Cultural Journey
An important pilgrimage site and holy place of worship for Buddhists, Hindus and indigenous Veddas, the mystical temple of Kataragama on the banks of the Menik Ganga is an excellent destination that comes alive during the evening pooja when queues of devotees make offerings of fruits and smash coconuts on stones in front of the shrine amidst the ringing of bells, roving musicians and swirls of incense smoke.
Complete with a beautifully landscaped terrace garden, boulder garden, water garden, mirror wall and a fresco gallery of the heavenly maidens just below the lion platform encircled by a moat and ramparts, Sigiriya was established by King Kashyappa, who murdered his father to assume the throne, as an impregnable fortress-palace atop a rock 650 feet above the surrounding plains,
Carved out of a towering granite outcrop above the bustling workday town of Dambulla, almost at the heart of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, is a beautiful network of cave temples: five separate, magical, dimly lit grottos exquisitely decorated with murals and a collection of stunning Buddha statues of various sizes and mudras
The second of Sri Lanka’s ancient Royal Capitals and often considered a highlight of Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle, the breathtakingly sprawling ruins of Polonnaruwa are centred on the ruins of the Gal Vihara – a group of four separate Buddha statues intricately carved out of a single block of granite – and the Royal Palace group, where the king’s grand palace and other buildings once stood.
A combination of faith and engineering, filled with stunning Buddhist temples, magnificent palaces, intricate sculptures, ornate pleasure gardens, massive stupas, impressive dagobas and surrounded by some of the world’s earliest examples of mass irrigation, the ancient royal capital and great monastic city, Anuradhapura is not a dead city but a living pilgrimage site, centred around the world’s most sacred tree ‘The Sri Maha Bodhi’, grown from a sapling from the bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment.
Centred around one of Buddhism’s most sacred shrines, the Temple of the Tooth Relic and laid out against the backdrop of a picture-perfect lake and misty green hills, Kandy is the spiritual and cultural heart of the island that is constantly abuzz with pilgrims and is the focus of the Esala Perahera held annually in July/August in honour of the Tooth Relic.