As the poya ceremony would start at around a quarter to seven we were shown into a Buddha- honouring Chamber whith the major events of his life depicted in paintings placed along the walls.
Our guide insisted we stayed in line on the left hand side of the upper two storey building, so as to be in a better position to see the opening of the seven gem-studed gold caskest in the shape of dagobas containing the sacred tooth relic, but another queue was formed on the opposite side for the hundreds of devotees who then started gathering with lamps, incense, jasmin flowers and food to pay their homage to the enlightened one ... and they seemed to be just facing the enshrined relic ...not we.
Drums could be heard ... as if announcing the ceremony, though we could not see what was going on underneath in the drummers' courtyard ... in a matter of seconds we were told to move forward and follow those in front of us, as the crowd approached the gold caskets ... but not only could we not stop to contemplate the relic nor take any photos ...
Before we reached the ground floor we followed the crowd into an octogonal chamber, the Pathirippuwa, which houses a rare collection of Buddhist books.
The drumming continued ... but we were told to keep on moving ... and so we did ...
There was a strange feeling of disappointment as we walked out of the Temple ..., a feeling of having been close to everything ... and having "perceived" nothing ... maybe that's the way it was supposed to be ...
It felt good being outside ...people were moving hastily ... but not we ... we were still trying to hold onto the "unfinished" emotions ... chants could be heard as we walked along the park, where there was no one to tell us to move ...we looked back ... as if to "capture" a last image of the shrine ... it looked beautiful ... or maybe I should say ... it is beautiful ...
Driving to the new hotel took some time, though it was located just uphill ..., The moment we walked into the room I forgot all the nuisance ... I was "mesmerised" by the touch of class ...
In spite of feeling extremely tired, I couldn't resist walking to the balcony to admire the lights over the Kandy lake ...
Hey nice blog and all the places here are beautiful...
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