Sangharakshita Pilgrimage
Map showing location of Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa), Kandy

Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa), Kandy

Kandy, Sri Lanka · 1944–1945

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7.29310°N, 80.64130°E

Key Facts

  • ◆ Sri Dalada Maligawa is the foremost Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka.
  • ◆ Houses the left canine tooth relic of the Buddha, one of Theravada's most venerated objects.
  • ◆ Visited during Sangharakshita's seven-month army posting in Ceylon, 1944–45.
  • ◆ One of the four most venerated sites in Theravada Buddhism.
  • ◆ The Esala Perahera festival — one of Asia's grandest Buddhist processions — is held here annually.

One of Sangharakshita’s first encounters with living Buddhist devotion in Asia came during his army posting in Ceylon, when he visited the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy — the great temple complex that has housed the Buddha’s Tooth Relic for more than a thousand years. The experience of Buddhist culture as a living, breathing whole was a revelation after encountering it only through books in South London.

— The Rainbow Road

Source: The Rainbow Road

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