The relic at the heart of Kandy reached Sri Lanka in the 4th century hidden in a princess’s hair, and for centuries afterwards whoever guarded it held the right to rule. That is the story beneath the golden roof of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, and we time the visit to the evening puja, when the hewisi drummers begin and the inner shrine opens on the jewelled casket. The day builds towards it. Peradeniya comes first: 147 acres on a loop of the Mahaweli, more than 4,000 plant species, a cannonball tree planted by King George V and Queen Mary in 1901, and the lawns Lord Mountbatten used as South East Asia Command headquarters during the Second World War. A private spice atelier follows, then a dusk walk around the lake the last king of Kandy created in 1807.
