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National Geographic : 1979 Jan
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with an hour and a half for lunch. They re ceived 9 rupees a day-about 58 cents. To the Temple of the Tooth In late afternoon we came to Kandy, hill capital of the last Sinhalese kings. When the British conquered it in 1815, they ended a monarchy that had ruled for more than 23 centuries. Kandyans still hold themselves special, a bit apart from other Sinhalese. Until the British, they had remained rela tively unaffected by colonial influence. Kandy-historic stronghold in a setting of incredible natural beauty. Yet it is much more than this. The Temple of the Tooth stands here. Sri Lankans make pilgrimage to this precious repository by the untold thousands. For ten days during the lunar month of Esala (July or August), they pay massed homage in a glittering age-old festi val. They come to venerate the sacred tooth relic of the Buddha, knowing they will not see it, content to be in its presence. I too made my way to the temple, crossed over the moat, and entered to the sound of drums and wailing flutes. Humanity swirled around me. At last I found the shrine. Hidden within, sheltered by bullet proof glass, reposed the tooth. It lay in a golden casket beneath seven other caskets, so I was told. Guardian monks looked on impassively as worshipers offered flowers. High dignitaries may be al lowed to view the relic. Kandy is the latest and last resting-place of the tooth. Far older Sinhalese kingdoms have harbored it. Religious faith inspired by the Buddha has been at the center of Sri Lanka's very being almost from the outset. The ruins of the island's medieval capi tal, Polonnaruwa, strongly bespeak Bud dhism's central importance. A drive of 80 Struck with awe, pilgrims watch sunrise from the summit of a holy mountain known as Adam's Peak. Then they turn to the west to view an atmospheric phe nomenon: The shadow of Adam's Peak looms on valley mists (right) and some times seems to bob, as if the sun itself paid homage. Four faiths hold the mountain NationalGeographic,January1979 142
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