Most Beautiful Places In Sri Lanka.

Temple Of Tooth - Kandy

The Temple of Tooth at kandy is the final location of the sacred tooth of the lord Buddha which was brought to srilanka during the reign of king “keerthi sri Megawarna” by prince “Dantha” and Princess “Hemamala” from the kindom of kalingu India. It became the palladium of srilankan kings and was preciously guarded in a special shrine built within precincts of royal palace where the capital was located.

The Temple of the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, sri dalada Maligawa is in the centre of the city, the highest venerated religious place with steeped in cultural heritage attracting the highest respect of the Buddhists as well as the other religions all over the world. The beautiful magnificent temple was built by late king Vimaladharmasooriya 1st in 1592 AD.

The Relic Shrine is approached by a large draw-bridge over the moat and through a beautifully decorated frontispiece. A tunnel” ambarawa”, leads to the main shrine complex, having a central courtyard surrounded by storied structures.

The two-storied open pillared hall in front constitutes the area where visitors and devotees gather. The lower hall has its central part set apart for the beating of drums and other forms of traditional music performed during ritual service hours. On either side are the Pallemale Vihara constructed by king Kirti Sri Rajasimha and the Octagon (Pattirippuva) built by the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasimha on one side and the small “stupa” supposed to contain the Bowl Relic of the Buddha on the other. The storied structures to the right and left of the shrine, constitute the residence quarters of the monks engaged during daily service (Tevava), the conference hall, the Library and the Office of the Diyawadana Nilame.The recognition of the sacred temple it has been declared kandy as a world heritage city by UNESCO. Ven.Monks of the two chapters of Malwattu and Asgiriya conduct daily worships in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performing 3 times daily at dawn, at noon and in the evening. On Wednesdays, there is a symbolic bathing of the sacred relic with an herbal preparation from scented water and fragrant flowers called “Nanumura Mangalya”.

This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and it is distributed among those present.

[Source: Sri Dalada Maligawa Official Web Site]

Sigiriya

Sigiriya rock rises 200 meters above lush green jungles, and is a declared UNESCO World Heritage Site. Asia’s oldest landscaped gardens and ponds encircle this rock fortress, and at its summit is the renegade King Kasyapa’s “palace in the sky”. Fifth century ingenuity and skill produced a luxurious royal citadel with ramparts, moats, gateways, and a well laid out city, complete with bathing pools and gardens. On the climb up you could view the Mirror Wall, which still produces a glass-like reflection 1500 years after it was first created. Also on the way up you would see the famous Sigiriya frescoes – exquisite images of bare-breasted maidens painted on the rock face thousands of years ago. Located in the Cultural Triangle, Sigiriya is situated in the district of Matale.

[Source: explorelanka Web Site]

Polonnaruwa

This beautiful Stupa house has been built before the time of Nissanga Malla (1187-1196) but he has carried out major renovations on this building. So what you see today is probably his work.

Te uniqueness of such buildings is that the Stupa is protected by a roof. Therefore Stupa’s in such buildings are small. Another beautiful Stupa house is situated in Madirigiriya few kilometres away from Polonnaruwa.

On the centre is a small Stupa and on the four sides, there are beautifully carved Buddha statues. These statues are different to what is normally found. The curly hair is not visible on the head. And the robe is also flat which is unusual. The roof has been supported by two rows of stone pillars around the Stupa. None of the pillars are visible today. But the pillars outside the walls are still intact.

Four sets of beautifully carved stone stairs lead the upper level from four sides. On the side of stair case some of most beautiful guard stones and moonstones in this area can be seen. The guard stones on the eastern side of the temple is said to be the best guard stone in t he Polonnaruwa era.

The moonstones in the Polonnaruwa era had undergone a major change compared to the Anuradhapura moonstones. The most visible is the disappearance of the bull in the carvings. (See Pancavasa with the Moonstone for a brief description of moonstones in Anuradhapura era.) Where the moonstones originally had four animals - the elephant, the horse, the lion, the bull, now only three remain. Bull is the vehicle of God Shiva (according to Hindu beliefs) and is considered a holy animal by Hindu’s. Probably for this reason, it has been taken off the moonstone where everybody who enters the temple tramples. Instead the bull has been placed on the side of the stairways at a higher elevation in some place.

[Source: angelfire Web Site]

Royal Botanical Garden - Peraedniya

Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya is situated about 5.5 km to the west from the city of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka and attracts 2 million visitors annually. It is renowned for its collection of a variety of orchids. It includes more than 4000 species of plants, including of orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palm trees. Attached to it is the National Herbarium. The total area of the botanical garden is 147 acres (0.59 km2), at 460 meters above sea level, and with a 200-day annual rainfall. It is managed by the Division of National Botanic Gardens of the Department of Agriculture.

The origins of the Botanic Gardens date as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya near Mahaweli river. This was followed by King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe. A temple was built on this location by King Wimala Dharma, but it was destroyed by the British when they were given control over the Kingdom of Kandy. Thereafter, the groundwork for a botanical garden was formed by Alexandar Moon in 1821. The Botanical Garden at Peradeniya was formally established in 1843 with plants brought from Kew Garden, Slave Island, Colombo, and the Kalutara Garden in Kalutara. The Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya was made more independent and expanded under George Gardner as superintendent in 1844.On his death in 1849 George Henry Kendrick Thwaites became superintendent. He served until 1879, when he was succeeded by Henry Trimen,who served until 1895.The Garden came under the administration of the Department of Agriculture when it was established in 1912.

The classical Avenue of Palms is located in this Garden. One tree with a significant history is the Cannonball Tree planted by King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary in 1901. The tree is bent with its fruits, which look like cannonballs.

During the Second World War, the Botanical Garden was used by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the supreme commander of the allied forces in the South Asia, as the headquarters of the South East Asia Command.

[Source: srilankanexpeditions Web Site]


Yala National Park

Yala National Park is the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka. The park covers an area of 151,778 hectares comprising of five blocks, which includes a strict nature reserve. Currently only Block I, covering 14,100 hectares, is open to the public. It is situated in the dry semi- arid climatic region of Sri Lanka’s South East region which extends from Trincomalee to Hambantota. Topographically the area is a flat and mildly undulating plain that runs to the coast with elevation is 30 metres to the coast while rising in the interior to 100–125 metres. The best time of year to visit is February-July when water tables are Yala is located about 300 kilometres (190 miles) from Colombo. There are six national parks and three wildlife sanctuaries in the vicinity of Yala

There are over 130 species of birdlife reported in the Yala National Park including the Crested Serpent Eagle and the White Bellied Sea Eagle. There are 18 amphibians species that have been recorded from Yala while Bufo atukoralei and Adenomus kelaartii are endemic to Sri Lanka. 

Yala’s varying habitats, which consists of dry monsoon forest, scrub jungle and plains, rocky outcrops, fresh water lakes, rivers and beaches, provides home to many species of animals including Sloth Bear, herds of Asian Elephants, Buffalo, Monkeys, Sambar, Mongoose, Deer, Toque Macaque, Golden Palm Civet, Red Slender Loris, and Fishing Cat, Crocodiles and the endangered Leopard sub-species, Panthera pardus kotiya, which is found only in Sri Lanka. 

[Source: kulusafaris Web Site]

Adam's Peak

There is probably no mountain anywhere more famous than Sri Pada – Adam’s Peak (7362ft/2250m) for non-mountain reasons than this. It is sacred to three religions; to Buddhists the human-foot-shaped hollow on the pinnacle boulder marks one of the personal appearances of the Buddha; the Muslims believe that the depression marks Adam’s expiation of his disobedience by standing there for an age on one foot; to the Hindus, by whom the Peak has been venerated for millennia, its name is Sivan Adi Padham, for it is the Creative Dance of the god Siva that the ‘print’ calls to remembrance.

Whichever legend you may believe, this beautiful place has been a pilgrimage centre for over a thousand years.

Its Sri Lankan name and sacredness however antedates even Buddhism. The name is Samanala Kanda; and Saman was a pre-Buddhist god, one of the four Guardian Deities of the Island. For this reason, the clouds of yellow butterflies who annually appear and, to the eye of faith, seem to converge from every direction upon the holy mountain, are called Samanalaya.

[Source: resplendentceylonWeb Site]