Lanka Hotel Directory
According to legend, the tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was smuggled to Sri Lanka in 313 AD, hidden in the hair of Princess Hemamali who fled the Hindu armies besieging her father's kingdom in India. It immediately became an object of great reverence and was enshrined in a series of nested jeweled reliquaries.
The tooth was brought out for special occasions and paraded on the backs of elephants, which are sacred to the Buddha. where it survived numerous attempts to capture and destroy it. When the capital was moved to Kandy, the tooth was taken to the new city and placed in temples built to honor it. The temple was originally built under Kandyan kings between 1687 and 1707, but later severely damaged during the 18th-century colonial wars against the Portugese and Dutch. After the wars, the original wooden structures were restored in stone. In January 1998 Hindu Tamil separatists bombed the temple, damaging its facade and roof. Restoration began immediately afterward.
According to legend, the tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was smuggled to Sri Lanka in 313 AD, hidden in the hair of Princess Hemamali who fled the Hindu armies besieging her father's kingdom in India. It immediately became an object of great reverence and was enshrined in a series of nested jeweled reliquaries.
2011
Nov 3-
Sri lankan Culture
Sinhala (also called Sinhalese or Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese ethnic group which is the largest in Sri Lanka. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. Sinhala is spoken by about 16 million people in Sri Lanka, about 13 million of whom are native speakers. It is one of the constitutionally-recognised official languages of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil. Tamil is a classical language and the oldest of the Dravidian language family and spoken by the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. It is also spoken by Tamils in India, Malaysia and Singapore. As of 1996, it was the eighteenth most spoken language, with over 74 million speakers worldwide.
2011
Nov 3-
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
See baby jumbos wondering around their cramped foster home or bottle fed and bathed by their human foster fathers at Pinnawala, about 90Km from Colombo towards Kandy is the home to some 60 or more elephant orphans. A place you will really enjoy and never forget. Most orphans are accustomed to their curious human visitors are harmless. Started in 1972 the Elephant Orphanage was relocated to at the present site in 1975 Bathing time at Ma Oya just in front of the orphanage is sharp at 10.00am and 2.00pm. Feeding time is about and hour earlier.
2011
Nov 3-
Sri Lankan Animals in Yala
What a fantastic place Sri Lanka is for seeing many of the wild animals of the Indian Sub-continent! This island-country off the southeastern coast of India is home to Asian elephants, leopards, monkeys, mongoose, sloth bears, jackals, Sambar and chital deer, water buffalo and wild boars. Reptiles and amphibians include crocodiles and venomous snakes such as kraits, vipers and cobras, plus the more friendly geckos, frogs, and lizards. Birdlife is extraordinary (and we've given birds their own web pages). Unfortunately, of the more than 80 species of mammals in Sri Lanka, at least 22 are threatened with extinction. Habitat destruction by deforestation and water pollution is the main threat to these animals. The on-going civil war has led to more destruction especially in the north where rebels have poached animals for food.
2011
Nov 3-
Sri Lankan Beaches
Sri Lanka, an island floating in the blue waters of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Endowed with over a thousand miles of beautiful golden beaches fringed with coconut palms. A large percentage of Sri Lankan hotels and resorts are located along the seacoast. The main attraction for the most part is on the beaches and the resorts and less on the nearby towns and villages. However, some places like Galle on the west coast with its historical heritage, are included in the attraction even without the lure of the sun and sand. You can also stop on the drive down the west coast for interesting sidetrip like visiting a batik factory or a turtle hatchery, paying your respects at the local temple or sampling the local fruit and getting first hand knowledge on the art of toddy making. The western and southern coast beaches begins from Negombo, 13kms north of Colombo and curves south along the coastline for 273kms up to Hambantota. This is definitely the better developed of the two circuits and accounts for most of the hotels and the resorts. South of Colombo it is called the ?Cold Coast? and the resorts stretch from Mt. Lavinia (a suburb of Colombo) along Wadduwa, Kalutara, Beruwala, Bentota, Induruwa, Kosgoda, Ahungalla, Hikkaduwa, Calle, Unawatuna, Koggala, We- ligama, Dickewalla, Tangalle and finally Hambantota. The southern beaches are sandier than the western ones and do not shelve steeply into the sea.
2011
Nov 3-
Anuradhapura
Several centuries before the Jesus Christ, while the Greek empire was at its zenith, many other regions were emerging from the stone age; Anurdhapura was already and advanced civilization. The city was well laid out and well linked. Irrigated by sophisticated systems of man-made lake s and canals, this city was a world trade center. This is evidenced by the Greek merchant guide book titled "purples of the Erythraen Sea", Ptolemy's first ever map, and further by monk travelers Fa Hien and Buddagosha of, the 5th century A. D.
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