Temple of the Tooth, Kandy

Sri Dalada Maligawa or the temple of the tooth is Sri Lanka's most important pilgrimage site. Besides that it holds the tooth relic of Lord Buddha, it is also famous for its beautiful carvings and houses some typical Sri Lankan art.

Due to a cruel war in India, the tooth relic was brought to Sri Lanka in the 4^th century AD. King Guhasiva who was ruling India was afraid he was going to lose the war and with that the important relic. At this time Sri Lanka was a strong Buddhist country and therefor the King trusted Sri Lanka to treat the tooth relic highly.

Thousands of people visited the top floor of the Vadahitina Maligawa inside the temple complex, to worship the tooth relic.

This shrine in the centre of the courtyard is now commonly known as the Tooth relic shrine. Vadahitina Maligawa was originally build by King Wimaladharmasuriya II, but it was King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe who converted the "Vadahitina Maligawa" into a beautiful structure.

The stairway that leads to the this shrine is decorated with moonstones and one can find beautiful ivory carvings in the doorways.

The temple's highlight of the year is the Esala Perahera a 10 day festival in july/August. During the evenings a replica of the relic tooth is taken in procession, accompanied by exotically costumed dancers, drummers and about 100 elephants.