Koneswaram Temple, Trincomalee – Etymology

Koneswaram Temple, Trincomalee – Etymology

Thirukonamalai & Koneswaram:

In Tamil language, temples are known as Kovils,; thus the temple complex is known locally as Koneswaram Kovil, the abode of Kona - Eiswara (the Chief Lord or God). The presiding Shiva deity's names are Konesar, Koneswaran, Kona Natha and the goddess consort is called Mathumai Amman (another name for Mother goddess Amman). It later earned the title Thiru Koneswaram Kovil. The origin of the term Ko or Kone lies in the Old Tamil word for the terms "Lord", "King" or "Chief", which allude to the deity that presides here; this term appears in several Tamil inscriptions of the sixth century B.C. – second century A.D.

Trincomalee, the coastal peninsula town where Koneswaram is located is an Anglicized form of the old Tamil word "Thiru-Kona-malai", meaning "Lord of the Sacred Hill", its earliest reference in this form found in the Thevaram of the 7^th century by Sambandar. Thiru is a generally used epithet denoting a "sacred" temple site while Malai means mountain or hill; Middle Tamil manuscripts and inscriptions mention the monumental compound shrine as the Thirukonamalai Konesar Kovil. 

Kona has other meanings in Old Tamil such as peak, while another origin for the term Koneswaram could come from the Tamil term Kuna (East). Therefore, other translators suggest definitions of Trincomalee such as "sacred angular/peaked hill", "sacred eastern hill" or "three peaked hill".

Greek writer Strabo, quoting Eratosthenes and Onesicritus notes the island's proximity to the southernmost regions of India, next to the country of the "Koniakoi people," found south up to a coastal promontory on an eastern limit, and describes the island as extending towards Ethiopia and being home to elephants. The temple was constructed atop Swami Rock, also called Swami Malai or Kona-ma-malai, a cliff on the peninsula that drops 400 feet (120 metres) directly into the sea.

Gokarna:

The Trincomalee Harbour, a circular natural Harbour which the temple crowns towards the north, is referred to as Ko-Kannam or "Lord's Cheek", alluding to the cheek shape of Shiva's bull Nandi. The Sanskrit equivalent of the port town's Harbour bay is Go-Karna, meaning "Cow's Ear" or Gokarna Pattana and the deity's name Gokarneswara or Go – Natha in Sanskrit. Pathmanathan offers the etymological link Thiru-Gokarna-Malai or Thiru-Gona-Malai based on this connection. 

The ethnographer Megasthenes writing in his Indica from 350 – 290 B.C., describes the island as being divided by a long river, productive of a large number of gold and pearls in one half and that the inhabitants of this country are called Paleogoni, meaning Old Goni in Tamil and Greek, who Pliny adds worshipped Hercules and Dionysus (Bacchus) like the Pandiyans of Tamilakam.

The Vayu Purana, written in 300 A.D. specifically mentions the tallest mountain peak of the great gold and silver rich mountain range Malaya on the island, and that "to the east of this island at the shore of the sea lies a great Siva temple in a holy place called Gokarna." Gokarna is also a place name in Karnataka, India, Kalinga, Tamil Nadu and Nepal all associated with ancient Shiva temples and some with Ravana of the Ramayana, the former temple in Karnataka – the Mahabaleshwar Temple – also earning praise in the Thevaram.

A major shrine to the deity Bhadrakali exists within the Mahabaleshwar Temple complex, and similarly the Bhadrakali Amman Temple of Trincomalee, dedicated to the same deity and significantly expanded by Rajendra Chola I, stands on Konesar Road before the entrance to Swami Rock.

Kailash of the South:

Heralded as "Dakshina Kailasam" / "Then Kailasam" (Kailash of the South) because it lies on exactly the same longitude as the Tibetan mountain Mount Kailash (the primary abode of Shiva), Koneswaram's early black granite rock-cut architectural style shared similarities to Kailasanathar Temples of the subcontinent. Its traditional history and legends were compiled into the Sanskrit treatises Dakshina Kailasa Puranam – Sthala Puranam of Koneswaram, written in 1380 by Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan, and the Dakshina Kailasa Manmiam – three chapters of the Skanda Puranam of unknown antiquity – manuscripts of which have been discovered and dated from the 5th – 7th century. 

It was in the Puranas that the shrine first found reference as Koneiswara Parwata, motivating Kullakottan Chola who learnt of its sanctity to sail to Trincomalee and develop the temple. The compiler of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali’s place of birth at the temple corroborates Tirumular's Thirumanthiram, which describes him as hailing from Then Kailasam and his self-description as a "Gonardiya" from Gonarda, "a country in the southern and eastern division" of the Indian continent. Both men were ardent disciples of Nandhi. Patanjali famously visited the Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, where he wrote the Charana Shrungarahita Stotram on Nataraja.

Macchakeswaram:

In Kanda Puranam, the epic authored by Kachiyappa Sivachariyar, Koneswaram is venerated as one of the three foremost Shiva abodes in the world, alongside Thillai Chidambaram Temple and Mount Kailash. The Vishnu-Thirumal shrine of the Koneswaram complex repaired by Kullakottan Chola was referred to as the Thirukonamalai Macchakeswaram / Macceswaram Kovil in some Middle Tamil inscriptions such as the Nilaveli inscription of the 10^th century, a Tamil rendering of the Sanskrit Matsyakesvara. In fact, Matsya is the fish incarnation of Vishnu, and this shrine's significance along with that of the third pagoda of the promontory to the goddess is expounded further in the Dakshina Kailasa Puranam and the Thirukonasala Puranam.

Temple of a Thousand Columns:

The temple's "Aayiram Kaal Mandapam" earned it the title Pagoda of Trincomalee – Temple of a Thousand Columns among Europeans. The rocky promontory is dedicated to Siva in his ancient form of Kona-Eiswara, and is a major centre of pilgrimage today. The worship of Eiswara is noted to have been the original worship of the island; Charles Pridham, Jonathan Forbes and George Turnour state that it is probable there is no more ancient form of worship existing than that of Eiswara upon his sacred promontory.