Heritage · Jaffna
Jaffna's great kovil runs on its own timetable, and the morning puja is the one most visitors miss. Men remove their shirts to enter. Everyone removes their shoes.
The experience
Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil is the largest and most important Hindu temple in the north, dedicated to Murugan. The present building dates from the eighteenth century, rebuilt after the Portuguese destroyed the earlier one, and it has been the religious centre of Jaffna ever since.
It is not a ruin and it is not a museum. Puja is held several times a day and the temple is busiest before breakfast, when families come before work. Going at six in the morning is a completely different experience from arriving at eleven with a tour group.
There is a dress code and it is enforced. Men must remove their shirts to enter the inner areas; everyone removes shoes at the gate. Photography is restricted inside. Ask before you point a camera at anyone.
What to expect
Good to know
The morning puja draws local families and the light on the gopuram is best early. By mid-morning it is quiet and much less interesting.
Men remove their shirts to enter the inner temple. Everyone removes shoes. Cover legs. This is not aimed at visitors in particular.
The annual festival runs twenty-five days across July and August and ends with the chariot procession. Accommodation in Jaffna fills months ahead.
Photography is limited inside, and taking pictures of people at worship without asking is resented, reasonably enough.
Jaffna, in a route
Best done from Jaffna, with the rest of the route built around it.
