The historic Nagabooshani Amman Hindu temple annual festival which was due to commence on Friday (11) and continue for fifteen days was put on hold after a giant King Cobra was sighted in the premises four days ago.
The decision was taken by the temple authorities who reckoned that the sighting of the cobra was an ill-omen to the region, especially with the spike in Covid-19 pandemic cases. According to Hindu mythology, the deity of Nagadeepa temple was Nagaboosani and she was guarded by king cobras in the holy islet. As Sri Lanka and the whole world, at large, is currently struggling to deal with Covid-19, the sighting of the king cobra in the basement of the temple entrance tower could be considered as a sign of preventing devotees from gathering for the festival, a member of the management said.
The festival that attracts huge crowds was scheduled to last for 15 days. It has been postponed for September.