The most important Hindu temple in Sri Lanka and the spiritual heart of the Tamil north – a towering Dravidian gopuram decorated in the style of the great South Indian temple traditions, its tiers of carved figures rising above the Jaffna landscape. The evening puja fills the courtyard with conch shells, oil lamps and sacred ash in a ceremony of genuine devotional intensity. During the 25-day Nallur festival in August, the temple complex draws one of the most concentrated pilgrimage gatherings in South Asia. A visit to Jaffna itself – for its distinctive culture, cuisine and coastline of stark salt-flat beauty – rewards a full day beyond the kovil.