Temple of the Sacred Tooth and Dambulla Caves

The next day, I got up early and headed over to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. It is a Buddhist temple that is said to hold the Relic of the tooth of Buddha. Rituals are conducted three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evening. On Wednesdays there is a symbolic bathing of the Sacred Relic with an herbal preparation made from scented and fragrant flowers. The holy water is believed to contain powers and is distributed to those present.

According to the legend, the tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was smuggled to Sri Lanka in 313AD, hidden in the hair of Princess Hemamali who fled the Hindu armies besieging her father's kingdom in India.

There were hundreds of pilgrims there that day with most of them being Sri Lankan or Indian. Because of terrorists threats and past bombings of the temple, you don't get to actually see the tooth. For a brief moment, you get to pass by the room that holds the alter that holds the...whatever they keep the tooth in. Next stop: The Dambulla Cave Temple.

At the bottom of the hill before heading up the path to the caves, stands what is known as the Golden Temple with a huge Buddha statue sitting on top of the building.

I made my way up the hill to the temple complex which is spread over five caves which contain statues and paintings that are related to Lord Buddha and his life. There are 153 Buddha statues in all and various other statues of Sri Lankan kings and Hindu gods and goddesses.

A man explained to me the meanings of the various positions of the statues of Buddha which each specify a certain prospect of the principles of the teachings of Buddha. Positions include: The lotus position (meditation), the teacher position, and the resting position just to name a few.

That night, back at the hotel, there was some kind of "entertainment." I use the term loosely. There was a Sri Lankan guy with his keyboard and back tracks singing the international classics such as "Hello," (Lionel Ritchie), and "Hotel California." It was sooo bad. There was a group of drunk Irish people (from here in Al Ain it turns out) and one of the girls exclaimed, "OOOOh, karaoke," grabbed the mic and proceeded to "sing." Simultaneously, my now drunk driver was hanging all over me. Ugh, nightmare! I had to excuse myself and try and get to sleep among the caterwauling of the drunks doing their rendition of "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. I feared this was going to be a loooong week.

Offerings at the temple.

People waiting to see the "Sacred Tooth."

Inside the sacred temple.

Walking past the Golden Temple

Inside the Dambulla Cave Temple

Buddha in the resting position.

Cave temple entrance

Buddhist Monk statues