Mannar

                                                          MANNAR

Thiruketheeswaram Kovil

Thirukethiswaram is an ancient hindu temple in Manthota, about seven miles north of the Mannar Town. According to legend, it was at this ancient temple that Kethu Bhagavan worshipped Lord Siva. Hence the shrine acquired the name of Thiruketheeswaram.
This temple dedicated to the worship of the God Siva has been the most venerated for centuries and the holy waters of the Palavi Tank by its side are venerated in the sacred hymns of two great Saivite saints, Thirugnana Sambandhar and Sundarar, who lived in the 7th and 8th Centuries respectively. This is one of the five main kovils scattered around the country dedicated to God Siva.
Although there is no record of the origin of the temple, hindus believe that this temple was built in the pre christian times. Since the port of Manthota in Mannar has been in used long before Christ and has been main entry port to Sri Lanka from India, this may well be true.
The invasion of Portuguese Catholic Colonists in 1505 created the darkest era in the country for Buddhists and Hindus. The Portuguese blinded by faith and greed for wealth plundered and destroyed temples taking all valuables with them. Countless Buddhist and Hindu temple were destroyed and razed to the ground leaving no sigh of any structure in the name of God. The Thirukethiswaram Kovil too faced this wrath and the building material of the Kovil as well as buddhist temples was used to build the Fort of Mannar, the churches and also the Hammershield Fort at Kayts.

Areial view of the Kovil and Palavi Tank published in 1957

Almost 400 years later, the exact location of the destroyed temple was traced in 1894 and some restoration work was done in the early part of the 20th Century. A small temple was re-consecrated in June 1903. The central shrine was reconstructed and re-consecrated around 1921. The temple has gone through several facelifts and additions until 1970's and the Palavi Tank was rebuilt in 1949.

Map

Album

On the route to the temple
Main temple	Main temple
The bell tower carrying the two ton bell
Huge wood decorated carts being restored	Decorations on the Carts
Huge wood decorated carts being restored	Huge wood decorated carts being restored
Huge wood decorated carts being restored	More carts under construction
Palavi Tank - Changing room	Palavi Tank
Palavi Tank	Palavi Tank
Pathway to Palavi Tank

Baobab Tree At Mannar

- Tree With The Largest Trunk In Sri Lanka-

The baobab ( also refereed to as biobab boab, boaboa, bottle tree, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree) is a native tree to Africa, Madagascar and Australia. There are 8 species of boabab, 6 in Madagascar, 1 each in Africa and Australia. The tree is also referred in Sri Lanka as the Ali-Gaha ( Elephant Tree) since the bark of the tree resembles a skin of a Elephant and the Tamils refer to it as ‘Perukka’.
The baobabs in Sri Lanka is believed to have been brought by Arabian Traders. According to a study done in 2003, there are about 40 Baobab Trees surviving in Sri Lanka, out of which 34 has been identified and measured in Mannar. Most of the trees were calculated to be 300-400 years old. The oldest and the largest baobab is at Pallimunei which is said to be about 800 years old. This tree was calculated 723 years old in the 2003 study. The circumference of the tree is is 19.5 meters and its 7.5 meters tall. This is most popular of the all ( see images taken in May 2008) due to its size and age. Despite the baobab being an introduced species, it is protected in Sri Lanka given its rarity and antiquity. In earlier times Baobab trees has been growing in Jaffna (Yapanaya) and Puttlam too.
These trees have always cought the eye of the early English travellers to th country. Sir James Emerson Tennent in "Ceylon - An Account Of The Island" ( 1860) speaks of many trees in the Mannar area at that time.