Esala Perahera

Esala Perahera (Arrival of the Tooth Relic)

July-August; Sinhalese month of Esala

Esala Perahera is a celebration in Kandy, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), that lasts 10 nights and pays homage to the sacred relic believed to be a tooth of the Buddha. Kandy, originally the capital of the independent kingdom of Kandy in the Sri Lankan highlands, is the site of the Dalada Maligava, or Temple of the Tooth, where the relic is kept. The celebration originated in the fourth century when the king of Kandy declared that the tooth be paraded annually so people could honor it.
Processions are held each night for 10 nights, and the tooth is paraded in an elaborate howdah (platform) on the back of an ornately decorated elephant. Dozens of richly caparisoned elephants follow, and there are also drummers beating big bass drums and small tom-toms, horn blowers, the famous Kandyan dancers, acrobats, and torch bearers holding aloft baskets of blazing copra (coconut meat). Representatives of the major Hindu temples also are part of the processions.

CONTACTS:
Kandy Municipal Council
D.S. Senanayake Veediya, Town Hall
Kandy, Sri Lanka
94-81-222-2275; fax: 94-81-222-2274
www.kandycity.org
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Dalada Veediya
Kandy, Sri Lanka
www.sridaladamaligawa.lk

SOURCES:
BkHolWrld-1986, Aug 20
DictWrldRel-1989, p. 135
EncyRel-1987, vol. 2, p. 549
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 468
GdWrldFest-1985, p. 165
IntlThFolk-1979, p. 344