A work of artistic merit

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth
Relic (Volumes 1 and 2)
Author: Anuradha Seneviratna.
Vijitha Yapa Publications

Reviewed by Tissa Devendra

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Volumes 1 and 2), completed by Prof. Anuradha Seneviratna shortly before his death, serve as a memorable tribute to his scholarship and erudition. The beautifully illustrated ‘coffee table’ books can be described as the crown jewel of his trilogy on the capital of the last Sinhala Kingdom – Gateway to Kandy and The Kandy Asala Perahera.

The first volume deals extensively with the history of the Sacred Tooth Relic, its adventurous journey from politically unstable Andradesa to its final sanctuary in the Dhammadipa of Sri Lanka where it has been venerated for over 1,700 years. The popular impression is that the Dalada Maligava in Kandy has been the repository of the Buddha’s Sacred Tooth Relic since time immemorial.

In Volume 1, which deals with the history and architecture of the many Dalada Maligavas down the centuries, Prof. Seneviratne relates the story of the relic and its travels in the care of the Kings of the Sinhalese over many centuries.

In the Inner Citadel of Anuradhapura an existing Vihara, adjacent to the Royal Palace of the King Sirimeghavarna [301-323 A.C.], was its first shrine.

There is some uncertainty as to whether it was the Dhammachakka Vihara built by the first Buddhist King Devanampiya Tissa to honour the first Buddhist missionary Arahat Mahinda. Or this may have been a temporary abode till the king built a new temple specifically for the Dalada. A century or so later the Chinese scholar pilgrim Fa-hsien described a magnificent temple crowned with impressive gemstones as the shrine of the Dalada. Strangely, for the next two or three centuries, the Mahavansa hardly refers to a Dalada-ge other than references to repairs done.

Instability

The likely explanation is that this was a period of great instability and depredations by South Indian invaders. There is, however, an intriguing glimpse of the Relic Temple in the Jetawanarama slab inscription of King Mahinda IV [956-972 A.C.]. It refers to the Relic Temple as having been “built in the likeness of a ship”, probably in honour of the vessel that brought the Relic to our shores. Alas, no trace whatsoever has been found of this architectural wonder.

Prof. Seneviratna describes the epigraphical investigations and archaeological excavations undertaken in the last century to locate this most important of temples in the Royal capital. It is reasonable to conjecture that, “during the long period of the Anuradhapura kingdom several kings would have got involved in building Tooth Relic Temples at different places in the city, but these activities of the past kings have not been recorded in the Mahavansa”. However, archaeologists have now identified more than one site in Anuradhapura as Temples of the Sacred Tooth and, as such, having the same architectural features.

In the troubled times of the 10th and 11th centuries the country was riven by South Indian invasions and civil war between rival kingdoms. During this period the Tooth Relic next emerges in Ruhuna where it was enshrined in the Ramba Vihara where there stand the remains of the Dalada-ge of the Southern Kingdom.

The Dalada now reappears in the new capital of Polonnaruva ruled over by two of our greatest kings – Vijayabahu and Parakramabahu the Great. The Mahavansa makes it clear that , by now, the Sacred Relic was regarded as the symbol of Sinhala sovereignty, whose possession granted legitimacy to the ruler of the and. The importance that the kings accorded to the protection of the Sacred Relic is established in that most unusual inscription where a regiment of Velaikkaras, professional Tamil warriors, bind themselves to King Vijayanahu to protect the Sacred Relic with their lives.

Fortunately, the architectural remains of Polonnaruwa have withstood the ravages of time better than those of the earlier capital. The Ata-da-ge and Hata-da-ge,the Dalada temples of surpassing artistry have been beautifully photographed and placed within the context of Polonnaruwa’s other architectural wonders as the Vata-da-ge and the Lata-mandapa. A point of semantic interest is that in this ancient period the Relic Temple was known simply as Dalada-ge meaning house or home. The grandiose term’ Maligava’[palace] seems to have come into vogue when the kingdom was in decline.

Over the next few centuries political instability, the destruction of our magnificent reservoirs and our hydraulic civilisation led inevitably to the drift of our kingdoms to the fertile south west. Minor kings with lesser authority and smaller, weaker kingdoms ascended the throne. But they always protected the Dalada and enshrined it in an honoured location. King Vijayabahu III in the the Dambadeniya kingdom in the13th century built a temple for the Sacred Relic on the 1,000 feet high Beligala Rock near his palace. Unfortunately, all that remains today are pillars, stones and scattered ruins.

Disorders followed the downfall of the Dambadeniya dynasty and the royal capital and the Relic Temple was moved to the more secure location of Yapahuva.. Its ruler was Bhuvanekabahu I [1272-1284] – fated to be its only monarch. However, he has left a magnificent monument to the Dalada which yet astounds the beholder with its superbly sculpted stairway rising to the summit where the Temple stood, flanked by guardian lions and lively dancing maidens.

The next capital of any significance was Kurunegala whose ruler ParakramabahuIV [1302—1326] erected the Relic Temple in the Royal Courtyard. But in this kingdom of the decline its construction must have been of inferior design and structure for all that sadly remains today are some stone steps and a broken pillar in the garden of the Government Agent’s Residency.

After a period of further instability the capital was shifted once again, this time to Gampola by Bhuvanekabahu IV [11341-1351]. There is only one reference to the Relic Temple which is said to have been at Niyamgampaya where a temple yet stands incorporating many old stone pillars. Vikramabahu III is recorded as having conducted a great sacrificial festival to honour the Dalada. His successor Buvaneka Bahu V shifted the capital, this time to the maritime city he named Jayavardhanapura Kotte. A Dalada Temple was built adjacent to the Royal Palace at Maligavatta – but the construction did not stand the test of time and vandalism. All that has been recovered are fragmentary sculptures depicting dancers, musicians and elephants.

Dark ages

In the dark ages following the Portuguese occupation of the maritime provinces and the accession to the throne of Sinhale by its sole Roman Catholic king Don Juan Dharmapala, the Relic disappears from recorded history. However, it is clear that the devoted Sangha smuggled it out of the clutches of the apostate and his Catholic allies. It was apparently hidden in Delgamuva Raja Maha Vihara. When Vimala Dharmasuriya defeated the Portuguese and crowned himself King of Sinhale in 1593 one of his first actions was to recover the Dalada and thus cement his legitimacy.

The Relic was duly recovered from the Temple in Delgamuva, near Kuruwita, whose monks had faithfully concealed it for decades till a Buddhist king again occupied the throne. The Temple he built is no longer there, destroyed by a Portuguese invasion in King Senarat’s time. He had concealed the Relic in the Royal refugee of inaccessible Meda Maha Nuwara and brought it back to the capital where he built a new Dalada Temple on the site where it has stood since then.

In Volume 2 Prof. Seneviratne describes the rituals and ceremonies that attend, the adoration and worship of the Sacred Tooth Relic. He has had unfettered access to its custodian Sangha and Diyawadana Nilame and steeped himself in its ceremonies and traditions. It has been no easy task and the author’s account is superbly illustrated with photographs of the premises and its activities. It is prefaced with a fine architectural study of building and the history of its various components.

What is most fascinating is that these rituals and ceremonies open a window into a distant past with a heritage reaching back many centuries. To the custodians the Sacred Relic is Royalty and accorded every honour that the monarch was entitled to – from the humility of obeisance to the practices in the offering of food and the court poets and musicians. How long these practices can continue, and how can they find committed ‘servants of the Buddha’ to carry them out is a moot point in this era of globalisation. The Perahera is glowingly described with a description of its attendant rituals that give added meaning that it is not a mere bravura spectacle of dancers and elephants.

I believe these two volumes of Anuradha Seneviratne will remain the most accurate, and readable, account of the Dalada Maligava, the diadem of Sinhala Buddhist history.