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The relic
Whoever holds the tooth relic is believed to hold the country
The Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. It is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country, and it was historically held by Sinhalese kings.
The legend
Princess Hemamali hid the tooth in her hair on the way to the island
According to legend, the relic was brought to the island by Princess Hemamali and her brother, Prince Dantha, on the instructions of their father King Guhasiva. Hemamali hid the relic in her hair on the way.
Hidden
The relic was hidden in a grinding stone before it came to Kandy
During the reign of Dharmapala of Kotte, the relic was moved and hidden in Delgamuwa Vihara, Ratnapura, in a grinding stone. It was later brought to Kandy. In 1603 it was carried to Meda Mahanuwara in Dumbara when the Portuguese invaded.
The temple
Vira Narendra Sinha built the present temple and a moat was added
The present-day temple was built by Vira Narendra Sinha. The octagonal Paththirippuwa and the moat were added during the reign of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, and the Paththirippuwa now houses the temple's library.
Attacks
The temple was attacked in 1989 and again in 1998
The temple was attacked in 1989 by a militant organisation seeking to capture the relic. In 1998 another attack damaged the front of the royal palace, and the Mahawahalkada was totally destroyed in a bomb blast and rebuilt afterwards.
Day 4, morning
Next is Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Temple of the Tooth, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.