Temple History

“ Myliddy ” is a small village which has its natural beauty in and around the village. The area extends its radius to Pallali which is located in east, wavy ocean in north, Thayyiti in west and Kattuvan in south. Sub post office, hospitals; Kallaimahal Maha Vidyalayam & Roman catholic schools are the apparent land marks of this village. Villagers of  Myliddy   lived a peaceful and a satisfactory life. Spiritualism among the villagers kept increasing due to the presence plenty of temples including, “ Myliddy  Kannakai Ambal Temple”, “ Myliddy  Muruhamoorthy temple”, “Marudhadi vinayahar temple”, Thoppu pillayar temple, and kolluviyangalati pillayar temple.

Although the worships of the villagers extended to Indian shrine,s, Katharagama, Thondaman, Selvasannathi, they wer extremely faithful to the goddess of the village, who is known as “Kannakai”. The worships of the Goddess Kannakai was introduced to Srilanka by the king, First Gajapahu from Sera Nadu in the 2^nd century (B.C). during the period 1250-1505 (A. C), which is the period between Pollanaruwa and Pothugese, there were several other temples such as Katpitti nachiyamman temple, Nikkavarattiya Kannahai amman temple, Kundasalai kannahai amman temple and Kurunegala kannahai ammman temple which are in an ancient discourse.

The 6^th Buvanehapahu was the king of Srilanka when Nallainahar was the capital. He sacrificed his life during his period mostly for Hinduism. And also as to increase the security of the coastal area he assigned three of hid brothers, Veeramanikkathevar, Periyanatuthevan and Narasinghathevan. To guard the northern coastal area. The places such as Veeramanikathevan thurai, Periyanatuthevan thurai and Narasinghathevan thurai were named after the settlement of the families of the above mentioned kings. These three places together were later known as “ Myliddy  ”. These three were considered as pendragon and were noblemen as well as highly religious personalities. They were patriotic too. They were not only known for their bravery but also for various establishments such as schools, temples, hospitals, playgrounds etc. the temples those were built up by the three siblings, Veeramanika thevar , Periyanatu thevar and Narasimatheva are Mahakannapathi Temple Marudhadi vinayahar temple  and Kolluviyangalati pillyar temple respectively.

There was a Kannakai Amman temple in the field of Narasinghathevan. But the period of its origination is anonymous. This particular place was known as “Deviyar kovil” and infront of this temple there was a holy pond known as “Deviyar kullam”. Same priests were conducting poojas and devotional ceremonies at this temple.

The debris of this area is still seen at  Myliddy. Due to several conflicts internally  the doors of the temple were shut and no more devotional activities were carried out. This made the surroundings unpleasant and they were prone to diseases and also lost the gravity towards their jobs as well. Amidst this there was a person called Kandhar who belonged to the this Brahmin family. He had a son whose name was Kassipillai. Kandhar gave up his domestic virtues and became a hermit. And eventually he ended up his life in Kathirkamam informing his villagers that “Kathikamam is my place” where he spent his later part as a hermit.

After few years Kassipillai (Kandhar’s son) had a dream and this was the sole reason for the origination of the new temple. According to his dream, a beautiful lady with an anklet was standing on the shades of poon trees in the north- eastern direction of the Thoppupillayar temple and was declaring that she’s going to stay here. Soon after the dream, Kasippilai walked towards that place and to his surprise he saw the foot prints as well as the print of the anklet at the shades of poon tress. Hence along with the support of other villagers he made the place traditional and devotional by enshrining kannahai idol which was brought from Deviyar kollai temple. From this point onwards the same Brahmin family carried out devotional activities with great devotion.

Sivashri. E. Navamanni Aiyyar is one of the most important and authorized person. He too took enormous efforts to establish this temple. As a result of the untiring efforts the temple that was built in a small shed turned in to a well established temple made out of stones and cements.Although both Kannakai Amman temple and Thoppu pillayar temple are at close proximity, Thoppupillayar temple is highly privileged.

Kannahai amman temple consists of “Moolasthanam” (inner most part of the temple where the idol is placed), “ Maha mandapam”, “Arththa mandapam”, “Tharisana mandapam”, “Madappalli” and also a well filled with consecrated water at the south path. Especially it had individual chariots for “ Shiva”, “Vinayahar”, and “Muruhan”,  which was celebrated in a way that the devotional procession proceeded with five individual chariots although this tradition was deteriorated later on gradually due to various reasons. This chariot festival was held in June and was celebrated as ten days of worship. During the month of May also devotional celebrations took place.

As a consequence of the natural calamity shades of poon were destroyed and the temple lost its stability. Hence the need for the establishment of the temple arose. This was initiated by Navamanni aiyar and one of his cousins called Annanda sivam aiyar. As a result of their efforts the foundation stone was layed in order to built up the new temple. This occasion was graced by the priest of Kunnakuddy Arunasala thesihar . Arunasalathesihar at that occasion had an abstract picture of Kannahai amman who was showering her blessings to this temple from Kanniyakumari. This ended up in the establishment of “Moolasthanam”, Maha mandapam, Arththa mandapam and Saba mandapam with granite stones (which were funded by Navamanni aiyar), Vasantha mandapam, vaiyravar mandapam, clock tower and Annathana mandapam with cement. And also the ceilings and pillars of the temple were embossed with extremely beautiful sculpture and finally the consecration of the idol took place in June 1962.

Consecration was followed by 40 days of “ Mandala abisheham” and the pooja 1008 shells which  is known as Sangabisheham. During this celebration Amman appears in flower bonds in the evening. Further poojas arecarried out by Mr. Thavarajah and family. during this the floors and walls were built up with cement and also a great tower was establishes with the guidance and support of Mr. Thavarajah and family.This establishment made almost all the villagers in and around the area together during special occasion at the temple. They were also blessed with whatever they longed for.Knowing the importance and power of this temple, the villagers together formed a society which was led by Mr. Illankainayagam initially and later on by Mr. Irasa. Navamanni aiyya was concerned on the temple and he even brought up his next generation by feeding them the importance and gravity of this temple so that after his period also the temple will look great as it is.

As per the wish of the proprietors and the villagers, a special cart was designed and made. This was supported and guided by Navamanni Aiyya, who assisted Mr. Ratnarasa, Vaiyapuri and Iyathurai to take over the work. It also should be mentioned that Mr. Vaiyapuri had a great impact in building up the cart due to his contribution economically. But later due to variations in attitudes and shortage of funds the construction of the cart was delayed. As a remedy for such situation holy society was formed and through this the construction of the special cart was completed in the same year.  Afterwards, the festival was celebrated for 15 days as per the request of the villagers.

Until 1990’s special poojas and celebrations were taking place.