Arulmigu Sri Muthumari Amman Kovil

The gopuram is what you see first, and from a long way off — thirty-three metres above the northern gateway, one of the largest in Sri Lanka, carrying one thousand and eight figures of the gods. It was carved by the South Indian sculptor Nagalingam and his son Ramanathan, with around a hundred designers, painters and architects from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, and finished in 2007.

The temple began as a statue under a tree. The land was paddy field, given by its owner in 1852; the building went up in 1874, paid for by the Nattukkottai Chettiar. Both Hindus and Buddhists use it, and always have.

In July 1983 it was severely damaged in the anti-Tamil riots. It was restored. Twenty-four years after that, they finished the tower.