Great Lives, Great Places - Sacred City of Kandy & the Temple of the Tooth of the Great Gautama Budh
VognoDuut750
Sacred City of Kandy
This sacred Buddhist site, popularly known as the city of
Senkadagalapura, was the last capital of the Sinhala kings whose patronage
enabled the Dinahala culture to flourish for more than 2,500 years until the
occupation of Sri Lanka by the British in 1815. It is also the site of the
Temple of the Tooth Relic (the sacred tooth of the Buddha), which is a
famous pilgrimage site
In the 6th century BC, Indo-Europeans from the Ganges Valley invaded
Sri Lanka. Ancestors of the Sinhalese, they ruled the island for more than
2,000 years. Beginning in the 3rd century BC, the country was converted to a
pure form of Indian Buddhism that would continue to be practised in the
future. The famous tooth of Buddha, a relic symbolising a 4th-century
tradition that is often linked to royalty, was brought to Sri Lanka. From
this time on, the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Tooth have been
associated with the administrative and religious functions of Sri Lanka's
capital city.
Anuradhapura enjoyed the status of capital city from the 4th century
BC until the 8th century AD, when it was replaced by Polonnaruwa, which was
capital until the 13th century. From 1592 until the 19th century, Kandy was
the capital city and thus the home of the Royal Palace and the Temple of the
Tooth. Conquered by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in
the 17th century, Kandy preserved its independence until it finally
submitted to the British in 1815. Since then, Kandy has preserved its
function as the religious capital of Sri Lanka and a place of pilgrimage for
practitioners of the original form of Buddhism.
The city is situated on a plain, in the middle of what is called the
Hill Country. Tea plantations and cool hill stations surround it. Kandys
existence dates from the 14th century. Until 1815 it even was the capital of
the country, then called Ceylon.
Nowadays Kandy is most famous for the presence of the Temple of the
Tooth. According to tradition, a tooth of Buddha is kept here. The tooth is
said to be saved from his funeral pyre, in the 6th century BC. It was then
brought to Sri Lanka and guarded there for centuries. A story goes that the
original tooth was shipped to Goa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and
that the one kept in the Temple of the Tooth is a replica.
All in all, Kandy is a very popular and busy pilgrimage site for Asian
Buddhists.
Kandy is the Sri Lanka's hill capital , Capital of Central Province,
and the most beautiful cultural city. The city was born in the 14th century
and became the capital of the Kandyan Kingdom in the 16th century. Kandy was
the capital of a Sinhalese kingdom from 1592 to 1815, when it became one of
the last sections of the island to be annexed by the British as part of
colonial Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
Kandy is a Sacred City to the Buddhists.
This beautiful city, with its hills and valleys, rivers, lakes and
cascading waterfalls around the hills. The Mahaweli River is in the Kandy
Plateau. It is one of the island nation's largest cities and the economic
focus of the tea-producing central highlands.
Torpedo
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