Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic)

Sri Dalada Maligawa sits inside the Royal Palace Complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, holding what tradition holds to be a tooth of the Buddha, a relic whose custody was for centuries bound to rule itself: whoever held the relic held the governance of the country. The relic came to Sri Lanka, according to the chronicles, in the fourth century CE, and the Kandy temple grew around it as the kingdom's last capital; UNESCO inscribed the Sacred City of Kandy in 1988, naming the temple and relic as its core. Monks of the temple's two chapters, Malwathu and Asgiri, conduct daily worship in the inner chamber, and the relic chamber opens to devotees during three daily services.

The temple is also the scene of the Esala Perahera, the annual festival in which caparisoned elephants, dancers, drummers, and the relic's own golden casket procession circle Kandy's lake for nights on end, one of Asia's great living ceremonies. Visitors are part of daily life here: the temple is open from 5:30 am to 8:00 pm, admission is ticketed for foreigners, entrance security screening was strengthened after the 1998 LTTE bombing and again following the 2019 Easter attacks, and a strict dress code applies.

Visiting

The temple's official site lists everything: open daily 5:30 am to 8:00 pm; services at 5:30-7 am, 9:30-11 am, and 6:30-8 pm, with the Nanumura Mangallaya (symbolic bathing of the relic) every Wednesday at 9:30 am. Foreign visitors pay LKR 3,000 (LKR 2,500 for SAARC countries, Thailand, and Myanmar), covering the Dalada Museum, World Buddhist Museum, Tusker Museum, and Royal Elephant Stable; tickets are issued only by machines inside the temple. No shorts or sleeveless clothing; wraps available at entrances; footwear is handed over at reception booths.

Photo: [PhilipNalangan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sacred_Tooth_Relic_Temple_1.jpg)