Town & lake at Kandy, Ceylon

2 thoughts on “Town & lake at Kandy, Ceylon”

1. In the lake, a tiny island now a powder magazine, but in former times was a harem of the king.The city looks down in to the valley of Doombera (Dumbara) through which Mahaveli ganga rolls.

   It presents a scene of majestic beauty. On the opposite side of the town are monasteries of priests and above them, the residences of principal citizens.”

   Illustrative of Sir J. Emerson’s work,
   from sketches made on the spot by
   Capt. C O’ Brien
   Late Assistant Surveyor General, Ceylon – 1864

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2. The small palace in the middle of the lake was used by Dona Katharina, the last Emperoress of Sri Lanka.

   She stayed in the middle of the lake on her visits from her palace in Kegalla because she did not trust her husband who married her to legitimize his succession to the throne. She suspected him to have killed her eldest son.

   Today only the plinth of the building remains. But one imagines as we do not have a sense of history very soon the island will be put to some unrelated use destroying the historicity of the original event.

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