The stabilising Sri Lanka- Part I - Here
Beatiful Kandy
After lunch, we drove for 2 hours and reached Kandy by 4 pm.
We got a wonderful place to stay in Kandy- ‘Sadhara Homestay’.
It was a two
bedroom apartment with kitchen and bath. We could see a stream just down the
balcony.
It was a beautiful relaxing experience to sit in that balcony, look at
the flowing water and sip Sri Lankan coffee. After a restful night, we set out again for
sightseeing.
Victoria dam was our first
stop, which was one hour drive from Kandy. It is the tallest dam in Sri Lanka,
situated among green hills covered in tea bushes and jungles.
Considered the crown jewel of Mahaweli Development Project,
The Victoria Dam is built at a deep valley just above the Victoria Falls rapids
and 300 meters below the point where the Hulu Ganga meets the Mahaveli River.
The construction of the dam began in 1978 and was ceremoniously opened in 1985
which was graced by Margaret Thatcher, then prime-minister of UK. The funding, design and the technical
expertise were provided by United Kingdom and the project’s most memorable event
was recorded when Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II visited the construction site
on October 24, 1981.
We have seen so many dams, but this ‘C’ shaped dam
definitely stands out.
Sita Kotuwa
Devi Sita was first kept in this place before she was moved
to Ashoka Vatika. The city of Lankapura once stood in this place. It had a
beautiful palace for queen Mandothari, surrounded by waterfalls, streams and
varieties of flora and fauna.
Sit Kotuwa
We didn’t see any other tourist during our twenty minutes
trek through forest trail to this place, and we could do it because our driver
knew the way. The place was very serene, with calming grounding energy and we
meditated there, experiencing some
awesome visions.
Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred
Tooth Relic, our next stop, is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kandy, Sri
Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of
Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha.
The relic has played an important role in local politics
since ancient times because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds
the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan
kings and is a World Heritage Site mainly due to the temple.
Daily worship is performed in the inner chamber of the
temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the
evenings, and we were lucky to be there at noon to witness it. On Wednesdays
there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with an herbal preparation made from
scented water and fragrant flowers called Nanumura Mangallaya. This holy water
is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present.
Awesome lunch
By the time we came out of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth
Relic, it was after 2pm and we were hungry. The driver told we would get food
only after reaching the city. I remarked, ‘Let’s see when and what Sita ma
would give us for lunch’. Within a few minutes we spotted a small restaurant
and had an awesome lunch there- with tapioca curry, fish fry, some leaf
preparation, dal and another vegetable. And to top it, got yoghurt with
treacle, which was our favourite in Sri Lanka.
The famous
Sorabora Wewa, a massive irrigation
reservoir, was our last stop for the day. It has an interesting story that you
can read
here .
The tank has been built by damming the Diyawanna Oya with a 485-meter
embankment. It does not make use of the structure called Bisokotuwa, which
helps to regulate water pressure at the sluice gates from inside the tank and
protect the embankment from erosion. Instead of that, the sluice gate (Sorowwa)
of the tank has been placed strategically away from the embankment and made up
utilizing the massive natural rock around the tank. We took a long walk in this
magical place and headed back to Kandy.
On the next day we visited the impressive
PeredeniyaUniversity campus where I gave a presentation at the Dental school. The
University
of Peredeniya, the state university in Sri Lanka, hosts nine
faculties (including the newly added Management faculty), two postgraduate
institutes, 10 centres, 73 departments, and teaches about 11,000 students in
the fields of Medicine, Agriculture, Arts, Science, Engineering, Dental
Sciences, Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Management and Allied Health
Science.
Coming back to our hotel in Kandy, we spent a leisurely
afternoon sitting in the balcony, looking at the flowing stream, and reading a
book. In the evening we went to attend the
cultural function at
the Kandy Cultural Club. The Kandyan Art Association & Cultural Centre has
an auditorium which organises a 1-hour traditional dance and music performance
showcase every day at 5:30 pm, which includes fire eating and fire walking. As
many as 12 different folk and traditional dances were performed by Kandy lake
club dance troop and it was a feast to the eyes.
The highlight of the show was definitely the fire walking, where the artists walked through a specially prepared fire pit, roughly 8
feet by 3 feet covered with red-hot charcoal, completely barefoot and emerged
unharmed at the other end!
The fire walking is supposed to have its roots in
the Valmiki epic of "Ramayana", where the king of Sri Lanka Ravana
abducted "Sita" and after regaining her in an epic battle with
Ravana, she was made to prove her chastity by walking through fire barefoot.
On the next day we started from Kandy to
Nuwara Eliya
and prayed at the
Hanuman temple. It is believed that Sri Hanumanji set his
feet in these holy hills when he was in search of Sitaji, before rescuing her
from the Seetha Eliya where there is Sri Seetha Amman Temple today.
It was Chinmayananda
Swamiji’s Sankalpa, when he visited Sri
Lanka in 1980, to set up a spiritual centre at Rambodha. Chinmaya Mission Sri
Lanka, with the blessings of Gurudev, purchased 10 acres of land in 1981 at
Wevanden Hills.
This is a nicely built Hanuman Temple in serene surroundings
overlooking a valley with mountain range that look Like Lord Hanuman sleeping with face up
towards the sky praying to Lord Rama. The statue is about 19' tall.
After seeing the
Ramboda Falls, which is
109 m high and 11th highest waterfall in Sri Lanka, we checked into the ‘Dewy
Resort’ in Nuwara Eliya.
Ramboda Falls
Nuwara Eliya is a city in the hill country of the Central
Province, Sri Lanka. Its name means "city on the plain (table land)"
or "city of light". It is at
an altitude of 1,868 m and is considered to be the most important location for
tea production in Sri Lanka. Nuwara
Eliya is known for its temperate, cool climate — the coolest area in Sri Lanka.
When you check into a hotel, confirm that there is hot water supply 24 hours
since many hotels do not provide and it is quite chilly at night and early
mornings.
After lunch we went to
Seetha Eliya, to the
Seetha Amman
temple.
Hanumanji's foot print infront of the idols
This place is believed to be the site where Sita was held
captive by king Ravana, and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her.
The temple is patterned on the modern south Indian temple, set in idyllic
countryside beside a clear stream. Here also we were lucky to be present during
the puja time.
Ambewala
Then we drove to Ambewela, which is a small town, or a hill
station, with ideal climatic and economical conditions for dairy farming. The
country's only milk powder factory is situated in this area, which is also
sometimes called "Little New Zealand".
The
Ambewela Farm has purebred Ayrshire cattle.
These pedigree cows require a great deal of attention, and in order to maintain
the quality of the milk, the farm management takes great care to provide them
with a balanced diet and sterilized drinking water. In addition, the cattle are
given excellent healthcare by two resident veterinary surgeons at the farm that
tend to the animals on a 24-hour basis. The farm also produces yoghurt and
cheese, and we bought a packet of Gouda cheese and it was comparable to what we
have eaten in Europe.
On the next day, Sunday morning, we went to
Bojun Hala (Food Stalll) , which we came to know only because of our driver, Nuwan.
These are spacious halls with open kitchens, serving quintessentially Sri Lankan food at subsidized prices, to promote local produce and to empower women, who do the cooking.
Oh my! What
a variety of items they have. The dishes are prepared by ladies. Wherever we found these points, we always ate
from there.
And every single item we sampled was superb. I have adopted many
Sri Lankan dishes in my daily cooking. We just couldn’t sample all the items,
looks like we need to make another trip to do that.
St. Clair's Falls
With our satisfied stomachs, we went to the St. Clair's
Falls, which is one of the widest waterfalls in Sri Lanka and is commonly known
as the "Little Niagara of Sri Lanka". The falls are located along the
Kotmale River, it cascades over three rock outcrops into a large pool, running
through a tea estate, from which the falls derive their name from. The
waterfalls consist of two falls called "Maha Ella" (Sinhalese
"The Greater Fall"), which is 80 metres high and 50 metres wide and
"Kuda Ella", (Sinhalese "The Lesser Fall"), which is 50
metres high and located immediately downstream of the main fall.
Now it was time to experience the
train journey from Nuwara
Eliya to Ella. Bought our train tickets from Nanu Oya station, ate our packed
lunch of milk rice, dal payasam and unniyappam and boarded the train for 2 ½
hours train trip, which is described as ‘journey through the clouds’.
Dowa Raja Maha Viharaya
Our driver Nuwan was waiting at the Ella station and we took
a room in ‘Sun Top Inn’.
After a short rest, we started for the
Dhowa rock
temple (Dowa Raja Maha Viharaya), which is thought to be done by King Walagamba
in the in first century BC. The temple has gained popularity mainly due to its
uncompleted image of the massive 38 feet Buddha Statue carved in the granite rock.
The Image house built inside the cave is full of colourful
murals and Buddha Images and consist of 3 chambers. At the main entrance, on
either side, there are two guardians, one with an elephant in its mouth and the
other with a bull in its mouth. They are supposed to be Watuka and Kuvera, two
Rakshasa tribal leaders, guarding the entrance to the shrine room. The door
frame of the Image House in the temple is made out of solid rock and has an
inscription to say it was built in 1880.
At the back of the image house is a small stupa inside a
cave. Behind the stupa is a tunnel called the Ravana Guhawa guarded by a figure
of a Clay King Cobra. This 11 km long tunnel is said to be connecting the
Ravana Maha Viharaya at Ella and the Bogoda Raja Maha Viharaya. It is believed
that Ravana used to come through this tunnel to worship here.
Ravana waterfall
Next day early morning we checked out of the hotel and
visited the Ravana waterfall. It was really beautiful and exuded so much of
power that I had to just close my eyes and do a short meditation to imbibe some
of it. On a small wayside shack we got awesome rottis, red chilli sambal and
tender jackfruit dry preparation. He also served us a herbal drink that was
prepared from the leaves of a jungle tree.
Ravana Waterfall
Rottis, red chilli sambal, tender jackfruit sabzi
Health drink made from this jungle leaf
Hambantota port
It is a maritime port in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Construction
of the port began in January 2008.The first phase of the port was opened on 18
November 2010, with the first ceremonial berthing of the naval ship
"Jetliner" to use the port facilities. However the port incurred
heavy losses making debt repayment an issue.
On July 29, 2017 Sri Lanka signed
a long-delayed US$1.5 billion deal to lease its deep-sea port of Hambantota to
China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPort). Under the agreement, CMPort, Sri Lanka
Ports Authority (SLPA), the Sri Lanka government, Hambantota International Port
Group (Private) and Hambantota International Port Services Company (Private)
agreed on the terms of a
99-year concession agreement in relation to the
development, management and commercial operations of the Chinese-built
Hambantota Port.
Mirissa beach
Mirissa is a small town on the south coast of Sri Lanka.
Mirissa's beach and night life make it a popular tourist destination. It is
also a fishing port and one of the island's main whale and dolphin watching
locations.
Mirissa was affected by the tsunami caused by the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake, with numerous houses, guesthouses, shops, schools and
temples destroyed or damaged and many deaths. The sea is crystal clear and
warm. This small sandy tropical beach boasts some of Sri Lanka’s best and most
stunning sunsets and sunrises.
We had an awesome traditional lunch at the beach, of rice,
dal, breadfruit curry made with coconut milk, fish curry, beans and raw mango
sweet curry.
Galle Fort
Galle Fort in the Bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri
Lanka, was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, and then extensively
fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. It is a
historical, archaeological and architectural heritage monument, which even
after more than 423 years maintains a polished appearance, due to extensive
reconstruction work done by Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka.
The Galle Fort, also known as the Dutch Fort or the
"Ramparts of Galle", withstood the tsunami which damaged part of
coastal area Galle town. The Sri Lankan government and many Dutch people who
still own some of the properties inside the fort are looking at making this one
of the modern wonders of the world. The heritage value of the fort has been
recognized by the UNESCO and the site has been inscribed as a cultural heritage
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We walked around the fort, then sat there and watched the
sea for sometime, which was a very relaxing experience.
Hikkaduwa beach
Now we drove to the last stop before reaching our destination,
the Hikkaduwa beach. It is a well-known international destination for
board-surfing. On this beautiful beach you can relax, enjoy the sun and have
the option of surfing, snorkelling or scuba diving. Being the site of the famed
coral garden, glass bottomed boats are available on hire and visitors can
explore the underwater fantasies. It has approximately seventy varieties of
multi-coloured corals.
Hikkaduwa was affected by the tsunami caused by the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake along with nearby villages Telwatta, Paraliya (Queen of
the Sea rail disaster), Dodanduwa, Kahawa and Rathgama.
In memory of those who died in the Tsunami
In the aftermath of the
tsunami, many of the families who had lost everything were given sewing
machines as part of the relief operations. As a result, the town has a
multitude of tailors who will custom make shirts, pants, and shorts.
During the drive back we got to see sunset and enchanting skyline.
Back to Battaramulla
By 8.30 pm we reached our friend’s house, had a shower,
dinner and slept. Next day was for relaxation before spending another sleepless
night to take the flight back home. We did some yoga, Reiki, and a group
meditation.
That meditation consolidated all the things that I had
accumulated during the trip and I got the message why our previous two plans to
visit Sri Lanka did not materialise. This was a country with stabilising
energies that could take our spiritual level to a higher plane. During all these years with our continuous
spiritual progress, this upliftment was significant, which must be what the
Universe had decided to bless us with!
Grounding and stabilising energy
During our flight back, I was pondering why the energy I
experienced in Sri Lanka was so stabilising and grounding. Sita was held in
captivity there and she had ample time to meditate and do deep listening. This
definitely must have imparted a great amount of energy.
Sita was the daughter of mother Earth and she must have been
totally in spirit with her daughter at that spot. That may be the reason we saw
so many huge trees with thick roots that were visible spreading far and wide.
This was really an exceptional sight that one doesn’t get to see in other parts of
the world. Big trees have the ability to
ground us and it was very evident there.
Ravana’s power was palpable and even a few minutes
meditation at the Ravana waterfall energised me so much. He was one f the gate
keepers of Lord Vishnu and due to a curse, he had to
take birth on the earth,
with an option to take seven births as a devotee of Vishnu, or to take three
births as his enemy. Since he couldn’t bear the thought of staying away from
Vishnu for seven lives, he chose to be born three times as enemies of Vishnu.
After the three births, he returned to Vishnu Loka as Jaya. In the modern era
of Kaliyuga, he is free from the curse and it is possible that there may be
energy streaming from Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu.
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