The Kandy Esala Perahera exists because of a tooth. Kandy’s Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic holds what Sri Lankan Buddhists revere as a tooth of the Buddha. No relic in the country matters more to them, and the festival parades a replica of it through the streets.
Accounts differ on exactly what goes on parade. The Guardian described a replica of the relic being carried around the city. Al Jazeera described the lead elephant bearing a golden casket of Buddhist relics. Either way, the honour of carrying it falls to one animal.
Ten days that build to a full moon
The festival runs for 10 days. The Guardian reported six fairly modest nights, then four that escalate, ending on the night of the poya, or full moon.
That last night brings thousands of Kandyan dancers and drummers and dozens of elephants dressed from trunk to toe. The Guardian put the usual count at about 50 elephants, sometimes as many as 100. Al Jazeera gave the figure as 100, walking among fire-eaters and drummers.
The elephant that carries the casket
From 2006 to 2021, the carrier was nearly always Nadungamuwa Raja. Decked in lights, he bore the golden casket through Kandy almost every year. After a motorcyclist nearly rode into him in 2015, he was given an armed escort of elite commandos.
He died in 2022 aged 68. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared him a “national treasure” and ordered his body preserved, and he went to taxidermists after Buddhist funeral rites.
He was not the first Raja. An earlier elephant of the same name carried the casket of 34 relics for exactly 34 years, from 1953 to 1986. When that Raja died in 1988 at 72, the government declared a national day of mourning, and he now has his own museum in the Temple of the Tooth compound.
How the carrier is chosen
Al Jazeera reported that choosing a successor would be a lengthy process. The elephant must come from a particular caste. Standing, it must touch the ground at seven points: four legs, trunk, tail and penis.
It also needs a flat back, tusks curved like a traditional winnowing basket, and a height of about 3.7 metres. The younger Raja stood only 3.2 metres, and he was allowed through because he was the tallest elephant in the country at the time. He had been born in India, a gift to Sri Lanka from an Indian prince.
A festival in a changing city
Kandy was the capital of the last Sinhalese kingdom, which held out against the Portuguese and Dutch until the British took it in 1815. The Guardian described the Perahera’s final night as the city’s biggest of the year and Sri Lanka’s most striking celebration.
It is also now a tourist draw. Elephants are a protected species in Sri Lanka, and animal rights campaigners say captive elephants are often mistreated. Temples and owners deny it.
