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| Tenavaram temple | |
|---|---|
தேவன் துறை தென்னாவரம் கோயில் | |
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Hinduism |
| District | Matara District |
| Province | Southern |
| Deity | Tenavarai Nayanar (Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva) |
| Location | |
| Location | Dondra Head, Matara (formerly Matura) |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
  Location in Sri Lanka | |
| Geographic coordinates | 5°55′21″N 80°35′22″E / 5.92250°N 80.58944°E |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Dravidian architecture (Kerala style) |
| Completed | Tenavara Naga Risa Nila Kovil - Vishnu Shrine - BCE, exact date unknown Tenavara Ganeshwara Kovil - Ganesh Shrine - 790 CE by Rama Chandra Tenavara Vishnu Kovil - Vishnu shrine - 790 CE by Dappula Sen and Rama Chandra |
| Temple(s) | 8 |
| Part of a series on |
| Sri Lankan Tamils |
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Tenavaram temple (Tamil: தென்னாவரம் கோயில்) (historically known as the Tondeshwaram Kovil, Tevanthurai Kovil or Naga-Risa Nila Kovil) is a historic Hindu temple complex situated in the port town Tenavaram, Tevanthurai (or Dondra Head), Matara) near Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Its primary deity was a Hindu god Tenavarai Nayanar (Upulvan) and at its zenith was one of the most celebrated Hindu temple complexes of the island, containing eight major kovil shrines to a thousand deity statues of stone and bronze and two major shrines to Vishnu and Shiva. Administration and maintenance was conducted by residing Hindu Tamil merchants during Tenavaram's time as a popular pilgrimage destination and famed emporium employing over five hundred devadasis.[1]
The complex, bordered by a large quadrangle cloister, was a collection of several historic Hindu Kovil shrines, with its principle shrine designed in the Kerala and Pallava style of Dravidian architecture. The central temple dedicated to Vishnu (Tenavarai Nayanar) known as Upulvan to the Sinhalese was the most prestigious and biggest, popular amongst its large Tamil population, pilgrims and benefactors of other faiths such as Buddhism, kings and artisans.[1] The other shrines that made up the Kovil Vatta were dedicated to Ganesh, Murukan, Kannagi and Shiva, widely exalted examples of stonework construction of the Dravidian style. The Shiva shrine is venerated as the southernmost of the ancient Pancha Ishwarams of Lord Shiva (called Tondeswaram), built at coastal points around the circumference of the island in the classical period.
The Tenavaram temple owned the entire property and land of the town and the surrounding villages, ownership of which was affirmed through several royal grants in the early medieval period. Its keepers lived along streets of its ancient agraharam within the complex. Due to patronage by various royal dynasties and pilgrims across Asia, it became one of the most important surviving buildings of the classical Dravidian architectural period by the late 16th century.
The temple compound was destroyed by Portuguese colonial Thome de Sousa d'Arronches, who devastated the entire southern coast. The property was then handed over to Catholics. Tenavaram's splendor and prominence ranked it in stature alongside the other famous Pallava-developed medieval Hindu temple complex in the region, Koneswaram of Trincomalee. Excavations at the complex mandapam's partially buried ruins of granite pillars, stairs and slab stonework over the entire town have led to numerous findings. Reflecting the high points of Pallava artistic influence and contributions to the south of the island are the temple's 5th- to 7th-century statues of Ganesh, the Lingam, sculpture of Nandi and the Vishnu shrine's 10th-century Makara Thoranam (stone gateway), the frame and lintel of which include small guardians, a lustrated Lakshmi, dancers, musicians, ganas, and yali-riders.
Tenavaram temple was built on vaulted arches on the promontory overlooking the Indian Ocean. The central gopuram tower of the vimana and the other gopura towers that dominated the town were covered with plates of gilded brass, gold and copper on their roofs. Its outer body featured intricately carved domes, with elaborate arches and gates opening to various verandas and shrines of the complex, giving Tenavaram the appearance of a golden city to sailors who visited the port to trade and relied on its light reflecting gopura roofs for navigational purposes.
- ^ a b Holt, John (2005). The Buddhist Vishnu: Religious Transformation, Politics, and Culture. Columbia University Press. pp. 6–7, 67–87, 97–100, 343, 413. ISBN 978-0231133234.