Sri Lanka hangs below India as the tear drop of the far East. This day we visited some cultural sites in Columbo, an important trading post in the 5th century for Phoenican and Arabic sailing merchants. The Dutch in the 1600s traded the lush cinnamon crops. Later than the British East Indian company fortified this city and advanced and exploited the riches of Ceylon now called Sri Lanka until their independence in 1948. We obtained a graphic view of the religious culture of Buddaism and Hinduism from the stone carvings, paintings, stella, dioramas and bronzes in the Columbo National Museum. Then we were taken to a Buddist temple that was guarded by a token elephant. Here we saw the religious icons in use. There were huge gold plated Buddas in the main portion, private praying areas in shrouded vestibules, and a great open rising terrace holding hundreds of Stuppas. These are cone shaped requilary urns which hold the remains of special Buddists.
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