The most sacred Buddhist temple in all of Sri Lanka is the Sri Dalada Maligawa, also known as the Temple of the Tooth Relic. This ancient building houses the actual tooth of the Buddha. Interested in learning about the history of the Dalada Maligawa?
The Tooth Relic
After the Buddha passed away and was cremated, all four of his canine teeth were taken from his ashes by his followers. Since this day, the worship of Buddha’s teeth has been ongoing. The teeth were distributed to various Indian kingdoms that wanted them. It is the last of these teeth that eventually made it to Sri Lanka.
War and Strife
When the Kalinga Indian kingdom was threatened, the ruler sent the tooth relic to the King of Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka. In Anuradhapura, it remained despite uncertainty about its safety until it was moved to Polonnaruwa when it became the capital of the island.
Constantly Moving
The tooth relic moved from Polonnaruwa to further down south where it kept moving around the country and at one point even being enshrined close to Colombo. In the 1500s, Sri Lanka experienced her first wave of colonialism which posed a new risk to the tooth relic. It is at this point that the tooth relic moved for the last time from Ratnapura to the kingdom of Kandy. When looking for a Kandy hotel, there are many to choose from, like Earl’s Regent Kandy for instance.
| Roland Lefevre is a travel writer who specializes in creating features on leisure as well as business travel destinations across the globe. Google+ |
