Sri Dalada Maligawa

 

 

Kandy was the capital of the singhalese  Kings from 1592 to 1815. Fortified by a terrain of mountains and the difficult approach Kandy managed to operate in independence from the Dutch, Portuguese, and the English till 1815. The city is a world heritage site declared by UNESCO, in part due to this temple. The Sri Dalada Maligawa or the temple of the Tooth Relic is a temple in the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka.

It was built within the royal palace complex which house one of the only two surviving tooth relics of the Buddha, an object of veneration for Buddhists all over the world. The other tooth relic is been enshrined in a stupa called Somawathi Chethiya. The Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, the temple which houses the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, is possibly the most sacred Buddhist shrine in the world. It is venerated not only by Buddhists in Sri Lanka but by Buddhists all over the world.

King Wimaladharmasuriya 1 (1592-1603), the first to select Kandy as the ruling capital originally built a two-storied Temple for the Relic and brought  the tooth relic from Delgamuwa Rajamaha Viharaya near Kuruwita in Sabaragamuwa which has been hidden for protection. The remains of this building no longer exist. Wimaladharmasuriya II (1686-1706) built a three-storied temple and his son King Weeraparakrama Narendrasinha (1706-1738), the last Sinhalese king to rule the country, built a new two-storied temple seeing that the old temple built by his father has decaayed. The last king of Sri Lanka, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe (1797-1814) built the Pattirippuwa (octagon) was part of the royal palace.

The Dalada Perahara is held every year in the month of Esala. The current guardian of the Tooth Relic is Mr. Pradeep Nilanga Dela, the Diyawadana Nilame.