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1996
Around the world (SRI LANKA )
Bec2004-09-20 12:07:02
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garden before the British invasion almost two centuries ago..
Sri Lanka's most important relic is housed here in the Temple of the Tooth (Dalada Maligawa) built three centuries ago. The sacred tooth of Buddha is said to have been saved from his funeral pyre in 543 BC, brought to Sri Lanka in the 4th century AD and moved from place to place until it arrived in Kandy. To enter you must remove your shoes and leave them in the shed seen here next to the entrance.
Of course you cannot see the Tooth but if you are willing to wade through the throng of worshippers and tourists around 6 am, 10 am and 7 pm, you might get a glimpse of the outer of a series of smaller and smaller gold caskets holding the holy relic. In the meantime there is less traffic in the temple and the matrioshka like relic caskets are kept in a special room of the gold roofed inner temple, one floor above the screened entrance shown here.
The temple is open 24 hours a day and features prayer rooms, oil lamp stands and shrines like this one to occupy the faithful between the tooth casket showings (which are called pujas). There is even a stuffed elephant to look at!
Kandy is not only an interesting place, its lake, botanical gardens, Royal Palace Park and the Udawattakelle sanctuary definitely make it a beautiful place. The golden roof across the lake is where the Tooth is kept.
Apart from worshippers and tourists Kandy also has real people as you can see in this busy commercial street scene..
SRI LANKA
I stayed a couple of days in Kandy and then took a very ancient train for a 6 hour ride through the hill country to the small village of Ella almost half way between Kandy and the southern coast.
The views from the train of jungle, of gorges, rivers and falls and of tea plantations hanging on to steep slopes kept my nose on the window pane for the whole trip.
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See photographs from:
Sri Lanka Gallery
