The Maligawa Tusker and the Relic Casket

The Heart of the Procession

Every night of the Kandy Esala Perahera, the Maligawa Perahera leads the five processions, and at its centre walks the Maligawa tusker: a bull elephant of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, in a jewel-studded costume, carrying a ransivige, a canopy-topped golden casket, on its back. The casket carried in the procession is a replica; it stands for the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, which remains in the temple. Behind the tusker walks the Diyawadana Nilame, the chief lay custodian of the temple, in ceremonial Kandyan dress, and ahead of it a group of singers clad in white announces its arrival.

The sight of the tusker stepping through the torchlight, with its tusks sheathed in gold and garlands of jasmine, is the emotional high point of the evening.

Choosing the Bearer

Only a particular kind of elephant is chosen for the task. Tradition requires a tusker with a flat back, specially curved tusks, and a body whose seven points (its four legs, trunk and tail among them) all touch the ground when it stands. In the past the temple depended on animals lent by private owners; today it has its own tuskers. In 2025 the Maligawa fielded twelve tuskers in its section of the procession, led by Indira Raja, a gift from the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the temple, who carried the casket on the opening night.

Raja and Nadungamuwa Raja

Two elephants are remembered above all. Maligawa Raja (c. 1913–1988), captured as a youngster in the Eastern Province and bought in 1925 by a Kandyan nobleman, was given to the temple and took part in the Esala Perahera for about fifty years, carrying the casket on the final Randoli night for 37 years. In 1986 President J. R. Jayewardene declared him a national treasure, and his body is preserved in a museum in Kandy.

Nadungamuwa Raja (c. 1953–2022) joined the Kandy perahera in 2005 and carried the casket 13 times, the last in 2021. He walked from Weliweriya in Gampaha to Kandy, about 90 km, each year. When he died in March 2022 he was declared a national treasure and given a state funeral.

The Sound and the Walk

Drummers play the gajaga vannama, the music of the elephant's walk, and the great tusker has long been celebrated as it swayed to its rhythm. The animal moves at a measured pace, and the whole procession follows it.

Where to See It

The tusker appears in the Maligawa Perahera on every night of the festival, and the final Randoli night is the grandest. Stand along Dalada Veediya or Temple Street and expect the procession to pass later than the published start time.

Visitor Tips

Elephants walk close to the crowd on narrow stretches; stay behind the barriers, keep children close, and never touch the animal or its cloth. Photograph without flash.