Kandy - the Temple of the Tooth and Peredeniya Botanical Gardens

Our wake up call on this morning at 6am was the sound of the Sri Lankan National anthem followed by drums and Buddhist chanting so I decided to get up and have a look at the day. The view from the balcony off our room at Nature's Walk Guesthouse was that of hills framed by nearby trees and shrouded in mist. Before long the rustling of leaves and branches revealed two groups of monkeys out looking for food and action. One by one they walked along the power lines, some of the younger ones leapfrogging daringly over each other. I noticed that the older ones stopped directly in front of our room and seemed to be making a deliberate observation and eyeballing me. This was exactly what they were doing as later the leader actually got around to the side of our balcony and came inside to finish off the remains of Sam’s cup of tea which was left on the table. There were also many birds flying from tree to tree, in particular some

Kingfishers showing off  their vibrant blue plumage.

Only photo that is OK due to morning light and amateur photographer

 After breakfast Lucky drove us around Kandy and up to a point where we could see the city centre stretched out below. 

As this is a popular tourist photo stop, there were some street sellers who were quietly upon us as soon as we left the van. I bought a T shirt for Isaac and Grace from them so they started the day with a sale.

 After this we went down to the Temple of the Tooth, to keep company with the worshippers on an important Poya Day. The crush of bodies pushing to get up the stairs into the building and them up to the Shrine Room was strenuous with the most pushy people of all being the women who, while holding bowls of flower offering carefully in both hands, used their elbows effectively to ensure their progress upward and onwards. 

As it was a special Poya Day the Shrine Room which housed the Tooth Relic was open and this was an extra draw card for the devout. It was not possible to get even a glimpse of this Tooth Relic as, like the Russian dolls, it is in the last of seven boxes. The smallest three are made of gold while the bigger four are made of brass. Anyway this did not deter the worshippers and they were sitting around the perimeter of the temple, old people, young children as well as small babies and all were in a good natured and happy mood, smiling, nodding and saying “Hello”.

After a visit to the Library to see the old manuscripts, some dating 1600 years, we went to the Museum where I wanted to see the pictures that tell the story of how Buddhism came to Sri Lanka. That was not possible as the museum was jammed with a sea of white clad people sitting on the floor taking part in the Poya sil ritual. Those seated outside in the porch and near the door happily shuffled a bit to allow me a space to go inside for a short time and I would have liked to stay longer but Sam, Melanie and Lucky were ready to move on.

The Temple of the Tooth, Kandy

 We then went upstairs to see the upper level of the Museum which housed artefacts from the early days in Kandy. There were some trousers, a shirt and headpiece worn by a Kandyan King. Custodians in western museums would despair of the conditions these and other items were being kept in and it is a wonder with all the humidity that they have survived so long. I found out what a chowrie is – a fly whisk made of Yak hair from Nepal which is tied to elephants taking part in Pereheras today and the King’s elephants in Kandyan times.

A walk around the temple complex found people of all ages meditating or worshipping everywhere. This man moved only once in about thirty minutes to make devout gestures and was fully focused on his devotions.

Before leaving, we visited the Library where the ancient Buddhist texts are kept. These are very big as they are written on palmyra leaves. There were notices banning mobile phones so it was amusing to see the on duty monk answering his phone !


Buddhist practice often seems to be entwined with Hindu practices and this was noticeable here as there was a Hindu shrine within the same grounds and people were coming out out of the Temple of the Tooth and across to the Hindu shrine to worship there too.

One of the flowersellers near the gate

Lunch followed and then as we wanted to buy some jewellery, Lucky took us to a jeweller just out of the city. There were so many lovely pendants and rings to look at that it took us nearly three hours and as usual, we gave way to temptation and bought more than we had intended.


By this time, it was late afternoon and a quick trip to the Peredeniya Botanical Gardens was next on our plan. We decided to see the Palm trees, Cycads and Orchids first so we had a very pleasant walk through these areas. I was interested to see that two types of cycads that I have at home are very large plants here. If they grow that big in my garden I will have a problem !

Bird of Paradise

 The Gardens are a popular venue for Kandy people for picnics and family outings so there were people everwhere. By far the most common grouping though was young couples sitting quietly under trees. In Sri Lanka usually young women are closely supervised in their interaction with young men so this was quite noticeable. I have been told several times during this trip that these days young people find their own marriage partners and I guess that may be true of certain demographics but I still hear differently from others - especially the parents of young women !

Cycad in Peredeniya Gardens. I hope mine doesn't get so big!

. . . Or this one either

A sudden heavy downpour had us making a speedy departure ! 


Can you get the message of this advert we saw on our way back to Kandy? No knowledge of Sinhala needed I think !