Jaffna regains its independence

01The return

The Yalpana Vaipava Malai, the Tamil chronicle of Jaffna, tells that Kanakasuriya Cinkaiariyan fled to India with his two sons when Sapumal Kumaraya, the adopted son of Parakramabahu VI, took Jaffna. Sapumal, also called Senpaka Perumal, ruled the north for some years and is credited by the chronicle with rebuilding the Nallur Kandaswamy temple. When Parakramabahu died in 1467, Sapumal went south to claim Kotte, and Kanakasuriya came back and retook his kingdom.

02The last Tamil kingdom of Lanka

The restored Aryachakravarti dynasty ruled Jaffna for another century and a half, with Nallur as its capital and Shaiva temples such as Nallur and Naguleswaram at Keerimalai at the heart of its life. It fell to the Portuguese in 1619, when its last king, Cankili II, was captured and later executed at Goa, and the Portuguese destroyed the temples of the peninsula. The Nallur temple standing today was rebuilt in 1734 under Dutch rule.

Place · Ancient Ishwaram; destroyed under Portuguese rule after 1619; rebuilt 1894; reopened 2012Naguleswaram Temple, KeerimalaiThe northernmost of the five ancient Ishwarams of Shiva in Lanka, beside the Keerimalai springs on the Jaffna coast. Jaffna’s Hindus come here on Aadi Amavasai to offer tarpanam for their ancestors and bathe in the springs.Read →