The Sacred Temple of Tooth Relic | Kandy Sri Lanka

The heart of the Kandyan kingdom of Sri Lanka is the sacred temple of the tooth relic of Gautama Buddha.

Which situated middle of the Kandy city with the eye-catching Bogambara Lake laying nearby. 

As for today the sacred temple of tooth relic also known as “Dalada Maligawa” is the icon of Buddhists in Sri Lanka. 

However today people from the whole world visiting here for seeing this place as it has become a top tourist destination in Sri Lanka. Not to mention, there about thousands of local and foreign people visit here for taking blessings and for watching this marvelous creation from their own eyes. 

• Places to visit Kandy City

History

In addition, the history of this temple goes back to the 4^th century AD. After the Parinirvana (death) of Lord Gautama Buddha, some of the parts were distributed among the kingdoms. moreover, the sacred tooth of Lord Buddha was preserved in Kalinga Desha in India.

Because of some battles that happened at that time, the Kalinga king Guhasiva sent the sacred tooth relic to Sri Lanka for safety with his children Princess Hemamala and Prince Dantha.

The King who was ruling Sri Lanka was King Megawanna in the Anuradhapura kingdom. The princess Hemamala together with the Prince Dantha handed over the tooth relic to the king and he made a temple and keep the sacred tooth relic safely.

After that, the Sacred Tooth relic becomes the symbol of status that denoting the right to ascend the throne of Sri Lanka.

However, the temple of tooth relic was only open the royal families.

In the meantime the king of Sri Lanka, King Vimaladharmasuriya I was ruling the country from the Kandyan Kingdom and the Sacred Tooth Relic also bring to the Kandy and build the Temple.

But the current temple of tooth relic was built by the King Vira Parakrama Narendrasinghe in the early 1700s. After King Vira Parakrama Narendrasinghe, King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe also further constructed the temple.

Rituals Happened in the Sacred Temple of Tooth Relic

Moreover, rituals (Thevava) are doing three times a day, in the morning, noon and evening. However there are an only a limited number of people have access to the chamber of sacred tooth relic to doing thevava. Unlike any other temple Bodhi-Puja system, in the temple of tooth relic, there are drummers and whistlers play all the time until the Thevava is over.

In addition, here is the timetable for these rituals in Sacred Temple of Tooth Relic

Thevava fixed(service)	Time
Morning Thevava (Alms offered in the Morning- Breakfast)	5.30 a.m. – 7.00 a.m.
Ninth hour Poojava (Alms offered before Mid-day – lunch)	9.30 a.m – 11.00 a.m.
Evening Thevava (gilanpasa pooja Offered in the evening)	6.30 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.

Art of Kandyan city

Sacred Temple of Tooth Relic is a masterpiece for art and history lovers.

Likewise, the temple was built using the Kandyan architecture and all the arts and crafts drawn in the temple is showing the indigenous art technology of the Kandyan era.

Because of that, the entire Temple of the tooth relic is a paradise for art and history lovers. In addition, very first from the beginning of the entrance, an arch with the patterns and bunch of elephants on the sides makes a wonderful art. This type of paintings may be a new thing for you, but it’s the art of the Kandyan era.