The government hopes a new Hindu temple which will soon rise here will deflect malevolent influences flowing from a similar temple across the waters in India.

Although Hindu scholars have scoffed at the plan, calling it mere superstition, the government appears quite serious and is quietly tapping the business community for money to fund the building.

Local residents, who are mainly minority Catholics, are barred from entering the site, which is surrounded by a wetland bird sanctuary and lies about 20 km north of Colombo.

``We don't know what is going on here,'' an elderly woman said at the start of the narrow track leading to the reclaimed land that has been identified as auspicious by Hindu priests.

``We are not allowed to step in. it is tightly guarded,'' she said.

Two constables guard a holy tree planted on the swampysite that could soon become the epicentre of a divine drive to force out the Tamil Tigers rebels and bring peace to Sri Lanka.

The `Bo' tree is a powerful Buddhist symbol believed to have sheltered Buddha when he attained enlightenment over 2,500 years ago. The newly planted tree is protected by an iron grille and guarded round the clock amid fears that it could be desecrated.

The new temple could prove to be a uniting factor in itself between minority Tamils who follow Hinduism and the majority Buddhists.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga laid the foundation stone for both Buddhist and Hindu temples here five days after the country marked its 50th anniversary of independence in February last year.

However, the centrepiece of the new development, expected to take years to complete, is to be a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu.

Junior defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte met business leaders last month in a bid to raise the 100 million rupees urgently needed to start work on the 600 million-rupeetemple.

He reportedly said that no amount of military offensives, political manoeuvring or elections could solve the Tamil separatist war, which has already claimed over 5 5,00 lives, unless the temple is built.

Businessmen were told that the centuries-old Srirangam temple near the town of Trichy in India faced Sri Lanka, bringing trouble to the smaller nation.

``If Sri Lanka was to overcome the malefic effects of this phenomenon, it had to build another Hindu temple for Vishnu in Sri Lanka together with a Buddhist temple,'' a businessman at the meeting said.

Many Sri Lankans believe that the Gopuram, a structure at the entrance to the Srirangam temple, could be bringing bad luck to Sri Lanka.

The Gopuram was completed in 1983 and in July that year anti-Tamil riots broke out in Sri Lanka, marking a watershed in the country's ethnic relations.

Since then thousands have died in fighting despite intense military and political attempts to resolve the conflict.

Many Hindu scholars are dismissive ofthe belief that a statue of Vishnu to be brought over from India and set up to face the Trichy temple will usher in a new era of peace.

The head of the Hindu Council in Sri Lanka, Yogendra Duraiswamy believes it is pure superstition. ``Naturally, it follows that no counter measures are necessary,'' he said.