Sri Dalada Maligawa- the Temple of Tooth Relic
The temple of tooth at kandy is the final location of the sacred tooth(left canine)of the Buddha which was brought to sri lanka during the region of king kirthi megahavanna (301-328)by prince Dantha and princess Hemamala from the kingdom of kalinge,india it became the paladium of the sri Lankan kings and was preciously guarded in a special shrine built within precious of the royal palace ,wherever the capital was located.the ruins of such edifices remain in ancient capital of Anuradapura ,Polonaruwa,Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa,kurunegala,Kotte and Gompola,while at kandy ,the last capital ,the sacred tooth Relic Temple continues to be the greatest shrine that receives the utmost veneration of the Buddhist world.
Vimaladharmasuriya I (1590-1604) was the first king who brought the tooth relic to kandy from Delgamuwa,Rathnapura.and located it in a three –storeyed shrine within the palace complex. Thereafter, due to various disturbances which resulted in disrepair and decay,the kings that followed removed the tooth relic to safer locations such as medamahanuvara or kundasale.New shrines were build by king such as senarath ,Rajasinha II and vimaladarmasurya II.
The present two –storeyed shrine is said to have been built by king Narendrasinghe (1707-1739) fifth sri Rajasinge (1747-1781), Grate benefactor of Buddhism, was responsible for several renovations and embellishments to tooth relic shrine. Including the building of a shrine known as pallemale viharaya. The last king of Kandy , sri wekramarajasinhe (1798-1815) beautified the Dalada maligawa by the counstruction of the octagon (pattiripuwa).
The British government too at the time of signing the kandyan convention, agreed to protect the sacred tooth relic and conduct all religious services without break, and these are been carried out to the present day under the strict surveillance of the three chief custodians of the tooth relic the most venerable mahanayakes of malwatta and Asgiriy and the lay custodian, the Diyawadana nilame
All visitors to the Dalada maligawe would enter the Esplanade through the newly built gateway in front of queens hotel and proceed on the paved path to the end of the Esplanade, which had been originally prepared by sri vikrama Rajasinghe, who gave audience to the people from the octagon (pattirippuwa) above .The visitor will pass through the memorial statues of D.S Senanayake,the first priminister of sri lanka after independence,Madduma bandara the young hero son of Ehalepola the first Adigar of sri vikrama Rajasinghe and memorial pillar enshrining the skull of Keppetipola Disava of the Uva Rebellion fame.To the right of the visitors path could be seen a modern sculptural representation of Danta and Hemamala the Royal prince and the princes ,who brought the tooth relic from India the 4th century.
To the left is the statue of Venarable Wariyapola sri sumangala Thera who brought down British flag when it was hoisted before signing the Kenyan Treaty the maha maluwa is bordered on the right by the Dalada veediya and the kandy lake (kirimuhuda)constracted by the last king ,while on the left side are located the Natha and Pattini Devales separated by the Elephant street (At-Vidiya)These two Devales together with Visnu and Kataragama Devales constitute the four shrines dedicated to bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara and Hindu divinities visnu,skanda and Goddess pattini respectively and they are considered to be the protective divinities of the sacred Tooth relic and hence ,play a significant role in the annual Dalada Perahera. Read More
