bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Muneeswaram

Muneeswaram temple is in a better condition than the Tondeswaram Pancha-Ishwaram temple. The location is in a small hamlet beyond the Negombo creeks, north of Colombo, east of Chilaw. Most webpages, references, and maps seem to indicate the Muneeswaram temple at Puttalam. This is not correct. Chilaw is almost mid-distance between Negombo and Puttalam. The temple is only about 10 kms east of Chilaw on a very easy approachable road. There are other temples around the Muneeswaram temple. There seems to be mention of four Ganesha temples in a quadrant as four vertices to the Muneeswaram temple.

The sthala-purana (= ancient story of the location) refers to the times of the Ramayana, of Ravana establishing the pre-ancient Shiva lingam, and of Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Sugreeva and Vibheeshana conducting prayers at the location and offering abhishekham (= dedicated prayers with offerings to be poured on the Shiva lingam).

The Shiva lingam within the temple sanctum is ancient but was established by rulers in Sri Lanka or from Tamil Nadu during the anno domini years before colonisation by European rulers. There are many fascinating stories about the temple and its struggle for survival during the colonial years of the Portuguese. The local community managed to protect the temple through several years of passive and persistent resistance. many devotees lost their lives in the repeated attacks by the Portuguese.

Today, the temple is venerated and worshipped by hindus, buddhists and muslims. Prayers are mostly offered by buddhist devotees and the temple is a paramount example of the convergence of religions. 

bharatayatra: part 1 - Sri Lanka: Kataragama, Tondeswaram, Muneeswaram

There are so many countless layers of events, stories and places within this bharatayatra. I cease to be amazed now. I am no longer surprised by the miracles. They happen, all the time. I do not question them anymore, and I have stopped speaking about them. One has to just desire an aspect of the journey to occur, and it begins to happen.

In June 2011, on Facebook, came a sudden request for friendship from 'Masterwalkers Travels', a Travel Agency in Sri Lanka. Without much thought or query, but only with acceptance, I agreed to the 'invite'. Instantly came the message from Lasanthi Gunasekara of Masterwalkers Travels, inviting me to visit Sri Lanka and travel on any itinerary, either their pre-set tour, or one that I would design. This was what I was waiting for. I needed a good contact group in Sri Lanka, who would be ready to improvise, and agree with me about the itinerary that I would like to develop.

I asked them if they could design an itinerary that would focus entirely on Kataragama without any visit to Colombo, Kandy or Anuradhapura as most tourists would like to do. I must say, in appreciation of Masterwalkers Travels, and Lasanthi Gunasekara, that they never hesitated or questioned or hassled me with options to visit other locations. The agreement was immediate, and there was no ridicule. They did not question as to why an Indian would travel within Sri Lanka, and would not want to be a tourist or shopper or beach-hound, but would just like to go to visit one temple at Kataragama. But, I guess, it was the magic of Kataragama, and the spiritual strength of that place that made it all happen.

Lasanthi Gunasekara and the team at Masterwalkers Travels maintained a hectic routine of communication, working with me on the itinerary. I kept changing details, adding requirements, asking for information and troubling them enormously. They did not know me, and I did not know them. Nobody introduced us to each other. The e-handshake just happened, with the blessings of Facebook, on one fine day in June 2011.

Another development happened during this communication. I was reading up on Kataragama, the temples, the deity, the pilgrimage and the knowledge systems that abound. There are fantastic websites, with hundreds or thousands of pages, and hundreds of links about Skanda-Murugan-Kartikeya and Kataragama at http://murugan.org/research and at http://www.kataragama.org These websites provide splendid guidance and are doing tremendous service.

I had wanted to search for information of locations mentioned in the Ramayana, and especially of locations that would refer to Shiva, Ravana and Rama. Similar to the Jyotirlinga Shiva temples or the Vaishnava Divya Desams in India, the "Pancha-Ishwara" (= five Shiva) temples in Sri Lanka are the oldest, most pre-eminent locations of spiritual thought and aspects of worship to Shiva.

Two locations were crucial to the journey to Kataragama. Tondeswaram, near Matara, which was the southernmost, and Muneeswaram, at Chilaw, south of Puttalam, on the western coast, north of Colombo, seemed like locations that I would be able to visit and add value to the bharatayatra.