𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

Some little-known historical facts about the first ever "Temple of the Tooth Relic" of the Gautam Buddha in Sri Lanka. In the fourth century CE, King Guhasiva of Kalinga in India possessed a precious relic, a Buddha's tooth. For hundreds of years, the tooth was thought to confer a divine right to govern whoever owned it, causing political unrest. Fearing that the object of his Buddhist worship might be removed from him violently, the King discreetly sent the tooth away with Princess Hemamali and her spouse, Prince Danthakumara . Legend has it that they travelled to Sri Lanka disguised and with the tooth hidden in Princess Hemamali's hair. Some accounts place their arrival in Sri Lanka at Trincomalee, while others place it at Welitota or present-day Balapitiya. Pali Dalada Vansaya, or the Chronicle of the Tooth Relic , records the legend that they landed in Balapitiya, at the mouth of the Maduganga estuary. According to legend, the pair hid the tooth in a...