Blog Archives

Trincomalee in Legend and History Bird’s eye view of Swami Rock, Trincomalee Source:Lankabhumi Renowned in legend and history, by a variety of names—Kōna Malai, Kōnā Malai, Tiru Kōna Malai — Trincomalee is the site of the “Sacred Hill of the Three Temples.” Situated on the eastern seaboard, the place finds mention in the Mahavamsa by the name of Gōkarna, the Sanskrit and Pali form of the Tamil KONa or Sinhalese GOna. The Story of the Holy Hindu Shrine On the summit of the Rock, known as the Swami Rock or the Three Swami Rock, was the “temple of unusual size and splendor, renowned through the whole of India,” the temple which was razed to the ground and despoiled by the Portuguese in 1624. Tirujnana Sambandar the Saivite saint of the 7th century AD features the temple in his devotional hymns. This is the earliest reference to the temple, which in point of time ...