Significance of the Nallur Temple festival By KS Sivakumaran Sunday, 07 December 2014 00:00 font size decrease font size increase font size Print Email Rate this story 1 2 3 4 5 (0 votes) 0 0 0 0 In Sri Lanka, the signpost of Thamil Culture is strongly built around Saivaism. The Northerners are very proud of their cultural and religious traditions. Despite the onslaught of colonial rule and its influence, the people in the Yalpanam peninsula maintain, even now, their pristine cultural and religious traditions. The way they speak and write the Tamil language is extremely exemplary in preserving the vocabulary of Tamils. The language used during the period of 3rd Century BC as seen in rich Tamil Literature is particularly noteworthy. Strangely, the speech patterns of some of the Malayalam speakers and Yalpanam speakers sound the same, particularly because of the use of Sangam-period words in both languages. A classic identification of the prevalence of religious fervor can be noticed in the Nallur Kanthasamy Ther Thiruvila(Chariot Festival). Here are some excerpts I gathered from various sources to give an authentic representation of this famous historically-significant festival: “Nallur Kanthaswamy Temple is said to be one of the few sanctuaries in the peninsula that all the celebrations, customs and observances as found in the Tamil Saivaism conventions are polished and reflected with normality, quality and pomp. It is said to be one of the amazing sanctuaries committed to Lord Murugan. The managing Deity is Lord Muruga as the sacred Vel.” “Nallur Kandaswamy sanctuary yearly celebration is the biggest Hindu sanctuary celebration occasion in the Jaffna landmass.” “Nallur is the real highlight of social and religious soul of Jaffna pop culture, Sri Lanka.” “The Nallur Kandaswamy Temple was founded in 948. According to the Yalpana Vaipava Malai, the temple was developed at the site in the 13th Century by Puvenaya Vaku, a minister to the Jaffna King Kalinga Magha. Sapumal Kumaraya (also known as Chempaha Perumal in Tamil), who ruled the Jaffna Kingdom on behalf of the Kotte Kingdom is credited with either building or renovating the third Nallur Kandaswamy Temple. Nallur served as the capital of the Jaffna kings, with the royal palace situated very close to the temple. Allure was built with four entrances with gates. There were two main roadways and four temples at the four gateways. The rebuilt temples that exist now do not match their original locations which instead are occupied by churches erected by the Portuguese. The center of the city was Muthirai Santhai (market place) and was surrounded by a square fortification around it. There were courtly buildings for the kings, Brahmin priests, soldiers and other service providers. The old Nallur Kandaswamy Temple functioned as a defensive fort with high walls. In general, the city was laid out like the traditional temple town according to Hindu traditions. Sankilian Thoppu, the facade of the palace of King Sankili II, can still be found in Nallur. The third temple was destroyed by the Portuguese Catholic colonial Phillippe de Oliveira in 1624 CE.” (Wikipedia) Verifiable Nallur Festival, otherwise called Nallur Kandaswamy sanctuary yearly celebration, is the biggest Hindu sanctuary celebration occasion in the Jaffna landmass. The Nallur celebration starts on consistently in August and may go for 25 days. An year ago, 200,000 guests went on the occasion, and the Jaffna lodgings were not able to adapt to the onrushing, thoughtful occupants of Jaffna from all religions opened their ways to the pilgrims. Nallur is the real highlight of socio, social and religious soul of Jaffna pop culture, Sri Lanka.” VN Giritharan, a Lankan-born architect now living in Canada has written an informative book on the Nalur Rajathaani and the architectural features of the Temple in Thamil. kssivakumaran610@yahoo - See more at: nation.lk/edition/fine/item/35879-significance-of-the-nallur-temple-festival.html#sthash.6bcoUCIM.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 00:07:01 +0000
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