Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park in Benares, India and founded the Buddhist sangha (monkhood) about 2,500 years ago.
In the sermon, which is known as ‘Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion’, the Buddha first spelt out the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
According to Sri Lankan legends, when Buddha died in 543 BC, his body was cremated in a sandalwood pyre at Kushinagar and his left canine tooth was retrieved by his disciple, Khema. It came to Sri Lanka after a conflict in Kalinga in modern-day India.
Over the years, every time the capital of Sri Lanka changed, a new palace was built to enshrine the relic. Finally, it was brought to Kandy where it is kept in the Temple of the Tooth.
The lunar month of Esala is known as the season of festivals, most notably the great Esala Perahera (religious procession) in Kandy, Sri Lanka’s most extravagant festival during which devotees fire-walk and indulge in various forms of ritual self-mutilation such as piercing their skin with hooks and weights, and driving skewers through their cheeks and tongues.
During Esala, there are also elephant peraheras at Kataragama, Dondra and Bellanwila (a southern Colombo suburb) and a big seven-day celebration at Unawatuna, during which thousands descend on the village and beach.