The Hill Country - Sri Lanka - page 327

or the possibility of a crime, and in the general contempt and contravention of all civil
rights, have become flagrant, enormous and intolerable.
Sri Wickrama Rajasinha was declared 'by the habitual violation of the chief and most
sacred duties of a sovereign,' to be 'fallen and deposed from office of king' and 'dominion
of the Kandyan provinces' was 'vested in…the British Empire.'
The tall-pillared audience hall hosted the convention of Kandyan chiefs that ceded the
kingdom to Britain in 1815.
The museum, along with four devales (complexes for worshipping deities) and two
monasteries - but not the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic itself - make up one of Sri
Lanka's Cultural Triangle sites.
St Paul's Church CHURCH
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Deva Veediya;by donation)
Construction of this red brick colonial-era church began in 1843 and was completed five
years later. It originally served as a garrison church for British troops based nearby. Today
it stands in solemn contrast to the boisterous comings and goings in the next door Temple
of the Sacred Tooth.
Kandy Garrison Cemetery CEMETERY
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; 8am-6pm)
This cemetery, which is a short walk uphill behind the National Museum, contains 163
graves dating back to colonial times. The most striking aspect of a visit to this melancholy
place is just how young most people were when they died - if you made it to forty you
were of a very ripe old age. Some of the deaths were due to sunstroke, elephants or jungle
fever.
Kandy Monasteries BUDDHIST TEMPLE
The principal viharas (Buddhist complexes) in Kandy have considerable importance - the
high priests of the two best known, Malwatte and Asgiriya, are the most important in Sri
Lanka. They are the headquarters of two of the main nikayas (orders of monks). The Mal-
watte Maha Vihara ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Sanagaraja Mawatha) is across the lake from the
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, while the Asgiriya Maha Vihara ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ;