Records – more-or-less historical – indicate that the Sri Lankan town of Kandy was established by the monarch Vikramabahu III of Gampola and originally named Senkadagalapura near the Watapuluwa (a lot of letters for such a small place). Around 1400 AD, Kandy became an independent kingdom under the rule of Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu of the royal Kotte family. The Kandyan Kingdom remained independent, and fairly prosperous and secure, until the British invaded. In the Second Kandyan War, British forces met no resistance and captured the city in February 1815.

Part of this may have been due to the inhabitants’ reluctance to see the city leveled, for it was home to several faiths – Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and even Christianity – and various holy shrines. For instance, the Buddhist Temple of the Sacred Tooth, built in 1595, lay within the royal palace. The Buddhist community observed – and still does – the Poya Days once a month religiously. The Hindus (roughly 13%) and Muslims (about 10%) kept their own celebrations and holy days just as fervently.

Under the European leadership, Ceylon (as it was known) underwent rapid and drastic modernization. Save for a couple of rebellions – the Uva in 1818 and Matale in 1848 – Kandy was just a quiet corner of the British Empire. During the Second World War, it did serve as the home of the Allied South East Asia Command, but it was never threatened. The Donoughmore reforms in the 1930s, among them enforced religious tolerance, led eventually to Sri Lanka gaining independent Dominion status in 1948. Since then, the island has been troubled by political infighting, several assassinations, an intermittent insurgency, and a civil war (1983-2009).