An event of great historical and cultural significance takes place annually in the charming hill capital of Sri Lanka in a lunar month of Esala (July/August). This event, known the world over as the Kandy Esala Perehara is not only a religious ritual but also a folk festival which provides an occasion for local artistes and the multi-racial populace to exhibit their reverence and devotion to the enlightened one - the Buddha and to Gods and Goddesses such as Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama, and Pattini who with their divine blessings protect this Island, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Ever since the day when the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka in the reign of King Kirti Sri Meghavanna (303 -331 A.D.) it has been the custom to celebrate this great event with the highest esteem and reverence.An event of great historical and cultural significance takes place annually in the charming hill capital of Sri Lanka in a lunar month of Esala (July/August). This event, known the world over as the Kandy Esala Perehara is not only a religious ritual but also a folk festival which provides an occasion for local artistes and the multi-racial populace to exhibit their reverence and devotion to the enlightened one - the Buddha and to Gods and Goddesses such as Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama, and Pattini who with their divine blessings protect this Island, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Ever since the day when the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka in the reign of King Kirti Sri Meghavanna (303 -331 A.D.) it has been the custom to celebrate this great event with the highest esteem and reverence.

A pageant of great and aesthetic and socio-cultural value, the Kandy Asala Perahera has been the subject of much scholarly study and intense artistic appreciation. There are several theories and interpretations regarding the origin of the pageant which are really complementary and not exclusive of each other.

It is quite evident that the Esala (Sri- Esala) festival, which in the course of its evolution has assumed complex proportions, originated in India and continued throughout in Sri Lanka in the month of Esala (July/August) with royal patronage and intense religious fervour.

Whatever the reasons attributed to the origin of the Esala Perehara are the general belief is that the pageant in Kandy commenced in the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1781 A.D.) There is sufficient evidence both historical and literary to the effect that the annual celebrations in connection with the Sacred Tooth Relic originated since its arrival in Sri Lanka.

Tradition says that the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha now found in the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy was brought to Anuradhapura, the capital, from the Kalinga Country in the early 4th century during the reign of King Kirti Sri Meghavanna. From the beginning of the Polonnaruwa period the cult of the Tooth Relic assumed relatively more importance.