Wasswold Sri Lankan Adventure Day 5

Wasswold’s Sri Lankan Adventure Day 5

This morning we drove into Kandy to visit the Temple of the Tooth relic. This is Sri Lanka's most sacred shrine (Dalada Maligawa)  and houses the legendary Buddha’s Tooth which was brought here in the 16th century. The main shrine was built in the 17th century. There is security here because the entrance was bombed in 1998 by the LTTE during the long running civil war here which ended just a few years ago. We were there in time for the Puja ceremony that is done 3 times a day. You know it is beginning because drummers play during the entire 1 hour ceremony which is primarily done behind closed doors but visitors are alllowed to see the drumming and file past the entrance to where the golden casket is that contains the Tooth. The door is only open during the Puja ceremony. There were many people there praying with their families so I felt a little intrusive as a tourist although we did bring flowers which is a customary offering. There is such parallelism between religions especially as seen with my catholic background. In most catholic cathedrals there are shrines with relics of saints,  Catholics  light candles, Buddhists light incense and in one shrine there were paintings of all of the significant events of Buddha’s life which reminded me a lot of the stations of the cross. I think that is one of the main reasons I like to travel, our friends around the globe are a lot more similar than we realize. 

Purchasing flowers outside of the Temple

Walking to the Temple. The Tooth relic is under the gold roof.

Sister in law Sani entering the Temple 

Many people tie coins to this fence around a Stupa as an offering for a special prayer to be granted. Stupas house relics and can be found in many areas in Sri Lanka.

The best shot I have of the casket of the Tooth which is through the doors in front of the people.

There is a small museum that shows the history of the most famous Maligawa Tusker, Raja, which is the elephant which has the honor of carrying the Tooth shrine in the annual parade during the Esala Perahera festival. Only special elephants are selected and they must be Sathdantha elephants which mean seven parts of their body must touch the ground when standing- 4 legs, trunk, tail and a male appendage…also tusks must have the right curve. Raja fit the bill and had the honor for 50 years. Our nieces have an aqaintance whose father  owns one of the elephants used today and walks the elephant from where they live in order to participate, which takes a few days. It is such an honor to own such an elephant that it is hard on the daughter because only men of a certain caliber will be allowed to marry her.

One highlight was when I saw a group of little girls on their field trip - they were super cute in their white dresses and red ties- so I took a picture of them. The teacher saw what I was doing so bad them all stop and smile and then the whole group kept waving and saying hello! Beautiful!

Speaking of beautiful, our next stop was to a gem museum where we were shown how gems are mined in Sri Lanka. It is still very primitive where a hole is dug by hand, reinforced with bamboo poles and lined with leaves to prevent the dirt from falling into the hole. Water is pumped in and the miners lift baskets of silt out and then sift it in baskets like we do gold panning. Sri Lanka is known for its gems especially sapphires and rubies as well as garnets and  Cat’s Eyes. The moonstone is a Sri Lankan speciality as well. Believe or not there was a gift shop attached to the museum but it actually was a large showroom challenging one of Tom Shane's finest. I was not going to seriously look at anything …until I heard the prices…what? I found that gems from the source are much more affordable but I didn't buy one of the largest sapphires - that is in the Queen’s crown in England!

During our travels we stopped at a small produce stand to purchase a fruit that we were curious about and that Salani wanted us to try. It is called a rambutan that has soft red spikes on the outside and you peel it like an orange and eat the white fruit inside. It tastes like a plum but looks like a Tribble (Star Trek reference for old people).

After relaxing at the hotel a bit, we attended a cultural show at a small theatre near the Temple of the Tooth. This involved a lot of drumming and a high pitched horn, beautiful female and male dancers, fire eating and fire walking. Maleen, our tour guide, told me that anyone can try  firewalking at festivals but it requires much prayer and meditation weeks before in order to be successful. I'm sure praying during comes in handy also! 

As we enjoyed a walk around the nearby lake, Maleen pulled a fast one on us. I saw him talk to a Tuk Tuk driver and then before we knew it,  a whole posse of them came screeching in to take us on a high speed chase through the streets of Kandy! Although they have a roof, Tuk Tuks are just glorified  motorcycles with daredevils at the helm! It was fun and you can't come to Sri Lanka without experiencing their most common form of transportation!