) is a school of philosophy within Hinduism. ... A woman practising hatha yoga Yoga is a family of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ama (Ayurveda). ... yugas (Devnāgari: युग) In Hindu philosophy the cycle of evolution of life is divided into four yugs (epochs or eras): Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga Treta Yuga Dvapara Yuga Kali Yuga // The spiritual states of civilization in each yuga In Hindu tradition, the world goes through a continuous cycle of... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Vegetarianism For plant-eating, non-human animals, see Herbivore. ... Bhakti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Hindu scripture is overwhelmingly written in Sanskrit. ... The Upanishads (उपनिषद्, Upanişad) are part of the Hindu Shruti scriptures which primarily discuss meditation and philosophy and are seen as religious instructions by most schools of Hinduism. ... The Vedas (Sanskrit: वेद)is made up by Mrs. ... The Brahmana (Sanskrit ब्राह्मण) are part of the Hindu Shruti; They are composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and the period of their composition is sometimes referred to as the Brahmanic period or age (approximately between 900 BC and 500 BC). ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... The (DevanāgarÄ«: ) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and is an important part of the Hindu canon (smá¹›ti). ... Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra The (Devanagari: ), is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . ... The Puranas are part of Hindu Smriti; these religious scriptures discuss devotion and mythology. ... The Aranyakas (Sanskrit आरण्यक, Forest Books, Forest Treatises) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures are sometimes argued to be part of either the Brahmanas or Upanishads. ... The Shikshapatri is a text of two hundred and twelve verses, and was written by Shree Swaminarayan, a reforming Hindu from the Vaishnava tradition, who lived in Gujarat from 1781-1830 and who was recognised by his followers as a deity during his lifetime. ... The Vachanamrut The Vachanamrut or the nectarine discourses of Bhagwan Swaminarayan is the most sacred and foundational scripture of the Swaminarayan Sampraday. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... The percentage of Hindu population of each country was taken from the US State Departments International Religious Freedom Report 2004. ... These are some of the most noteworthy Gurus and Saints of Hinduism: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Adi Shankara Amritanandamayi Baba Lokenath Brahmachari Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Maharaj Bhagawan Nityananda Bhagwan Swaminarayan Chinmayananda Gurumayi Chidvilasananda Lahiri Mahasaya Madhvacharya Mahavatar Babaji Mother Meera Muktananda Narayana Guru Nimbarka Nisargadatta Maharaj Raghavendra Swami Ramakrishna... The Gopuram of temples, in south India, are adorned with colourful icons depicting a particular story surrounding the temples deity. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... Glossary of terms in Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Nataraja is one of the most famous images of Lord Shiva Murtis (singular Murti, also spelled Murthi or Murthy) refers to deities or images used by Hindus and also by some Mahayana Buddhists during worship as points of devotional and meditational focus. ... 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Koneswaram temple also Thirukoneswaram is a Hindu temple which is located in the town Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. It is dedicated to main deity in Shaivism namely Lord Siva and is one of the five ancient Sivan temples around the island. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Temple of Hephaestus, an ancient Greek Doric temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town A town is a residential community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... Trincomalee District Map Trincomalee (Tamil: (Thirukonamalai, hist: Sirigonakanda); Sinhala: (Thirikunamalaya)) is a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, about 110 miles northeast of Kandy. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Shiva (English IPA: Sanskrit: शिव; Hindi: शिव; Malayalam ശിവന്‍; Tamil: சிவன் (when used to distinguish lordly status), also known as Siva and written Śiva in the official IAST transliteration, pronounced as ) is a form of Ishvara or God in the later Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. ...

Origins

It is believed to have been built at least 1300 years ago. Many inscriptions found in the surrounding area speak of Indian Pallava, Chola and even Pandya kings making contributions to the upkeep of the temple indicating an origin in antiquity. Local legend has it that it was renovated by a Tamil Chola king from South India named Kulakottan. This temple is one of the four important Saivite temple connected to the revival of Hinduism in Sri Lanka. The other three being situated in Ketheeswaram, Muneeswaram and Galle. Pallavas were a South Indian dynasty. ... The Cholas were the most famous of the three dynasties that ruled ancient Tamil Nadu. ... The Pandyan kingdom was an ancient state at the tip of South India, founded around the 6th century BCE. It was part of the Dravidian cultural area, which also comprised other kingdoms such as that of the Pallava, the Chera, the Chola, the Chalukya and the Vijayanagara. ... The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... The Cholas were the most famous of the three dynasties that ruled ancient Tamil Nadu. ... South India is a linguistic-cultural region of India that comprises the four Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, whose inhabitants are collectively referred to as South Indians. ... Saivite: of Saivism; belonging to Saivism, the Hindu denomination that worships God Siva as the Supreme God. ... The Fort: View of the lighthouse Galle (ගාල්ල in Sinhala; காலி in Tamil) (pronounced as one syllable, rhyming with Gaul in English, in Sinhalese, IPA /gaːlːə/) is a town situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. ...

Trincomalee is a natural deep-water harbor that attracted great sea farers like Marco Polo, Ptolemy and Sea Traders China and East Asia from the ancient times. The local name Thirukonamalai means "Holy East Hill'. Kona is a derivative of the 1st Century Tamil word Kuna meaning East. Trinco as it is commonly called, has been a sea port since the days of the ancient Kings and one of the British Empire's most important ports in Asia during the second world war. From 1941-45, Trinco had been the headquarters of Lord Louis Mountbatten Allied Southeast Asia commander. Marco Polo (September 15, 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a Venetian trader and explorer (presumably of noble origins from Sebenico and Curzola in Dalmatia) who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; c. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ...

The Thirukoneswaram temple [1] attracted pilgrims from all parts of India. This celebrated shrine was demolished in 1622 by the Portuguese (who called it the Temple of a Thousand Columns), who fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction. (Some of the artefacts from the demolished temple were kept in the Lisbon Museum. The stone inscription by Kulakottan (Kunakottan), the last king. It has a dual fish emblem and is engraved with a prophesy stating that after 1500s the westerners with different eye colors will be ruling the country for the ensuing 500 years and at the end of it, the rule will revert back to Vadugus.) It was next held by the Dutch, and subsequently by them and the French alternately, till the capture of Sri Lanka by the British in 1795. Location    - Country Portugal    - Region Lisbon  - Subregion Grande Lisboa  - District or A.R. Lisbon Mayor Carmona Rodrigues  - Party PSD Area 84. ...

The hill face is rugged and is called 'Ravanan Veddu'. As Trinco is full of seismic and volcanic activity as seen in Kanniya Hot Springs area, this rugged face of rock is a reminder of the movement of Earth's crust in this area. A dipiction of Ravana, Hindu rakshasa King of Lanka In Hindu mythology, Ravana (Devanagari: रावण, IAST ; sometimes transliterated Raavana and as Ravan) is the principal antagonist of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. ...

[1]

Mentioned in Tevarams

Along with Ketheeswaram in Mannar this temple was mentioned by one of the Bhakti era Tevaram literature by one of the Nayanmars namely Suntarar in South India indicating it's popularity even in India. There is evidence that indicates at least some of the later Sinhalese Buddhist kings too maintained the temple although Buddhist King Mahasena was reported to have destroyed it and built a Buddhist temple and Dagoba in its place. Mannar is a district of Sri Lanka. ... Bhakti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Nayanars were the sincere and ardent devotees of Lord Siva. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... Dagoba is a Buddhist shrine or mound containing relics of a Buddha or important manuscripts. ...

Destruction by the Portuguese

Aftter 1505 A.D along with countless Buddhist and Hindu temples around the island, it was destroyed by Portuguese colonialists while the main statue was taken out to town for a festive occasion. At this time Portuguese soldiers entered into the temple dressed as Iyer priests and robbed the temple. The temple was destroyed and its building materials were used in the construction of a nearby fort by the Portuguese. A Brahmin (anglicised from the Sanskrit word IAST ; Devanagari ), also known as Vipra, Dvija, Dvijottama (best of the Dvijas), (god on Earth) is a member of an upper caste within Hindu society. ... Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ...

The present statues were found when digging a well in Trinco. Since the time of Portuguese rule the statues were kept in hiding in a silted well and later was forgotten. at indep[endence the ancient statues were finally discovered.

Reconstruction

After a gap of almost 450 years in 1952 after the independence of the Sri Lanka some Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu people of Trincomalee came together and built the present temple. In size it's very small compared to the original temple. 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... see Sri Lankan Tamils ...

Thirukonasala Vaipavam, written by the poet V. Akilesapillai is an important literary work in Tamil on the history of this historic Koneswaram Temple. Thirukonasala Vaipavam is an important literary work in Tamil on the history of historic Koneswaram Temple, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. ... V. Akilesapillai (March 7, 1853 - January 1, 1910) was a Sri Lankan Tamil scholar, Poet and writer. ... Tamil (தமிழ் ) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. ... Temple in the top of the Rock Koneswaram temple is a Hindu temple wich is located in the town Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. ...

See also

• Hinduism in Sri Lanka
• Trincomalee

Hindu temple, Colombo Hindus currently make up approximately 15% of the Sri Lankan population, and are almost all exclusively Tamil-speaking apart from immigrants from North India and Pakistan such as the Sindhis. ... Trincomalee District Map Trincomalee (Tamil: (Thirukonamalai, hist: Sirigonakanda); Sinhala: (Thirikunamalaya)) is a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, about 110 miles northeast of Kandy. ...

External links

• Detailed history of Koneswaram temple by Kataragama website

• History of Thiru Koneswaram Temple

• Sinhalese Budhist counter claims to the Hindu Temple