Private Day Tour: Majestic Kandy Sights Tour from Habarana

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Temple of the Tooth, Sri Dalada Maligawa, Sri Dalada Veediya, Kandy 20000 Sri Lanka

The Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a temple in the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka. It was built within the royal palace complex which houses the only surviving relic of Buddha, a tooth, which is venerated by Buddhists. The relic has played an important role in the local politics since ancient times and it’s believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country, which caused the ancient kings to protect it with great effort. Kandy was the capital of the Sinhalese Kings from 1592 to 1815, fortified by the terrain of the mountains which was difficult to approach. The city is a world heritage site declared by UNESCO, partly due to the temple.

Monks of the two chapters of Malwatte and Asgiriya conduct daily ritual worship in the inner chamber of the temple, in annual rotation. They conduct these services three times a day: at dawn, at noon and in the evening.

On Wednesdays there is a symbolic bathing (Nanumura Mangallaya) of the Sacred Relic with a herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers.

This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among devotees who are present.

The Esala Perahera in Kandy is one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist festivals, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers, throngs of devotees and lavishly decorated elephants This is in Esala (July or August), which is a month that is believed to commemorate the first teaching by Buddha after he attained enlightenment. The Kandy Esala Perahera lasts for ten days while the Sinhalese term ‘perahera’ means a parade of musicians, dancers, singers, acrobats and various other performers accompanied by a large number of caparisoned Tuskers and other elephants parading the streets in celebration of a religious event.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya Road, Peradeniya 20400 Sri Lanka

Botanical Gardens began their life as medieval medicinal gardens called ‘physic gardens’ in Europe. They were initially founded in the 16th century during Italian Renaissance period though some records prove the existence of small scale physic gardens as early as the 14th century.

As botany was established as a subject separate from medicine in the 17th century, plant imports from explorations around the world began to be cultivated. During the 18th century proper methods plant classification and cultivation of foreign plants became known and many botanical gardens were established in tropical countries. The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew near London played a central role in uniting the various botanical researches being conducted in the other gardens.

As the years have passed botanical gardens have taken a major place in culture and botany. They have been places of great advances in science and horticulture.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes