Koneswaram

Koneswaram Kovil
Shiva temple front gate with the bell tower
Koneswaram Kovil Location in Sri Lanka
Name
Proper name	Thirukonamamalai Koneswaram Kovil
Tamil	திருக்கோணேச்சரம்
Geography
Coordinates	8°34′57″N 81°14′44″E / 8.58250°N 81.24556°E / 8.58250; 81.24556Coordinates: 8°34′57″N 81°14′44″E / 8.58250°N 81.24556°E / 8.58250; 81.24556
Country	Sri Lanka
Province	Eastern
District	Trincomalee District
Location	Swami Rock (Konamamalai), Trincomalee
Culture
Primary deity	Konesar (Shiva)
Architecture
Architectural styles	Dravidian architecture
History and governance
Date built	Unknown; earliest reference in the sixth-century B.C., latest reconstruction 1952 CE

Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee (Tamil: திருக் கோணேச்சரம் கோயில்) or Thirukonamalai Konesar Temple – The Temple of the Thousand Pillars and Dakshina-Then Kailasam is a classical-medieval Hindu temple complex in Trincomalee, a Hindu religious pilgrimage centre in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one the Pancha Ishwarams dedicated to Shiva. Built significantly during the reign of the early Cholas and the Five Dravidians of the Early Pandyan Kingdom atop Konesar Malai, a promontory overlooking Trincomalee District, Gokarna bay and the Indian Ocean, its Pallava, Chola, Pandyan and Jaffna design reflect a continual Tamil Saivite influence in the Vannimai region from the classical period. The monument contains its main shrine to Shiva in the form Kona-Eiswara, shortened to Konesar and is a major place for Hindu pilgrimage, labelled the "Rome of the Gentiles/Pagans of the Orient". Connected at the mouth of the Mahavilli Ganga River to the footprint of Shiva at Sivan Oli Padam Malai at the river’s source, the temple symbolically crowns the flow of the Ganges River from Shiva’s head of Mount Kailash to his feet.

Developed from 205 B.C., the original kovil combined key features to form its basic Dravidian temple plan, such as its thousand pillared hall – "Aayiram Kaal Mandapam" – and the Jagati expanded by King Elara Manu Needhi Cholan. Regarded as the greatest building of its age for its architecture, elaborate sculptural bas-relief ornamentation adorned a black granite megalith while its multiple gold plated gopuram towers were expanded in the medieval period. One of three major Hindu shrines on the promontory with a colossal gopuram tower, it stood distinctly on the cape’s highest eminence. The journey for pilgrims in the town begins at the opening of Konesar Road and follows a path through courtyard shrines of the compound to the deities Bhadrakali, Ganesh, Vishnu Thirumal, Surya, Raavana, Ambal-Shakti, Murukan and Shiva who presides at the promontory’s height. The annual Koneswaram Temple Ther Thiruvilah festival involves the Bhadrakali temple of Trincomalee, the Pavanasam Theertham at the preserved Papanasuchunai holy well and the proximal Back Bay Sea (Theertham Karatkarai) surrounding Konesar Malai.