Naguleswaram Temple

Getting there

• By road

  Keerimalai, where the temple is, lies 25 km north of Jaffna, in the Kankesanthurai suburb. The area is about 50 feet above sea level, and lies west of Palaly.

Why devotees come here

Naguleswaram Temple stands in Kankesanthurai, north of Jaffna in Sri Lanka's Northern Province. It is one of the island's Pancha Ishwaram Shiva shrines, and Hindus believe the Keerimalai Springs beside it have curative properties.

Naguleswaram is the northernmost of the island's Pancha Ishwaram shrines of Shiva, venerated by Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus. In the legend, the sage Nagula Muni was shrunk by age and austerity while meditating in a cave at Keerimalai, and he was likened to the mongooses of the area. He bathed in the springs and was cured of his mongoose face.

The Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom was followed by Jesuit missionaries largely destroying the temple. In 1621 the priests hid the main icons in a well before fleeing. After a gap of almost 400 years, local Tamil Hindus, urged by the reformer Arumuka Navalar, built the present temple in 1894. A fire destroyed it in 1918 and it was rebuilt.

In 1983 the Sri Lankan army occupied the temple, and devotees needed special permits to visit. Devotees had no access to the temple area until 1997. Bombs from Sri Lankan Air Force aircraft hit the temple in October 1990. A major reconstruction was completed on 6 February 2012, when the Mahakumbhabhishekam took place. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers here on his visit to Jaffna, the first Indian premier to set foot in the war-ravaged town.

Festivals

• Mid July to mid August, in the Tamil month of AadiAadi Amavaasai

  Hindus bathe in the natural springs and offer prayers to their departed forefathers with a priest's help. It is the foremost shrine in Sri Lanka for this day.

Tips for your visit

• The Keerimalai Springs lie next to the temple, and pilgrims bathe in them on Aadi Amavaasai.
• Hindus flock in large numbers to the temple on Aadi Amavaasai day, which falls in the Tamil month of Aadi.

Questions people ask