Kataragama Temple

Kataragamam temple (Sinhalese: ?????, Tamil: ?????????? Katirk?mam) in Kataragama, Sri Lanka, is a Hindu and Buddhist temple complex dedicated to Skanda-Murukan also known as Kataragama deviyo. It is one of the few religious sites in Sri Lanka that is venerated by the majority Sinhala Buddhists, Hindu minority Sri Lankan Tamil people, Sri Lankan Moors and the Vedda people.[3] It is a collection of modest shrines, of which the one dedicated to Skanda-Murukan, also known as Kataragama deviyo, is the most important. For most of the past millennia, it was a jungle shrine very difficult to access; today it is accessible by an all-weather road. Almost all the shrines— and the nearby Kiri Vehera— are managed by Buddhists, apart from shrines dedicated to Teyv??ai and Shiva and the Muslim mosque.