Sri Lanka - Kandy

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On our way to Kandy we passed through Matale and visited the Hindu temple – Sri Muthumariamman Thevasthanam. There is always someone on hand to show you around the temple (for a price of course) and this temple was very ornate and well supported by locals. Hidden away are five enormous and colorful ceremonial chariots which are pulled along by people during an annual festival. Shoes off – and this time an entrepreneural young man noted our western Tiva sandles and took them to safety in a cardboard box only to be disappointed when we took them back without payment – but many thanks as we thought they had been stolen…..

We arrived in Kandy (still raining) with plenty of time to spend at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and attend the nightly cultural concert.

I hired audio equipment for my visit to the Sacred Tooth Relic temple which was of some help – that and Lonely Planet gave me a bit more knowledge about this sight. It houses Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha. This temple was constructed somewhere between 1687 and 1782 and was part of the Kandyan royal palace at one stage.

The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flames of the Buddha’s funeral pyre in 543BC and smuggled into Sri Lanka during the 4^th century AD , hidden in the hair of a princess. The tooth came to assume more importance as a symbol of sovereignty – it was believed that whoever had custody of the tooth relic had the right to rule the land.

The main tooth shrine occupies the centre of a paved courtyard and is covered with a gilded roof. This is a very important temple to Sri Lankan Buddhists who believe they must complete at least one pilgrimage to the temple in their lifetime.

During offerings or prayers, the heavily guarded room housing the tooth is open to devotees and tourists…….but you don’t actually see the tooth as apparently it is kept in a gold casket shaped like a dagoba which contains a series of six dagoba caskets of diminishing size and eventually the tooth itself.

Behind the shrine is a three-story newer hall where the bottom floor houses a shrine of a bronze Buddha and the surrounding walls have a mural of the story of the tooth relic; and the top two floors are a museum containing an array of gifts to the temple plus photographs of the destruction caused by a bomb attack in 1998 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. No photographs were allowed in this area at all.

The surrounding grounds include a water moat around the area; a 19-century Audience Hall; the attached monastry offers teachings and meditation as well as accommodation and nearby there is a comprehensive Buddist book shop.

Next – it was the cultural concert – very organized with handouts in various languages describing the dances you will see. Really set up for tourists and there was a mad scramble by everyone to get photos of the finale – which is a display of fire-walking. Costumes were great and all the performers seemed to be happy to be there and enjoyed themselves….good insight into the drummers and different types of drums used and the costume changes helped with the explanation of each dance.

We have one photo of Kandy Lake – taken early evening – never to be seen again by us as it rained constantly while we were here. Our guide left us for a day and we were going to visit the down town area of Kandy but decided to stay dry for one day at least…so just relaxed at the guest house. I had a visit that evening from a couple of ladies from the Kandy Soroptimists club and heard about their club and their work – mainly in the Kandy area but also did a lot of work helping after the war finished and in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

The only other thing we did in Kandy was visit one of Sri Lanka’s famous gem shops – unfortunately for my credit card……..I had decided to have something made with a couple of stones and when I went back the next day to pick it up I hated it – what to do? – but they didn’t really care that much which was very generous of them. They just showed me something else that was more suitable – Michael was very patient – but now won’t let me stop to look in any other gem shops…..

It was quite an expensive day really as we also stopped at the spice gardens…..funny enough Lucy and Peta bought back some lotions from a particular spice garden a few years ago and I had recently e-mailed them for some replacement stock – but instead of that waited until we did this trip to stock up.

There are a lot of spice gardens along the roadside in a particular area as spices are a big part of Sri Lanka’s cuisine and Ayurvedic traditions and we were lucky enough to have a short massage with some of their products…which was just perfect for me because my legs were a bit sore from the previous couple of days climbing up Lion Rock and the cave temples……getting lazy being driven around everywhere.

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Photos

Dwarf image
saw these images a lot in the ancient city "guarding" the area

Comments

[jameswilder]

Kandy
Kandy is considered as a Hill-Country in Sri Lanka. captured under British Domination. There are few attractions I would love to point out while i had my Holidays Sri Lanka Experience with Tour Operators Sri Lanka 1. The House of The tooth Relic 2. Nuwara Lake 3. Kadugannawa Tunnel