The Nainativu Shree Nagapooshani Amman kovil is one of 64 Shakthi Peeth around the Indian Subcontinent. These are temples especially built for the Hindu goddess Shakthi.The island of Nainativu is the center of one of the most sacred Hindu sites in all of South Asia, attracting over a thousand visitors a day, a hundred thousand during the festival of Mahosatvam during the Hindu month of Aani. In Gregorian terms, it would midway between June and July. It is a massive temple complex, the present structures having been built between 1720 and 1790 after the Portuguese destroyed the original Shree Nagapooshani Amman kovil in 1620 during their conquest of Jaffna. Presently the most incredible facets about the Shree Nagapooshani Amman kovil are the ornate gate towers or gopurams, the largest reaching over hundred feet in height.

The legend behind Nainativu itself goes to tell us that Lord Indra, king of storms, was attracted to the wife of the saint Gautama, named Ahalya. After the sage realized that the god had made love to his wife, he cursed Indra to have yoni marks-female genitalia-all over his body. In shame Indra fled to the island of Nainativu where he did penance to atone for his misdeeds. The Goddess Devi was pleased by his penance and transformed the marks into eyes. Another story of the little isle mentions a cobra that was swimming towards it with a lotus in its mouth when an eagle attacked it. In fear the snake wrapped itself around a rock and its attacker perched itself on another out at sea. A merchant sailing by noticed the two animals and asked the bird to let its prey go. The eagle agreed on the condition that the merchant build a temple to Goddess Shakthi on Nainativu, and the long-standing rivalry between the animals was settled at last. The legend dates back to the Chola Kingdom. Nainativu itself has been important to both South Indian and Sri Lankan Tamils as well as to the Sinhalese, especially as part of the foreign trade route that existed during the medieval era. Inscriptions dating back to the 12th Century AD show us that plenty of traders stopping by the island of Kayts also made a detour at Nainativu. During this time, King Parakramabahu I was the ruler of the country and he had made large-scale international trade the norm with his shipyards and numerous harbors around the island.

Written by Vasika Udurawane for Travel Lanka Compass