Contemporary historians such as S. Pathmanathan and Paul E. Peiris suggest Koneswaram temple has a recorded history from 300, when it finds mention in the "Vayu Purana". Peiris notes that Koneswaram was one of the five recognised "Iswarams" of the Hindu deity Shiva in Lanka before the sixth century B.C.; a widely famous centre of deity worship long before the arrival of the mythical exile Vijaya to the island, attributed to the period 543—505 B.C. Koneswaram is the easternmost shrine of the "Iswarams", the others being Naguleswaram (Keerimalai), Thiruketheeswaram (Mannar), Munneswaram (Chilaw) and Tenavaram (Tevan Thurai). The historian Diogo de Couto of the 16th century adds Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram to this group of principle temples in the region most revered on the Indian subcontinent. Other writers point to the worship of Eiswara by mythical royals on the island like Kuveni before the exile's arrival. Pathmanathan differs from Peiris in his view on the shrine's birth however, stating that Koneswaram temple was most likely established as a Hindu shrine by the mercantile communities that frequented the island from the fourth-century B.C. Kalinga region in India, where another temple dedicated to Shiva in the form "Gokarnasvamin" at "Mahendra mountains" is found. The "Yalpana Vaipava Malai", an 18th-century Tamil chronicle connects the figure Vijaya and seven hundred of his followers to the shrine, stating they extensively repaired the five "Iswarams" upon their arrival to the island, before mixing with native tribes on the island forming matrimonial links with the Tamil kingdom through Pandyan queens. The "Encyclopædia Britannica" currently appears to follow this view, although in volume 10 of the encyclopedia, printed in 1974, the shrine's establishment is attributed to Tamil migrants. "Encyclopedia Americana" and "New International Encyclopedia" note that early Tamil rulers erected the temple of a thousand columns on the hilltop.