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| Dalada Maligawa - Buddhist Temple of Tooth Relic |
Kandy is a major city in
Sri Lanka, located in the
Central Province,
Sri Lanka. It is the second largest city in the country after
Colombo. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka.
[1]
The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses
an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most
scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an administrative and religious
city. It is also the capital of the
Central Province. Kandy is the home of The Temple of the Tooth Relic (
Sri Dalada Maligawa),
one of the most venerable places for the Buddhist community of Sri
Lanka and all around the world. It was declared a world heritage site by
UNESCO in 1988.
Toponymy
The city and the region has been known by many different names and
versions of those names. Some scholars suggest that the original name of
Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near present
Watapuluwa.
However the more popular historical name is Senkadagala or
Senkadagalapura, officially Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara
(meaning 'great city of Senkadagala of growing resplendence'), generally
shortened to 'Maha Nuwara'. According to folklore this name originated
from one of the several possible sources. One being the city was named
after a
brahmin with the name Senkanda who lived in a cave near by, and another being a queen of
Vikramabahu III was named Senkanda, and after a coloured stone named Senkadagala. The
Kingdom of Kandy
has also been known by various names. The English name Kandy, which
originated during the colonial era, is derived from an anglicised
version of the
Sinhalese
Kanda Uda Rata (meaning the land on the mountain) or Kanda Uda Pas Rata
(the five counties/countries on the mountain) . The Portuguese
shortened this to "Candea", using the name for both the kingdom and its
capital. In Sinhalese, Kandy is called
Maha Nuvara, meaning "Great City" or "Capital", although this is most often shortened to
Nuvara, pronounced
Nuwara.
Founding
Historical records suggest that Kandy was first established by the
Vikramabahu III (1357–1374 CE), who was the monarch of the
Kingdom of Gampola, near the
Watapuluwa area, north of the present city, and named
Senkadagalapura at the time.
Early Years as Capital
Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu (1473–1511) was the first king of the
Kingdom of Kandy, he was a royal from the Kotte Royal Blood line and ruled Kandy as a semi-independent kingdom under the
Kingdom of Kotte, making it the new capital of the Kandyan Kingdom. Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu was followed by his son
Jayaweera Astana (1511–1551) and then by
Karaliyadde Bandara (1551–1581) who was succeeded by his daughter
Dona Catherina of Kandy (1581-1581). Dona Catherina was succeeded by
Rajasinha I. Rajasinha I however, preferred to rule the hill country from the
Kingdom of Sitawaka
on the west of the island. A period of turmoil for power ended with the
ascent to the throne by Konappu Bandara who came to be known as
Vimaladharmasuriya I.
Vimaladharmasuriya I having embraced Buddhism consolidated his authority further by bringing the
tooth relic of the Lord Buddha to Kandy from a place called Delgamuwa.
In 1592 Kandy became the capital city of the last remaining independent
kingdom in the island after the coastal regions had been conquered by the
Portuguese. Several invasions by the Portuguese and the
Dutch (16th, 17th and 18th century) and later by the
British (most notably in 1803) were repelled.
The kingdom tolerated a Dutch presence on the coast of Sri Lanka,
although attacks were occasionally launched. The most ambitious
offensive was undertaken in 1761, when King
Kirti Sri Rajasinha attacked and overran most of the coast, leaving only the heavily fortified
Negombo
intact. When a Dutch retaliatory force returned to the island in 1763,
Kirti Sri Rajasinha abandoned the coastline and withdrew into the
interior. When the Dutch continued to the jungles the next year, they
were constantly harassed by disease, heat, lack of provisions, and
Kandyan sharpshooters, who hid in the jungle and inflicted heavy losses
on the Dutch.
The Dutch launched a better adapted force in January 1765, replacing
their troops' bayonets with machetes and using more practical uniforms
and tactics suited to jungle warfare. The Dutch were initially
successful in capturing the capital, which was deserted, and the
Kandyans withdrew to the jungles once more, refusing to engage in open
battle. However, the Dutch were again worn down by constant attrition. A
peace treaty was signed in 1766. The Dutch remained in control of the
coastal areas until 1796, when Great Britain took them over (while the
Netherlands under French control) as part of the
Napoleonic wars. British possession of these areas was formalized with the
treaty of Amiens in 1802. The next year the British also invaded Kandy in what became known as the First Kandyan War, but were repulsed.
As the capital, Kandy had become home to the
relic of the tooth of the Buddha which symbolizes a 4th-century tradition that used to be linked to the
Sinhalese
monarchy, since the protector of the relic was the ruler of the land.
Thus the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Tooth were placed in close
proximity to each other.
The last ruling dynasty of Kandy were the
Nayaks.
Kandy stayed independent until the early 19th century. In the Second
Kandyan War, the British launched an invasion that met no resistance and
reached the city on February 10, 1815. On March 2, 1815, a treaty known
as the
Kandyan Convention was signed between the British and the
Radalas
(Kandyan aristocrats). With this treaty, Kandy recognized the King of
England as its King and became a British protectorate. The last king of
the kingdom
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was captured and taken as a royal prisoner by the British to
Vellore Fort
in southern India along with all claimants to the throne.Some of the
family members were also exiled to Tanjore (now known as Thanjavur, in
Tamil Nadu). Their erstwhile living place is still referred to as "Kandy
Raja Aranmanai" on the eastern part of Thanjavur town on Old Mariamman
Koil Road.
Colonial
During the
British period in Sri Lanka the history of Kandy and its townscape witnessed rapid and drastic change and particularly after the
Uva Rebellion.
Sir Lowry is noted for recording in his Gazetteer "The story of English
rule in the Kandyan country during the rebellion of 1818 cannot be
related without shame...Hardly a member of the leading families remained
alive...Those whom the sword and the gun had spared,
cholera and
small pox
and privations had slain by the hundreds...Others became ignorant and
apathetic. Any subsequent development efforts of the government for many
years were only attempts begun and abandoned".
[3]
The first time
Sri Lanka fully fell into the hands of a foreign power was in Kandy with the signing of the
Kandyan Convention in 1815 at the
Sri Dalada Maligawa. The king,
Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy who was of
South Indian ancestry faced powerful opposition from the
Sinhalese
chieftains and sought to reduce his power. A successful coup was
organized by the Sinhalese chieftains in which they accepted the British
crown as their new king. This ended over 2500 years of
Sri Lankan monarchs and the line of
Kandyan monarchs and Rajasinha was taken as prisoner. By 2 March 1815 the islands sovereignty was under that of the
British Empire. The treaty was not signed by the deposed King but by members of his court and other dignitaries of the Kandyan Kingdom.
In 1848 led by
Gongalegoda Banda and
Puran Appu saw the rebellion known as the
Matale Rebellion.
Prior to that the city and the country had been under British rule for
32 years, in which the British had expropriated the common land of the
peasantry and reduced them to extreme poverty. The Kandyan villagers
were forced to abandon their traditional way of life and become
wage-workers in the abominable conditions that prevailed on these new
estates and plantations that had been introduced, despite all the
pressure exerted by the colonials the Kandyans refused. This forced the
British to bring in hundreds of thousands of
Tamil coolies
from southern India. The Rebellion began on the 26 July 1848 with
Gongalegoda Banda, crowned as king, and Puran Appu, as prime minister,
and their main objective to capture Kandy back from the British. The
Matale Rebellion was a peasant revolt in the hands of the
Common people, the Kandyan leadership being totally wiped out after the
Uva Rebellion, marked the first step in a transition from the classic
feudal
form of anti-colonial revolt to modern independence struggles. The
leadership was for the first time passed from the Kandyan provinces into
the hands of ordinary people or non-aristocrats.
In 1944, during
World War II, the
South East Asia Command of the allies was moved to Kandy, where it remained till the end of the war.
Modern and contemporary
It is the second-largest city of the island and the capital of
Central Province of modern Sri Lanka. Its geographic location has made
it a major transportation hub in the island: while Kandy being the
gateway to the Central Highlands
[4]
of Sri Lanka, the city can be reached by major motorways in every
direction of the island. The railway line from Colombo, the sea port on
the western coast runs via Kandy to the farthest point of Badulla
[5] in the Central Highlands. The main roads Colombo-Kandy and Kandy-Nuwara Eliya
[6] are two of the most scenic roads of Sri Lanka; Colombo-Kandy
[7]
road passes through rubber plantations and rice paddies, Kandy-Nuwara
Eliya road cuts through paddy fields and seamless tea plantations. Both
roads claw their way up winding, rounding over the rings of hills.
Currently feasibility studies are afoot for another highway between
Colombo and Kandy via Kadawata and the scenic city of Katugastota.
Government
The
Kandy Municipal Council
governs the City of Kandy, it was established under the Municipalities
Ordinance of 1865. The inaugural meeting had been held on 20 March 1866.
The
Kandy Town Hall was established in the present premises known as the
Dunuwille Walawwe in 1870.
[8]
The
Government Agent of the
Central Province had presided over the council until 1939 when the Mayor was elected. The first elected mayor was Sir
Cuda Ratwatte.
With further amendments to the ordinance in 1978 the Mayor became the
Executive Head whilst the Commissioner was the Administrative head.
Presently the Council consists of 24 members. The Governing Party,
United National Party
has 14 and the opposition 10. The Council meets once a month to review
the progress and decide on the implementation of its projects. Five
standing committees of the Council, namely Finance, Law, Works, Sports
and Welfare Services (Pre-Schools, Library), also meet monthly to
evaluate and recommend to Council relative matters for approval.
Scope
The city of Kandy lies at an elevation of 465 metres (1,526 ft) above
sea level.
Its plan developed around two open spaces: an elongated square, at the
end of which are the administration buildings of the old capital, and an
artificial lake that is quadrangular in form. A public garden adds to
the openness of the city's spatial organization.
On the north shore of the lake, which is enclosed by a parapet of
white stone dating to the beginning of the 19th century, are the city's
official religious monuments, including the Royal Palace and the Temple
of the Tooth, known as the Dalada Maligawa (daḷadā māligāva).
Reconstructed in the 18th century, the Dalanda Maligawa is built on a
base of
granite that was inspired by the
temples of Sri Lanka's former capital city,
Anuradhapura. An array of materials (
limestone,
marble, sculpted
wood,
ivory, etc.) contribute to the richness of this temple. Throughout this small
holy city, a number of recent Buddhist
monasteries can be found.
Kandy has now grown out to encompass
Peradeniya,
home to the University of Peradeniya and the Botanical Gardens,
Katugastota to the north, and east to Kundasale, Tennekumbura and
Gurudeniya.
Topography
Kandy is located in the mountainous and thickly forested interior of
the island. The city is located in between multiple mountain ranges
including the
Knuckles mountain range and the
Hanthana Mountain Range, giving the city an elevation of 500 metres (1,600 ft) above
sea level. It lies adjacent to the artificial
Kandy Lake and south of
Udawatta Kele Sanctuary.Today udawatte kele is reducing its area.
Climate
With Kandy located in the centre of the island and in a high
elevation, the city has a relatively wetter and cooler temperatures than
that of the tropical climate of the rest of the country, especially the
coastal regions. The city has its dry season from December through to
April.
[9]
From May through to July and December to January the region experiences
its monsoon season, during this time the weather is rough and unstable.
The island being in the
northern hemisphere
gives Kandy it coldest month in January and its hottest in July. From
March through the middle of May is the intermonsonsoonal period, during
this time there is light rain and strong humidity.
[10] The humidity is generally between 70% to 79%
.
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