@Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka.
My trip to Sri Lanka was not anywhere near a planned journey. It was nothing more than a co-incidence. This lovely place, once the capital of ancient Sri Lanka was not even a priority for me. But after I reached Kandy from Colombo Airport, situation changed. It was a wonderful hill town, not that developed and not too cold; it was scenic, it was lovely enough to inspire a poem and it was certainly religious.
As some people would know, Kandy has played a very important role in the history of this island nation. It was the last capital of the ancient kings of Sri Lanka and Kingdom of Kandy was one of the most powerful monarchies around. It has many old buildings around and serves as the largest city and capital of the Central Province. The district is also named the same.
The presence of the Temple of the Tooth, one of the most valuable relics of Lord Buddha makes this town a spiritual experience too. The Temple is a simple, but still wonderful looking building attached to the Royal Palace. The sanctuary is considered very much hallowed and there are restrictions on photography in some places. It is always flooded with tourists and they charge more for people from non-SAARC nations.
As we go out, we can see Buddhist pagodas around as well as their religious flag coloured Blue, Yellow, Red, White & Orange. It was a great sight to see those flags flying around as if to spread kindness, peace, compassion, purity, wisdom and all those virtues which the humanity has been clearly lacking in the last few decades. The Sri Lankan flags were also present, but the Buddhist flags stayed in my sight too much to let anything else catch my vision.
The random uncles of Kerala who were also on the tour didn’t look that impressed; they seemed to be unable to wait till they find a Ramayana site. It was quite late and so it wasn’t a bad idea, but I have to say that the peace and quiet of The Temple of the Tooth was something which was absent in any worship place I had visited until then. It was as if the place has always been hallowed, with blessings all around. It was like we could feel the goodness around there.
Kandy, the centre of Sri Lanka, with it’s wonderful people and a strong faith on the Enlightened one provided me with an experience which still lives strong in my heart despite of all the tours which followed. The beautiful lake at it’s centre and the stories behind it added to the awesomeness of the place. If I was given a choice to live anywhere in any of the SAARC nations, I would surely choose Kandy.
Diving out —>
TeNy
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