Water Cutting festival held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 March 2004, 16:00 GMT]
The special Water Cutting festival which happens once every twelve years (Maha Maham Theertham), took place in Trincomalee Back Bay Sea Saturday morning in the presence of chief deities of about twenty Hindu temples in Trincomalee. Deities from Hindu temples in Salli, Sambaltivu, Chelvanayakapuram, Anpuvallipuram and several parts in east port town were brought to the Back Bay Sea, festival officials said.

Chief deities of historic Koneswaram Temple, Pathirakali Amman Temple, Sivan Temple, Muttukumaraswamy Temple and Kandasamy Temple and several other temples participated in the festival.

Several hundreds devotees thronged the Back Bay sea from early morning Saturday from all parts of Trincomalee town and its suburbs.

From 1990 following the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) sinhalese settlers have unlawfully occupied the Back Bay Sea beach area. The area was re-named "Samudragama."

Hence the Hindus and Hindu temples have been deprived of their century old religious rites and Tamil fishermen losing fishing rights they enjoyed till "Samudragama" came into existence in the Back Bay Sea.

Devotees taking holy bath in the Back Bay sea during the festival

Chief deities of Trinco Hindu temples seen during the festival