of destruction of five hundred Hindu shrines, the Saraswathi Mahal Library and forced conversion in the Tamil country was conducted by the Portuguese upon their arrival to the island and conquest of the Jaffna kingdom; the temple had been paying protection fees of 1280 fanams a year to the Portuguese. Trincomalee witnessed several naval battles of Europe's Thirty Years' War under Phillip II's man Filipe de Oliveira. Between 1639–1689 CE, the Ati Konanayakar temple was built in nearby Thampalakamam to house the idols on procession that survived. The destruction of the Konesar temple is historically viewed as the biggest loot of one of the richest temples of Asia. Gold, pearls, precious stones and silks collected for more than 1000 years were robbed within a few hours. A site plan by De Queiroz states: "On the first rise to the summit of the rock was a Pagoda, another at mid-ascent, and the principal one of them all at the highest eminence, visited by a concourse of Hindus from the whole of India." In his dispatch to Philip III, King of Portugal, Constantino described: "The land of the Pagoda is 600 fathoms long and 80 feet at its broadest, narrowing to 30 feet." The final monument of the temple complex was destroyed two years later. Regarding a prophetic Tamil inscription de Noronha found at the site, he added "When I went there to make this Fort, I found engraved on the Pagoda, among many other inscriptions, one that ran thus: Kulakottan has built this pagoda..." 1624 - 1639 The fort that was built by the Portuguese was initially a triangular fort named the Fort of Triquillimale by the Portuguese equipped with guns captured from a Danish fleet ship. Of triangular shape it was "... of stone and mortar..." with three bastions to the three angles, the more important bastion, was called ‘Santa Cruz’, it was the key for the defence of the bay and it was situated on the south side of the isthmus to directed contact with the waters of the bay, on this bastion were mounted six pieces of artillery. To the north extremity of the isthmus was situated the bastion of ‘Santo António’, it was equipped of five pieces of artillery. The two main bastions were connect by a wall 100 "paços" long, three and half "braças" high and six "palmos" thick, this wall closed the isthmus in its