The dawn silence is suddenly interrupted by the poignant reverberations of the conch shell. For nearly seventeen hundred years this daily ritual has announced the auspicious moment that begins the aluyam tevava ritual drawing people to make their offerings of rice and flowers. Within the echo of the conch, the music of the temple drummers and horn blowers is strangely shrill, yet consonant. Inside the vast arched walls, the sound is piercing. Outside it travels far, as it lures more and more people to morning rituals.
Today is no ordinary day.
Tonight is the night of the August full moon, the final night of the Asala Mangalle, the eleven day festival, which honours Buddhism and invokes the blessings of the gods for rain, fertility, successful crops and good health. Tonight 100 lavishly dressed elephants, these earthly clouds and symbols of abundance and fertility , will parade. As they have done for the nine preceding nights, they will move within a sea of colour, serenaded by pulsating drums and haunting music. On a hill to the side of the Temple, the elephants graze, seemingly oblivious to the evening's activities. Most have journeyed long distances, often for some days, usually at night to avoid excessive heat and traffic.