Qualla: 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack: Introduction https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack/ On the evening of 8 February 1989, armed members of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna stormed the Temple of the Tooth in the heart of Kandy. Their target was not just a building but the most symbolically powerful object in Sri Lanka: the relic of the Buddha's tooth, which for centuries had conferred legitimacy on whoever possessed it. The JVP reasoned that seizing or damaging the relic would prove the government incapable of protecting the nation's most sacred inheritance, sparking the popular uprising they believed would follow. Five people died in the violence that night. The relic survived. The uprising the JVP hoped for never materialized, but the attack exposed how deeply fractures ran through a country already torn by two simultaneous insurgencies.

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-wp/tc33-1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack: A Country Torn in Two Directions https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack/ To understand why a Sinhalese revolutionary movement would attack the holiest Sinhalese Buddhist site, you need to understand what Sri Lanka looked like in the late 1980s. Two insurgencies raged simultaneously. In the north and east, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-wp/tc33-1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-a-country-torn-in-two-directions.mp3 0:06 2 full 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack: The Night of the Attack https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack/ The JVP's military wing, the Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya, had been escalating attacks on government and civilian targets throughout the insurrection. Public spaces were vandalized, government supporters threatened or killed. The temple attack was planned at meetings attended by...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-wp/tc33-1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-the-night-of-the-attack.mp3 0:06 3 full 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack: Denial and Reckoning https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack/ In the aftermath, the JVP's politburo issued a statement flatly denying the attack had occurred. This claim was rejected by the Diyawadana Nilame, Neranjan Wijeyeratne, the chief lay custodian of the Temple of the Tooth, and by the Mahanayaka theros of both the Malwatte and Asgir...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-wp/tc33-1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-denial-and-reckoning.mp3 0:06 4 full 1989 Temple of the Tooth Attack: What the Relic Means https://qualla.com/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack/ The JVP understood something fundamental about Sri Lanka when they chose this target. The Tooth Relic is not merely a religious artifact. Since Princess Hemamali smuggled it to the island in the fourth century, it has functioned as the supreme symbol of sovereignty. Kings built t...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-wp/tc33-1989-temple-of-the-tooth-attack-what-the-relic-means.mp3 0:06 5 full