Murdered Hindu priest and Buddhist hegemony

by: J. Jenni

(October 02, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Due to depressing circumstances in the 1990’s many Tamils migrated and settled in Batticaloa and Trincomalee areas. One of those who escaped death and went to earn a living was a young Hindu priest Siva Sri Siva Kadachcha Sivakugarajah, a priest fron Alvai West in Jaffna. He was born on 30 May 1969 and he is a father of four children. Though he was a Hindu priest he was a humane who respected everyone beyond caste or race divide.

He was living in Kalladi. As a result of his marriage to a non Brahmin woman, he lost the right to conduct religious services by his employers. With the help of a friend who was a government officer, he ventured out to find jobs in Trincomalee. He started to work with the Trincomalee Kandasamy temple as a priest.

Then he went on to work at Thampalagamam Koneswarar temple but had to leave the job following his quarrel with the trustees over their corrupt financial practices in the temple. As time passed he became the priest of the famous Koneswarar temple and lived with his wife and children at the priest accommodation at the temple.


The famous Koneswaram temple.

During this period he also took the responsibility to administer the Veerakathi Pillaiyar temple located between the Madaththadi junction and the railway station in the Tricomalee town. The temple owned extensive lands in the surroundings. He also attempted to remove the illegal Sinhala settlements in these lands.
Good governance of Chola rule was established in Tamil Nadu (in India) after the 10th Century. During this period Chola empire extended to Sri Lanka. The Koneswaram temple and the Thampalagaman temple and their surrounding lands came under Chola rule. During this period, lands were donated to the temples by the public to generate income. To this date, these lands are owned by these temples. These lands consist of generations of occupants.


This priest was carefully administering the lands and was preventing unlawful settlements in the lands. In the past, when the area came under the influence of the LTTE or even under the TMVP within the past 304 years, without conflicting with anyone and with the help of government departments and religious organisations he refurbished the decaying temples.

As a result of his sheer effort he completely refurbished the Veerakathi Pillaiyar temple.

The historically famous Koneswaram temple is located within the Dutch fort. This fort is a government military camp for many years. The temple entrance is decorated by the old cannon guns. Within this military complex hundreds of military personnel’s are placed. The ‘Kagaba’ regiment is also stationed here. One has to pass their camp to reach the Koneswarar temple on top of the hill.

It was easy to reach the temple before 1983. After the race riots in 1983, people have stopped going to this temple. However, the priest will conduct the service by himself without any devotees. Though the situation improved in 1987, but tensions and worries were there due to the presence of the army. The priests were scared to conduct services and attempted to back off from there. The army excesses were the reasons and these are well documented.

Sivakugarajah priest undertook the responsibility for the temple since 1995 and with sheer guts and dedication was living in the temple quarters with his family. He was conducting his religious duties. He changed the situation of the ungoverned temple by undertaking repair work and enhancing the religious activities. He also built a big wedding hall. He raised funds for these from the people in the area, religious and public organisations.

Leaving these aside, in 1970 when standardisation and (Sinhala) Sri opposition were dominating the Jaffna political field, Battocaloa was proceeding with its political life amidst pressure of poverty, adverse weather conditions. In Trincomalee, following the 1958 island-wide anti Tamil violence, systematic state sponsored Sinhala settlements and heavy pressure on the border towns by the state machinery were experienced.

During the time of Prime Minister D S Senanayake, the state settlements were systematic and consisted of Sinhala prisoners and violent elements. They were settled after being indoctrinated with racial hatred. As a result, it became a common thing for Tamils to fall victims to racism. Evolving of Tamil militancy and formation and functioning of various groups including LTTE prior to 1983 were in secret locations and farms. Each one of the groups got their own history.

The young priest migrated to Trincomalee in 1994 amidst these circumstances. He functioned beyond his religious duties to protect the temple lands from encroachments and to prevent the historical temples from decay.

This is the time when in 2005 a Buddha’s statue was erected in the heart of Tricomalee town. This proceeded with demonstrations by the Tamils and some violence in the area.

Following this Buddhist Bhikkus were flocking to the area and with state patronage Sinhala settlements were enforced. The priest Sivakugarajah never failed to protest against these activities. Further recently, at the entry point to the hill proceeding to the Koneswaram temple, he proceeded to build a Amman temple. Foundation was laid and the temple building work was also proceeding. He proceeded to India few weeks ago and returned with the Amman deity for the temple. Since return he became very active.

The Koneswarar temple was in the hill top. Outside the entrance of the fort was the Buddha statue. Just opposite was the construction of his Amman temple. This was an act hostile to the Buddhist domination. There is no doubt that it had angered the rulers.

Siva Shree Siva Kadacha Sivakugarajah priest was murdered under these circumstances. A week before his murder, the former Government Agent Maj. Gen Silva held a meeting with the local officials. The priest also participated. Many issues were discussed at the meeting. The priest was outspoken about the daily occurring violence and murders in Trincomalee. He had charged that the government was behind these violence. The Maj. General refused to concede to the accusations. But the priest had angrily retorted that he had ample evidence and he will produce them within a week.

Murdered Priest

On September 21st, when he was travelling on his motorcycle on Vithyalayam Road, he was stopped by some men and shot at. He died o the spot. One of children is disabled and his death has created a vacuum for his wife and children.

In the latter stages because of his involvement in many activities, he and his family went and resided at Dyke Road. Because of fear the wife and children have move out this place and were unable to attend his funeral.

(Translation of an in depth article published in the Thesamnet.com Tamil website. Translated by R Jayadevan) - Sri Lanka Guardian