Temple of the Tooth Relic 5 of 8

It is documented that the Tooth Relic which belonged to the category of bodily relics of the Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka in the year 310 AD. King Guhasiva requested a man named Dantha to whom he gave his daughter Hemamala in marriage to disguise themselves as Brahmins and take the Tooth Relic to Lanka to protect it from enemies in India. This was during the reign of King Kithsirimevan. They set sail from west Bengal and landed at a place that is known as Illankaturai. The Tooth Relic was then taken to Anuradhapura and was placed at Maghagiri vihare. It was transferred to the first Dalada Medura within the city of Anuradhapura subsequently. The first Dalada Medura was most likely the adobe where Mahinda Thero disclosed the teaching of the Buddha to King Devanampiyatissa when he introduced the religion to Lanka in the 3rd century BC.

When the island was overrun by the conquering armies of India in the 13th century a period of oppression followed. It is chronicled that the custodian of the Tooth Relic hid it in the general area of Kotmale and sought refuge in different provinces of India. It is stated that King Vijayabahu III in the same century defeated the conquerors and ruled from the seat of Dambadeniya. He was instrumental in inviting the bikkhus who had sough refuge in India and with their aid succeeded in bringing the Tooth Relic from Kotmale back to Dambadeniya. He made the mountain Beligalkanda where the Dalada Medura was constructed an inaccessible location to any conqueror.

The arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century made it extremely difficult for the rulers to protect the Tooth Relic as the invader strongly opposed Buddhism. In order to protect the Tooth Relic from the intentions of the Portuguese when the puppet ruler of Kotte Dharmapala embraced Roman Catholicism it was transferred to the Delgamu Vihare in the former Seetawake Kingdom. King Wimaladharmasuriya I at the turn of the 17th century after the defeat of the Seetawake Kingdom had the Tooth Relic transferred from the Delgamu Vihare to the Ampitiya Vihare in modern Kandy until the new Dalada Medura was complete. The present depository of the Tooth Relic is the ancient depository at the same location believed to have been built by King Narendrasinha in the 18th century.

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