Temple of Tooth Kandy

Only those who give to the poor are good. The doors of paradise will open to those who satisfy their hunger.
-Manimekalai (Tamil-Buddhist Novel), Seethalai Sathanar, 6th c AD.

Day 3 : 6 Jun 2019

Rangamani woke up before Thangamani. He took a bath and opened the balcony door. The cold breeze caressed him. He went out, stood facing the lake, and stared at the mountain which showed its silhouette in the morning darkness. Mountains are the abode of Kandan, the Tamil God. Mountains are where Siva and Parvati are roaming on their Bulls. Mountains are Gods. They gift us loneliness. They gift us renunciation. After renunciation, there are no delivery dates, no promise, no stress, of course, no money too!!

Kandy woke up early in the morning. As the darkness is slowly being replaced by fresh day light. Buses hewed the morning crowd. Children in school uniforms were walking down from the near-by green hillock. Buses and private vehicles were waiting until those kids crossed the road. This is something you could not see at Chennai’s zebra crossing.

That windy morning made his heart rhythm in sync with the food steps of those kids. He thought of himself as the contemporary Aristotle, Leo Tolstoy, or Adi Shankara. They might not have their morning tea like him. Out of hunger, they might have come up with such meaningful philosophical thoughts. Elder kid Junga put in an appearance before he went to take his bath. He might be baffled to see his dad in a strange posture. Rangamani realized that Junga was looking above his head. Was there any golden ring or what? He looked above. There was no golden ring, but lot of mosquitos flying in a ring shape! He got some audience for his ideologies, at last!

Slowly, Thangamani came out of the room, with another bonny attire, to offer them the morning tea. “Ayo pei (ghost)!!!”, screamed Rangamani and Junga at same time at her over-makeup. Thangamani gave a grimace of anger. “You destructive dogs..” She murmured to herself and went inside to adjust her make-up. Bunga was still enjoying his elongated sleep.

The lodge they stayed in used to offer buffet breakfast for its guests. As they went within months of the Easter Sunday bombings, the tourism industry was in shambles. Their restaurant merely had one or two staff. They knocked up a pack of fresh pancakes and cakes. The cut fruits were not fresh, though. Being starved the previous day, poor Rangamani’s family didn’t waste a grain!

They checked out already. Let’s follow them!

Their travel plan had the following:

Look around the Buddha temple called Dalada Maligawa.
Worship at Hindu shrine which is inside the Dalada Maligawa.
Start their trip to Nuwara Eliya.

Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic

They parked the car on the bank of the lake and walked towards the temple. Tushara said he would not get a parking space usually. The Easter Bombing had deluged the commoners with losses. This place should have been added to their travel plan as it is an iconic building and UNESCO site. Junga and Bunga were walking excitedly. The way to the temple was colourful with lots of florists. Birds like flamingos were resting on the bank. Some of them were swimming in the water. The pleasant weather made Rangamani recall his trip to Kodaikanal lake.

Tushara bought them their entry tickets. They got a discount of SAARC countries. Another Qatari traveler joined them. They arranged a guide – a so-called UNESCO site-certified guide – to explain to them the historical background of this site.

There were checkpoints outside the temple. Bunga excitedly passed the checkpoint and did hi-fi to the soldier standing nearby.

All the Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka worship in that temple. Babies born in Sri Lanka are brought there within a year of birth. The temple was full of newly born babies, neomamas, and their caretakers.

Rangamani’s family went to attend the morning ceremony. The temple looks auspicious with the vyali-s, dragons, tusks of elephants. They waited for a long time. Rangamani lost his patience at the ceremonial prelude. He started gazing at all the veiled brass vessels one by one. He thought he may get an annadhanam (food offering) and appeased his mind. Alas, he did not get anything till the end!

The tooth relic of the Buddha is kept in a golden castle there. They keep the ark open for public display once a year. The sacred tooth relic of the Buddha was in Kalinga after the death of the Buddha. At the behest of King Gugasiva of Kalinga, his daughter Princess Hemamali and her husband Dantha smuggled it to Sri Lanka. This happened in the fourth century BC.

They have a statue for them as well. It is located in a garden outside the temple. Ranga’s family walked around and viewed those statues and read the legend underneath.

A lot of people came for the morning ceremony slowly in long queues due to security checks. Check after the bomb blast is useless. It is a customary action. But all governments follow that to shut the mouths of critics. Some of the babies in their mamma’s laps were crying. Some of them were still sleeping in this noisy environment. They may recharge themselves for their turns later!

It is their turn to worship at the sanctum of tooth relics. Rangamani and Junga were squeezed like our Indian women screw their wet cloths before drying it. They lost Thangamani and Bunga in the crowd. Ranga found it very hard to keep Junga in his hands in that huge crowd. Somehow Rangamani and Junga came out. Thangamani came out already and was waiting for her hubby.

She was in another arresting apparel today. Rangamani wore a t-shirt, which was bought on Amazon for 100 rupees. They visited the manuscripts room before visiting the meditation hall. While Thangamani looked at the religious manuscripts and texts placed over there, Ranga was looking outside to find the origin of the aroma of food.

Thangamani asked if the guide could take them to the Kataragama Temple on the same campus. The Qatari and the UNESCO guide went away. Tushara was kind enough to accept and he himself guided them to the temple.

Katragama devalaya was like a hut. It was a fusion of Buddhism and Hinduism. The Buddha was in the ananda sayana (sleeping) pose in the sanctum while Vishnu and Brahma stood outside in worshipping pose. That would be a little confusing!