Kandy Esala Perahera

I just arrived back in Galle from spending a weekend in Kandy (Sri Lanka's second largest city). Besides being an enormous town situated in the Hill Country, the city is also home to Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic... A tooth from Lord Buddha himself. The legend tells of Arahat Khema (one of two female disciples of Buddha) grabbing the tooth from Buddha's cremation in the 4th century BCE. The tooth then past between hand for hundreds of years until eventually a princess smuggled it into Sri Lanka. It moved around Sri Lanka quite a bit, changes hands of various kings. Finally a temple was constructed (the temple of the sacred tooth relic) and the tooth was placed inside.

This weekend was a unique experience as it was the Esala Perahera. This is Sri Lanka's (and one of Buddhisms) largest festivals in which the tooth relic leaves the temple (one night a year) and is paraded down the main street in a massive ceremony. The festival is actually 10 days long, but the final night is the largest and the only night in which the tooth is paraded around (technically... the tooth is never seen, only the gold casket containing the tooth).

Thousands of devote Buddhists flock to the streets to try and gain a glimpse of the procession. Free spots on the sidewalks are occupied 12 hours before the procession starts and reserved seats can be purchased for around $25.00 (which is what most tourist do). The procession starts at 8pm and last for 3 hours. The entire time there is steady stream of whip crackers, fire twirlers, elephants, drummers and dancers. Thousands of people participate, but the highlight of the festival is the elephant carrying the tooth relic.

Here is shot of what the procession generally looked like:


Here is the tooth relic (stupa containg it...) - taken from Wikipedia


We spent the rest of the weekend walking around Kandy. I visited the sacred tooth relic temple which was quite impressive. The building is a World Heritage Site and fell victim to a Tamil Tiger bombing in 1988. The scars from which have been completely repaired, but the museum in the temple had some graphic images of the event.

Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic



Jack and I outside the temple... just blending in with the locals



Elephant high-five



On Sunday, we stopped off the the Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage. It is a government funded organization for abandoned elephants and has turned into one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. At the time we arrived, the elephants were being taken to a nearby river to bathe.





The elephants are all extremely obedient and harmless. They splash around in the water and then walk over to the tourists, give them a good sniff and head back to the water. Afterwards, the elephants are herded back to the orphanage (see video).