சங்கரி தேவி கோயில் (திருகோணமலை)Shankari Devi Temple (Trincomalee)

Sthala Mahātmyam

Shankari Devi at Trincomalee is invoked first in Adi Shankaracharya's Ashtadasa Shakti Peetha Stotram ('Lankayam Shankari devi'), making it the foremost of the eighteen Maha Shakti Peethas. Tradition holds that the groin of Sati Devi fell here after Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra dismembered her corpse, which the grieving Shiva bore across the cosmos. The shrine is said to have been established by Ravana, who worshipped Devi as protectress of Lanka, and the goddess is believed to have been venerated here for well over two millennia. The original temple stood atop Swami Rock within the Koneswaram complex on the triangular hill that gives Trincomalee ('Tri-kona-malai') its name. After the ancient shrine was destroyed in the colonial era, a modest Dravidian-style Shankari sannidhi now stands rebuilt within the Koneswaram temple overlooking the Bay of Bengal. Being remote and across the sea, it remains the least-visited of the eighteen peethas, yet devotees prize a pilgrimage here as the crown of the Ashtadasa yatra. Navaratri is observed with special reverence.