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Tenavaram Temple
Tenavaram temple () (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. 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 Vishn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest urban area and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The most spoken language Sinhala language, Sinhala, is spoken by the majority of the population (approximately 17 million). Tamil language, Tamil is also spoken by approximately five million people, making it the second most-spoken language in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a population of appr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cloister
A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went forward outside and around the cloister." Cloistered (or claustral) life is also another name for the monastic life of a monk or nun. The English term ''enclosure'' is used in contemporary Catholicism, Catholic church law translations to mean cloistered, and some form of the Latin parent word "claustrum" is frequently used as a metonymic name for ''monastery'' in languages such as German. Cloistered clergy refers to monastic orders that stric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast of the island overlooking the Trincomalee Harbour, Trincomalee has been one of the main centres of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Sri Lankan Tamil speaking culture on the island for nearly a millennium. With a population of 99,135, the city is built on a peninsula of the same name, which divides its inner and outer harbours. It is home to the famous Koneswaram temple from where it developed and earned its historic Tamil name ''Thirukonamalai''. The town is home to other historical monuments such as the Pathirakali Amman Temple, Bhadrakali Amman Temple, Trincomalee, the Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall and, opened in 1897, the R. K. M. Sri Koneswara Hindu College, Trincomalee Hindu College. Trincomalee is also the site of the Trincomalee railway s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholics
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upon whom pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Sousa
The House of Sousa( pt. ''Casa de Sousa'') is an ancient Portuguese noble family which originated in the 9th century, It is considered to be one of the eldest and most noble houses in the Kingdom of Portugal. History The Sousa Family originated in the 9th Century, when portuguese nobleman D. Sueiro Belfauger(Born 875 a.D.) founded the house of Sousa, being the first lord of the House of Sousa. The lineage lasted for a few generations until the first use of the name Sousa as a surname, which was in the year 1035 a.D, when nobleman D. Egas Gomes de Sousa was born in Galicia, he was the captain-general and governor("''imperator''") of the portuguese military province of Entre-Douro-e-Minho and a key figure in the Portuguese Reconquista. On one ocasion, in a fierce battle near the city of Beja, he defeated the king of Tunis, a muslim military leader, and, in the victory, he captured many of the islamic banners which the muslim fighters were waving, which had crescents embrodied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it shares Portugal-Spain border, the longest uninterrupted border in the European Union; to the south and the west is the North Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and southwest lie the Macaronesia, Macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, which are the two Autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous regions of Portugal. Lisbon is the Capital city, capital and List of largest cities in Portugal, largest city, followed by Porto, which is the only other Metropolitan areas in Portugal, metropolitan area. The western Iberian Peninsula has been continuously inhabited since Prehistoric Iberia, prehistoric times, with the earliest signs of Human settlement, settlement dating to 5500 BC. Celts, Celtic and List of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agraharam
An ''Agraharam'' (Sanskrit IAST: agrahāram) or ''Agrahara'' (Sanskrit IAST: agrahāra) was a grant of land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family in India, for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land or a pilgrimage site and to sustain their families. Agraharams were also known as Chaturvedimangalams in ancient times. They were also known as ghatoka, and boya. Agraharams were built and maintained by dynasties such as the Pandya, Cholas, Kadambas, Pallavas, Vijayanagara and other Deccan dynasties since ancient times. They were known by different names in different parts of India, like Sāsana in Odisha. The name Agraharam originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pancha Ishwarams
The Pancha Ishwarams (five abodes of Shiva) () are five coastal ancient kovils (temples) built in dedication to the Hindu supreme being Ishwara in the form of the god Shiva, located along the circumference of Sri Lanka. The most sacred pilgrimage complexes for Sri Lankan Tamil devotees of Hinduism, they adhere to the ancient Saiva Siddhanta philosophy with central shrines for Shiva in each temple. Initial construction was by royal architects of the Naga kingdom (Nayanar). The Shiva lingams in each kovil are recorded as being Ravana's installations, while one of his descendants, the ancient Yaksha queen Kuveni was a devotee of Ishwara. Eventually, the kovils became international focal points of their classical era capitals in their respective districts, maintaining their own historical records, traditions and broad influence across Asia. Figures such as Agastya, Rama, Ravana and Arjuna – featured with the temples in ''Sthala Puranas'', local ''Maanmiyams'', ''Mahabharata'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kannagi (Tamil Mythology)
Kannagi (), sometimes spelled Kannaki, is a legendary Tamil people, Tamil woman who forms the central character of the Tamil epic poetry, epic ''Cilappatikāram''. Kannagi is described as a chaste woman who stays with her husband despite his adultery, their attempt to rebuild their marriage after her unrepentant husband had lost everything, how he is framed then punished without the due checks and processes of justice. Kannagi proves and protests the injustice, then curses the king and city of Madurai, leading to the death of the unjust Pandya dynasty, Pandyan king of Madurai, who had wrongfully put her husband Kovalan to death. The society that made her suffer then endures retribution as the city Madurai, in consequence, is burnt to the ground because of her curse. In Tamil folklore, Kannagi has been deified as the symbol – sometimes as a goddess – of chastity, with sculptures or reliefs in Hindu temples iconographically reminding the visitor of her breaking her anklet or te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murukan
Kartikeya (/ kɑɾt̪ɪkejə/; ), also known as Skanda ( /skən̪d̪ə/), Subrahmanya (/ sʊbɾəɦməɲjə/, /ɕʊ-/), Shanmukha ( /ɕɑnmʊkʰə/) and Murugan (/ mʊɾʊgən/), is the Hindu god of war. He is generally described as the son of the deities Shiva and Parvati and the brother of Ganesha. Kartikeya has been an important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. Mentions of Skanda in the Sanskrit literature data back to fifth century BCE and the mythology relating to Kartikeya became widespread in North India around the second century BCE. Archaeological evidence from the first century CE and earlier shows an association of his iconography with Agni, the Hindu god of fire, indicating that Kartikeya was a significant deity in early Hinduism. He is hailed as the "favoured god of the Tamils", and the tutelary deity of the Kurinji region in Sangam literature, whose cult gained popularity later. As per theologists, the Tamil deity of Murugan coalesced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ganesh
Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions are found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends Ganesha in world religions, to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India. Although Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his Asiatic Elephant, elephant head and four arms. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and bringer of good luck; the patron of The arts, arts and Science, sciences; and the Deva (Hinduism), deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked during writing sessions as a patron of letters and learning., Vigna means obstacles Nasha means destroy. These ideas ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
