Temple of the Tooth

We were sorry to leave the Water Gardens hotel in Sigiriya, it was such a beautiful, tranquil location with brilliant staff and all the amenities we could ask for. However, we want to experience more of Sri Lanka than just that hotel, so today we travelled South to the island's second-largest city, Kandy.

Kandy is generally considered the cultural capital of Sri Lanka, having withstood the Portuguese and Dutch empires, though eventually it was conquered by the British. Central to Kandy's cultural prominence is the Temple of the Tooth, the most important Buddhist temple in the country.

Sri Lanka is approximately 70% Buddhist, with the religion being especially widespread among the Singhalese population. The Temple of the Tooth contains one of the most important relics in Buddhism - a left molar taken from the funeral pyre of the Buddha himself!

The tooth is not on display very often, and when it is it's usually encased in an intricate golden casing. Once a year, the tooth is paraded throughout Kandy on the back of a resplendent bull elephant in a great parade through the streets. Until recently, this beloved elephant was called Raja, and he also has one of his teeth (as well as his preserved body) on display in the temple!

There was a dress code to enter the temple, so we removed our shoes and donned a colourful garment over our legs, so we all felt suitably pious. Harry and Dad weren't overly impressed by the symbolism on display, though Mum departed feeling reaffirmed in her conviction that she could be a Buddhist!Read more