Kandy

        At 500m above sea level, Sri Lanka's second city has a climate that comes as a pleasantly cool contrast to hot and humid Colombo. Amid lush green fields and plantations - evidence of the region's well-watered fertility - the city stands within a loop of the Mahaweli River, one of the Sri Lanka's more substantial rivers, on the north shore of Kandy Lake, an artificial reservoir which was completed in 1807, during the reign of the last King of Kandy, Sri Wickramarajasinghe.

The Temple of the Tooth

        Overlooking the north shore of Kandy Lake, in the centre of town, the Temple of the Tooth is a place of pilgrimage for millions of devout Buddhists from all over the island, and is regarded by Sri Lankans  Buddhists as a unique treasure of their entire culture. Sri Lanka's premiers and presidents traditionally deliver their first post election speeches from its balcony, and lesser politicians too make thanksgiving visits to the Temple on being elected.

The tooth relic itself is claimed to have come to Sri Lanka some 1600 years ago, when a certain princess from southern India brought it to Anuradhapura, which was then the most powerful kingdom in Sri Lanka. As kings and kingdoms rose and fell, it finally ended up in Kandy around AD100. Over centuries, as the Sinhalese came under increasing pressure from invasion, it become more and more symbolic of Sri Lankan freedom and independence.

 

Less-Visited-Kandyan-Attractions