Koneswaram temple, Sri Lanka

Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee is an Hindu temple in Trincomalee, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka venerated by Saivites throughout the continent. It is built atop Swami Rock, a rocky promontory cape overlooking Trincomalee, a classical period harbour port town. The primary deity is the Hindu God Lord Shiva in the form Konesar. At its zenith, the Konesar temple was the

main shrine of the Trincomalee Koneswaram Temple Compounds, one of three ancient connected Hindu temples on Swami Rock with a considerably sized Gopuram. This temple stood distinctly in the middle of the cape, at its highest eminence. The other two connected temple shrines of the Koneswaram complex, to deities Ganesh, Vishnu (Thirumal), Ambal-Shakti and Murukan stretched across the cape to its extremities. The complex has laid in ruins, been restored, renovated and enlarged by various royals and devotees throughout its history. Heralded as one of the richest and most visited temple compounds in Asia, Koneswaram became one of the most important surviving and influential structures of the classical Dravidian architectural period by the early 17th century. The village of Thirukonamalai (Trincomalee) was located on the isthmus of the cape within the compounds. The Trincomalee District makes up the entire property and land of the city and the surrounding villages that Thirukonamalai Koneswaram Kovil owned in its floruit, affirmed through several royal grants in the early medieval period; the shrine thus gave the city and district its name and services were provided to Trincomalee residents with the temple's revenue.