Saturday, 24 August 2013 00:01
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The grandest festival to be held in the month of August in Sri Lanka and one of the most sacred pageants attended by those of many faiths from across the world, the historic Esala Perahera is the festival of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha.
An event unique to Sri Lanka, the Esala Perahera is thought to date back to the 3rd Century BC as a ritual enacted to request the gods for a good rainfall to help the agricultural economy of the country at the time. However the ‘Dalada Perahera’ is believed to have begun when the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka by Princess Hemamala and Prince Dantha from India during the reign of King Kirthi Sri Megavarana in the Anuradhapura era
– Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi
