Kandy

Kandy is the second largest city in Sri Lanka next to Colombo. Surrounded by the Central highlands, Kandy lies within a plateau and is the religious and administrative capital of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic which is also known as the “Dalada Maligawa” is the main attraction of the city.   It is built within the royal palace complex which houses the only surviving relic of Buddha, a tooth, which is venerated by Buddhists. It

was  believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country.  Kandy was thus the capital of the Sinhalese Kings from 1592, and preserved its independence until it finally fell to the British in 1815. The British deposed the king, Sri Wikrama Rajasingha, and all claimants to the throne, thus ending the last traditional monarchy of Sri Lanka, and replacing it with their monarchy.  Even today Kandy has preserved its function as the religious capital of the Sinhalese and a place of pilgrimage for Buddhist.

We visited the temple on a Sunday when the pilgrimage seemed to be in full swing.  Our visit coincided with a ceremony and we joined the throng of pilgrims, hustled and bustled forwards towards the shrine, where gifts of flowers, fruit and money were deposited by all family members, from the oldest grandparent to the youngest child. 

The sound of drumming and the scent of incense filed the air. Such ceremonies are performed daily, three times a day, and there is still a strongly held belief that if the rituals are practised faithfully then the country will not suffer from famine, revolution or calamity.  This felt reassuring. The previous day there had been regional elections, the ruling party, which our driver professed was corrupt,  had lost considerable ground, and fireworks let off in celebration went on well in to the small hours.

We followed our visit to the temple with a short visit to the Botanical Gardens, and then retreated to our hotel for a couple of hours to let the heat of the day pass.