Sri Dalada Maligawa is the name of the holy temple in Kandy ,Sri Lanka which preserves the tooth of Lord Buddha himself .
A well known pilgrim center for Buddhists from all over the world the temple has a fascinating story of adventure ,romance,war,death and life,serenity,peace and sublime spirituality behind it .
We consider it as a grace of God that we could visit this most beautiful temple which had an unmistakable aura of positivity and peace around it .
When Lord Buddha attained nirvana after his cremation in kusinara in India his remains were kept by many regional kings and Arahats
His left canine tooth was taken by an Arahat who later gave it to king Brahmadatte who preserved it as a precious family heirloom for around 800 years in the city of Dantapuri .
By this time it had changed hands and had come to king Guhaseeva of kalinga kingdom .
When one king Pandu heard that Guhaseeva was worshipping a tooth as a relic he ridiculed Guhaseeva asked him to produce the relic which Guhasiva did to show him its miracle
When Pandu listening to jain and Hindu monks tried tried to destroy the tooth it flew away as a bright star on which the king realized its sacredness and turned into a Buddhist .
Hearing this king ksheeradhara came to was with Guhasiva and defeated him .
Before the enemy attacked the city king Guhasiva asked his daughter Hemamala and son in law prince Dantha to carry the relic to Lankadweepa where his friend king kithshirimevan son of king Mahasena ruled .
A well known pilgrim center for Buddhists from all over the world the temple has a fascinating story of adventure ,romance,war,death and life,serenity,peace and sublime spirituality behind it .
We consider it as a grace of God that we could visit this most beautiful temple which had an unmistakable aura of positivity and peace around it .
When Lord Buddha attained nirvana after his cremation in kusinara in India his remains were kept by many regional kings and Arahats
His left canine tooth was taken by an Arahat who later gave it to king Brahmadatte who preserved it as a precious family heirloom for around 800 years in the city of Dantapuri .
By this time it had changed hands and had come to king Guhaseeva of kalinga kingdom .
When one king Pandu heard that Guhaseeva was worshipping a tooth as a relic he ridiculed Guhaseeva asked him to produce the relic which Guhasiva did to show him its miracle
When Pandu listening to jain and Hindu monks tried tried to destroy the tooth it flew away as a bright star on which the king realized its sacredness and turned into a Buddhist .
Hearing this king ksheeradhara came to was with Guhasiva and defeated him .
Before the enemy attacked the city king Guhasiva asked his daughter Hemamala and son in law prince Dantha to carry the relic to Lankadweepa where his friend king kithshirimevan son of king Mahasena ruled .
Dhantha and Hema mala carried the relic .
In certain areas Hema mala had to hide the relic in her hair .
Once it gets stolen by a cobra and its taken to nagaloga where the naga princess and prince worship it .
Somehow they are able to get back the tooth which they take by land and sea to lankadweepa anf from port go to lankapuri .they are told to go to Anuradhapura where the kong resided.
They hand over the tooth to the king finally a job well done
Finally after many travails they reach Lanka and are told to go to Anuradhapura to meet the king .
They do that and finally the relic is handed over to king who becomes the first in a line of kings who would defend the relic with life and more .
The kings of Sri lanka associated longevity of thier empire by preserving the relic hence built temples close to their palaces to house it .
During times of war the relic was hidden in homes ,several times templeneeded to be rebuilt .
Finally its housed in the Dalada Maligawa of Kandy which incidentally had the last kingdom of Sri Lanka .
Even in the modern times there were two attempts to destroy it in 1989 and later by LTTE in 1998 .
They do that and finally the relic is handed over to king who becomes the first in a line of kings who would defend the relic with life and more .
The kings of Sri lanka associated longevity of thier empire by preserving the relic hence built temples close to their palaces to house it .
During times of war the relic was hidden in homes ,several times templeneeded to be rebuilt .
Finally its housed in the Dalada Maligawa of Kandy which incidentally had the last kingdom of Sri Lanka .
Even in the modern times there were two attempts to destroy it in 1989 and later by LTTE in 1998 .
So today morning at 9am we reached to outer perimeter of the Dala maligawa .
We saw the hexagonal pathirippuwa or viewing balcony when the relic is shown to people .pathirippu is Tamil for to see and the place was used to viewing or paathirippu .
The temple has a moat in front after crossing several qauint buildings we reached a double storeyed neat building .
We climbed up to the main hall .
On one side people were walking upto the altar which was closed .many offered flowers some had a round parcel on their heads .
I asked one pilgrim what it signified and was told the parcel had all needed for life and this was offered to the lord as offering .
We were informed that the inner temple would happen in an hour and we could join a line and wait .
We did so
Premila sat in a corner and meditated while i went on clicking photos .
The hall was neat with wooden floors .
After an hour we crawled in the line to see the gold vessel holding the relic .
We returned via the museum and saw kandy palace and went back with a delight of having had a profound spiritual experience
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