On Oct 5, 1:50?am, use..._at_mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr.

Jai Maharaj) wrote:

> How Sita treads the middle path

>

> Agenda

> The Pioneerhttp://www.dailypioneer.com

> Saturday, September 17, 2011

>

> Shri Lanka may be a Buddhist country, but its people revere the

> Goddess of firm faith. Anuradha Shankar visits the island nation and

> shows how Ramayan forms an inalienable part of Sinhala milieu despite

> Buddhism being a way of life for over two millennia

>

> It is tough to be unsentimental in Shri Lanka even as a tourist. A

> sigh of relief susurrates from the horizon-kissing sea to the

> bustling towns and the verdant country. The war is over and the whole

> world wants to help build roads, bridges, hospitals, schools,

> industries, even libraries and auditoria. The Shri Lankans are

> feeling expansive and many of them have gone back to calling India

> the mainland.

>

> This extends to the ready acknowledgement of shared ancestry, common

> linguistic roots and, of course, the panchsheela which underscores

> much of what both the nations stand for. As they celebrate 2,600

> years of the arrival of Arhat Mahinda (Prince Mahendra) from the

> mainland, they are both proud of their spiritual legacy flowing from

> Gautam Buddha and curious about their pre-Buddhist past.

>

> The chill of central India evaporated into the quiet warmth of the

> deep Colombo night as we drove into the city which could be anywhere

> in south India with its high-rise buildings and larger-than-life

> cutouts of politicians. We were stopped at innumerable check-points

> by almost-boys in uniform. They were interested without being

> intrusive. The mention of India brought smiles on their clean-shaven

> faces. However, they broke into a surprised look when we cited

> tourism as the purpose of our visit.

>

> Colombo is from the quintessential coastal stock. No Shri Lankan

> worth his pol sambol would leave you alone to gaze at the thrashing

> surf from one of the innumerable benches scattered along the

> waterfront. They are as inquisitive as us and want to know every

> filial detail, all the while throwing in suggestions for general

> improvement. There was much to see in Colombo but we thought of

> scaling the highlands first.

>

> On the road to Kandy, there's a kind of monastic discipline about the

> work people do, born out of the traditional system of division of

> labour. We crossed the toy village, pineapple, pottery and cashew

> ones too. Of particular oddity was the village, filled with porcupine

> where you may break the drive to take snapshots of these animals at

> Rs 100. But it's the larger picture that we were taken in by. The

> Dutch colonisers were keen botanists and created a series of

> herbariums, taking advantage of the rainforest conditions. The

> coconut-centric fish-crowned cuisine underlines this character with

> some delectable strokes. The whiff of spice villages along the way is

> just a prelude to the seed culture and plant genetics research

> centres at Kandy town. We rolled down the car windows, breathed in

> the aroma, suck the air heavy with rain and watched the green miles

> zoom by. For, the rainforest is an impenetrable palm green,

> relentlessly covering every inch of the earth, climbing up from

> courtyards and rice fields, covering every mound and hillock.

>

> The hills have helped Kandyan kings resist colonisers in the

> highlands, though they had to sign away their trading rights in the

> lowlands. Till 1815, Kandy held its own, then fell to the British.

> The road was built by the British as was a way of life, still evident

> in the country houses, with gables, eaves and sash windows, and big

> vintage cars in their driveways. People here have pride in these

> dainty beauties of yore and keep them in running condition. We passed

> by low tea bushes, seemingly a hunchback army caught in a race. "The

> Arabs like this variety," informs Jay, by now scenting out our

> curiosity rather than wait for our questions.

>

> We set foot at the Dalada Maligawa, or the Temple of the Tooth Relic,

> an imposing structure surprisingly quiet for the large number of

> devotees moving about its many corridors. The myriad-hued lotuses and

> sundry white blossoms weave a soft tapestry at every altar. There are

> pagodas and layered stone walls with huge stone steps, carved wooden

> doorways and roofs. The most dominant feature is the octagon or the

> Pattirippuwa, from where king Wickrama Rajasingha addressed his

> subjects.

>

> Inside, Buddha's tooth lies in a bejewelled casket behind closed

> silver doors. Reverence breathes heavy as the air hangs low with

> incense over rows and rows of lotus and other flowers. Seekers queued

> up in white to get their wish. Prayers should be silent here, for it

> is only your personal faith that can carry it past the door. Noise

> only bounces back.

>

> There are replicas of the shrine, jewel-crested stupas and giant,

> gold-plated Buddha statues for our visual awe, but we choose to stand

> before the ancient parchments of 550 life stories of Buddha till his

> enlightenment. And, we read gallery stories of the tooth relic, how

> it was saved from Brahminical tyranny, how a princess brought it to

> Lanka in a lock of her hair, how the tooth jumped up to the sky and

> shone like a star when someone tried to hammer it. Outside, the stars

> were out and we bowed out with the fragrant Araliya flowers in hand.

>

> The hands smelled good into the morning as we drove past sun dappled

> blues on our way down Kandy to Galle. We passed a newly-married

> couple, in all their finery, holding hands before the Bible rock, a

> flat hill so called because it spreads out like the holy book.

> There's no bigger God than nature.

>

> Kandy onwards to Nuwara Eliya is as beautiful as any hill-drive is:

> Green and green and more green in all hues and textures highlighted

> with summer blossoms in rainbow colours. It is only after Gampola

> that the city (Eliya) of light (Nuwara) reveals itself with its

> unimaginable uniqueness. It could be Darjeeling with the rolling

> slopes dressed in frill upon green frill of tea gardens. The

> rhododendrons in full scarlet bloom do their bit to emphasise the

> Himalayan aura. This is just a little above the equator. Our intrepid

> host informed us that these are bits of the mountain Hanuman lifted

> up from the Himalayas and carted to Lanka in aid of the wounded

> Lakshman. As Vasantha De Silva is a retired senior banker, there is

> no scope of any mythological claptrap here. In fact, as he pointed

> out, there are various random spots with these sudden alpine clumps

> of vegetation amid native flora. This is one place that is bound to

> make you lose the sense of time. Surrounded by lush tea plantations,

> Nuwara Eliya is the main hill resort of Shri Lanka and the heart of

> the tea industry. Once a pleasure retreat of the European planters,

> it is still very much an English town with many British-style

> bungalows and buildings. It is an ideal escape for those who miss

&