Temple of the Tooth, Sri Lanka

The Island of Sri Lanka where lays Kandy City lies the really popular Sri Dalada Maligawa, otherwise called the Temple of the Tooth, the crown gem of Kandy. 'Maligawa' truly means castle, and the temple is a piece of the royal residence complex. The palace is called Temple of Tooth for it holds the relic tooth of Lord Buddha. The whole complex is more than three centuries old and has seen a numerous lords' ascent and ruin. It has witnessed several wars and bloodshed.

Legend has it that the tooth was taken from Lord Buddha from his deathbed and was later after many centuries was stealthily shipped to Sri Lanka in 313 CE by princess Hemamali who was fleeing from India at that time with her husband due to invasion on her father's kingdom. Hemamali hid the tooth in her hair. It promptly turned into a relic of worship and was revered as a divine grace.

During festivities and occasions regarding Lord Buddha, the tooth was brought out of the shrine and was paraded on with elephants, processions and fire dances, customaries valid till date. When the capital was shifted to Kandy the tooth was brought to Kandy and from then onwards the tooth has been in the city. Later on, the monarchs of the country built their royal residence around the shrine for safekeeping.

Most essential Buddhist relic – a tooth of the Buddha, is kept in the most glamorous gold plates roof topped pagoda in Kandy palace. Amid offerings or petitions, the vigorously protected room lodging the tooth is available to aficionados and voyagers. In any case, you don't really observe the tooth. It's kept in a gold coffin formed like a dagoba (stupa), which contains a progression of six dagoba coffins of concentrically diminishing sizes. And additionally the venerated fundamental temple, the complex conglomerates a plethora of smaller shrines, temples, houses, gardens, corridors, and halls. This is the best tourism palace complex in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Timings

Temple of Tooth open at 05:30 AM to 08:00 PM

Entry Fees

1000 LKR for SAARC Nationals and 1500 LKR for Foreigner Nationals.

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