Thanthonreeswarar chariot festival draws thousands

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 03:16 GMT]
The chariot ('Ther') festival at the Thanthonreeswarar Sivan temple in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area of Kokkadicholai in Batticaloa district took place between 4pm and 6pm Sunday, sources in Batticaloa said.

Kokkaddicholai is 15 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa town, across the lagoon.

Thousands of devotees from different parts of Batticaloa district attended the festival in this historic temple.

Devotees flocked to the temple along main access paths to the temple through roads from Valiyiravu,Pattiruppu bridge and ferry transport through Ampilanthurai, Manmunai points in Batticaloa lagoon, temple administrators said.








The main chariot in which the image of the temple’s deity is pulled by devotees was constructed with wooden sculptures in the 18th century.

According to local history, the temple’s original structure was built by provincial governors of the Chola Empire in the eleventh century. The island was a province of the powerful medieval Tamil empire for three centuries.