Review for National Museum

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This museum once housed Kandyan royal concubines and now features royal regalia and reminders of pre-European Sinhalese life. On display is a copy of the 1815 agreement that handed over the Kandyan provinces to British rule. This document announces a major reason for the event …the cruelties and oppressions of the Malabar ruler, in the arbitrary and unjust infliction of bodily tortures and pains of death without trial, and sometimes without accusation or the possibility of a crime, and in the general contempt and contravention of all civil rights, have become flagrant, enormous and intolerable. Sri Wickrama Rajasinha was declared, ...

Kandy Esala Perahera – Traditional Pageant in Sri Lanka

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Beautifully caparisoned Maligawa tusker with the casket bearing relic Although the Esala perahera in Kandy, as we see it today, dates back to the period of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1780), there have been throughout history of the island, processions and festivals of great magnitude, which could be considered as the precursors of the present perahera. The early festivals connected with the 'Dantha Dhatu' (Tooth Relic of the Buddha) which were performed independently of festivals of gods seem to have taken place on the occasion of its annual removal temporarily from the Maligawa to the Abhayagiri vihara as required by King ...