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This magnificent pageant is an ancient religious ritual held annually in great reverence to honour the tooth relic of the Buddha. It is an endless procession of elephants, dancers, drummers, and Chieftains who follow a magnificent tusker carrying sacred relics in a golden casket. Kandy was the last stronghold of the Sinhala kings and finally ceded to the British in 1815. The Kumbal perahera is the first of five segments of the Kandy Perahera. The most colourful segment; the Randoli will parade the streets on July 30. The present Esala perahara in Kandy comprising five Kumbal peraheras was started in 1753 AD. The Kandy Esala perahara is an occasion for local artistes to pay their reverence to the sacred Tooth Relic of the Lord Buddha and to gods and goddesses. Some believe that this festival celebrates the victory of the gods over the demons. Others believe that the month of Esala was chosen to commemorate the birth of the Vishnu. The most common belief is that the Esala festival is celebrated annually as a religious festival in order to propitiate the gods to assure timely rains for cultivation. D.H. Lawrence in his ‘Selected Essays’ said, “I had looked over all the world for something that would strike me as religious. The Perahara in Kandy suddenly affected me with a sense of religion. I felt religion for a moment. For religion is an experience, an uncontrollable sensual experience, even more so that love....”
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