Splendors of Ceylon Sri Lanka Kandy

About Kandy




Kandy, perhaps is Sri Lanka’s most beautiful town. Set 488 meters above sea level, Kandy is Sri Lanka’s most visited place after Colombo. The focal point of the town is the golden-roofed ‘Dalada Maligawa’, where the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha is enshrined. There are numerous shrines and temples in and around Kandy, where you will see rare paintings, frescoes, and stone carvings.

Temple of the Tooth Relic
Visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic. It is located in the royal palace complex which houses the Relic of the tooth of Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sinhalese kings and is a UNESCO world heritage site partly due to the temple.

Thereafter you will have the time to do some shopping in Kandy, where you could fetch souvenirs in wood, copper, silver, brass, ebony, bronze, ceramics, lacquer work, handlooms, batiks, jewelry and reed-ware at bargain prices!!

Next- Sightseeing of Kandy with Upper lake drive, Market square etc

PM- Cultural Dance
These classical dance forms are associated with the performance of various rituals and ceremonies which are centuries old and are based on the folk religion and folk beliefs going back to times before the advent and acceptance of Buddhism by the Sinhalese people in the third century B.C. These rituals and ceremonies reflect the values, beliefs and customs of an agricultural civilization of Sri Lanka.

Udawatta Forest
Afterwards take a walk in the nature reserve Udawatta Forest. Udawatta Forest is a historical forest not far from the city of Kandy. During the days of the Kandyan kingdom Udawatta Forest was known as "Uda Wasala Watta" in Sinhalese meaning "the garden of the king". The reserve is famous for its bird life and a wide variety of plant species. The forest is also of religious significance, since there are three Buddhist meditation retreats. Udawatta Forest was named in 1856 as a forest reserve, and it was a sanctuary in 1938.

Gadaladeniya Raja Maha Viharaya
According to an inscription at the site, Gadaladeniya temple was built by King Bhuvenkabahu the 4th in the year 1344 A.D. The temple was named Dharmakirti Viharaya after the Buddhist monk who founded it. A couple of Buddhist literary works titled “The Nikaya Sangrahaya” and “Saddharmalankaraya” had named the temple “Saddharmatilaka” and “Gadaladeniya Viharaya” respectively. Gadaladeniya was home to the celebrated scholor monks Daharamakirti the second and Vimakiriti the first whose contributions towards the literary development of the times was of immense value to the nation. The temple remained neglected till the time of King Narendrasinghe who dedicated the shrine to Velivita Sangharaja and since then the temple was in the custody of his papillary succession

Embekke Devale
The main sanctum having high roofs runs with the traditional design of Devale shrines of the Kandyan period. The roof itself has singular features. The rafters are slanting from above towards the incoming visitor and are caught together and kept in position by a “madol kurupawa”, a kind of giant catch-pin the like of which we do 
not have elsewhere.

Digge
The Digge set up with 32 square-shaped pillars is 53 feet long and 26 feet wide. Most of these intricately carved wooden pillars have stone pillars as their base. The digge is decorated with no less than 128 designs and 256 floral designs, 64 lotus designs on pekada or brackeys, 30 on beams and 36 on cross-bars totaling 514 in all.

Lankatilake Viharya
The temple has the same name as the well-known construction of Parakramabahu I at Polonnaruwa. This is a religious devotion of Senalankadhikara, a minister of Bhuvanaikabahu IV of Gampola in 1344 CE. Further establishments in the form of stucco work carried out by the King, Parakramabahu VI of Kotte (1412-1467 CE). The building was four storeyed during its glorious days. However, today there is only the ground floor and a part of the first floor.

Peradeniya Botanical Garden
The Royal Botanical Gardens at ‘Peradeniya’ is where you could treat your eyes to an amazing, wide and rare collection of tropical and temperate, exotic and indigenous flora, and an orchid house with the largest collection in Asia.