SS Quah's Anything Goes: Sri Lanka: Day 3, Part 2 (Kandy)

The road to Kandy was the third of our six long-distance drives, taking us 5½ hours to arrive at the gates of the Sri Dalada Maligawa. But then, we made two stops along the way. The first was at a roadside stall to enjoy cooling coconut water fresh from the nuts. We noticed the vendor selling durian but we resisted the urge to taste her version of the fruit. Clearly, it wasn't something that we were prepared to try in Sri Lanka. There was no toilet break here but the batangs in the group were not averse to relief ourselves the natural way on the nearby tree trunks. I reminded BL, hey, we better seek permission from any unseen local being before we leave our marks on the trunks and bushes. He agreed.

The second stop was made in Colombo Street, Kandy. A small provision shop, Bowatte Beheth Shalawa, where we were assured by Bhante Aranagavesi that their prices were reasonable and not targeted at the tourist market. Saw See picked up local spices and herbs here. Me, I was only interested in their ginger tea.

We arrived at the entrance into the Sri Dalada Maligawa at about 7.15pm, driven all the way into the premises, and fairly quickly were able to enter the temple. First stop here was at the Raja Tusker Museum to view the preserved remains of the Maligawa Tusker Raja. This was a Sri Lankan elephant that carried the golden casket of Buddha's tooth relic during the annual Esala Perahera processions for over 50 years. The animal died in 1988 at an estimated age of 80 years, one of the longest serving Maligawa tuskers, and its remains were preserved and then put on display inside this museum. The taxidermist had done a good job. I was told that this exhibit consisted of the elephant's mounted head, tusks, some hair, dorsal skin, tail and a life-size replica of the rest of the body. The preservation highlights the veneration of elephants associated with Buddhist traditions in Sri Lanka.

An image from the Internet

We were shooed from the museum and led through the Ambarawa tunnel to the main temple complex. Came across four men standing strategically around the pillars of the Patamalaya drumming hall and each playing their musical instruments. I vaguely remembered climbing some flights of stairs before arriving at the Sitting Palace. This was a crowded hall where devotees were either lining up to offer flowers or sitting wherever they found space on the floor. Either way, they all faced the shrine which held the Sacred Tooth relic. It's almost impossible for any lay person to see the golden casket which contains the relic. Ordinarily, only the senior monks are allowed into the inner chamber. At times, this chamber would be open to brief visits from very important guests like heads of state, ambassadors or religious figures. But we had received a special dispensation from the temple that would allow us, guests from the Nandaka Vihara, into this chamber. Mighty glad for this particular privilege.

We were ushered into a holding area which turned out to be a long corridor. Two local devotees thought they could join our queue but were turned away. So it was here that we waited a while until the crowd had dispersed for the day. We were about the last visitors around. We could see the temple staff clearing away all the flowers. And suddenly, we were led single-file into a narrow passageway beside the shrine. No cameras or mobile phones were allowed. We had to deposit our bags outside the shrine and collect them on the way out. I stepped into the shrine's chamber, muttering my wishes to the Sacred Tooth, and all of a sudden there before me was the golden casket. Maybe no more than three or four feet separated me from it, but it was well protected behind what I believe to be a bulletproof glass barrier. I'm sure there are surveillance cameras as well, permanently locked in on people entering this small space. This golden casket was shaped as a stupa measuring some three feet high, if I estimate correctly from my memory looking at it, and decorated with priceless gems and gold ornaments. I feasted my eyes on the moment, trying to look as closely as possible at the intricate details, but in the limited time there was only so much that I could absorb. On the left was a much smaller golden casket, also bedecked with gemstones and gold chains, measuring perhaps only a foot high. This small one was what devotees normally saw during religious occasions like the Esala Perahera festival when it was taken on a procession around the grounds atop a Maligawa elephant. The Sacred Tooth itself resided in the main golden casket, unmoved even during festivals and ceremonies.

At the end, it was all so fleeting. Within seconds, my time was up. I had to leave the chamber. I dropped my dana offering on the silver platter and touched another tray bearing red lotus flowers. I left after bringing my hands together and bowing three times before the golden casket. This was my personal experience before one of the most significant Buddha relics in the world. I had heard about the Sacred Tooth relic since schooldays and it was my ambition for a very long time that one day, I shall visit Kandy and this temple housing the relic. More than anything else, I'm quite satisfied that I have achieved this objective.

So what did we do after this experience? Well, get onto the bus for the next stage of our journey. A journey of 4½ hours in the dark to the mountainous region of Nuwara Eliya where the first of two midnight dinners awaited us at the Pensive Villa. Midnight dinner? 'Fraid so. We left Kandy at about 8.15pm and only reached Nuwara Eliya at 12.45am. But of course, we had to first stop at Keells, a supermarket in Kandy, to recharge ourselves. That included filling our tummies a little with some snacks because we were told that refreshment would only await us at the end of the long day's ride. Refreshment, in this case, was the midnight dinner at Pensive Villa.

To be continued ....