Aathi Koneswaram is a regionally important Hindu temple in Thambalagamuwa village in the Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country and area. The name of the temple in Tamil means the "temple of the original lord of Koneswaram". It is situated 24 kilometres from the port town of Trincomalee. The temple was constructed during the 17th century as a successor to the Koneswaram temple (Temple of Thousand Pillars) that was destroyed by Portuguese in 1622. Of the original temple, only the main sanctum sanctorum remains, all other buildings are of newer construction. The Gopuram or main entrance tower was added in 1953 and it is one of the tallest in the region. The temple is built of stone and is surrounded by two enclosed path ways. The presiding deity is Siva but there are important cults associated with the veneration of Pattini Amman and Kathirkaswami accommodated within the main premises as well. The temple also has minor shrines to Pulleyar, Navagraha, Murukan, Valli and Tevayani. The temple celebrates daily services stipulated according to scriptures along with an elaborate annual festival that involves Tamil and Sinhala devotees living in the general area of Trincomalee district. There are also festivals that pertain to Pattini Amman and Kathirkaswami. As part of the Sri Lankan civil war, in the 1980s and 90's the village was depopulated and the temple abandoned. Since 2004 residents of the village have returned and the temple has been restored. Aathi Koneswaram temple is situated in the village of Thambalagamuwa that was part of the medieval semi-independent feudal division called Thambalagamuwa Pattu. Prior to the arrival of Portuguese in 1622 and then Dutch colonial overloads in 1656, leaders of the Thambalagamuwa Pattu and others around it were independent rulers sometimes subject to Jaffna kingdom or Kandyan kingdom. Thambalagamuwa is surrounded by lush paddy fields and was a prosperous settlement. The presiding deity is known as Ati Konanayakar and the consort as Hamsagamanambike, another name for Mother Goddess Amman). These names are reminiscent of the original presiding deity of the Koneswaram temple, Konesar and Annam Mennatai. The idol of the presiding deity is dated to the later Chola period (1070-1279 CE) and the consort to that of early Chola period based on the composition of metals and styles. (See picture here and here.) The temple’s name and the separate shrine to Ati Konanayakar allude to the tradition that this temple was built to accommodate the idols that were saved from the destruction of the Temple of Thousand Pillars in Trincomalee by the Portuguese colonial officers. According Tirukonasala Purana a Tamil chronicle written during the period of Kandyan kingdom's ascendance in the general area of Thambalagamuwa Pattu, the temple was built with the help of Kandyan King Rajasingha II (1630–1689) after the loss of Koneswaram temple in the Trincomalee town. The idols that were saved from the