Kandy Lake

Kandy Lake (Sinhalese: බෝගම්බර වැව or කිරි මූද), also known as Kiri Muhuda or the Sea of Milk, is an artificial lake in the heart of the hill city of Kandy, Sri Lanka, built in 1807 by King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe next to the Temple of the Tooth. Over the years, it was reduced in size. It is a protected lake, with fishing banned. There are many legends and folklore regarding the lake. One such is that the small island at its center was used by the king's helm for bathing and was connected to the palace by secret tunnel.

History

Kandy Lake, the main body of water in Kandy in central Sri Lanka, is a man-made lake created in 1807 by the last Sinhalese king of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, using forced labor. Deveda Moolacharya is considered the architect of the Kandy Lake. The king used land which was a paddy field to create the lake. The king first built a dam across the paddy fields, starting from the Pattiruppuwa (Octogen) side, where the steps leading into the lake by the Mahamaluwa (Esplanade) are still visible, stretching across to the Poya-maluwa. The dam, upon which a roadway was constructed, allowed the king to go across to the Malwatte Vihare. According to D’Oyley, the dam was constructed between 1810–1812. It stands as an indictment of the excesses of the Kandyan monarchy for wasting away national resources to build an ornamental lake at a time when the kingdom was under serious threat. When a hundred of his advisors advised King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe against building the lake, he had them impaled on the reservoir bund of the paddy field which he was converting into the ornamental lake. It was not long before the British captured him, with help from his own noblemen disgruntled by his irrational policies.

Kandy

Kandy (Sinhalese: මහ නුවර Maha nuwara, pronounced [mahaˈnuʋərə]; Tamil: கண்டி, pronounced [ˈkaɳɖi]) is a major city in Sri Lanka, located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is the second largest city in the country after Colombo. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province. Kandy is the home of The Temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa), one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.

Etymology

The city and the region has been known by many different names and versions of those names. Some scholars suggest that the original name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near present Watapuluwa. However the more popular historical name is Senkadagala or Senkadagalapura, officially Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara (meaning 'great city of Senkadagala of growing resplendence'), generally shortened to 'Maha Nuwara'. According to folklore this name originated from one of the several possible sources. One being the city was named after a brahmin with the name Senkanda who lived in a cave near by, and another being a queen of Vikramabahu III was named Senkanda, and after a coloured stone named Senkadagala. The Kingdom of Kandy has also been known by various names. The English name Kandy, which originated during the colonial era, is derived from an anglicised version of the Sinhalese Kanda Uda Rata (meaning the land on the mountain) or Kanda Uda Pas Rata (the five counties/countries on the mountain). The Portuguese shortened this to "Candea", using the name for both the kingdom and its capital. In Sinhalese, Kandy is called Maha nuwara, meaning "Great City" or "Capital", although this is most often shortened to Nuwara.

Kandy (disambiguation)

Kandy is a city in the centre of Sri Lanka.

Kandy may also refer to:

People with the name

See also