A cultural day to see the essentials in Kandy

A big day ahead, starting with, Visiting the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a major pilgrimage site for Buddhists. We would then admire the view from the Great White Buddha overlooking the city and its lake before heading to the edge of the lake to watch the traditional dance show booked the day before.

A stroll in the land of Kandy, continued!

Summary hide

The story of the sacred tooth

Sri Dalada Maligawa: The temple of the tooth

The royal and sacred place

Where to eat in Kandy?

The White Buddha from the Kandy viewpoint

Traditional dance show in Kandy

Traditional Kandyan and Low Country Dances: cultural show in Kandy

The story of the sacred tooth

If the city of Kandy is part of the Unesco World Heritage, it is largely thanks to its temple of the tooth. Founded in 1595, it owes its "fame" to the relic present in these places.

As the name of the temple suggests, it is a tooth. Indeed, when Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the last Buddha, died, he was cremated in Kushinagar in India (another major Buddhist pilgrimage site). Among the ashes was found, among other things, an intact tooth which was preserved.

Although the tooth initially remained in India, it eventually arrived in Sri Lanka clandestinely. It stayed in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and then Dambadeniya (at each change of capital...) before being brought to Kandy where it still is today.

This one is in a gold case (more precisely, in a set of cases, 7 boxes stacked like Russian dolls) which is visible to the public only very rarely. This is particularly the case during the procession of the Esala Perahera festival, the 2nd largest celebration in Sri Lanka after the Buddhist New Year (which takes place in April).

I advise you to read the excellent article from my Belgian friends from Un sac sur le dos, who were lucky enough to attend this exceptional celebration.

The Sinhalese name of the temple is Sri Dalada Maligawa

Boys and girls pass through a separate gate to be searched. This is also when they have to take off their shoes and leave them behind.

Flowers are on sale at the entrance to make an offering on the main altar in the temple.

Sri Dalada Maligawa: The temple of the tooth

This is the Sinhala name for the temple. The entrance ticket price was 1000 Rupees everyone, knowing that they have to cover up, Jitima had to pay 200 Rupees to rent a sarong because her knees were visible…

Entry is first through a metal detector and a search, largely due to the fact that there was an attack by Tamil separatists in 1998.

Once inside, a few steps give access to a corridor in front of which is the sanctuary of the relic. Upstairs is the altar where the faithful place flowers and come to pray every day in large numbers, often with their families.

Flowers purchased at the entrance are placed here.

Many families come to pray here every day.

Jitima, taken by the atmosphere of the place and above all, as a Buddhist herself, remained for a moment in meditation / prayer. Giving me time to observe the scene of devotion around me and to soak up the place.

After this moment of serenity, we continued our discovery of the temple. First by taking the time to observe the details of the sculptures decorating the different buildings that make up the temple, then by heading towards the "new palace".

After that, we reached a courtyard. Located behind the sanctuary, there is an audience hall and an ancient court, because the temple enclosure was above all a royal palace.

There is also Kandy National Museum (which we did not visit), which contains tools, jewelry and weapons dating from the Kingdom of Kandy (between its foundation in 1469 and 1815 with the arrival of the British) and the colonial era by the British.

The interior of the “new palace”.

hall elephants temple tooth kandy - sri lanka

A room is dedicated to elephants which play an important part in the history of Sri Lanka and are particularly honoured during the tooth festival which takes place every year in July or August (depending on the moon) which gives rise to a procession of the relic on the back of an elephant.

The royal and sacred place

Just next to the Temple of the Tooth complex is the royal and sacred place which includes a small temple with a reclining Buddha, a sort of courtyard where there are mainly women, all dressed in white.

Several of them asked me for a picture of her. It's always weird to get these portrait requests, and as always in these cases, I try to ask for the address so I can send the pictures, which is better than "just" taking the picture, I might as well receive it!

There is also a bodhi tree, symbol of Buddhism par excellence, as a reminder, it was under a bodhi tree, also called the pagoda fig tree, that the Buddha attained bodhi, that is to say Awakening or supreme knowledge.

It was precisely to make it a strong symbol that the British built a church in these places (Saint Paul's Church) to establish their power, particularly religious.

In a small temple in the annex.

Photo on order…

The little lady was one of those people who asked for a small portrait, photos which will be sent to their address.

st paul church - royal square - kandy - sri lanka

A bodhi tree. On the right you can see St Paul's Church, an Anglican church dating from 1846. The location within the temple grounds is obviously not insignificant but rather to establish colonial power.

After this Visit to the Temple of the Tooth, we were in improv mode… because nothing was really planned. It is in these moments that we appreciate our paper guide, a quick glance will allow us to choose our next stop for the day, the big white Buddha that we can see well from the lake.

Located on top of the small hill of Bahirawakanda, this Buddha offers a nice view on the lake and a good part of the city of Kandy.

Where to eat in Kandy?

Before going to visit the Buddha, we took the time to have lunch. We had chosen the Bake House, which offers a variety of small snacks for cheap, a good plate for me, here is an illustration made by Jitima below:

As indicated on the sketch, the whole thing cost me only 169 Rupees! While Jitima who had a separate dish, had it for 616 Rupees! Appreciating the place, we will return here for our dinner, which will this time cost us 750 Rupees for the 2 of us.

There's plenty of choice!

It was also an opportunity for us to wander around the city streets a bit again, before finding a tuk tuk to take us to the viewpoint, realizing after checking that it would be a bit far on foot.

Finally, far, for me it would have been fine, since it was barely more than 1 km, but a good part being uphill (obligatory point of view!), it would have been a little too hard for Jitima ((as a reminder, she is still suffering a little from her recent operation).

This building doesn't look very new.

Today, around 7% of the population is Christian, particularly in Kandy (some regions are sometimes dominated by Buddhism, others by Hinduism, particularly the northern provinces, "neighbouring" India, some provinces in the west of the island have a proportion of up to more than 30%).

The White Buddha from the Kandy viewpoint

It took us pay 500 rupees for a tuk tuk to take us to the top (this includes the return to town too) and 400 rupees (for the 2 of us) to climb the few steps to the foot of the Buddha. Paying the entrance fee to the temple is not essential, the view at the foot of the stairs is sufficient.

The name of the hill, Bahirawakanda, also written Bahirawa kanda in Sinhalese, literally means the hill of the gnome. Indeed, a legend would have it that a gnome fond of fresh flesh haunted this hill, which gave rise to several sacrifices of young virgin girls who, for lack of a gnome, died mainly of dehydration or hunger or even eaten by jackals...

Only the last victim was allegedly saved by her boyfriend who climbed the hill to free her and flee to Colombo, before being able to return to Kandy "thanks" to the arrival of the British in the region, putting an end to this terrible tradition...

Enough of the gloom, here we are at the top of this hill which dominates the city. It must be admitted that the view is beautiful., and yet, it doesn't seem to really attract people... You should know that many tour operators pass by quickly to see the Temple of the Tooth and that in the end, Kandy is not very touristy. So it's easy to find yourself the only tourists in the area.

After consulting our guide, we headed to Bahirawakanda hill where a large white Buddha sits.

The view is breathtaking.

The guy at the counter.

View of the shopping mall and the main street of Kandy.

Our tuk tuk driver is napping while waiting for us.

Traditional dance show in Kandy

To conclude this 6th day, marking the half of our stay at Sri Lanka, we were going as planned to see the traditional dance show, right next to the Temple of the Tooth in the wake of our visit to the big white buddha.

Back near the temple of the tooth.

And the lake.

The opportunity just before going into the hall to attend the traditional dance show, to see a free and natural show, the sunset 😉

The show started at 17:30 pm, better to arrive a little early to get a decent seat. We had paid 500 Rupees for the entrance tickets at Kandyan Art Associations Hall.

We were just early enough to get seats in front, some people reserve seats in advance and are indicated by cards placed on the chairs.

There is not much room in all because it is in a real theater, with 2 floors of seats, that the performance takes place. On the other hand, the general condition leaves something to be desired. We were given the program which is available in several languages including French. After a little wait, the show started.

debut show traditional dance kandy - sri lanka

Let the show begin !

Traditional Kandyan and Low Country Dances: cultural show in Kandy

The show consisted of several types of dances, whose troupe, composed of men and women, shares the roles (meaning the dancers each dance several styles).

All this is done to the sound of drum rhythms and songs according to the dances. Note that here, the title of the show was " Traditional Kandyan and Low Country Dances"

You should know that there are 3 types of dance schools in Sri Lanka, the style of Kandy (called Kandyan, rather in the hills), the southern one (Low Country) and the center (Sabaragamuwa). The Kandy dances have become typically Sinhalese, in the sense of representing the style of the entire country in its own right.

At this show there were in order:

- Pooja Dance : Graceful dancing girls carrying oil lamps make an offering (Pooja) of their dancing skills to the deities (Natuma simply means 'dance')

- Panteru Natum : The name of this dance comes from the name of the instrument accompanying it, the panteru, which is a percussion similar to a tambourine.

- Cobra Dance : A dance intended to recreate the undulating movements of the famous snake.

- Mask dance : Also called the devil dance, this dance is part of a ceremony still used to ward off bad luck from a person or family.

- Mayura wannama : Called the peacock dance, it is dressed all in blue that the dancers illustrate seduction like a peacock.

- Raban's Dance : here again the name comes from the name of the percussion accompanying the dancers, the dance itself being close to a circus act since it consists of turning discs on the ends of rods.

- Ves Dance : Exclusively male, this dance is the oldest and was part of a purification ritual.

Then the performers gather to greet the crowd, everyone stands as the national anthem plays. After that, the show is almost over, the highlight being the walking on the embers.

To do this, the performers first perform a blessing ritual to the goddess Pattani (a guardian of the divinities), then they begin to show their "power" to no longer feel pain by rolling the burning torch on the tongue (sensitive souls abstain!) and finally comes the walking on the embers...

Impressive, nothing to say. Hats off to all the artists of this evening!