Sri Lanka has had a history of conflict between its minority Hindu Tamils and majority Sinhalese Buddhists since its political independence from Great Britain in 1948 which led to the Sri Lankan Civil War. Since the 1950s Sinhalese Buddhists have claimed that the Tirukoneswaram temple was originally exclusively a Buddhist temple. They cite and interpret historical information of three Pagodas at the Koneswaram site as alluding to Buddhist temples. Buddhists have also claimed that the site was the location of the ancient Gokanna Vihara built by King Mahasena. It was also based on an assertion made by historian Senarath Paranavithana in reading a 13th-century Sanskrit donative inscription in Grantha Tamil script made by a Chodaganga Deva found in the Hindu temple's premises. The inscription reads that Deva landed in Gokaranna in 1223.