Hannah Speed and the Temple at Kataragama

Today we had a well- earned day off from the Project and Ruwantha decided that we should see as much of southern Sri Lanka as possible so today may well be a two blog day!

Here is Part 1 from Hannah, she is our RE expert.......

We boarded the mini bus with much excitement as in our little "pre-adventure talk" we had been assured to pack a spare set of clothes for a water surprise later, this was to be the first temple of the trip and as the temples are such a pinnacle of exploration in Sri Lanka we were all especially looking forward to experiencing it.

About an hour into our journey and many questions about Buddhism such as, "If someone reaches enlightenment, then breaks the first Buddhist precept by accidentally murdering someone, what happens to them?" we stopped off for a stroll to stretch our legs;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area we walked round was a man made water tank which is used for irrigating the surrounding paddy fields that has been transformed into a nature reserve. The lake was simply stunning and exactly how I imagined Sri Lanka to be before arriving in the country; the water was a deep blue with rippling waves and the path was shaded by many ornate trees with flowers dripping off them and around the edges of the lake were exotic flowers which equally exotic birds were flocking around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we walked around the lake we gratefully piled into the minibus to escape the broiling sun (some of us had forgotten to take our water with us; despite the helping packing card supplied by Mrs Clarke and Mrs Speed) and we headed to our next stop- the temple.

 

We got off the minibus to surroundings not quite in our mind's eye- whilst I had expected a bustling tourist town there were only a few buildings spread sparsely about and the atmosphere was very quiet and tranquil. Mr Knight shared some of his extensive knowledge of Buddhism with us and informed us that the Buddha statue in the below photograph had the meaning of 'keeping grounded' as its hand was rested on the floor, and in fact many statue meanings differ on the slight difference in the positioned of the hands and the symbolism behind it,

 

 

We then entered the main complex. Kataragama is a really fascinating site as it combines 3 major religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in one area with their religious places of worship within walking distance of each other. Many pilgrims visit this holy site with a particularly interesting tradition being to offer a coconut to the god Kataragama by setting it alight first and holding it aloft whilst simultaneously saying a prayer before smashing it to pieces on one of the stones- if your coconut fails to smash into pieces it is considered a very bad omen. I was quite tempted, whilst reading about the ritual, to try and perform it in the hope of quickly healing my blister in the palm of my hand from sand sifting which I have informed the whole group about seemingly at least twice every hour.

 

Walking around the temple was a penance in itself as the stone floor surrounding the temple had reached feet-destroying temperatures during the midday heat. We took our shoes off to fit in with tradition and began walking slowly and calmly towards the temple before the heat begun to sear and everyone dissolved into pandemic jumping and leaping from shade to shade. Seeing the group hold onto the side of the steps relishing the centimetres of shade was a hilariously sight to behold. There were Buddhists offering Lotus flowers, which is a key symbol of Buddhism and there was much incense and of course statues of Buddha left, right and centre.

 

 

Surrounding the temple grounds were a pack of monkeys which we all found unbelievably adorable and tried to stealthily approach to get a closer look at. Chloe edged forward until she was the closest when the monkey hissed, made a territorial challenge jump towards her and she yelped and ran off.

 

 

 

 

As we walked out we all gratefully put our shoes back on, never again wishing to remove them and inflict burning pain on them again albeit Andrew and James felt so "spiritually enlightened" that they felt they had the will power and strong mental attitude to persevere and conquer the pain us mere mortals felt and walk down the strip bare foot- my feet hurt just looking at them. Eventually they did cave in after challenging each other of -who could walk the furthest- and put their shoes back on whilst sighing with relief in the shade.

 

Kataragama, to Sri Lankan Buddhists is one of the four main protectors of the island and he is frequently identified with peacocks, a bird which is sacrificed to him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we had the chance to experience what the real Sri Lanka was like, I'm having the most incredible time out here and I'd like to say hello to all my friends back home and to my Dad, I hope you're missing both mum and I and appreciate the clean bathroom whilst you can!! Hannah x

 

 

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