Lacinda 12/30/12
The first day we arrived, we are backing up a day here from Marshall's post, we met up with Tharangi and her family at our hotel for a late lunch. They were returning from a different sight-seeing trip into central Sri Lanka - one it sounds like we wish we'd been on too. Nuwara Eliya and World's End - ah, a treat for our next trip. ;) But anyway, after dinner, Jon and Tharangi decided they wanted to go see the "Temple of the Tooth" with us before they headed back to Colombo, since she hadn't been there for years. They had two cars, so shipped half the family (the kid half) home and the other driver took us to the temple.
As I had mentioned, Sri Lanka is one of the world's oldest Buddhist cultures. The Temple of the Tooth, a UNESCO World Heritage site (our first of five!) is the latest resting place of the most sacred relic in Sri Lanka, the actual tooth of the Buddha. According to Sri Lankan legends, when the Lord Buddha died BC 543, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kusinagara in India and his left canine tooth was retrieved from the funeral pyre. After traveling through India for 800 years, in about the 4th century BCE it made its way to Sri Lanka, and there moved around as capitol cities were built, attacked by foreign invaders, destroyed and rebuilt elsewhere. In each new city, a Temple was erected for the tooth - as we see when we visit Polunnaruwa - an earlier capitol city. Kandy was the last capitol of the Sri Lankan kings, and this particular temple was built around 1595. (if Wikipedia is right, that is) :)
The relic is rarely put on public display, we were told only a few times per decade. However, there is a huge annual festival - Esala Perahera - where the tooth is (supposedly, I think they use a replica) loaded on elephant-back and paraded through the city. The elephants chosen and trained to carry the relic are sacred and well loved animals. They are also rare, as only about 2% of Sri Lanka elephants have tusks, called Tuskers, and only the most perfect are chosen. A very famous Tusker named Raja served the Tooth Temple for almost 50 years and upon his death a national day of mourning was declared, his likeness was added to the $1000 rupee note and his stuffed remains setup in a special museum on the temple grounds.
The night we were there, the Temple was having "service". I say service, but really it just meant the temple was full of worshipers. Unlike some other religions, Buddhism is a more personal worship, and per Tharangi they do not often have led services like we are familiar with in Christianity. Flowers are brought to the Buddha, oil lamps are lit, and personal prayers said but a central spoken service doesn't take place. So it was a rather incongruous site seeing the tourists all lined up to get a glimpse of the (empty) Tooth reliquary, while the worshipers tried to work around us. The drummers on the ground floor as we came in, and the man playing some form of screechy recorder-like horn, created a loud din to accompany our trip through the Temple. Marsh and I, not disrespectfully - but with buzzing ears - liked to refer to him as the Buddha Tootler. I was glad to be out of earshot of him and his "joyful noise unto the Lord (Buddha)". :)
The first day we arrived, we are backing up a day here from Marshall's post, we met up with Tharangi and her family at our hotel for a late lunch. They were returning from a different sight-seeing trip into central Sri Lanka - one it sounds like we wish we'd been on too. Nuwara Eliya and World's End - ah, a treat for our next trip. ;) But anyway, after dinner, Jon and Tharangi decided they wanted to go see the "Temple of the Tooth" with us before they headed back to Colombo, since she hadn't been there for years. They had two cars, so shipped half the family (the kid half) home and the other driver took us to the temple.
As I had mentioned, Sri Lanka is one of the world's oldest Buddhist cultures. The Temple of the Tooth, a UNESCO World Heritage site (our first of five!) is the latest resting place of the most sacred relic in Sri Lanka, the actual tooth of the Buddha. According to Sri Lankan legends, when the Lord Buddha died BC 543, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kusinagara in India and his left canine tooth was retrieved from the funeral pyre. After traveling through India for 800 years, in about the 4th century BCE it made its way to Sri Lanka, and there moved around as capitol cities were built, attacked by foreign invaders, destroyed and rebuilt elsewhere. In each new city, a Temple was erected for the tooth - as we see when we visit Polunnaruwa - an earlier capitol city. Kandy was the last capitol of the Sri Lankan kings, and this particular temple was built around 1595. (if Wikipedia is right, that is) :)
The relic is rarely put on public display, we were told only a few times per decade. However, there is a huge annual festival - Esala Perahera - where the tooth is (supposedly, I think they use a replica) loaded on elephant-back and paraded through the city. The elephants chosen and trained to carry the relic are sacred and well loved animals. They are also rare, as only about 2% of Sri Lanka elephants have tusks, called Tuskers, and only the most perfect are chosen. A very famous Tusker named Raja served the Tooth Temple for almost 50 years and upon his death a national day of mourning was declared, his likeness was added to the $1000 rupee note and his stuffed remains setup in a special museum on the temple grounds.
The night we were there, the Temple was having "service". I say service, but really it just meant the temple was full of worshipers. Unlike some other religions, Buddhism is a more personal worship, and per Tharangi they do not often have led services like we are familiar with in Christianity. Flowers are brought to the Buddha, oil lamps are lit, and personal prayers said but a central spoken service doesn't take place. So it was a rather incongruous site seeing the tourists all lined up to get a glimpse of the (empty) Tooth reliquary, while the worshipers tried to work around us. The drummers on the ground floor as we came in, and the man playing some form of screechy recorder-like horn, created a loud din to accompany our trip through the Temple. Marsh and I, not disrespectfully - but with buzzing ears - liked to refer to him as the Buddha Tootler. I was glad to be out of earshot of him and his "joyful noise unto the Lord (Buddha)". :)
Disclaimer - this pic isn't mine, but it shows you the whole Temple complex, during the day, on the lake in Kandy. It is huge, and beautiful.
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| Tharangi, Jon and Marshall - sorry for the poor shot, too much backlight... |
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| Just a cool carving on the stairway leading inside - I love details like this... |
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| Marsh and the family driver Kumara entering the Temple under some gorgeous murals |
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| The Drummers - the Buddha Tootler is behind them |
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| The Buddha Tootler |
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| I think this is a small replica of what goes on the elephant to carry the relic during the festival... |
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| Disclaimer - not my photo, its a mural in the Temple of the elephant parade in ancient times |
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| Also not mine, this shows the Tuskers dressed up for the festival - must be amazing! |
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| The tourists on one side, the worshippers on the other... |
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| Bringing flowers to the Buddha is very common, the Frangipani flower here is just called "Temple Flower" |
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| A private moment with Buddha |
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| If you think you see a lot of Hindu looking iconography, you're not nuts, the two religions are finely blended together in Sri Lanka with various Hindu dieties showing up right alongside the Buddha. Makes sense, if you think about it, as Buddha was an Indian prince.... |
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| Behind the temple as you leave is this glass house where you can go light an oil lamp |
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| Not my photo, but this is a shot of the actual relic itself. This was not on display when we were there. |
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