District of Jaffna is located northern top of Sri Lanka and become a popular destination for locals tourists. The main city of this district is Jaffna town and it’s the center of Sri Lankan Hindu culture.
Vast majority of the Jaffna population are Sri Lankan Tamils. Hinduism is the widely followed religion and considerable amount of Catholics also live there.
Nallur Kandasamy Kovil is the most prominent Hindu Kovil and there are some historical Buddhist heritage sites are also located in Jaffna district.
Jaffna
The Jaffna Peninsula has seen the number of visitors soar since the end of the Civil War, and some residents who had moved away on account of the violence have started to return. The area’s main town, Jaffna is very different from the rest of the Sri Lanka, primarily because of the scars it bears from the long conflict. Although there are very few tourist sites, it is still a fascinating place to visit. Built by the Dutch between 1680 and 1792 on the side of an earlier, Portuguese construction, the enormous Jaffna Fort suffered during the fighting; renovation efforts are ongoing. It is possible to walk around the ramparts and some of the original coralline bricks used in the construction of the edifice. Other important lights in town include the Jaffna Public Library, which was torched by Sinhalese mobs in 1875 to a design by British architect JG Smither.
All the main religions have their representative houses of worship in Jaffna, but the large Christian churches are hardest to miss. The Main Street in lined with atmospheric church buildings, including St James Church and the enormous St Mary’s Cathedral, built by the Dutch. The latter has a pleasing interior and shady grounds where visitors can rest awhile and take in the place and quiet.
Jaffna’s modest Archaeological Museum is situated west of the town centre. It contains 15th century artifacts excavated from Kantharodai along with Hindu and Buddhists antiquities. Jaffna also boasts a vibrant market towards the west of the bus station. Although it is stocked with many day-to-day items, palmyra bags and mats are among the most popular products for sale. There is also a covered produce market where vendors sell a wealth of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Nagadeepa Purana Vihara
Situated in Nainativu Island, Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Pilgrims have been coming to the Nagadeepa since about the 1st century AC to worship at its famous Rajayathana stupa. The Rajayathana stupa was constructed by two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, at the site where Lord Buddha during His second visit to the country on a Bak Maha Amawaka Poya Day, five years after attaining Enlightenment, intervened and mediated in settling a dispute over the possession of a gem-studded throne. The precious throne was offered to the lord Buddha, was returned to the Naga Kings and was later enshrined in this Rajayathana stupa.
History records that the Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Vharaya was developed and reconstructed by pious kings, Devanampiyatissa, Dutugemunu and converted into a fully accomplished sacred place. During the period of Portuguese, Dutch and British all the Buddhist religious places were destroyed and the Nagadeepa Viharaya too has been subjected to it and Buddhists were deprived of worshiping these religious places.
In the year 1931 Ven. Randombe Somatissa Nayake Thero from Ambalangoda has visited this place and observed the ruins of the Rajayathana stupa and the Kiripalu Nuga tree and identified as the stupa constructed with the gem studded throne on which Lord Buddha has preached, and Thero then reconstructed this stupa with the support of donors to enabling Buddhists for their religious observances.
Sri Lanka Dream Tours organize various tour activities that includes folk dance & music program, local house visits, local market visits, dinner or lunch with a local family of the area and much more like this. These activities are organized as part of your tour program and gives real experience of India to any guest visiting India with us.