Temple of the Tooth
At a Glance
This temple is arguably Sri Lanka's most treasured Buddhist site, housing the famous relic of the Buddha's tooth transported to Sri Lanka from India in the 4th century, though it's current location in Kandy was not the original site where the tooth was taken, this site has become of deep significance for Buddhist indentity in Sri Lanka.
The Temple of the Tooth is a sacred temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka that now houses the sacred relic of the Buddha's tooth. The textual source that provides the history of this relic is the Dathavamsa, a chronicle by an unknown author that was written in the ancient Elu language in the 4th century CE. It was first translated into Pali sometime in the 13th c. CE, although the stories were handed down orally. Other chronicles, such as the Culavamsa and the Mahavamsa mention the tooth relic, but give it comparatively less attention than the Bodhi tree and the other relics of the Buddha.
According to the Dathavamsa account the arhat Khema obtained the upper left incisor directly from the Buddha's funeral pyre. This tooth relic was given by Khema to King Brahmadatta of Kalinga who enshrined it in a stupa in Danthapuri (in modern Andhra Pradesh). Over the course of centuries, the kings of Kalinga displayed the miracle-working and indestructible qualities of this sacred relic, thereby converting many former non-believers to the Buddhist path.
During a period of war, the relic was sent to Sri Lanka from India in the 4th century CE to keep it safe in a Buddhist country. Kalingan King Dantakumara transported the precious relic hidden in the hair of his royal bride, and confided in an arhat once they reached safety in Sri Lanka. The arhat welcomed the couple and sent monks to inform the Sri Lankan king, Sirimeghavanna (also known as Kirthi Sri Meghavarna and Kithsirimevan). In the ninth year of his reign, this pious king, arriving to pay homage, offered the entire kingdom of his country to the tooth relic. The chronicle describes the miraculous events that transpired: rains of flowers, celestial musicians, rays of light. The king then transported the tooth relic back to his royal city of Anuradhapura, placing it atop his own head as he stood in a decorated chariot pulled by white horses, intending to worship it in his own palace.
However, crowds of devoted people arrived in the city, asking to be allowed to pay homage to the relic of the Blessed One. The king then conferred with monks from all the country’s major monasteries but they could not reach agreement as to the most appropriate location. The king determined that the relic itself should select its own place of enshrinement. The roads from the capital were prepared, and strewn with flowers, and with great fanfare the relic was placed on a throne atop a chariot without a driver. As the people of the kingdom tossed flowers and coins at the procession, the relic came to rest at the very site where the arhat Mahinda had first delivered a Dharma talk upon his arrival in Sri Lanka.
According to the Dalada Sirita, the king then declared that every year the tooth relic would be taken in annual procession to this spot. Subsequent monarchs published new edicts to establish formal rituals for the veneration of the precious relic.
The Chinese pilgrim, Faxian, who arrived on the island only 40 years after the relic’s arrival, described in detail the original shrine made of 7 jewels that housed the sacred tooth. He also wrote that every third month, the relic was transported with grand fanfare to Abhayagiri and that many gathered to pay homage. Faxian described in detail the festival of merit-making that the king sponsored to allow everyone to participate:
“The king exhibits, so as to line both sides of the road, the five hundred different bodily forms in which the Bodhisattva has in the course of his history appeared:—here as Sudana, there as Sama; now as the king of elephants; and then as a stag or a horse. All these figures are brightly coloured and grandly executed, looking as if they were alive. After this the tooth of Buddha is brought forth, and is carried along in the middle of the road. Everywhere on the way offerings are presented to it, and thus it arrives at the hall of Buddha in the Abhayagiri-vihara. There monks and laics are collected in crowds. They burn incense, light lamps, and perform all the prescribed services, day and night without ceasing, till ninety days have been completed, when (the tooth) is returned to the vihara within the city. On fast-days the door of that vihara is opened, and the forms of ceremonial reverence are observed according to the rules.”
The Sinhalese kings considered themselves protectors of the sacred tooth, which was considered the source of their power and venerated to invoke the blessings. The relic was kept in Anuradhapura and later moved around Sri Lanka as subsequent kings relocated the Sri Lankan capital. It finally came to rest in the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy during the Kandyan period. A two-story shrine was built next to a lake to house the relic by King Wimala Dharma Suriya I in 159when the relic was taken to Kandy. The current two-story pink temple surrounded by a moat was built under King Narenda Sinhala from 1687 to 1707 and expanded from 1747 to 1782. The tooth is kept in an inner chamber. The temple is known locally as Dalada Maligawa.