Religious, Spiritual sights in Sri Lanka
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Asgiriya Maha Vihara
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance – the high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri Lanka. This temple is the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The head monks also administer the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Asgiriya Maha Vihara is off Wariyapola Sri Sumanga Mawatha northwest of the town centre. It has a large reclining Buddha image.
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Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre
For Buddhists there’s the solitary Sri Nagavihara International Buddhist Centre which was quickly rebuilt after government forces retook Jaffna in 1995.
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Isipathanaramaya Temple
The Isipathanaramaya Temple has particularly beautiful frescoes.
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Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Just north of the lake, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a tooth of the Buddha. The temple sustained damage when a bomb was detonated - by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to the government - near the main entrance in early 1998, but the scars have been repaired.
The tooth is said to have been snatched from the flames of the Buddha's funeral pyre in 543 BC, and was smuggled into Sri Lanka during the 4th century AD, hidden in the hair of a princess. At first it was taken to Anuradhapura, but with the ups and downs of Sri Lankan history it moved from place to place before eventually ending up at Ka…
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Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba
Behind the Folk Museum, this fine white dagoba is guarded by a wall with a frieze of hundreds of elephants standing shoulder to shoulder. Apart from a few beside the western entrance, most are modern replacements for the originals from 140 BC.
This dagoba is said to be King Dutugemunu’s finest construction, but he didn’t live to see its completion. However, as he lay on his deathbed, a false bamboo-and-cloth finish was placed around the dagoba so that Dutugemunu’s final sight could be of his ‘completed’ masterpiece. Today, after incurring much damage from invading Indian forces, it rises 55m, considerably less than its original height; nor is its form the same as the earl…
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Thuparama Dagoba
In a beautiful woodland setting north of the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba, the Thuparama Dagoba is the oldest dagoba in Sri Lanka – indeed, probably the oldest visible dagoba in the world. It was constructed by Devanampiya Tissa in the 3rd century BC and is said to contain the right collarbone of the Buddha. Its ‘heap-of-paddy-rice’ shape was restored in 1862 in a more conventional bell shape and to a height of 19m.
The surrounding vatadage’s slender, capital-topped pillars, perhaps the dagoba’s most unique feature, enclose the structure in four concentric circles. Impressions on the dagoba pediments indicate the pillars originally numbered 176, of which 41 still stand.…
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Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
Even if the thought of seeing yet another temple sends you reaching for the arrack, this Buddhist temple is worth the effort. The original temple was destroyed by Indian invaders, restored, destroyed again by the Portuguese, and restored again in the 18th and 19th centuries. The dagoba, which (unusually) is hollow, is the focus of the Duruthu Perahera in January each year. To reach the temple take bus 235 from in front of the traffic-police station, which is just northeast of the Bastian Mawatha bus station.
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Malwatte Maha Vihara
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance – the high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri Lanka. This temple is also the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The head monks also administer the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. The Malwatte Maha Vihara is across the lake from the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.
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Gangaramaya Temple
A short walk east of theSouth Beira lake is the sprawling Gangaramaya Temple. Run by one of Sri Lanka’s more politically adept monks, the temple complex has a library, a museum (donation Rs 100) and an extraordinarily eclectic array of bejewelled and gilded gifts presented by devotees and well-wishers over the years. Gangaramaya is the focus of the Navam Perahera on the February poya(full moon) day each year.
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New Kathiresan Kovil
Known as kovil, Hindu temples are numerous in Colombo. On Sea St, the New Kathiresan Kovil (along with the old Kathiresan Kovil) is dedicated to the war god Murugan (Skanda), and is the starting point for the annual Hindu Vel festival held in July/August, when the huge vel (trident) chariot is dragged to various kovils on Galle Rd in Bambalapitiya.
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St John's
The tiny Anglican church of St John's looks like a Sussex chapel, but with the napped flints replaced by cut sandstone chunks in the walls. Appropriately enough there's a cricket pitch ranged behind.
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St Mary's Cathedral
Built along classical lines, St Mary’s Cathedral is astonishingly large, but it’s curious to see corrugated-iron roofing held up by such a masterpiece of wooden vaulting.
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Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque
The decorative 1909 Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque has candy-striped red-and-white brickwork. The mosque is closed to non-Muslims during prayer times and Fridays.
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St Martin's Seminary
Founded in 1850 and rebuilt in 1887 by French benefactors, St Martin's Seminary looks like a Cambridge college transplanted into a tropical garden.
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Grand Mosque
The Grand Mosque is the most important of Colombo's many mosques. The mosque is closed to non-Muslims during prayer times and Fridays.
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Vaitheeswara Kovil
Vaitheeswara Kovil is unusally sparse, its blue-grey mass standing sentinel at the end of Kannathiddy Rd.
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Our Lady of Refuge Church
Our Lady of Refuge Church looks like a whitewashed version of a Gloucestershire village church.
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Pillaiyar Kovil
The modest Somasutharam Pillaiyar Kovil looks picturesque when viewed across its lily pond.
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Holy Family Convent
Colonnades and topiary make the Holy Family Convent a beautiful, peaceful oasis.
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St James'
The grandest church is St James', a classical Italianate edifice.
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