The research we did on Sr Ponnambalavaneswarar Kovil was very interesting and gained our group good marks. We worked hard for this project starting from site visit to final presentation. We wrote an essay, made models of the site, prepared videos of the ceremonies and were able to bring out an interesting presentation.
Our group contained of 6 members and I got the part of introduction and Historical and Cultural Significance. My part of essay is given below.
Introduction
A
person visits a religious building, when that person needs peace for his mind.
When we feel that our self-confidence is lacking, we tend to search for a moral
encouragement which is believed to be granted by the Gods.
Kovils
are Hindu Temples built according to the Act of Holy Religious Scriptures. The temples
that are not built accordingly are known as Monasteries, like Katharagama Murugan Temple, Mandoor
Murugan Temple. Ponnambalavaneswarar
Kovil is built according to this Act.
Historical and Cultural Significance
Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar Kovil was built by Sriman Ponnambalam Mudliar in 1856.
After obtaining the land from Captain John Stone, the kovil was made out of
bricks. Mudliar wanted to develop hinduism in Sri Lanka, because at that time
Hindus were converting their religion. His belief strengthned when he had a
dream of, him breaking a pomergranate fruit and out of it emerged a Shiva
Linga.
Photographs of historical photoframes in Kovil Office
After the death of Mudliar, Sri Ponnambalam Ramanathan, receiving the official post of the
temple in 1906, wanted to rebuilt the temple. He played an important role in
achieving the freedom in Ceylon, from British emperor.
The significant changes he included
when he rebuilt it are the reasons why we choose this temple for our project.
The first reason is that the whole temple from the ceiling to the floor and
even the outside is built out of granite which took almost 6 years to complete.
Ganapathi Sthapathi who was the main
sculptor, was an expert in making sculptures especially for temples. The
sculptures he made reflect the style of Chola dynasty which is another
reason.
In 1967, the Koburum in East side was finished followed by placing Goddess Parvathi Statue in 1974, and
making Navagraha Kovil in 1986. The Kumbabhishekam pooja was done in 1999
after the renovation and building two outside temples for Hanumantha and Goddess Parvathi.
The main God in the temple is Sri Swarna Sabeswaraana Ponnambalavaeswarar,
well known as God Shiva. The main Goddess is Sri Sivaagama Soundary Ambaal, Goddess Parvathi, the wife of Lord Shiva. God
Shiva the main creator of the world, including other Gods has five major roles
as creating, blessing, caring, protecting from evil and destroying.
Worshiping God Shiva has been a part
of the cultural elements of the Hindus because of the religious stories that
have been followed throughout history.
There are only five major Shiva temples
in our country. They are Munneswaram
in Chilaw, Naguleswaram in Jaffna, Thirukoneswaram in Trinkomalee, Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar and Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar in Colombo. The common feature about these temples is that all of
them are constructed near to the harbors. The reason for this is, the labors
and sculptors who made these temples were from India and it was easy for them
to go back to their country in an emergency.
Pancha Shiva Temples in Sri Lanka
Source : http://www.bestastroguru.com/mobile_wallpaper.php
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