Sri Lanka, Sept. 20 -- The tusker has a certain demeanour which attracts respect. That respect cannot be compared with admiration. He marches forward slow yet steady. His jeweled caparison glitters beneath a hundred torches. The hevisi drums thunder, the whip-crackers snap, and dancers whirl in a blaze of colour. Now, this is called the Randoli Perahera of Kotte Rajamaha Vihara. The ceremony was reborn after centuries to reclaim the Kotte streets with majesty. For a moment, I thought I had found the story I came to tell, the tale of the procession.

But I am to digress a little later. A little later, the casket-bearer elephant passes through the temple gates. The crowd lets out the sacred chorus of sadhu, sadhu which rises into the night....