Kandy 11 September 2017 Central Sri Lanka

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Day 7: Monday 11 September- Kandy







This morning, after we were taken to another Gem Museum & Shop which showed us how they mined gems, we visited the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens. At one time, these beautiful botanical gardens were reserved exclusively for Kandyan royalty. Today even commoners are allowed into what are, at 60 hectares, the largest and most impressive botanic gardens in Sri Lanka.





It was a beautiful garden with Orchid House, expansive lawns and manicured hedges, massive old trees from throughout the world and colonial buildings dotted throughout the park.







We enjoyed a coffee at one of the restaurants in the gardens. The day was hot and humid again so it was lovely to sit in the cool.







Fernando then took us through the very busy local fruit and vegetable market where we watched merchants bartering with customers as they bought their produce.







It was then time for another lovely lunch where we had spectacular views of the mountain ranges around Kandy with the obligatory white Buddha on top of one of the mountains.







We then went back to our hotel for an hour before Fernando picked us up and took us to enjoy a colourful cultural performance choreographed with traditional Sri Lankan dance. The concert certainly was colourful, rhythmic drums and beautiful costumes of warn by the dancers and drummer. It lasted for over an hour. Very entertaining. The final act was fire walking. After praying for protection, the performers not only waved fire sticks against their skin, in their mouth and over their chest, they walked on fire. Amazing.



We then walked to the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Tooth Relic. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, one of the most revered Buddhist sites in the world. The Temple is also known as Sri Dalada Maligawa, one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. The temple houses an important Buddhist Relic, a tooth of the Buddha which is housed in a jewel-laden bell-shaped container. Stolen at his funeral, the tooth was smuggled into Sri Lanka hidden in the hair of a princess who fled from India. The relic of the tooth is kept in a two-storey shrine fronted by large elephant trunks.



The crowd was incredible…. but we saw the Tooth Relic. It was protected by jewels ++++. The drummers were heard in the background as the massive crowd filed past the Tooth Relic. We then explore the remains of the Royal Palace, now a museum.



We also saw the famous library on the history of Buddha. The area was dripping with gold. The story of Buddha and the early kings of Sri Lanka were told through story boards and paintings. Fernando our guide, who was a Buddhist blessed us with ceremonial oil to our forehead and prayed for us.



We then walked back to our Hotel and went into the next-door bar for a much-earned cold beer. We decided to have finger food snacks for dinner as none of us were over hungry and we didn’t feel like moving. It had been another big day and very satisfying.



We slept well that night.



Just before we leave Kandy, here is a bit of information about Kandy which is a major city in Sri Lanka, located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies amid hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province.



The city and the region has been known by many different names and versions of those names. Some scholars suggest that the original name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near present Watapuluwa. However, the more popular historical name is Senkadagala or Senkadagalapura, officially Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara (meaning 'great city of Senkadagala of growing resplendence'), generally shortened to 'Maha Nuwara'.



According to folklore, this name originated from one of the several possible sources. One being the city was named after a brahmin with the name Senkanda who lived in a cave nearby, and another being a queen of Vikramabahu lll was named Senkanda, and after a coloured stone named Senkadagala. The Kingdom of Kandy has also been known by various names. The English name Kandy, which originated during the colonial era, is derived from an anglicised version of the Sinhalese Kanda Uda Rata (meaning the land on the mountain) or Kanda Uda Pas Rata (the five counties/countries on the mountain). The Portuguese shortened this to "Candea", using the name for both the kingdom and its capital. In Sinhalese, Kandy is called Maha nuwara, meaning "Great City" or "Capital", although this is most often shortened to Nuwara.



In 1592 Kandy became the capital city of the last remaining independent kingdom in the island after the coastal regions had been conquered by the Portuguese. Several invasions by the Portuguese were repelled, most notably in the campaign of Danture. After the Sinhalese-Portuguese War and the establishment of Dutch Ceylon, attempts by the Dutch to conquer the kingdom were repelled.



As the capital, Kandy had become home to the relic of the tooth of the Buddha which symbolizes a 4th-century tradition that used to be linked to the Sinhalese monarchy, since the protector of the relic was the ruler of the land. Thus, the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Tooth were placed near each other.



In 1944, during World War ll, the South-East Asia Command of the allies was moved to Kandy, where it remained till the end of the war.

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