Kandy (Singhalese මහනුවර) or Senkadagalapura (Senkadagalapura) is a city in the central part of Sri Lanka, the capital of the Central Province, the administrative center of the Kandy district. Population – 161 thousand people (2001).
Founded in the XIV century at an altitude of 500 m above sea level, one of the ancient capitals of the island. Known as one of the sacred Buddhist cities, the location of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa). In 1988, the historical center was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

History
Senkadagalapura was founded in the 14th century. Sinhalese king Wikramabahu III of Gampola north of the present location of the city. In 1592, a shrine – the tooth of the Buddha – and the status of the capital were transferred to Kandy. In 1815, the state of Kandy concluded an agreement on joining the British Empire.
After returning from Kandy to Colombo in 1890, A.P. Chekhov wrote to his homeland:
“Ceylon is a place where paradise used to be. Here, in paradise, I traveled more than a hundred versts by rail and got fed up with palm forests and bronze women. When I have children, I will say to them, not without pride: “You sons of bitches, in my lifetime I had intercourse with a black-eyed Hindu … and where? in the coconut forest, on a moonlit night.”

Temple of the Tooth
The temple is part of the royal palace complex. It is an object of pilgrimage for Buddhists. A whole complex of rituals is associated with the shrine, including daily, weekly and monthly ceremonies. The most spectacular is the annual Esala Mangallaya ceremony, which is timed to coincide with the festival of folk art of the Sinhalese and other peoples of Sri Lanka.

Another similar Buddhist shrine is known in the world – the tooth of the Buddha is kept in the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan.

On January 25, 1998, four Tamil Tiger militants crashed a truck loaded with explosives into the Temple of the Tooth Relic. During the attack, 7 people were killed and 25 wounded.

Other attractions
Kandy is home to one of Asia’s largest botanical gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Peradeniya.
The city has preserved the palace of the rulers of the state of Kandy and the colonial buildings of the XIX century in the Victorian style.