Today marks 38 years since Sri Lankan soldiers destroyed the chariot of the ancient Selva Channithy Murugan Temple in Thondaimaanaaru, one of the largest Hindu chariots in the world at the time.
On April 21, 1986, the Sri Lankan army entered the temple and set the chariot ablaze, turning it into ashes.
“We saw it first hand,” a priest told IBC Tamil as he recalled the destruction. “When we noticed the army coming, people ran everywhere.”
See more from IBC Tamil on the temple and the destruction of the chariot below.