Words and photographs: Alice Luker
In a land where temples, kovils, mosques and churches are a stone’s throw away from one another, the myriad religious buildings offer tourists a glimpse of the religious landscape of Sri Lanka.
Gleaming white Buddhist temples with stupas framing the sky are omnipresent. The pure white bulbous temples against the cerulean sky makes for perfect photography.
Hindu Kovils appear like a mirage around the winding bends in the hill country. One moment, views are laden with vistas of emerald green and muted sandy roads and the next, every colour under the sun bursts into view with emotive depictions of Hindu Gods across the entire breadth of the structure.
In Mannar, Catholic Churches are painted in luminous primary colours, glowing against the dusty plains like a landmark from a supernatural world.
In Galle Fort, the muezzin’s call for adhan at the mosque is carried by sleepy sea mist along the ramparts of Flag Rock Bastion awaken the residents of the Galle Fort who then turn up for prayer.
Buddhist temples, especially the smaller local ones, have a comforting similarity. Their inside-outside nature (long before the stylistic trend of tropical modernist a la Geoffrey Bawa became popular) means they don’t have a facade per se. Instead, the tall, ivory-white stupa and symbolic leaves of the Bo tree cascade towards the earth - a tropical rendition of a weeping willow.
There are historic sites across the island, peacefully shared by several religions. From the holy pilgrimage of Adam’s Peak for Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists to the sacred town of Kataragama where people of all faiths come together similar to St Anthony’s Kochchikade and the Madhu Church where people of all faiths throng to seek favour and give thanks.
From the kovils’ red and white stripes to the temples’ beautiful carved statues which relate tales of yore, the religious landscape of Sri Lanka is enriched by its multi faith populace who are cloaked in a spiritual essence which seems to unite Sri Lanka’s places of worship.
