Photo Gallery

Tooth Relic Temple (built c. 1600 onward)

"Dalada Maligawa" as called by Sri Lankans, is the most venerated Buddhist shrine of the whole island. The temple was originally built by King Vimaladharmasuriya I (1592-1603) in two stories. Nothing remains of the original building built around 1600. During the reign of King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1781) the temple was modified and rebuilt. The temple was badly damaged by a bomb blast in 1998, but much of the damage has since been restored.

The tooth relic:

Legend has it that after the creamation of the Buddha at Kushinagar, the remains, including one of his teeth, were kept in India. During the time Buddhism in India was undergoing much hardship, the tooth was smuggled to Sri Lanka, hidden in the hair of an Orissan princess. First it was taken to the Kingdom of Anuradhapura and later brought to several other kingdoms in Sri Lanka, until it reached its final resting place at the Kandyan kingdom in 1592.