"Kandy - Born of Fire" a Kandy Travel Page by mightywease

Kandy, Sri Lanka’s second largest city, was the capital of the last Sinahalese king before the country fell to the British in 1815.

The city – though it feels much more like a town – spreads over hills and down into the valley where the lake – a 19th Century construction – forms a focal point. Buildings such as St. Paul’s Church, whose Norman style tower peeps incongruously above the tree tops, show the city’s colonial past but if the city is said to be dominated by anything it is the Temple of the Tooth.

The tooth of the Buddha is Sri Lanka’s most sacred relic and it was first brought to the city in 1542. Its presence there meant that the city became a centre for Sinalehese identity and Buddhist spirituality although this unfortunately meant that it also become a focus for attacks by both the Portuguese and the British. To combat this large parts of the city were over the years repeatedly set on fire so that any invading forces would gain little but scorched earth. Many of the buildings in the city date from the beginning of the 19th Century when the last phase of destruction and rebuilding took place. Although the excesses of the then king – Vikrama Rajasinha – led to him being betrayed by other nobles and the town finally falling under British rule.

The city now is a bustling jumble of humanity, a great place to wander around (a walk round the lake is a must), a gateway to the Hill Country and with the Temple of the Tooth and the yearly Kandy Esala Perahera festival (honouring the tooth relic) still an important centre for Buddhist worship.