Sri Lanka: Events
Sri Lanka has an enormous range of Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim festivals. The Kandy Esala Perahera (July/August) is the country’s most important and spectacular pageant, with 10 days of torch-bearers, whip-crackers, dancers and drummers, not to mention elephants lit up like giant birthday cakes. It climaxes in a great procession honouring the Sacred Tooth Relic of Kandy. Second in importance is the Duruthu Perahera (January), held in Colombo, which celebrates a visit by Buddha to Sri Lanka.

Other celebrations include National Day (February), which is celebrated with parades, dances and national games; New Year (March/April), celebrated with elephant races, coconut games and pillow fights; Vesak (May), a sacred full moon festival commemorating the birth, death and enlightenment of Buddha; the Hindu Vel festival (July/August) in Colombo, where the ceremonial chariot of Skanda, the God of War, is hauled between two temples; and the predominantly Hindu Kataragama festival (July/August) in Kataragama, where devotees put themselves through a whole gamut of ritual masochism.

Sri Lanka: Sights

Aukana
Transport bus: from Kekirawa Keyword monument, religious/spiritual According to tradition the magnificent 12m (30ft) standing Aukana Buddha was sculpted during the reign of Dhatusena in the 5th century – though some sources date it to the 12th or 13th century. Aukana means ‘sun-eating’, and dawn, when the first rays light up the huge statue’s finely-carved features, is the best time to see it.

There’s a local story that the statue is so finely carved that a drop of water would fall from its nose, without any breeze, between the Buddha’s feet. There’s another statue nearby, inferior and incomplete but nevertheless worth a visit.

Dimbulagala
Keyword religious/spiritual, cave Dimbulagala, or Gunners Quoin, stands out 545m (1787ft) above the surrounding scrub. There are hundreds of caves cut out of the rock in a Buddhist hermitage that has been occupied almost continuously since the 3rd century BC. The temple at the base is the first of 15 cave temples in the complex that can be explored on the way to the dagoba at the top.

Panduwasnuwara
Transport bus: from Kurunegala & Chilaw; ask to be dropped at village Keyword archaeological site, museum The 12th century remains of the temporary capital of Parakramabahu I are nothing on the scale of Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa, but it’s worth stopping in if you’re heading past, even though the sprawling site, covering 20ha (50ac) hasn’t been fully excavated.

There are many stories about who lived in this palace and why it was built, but however attractive they may be the fact is that no-one really knows why this place was built.

Ridi Vihara
Transport bus: btw Kurunegala & Ridigama village roughly every 45 min Keyword monument, religious/spiritual, cave Ridi Vihara, literally the ‘Silver Temple’, is so named because it was here that silver ore was discovered in the 2nd century BC. Although not on the usual beaten track, it’s well worth a visit to see its wonderful frescoes and the unusual Dutch tiles in the main cave.

Legend has it that a king established the complex as a sign of gratitude for the discovery of silver, which allowed him to complete other