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LOCALE: Sri Lanka's historical roots and religious and ethnic heritages predate the common era. Early in its history, separate immigrant groups from the northeast and south of India brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the island, along with two quite distinct cultures. Over centuries of interaction, social and cultural features of these groups commingled at many levels, while political dominance of one or the other reinforced their separate identities. Muslim traders established small communities as early as the 8th century, adding a further element of diversity to the island's populace. And from the 16th century until regaining its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was subjected to domination by successive Portuguese, Dutch, and finally British colonial powers. These dramatically influenced economic and political structures, and introduced several varieties of Christianity to the island.
The ISLE Program is based in Kandy, a city of about 100,000 people in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. Built around a lake, surrounded by forested hill and tea estates, Kandy has a mild tropical climate that attracts seasonal visitors seeking refuge from the heat and humidity of less congenial parts of the island.
It is also home to the University of Peradeniya, the institution of higher education with which ISLE has been formally affiliated since 1983. The last of the island kingdom's royal capitals, Kandy remains the center of traditional Sri Lankan culture. In the city and surrounding countryside, music, dance and other artistic and craft traditions are preserved and perpetuated as in no other place on the island.
Each August, Kandy hosts the Esala Perahera, the most extravagant, colorful festival in Sri Lanka. This 10-day event with caparisoned elephants, elaborately costumed dancers, thousands of participants and tens of thousands of onlookers celebrates the prosperity and religio-political integration of the ancient kingdom. Leaders of all communities participate in processions, offering homage to the tooth relic of the Buddha, their legitimizing symbol of sovereignty. Kandy's Dalada Maligava ("Temple of the Tooth") is a shrine of major significance for Buddhists throughout Asia.