Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy.  It houses the relic of the tooth of Buddha. The relic has played an important role in local politics since ancient because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

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Monks conduct daily worship in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with an herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers.  This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present.  Sandy & I were able to see the evening celebration and the opening of the golden shrine doors to see the Golden Shrine containing Budbha’s tooth relic.

We learned that Buddhism predates Christianity about 600 years. There were thousands in the shrine area, most were dressed in their best clothes, had offerings, their hands together in prayer,  and observably devout.  We gained greater understanding and respect for these people and one of the world’s great religions.

The Tooth of the Buddah Shrine is actually six golden and jeweled shrines within one another.  Our picture was very blurred due to all the mass pushing of the crowds trying to get just a glimpse of it during the five minute viewing.  However, you can see and excellent picture on Google by clicking “Buddha’s Tooth Shrine“.

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The Esala Perahera is a grand festival with elegant costumes held in July and August in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This historical procession is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha.  The 15 day festival has processions  consists of many traditional local dances such as fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan cultural dances and elephants who are brighly painted or in lavish garments. The highlight is large tusker elephant carrying the Casket of Buddah’s Tooth Relic which the masses see and venerate.

 

 

 

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Earlier that day we started our day with breakfast on the terrace oevrlooking the lake at the Lake Hotel in Polonnaruwa.  We felt like royality when the staff set up a cooking counter next to us on the terrace and prepared our breakfast to order.

 

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Many of you have asked us to show more about the food we had on our journey.

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After breakfast we visited several sites of the Polonnaruwa ruins, a Unesco World Heritage Site.  There are a lot of ruin sites in a small area.  They show the advanced architecture and irriagation systems from ancient times.