Random captures at the Maligawa

Captured these the last few times we visited the Maligawa (The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic) in Kandy.


Wel Bodhiya

It is one of the famous sacred Fig trees rising at one corner of the Maligawa premises. There is a legend behind this Bo tree which I might relate in a future post.

This site gets pretty crowded with devotees of all ages, especially during the big exam seasons like the Year 5 Scholarship, O/Ls and A/Ls. The whole Bo tree gets covered in flag festoons and small pieces of cloths wrapping coins and notes around then. Some of these flags have inscriptions of blessings with or without the name of the persons in question *(= exam candidate, etc.).

And then they keep pouring pots and pots of water to the roots of the Bo tree, sometimes sprinkled with sandalwood powder, jasmines and what not. It's all good but.. do they ever wonder even the Bo tree is a tree and there's a specific amount of water it can absorb and the excess water will only damage its roots. We had that issue in our village temple's Bo tree too and now it's finally been resolved.

It's nice to water the Bo tree to invoke blessings but.. just not too much. Also I've heard that if we light too much incense sticks, their smoke too can harm these trees. Same goes for lighting too many oil lamps.

I hope sometimes in the future our environmentalists *if they do exist here* will bring up some policies on how to continue our age old rituals and traditions without harming these sacred trees or the environment.

PS: At least I can't blame these big exam seasons, cause that is the only time when most seemingly non-religious people become all too devoted and sainted. But the parents should know if their children don't study well, the supernatural powers alone can't make them get through these exams.


*As usual CTRL + Click to expand the pics.


The view of the Bo tree and its surrounding fortification when we enter from the Maligawa side.


Lateral views




The topmost boughs and branches of the Bo tree.


Taken from the Bo Maluwa (courtyard). The gateway in the distance leads to the Natha Devala (a temple dedicated to the deity called Natha) premises.


Vistas of the St. Paul's Church that sits quite close to the Wel Bodhiya.


Being able to capture Bo leaves and a historical church both in one shot is something quite unique.. in my perspective.. for they symbolize the harmonious coexistence of two different religions.
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That's all for now. ^__^

Howdy... it sure is cloudy!

How have you all been? Um.. I've been a lil bit busy *and too lazy* to post something between the last couple of months but then I figured it's high time I should, cause otherwise I fear my blog'll become extinct! -__-

Anyway... I'm eagerly awaiting the rainy season as our Met department predicted but it still doesn't seem to go more than a slight drizzle for us. But I hear in Kandy metro it rained cats and dogs. So not fair! -__- So how's it at your end?

Oh and I've been snapping clouds during the last few weeks or so, but not in a row, *nope, that's not my new hobby* and I found something totally um... new, unusual and amazing?! O__o

Well... anyway before I give out my humble hypothesis I'd like to hear what you think of it. *I'll be sure to post other dandy cloudy pics in the near future*

I'll post 3 pics here.. of the same cloud. Actually it was too huge to be captured in one shot! But there's something more in the pic.. if you are to look closely. See if you can identify it. And it's a UHO... *I took the liberty to coin it as UHO = unidentified hovering object!*

* CTRL+Click to expand the images.

It's time to test your observational skills! =D

Pic 1


Pic 2


Pic 3


Good Luck! ^__^

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For those who observed the UHO in the pics and for those who didn't, let me explain what really happened.

As you can see right in the center of the humongous cloud *towards its right* is a small halo like formation, right? At first I thought it was a type of cloud that I've never seen before. It wasn't fluffy, nor thick, nor silky nor anything like I've seen before. It almost appeared translucent and diffused at its circular edges.

I took these pics between 4.44pm - 4.45pm and even at that time, part of this halo was covered by the mammoth cloud. Now.. after about 5- 10mts or so *maybe even before* I noticed that the halo was completely visible as its counterpart had drifted further. Now the left side of the halo that was hidden for all this time appeared to be somewhat different and unusual. Still maintaining an irregular circular shape, it was shaped like a bunch of parallel rays, bundled together and blurry at the edges.

Sorry that there's no pic to prove this cause I simply gazed at it for all that while and um.. completely forgot to snap it! -__-

But that's not the creepiest part. This halo like cloud *if it was a cloud* simply disappeared within a matter of 5 mts thereafter! O__O Can you believe it? When all other clouds remained as they were, so how could only one of them get spirited away?!

So.. after this mind boggling observation I deduced it has to be a phenomenon related with the light's reflection in the atmosphere But this doesn't seem to be the case as the position of the sun was way downward, you can see it clearly in pic 2 and 3. *the brightest glow at the bottom of the pic, is where the sun was at that time.. I think*

It only left me with this hypothesis... this halo could be something related to the magnificent Aurora Borealis! ie. a trick of Earth's magnetic field. But then again I thought these stuff only occur near the Polar regions.. and I'm certain I live near the Equator.. so.. um.. if by any chance our Earth's magnetic field was tweaked, could the Doom's Day be really near? O__o

Anyway got any bright ideas as to what this UHO might be?