There were at least two kings called Rajasinghe in Sri Lanka, and both of them were involved in the actual renovations of the temple, and at least seven kings named Bhuvanekabahu, thereby making it difficult to identify the right king. It has been recorded that in 1830 the temple festival attracted thousands of people from the surrounding Pattuva, but by the 1870s the temple was abandoned again. One of the reasons was the depopulation of the Pattuva, due to various causes, and the conversion of paddy land into plantations from subsistence farming. By 1816, Munneswaram village had hardly 64 people, and the entire Munneswaram Pattuva had 1008 people in 63 villages. The temple properties were no longer cultivated, and tanks were not maintained. Thus the population was surviving on slash and burn agriculture. British colonial policies favored the conversion of these lands into lucrative coconut plantations quickly covering all suitable Pattuva lands. Establishments of large-scale plantations also led to population increase due to migration and settlement of plantation workers from the interior of the country. This led to a demographic change, and the local Pattuva people became disassociated from the temple and its administration. A few villagers from Munneswaram village filed a case in the Chilaw district courts to prevent the land grab of temple properties by outsiders. The case resulted in the British colonial government accepting temple properties as belonging to a newly created temple trust. The trust came under the control of one Cumaraswamy Kurukal from Colombo. His family maintains the hereditary priestly position of the Siva temple, and controls all temple properties. A Tamil family from Munneswaram village controls the priestly position of the Kali temple. The Siva temple was renovated in 1875 by the personal efforts of Cumaraswamy Kurukal. Improvements were effected again in 1919 and 1963 through public support from Tamil Hindus from Colombo and Jaffna. The temple has become very popular amongst the Sinhalese and they make up over 78% of the pilgrims to both the Siva and Kali temples. The presiding deity Siva is installed in the form of Lingam in the sanctum sanctorum. The Siva temple's architectural details conform to what is written down in the Hindu scriptures known as agamas. The Siva temple faces east and has three pathways around it. A sacred pond is situated in front of the Siva temple and a fig tree stands by the side of it.