Kandy became important when westerners started to invade Sri Lanka.

This town is situated in the central region of the county which consists of many hills and was convered with thick jungle. The last few kings made the maximum use of this geographical terrain and had their kingdoms in Kandy.

Portuguese invaded Sri Lanka in 1505. But they could never get control over the central region. Their rule was limited to the coastal areas (called maritime provinces). Thereafter the Dutch came in 1858 and chased away the Portuguese. They also failed get any control over the central region. The British came in 1795. They managed to enter into a Treaty with the leaders of the central region in 1802 and get control over Kandy. But the british had to face several rebellions organized by the natives.

Thus the Kandy areas were not spoiled or influenced by outsiders for a long period of time. As a result these areas had its own legal system. Even now some of those laws called Kandyan Laws apply in these areas. For instance, there is a type of marriage called Binna marriage. When there are several brothers in a family - the elder brother brings a wife into the house and she becomes the wife of all the brothers. Thus the properties of the family stay together without being divided. The children born by the other brothers became the children of the elder brother.

A tooth of the Lord Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka in ancient times. It wasthe belief among the Sri Lankans that the person from the Royal Family who gains possession or control of the Tooth Relic is entitled to be the King of the country. The Dalada Maligawa was built by one of those kings with a special chamber to have the Tooth Relic.

Kings have donated a lot of lands in and around the Temple to generate funds for the maintenance and upkeep of the Temple. Thus a majority of the paddy lands around Kandy are owned by the Temple.

There is an annual pageant of this Temple held lasting a week in July/August which parades many trained elephants and dancers. The picture on the right is a photo taken of the Day Pageant held on the day after the last pageant. The night pageant is more beautiful. I will insert a photo of it as soon as I receive one.

The small photo is a face of a Kandyan dancer. Hundreds of them participate in this pageant.

There are many stories about the powers of the Tooth Relic. It is said that if the casket which contains the tooth is even slightly moved from the place where it is - it will start to rain non-stop for several days. It is said that in several instances it has resulted in big floods.

But I do know as a fact that when there is a drought in the country the Diyawadana Nilame and the controlling priests of the temple have a public exposition of the Tooth Relic and that rains do occur when it is done.