Jaffna Off The Beaten Path

It's not literally "off the beaten path". It's even almost directly "on" the beaten path, but quite far away from Jaffna. More precisely it's on the road from Vavuniya to Jaffna. Almost every bus, every car stops here and the Tamils are making offerings in this small shrine, because the belief had grown that unless you stopped and worshipped here, you would not proceed much further without a mishap befalling you! And on the way back from Jaffna they express their gratitude for returning safely. Many are the coconuts dashed in front of Pillayar.
There is a lot of legends about the origin of this shrine. One of them is telling that a growth resembling the face of Lord Ganesha had grown on a Palu tree near the road and that's why a small temple - cadjan covered had been built. According to another one, the shrine was build by the roadbuilders after they found a waterspring there...
Anyway it's a very interesting place. Pay attention on the lorry drivers - after visiting the shrine they put the blessed powders on their trucks.