After one night in Dambulla we travelled by bus for about two hours to Kandy. Along the way we stopped at the famous Sigiriyra rock also known as the Lion Rock. We also stopped at a lovely spice garden for lunch and a look around.
This evening’s excursion in Kandy is the famous ‘Temple of the Tooth which happens to be the second building in ‘the book’.
The temple of the Tooth is Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist shrine, and pilgrimage site.
It is believed that when Buddha died he was cremated, his left canine tooth was retrieved from the ashes and the temple of the tooth was built to house the sacred remains.The relic is of great importance to Sri Lanka not only as a sacred pilgrimage site but since ancient times it has been believed that the holder of the tooth relic holds the power and governance of Sri Lanka.
We got there at 5.30pm because this evening it will get very busy as they will be revealing the sacred tooth relic. they do this three times a day at set times when rituals are preformed and offerings are made to the tooth relic.
When we got there we had to get in line to see the tooth relic (which is kept locked away and hidden from view behind beautiful intricate gold doors. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any pictures of the tooth relic.
We only had time for a very quick glance at the relic casket but I could see that it is very beautiful. Here are some more pictures from in and around this vast temple.
You can see in this photo above just how busy the temple was and this was only a small part of it. The temple was huge with a complex of many buildings, unfortunately as it was dark some of my other photos didn’t come out too well. After about two hours walking around inside and outside of this temple (in bare feet) I was more than ready for my dinner.
For the love of buildings 