The Tooth Relic: symbol of royal authority

Prof. W. I. Siriweera

In ancient East Indian Buddhist states, claimants to the throne made all attempts to take possession of the Tooth Relic during times of internal wars, in order to legitimize their authority and rule. According to the Dathuvamsa it was such an internal war which contributed to the dispatch of the left eye-tooth of the Buddha or the Tooth Relic by King Guhasiva of Kalinga through Prince Dantha and Princess Hemamala to Sri Lanka during the reign of Srimeghavanna (301-328). Sri Lanka was selected as a safe haven because this island was the sanctuary of Buddhism during this era.

Srimeghavanna deposited the Tooth Relic in a building called Dhammacakka and it was the first Temple of the Tooth in the island. The Mahavamsa records that several kings such as Dhatusena (455-473) and Aggabodhi I (571-604) deposited the relic in golden reliquaries and made improvements to the Temple of the Tooth which stood in the royal courtyard.

Relic temple

The Chinese monk, Fa-Hsien who studied scriptures at Anuradhapura for two years between 411-413 A.D describes the Tooth Relic festival conducted during his time. Ten days prior to the festival a man seated on a grandly caparisoned elephant went round beating a large drum and announced that the roads of the procession should be cleaned and improved. Ten days after, the Tooth Relic was brought to the Abhayagiri monastery in a procession.

According to the seventh century Chinese traveller Hieun-Tsang, Danta dhatughara or the Tooth Relic chamber at Anuradhapura was an exquisite building of very great religious importance. It was not attached to a monastery but was near the King’s palace.

After the capital was shifted to Polonnaruva, its first Sinhala King Vijayabahu I (1070-1110) constructed the building called Atadage and deposited the Tooth Relic in this building.

The Mahavamsa states that Vijayabahu I celebrated throughout his reign a great festival of the relic. When Parakramabahu I established himself as king at Polonnaruva in 1153 A.D he had to wage a war against princess Sugala of Rohana to obtain the Tooth Relic because the possession of the Tooth Relic was considered absolutely necessary for the legitimation of royal authority. Once the relic was secured he constructed a new building to house the relic.

Literary works

In some of his inscriptions Nissankamalla (1187-1196) also claims to have built a Tooth Relic temple at Polonnaruwa. The Mahavamsa corroborates this claim when it states that, immediately after his accession, Nissankamalla built a splendid relic temple. According to the Pujavaliya it was built in 60 days but no further details are given by this text. This has been identified as now ruined edifice Hatadage.

When Magha occupied Polonnaruwa in 1215 A.D and persecuted Buddhists and destroyed Buddhist establishments, the bhikkhus took the Tooth Relic to Kotmale in the Central hills and hid it for protection. Vijayabahu III (1232-1236) brought it to his new capital Dambadeniya, but due to the threats posed by invaders, built a temple at Beligala to keep the Tooth Relic in safe custody. It was Parakramabahu II (1236-1270) who brought the relic to Dambadeniya and housed it in a temple near the palace. He also conducted festivals and processions in honour of the Tooth Relic repeatedly.

With the shifting of the capital to Yapahuwa, a Temple of the Tooth was built there but after eleven years, during an era of invasions, the relic was forcibly taken over by the Aryacakravarti of Jaffna and handed it over to the South Indian Pandyan King. Later on Parakramabahu III (1287-1293) went to the Pandyan kingdom befriended its ruler and brought the Tooth Relic to Yapahuwa.

When the capital was shifted to Kurunegala in 1293, Gampola in 1341 and Kotte in 1396 successive kings housed the Tooth Relic in exquisitely constructed temples located near the palace.

A substantial number of literary works datable to the reign of Parakramabahu VI (1412-1467) of Kotte refer to the splendour of the Temple of the Tooth and festivities associated with the Tooth Relic during his reign. According to them, the Temple of the Tooth was a three-storied building in the form of a conical crown built of stone with finely carved granite pillars. It had a golden tiara (rankota) and inside the temple was decorated with paintings.

It was the centre of ritual in the city of Kotte. The Tooth Relic was kept in the innermost casket of four golden caskets of decreasing size. Rituals were performed at the Temple of the Tooth thrice a day to the tune of drums and other music. The Gira Sandesaya refers to fine music played at the Temple of the Tooth which could be heard even outside the ramparts.

Subsequently during Don Juan Dharmapala’s nominal rule in Kotte the Tooth Relic was taken out of the city and was hidden by the bhikkhus in Delgamuwa temple in the Ratnapura District.

The first king of Kandy, Vimaladharmasuriya brought the Tooth Relic from Delgamuwa to Kandy and housed it in a two-storied temple near the palace. Later he improved the Temple of the Tooth and made it a three-storied complex. Until the present, this complex had been improved and renovated by successive rulers both in the pre-independence and post-independence eras.

As seen earlier, from the time of Srimeghavanna there had been processions (Perahara) conducted in honour of the Tooth Relic intermittently.

The Asela festival procession as it is conducted today combining the processions of the four devalas had its origins in the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinghe. It was the chief priest (sangharaja) Velivita Saranankara who advised Kirti Sri Rajasinghe to conduct a gigantic and elaborate procession in honour of the Tooth Relic.