'Kapruka pooja' - Mahiyangana Chaithya, Sri Lanka.

The Mahiyangana Chaithya

The cloth being ceremonially carried to the Chaithya.

Draping the cloth round the Chaithya.

The Chaithya draped round with the stitched cloth of multiple Buddhist flags.

The Mahiyangana Chaithya was the place where the Sacred Hair Relic and a bone of the neck of Lord Buddha is enshrined. It is considered an act of merit for a Buddhist to visit this site. 'Kapruka' is a mythical tree which fulfils ones wants. This tree is found in the adobe of the Gods. A 'Kapruka Pooja' of covering a Sacred Chaithya with cloth right round, is said to grant all ones wishes in life. The above is a series of pictures I took of a 'Kapruka Pooja' for the Mahiyangana Chathya.
Video:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Gmwhl4h8M

'Look-out point' and the 18 hairpin bends leading to Hasalaka, Sri Lanka.

Panorama from 'look-out point' past Madugoda

View of the 'Sorabora Wewa' from the 'look-out point'

There is a 'look-out point' past Madugoda before the 18 hairpin bends leading on to Hasalaka and Mahiyangana. There is always a severe blowing here. The air rising from the Mahiyangana valley blows through the gap in the hills at this point. You can see three water-reservoirs in the valley below. The one shown in the second picture is the 2000 year old 'Sorabora Wewa'. The video below shows the 18 hairpin bends after this point.
Video:-
18 hairpin bends
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KoNsI8wMnI

Hunnasgiriya, Sri Lanka.

The highest point on the Kandy - Mahiyangana highway, the town of Hunnasgiriya.

Looking down into the Mahiyangana valley.

The road from Kandy starts ascending from Theldeniya till it reaches its summit at Hunnasgiriya town. It is cold, windy and the mist covers the road very often. Then the descent starts and goes past Madugoda on its way to Hasalaka and Mahiyangana.
Videos:-

Ascent to Hunnasgiriya from Theldeniya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U2gdcYyKKM


Hunnasgiriya to Madugoda and beyond before the 18 hairpin bends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h80RXLSoH5M

An elephant gets a ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3mhIjHLh9k

Gangaramaya Buddhist Monastery, Lewalla, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

A 'Dewalaya'

The 'Bo Tree'

Inside the Gangaramaya temple on the road to Lewalla, Kandy. This is a very old temple bordering Udawaththakale on the side of the Mahawely Ganga. It has a lovely view of the valley below. It also has some paintings of the Kandyan period of Sri Lankan history.

The trinket seller, Dalada Maligawa, Kandy, Sri Lanka.

As an early teenager he had picked up a cigarette tin lying in the childrens' park bordering the Kandy Lake in the year 1971. As there was a rattling noise inside he had thought that there was a rat inside the tin and smashed it on a rock. The 'cigarette tin' exploded and he lost his thumb. It was the aftermath of the 1971 JVP insurgency. This must have been a hurriedly discarded 'cigarette tin hand-bomb' made by the JVP activists who used these during the insurrection of 1971.  He earns his living as a seller of trinkets on the outskirts of the Dalada Maligawa. He seemed a happy man and said that he had married off his children and his burdens in life have eased off.