Qualla: Temple of the Tooth https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Temple of the Tooth https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth Temple of the Tooth: Introduction https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit Wouter Hagens, CC BY-SA 3.0. Three times a day, every day, monks open the inner chamber of the Sri Dalada Maligawa and perform rituals before a golden casket nested inside six others, each inlaid with gemstones. What lies within is a single tooth, believed to be the Buddha's, and for more than seventeen hundred years it has been the most politically potent object on the island of Sri Lanka. Whoever holds the Tooth Relic holds the right to rule. Kings built their palaces next to it. Armies fought to capture it. A princess smuggled it here hidden in her hair. The temple that houses it in Kandy, set within the Royal Palace Complex beside an artificial lake, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the spiritual center of Sinhalese Buddhism.

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Image: Wouter Hagens | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Temple of the Tooth: Hidden in Her Hair https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit Anuradha Dullewe Wijeyeratne, Public domain. According to tradition, after the Buddha's passing, the tooth relic was preserved in the Indian kingdom of Kalinga. When Kalinga came under attack, King Guhasiva entrusted the relic to his children, Princess Hemamali and Prince Dantha, to carry it to safety. Hemamali concealed th...

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Image: Anuradha Dullewe Wijeyeratne | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-hidden-in-her-hair.mp3 0:06 2 full Temple of the Tooth: The Kandyan Sanctuary https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit Ernest Jourdier, CC BY 4.0. The relic's journey to its current home was not straightforward. During the reign of Dharmapala of Kotte, the tooth was hidden inside a grinding stone at Delgamuwa Vihara in Ratnapura. When the Portuguese invaded Kandy in 1603, it was spirited away to Meda Mahanuwara in the Dumba...

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Image: Ernest Jourdier | CC BY 4.0

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-the-kandyan-sanctuary.mp3 0:06 3 full Temple of the Tooth: Seven Golden Caskets https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit MediaJet, CC BY-SA 3.0. The architecture of the Sri Dalada Maligawa layers devotion in stone, wood, and gold. A brick wall runs along the moat and Bogambara Lake in a pattern known as the water waves wall. Stone elephants flank the entrance, and a Makara Torana arch with guardian stones crowns the stair...

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Image: MediaJet | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-seven-golden-caskets.mp3 0:06 4 full Temple of the Tooth: Living Devotion https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit Asanka Sanjeewa, CC BY 3.0. The temple is not a museum. Bhikkhus from the Malwathu and Asgiri chapters conduct worship in the inner chamber at dawn, noon, and evening. On Wednesdays, the relic receives a symbolic bathing called Nanumura Mangallaya, a herbal preparation of scented water and fragrant flowers,...

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Image: Asanka Sanjeewa | CC BY 3.0

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-living-devotion.mp3 0:06 5 full Temple of the Tooth: Tested but Enduring https://qualla.com/temple-of-the-tooth/ Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. The temple has survived centuries of colonial pressure and modern violence. The Portuguese sought to destroy the relic during their occupation, and the Kandyan kings resorted to desperate measures to keep it safe. In 1989, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna attacked the temple during ...

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Image: A.Savin | FAL

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/temple-of-the-tooth-wp/tc33-temple-of-the-tooth-tested-but-enduring.mp3 0:06 6 full