Temple of the Tooth

The relic of the tooth of the Buddha is one of the holiest relics in Buddhism.  It is said that whoever holds the Tooth rules the country, and its ownership has therefore been contested many times.  It originally arrived on the island in the 300s, moved from capital to capital, arriving in Kandy in 1595.  The temple is in the midst of the palace of Kandy, which has been reproduced in Colombo as Independence Hall.  The Tooth has survived many attempts to steal or destroy it.  The Portuguese crushed it, observed by monks and officials, but the pieces reconstituted and flew to Kandy to be restored to the temple.  The Tamil Tigers bombed the temple in 1989 and 1998, but it was fully restored both times.  

The public can file by the Tooth twice a day.  It is housed in several nested coffers in a niche on the second floor of the temple.  The huge crowd presses through to catch a glimpse.  We weren’t able to get a photo (well, we got a blurry one of a person standing directly in front of it), but the experience of being there with the crowd was amazing.  The Tooth comes out of the temple each year to be carried in the grand perahera through the city.  It is carried by the largest tusker in the country.  The last elephant to play this role, Rajah, was so revered that when he died, his body was preserved and is now housed in a small shrine near the temple.  Rajah met prime ministers and the Dalai Lama (or perhaps they were privileged to meet him?), and the photos surround him, along with his carefully preserved robes.  

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