Tales from Sri Lanka

Today we saw the sites of Kandy, including the Botanical Gardens, a Batik factory and a woodcarving factory, wandered the central bazaar and vegetable markets and also caught the Kandy dancing show, which was pretty impressive. But by far the most interesting thing in Kandy was the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.

This temple holds the most sacred Buddhist relic in Sri Lanka, what is believed to be a tooth of Buddha.

Entering the temple is not an easy process. As the front of the temple was bombed in 1998 by the separatists group the Tamil Tigers, high security has surrounded the place ever since. To enter the building, we go past two security checkpoints, walk through a few metal detectors, have our bags checked and get a rather thorough pat down from the security guards. We are all checked to make sure we look suitable – all knees and shoulders covered and no cleavage showing. After all that is done, we finally make it into the temple grounds.

Our temple guide is a tiny man with thick glasses and a very strong accent, so for the first half of the tour I am convinced he is talking about the ‘temple of the tooth fairy’.

Today is a special Buddhist day, so every man and his dog is at the temple. Most women are dressed in beautiful white saris, which are in stark contrast to the bright orange and dark moron robes of the temples monks. We join the throngs in queuing up to see the relic. Although, we don’t actually get to see the tooth, which has not been brought out since 1990, due to mounting tensions with the Tamil Tigers. (Legend says that whoever is in possession of the tooth relic has the right to rule the island). We all walk past a window, which looks into a small, brightly light room, decorated with ornate gold decorations and flowers. On top of an alter is a large gold casket which is said to hold the sacred tooth. Pretty impressive stuff.