Sri Lanka,ශ්රී ලංකා,Ceylon,Kandy,Victory Hotel is OK (01)
Visit of a reasonably priced vintage style
Hotel "Victory" downtown
Kandy about 400meters from the tooth temple.
Easy to get a basic room for arround 10 usd.
Good enough to be a base for your walk arround excursions of the famous Kandy landmarks in that area.
Friendly staff.
About Kandy: Kandy (
Sinhala: මහ නුවර maha nuvara, pronounced [mahaˈnuʋərə];
Tamil: கண்டி kaṇṭi, pronounced [ˈkaɳɖi]) is the
English name for the city of
Maha Nuvara (Senkadagalapura) in the centre of
Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka.[1] The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an administrative and religious city. It is the capital of the
Central Province (which encompasses the districts of Kandy,
Matale and
Nuwara Eliya) and also of
Kandy District. Kandy is the home of
The Temple of the
Tooth Relic (
Sri Dalada Maligawa) one of the most venerable places for the Buddhist community of Sri Lanka and all around the world.
The name Kandy is derived from the
Sinhalese kaⁿda uḍa pas raṭa. The
Portuguese shortened this to "Candea", using the name for both the kingdom and its capital Senkadagalapura. In Sinhala, Kandy is called Maha Nuvara, meaning "
Great City" or "
Capital", although this is most often shortened to Nuvara.Historical records suggest that Kandy was first established by the
King Wickramabahu (1357--1374 CE) near the
Watapuluwa area, north of the present city, and named Senkadagalapura at the time, although some scholars suggest the name Katubulu Nuwara may also have been used. The origin of the more popular name for the city, Senkadagala, could have been from a number of sources. These include naming after a brahmin named Senkanda who lived in a cave near the city, after a queen of King Wickramabahu named Senkanda or after a colored stone named Senkadagala.In 1592 Kandy became the capital city of the last remaining independent kingdom in the island after the coastal regions had been conquered by the Portuguese. Several invasions by the Portuguese and the
Dutch (
16th, 17th and
18th century) and later by the
British (most notably in 1803) were repelled.
The kingdom tolerated a Dutch presence on the coast of Sri Lanka, although attacks were occasionally launched. The most ambitious offensive was undertaken in 1761, when King
Kirti Sri Rajasinha attacked and overran most of the coast, leaving only the heavily fortified
Negombo intact. When a Dutch retaliatory force returned to the island in 1763, Kirti Sri Rajasinha abandoned the coastline and withdrew into the interior. When the Dutch continued to the jungles the next year, they were constantly harassed by disease, heat, lack of provisions, and
Kandyan sharpshooters, who hid in the jungle and inflicted heavy losses on the Dutch.
The Dutch launched a better adapted force in January of 1765, replacing their troops' bayonets with machetes and using more practical uniforms and tactics suited to jungle warfare. The Dutch were initially successful in capturing the capital, which was deserted, and the Kandyans withdrew to
the jungles once more, refusing to engage in open battle. However, the Dutch were again worn down by constant attrition. A
peace treaty was signed in 1766. The Dutch remained in control of the coastal areas until 1796, when
Great Britain took them over (while the
Netherlands were under
French control) as part of the
Napoleonic wars. British possession of these areas was formalized with the treaty of
Amiens in 1802. The next year the British also invaded Kandy in what became known as the
First Kandyan War, but were repulsed.The last ruling dynasty of Kandy were the Nayaks. Kandy stayed independent until the early
19th century. In the Second Kandyan War, the British launched an invasion that met no resistance and reached the city on
February 10, 1815. On March 2, 1815, a treaty known as the
Kandyan Convention was signed between the British and the Radalas (Kandyan aristocrats). With this treaty, Kandy recognized the
King of England as its King and became a
British protectorate. The last king of the kingdom
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was captured and taken as a royal prisoner by the British to
Vellore Fort in southern
India along with all claimants to the throne.As the capital, Kandy had become home to the relic of the tooth of the
Buddha which symbolizes a
4th-century tradition that used to be linked to the
Sinhalese monarchy, since the protector of the relic was the ruler of the land. Thus the
Royal Palace and the
Temple of the Tooth were placed in close proximity to each other.
World War II:In
1944, during World War II, the
South East Asia Command of the allies was moved to Kandy, where it remained till the end of the war.(Wikiedia)