Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic

Sri Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, stands beside Kandy Lake in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, within the former royal palace complex of the Kingdom of Kandy. It houses a relic believed to be a tooth of the Buddha.

According to tradition, the relic was brought to Sri Lanka from Kalinga in India in the 4th century AD, hidden in the hair of a princess. Possession of the relic came to be seen as a sign of the right to rule, so it moved with the royal capital between Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and other cities. The present temple was built by King Vira Narendra Sinha, and the octagonal pavilion, the Pattirippuwa, was added under the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. In 1998 a bomb blast damaged the temple, which was later restored. The Sacred City of Kandy was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

The relic is kept in a golden casket shaped like a stupa inside an inner shrine, and it is not shown to visitors. Daily rituals, called thevava, take place from 5.30 to 7 am, 9.30 to 11 am and 6.30 to 8 pm with drumming and offerings, when the doors of the inner chamber are opened. The complex also includes the Royal Palace, the Audience Hall and museums, including a world Buddhism museum. Each year in July or August, the Esala Perahera procession carries the relic casket through Kandy on the temple's tusker elephant.

Foreign visitors pay an entry fee. Visitors must wear white or modest clothing covering shoulders and knees and remove shoes and hats. Security checks are made at the entrance.

The temple's own ticket schedule sets LKR 3,000 for most foreign visitors and LKR 2,500 for visitors from SAARC countries, Thailand and Myanmar. The ticket covers the temple, the Dalada Museum, the World Buddhist Museum, the Tusker Museum and the Royal Elephant Stable, and only machine-issued tickets are valid. Visitors see the shrine during the daily puja ceremonies, which are accompanied by drumming; arrive about 30 minutes before the evening puja to get inside before the crowd.

The temple opens daily from 5.30 am to 8 pm. Tradition names Princess Hemamali and Prince Dantha as the pair who carried the relic, arriving during the reign of King Sirimeghavanna of Anuradhapura (301 to 328). Each Wednesday the relic is symbolically bathed with a herbal preparation. The 1998 attack by the LTTE destroyed the Mahawahalkada, the main gate, which was later rebuilt, and the octagonal pavilion now holds the temple library.