Sri Lanka

Just across the narrow waters of the Palk Strait, Sri Lanka shares a civilizational bond with India that spans thousands of years of shared myth, philosophy, literature, and art.

From the sacred Ramayana legends that permeate its lush central highlands and tea-clad valleys, to the profound transmission of Theravada Buddhism initiated by Emperor Ashoka’s children, Mahinda and Sanghamitta, Sri Lanka preserved and enriched the spiritual heritage of ancient India. In the royal mountain capital of Kandy, this enduring relationship comes alive each year in the thunder of drums, blazing torches, and illuminated tuskers of the Esala Perahera—where veneration of the Buddha's Sacred Tooth Relic seamlessly unites with the sacred devales of Vishnu, Kataragama, Natha, and Pattini.