Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic Sri Dalada Maligawa (Sinhala: ශ්රී දළදා මාළිගාව Tamil: ஸ்ரீ தலதா மாளிகை) or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of Buddha. Since ancient times, the relic has played an important role in local politics because it is believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country. Kandy was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings and is a UNESCO world heritage site partly due to the temple. Monks of the two chapters of Malwatte and Asgiriya conduct daily worship in the inner chamber of the temple. Rituals are performed three times daily: at dawn, at noon and in the evenings. On Wednesdays there is a symbolic bathing of the relic with an herbal preparation made from scented water and fragrant flowers, called Nanumura Mangallaya. This holy water is believed to contain healing powers and is distributed among those present. The temple sustained damage from bombings at various times but was fully restored each time.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:22:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015