The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic - Kandy - Sri Lanka

The temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a world heritage-listed temple that enshrines the left tooth of the Gautama Buddha. The sacred relic was housed in many different cities and temples before it was moved to its current destination in Kandy.

The Sacred relic was brought to Sri Lanka by Princess Hemamala & Prince Dantha from the city of Kalinga in ancient India, during 301 -328 AD. It was kept in a shrine within the royal palace in Anuradhapura, the capital at the time. 

Along with the honour and protection offered to the sacred relic, it soon became a symbol of Royalty and it was accepted that whoever possessed the Tooth Relic had the legitimate right to sovereignty. It was a prime duty of the Sinhalese kings to protect the Sacred Tooth Relic and perform rituals. 

Whenever capital cities were changed due to invasions and other reasons, a shrine was built within the precincts of the royal palace to house the Sacred Tooth Relic. Ruins of such shrines can be found in the ancient capitals of Anuradhapura, Pollonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, Kotte and Gampola. 

Kandy is the last capital of the Sri Lankan Kingdom. The first shrine that was built in Kandy to house the Tooth Relic was destroyed by the Portuguese and the second was burnt by Dutch. The temple that exists today was built by King Sri Veera Parakrama Narendrasinghe during his reign from 1707 – 1739. King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe beautified the temple to its present appearance and the last king of Sri Lanka, King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe added the octagonal pavilion and the moat that runs around the temple. 

Conducting rituals without a break has been carried out to date from ancient times. Today, the custody of the Sacred Tooth Relic is held by the two chief incumbents of the Malwatta and Asgiriya Chapters and the Diyawadana Nilame functions as the lay custodian.

The Temple of Tooth relic also has significant cultural value as it displays the grandeur of the Kandyan architecture.

Temple of Tooth Relic and the Octogonal Pavillion

The moat that runs around the temple and the Clouds wall (Walakulu Bamma)

Once you pass the main entrance and the moat, you would enter through a tunnel called "Ambarawa" which has drawings of lotus flowers on the roof.

Ambarawa
Once passed "Ambarawa", you would enter the lower floor of the building. The area in front of the inner chamber is called the “Hevisi Mandapaya” (Drummers Courtyard) and that is where the daily rituals are performed. Daily rituals are performed 3 times a day and we were lucky to be there for the midday service.


The Sacred Tooth relic is housed in the upper chambers. The door of this chamber is covered with gold silver and ivory. The tooth relic is encased in seven gold caskets studded with precious stones and you could only see the outer casket.

The upper floor - can be crowded during daily service

Inner Chamber that houses the Sacred Tooth Relic

Inner Chamber

Outer Casket containing the Scared Tooth Relic

There are a few associated buildings in the temple precincts. The old palace situated to the north of the temple is preserved as an archaeological museum.


Audience Hall is where Kandyan kings held their court.

Audience Hall
Carvings on wooden pillars of the Audience Hall are an example of wooden carvings during Kandyan period.


Next to the old palace, there is a museum built in memory of the tusker Raja, who carried the casket containing the Sacred Tooth Relic for over 50 years. When Raja died after a long illness, the museum was built to house the taxidermied remains of Raja.


The Kandy Lake is a picturesque artificial lake built next to the Temple of Tooth Relic by King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe. The wall surrounding the lake has the same Clouds design as the wall next to the moat. King was captured by the British before he could complete the wall around the lake and it remains unfinished to date.
There is a small island in the middle of the Lake and as per legend it was used by King's harem and was connected to the palace through a secret tunnel.


The building in the waters of the Kandy Lake in the below photograph was originally the bathing pavilion used by the wives and concubines of King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe. When the British captured the city, they added a storey and used it as a library.


The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is of utmost importance to Buddhists around the world. It also has a significant cultural value. Every time we visit Sri Lanka, we make it a point to go to the temple to get blessings. However, in addition to the main temple, there are many associated buildings like the Temple of Tooth Museum, Royal Palace of Kandy, International Buddist Museum, and National Museum of Kandy that are worth exploring. I hope that next time I visit Kandy, I will have more time to have a leisurely look at these buildings.

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