SACRED SITES OF SRI LANKA

Description

No country, apart from India, is as closely allied with the Buddha’s travels as Sri Lanka, which was visited thrice by the Buddha and received corporal relics and a branch of the Bodhi tree after his death. Today the Buddha’s eye-tooth is venerated daily by thousands in Kandy and regarded as a priceless relic.

Buddhism is not the only religion to have influenced the island. Kataragama is a major Hindu site devoted to a Hindu god, while Christianity and Islam are also part of the mix. From Europe, the Portuguese, Dutch and English added new spiritual layers in a colonial period of nearly three centuries. As a result, understanding the country through the lens of sacred sites provides a special glimpse into this unique civilisation.

Art historian, Donald Stadtner is the author of many acclaimed books in particular Sacred Sites of Burma: Myths and Folklore in an Evolving Spiritual Realm