Uncommon Places to Visit in Kandy Sri Lanka

There are numerous ways to plan a weekend with interesting places to visit in Kandy in Sri Lanka, many of which can be found on itinerary guides for Kandy, but there is a certain charm in exploring the city and its neighboring villages tracing its famed art and culture.

An essential guide to Kandy will highlight Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Lankatilaka Temple, Bahirawakanda Temple, Ceylon Tea Museum, CommonWealth War Cemetery, walk in Royal Botanical Garden, Hulu River Waterfall, UNESCO site Dambulla Caves, Hanthana Mountain Range – a hiker’s paradise, Giragama Tea Plantations and more as attractive places in Kandy.

With so many interesting things to do in Kandy you may have a tussle of thoughts on how many days to spend in Kandy Sri Lanka? You can safely keep three days to visit best places in Kandy.

Uncommon Places to Visit in Kandy

Ours was a well paced out trip itinerary of five days in Kandy by SriLankan Airlines. We visited some offbeat destinations around Kandy which are known for the traditional art and culture. All of them planned around the main festival of Kandy, the Esala Perahara. We explored the villages around Kandy city in a bus where we saw the village life, the people leading their lives in a calm manner, with no signs of unrest as is hyped by some journalists without even travelling in Sri Lanka.

As a prelude to witnessing the main festival we visited the various communities that contribute to the magnificence of this mammoth procession. It helped us understand to some extent how people of Kandy directly and indirectly contribute to the success of this grand procession of three hours that go on for ten days.

Street art in Kandy Sri Lanka

Ravibandhu Samanthi Dance Ensemble

Our first visit was to a dance school where students learn Kandian dance style. Many students who have passed out from this school have been selected for performing in the Perahera (procession) of the festival. Once they complete the ‘arangetram’ they are eligible to dance for the procession of Kandy Esala Perahera, the Festival of the Tooth relic.

Ravibandhu Vidyapathy with Samanthi his wife established a dance school, the Ravibandhu-Samanthi Dance Ensemble, in 1984. Together they run the dance academy. He teaches dance and drums. Samanthi, herself is a talented dancer, now prefers to impart her knowledge to young students.

Dance Ensemble Uncommon places to visit in Kandy

Ravibandhu’s son, Jeetendra, has taken on his illustrious parents. He too is a talented dancer and drummer. Both father and son gave short joint performances of basic drum beats and dance steps performed in the procession of the festival. The intense energy with which they transformed the musical beats into rhythmic fall of feet was mesmerizing to watch.

Jeetendra also performed the Thammattama drum beats. It is an essential instrument during religious services at Buddhist temples and shrines. It is a companion drum to Dawula drum played with two special sticks fashioned out of Kirindi.

Today they don’t perform in the processions but they are in possession of the several ornaments, headgears and jewelry that they had worn when they had performed. It gave us a rough idea of a dancer, which got a definite form when we witnessed the festival.

Ravibandhu and Jeetendra Vidyapathy

Wislan Apparel Factory Outlet

Major highlight of Kandy Esala Perahara festival is the procession of more than 100 elegantly decorated elephants through the streets of Kandy town. The elephants wear colourful costumes with elaborate embroidery on them. Have you ever thought how are such massive costumes made for the elephants?

A visit to Wislan Apparel factory in Kandy revealed the mammoth effort put into making these machine embroidered costumes. When we visited the factory we saw scores of skilled craftsmen and machinists engrossed in giving the last minute touches to the elephants’ dresses.

Touching and feeling the garments of elephants was a goosebumps affair for me. One costume alone weighs 35kg! To be in the sea of colourful threads was magical.

Wislan apparel Uncommon Places to Visit in Kandy

Kiriwaula Pilimathalawa village near Kandy

Lot of accessories made of brass are used during the Esala Perahera festival. They include huge sized flags, musical instruments, ornaments, vessels for temples and more.

We witnessed the making of some in Kiriwaula Pilimathalawa village where two brothers have set up a small scale industry for making the brass items used in Esala Perahara festival in Kandy Sri Lanka. The village is famous for creating brass masterpieces that are used in the festival. Many families have been involved in making traditional brass-ware items for generations now.

We saw the men at work with several tools and machines for making the brass items; the casting frames, furnace, buffing machine, mallets, and chisels. It is dust and dust all around the tiny factory, but from the dust comes the shiny brass items, the glitter of which will silence all.

Shops selling brass items

Drum makers’ village in Kuragala Sri Lanka

Visit to a drum makers’ village in Kuragala Sri Lanka was an amazing learning experience. Often we see a piece of musical instrument, cast a passing glance and just listen to the reverberating musical beats they produce.

The art of making the instrument and the skill that goes into making them produce the best musical organ with the right musical sound. For example – did you know if the strings that hold the shell of the drum produce the right note only if the tension of the strip that holds them is right?

kuragala – uncommon places to visit in Kandy

Around 80 families here are engaged in making different kinds of drums for generations. We witnessed the process in which these drums are made from scratch. The raw materials used for making this Geta Bera (bera in Sinhalese means drum) are:

• Logs of Jackfruit tree (Other trees are Golden shower, ironwood, Thespesia populnea, Deodar cedar, Margosa) which forms the shell of the drum
• Sides of this wooden shell are covered with cattle hide on one side that produces low pitched sound and other side with goat skin has a sound or beat higher in pitch.
• The strips used to hold the sides are made from deer skin.
• The drum is tied to the waist of the drummer.

Finally, on our last day in Kandy, we saw the drummers use these in the Esala Perahera procession.

Drum makers’ Village in Kandy

BABA Batiks in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Batik style of fabric painting originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. It has spread in many parts of Southeast Asia. It is a special technique of wax-resist dyeing, where hot molten wax is applied to the whole cloth, bit by bit, along a pre-drawn design.

At BABA Batiks, traditional Batik manufacturers in Kandy, Sri Lanka, they showed us the step by step method of producing the final art in the fabric. The number of days in which one batik design is completed depends on the number of colors used for the fabric.

The cost of the batik piece depends on the fabric used, the number of colors used and the quality of colors (herbal or chemical) used. During the procession they carried flags made from batik fabrics.

Batik collage of pictures

Kandy Temple of Tooth Relic

Kandy Tooth Relic temple is a place of great historic, cultural and spiritual significance. The temple is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy. The Sacred left Canine Tooth Relic of Bhagwan Buddha is housed here. It is one of the important places to visit in Kandy.

We witnessed the early morning Theva (rituals) performed for the Sacred Tooth Relic in the temple. The temple houses many other holy and traditional items that are taken out in the Esala Perahara procession. We saw the elephants that participate in the procession pampered with lots of food.

Tooth Relic Temple – Places to Visit in Kandy Sri Lanka

Kandy Esala Perahara

About Kandy Esala Perahera yearly festival, the most famous Buddhist festival of Sri Lanka – To my readers, here is a bit about what, when and how of the Tooth Relic of Buddha festival.
What – Esala Perahera is also known as ‘Dalada Perahera’ and ‘Kandy Perahera’ or as festival of the sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha is the oldest and grandest Buddhist festival in the country. The festival also honours the city’s four guardians, Gods Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and Goddess Pattini.
When – Esala Perahera is celebrated in July/August (July is called Esala in Sinhalese) for 10 days, dates decided from lunar calendar. It is believed the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment was in the month Esala. In 2022, the dates of Kandy Esala Perahera festival were between the days 2nd to 11th August.
How – It is a grand procession held yearly. Over hundreds of caparisoned elephants parade in the Perahera festival. An elegantly dressed majestic tusker carries the golden casket containing the tooth relic of Lord Buddha. A three hour long procession of elephants, temple dancers and singers go around the streets of Kandy. People line up along the streets, some arrive early to reserve the best place possible to watch the procession unhindered.

Kandy Esala Perahera Festival

History of Esala Perahera – This unique festival is believed to be a fusion of two separate Perahera (meaning processions) – the Esala and Dalada. Esala Perahera, dates back to the 3rd century BC, was a ritual to request the gods for rainfall while the Dalada Perahera began when the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka from India by Prince Dantha and Princess Hemamala during the reign of King Keerthi Sri Megawarna in the 4th century CE.
The public processions first started during the reign of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747 – 1782 AD), who ruled the Kandyan Kingdom, so that public too got to see and honor the sacred tooth relic.

Kandy Sri Lanka

About Kandy – Kandy, byname Maha Nuwara (Great City), is a city located in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka.
How to reach Kandy – The nearest airport to Kandy is the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. Distance from Colombo to Kandy is 70 km. You can hire private taxis or public transport to Kandy which will take less than 3 hours (Google says 2 hrs 41 min).

Conclusion

Sri Lanka, the pearl in Indian Ocean, is a wonderful destination for art lovers, culture vultures, history buffs and also for those spiritually inclined. This trip to Sri Lanka exposed the hidden corners of Kandy teeming with talented artists and reverberating with clangs of traditional music. However, for me the most memorable experience was the visit to factory that machine embroidered costumes for elephants!

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