Thirukkovil Temple, Hindu temple in Ampara District, Sri Lanka.

Thirukkovil Citra Velayudha Swami Kovil stands 71 km south of Batticaloa, near the coast. Its sanctum follows Pandyan architecture, and broken sandstone pillars lie in the courtyard. Two inscriptions are kept in a small room south of the entrance, one recording a donation by King Vijayabahu VII of Kotte.

The temple's origin is uncertain; it likely began as a small thatched hut worshipped by Vedda and Naga tribes, then was rebuilt in agamic tradition under Chola rule (993–1070 CE). The Portuguese looted and destroyed it in the 1620s, and it took two centuries to recover. Inscriptions by Vijayabahu VII of Kotte (1507–1521) are kept in a room south of the entrance.

The name Thirukkovil, "sacred temple", passed from the shrine to the whole village, a distinction the region's inhabitants consider rare. The Aadi Amavasai festival begins eighteen days before the new moon and ends with the Theertham, when pilgrims bathe in the sea at Thirukkovil; a Dutch merchant, Johan Herman von Vree, noted in July 1602 that the king and people had gone to this bathing, leaving trade at a standstill.

The temple stands at Thirukkovil village, 71 km south of Batticaloa town, near the coast. The annual festival begins eighteen days before the Aadi Amavasai new moon and ends on that day with the Theertham, when pilgrims bathe in the sea at Thirukkovil; crowds number in the hundreds of thousands. Broken sandstone pillars and inscriptions lie in the courtyard, and two inscriptions are kept in a small room south of the entrance.

The name Thirukkovil usually denotes a temple, but here it also names the village around it, a usage the region's inhabitants consider rare. The 18th-century chronicle Mattakkalappu Purva Charithiram records that the site was first called Nagarmunai, after a settlement of the Naga people, and was the first temple in the Batticaloa region built in agamic tradition.