Kantha’laay Koayil burgled, Pi’l’laiyaar statue missing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:05 GMT]
About one hundred kilo weighing bronze Vinaayakar statue was stolen from the historic Pilliyaar Koayil located in ancient Kantha’laay Tamil village Saturday early morning. The devotees who went to the Koayil to worship Saturday morning were taken aback when they saw the statue of the deity was missing, according to complaints lodged with the Kanthalaai Police.

Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingham on receipt of information from the villagers immediately brought that matter to the notice of the Superintendent of Police in Kantha’laay. The police have now deployed special teams to trace the stolen statue, police sources said.

Kantha’laay Pi’l’laiyaar Koayil was constructed several centuries ago by King Ku’lakkoaddan after the completion of the Kantha’laay tank.

Kantha’laay was earlier a Tamil dominated area till the then United National Party (UNP) government led by the first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake that assumed power after the independence of the country started state aided colonization scheme by settling Sinhalese people from other parts of the country.

Now Kanthalaai has become a Sinhalese dominated area.

Recently an unidentified gang robbed statues of Akaththiyar Thaapanam located in Kanguveali in Moothoor division, desecrating the historic temple founded by Sage Agathiyar several centuries ago.