INTRODUCTION
Sri Veera Maha Kaliamman Kovil is a very old Hindu Temple, situated in Colombo on the Sri Ponnambalam Ramanathan Street, facing the harbor. According to some experts in Hindu sculpture, the main statue at this temple belongs to the 18th century.
HISTORY
It was originally claimed that the statue was originally found on the sea side of the street but due to religious persecution under Dutch rule, the statue (deity) was removed from the sea side to a place in a plot of a garden along the Jampettah Street. It was one Kavenna Vengadasalam Pillai who was in charge of the temple in the garden. Towards the end of the 19th century the temple was shifted to a plot of land 15 feet by 50 feet bearing the number 116 on the Koteboam street, adjoining Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar Temple by an agreement. In conformity with the agreement, the temple was built at the present site with Kavenna Vengadasalam Pillai officiating as the priest and the sole trustee.
In 1915, Mr. Vengadasalam Pillai died and on order by District Court, Colombo, a Board of trustee consisting of five members was appointed. Later in 1934 , a new board of trustees was appointed by a deed of trust consisting of Sellamuthu Kandasamy, Vellupillai Krishnasamy, and his niece Krishnasamy Sellamany.
At this stage in 1969, the board of trustees appointed Siva Sri S. KunchithapathaKurukkal who was the Chief Priest at the adjoining Sri Ponnambalavaneswarar Temple to perform the poojas at this temple. After the demise of Sellamuthu kandasamy and Vellupillai Krishnasamy, Ponnambalam Thuraisingham and Kanakambigai Thuraisingham was appointed by the District Court of Colombo.
DEVELOPMENT
The temple at this period was in a dilapidated stage and needed urgent repairs. In 1974 Sri Kunchithapathakurukkal with the consent of the trustees initiated a management committee of devotees comprising of the following members who had contributed largely for the welfare of the temple, namely 1) P.Thuraisingham, 2)Kanakambigai Thuraisingham (son-in-law & daughter of late trustee V. Krishnasamy), 3) Sri Kunchithapathakurukkal, 4) M. Chandrapal (Engineer) , 5)C. Ramachandran, 6) C.Thuraisingham, 7) S.P. Muniyaiyah.
Under this management committee, the renovation and restoration of the temple was commenced in 1974 with the unstinted support of late Mr.Sittampalam, Commissioner of Inland Revenue . Many philanthropists like Mr. Sepala Gunasena (M.D. Gunasena & Co.), Mr. Muni Kundanmal, Mr. V. Balasubramaniam (Coba Mills), Mr. V. Shanmugaraja Achary and Mr. C. Ramachandran helped financially, Mr. K. Nagalingam J.P. was kind enough to donate a piece of land to build an upstairs building for madapalli etc. the renovation of the temple was carried out under the guidance of Sthapathy Balu from South India and Maha Kumbabishekam was conducted on 1st of September by Sri Kunchithapathakurukkal and assisted by Sri V. Subramania Sarma.
Sri Kunchithapatha Kurukkal who rendered a yeoman service by raising funds from devotees to develop the temple should be commended and remembered. Soon after the Maha Kumbabishekam, Sri Kunchitahpatha Kurukkal recommended to appoint Sri Subramania Sarma (his assistant) as the permanent priest of the temple. Sri Subramania Sarma has cooperated fully from the time in all the development and other activities at the temple.
There was growing need to expand the temple as the area was insufficient to accommodate the large devotes who attended on normal pooja times. The management committee managed to purchase the property situated behind the temple premises to build a prayer hall, wedding hall, and priest’s quarters.
Every effort was made to purchase the adjoining hotel property owned by late Mr. Nagalingam J.P. family to further expand the front area of the temple. But due to unavoidable reasons, it got delayed. The management committee then decided to proceed with the renovation of the temple and addition of the proposed to upstairs building in the rear to accommodate wedding hall, dining hall ,etc. and installation of additional shrine to install the statues of goddesses of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi.
The renovation work and the building of the dining hall in the upper floor and the wedding hall in the ground floor and the replacement of the asbestos roof in front of the area mandapam with a concrete slab were carried out by skilled workers. Late Mr.Nagalaingam Sthaoathy from Thirupullani, Ramanathapuram and his group undertook the restoration of the main Gopuram and Moolasthana sthuppi and the construction of a temple for enshrining the statues of DURGA, LAKSHMI, & SARASWATHI. It is to be mentioned that the financial help rendered by the late Mr.S. Thivakaran (member of management committee) and unstinted service by rendered by late S.P. Muniaiyah (committee member) in supervising renovation work with dedication and devotion. After the completion of the renovation and extension of the building, Maha Kumbabishekam at the temple was held on22nd of April 1999.
Prolonged efforts to get the adjoining building (hotel) materialized and late Mr. Nagalingam’s family members donated the building to the temple.
However at that time the hotel had been leased to a person who refused to give vacant position even after his allowed period of time. An evacuation case was filed in the District Court of Colombo. After long years of struggle, the temple has hope of getting the control and possession of the hotel building. Once the property is taken in charge, the management committee plans to demolish the building and extend the area to build a large mandapam in the front area which would have additional sanctums to install statues of other deities and to accommodate the existing temple for DURGA, LAKSHMI, SARASWATHI to the front area.The present trustees consist of ,
1. Mr. Ponnambalam Thuraisingham
2. Mrs. Thuraisingham Kanagambigai
3. Mr. Anandakrishnan Raveeindran
4. Mrs. Raveeindran Shanthi Krishnakumari
5. Mr. Muniayah Shanmuganathan
And the Chief Advisor
Mr. Skandadas Sarma
The management committee has decided to conduct the overdue Maha Kumbabishekam this year. Plans have been drawn to have the Balasthapana Kumbabioshekam in May 2016, and start the renovation of the existing building early. We hope that Sri Veera Maha Kali Amma will answer the prayers of all the devotees to get in possession of the adjoining building early so that the planned extension to build the mandapam, etc. could materialize during the same time.