Famous tourist destination of Jaffna, the Selva Sannithi Temple is one of the well-known shrines, popular among the people of various castes and sects.
Revered as Sella Katirkāmam of the North, Selva Sannithi Murukan Temple at Thondaimanaru is situated about twenty miles north of Jaffna. Here too, as at Katirkamam, a free non-agamic environment for worship pervades the place, the waters of Thondaimanaru, where fresh water flows into the sea past the site, the temple by the side of the newly cut waterway would have been the place of worship of this settlement that got founded in the locality. The temple however suffered the fate of devastation, like all other Hindu temples, in the hands of the foreigners of the 16th century.
At this stage, the story shifts to one Kadirkamar, a keen devotee of Murukan, who proceeded bewailing to Katirkamam, and was rewarded there with the gift of a silver Vel. He brought this sacred Vel and installing it in a madam at the sacred site, performed daily pujas to it. Later, he was permitted to use the temple itself, which he took over. He and his group have been managing and officiating ever since, with piety and satisfaction to all devotees.
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