The Sinhalese kings did not need to build fortresses and towers of defence. There were the cold and colourful valleys surrounded by hills, watered by sparkling streams amidst rambling wild roses and morning glory. The kings fled into any of these armoured palaces and the enemies were beaten in the passes. Hanguranketa was one of these natural fortresses of defence.
Kandy was the greatest natural fortress. It was guarded all along the way. No invader could guess where the danger lay. Wisely, therefore, he decided to turn back and go.
The last kings stayed here until the glory of Lanka vanished. Kandy remained closed up and unchanged all through the years. It was guarded by custom and tradition.
Though Kandy is less than Seventy five miles from Colombo, outsiders seldom went there to stay. They preferred the freedom of the low country.
Like the people the arts and crafts of Kandy remained unchanged, too. The silver and the brass work continued to be the same. The laquer work and the mat weaving saw no change. Thin, dim-sighted men with spectacles on their noses would sit down at their work-desks and beat into shape, silver, copper and brass vessels and vases, trays and scroll-cases with that precision known to the fine artist. The dull hammer blows resounded through the centuries like a wood pecker’s serenade and they are still heard in the same key, in the same unerring tempo in the low huts in the hills. But the artisan has been always a poor man, for , his traditional way of working is slow and primitive. Thus untouched by change Kandy has come down the years with its customs, manners, rituals of marriage, death and worship. It has its own laws still.
Kandy’s traditional Perahera is one of its magnificent manifestations, a momentary transformation of the old, majestic city, a splendid rehearsal of its past glory, when its dead kings and courtiers rise from their ashes and start along the torch –lit streets keeping time with the throbbing drums. When the gorgeous pageantry is over they walk back in to the night and melt into the shadows of time.. The farmers walk with their buffaloes into the fields, the craftsmen in to the low huts, the women into the hallowed routine of their daily lives.
The ways and manners of the people of this city in the hills and districts differ from those of the Sinhalese in the low country. The feudal system dominated the hill country for centuries. Every king and every chief was a feudal lord and the vast lands of his inheritance were worked and looked after by numerous vassals. They cultivated the lands and fields, harvested them and laid the fruit and the grain at the door of the masters.
The caste system had much to do in the social order in the hill country. At every ceremony each caste performed its traditional duty. This added to the magnificence to the master and to the color and the splendor of the ceremony.
Name: S.N.B. Ekanayake
Grade: 11-C
Dharmaraja College, kandy.
Date: 6/16/2009
Kandy was the greatest natural fortress. It was guarded all along the way. No invader could guess where the danger lay. Wisely, therefore, he decided to turn back and go.
The last kings stayed here until the glory of Lanka vanished. Kandy remained closed up and unchanged all through the years. It was guarded by custom and tradition.
Though Kandy is less than Seventy five miles from Colombo, outsiders seldom went there to stay. They preferred the freedom of the low country.
Like the people the arts and crafts of Kandy remained unchanged, too. The silver and the brass work continued to be the same. The laquer work and the mat weaving saw no change. Thin, dim-sighted men with spectacles on their noses would sit down at their work-desks and beat into shape, silver, copper and brass vessels and vases, trays and scroll-cases with that precision known to the fine artist. The dull hammer blows resounded through the centuries like a wood pecker’s serenade and they are still heard in the same key, in the same unerring tempo in the low huts in the hills. But the artisan has been always a poor man, for , his traditional way of working is slow and primitive. Thus untouched by change Kandy has come down the years with its customs, manners, rituals of marriage, death and worship. It has its own laws still.
Kandy’s traditional Perahera is one of its magnificent manifestations, a momentary transformation of the old, majestic city, a splendid rehearsal of its past glory, when its dead kings and courtiers rise from their ashes and start along the torch –lit streets keeping time with the throbbing drums. When the gorgeous pageantry is over they walk back in to the night and melt into the shadows of time.. The farmers walk with their buffaloes into the fields, the craftsmen in to the low huts, the women into the hallowed routine of their daily lives.
The ways and manners of the people of this city in the hills and districts differ from those of the Sinhalese in the low country. The feudal system dominated the hill country for centuries. Every king and every chief was a feudal lord and the vast lands of his inheritance were worked and looked after by numerous vassals. They cultivated the lands and fields, harvested them and laid the fruit and the grain at the door of the masters.
The caste system had much to do in the social order in the hill country. At every ceremony each caste performed its traditional duty. This added to the magnificence to the master and to the color and the splendor of the ceremony.
Name: S.N.B. Ekanayake
Grade: 11-C
Dharmaraja College, kandy.
Date: 6/16/2009
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