Sanctuary or ceremony for Sri Lanka's elephants?
13 June 2012 By Charlie HavilandElephants play a critical role in Sri Lanka's annual Kandy Perahara parade
In a river near the town of Kegalle, Raja the elephant takes his bath. The huge 50-year-old beast lies languidly in the coolness while two keepers scrub him hard.
His tail twitches as his trunk explores the riverbed and sprays jets of water on his body.
Most impressive are his long tusks.
Many Asian elephants do not grow tusks at all: those that do are prized and much used in religious ceremonies.
Raja and his three companion elephants - one other is also tusked - play an exalted part in the spectacular annual Essala Perahera parade in the Sri Lankan hill town of Kandy, home of what is said to be the Lord Buddha's tooth housed in Kandy's Temple of the Tooth.
Raja's role is a source of pride for owner, Appuhami Millangoda, 89, whose family have kept captive elephants for three generations. In the 1940s he used to ensnare them from the wild.
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